Tombstone, Sega Dreamcast Scare Up Teens for Holiday 'Screamstakes'

Brandweek, Oct 9, 2000 by Sonia Reyes

Cashing in on the growing number of Internet-surfing teens, Kraft is teaming up with Sega for a "Tombstone Sega Screamstakes" Halloween promotion that dangles millions of instant-win prizes from Dreamcast systems and games to subscriptions to the SegaNet and the Official Dreamcast magazine.

Looking for more top-mind awareness among kids and moms as the holiday party season kicks into high gear, the sweeps, which runs through Nov. 15, will be touted on 6 million packages of Tombstone pizza SKUs including the original line, Half & Half (with cheese and pepperoni) and Oven Rising Crust.

"We're bringing together the two teen passions of pizza and videogames," said Kris Abrahamson, promotion mgr for Kraft Pizza. The effort was borne of Kraft research indicating that a high percentage of households with teens now have Web access.

The prize cache valued at nearly $200,000 will offer 10 grand prize winners a Dreamcast videogaming system, a two-year subscription to SegaNet, the high-speed online gaming network, and 15 Dreamcast games including NFL 2K1, Virtua Tennis and Sonic Shuffle.

First place winners receive Dreamcast games and a trial membership to SegaNet; third place winners a one-year subscription to the Official Dream-cast magazine. Support includes a 20-cents-off FSI rolling this week, plus a full-page ad in Dreamcast's November issue. Every package will offer a $5 coupon toward select Dreamcast games and a 50-hour trial membership to SegaNet.

In an unusual online twist, teens can visit the newly launched Web site, tombstone.com for an instant-win "Scratch 'N Scream" offer where through the "click and scratch" of a mouse they can win a Dreamcast T-shirt. Game entry will also be available via mail-in requests. Prize winners can claim prizes through May 2001.

Tombstone Pizza, the second best-selling brand after sister brand DiGiorno Pizza in the $2.3 billion frozen pizza category, had $326 million in sales, up 7.6%, while DiGiorno posted $343 million in sales, up 10.4% for the 52 weeks ending Sept. 10, per Information Resources Inc.