The Allure of Free Stuff

Attention Shoppers!  has often pointed out that online custom media partnerships, where you integrate your marketing messages naturally into a site’s editorial content, are often more effective than simple media placements such as banners. But when you are able to add an offline component—with the reach of TV or a popular magazine–to the program, things can get exponentially better.

A case in point is the current “Free Stuff” promotion from the August issue of Allure Magazine, which combines heavy promotion in the magazine with home page placement on their web site.  

Of course, this effort is a bit different from your typical custom media partnership in that there are dozens of companies and products involved in the program. But I think all CPG marketers could learn something here.

The premise of the “Free Stuff” program is very simple: every weekday during the month of August, Allure will give away free stuff—and lots of it–to registered readers who log on to the special section of the Allure Web Site (http://www.allure.com/freestuff ) at a specific time.

For example, on August 1 the first 100 Allure readers who log in at 5:oo pm EST will receive a free Elimis Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Night Cream (retail value $148). The first 100 readers to log in at 12 pm on August 14 will win a package of Clinique Acne Care solutions (retail value $44.00).

There are also pricier, non-CPG give-aways, such as a $1,900 Jimmy Choo Grommeted Calf-Leather Bag on August 1 (I can almost hear the Attention Shoppers! female audience sighing with Choo-lust right now).

In all, the gift-happy gang at Allure is giving away 20,787 different products. To give credit where credit is due, this is not dissimilar to a program that my Digitas colleagues in New York do for American Express every year during the holidays called “My Wish List”.

Of course, one might also consider Allure’s “Free Stuff” a sampling program, albeit a sampling program on legal protein supplements (Attention Shoppers! has always been steroid free).

There is also considerable upside for Allure here as well. Last year, the same kind of program increased traffic to their site—and exposure to those traditional banner ads—by 150%. For more information, here is how Advertising Age covered the promotion: http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=119505&search_phrase=%2Ballure 

Best of luck snagging that grommeted Choo.