Family Home Entertainment teamed with at least four Internet businesses this month to market the video and DVD release of “The Tangerine Bear: Home In Time For Christmas” and raise money for the Starlight Children's Foundation.
The entertainment company, which is a division of Artisan Entertainment, formed alliances with MasterCard Online, eKids.com, BlueMountain.com and Claus.com, among others, in a holiday marketing campaign that includes Web activities, electronic cards delivered via e-mail and offline promotions at shopping malls.
The goal of FHE, Santa Monica, CA, is to build offline and online awareness of the Tangerine Bear, promote a Tangerine Bear prime-time special that is scheduled to air Dec. 3 on the ABC network and, ultimately, sell videocassettes and DVDs of the movie.
In addition, the company and its partners are aiming to raise funds for the Starlight Children's Foundation, Los Angeles, which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for seriously ill children. The agreement calls for FHE to donate 50 cents from the sale of each video or DVD — priced at $14.98 — to the foundation, according to a statement.
FHE is targeting children and their parents, hoping to engage the former with Web activities at www.tangerinebear.com and offering the latter discounts on FHE products and entry into online sweepstakes.
The company also is trying to reach its target audiences through a number of offline marketing vehicles, including advertising in children's and parenting magazines, television and radio spots and mall promotions in 25 cities.
“Not everybody has a computer, and not everybody sits online,” said FHE president Glen Ross. “In any well-rounded advertising campaign, your goal is to reach as many people in your target demographic as you possibly can.
“And I think to do that effectively, you need to be in both places,” he said, referring to the offline world and the Internet.
And although the purposes of the company's offline efforts are mainly to build awareness, Ross said FHE places the Tangerine Bear Web address in all of its offline spots to help generate Web traffic. In addition, the deal with the aforementioned partners allows FHE to place a hyperlink to the Tangerine Bear Web page on their sites, he said.
Traffic to its Web site, Ross said, is as valuable as offline branding because the Internet provides a forum for FHE to interact with a prospective customer. Children, for example, are able to play interactive Web games on the Tangerine Bear site, including a Web concentration game and the ability to “build” their own bear factory.
“With a media buy, you get a 30-second spot on TV or radio and then it's gone,” Ross said. “What we try to do is create an immersing media buy, so that when you go to any of these partners and enter the Tangerine world, instead of being there for 30 seconds, you might be there for an hour.”
The promotional partners add different components to the online marketing campaign. MasterCard Online is offering its customers a 10 percent to 20 percent discount off several FHE products, including the Tangerine Bear video or DVD, according to a statement.
MasterCard Online representatives could not be reached for comment.
Claus.com has created a link to “Tangie Town” on its home page. A sponsor of Claus.com, FHE hopes to benefit from Claus.com's Web traffic, which claims to record about 50 million page views during the holiday season.
Claus.com, San Francisco, a family entertainment Christmas site, hopes to attract prospective customers through its arrangements with a number of search engines. Representatives said the company is in the top two in searches related to the term “Santa Claus.”
Karl Kronenberger, president of Claus.com, said the co-marketing deal will be successful because of the similarities between Claus.com and FHE, and thus their target audience.
“It's a good match because the Tangerine Bear is a family entertainment property, and it's tied into Christmas with the TV special and the video,” Kronenberger said.
