Tote-ally Sweet Promotion Success

Bob Jesenovec, Mar 19, 2018

OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK (OWN):

QUEEN SUGAR LAUNCH

Situation:

The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) was debuting a new show, “Queen Sugar,” at the 2016 Essence Music Fest in New Orleans and wanted to use promotional tote bags branded with a hashtag of the show’s name to help create awareness and drive social media buzz for its newest and highly anticipated drama.

Challenge:

This concept was both, a highly visible marketing strategy and an opportunity for significant ROI. Unfortunately, the timeframe for getting this accomplished was extremely short, as the event was only a few weeks away.

Strategy:

Leaderpromos challenged its global supply chain to identify all options for sourcing, producing and delivering the 4,500 bags – all while under the near-impossible deadline. After evaluating all the available options, Leaderpromos proposed that The Oprah Winfrey Network move forward with 100-percent cotton tote bags, screen-printed with the hashtag “#QueenSugar” and the OWN logo in black.

The clean, simple look was on brand and definitely in line with the show’s novel roots of being staged on a cotton farm. The design of the graphic elements allowed for easy readability of the hashtag and OWN logo so viewers could quickly recognize and relate it to the OWN brand.

Outcome:

This campaign was a huge hit! The totes were hugely popular and demand for them far exceeded the forecasted numbers. So much so that the 4,500 totes were gone in only a few hours.

Powered by the hashtag being prominently displayed to encourage social participation, hundreds of hashtag mentions for #QueenSugar appeared at Twitter throughout the festival.

Event goers carrying the totes throughout the venue provided continuous promotional reinforcement for the new show and when people posed for photographs with them alongside their friends, family and even the show’s cast members, it only amplified the hype for the new show on social media.