.Disney on Dogster
I just have to write about how excited I am that Disney & Dogster have teamed up in a promotional campaign for the release of the all new digitally restored 50th Anniversary Edition Lady & The Tramp DVD. What a classic film! I remember loving this movie as a kid and I can’t wait to watch this new edition which will be released February 28th.
Disney has been really great to work with. One of the best things is that they really get the Dogster community. When most potential advertisers begin conversations with us they are interested in banner advertising. Banner ads will do okay but when the message is integrated within multiple layers of the community the message is much more powerful. Steven has named our approach the “Integrated Brand Campaign” and it really works. Disney got this right away and here is how, together, we made this special event come to fruition.
First, we created a jump page featuring pictures of all the characters, information about the DVD and a link to enter a contest to win a 32″ flat screen TV. All the pictures of the cast (Lady, Tramp, Jock, Peg, Trusty and SI & AM) link to Dogster dog pages created especially for the characters. All the characters can now become pup pals with our community (Lady has 484 Dogster pals). You can send a private message to Lady and leave her, or any character, a bone. The characters are alive on Dogster! There is also a Disney Group created for all of our members who love Lady & The Tramp. It is now our second biggest group with over 500 members. From this group, the Disney team can message these enthusiastic members directly. We have also added a special placement in our monthly newsletter and a homepage feature section promoting Lady & The Tramp’s visit to Dogster in celebration of the new DVD release. This is the trick. We are promoting the event first and foremost. While users stir up old memories and get into the fun of playing with Lady & The Tramp, we provide integration points where they can buy the DVD. To bring the integrated community message full circle Disney links back to Dogster from their Lady & The Tramp page as well as includes Dogster in its promotional newsletter.
Lady & The Tramp’s visit to Dogster runs through the first week in March. Be sure to check it out, meet the characters, enter the contest and, if you’re like me, order a copy of the new digitally restored DVD.
[...] Thanks to the internets, the backlash can start before the bubble even starts to really inflate. Ted Rheingold resuscitates an old meme to make fun of contemporary hype. Doesn’t mean that team Dogster isn’t taking advantage, teaming up with Disney to market a DVD release. One way to ensure that the movement stays true to its principles is to pen a manifesto. Or just start working on the next big thing, whatever that may be. I’ll be here in the corner, laughing about it all. [...]
[...] I see what he means for the above examples, but on Dogster and Catster, I think it is quite different. Our sites involve both social networking and vertical content and our advertising campaigns have proven to be very successful. Our users’ mindset is ’show and share my love of dogs and/or cats’. We bring our advertiser’s message into this mindset. We call this an integrated brand campaign approach. It layers in the advertiser’s message at many different layers within the vast Dogster and Catster framework. In addition, we encourage our advertisers to provide a community benefit along with their message. Many advertisers have ‘got this’ and have had very successful campaigns. My favorite is the Disney campaign we are currently running. Disney’s Lady and the Tramp characters are members of Dogster and Catster. Members can become their friends, email them and Disney can message them back. The members love it and so does Disney. An approach like this allows us to bring in advertisers that aren’t necessarily selling pet products. As long as the message is integrated into the fun and trustworthiness of the Dogster/Catster communities and matches the user’s mindset, it will be a success. Our follow up research on similar campaigns has shown these campaigns to be 25-50 times more effective than banner ads giving our advertisers and sponsors (Dad’s, Target, Animal Planet, Nintendo, ASPCA, Petsmart Charities, etc.) a nice ROI on their campaign. [...]