For big companies, fitness programs are big business. Kendra Smith, manager of public relations for Cleveland, Ohio-based Proforma related a recent example of one of the company’s affiliates handling such a promotion. Yvette Hymel, co-owner of Proforma Key Solutions, based out of New Orleans, recently handled a large employee wellness promotion for an energy company called “Entergy.”
Promo Marketing: Could you briefly describe the promotion?
Kendra Smith: Yvette Hymel, co-owner of Proforma Key Solutions has been working with Entergy, an energy company that delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in four states, for more than six years. With her connections established, Hymel was determined to grow her sales within the company. Recently, Hymel was provided an excellent opportunity to do so with Entergy’s employee wellness program Enshape.
Entergy’s Enshape offers four programs a year designed to help its 15,000 employees stay healthy and happy. The program’s fitness director came to Hymel asking if she had ideas on how to promote their upcoming health screening in order to attract more participants. Hymel worked with MVPLP (Most Valuable Preferred Limited Partner) Leed’s to provide the perfect fitness essentials kit to help encourage and motivate employees. She suggested a duffel bag containing a travel tumbler, water filtration bottle and Coby earphones. Entergy was so impressed with her idea that they raised their initial budget and ordered 6,500 items, giving Yvette a $214,000 order.
Hymel’s recent success in penetrating this account hasn’t stopped there. She is actively pursuing another project with Entergy’s Enshape program to provide pedometers and other small prizes for a Health Stride program in the spring. Hymel is looking forward to continuing to grow her sales with Entergy and helping to provide incentives that will lead to a happier and healthier workplace.
PM: What was the best decision you made with the promotion? What made it so important?
Yvette Hymel: The best decision for this promotion was to reach out to some key vendors (in my case, Proforma’s PLPs) that could help me with multiple items and present as “package/kit.” The importance of it to the customer was that he did not have to do anything when he received the order—everything was all “kitted” together, ready to hand out.
PM: Did you run into any problems or hurdles with the promotion? If so, what were they, and how did you overcome them?
YH: The only problem was because of the large quantity (6,500), we had to combine colors for the tumblers, but the customer was ok with that, so I guess you can say that it wasn’t really a hurdle.
PM: Do you have any other advice you’d like to give to distributors running a similar promotion? If so, what would it be, and why?
YH: I would say to be sure to reach out to some of your trusted vendors and brainstorm with them. The vendor reps are usually willing to help, so partnering with them makes it easier.
Want to be considered for a future edition of My Best Promotion? Contact senior editor Michael Cornnell at [email protected] or (215) 238-5449 for a list of questions and other details.
