| Introduction
Laughter-it’s fun, hard
to stop sometimes, and can happen anywhere, anytime. It feels
good…that’s why Diet Coke teamed up with the IMPROV
to pay tribute to 4 decades of good times with the Diet Coke
with Lemon IMPROV 40th Anniversary Comedy Tour and Television
special on NBC. The tour kicked off in Los Angles and the
jokes didn’t stop until the fun was shared with fans
throughout the country-21 cities in all!
Richard Lewis, Janeane Garofalo,
Anthony Clark and George Lopez are just a few of the great
talents Diet Coke and the IMPROV teamed up with. Also, enter
to win tickets to see the tour live in New York, featuring
John Stewart and other all-star talent!
Project Development
In January 2002, agents for Bud
Friedman contacted Stafford and Malone to explore the possibility
of finding a tier 1 brand to sponsor the 40th anniversary
of the IMPROV comedy club. The project was ambitious. We needed
to find a brand partner to fund the production of a network
TV special, fund a multiple market comedy tour and also provide
marketing support to the program. Not to mention, we needed
to secure all-star talent and a network to air the show.
In February 2002, with perfect
timing, account reps from Grey Worldwide Atlanta contacted
Alliance C.E.O Jarrod Moses with an urgent request; Diet Coke
was launching Diet Coke with Lemon and needed a Q3’02
marketing program to support it. In a little over a month,
Alliance sold Diet Coke on the concept and Stafford &
Malone planned a multi-level program including:
- 1 hour network TV special on NBC
- Diet Coke with Lemon brand integration
into the show
- 21 market comedy tour w/ top talent
- On-pack and retail exposure (joke cards
written by all-star talent in 12-packs of Diet Coke with
Lemon)
- Public relations campaign (which garnered
coverage on daily entertainment shows i.e. eXtra etc…)
Several agencies played roles
in executing the campaign including: Alliance, Grey Worldwide
Atlanta and Don Buchwald & Associates. Grey and Diet Coke
promotion staff executed the on-pack and retail exposure.
SFX executed the 21 market comedy tour.
The Power of Comedy
Actionable Insight:
Following the 9-11 tragedy, Stafford & Malone surmised
the country needed an outlet in which to “feel good”.
Leveraging Diet Coke with Lemon’s do what feels good”
advertising campaign, they created “Do what feels good
laugh”. The tour and TV show were timed to coincide
with the 1st anniversary of the 9-11 attacks as a counter
programming to the coverage and mood of this ominous anniversary.
Television Show Details
Diet Coke was integrated into
the IMPROV comedy club’s 40th anniversary celebration
via a national television special on NBC featuring such well-known
comics as Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Adam Sandler, Drew Carey
etc… The television program won it’s timeslot
and has been shown on NBC many times since it first aired.
Integration included:
- In title sponsorship
- Show bumpers
- Ad units
- In-show brand placement
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