The Lord of the Drinks

Plano, Texas -- Dr Pepper/Seven Up Inc. partnered with New Line Home Entertainment, Los Angeles, for a Halloween season LiquidLoot Sweepstakes. The joint effort features various mythical characters from "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" on P-O-P. The promotion complements the Aug. 26 DVD and video release of the film. It's DPSU's second LiquidLoot promotion of three to roll out this year.For the sweepstakes, consumers collect points from specially marked 12-oz. cans, 20-oz. bottles and two-liter bottles of 7 UP, Diet 7 UP, Cherry 7 UP, Sunkist Orange Soda, A&W and Canada Dry Ginger Ale. They then bid on "The Lord of the Rings" collectible merchandise in an auction-style setting on www.LiquidLoot.com. The site is presented by ebay.Supporting P-O-P includes standees of Frodo and Gandalf, a floor mat with castle imagery, a static-cling, a dangler, a playhouse display and a motion-sensor pole topper that features various characters."We just wanted to give our field and our bottlers something that was relevant to our target, and something that would differentiate our brand during Halloween," says Megan May, promotions manager for Dr Pepper/Seven Up. She hopes that retailers will opt to use all of the pieces in a large setting. "We're wanting larger lobby displays and front-end displays," she says. "That's the goal of all these pieces -- we call it 'in-store theater.' " Aimed at 12- to 24-year-olds and mothers of teenagers, the campaign fit well with "The Lord of the Rings" due to the movie's PG-13, "family-focused" audience rating, May says. "The visuals were perfect. The characters and the imagery provided the perfect opportunities to excite the consumer," she says. "We worked very closely with New Line Home Entertainment to decide which pieces and characters would be highlighted. We wanted the imagery to look the same as what consumers are going to be seeing when they buy their DVD."Although New Line did not pay for the P-O-P itself, the company did sign off on the P-O-P and did provide some of the collectibles, such as necklaces and broaches, that will be offered as prizes on LiquidLoot.May thinks retailers, who are responsible for building the displays, will see them as an opportunity to link the soft drink and video aisles, May says. "That's a high profit-margin area for them. Nobody can argue with the success of 'The Two Towers' and the whole 'Lord of the Rings' series," she says. "This is really a no-brainer."Scheduled to run from mid-August through Halloween, the promotion falls between the traditional summer and holiday soft-drink promotional seasons, May says, increasing the appeal to its target retailers: supermarkets, mass merchandisers and drugstores nationwide. "This company traditionally has done a very strong Halloween time-frame promotion," she says. "Conveniently enough, the 'Lord of the Rings' DVD release was happening at that time."The corrugated standees of Frodo and Gandalf are 4-1/2 and 5-1/2 feet tall. The castle floor mat is 40 inches by 45 inches, while the pole topper, which rotates like a carousel is 6-1/2 feet tall. The P-O-P, designed by the Chicago office of Zipatoni, St. Louis, also includes a 35-inch-tall ceiling dangler. DPSU has ordered "thousands" of each display, May says, declining to provide more specific numbers or per-unit costs.United States Display, Montgomery City, Mo., printed the motion-sensor pole topper and playhouse. PBM Graphics Inc., Research Triangle Park, N.C., printed the standard pole signs, danglers, shelf talkers, standees and static-clings.

The Lord of the Drinks

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