Handit2 Network Launches Venue-Based Sampling in Canada

The Handit2 Network has expanded it's venue-based sampling services to Canada.  Some quick facts about venue-based sampling in Canada:

• With 35.4 million citizens, the Canadian market is about 1/9th the size of the USA's 318.5 million. (Source) 
• Two-thirds of all Canadians live within 60 miles (100 km) of the US border (Source)
• Canadian venue counts for some of our more popular sampling channels in the USA include the following:
  
  • 25,000 hair salons
  • 11,000 daycare centers and preschools
  • 7,000 massage therapists
  • 3,000 barber shops
  • 3,000 health clubs
  • 3,000 nail salons
  • 2,500 rec centers
  • 2,200 senior centers and senior living facilities
  • 2,000 colleges
  • 2,000 tanning salons
  • 2,000 spas
  • 1,800 dance studios
  • 1,500 martial arts studios
  • 1,000 summer camps
• Venue-based sampling in Canada is open to food, beverage, and beauty products.  Note that drug sampling is not legal in Canada (Source)

For information about sampling your brand to a customized, targeted group of consumers in Canada, reply to this email or call me at 303-674-0651.

Does your sampling strategy surprise and delight?

We at the Handit2 Network take pride in offering a unique vehicle to deliver your product samples into the hands of highly targeted consumers. Venue-based sampling offers a setting where consumers are surprised and delighted to receive a sample relevant to their interests and lifestyle. Consumers receive the sample from the venue's staff, who act as brand ambassadors and are a resource for additional product information. 

        

       
Our approach offers several advantages over other sampling techniques:

• We surprise consumers - Consumers are delighted to receive an unexpected, yet highly relevant sample, provided to them in a place they know and trust. 
• We reach relevant consumers - We target offline environments where we know your target consumer is congregating in large numbers.
• We avoid freebie seekers - We reach unsuspecting consumers who are going about their normal day, not freebie seekers who register or otherwise go to great lengths just to get something (anything) for free. 
• We create buzz - We reach your target in buzz worthy places where they congregate, and encourage them to share their brand experience with their friends both offline and online.
• We don't waste samples - Anyone not interested in your sample can leave it for the next interested consumer.
• We spend your budget wisely - Our program is cost effective since multiple samples can be shipped to a single venue (minimizing shipping fees), and hired brand ambassadors are unnecessary (minimizing labor fees).

To learn more about how our promotions can surprise and delight your consumers, visit our website or send us an email. 

Handit2 Network Launches Photo Sharing

Interested in increasing your brand's earned media? The Handit2 Network's new photo sharing tools create a path for offline samplers to spread the word about their brand experience to their friends online, extending the reach and duration of your sampling promotion. Build authentic social engagement, exposure, likes, followers, and more! Here's how it works:

• Encourage consumers and venue staff to submit photos of your sampling program 'in action' via incentives such as a photo contest, a prize drawing, or a free coupon

• ​Photos are shared via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, email, or web upload 

• Enjoy real-time digital access to all photos submitted; moderate and re-post the best photos to your brand's website and/or social media networks 

• Measure impressions and reward the best submissions and most influential evangelists

To learn more about how our sampling promotions can directly increase your brand’s earned media, contact us today.

Spotlight on Fitness

Do you have a product that appeals to fitness-minded people? The Handit2 Network offers many channels that reach consumers while they are exercising. Segment these channels by age, gender, or retailer proximity to zero in on the very best locations to promote your brand. 

Reach up to 4 million active consumers
Venue Type	Moms	Millennials	Women	Men	Seniors
Boxing Centers				•
Cheerleading	•	•
College Rec Centers		•
Country Clubs			•	•	•
Dance Classes	•	•	•
Gymnastics	•	•
Health Clubs		•	•	•	•
Intramurals		•
Martial Arts	•	•	•	•
Military Fitness				•
Organized Sports		•	•	•
Personal Trainers			•	•
Pilates		•	•		•
Rec Centers	•	•	•	•	•
Senior Classes					•
Swimming Pools	•	•	•	•	•
Yoga		•	•

The Handit2 Network has the knowledge and experience to craft a unique promotion catered to your brand and needs. Contact us today to learn more about how the Handit2 Network can help you get your product into the hands of active consumers.

A Twist on Shopper Marketing

The Handit2 Network offers a unique twist on traditional shopper marketing tactics. Instead of targeting shoppers while they are in the store (i.e. Walmart) or at home, we target nearby small business (i.e. daycares), with the goal of driving the small business's customers to a nearby Walmart to make a purchase. The advantage of this strategy over other sample/coupon distribution strategies is fourfold:

·  reach a highly targeted demographic group (in the case of daycare, virtually 100% moms)

·  reach them near stores where your product can be purchased

·  does not require a small fortune (as direct mail does) in shipping

·  avoid reaching...

o    the wrong demographic (in-store sampling poses a filtering problem -- if an older man asks for a sample meant for moms he will likely get one)

o    freebie seekers (all web-based opt-in programs inject non-loyal consumers into your ROI, making it more difficult for the effort to payout)

---

This busy mom is encouraged to shop at
Walmart through account-specific coupons and
signage on display at her child's daycare. 

Hand it to Mom Case Study - Imagine a busy mom leaving work to pick up her toddler from daycare. As she steps into the daycare lobby, she is surprised to see an attractive display for a product that can simplify her busy life. She spends a few minutes chatting with the director and another parent about the product and eagerly takes a sample and coupon. The display mentions the product is available at Walmart and that store is right around the corner. She plans a trip to Walmart to buy it. 

---

Features of the Handit2 Network shopper marketing model:

·  Ability to select sampling venues within a few miles of any retailer chain specified.

·  Ability to select venues that best attract your target demographic.

·  Hand a sample to a surprised, highly targeted group of consumers who are going about their typical day.

·  Drive incremental traffic to your retail partners using account-specific signage and/or coupons.

·  Avoid the freebie seekers who register online or seek out samples (ANY samples) at the store because they are free.

Reaching Moms of Infants

Do you have a great product targeted to the moms of infants? Historically, the Handit2 Network’s Hand it to Mom offering has focused primarily on reaching moms of young children through daycare centers and pediatrician offices nationwide. Over the past three years we have expanded our network to include other highly targeted venues reaching moms of infants including: 

Mom happily accepts a product sample
at the end of a Mommy & Me fitness class.

1.  Daycare centers with infant rooms 
2.  Pediatrician offices 
3.  Birth centers 
4.  Diaper services 
5.  Mommy & Me classes 

             - Fitness

             - Baby yoga

             - Baby massage

             - Infant music

             - Infant swimming

             - Breastfeeding classes and consultants

             - Many more

These venues are eager to receive your sample or coupon to distribute to their customers.  They can be segmented by proximity to key retailers, by household income level, and/or by other demographic or geographic parameters to ensure your samples/coupons are put directly into the hands of your ideal consumer – Mom – in the locations that make the most sense for your business.

This mom and baby team receive a 
sample after their swimming class.

What is Venue Based Sampling Anyway?

Getting samples into the hands of prospective customers is a tried and true strategy for generating business. However, with the large number of ‘freebie seekers’ (we call them ‘freces’!) in today’s technology-driven culture, many sampling efforts are a waste of marketing dollars. It is imperative to get your samples into the hands of your ideal consumer, rather than giving them to someone who is simply looking to get something (anything actually) for free.

This client was interested in reaching
middle school kids and/or their parents.

If sampling is in your company’s marketing strategy and you want to avoid the freces, then venue based sampling must be considered. Venue based sampling is a method in which samples are delivered to brick-and-mortar establishments in order to reach a highly concentrated group of your target demographic. Examples of our carefully curated roster of venues are Daycare Centers, Birth Centers, Pediatric Offices, College Recreation Centers, Dance Studios, Martial Arts Studios, Health Clubs and Senior Centers. In all of these venues, opt-in is provided by the venue director/owner/manager, but the end recipients (your target consumers), are not requesting samples; they are simply the lucky recipient of an unexpected gift that (if properly targeted) happens to be completely relevant to their life and lifestyle.

Because the venues we work with generally serve a very specific segment of the population, samples are able to reach your ideal target consumer without wasting samples on irrelevant categories of consumers. Venues already have a pre-existing relationship with your target consumer so when those venues opt-in to take part in a sampling promotion, their customers truly consider your product, since it has come from such a reliable source. And, since the venues are providing the space and manpower, venue based sampling is significantly less expensive than other options available to you such as direct mail, street team or retailer sampling.

My Gym Partnership

We are excited to announce our new sampling partnership with My Gym, a children's  fitness center chain with 155 locations nationwide.  My Gym offers physical education/pre-gymnastics classes for children age 6 weeks to 13 years old, with most clientele in the 2-5 year old age range.  My Gym facilities offer a fantastic opportunity for brands to reach moms and their children with samples and coupons while participating in fitness activities, 'mommy & me' classes, summer camps, martial arts, birthday parties, games, and music activities.  Your brand can be featured before, during or after classes as well as highlighted at the front desk.  "Offering our customers samples/coupons through the Handit2 Network is a win-win situation" says Matt Hendison, Chief Marketing Officer for My Gym.  "It brings added value to our customers which in turn encourages them to come back again and again to see what other new products we'll be offering them."