Using promotional products the way they’re meant to be used: The six “PSI – Campaign of the Year 2013” nominees
Published by PSI on the 21.11.2013

Walt Disney, Porsche or fenjal: Many brands use promotional products to strengthen customer loyalty and boost sales, and this year’s “PSI – Campaign of the Year” nominees have once again demonstrated what that entails. Successful campaigns from a wide variety of industries have been entered, promoting comics, cars and personal care products, as well as wireless companies, pharmaceuticals and even a motion picture. What all campaigns have in common is that they’ve skilfully incorporated one or more promotional products. A total of six promotional and marketing campaigns have been nominated. The winners will be announced at PSI – The Leading European Trade Fair of the Promotional Products Industry. The award presentation will take place during the opening ceremony on 8 January 2014, the first day of the trade fair.

The nominees:

The waterproof fenjal crime novel for the bath tub
Entrant: Edition Wannenbuch – Jens Korch & Grit Strietzel GbR
Client: fenjal
Manufacturers: Edition Wannenbuch (Content), R & O International, Guanzhou (Printing)

Reading while taking a bath? Perhaps not the best idea considering that books don’t like water. In honour of Germany’s “Day of the Bathrrom,” Edition Wannenbuch came up with a solution to this problem. In collaboration with Doetsch Grether AG, the PR agency Lottmann PR and the media agency iMi, they designed a waterproof book for a joint advertising campaign commissioned by fenjal. Reading this book in the tub is explicitly requested. The focus of the campaign was on various sweepstakes involving the book – entitled Diamanten zum Fr?hst?ck (Diamonds for Breakfast) and not for sale anywhere else – and fenjal bath products. For example, a special Facebook page was created, a separate “Day of the Bathroom” website set up and sweepstakes published in several women’s magazines. Afterwards, fans were able to post their own sequels to the crime story on Facebook. The bathtub mystery was received very well, as evidenced by the number of new members, many “likes” and comments on Facebook as well as different reports in both online and print media outlets. The successfully implemented campaign won over the jury and culminated in a PSI – Campaign of the Year 2013 nomination for the bathtub crime novel.

Launch of the new generation Porsche 911 Turbo and Turbo S Coup?

Entrant: TRIK GmbH
Client: Porsche AG
Manufacturer: TRIK GmbH
Agency: Chromedia Dialogmarketing GmbH

A sophisticated Porsche direct mail piece has also been nominated for the PSI – Campaign of the Year 2013. It was mailed out for the launch of the new generation Porsche 911 Turbo and Porsche 911 Turbo S Coup? in May of 2013. Potential prospects, existing customers and direct buyers received an intricate mailer – a model of the 911 Turbo S Coup?. The piece showcased the vehicle’s active aerodynamics feature – the new model’s most significant technological innovation. Additionally, an enclosed ultra-premium catalogue explained associated advantages in detail. The promotional item aimed at using a model to demonstrate as realistically and in as much detail as possible both the new vehicle’s suitability for everyday use and its performance. Additional customisation was made possible via a silver badge on the base. The mailer insert was further enhanced by the addition of premium outer packaging. The insert itself was made from high-gloss aluminium. The campaign as a whole was implemented by Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche AG, Chromedia Dialogmarketing GmbH and TRIK GmbH.

Product launch campaign in the pharmaceutical sector
Entrant: Karen Wiese, freelancer for marketing projects and Managing Partner at trendidee GmbH Berlin
Client: Shire Deutschland GmbH
Manufacturer: Karl Knauer KG (notepad app)

From conventional to innovative: on behalf of her client Shire Deutschland GmbH, freelancer Karen Wiese developed a comprehensive campaign for the launch of Elvanse, a new product in the ADHD therapeutic area, combing classic promotional products with interactive tools. Part of her campaign was a notepad, for example, which had actually been a carrier of advertising messages in and of itself already. But in combination with an iPad, it was turned into an interactive advertising vehicle. That’s because if someone held an iPad in front of a marker inserted into the notepad, it projected onto the screen and started a fireworks of logos, while the real environment remained unchanged. Besides a variety of additional branded promotional items, the campaign also included iPad covers for sales reps in the field. Those had been sewn from flags used at the campaign kick-off meeting. Thus, Karen Wiese was able to incorporate both conventional promotional products and new technological possibilities into the campaign, which was introduced in May of 2013. Once it had launched, the promotional devices where deployed by sales reps across Germany. The objectives of the campaign included evoking positive associations among customers, deploying promotional articles in a sustained way, making available a variety of informational material and providing a conversation starter to sales reps.

The Great Dollar Hunt
Entrant: Gunnar Sprinkmann GmbH
Client: Ehapa Egmont Verlag GmbH
Manufacturers: Baier & Schneider GmbH & Co. KG, K?nitz Porzellan GmbH, Willy Maisel GmbH, Halfar System GmbH, LM Accessoires GmbH, uma Schreibger?te Ullmann GmbH, Kalfany S??e Werbung GmbH & Co. KG, B?umer, AMEWI Trade e.K.

They’re the childhood classics beloved by all German youngsters: Ehapa/Disney titles such as Micky Maus Magazin, the pocket book series Das Lustige Taschenbuch and Donald Duck & Co, and Micky Mouse comics and Donald Duck special editions. As part of the campaign called “Das gro?e Talersammeln” (“The Great Dollar Hunt”), these magazines were advertised via the use of numerous promotional articles as incentives. From February to October 2013, each edition contained collectable dollars with individual codes for readers to cut out, collect in a collector’s journal and mail in. Once a certain number of points had been collected, they could pick from a range of attractive and exclusive prizes – all of them Donald Duck branded. The campaign was designed by the agency Ad & Vision GmbH, product selection and realisation together with Gunnar Sprinkmann. Products from numerous manufacturers were featured, including notebooks from Baier & Schneider, cups from K?nitz Porzellan, bath towels from Willy Maisel, shoulder bags from Halfar System, watches from LM Accessoires and indoor helicopters from AMEWI Trade e.K. The campaign was promoted in print, online, on TV, in the magazines themselves, through social networks and at the point of sale, where additional promotional items were deployed, including ballpoint pens and fruit gummies.

The fairy tale bear MiKi
Entrant: MMmedia GmbH
Client: Collaborative production of a participatory motion picture by Mmmedia/J?rg Winners (producer) and director Torsten K?nstler
Manufacturer: Jiangsu Soho Silk & Textile Corp.

The fairy tale bear MiKi was created in order to transform the film version of a fairy tale into a “participatory film.” The idea of using this promotional item to score points with little cinema goers came to MMmedia GmbH in connection with Aschenbr?del und der gestiefelte Kater, a German cinema film featuring Cinderella and Puss in Boots aimed at getting children actively involved. In the picture, the teddy bear – whose name derives from Mitmach-Kino, the German word for participatory cinema – is the cuddly toy belonging to the six-year old protagonist. MiKi has been manufactured by Jiangsu Soho Silk & Textile Corp. in China, based on specifications set by Martin Molgedey, the head of MMEdia. In the film, which premieres on 20 November 2013, the teddy encourages children in the audience to sing along, clap and dance. Feedback in test screenings was excellent. Distribution of MiKi started in September 2013 when cinemas began handing out the plush toy as a gimmick accompanying a fairy tale menu. The teddy bear has also been sold through the online shop. A total of about 27,000 of the promotional items have been distributed ahead of the film’s release. Plans are to continue using the soft toy afterwards. MiKi is slated to appear again, in slightly modified form, in a second participatory fairy tale film entitled Das tapfere Schneiderlein based on the story of the Valliant Little Tailor.

More is possible together

Entrant and Client: Mobilcom-Debitel
Manufacturer: Grabenhorst & Vetterlein Marketing & Merchandising GmbH

“Gemeinsam geht mehr” (“More is possible together”) – this slogan used by mobilcom-debitel in a Germany-wide campaign promoting a flat-rate music service was perfectly put into practice in a promotional product. Adverts for the flat-rate music service, which offers the possibility of streaming approximately 20 million songs to a smartphone, were placed on TV, in out-of-home media, online, in social media and at the point of sale. An audio splitter was used as a promotional item in the context of the campaign. It allows connecting several headphones to a smartphone, which lets several people listen to music together. Moreover, multiple splitters can be connected to each other without any loss of sound quality. Thus, the promotional article optimally communicates the message of the campaign.