Have a drink and we'll chew the fat

It's a typical marketer's plight: How do you sell to a smart, cynical group jaded by saturation advertising?

One solution: Draw the consumer into a conversation - via the internet and text messages - about something that interests them.

Advertising agency WRC calls this an "involving idea", and putting it into practise has won the company numerous industry gongs.

"Brands can't just talk any more," says WRC managing director Andrew Mitchell.

"It's not just the more cynical nature - particularly of younger consumers - it's also the fact that you can see an ad but then go on the internet and find out what the product is really like. These days the consumer is armed with so much information."

He says text messaging and the internet make it possible to carry on a two-way dialogue and what is then needed is a compelling attention-grabber.

WRC hit on a highly effective involving idea a few years ago when it thought up the multi-award-winning Smirnoff Half Day Off campaign. The promotion used popular emails to encourage drinkers to go to the pub on a particular Friday afternoon.

More recently, WRC's Get Sponsored by Coruba campaign picked up four gold awards and one silver at last month's annual Direct Marketing Awards.

The Coruba campaign used billboards, print and radio advertising to invite drinkers to register on a website to become one of the country's "20 party legends". Respondents were sent email challenges that earned them points towards making the final 20.

The campaign attracted 50,000 sign-ups and the website received 3 million hits. "Once you have them involved with you and registered on your website to be part of something, then you can have that ongoing dialogue," says Mitchell.

"It might be a brief email exchange. It might be sending them something. It might be, as in the case of Smirnoff and Coruba, a four- to six-week conversation [via email].

"You compare the intensity of that with driving past and seeing a billboard once - it's a no-brainer."

Mitchell says an additional benefit for marketers is that this type of interaction leaves them with a rich database of contact details at the end of the campaign.

"That's not why we do it but it certainly becomes a valuable asset to the brand," he says.

Away from WRC and alcohol, a consortium of marketers and building industry companies is using a similar engaging approach to target home builders and renovators.

Website and magazine publisher Gobuild is a joint venture between Acumen Group, which owns advertising and PR firms, IT company Enform and Registered Master Builders.

Working with building industry partners Carters, Placemakers, CMS (Construction Marketing Services) and Mitre 10, its website and Creative Ideas magazine target women aged 25 to 49 - a key group of decision-makers when it comes to renovation and redecorating work.

As well as showcasing building products, appliances, architects, builders and show-homes, the website allows users to build an "online scrapbook" of plans and ideas which can be emailed to suppliers or architects.

Gobuild chief executive Sue Chapman says while other renovation websites and magazines already exist in the marketplace, the aim is to carve out a niche in the market by offering an interactive service linked to a magazine.

Mitchell says a successful involving idea needs to capture consumers' imagination to the point where they effectively do the advertising themselves.

"There has to be a big, different, captivating idea to achieve that and be so interesting that those consumers want to tell their friends about it."