Great Neck-based CoActive Marketing Group specializes in promotional

Long Island Business News, Jul 11, 2003 by Claude Solnik

At a time when advertising budgets are still facing tough scrutiny from executives looking to keep costs low in a soft economy, CoActive Marketing Group is finding its footing.

The company, which specializes in promotions such as sampling done in stores, saw profits nearly double to $1.7 million in fiscal 2003 after cutting back on its Internet operations in Cincinnati to focus its core business of sampling and promotions.

The firm expects continued growth of 25 percent to 30 percent to its bottom line in the next fiscal year, largely due to those cuts.

"We overstaffed ahead of time in anticipation of things that didn't materialize," Bernard said.

With things apparently turning around, the firm said last week it planned to triple the size of its Manhattan office to 30,000 square feet.

The Great Neck-based firm's client roster includes Folgers, Corona, Keebler, Schick, Valvoline and Coca Cola.

Promotional marketing, ranging from store giveaways to sweepstakes, grew about 9.7 percent nationwide to $233.7 billion in 2002, according to Promo Magazine.

Coactive President John P. Benfield believes that's only the beginning, signaling a bright future for the company.

"We expect the promotion expenditure growth trend to continue," said Benfield. "Promotional dollar investments tend to produce a more immediate measurable return on investments."

CoActive has been busy doing promotional programs for Kikkoman, Scott's, Pfizer and Kozy Shack, among many others. The firm brought DJs and double-decker buses into Wal-Mart parking lots, promoting Wal- Mart private label products.

For General Motors, it has run the Ski Chevy program, giving away ski resort passes to car buyers.

The firm said it's also been helped by companies' increased efforts to reach a growing Hispanic population. "The hot properties in the business are the Hispanic, which runs across all promotion and advertising," said Donald Bernard, CoActive's CFO.

In one recent promotion, CoActive used the appeal of Roberto Clemente, Tony Perez and Minnie Mimoso to drive sales of Nabisco products. Consumers got a baseball plaque free with the purchase of any two Nabisco products.

Jamie Stanco, president of Progressive Marketing Group Inc. in Melville, said the ability to measure results immediately is a key benefit of giveaways, while advertising campaigns are a short- and long-term investment.

"It makes a lot of sense," said Stanko, though he noted his firm doesn't specialize in that business. "It's a specialty. An advertising agency, if you've got a good art guy and concept guy, you can show your wares on spec."

Debbie Nigro, principal at Rochester-based Out of the Box Deals, recently set up a promotion pairing 7-Eleven with the Atlantis Marine World Aquarium in Riverhead.

She said she's working on setting up sampling deals at Atlantis, including the giveaways in hotel rooms at the Southampton Inn.

"There are studies that show that if people sample a product on vacation," she said, "they're likely to become loyal to the brand."