Promotion: Blowing the Competition Out of the Water

Promotional Strategy of Wind Energy Drink

WIND, as a natural energy drink product, is open to a variety of promotional methods that will serve to increase brand awareness and drive sales. One promotional offer will be a direct mail coupon sent to targeted customers offering a free bottle of WIND, with the intent to encourage them to try it for the first time. There will also be street teams distributing samples of the product at farmer's markets, street festivals, and outside of natural health food stores such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

As stated in the outline of interactive marketing strategies, one of the most effective promotional methods will be a contest held on the website and promoted via social media. The contest will be aimed at college students, who comprise a large portion of the young, hip, on-the-go, liberal and Eco-conscious target market. The contest will invite college students (or any relatives of a college student, to avoid discluding anyone) to submit any creative works to the website about improving the environment, reducing your carbon footprint, etc., with entries being voted on through the website for a determined period of time. The winning entry will be aired/announced during the Superbowl, and the winning participant will receive $50,000 for their school to use towards sustainable energy (i.e. solar panels, wind energy on campus, etc.) in their name. The entries could be songs, dances, essays, poetry, a video, a painting, a sculpture, or anything that relates the idea of sustainability and green living.

This contest will appeal to the passionate nature of the target market when it comes to creating a better world. It will also tie in with all other marketing strategies, and as a green product, it makes sense to promote it in a green/eco-friendly way. It makes more sense to run this type of contest than the typical "look under the cap to win", or "two for $3" types of promotions often used by other beverages. The intent is not to increase sales, but to build a relationship with customers, create an identity, and expand brand awareness, and promoting in a unique and beneficial way will not only serve to advance the message that WIND is promoting, it will also increase sustainability while giving creative minds a chance to express themselves while attempting to better the environment.

By targeting brand-preference and brand loyal customers with this promotion, WIND will achieve its marketing objectives of becoming either part of a chosen set, or the number one choice among customers who buy energy drinks. This will not be because it is on-sale, or because it is cheap, or because it comes with a coupon; it will sell more beverages because more customers will recognize that WIND isn't just another energy drink, it's better.

Personal Selling

WIND will be sold by representatives that truly and honestly care about people and the environment. The salespeople representing the brand will be actual members of the target market. Young, hip, eco-friendly, passionate about the environment, creative, caring and compassionate people will be the face of the brand. They will be college educated, with some experience preferred but not required. It almost works better for the brand for the salespeople to be wet behind the ears- it's a new product targeting a new demographic, in a way that is unique to the brand. The target market also responds better to less traditional, more laid back approaches to marketing, and will appreciate being talked to by someone who shares their values.

The selling strategy will mostly entail getting the product into health food stores, convenience stores, grocery stores, and fitness centers. Another prime location for the product will be on college campuses, where a significant portion of the target market will be inclined to purchase them. The sales people, in addition to getting WIND into these locations, will also be the ones handing out samples at the events described above, meeting with potential consumers of WIND and discussing the unique features and benefits of the product. To tie in with the direct marketing campaign and website, their efforts will be supported with brochures similar to the one used to send to the customer database. It will invite customers to visit the website to print a free coupon with their code, and create a pin-wheel out of the paper. This will tie everything together, while still increasing brand awareness and promoting sustainability.

The incentive for sales reps to strive for success will include bonuses for the follow-thru rate of code entries on the website (which will be uniquely linked to each rep). Since the aim is not to increase sales, but to increase awareness, the reps will be well-compensated, and receive free tickets to events/concerts that will be ideal for promoting the beverage. Since the reps are the target market, this will be a huge advantage to continue to do their job well.