Most consumers who would shop at a Fye store would have the surprise of their lives as soon as they saw an ad for the new Jeep Wrangler.
Chrysler, maker of premium Jeep parking lights, recently launched its aggressive advertising campaign for its redesigned Jeep Wrangler. And one of the components of the campaign was an advertising partnership with retailer Trans World Entertainment, which delivered over 17.8 million impressions to various Jeep audiences.
Trans World operates under the banner fye, which is short for For Your Entertainment. The Trans World has 800 stores and fye is the country’s largest specialty retailer when it comes to the entertainment category, which includes selling movies, music, games and even small electronics.
The Fye advert was very important to Jeep’s overall promotional efforts because the said store’s customers consist of young males between the ages of 18 and 34, exactly the same demographic group that Jeep covets for its Wrangler.
At the heart of the fye promotion is a sweepstakes where customers have the opportunity to scan an entry’s barcode to win a new Jeep Wrangler. The competition was a fully integrated promotion that included in-store signage, store associates in Jeep t-shirts, Jeep ads on in-store fye TV, a Wrangler presence on the fye website and one on the Fuse TV show “Amplified Guide” included Jeep to the Holidays, Jeep integration with the retailer’s e-marketing communications, a Jeep Wrangler tag in fye’s national radio spots, and a special “Scan to Win Booklet” featuring a Wrangler advertisement , which is distributed in stores.
The f.ye. Promotion was an exciting, non-traditional way for Jeep to reach its potential customers. However, the most exciting and unique part of the promotion so far has been the customized ads shown on fye’s Listening and Viewing Stations (LVS).
The LVS is unique for fye trades. The listening and viewing stations feature LCD screens placed at eye level throughout the store, allowing customers to scan the barcode of a CD, DVD or game and have the opportunity to sample the content. The avalanche transceiver was installed in the fye stores five years ago and is now in its third generation.
There are two ways customers can see the Jeep ads at the avalanche transceiver stations. The first thing they got in the branches was the entry booklet with a barcode printed on the back. You can use this to scan and see if they won the Wrangler. The second way to see an ad is by scanning a product at the avalanche beacon stations.
In this day and age where DVRs, satellite radio, etc. reign supreme, the ability to deliver advertisements via such technologies is becoming an important part of any advertising effort. Although some consider such type of marketing intrusive to customers’ shopping experience, they have not received any complaints about the ads so far, according to Burmaster. This may be because fye also takes a low key approach to the ads, making them less intrusive and more of an integral part of the overall product scanning process that their customers are accustomed to.
The Jeep ad will appear when customers scan products for the first time and will not appear on subsequent scans. The ads were also made short, lasting only 10 to 15 seconds. The ads were very entertaining and engaging that Burmaster said customers don’t fret about looking at them. “Our stores are all about entertainment. If the spot isn’t entertaining, it just doesn’t work that well and may even face resistance from consumers,” Burmaster explained.
So far, Jeep’s fye campaign has been successful in reaching the youth market, and according to Burmaster, they’ve only just scratched the surface of their ability to deliver personalized in-store advertising.