By Jeff Sanford
Cincinnati, Ohio — November 22, 2015 — It is, perhaps, the single most entertaining episode in television sitcom history. A classic episode of ’80s-era show WKRP in Cincinnati saw erstwhile radio news report Les Nesman toss dozens of frozen turkeys out of a helicopter as part of a Thanksgiving day marketing campaign.
“I swear to God, I thought turkeys could fly,” the dismayed newsman said after the live turkeys end up splattered across downtown Cincy.
Presumably there will be no such mess in St. Louis where the local CARSTAR facilities have come up with a clever Thanksgiving marketing campaign. In that city the shops are offering a free Thanksgiving turkey to car owners who bring in a vehicle damaged by a collision with a deer.
It is that time of the year—bucks are on the road. Capitalizing on the correlation between this yearly event and the seasonal holiday, St Louis CARSTAR locations have been promoting a “Hit a Buck, Bag a Turkey” give away.
This is a clever marketing campaign. Making a clever connection between your and a local phenomenon is a great way to put your businesses name front of mind among locals. The idea of tying the annual spike in deer-vehicle collisions and thanksgiving does exactly that.
As well, considering the average cost of repair from a collision with a deer is over $4,000, giving away a frozen turkey isn’t going to break the bank for these facilities. Far from it. What the campaign will do is make that creative link between the shop and local events in the mind of locals.
The promo runs from November 16 through December 31, 2015. Those who hit a deer and have it repaired at a CARSTAR location in that city will get a certificate to claim a turkey at a local store (no point in stocking frozen turkeys in the actual collision centre). For each claim, the shops will also make a turkey donation to a local charity. The promo runs over the time of the year deer collisions are at their highest, during mating and hunting seasons. It is also the time local charities are getting ready for the busy Christmas season, so the program makes sense in many ways, and will likely help raise the profile of the facilities involved. Smart marketing 101.
