MEDIA-I: Scratch card gets digital upgrade

<p>HONG KONG: Two marketing services agencies are using the internet </p><p>to take the decades-old scratch-and-win cards from the realm of simple </p><p>promotional tool to the status of brand builder. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Promotions agencies Marketing Drive Worldwide and its Australian partner </p><p>Loyalty Marketing have developed an advanced, high-tech marketing tool </p><p>to take the scratch-and-win application a step further. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>At the heart of the new system, called Instant Rewards, is a unique code </p><p>hidden behind the label of a product. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>By going to a designated website and keying in the code, consumers will </p><p>discover if they have won a prize in the promotion. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Coca-Cola has used the system in Australia and generated sales of 400 </p><p>million bottles within a two-month period, according to the </p><p>agencies. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But Marketing Drive chairman Karen Loh said the new tool offers </p><p>marketers another option to chose from for their brand building </p><p>activities. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Before there was no customer relationship management component. Now </p><p>there is because people can go to specific websites not only to find out </p><p>if they had won anything, but also to navigate around it and see all the </p><p>branding. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"To get more details on anything, they might give their email address </p><p>and that opens up a new marketing avenue," she added. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Simon Roach, Loyalty Marketing managing director, said consumers could </p><p>even dial up a number and key in their code via their mobile </p><p>telephones. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"It's taking something that has worked before and adding technology to </p><p>give it a branding dimension," Roach explained. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Loh added that Instant Rewards allowed promotional efforts to grow into </p><p>a long-term marketing campaign. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Companies must constantly talk to their customer base. It has to be an </p><p>ongoing dialogue. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"It is also important that customers feel the impact quickly because </p><p>this generates more interaction, which in turn creates greater </p><p>excitement." </p><p><BR><BR> </p>