Stop Coughing On Me!

Ricola has this brilliant new promo called "Thanks a Million". The general idea is that a "Mystery Cougher" goes to a public place in a city and starts to cough. If you find 'em and offer them a Ricola you get $$$ on the spot! And no chump change either. They hand you 50 sealed envelopes, one of them has a game card saying you won A MILLION BUCKS. The other 49 say you got yourself a cool $1000, your random pick.

How it works: You sign up on their site for "Mystery Cougher" Clues that get emailed to you as to where this cougher might be. One woman in San Francisco headed to Pier 39 after getting emailed a clue and started handing out Ricola drops like crazy and what do you know, hit the jackpot.

What they do right!

1. Email Marketing -  They ask for your email address to send you clues. You may also opt for product offers. Great way to build a database.
2. Increase deliverability instantly - On the confirmation page they ask that you include their address in your address book to ensure delivery into the inbox.
3. Viral Marketing - They enable you to "Tell a Friend" right away.
4. Testimonial Marketing - They highlight the winners most of whom signed up to get the clues. Sounds impossible to find the cougher without them.
5. Radio - They use radio in the geographical areas to hype the contest.
6. Feet on the Street - They have people on the streets handing out their product to people during October - February that are very likely to have coughs. GREAT branding, GREAT viral marketing, GREAT way to seed your product to the masses.

Here's one of those amazing ideas that involve many different facets of marketing all wrapped up in one nice campaign. What do you think of the Ricola campaign?  Do you have a great campaign idea that's working for you? Give us a comment!

Comments

[john]

I am a route manager and work alone most every day. I am on the road and listen to radio to keep sane and to keep my verbal and mental skills up to my high dollar clients level. The ricols ads do inspire and do direct people with time on their hands-like daytime tv watchers-to take action. What about the earners and movers? The campaign mayhave responses but it seems it is not directed to those who will but cough drops in reality.
It is directed to the priviledged few who have time on their hands not the person who needs!the cough drop and runs into a convience store. No mass market? Maybe limited market...

[Steve Ziemba]

This is one of the most brilliant ad campaigns ever.

Now when I'm on a crowded MUNI and someone coughs, I no longer think of getting a cold .... instead I think of becoming a millionaire!

Guess what's in my pocket?

Kudos to Ricola