Anatomy of a successful media promotional tie-in!

Recently we released a special breakfast cereal here in Pittsburgh commemorating the Steelers winning the Super Bowl and the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup. It had been 30 years since Pittsburgh originally became known as the “City of Champions” when the Pirates won the 1979 World Series and the Steelers followed up by winning their 4th Super Bowl. Our “City of Champions” cereal was a unique product featuring future Hall-of-Famer Hines Ward on one side of the box and Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 hero Max Talbot on the other. While the cereal would be featured in the Giant Eagle grocery stores in Western Pennsylvania, we still needed a unique promotional tie-in to create a buzz and also drive traffic to the website for ancillary sales. It was at that point that I approached FSN Pittsburgh, the rights holder to the Penguins television broadcasts. Ted Black, General Manager of the station, and I had met previously and started a dialogue about creating future product promotions. Ted loved the “City of Champions” idea and unleashed his creative team on the concept. They came up with the idea of doing a “tongue in cheek” promo spot featuring Hines and Max that would be a take on the old Miller Lite “Tastes Great, Less Filling” commercials that featured various sports celebrities. After our product launch press conference at Jerome Bettis Grille 36 restaurant, we headed over to FSN studios to film the promo spot. The City of Champions Cereal “Tastes Great, More Filling” promo spot was completed in about 30 minutes. FSN edited down the raw footage into a funny and entertaining :30 spot that was featured during every Penguins broadcast for a 6-8 week period. We notice a big spike in internet sales after every broadcast, and the spot (along with the outtakes) became a YouTube and internet sensation. FSN also featured the cereal on their FSNinsider e-newsletter that was sent via email blasts to their extensive list of subscribers. At the endof the day, we ended up with increased sales and exposure for our product, while FSN was able to tie-in to a unique product celebrating our city’s 2nd “City of Champions”. A “win-win” promotional tie-in for all parties involved!

Check out the video, below!