Surge Hockey 3-in-1 Iceman Features Foosball-style Game

Marketers at Coca-Cola USA wanted to blend three distinct goals in creating a new immediate-consumption ice cooler display for the company's Surge drink. The result was a foosball-style hockey game that fits on the company's existing Iceman ice cooler. Two customers can play the game when they buy a 20-ounce bottle of Surge from the cooler beneath the game and use the bottle cap as a puck.The three key goals of the display were to connect the merchandiser with the target audience of teenage males; promote the brand's association with the National Hockey League as the game's official carbonated beverage; and provide the retailer with an impressive, value-added display piece. "I call it creating a true point-of-difference merchandiser," says Steve Spetnagel, merchandising equipment manager for the Atlanta-based company. "We wanted it to be so different from the run-of-the-mill display that it would excite retailers to use it."The game includes a voice-activated chip that shouts the Surge name when a player scores. This ties in with the brand's "Surge scream" used in broadcast commercials but it limits the number of times it plays. "We wanted to include this audio icon, but we didn't want it to happen so often that retailers became annoyed with the game and unplugged it," Spetnagel says. "Tying it into the game action made it a natural part of the game."It also garners more attention for the display from other aisles due to its random nature and encouragement of celebration when a player scores.Created by Paul Flum Ideas Inc., St. Louis, the display is 24 inches wide and 40 inches high when attached to the cooler. Its sophisticated approach limited its production run to 750 units, Spetnagel notes. "It did very well in non-traditional markets as well as in upscale locations in large markets," he says. "Retailers who placed it enjoyed it a lot. And it did a good job of associating the brand with the NHL."

Surge Hockey 3-in-1 Iceman Features Foosball-style Game

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