Company: RetailMeNot
Campaign: We’re Out to Save the World (Some Money)
Agency mix: Allison+Partners (PR); Quigley-Simpson (ad creative and media); Strauss Media Strategies (SMT/RMT); Paul Shirley Productions (video production); Jon Cole Production (B-roll production); RetailMeNot internal design team (other design materials)
In-house team: Jill Balis, Brian Hoyt, Scott Sundheim, Christy Rabil, Kristen Remeza, Trae Bodge, Kristen Nelson, and Michelle Skupin
Budget: About $3 million
Digital coupon company RetailMeNot, which works with more than 70,000 retailers worldwide, kicked off a campaign to show consumers how the brand can save them money.
The company held a soft launch in July with events that featured RetailMeNot’s Savings Superheroes at shopping malls nationwide. In August, the campaign officially launched to help consumers save money for the back-to-school season.
The brand will amplify the effort from "October to December, which is often a marathon of shopping for consumers," says Brian Hoyt, VP of communications at RetailMeNot.
The effort, which launched with a feature in The New York Times, saw a 40% increase in earned media and brand coverage compared to the same period last year.
The superheroes are educating consumers on how to use the apps and the website, as well as giving away prizes. The brand is including some "surprise and delight" tactics by randomly dropping branded wallets in malls that are filled with money or coupons, explains Hoyt.
Scott Sundheim, senior director of brand marketing at RetailMeNot, says the concept came from insights that people are anxious when they don’t get the best deals and annoyed when they have to work to find deals.
The effort promotes the "ease and success" that comes with using RetailMeNot, which has retail partners such as Amazon and Walmart, adds Sundheim.
RetailMeNot is running contests on social media using the hashtag #SavingsSuperhero, as well as several online games.
The goal is to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to the site, and get more people to download the apps. As of early September, the brand had 23 million email subscribers and the app was downloaded 18.5 million times, as well as 35% of total site traffic coming through mobile channels.
