Party Platform

Sixteen hundred Canadians are going to have parties in their pants, and adult products marketer Adam & Eve has spent more than $47,000 putting 'em there.

The company has set up 87 10-foot by 20-foot billboards in Toronto touting its Canadian Web site (www.adameve.ca). The program was launched during the first week of December and will run through the end of January.

While plans were not final at deadline, with the turn of the new year Rosanne Licciardi, the firm's media director, expected to augment the campaign with a $15,000 direct response radio buy.

Expecting Brisk Response

The spots are designed to interest new shoppers in the Hillsborough, NC company's offer of a series of free DVD movies, although the customers do have to pony up $5.95 for shipping and handling. Adam & Eve anticipates 1,600 respondents.

The billboards feature the tag line “Put a Party in Your Pants!” Sixty percent of them picture a mature couple jumping on a bed, while the rest depict a younger, diverse group, fully clothed, in a playful outdoors scene worthy of any apparel ad. (A racier version of the mature couple billboard was toned down at the request of the sign company.)

The older couple added a humor element to the campaign, according to Licciardi, while the younger group “added the [demographic] mix that we needed” of the campaign's most likely targets.

466 Visits in a Week

By the end of the first week the site had received 466 visits from people claiming a tape — and seven of those spent an additional $302 during their first visit. Licciardi anticipated that most will return.

The creative marks a significant departure from the last billboard series, which was done in the United States between October and December 2000. Those featured a much more sales-focused message which attempted to entice “cheerfully consenting adults” onto the Web site.

They were also physically larger efforts, and fewer of them. That campaign consisted of a series of 44 14-foot by 28-foot signs that appeared in Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta — although the signs were taken down in Atlanta after the first few days.

Which was a shame, because the company's revenue from areas around the billboards during that campaign increased by 73%. Internet sales jumped by 85%.

If the Toronto program goes as initially indicated, Adam & Eve may reintroduce the billboards in the Los Angeles market by the end of the first quarter.

Marketer: Adam & Eve

Offer: Free video (plus $5.95 S&H)

Medium: Billboards; DR radio potential

Budget: $47,000 (for billboards); $15,000 (for radio buy)

Target Audience: Fun-loving Canadians