No Poker Face Needed

New Albany, Ind. -- Buy a bottle of Master of Mixes cocktail mixer, and you just might be dealt a winning hand.American Beverage Marketers, which also produces the Finest Call brand, in April rolled out its nine-month-long Cocktail Poker promotion, in which consumers receive a foil-wrapped neck hanger with a poker hand inside. The more Master of Mixes bottles a consumer buys, the more cards he or she can substitute to create a winning hand. A royal flush, full house, two pair, or three- or four-of-a-kind can lead to a trip to Las Vegas. Other prizes include poker sets, decks of cards and free mixer, which comes in several varieties: Regular Bloody Mary, Spicy Bloody Mary, 5 Pepper Extra Spicy Bloody Mary, Pina Colada, Margarita, Strawberry Daiquiri/Margarita and Sweet & Sour."We're receiving hundreds of winning hands a week from consumers," says William Hinkebein, vice president and director of marketing for ABM, adding that this is the first such promotion for the company. "People have cocktail parties, and they like to play cards and gamble. It all fits together."In keeping with that nexus of good times, the game and accompanying P-O-P is aimed at "pretty much anybody who likes to drink, or gamble or party, I guess," Hinkebein says. "That's the business we're in. The whole idea is to solidify our brand in the minds of retailers and consumers as the highest-quality, hip, fun brand to use."In addition to the neck hangers on the bottles, the Cocktail Poker promotion contains a variety of materials, all six-color preprinted and laminated to corrugate. Retailers receive a P-O-P kit with a 25-case stack that includes a game board (29 inches wide by 20 inches deep), two header cards (one 15 inches wide by 33-1/2 inches tall, and the other 24 inches wide by 23-1/2 inches tall), four boxes with 50 extra game pieces to hand out to consumers, and a poker set inside a cherry wood box, which the retailers can keep."That's the hook to get these store managers to buy this display," Hinkebein says, adding that prizes are also available to retailers and distributors. "The name of every distributor sales rep who sold a display went into a hat, and the name of every retailer who bought a display went into a different hat." A trip to Vegas' Mandalay Bay resort is the top prize for each.With those incentives swirling around, Hinkebein says the company has "sold hundreds of these displays." More than 700 have been printed. "It's been a great response." He adds that retailers have the option to set up fewer than 25 cases and build smaller displays.The P-O-P was designed in-house and printed by a few different companies. PBM Graphics Inc. of Research Triangle Park, N.C., did the game pieces, Hamilton Printing Inc. of Louisville, Ky., handled the header cards and game boards, and JEB Advertising Inc. of Louisville created the gift sets."It's a very complete package," says Kevin Norris, who as art director for the company led the creative effort. "It was a lot of fun making it."ABM has invested more than $300,000 in the promotion, says Hinkebein, who declines to name a dollar figure but says that per-unit costs for the P-O-P are dropping as more sets are printed. "The investment in the program is pretty substantial for a company of our size," he says. "This is above and beyond what any other mix company ever does."Distribution and sales of Master of Mixes have grown at a double-digit rate over 2002, Hinkebein says, adding that this has happened five years in a row.

No Poker Face Needed

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