Traveling Exhibit Puts Bufferin One-on-One with Seniors

The maker of Bufferin™ analgesic, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, wanted one-on-one contact with seniors across the country.

As an older, established brand of analgesic, Bufferin has high loyalty among consumers past the age of 50. The marketing objective was to place product samples and coupons directly into the hands of the target age group.

PCI proposed and then created a "Night on the Town" traveling exhibit that visited senior fairs and expositions over a two-year period. The high-visibility, interactive exhibit centered on the theme of ballroom dancing and capitalized on the popularity of product spokesperson Angela Lansbury.

Visual Impact. The 10-by-20-foot exhibit featured a 20-foot-wide giant photo mural backdrop of Angela Lansbury in a ballroom dancing scene. Across the top of the mural was a dazzling theater marque of a thousand racing lights. The sound from the exhibit was custom-recorded Big Band dance music.

Interactivity. Visitors to the exhibit had multiple opportunities to participate:

1. A black-tie instructor demonstrated basic ballroom dance steps on a 6-by-6-foot parquet dance floor to women volunteers from the audience. A wireless microphone allowed him to maintain a patter with the audience
2. In an adjacent area, a roulette-type wheel of fortune game allowed visitors to earn prizes ranging from product samples and coupons to electronic-timer pill boxes and C each day's grand prize C an American Express Gift Check for a Bufferin "Night on the Town." Two black-tie attendants operated the game.
3. A television monitor to the side played Angela Lansbury commercials for Bufferin in a continuous loop.

Samples and Premiums. Nearly everyone who visited the exhibit could take away something tangible. For example, at the 8th Annual Time-of-Your-Life Expo held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the paid attendance was 70,000. More than 58,000 logo-marked items were distributed to visitors at the booth. These included 23,850 Bufferin samples, 12,000 Bufferin coupons, 20,800 logo bags and 1,400 refrigerator magnetic memo boards.

Schedule. The fairs attended and the attendance during the first year was:

More than 700,000 seniors had hands-on interaction with Bufferin at 25 senior fairs and expos over the two-year period. The 50-plus consumers were reminded in the strongest possible way of their long-standing favorite brand.

Product samples and coupons were placed directly into the hands of the target audience. The Bufferin exhibit visually dominated all other exhibits at most of the senior fairs.

Based on the success of this program, the following guidelines are offered for other exhibition programs:

• Make the exhibit unique, to cut it away from the many other exhibits.
• Concentrate on the main goals: sampling and couponing.
• Always include an activity for exhibit visitors: games, contests, tastes, interactive computers, anything to stop and maintain traffic.
• Include upbeat, attentive exhibit staff — an absolute necessity to gain full value from the exhibit.