VERBATIMS
Please describe your all-time favorite
promotion idea (or ideas).
I like package bundles - where you get your favorite product with other tools and items to use it. Not necessarily more of the same product in a smaller size.
Guinness Win Your Own Pub Barq's Russia Going Out of Business sale Charmin State Fair Restroom Sampling Nescafe College Wake-Up Calls
Phonewerks "I found your wallet" campaign
Happy Meals
Miller Blind Date McDonald's Monopoly More (just can't think right now)
New Coke (psych!!!)
No - someone will steal it (again !)
McDonalds Monopoly.
Not mine, but one day... An airline put firist class seats in a special section of a baseball stadium. Fans that had this airlines frequent flyer card could be entered into a contest that would allow them to sit in the seats and receive first class service of hot dogs, soft drinks and snacks from a uniformed flight attendant. Interactive, loyalty rewarding and highly visible for the airline.
South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority offered consumers an empty glass bottle at a minimal charge so they could 'Bottle Your Own' water (and not buy bottled water at the store). The campaign worked because keeping a bottle of water in the fridge cuts the chorine taste.
Sorry, classified. we're working on our favorite new ideas each day.
product giveaway at events
anything that offers a discount in a creative way, such as through interstitials
McDonald's Monopoly.
The Miller Lite Texas Party (1982 huge,$30MM integrated promotion to win the State of Texas)
Airline frequent flyer programs
Miracle-Gro Contest: $100,000 prize for the world's largest tomato
MGD Blind Date MTV's Movie Awards: on-line create your acceptance speech winner
I really like the idea behind the cross platform promotions that are taking place involving the internet as a backbone. Grassroots - interactive - customizable - and sometimes underground: they provide a marketer with an opportunity to build the "cool factor" while integrating product awareness into the campaign.

The Goodyear blimp. You know it's effective when everyone copies it.
World's Largest Salad Bar- A kick-off to Wendy's introduction of their salad bar-unfortunately it was a cold day in Cleveland
I think whoever originally thought up frequent flyer miles was brilliant - a way to create a kind of loyalty in a category where there wasn't any at all.
Publishers' Clearing House. (I know, not an Internet promotion!)
Sending flip flops to promote a conference for people to sign up and attend.The conference was held in San Diego in Jan. So, the mailer went out in late Oct. to those northerns
EDirect - it is an in-house tightly refined email database that is industry specific. We don't sell it but allow clients to use it on an annual basis provided we build the email ads for them.
Mailed a custom box with a full size shovel for a ground breaking and custom view masters for a museum opening
Any promotion that gives the consumer a experience, captures their email address and/or new profinling information and then drives them shop online or offline is a good promotion. But like any other marketing, it is the ongoing relationship that is important, not just the initial promotion or campaign. Ongoing strategic promotions planned annually are the most effective. One off promotions are not themost effective.
Jon Spoelstra's "Rubber Chicken" direct mail campaingn (Refer to the book "Outrageous Marketing".
Credit card deferred billing - buy now, pay three months from now
Win your own pub in Ireland by Guinness
I'm currently conducting a postcard campaign to supplement other efforts in promoting my free monthly e-zine, "The Corporate Communicator." The postcard copy gives writing and editing tips and at the end asks the reader to subscribe. I just love my postcards, which I built online and inexpensively at modernpostcard.com I'm dedicating myself to this effort with the belief that it is another way to alert my potential customers of the value of my e-zine and my copywriting services. It's been my experience that some communication managers are still resisting the most valuable way to exchange information of our day -- the World Wide Web. While promoting my business, I'm taking on a second personal mission of bringing these managers into the 21st Century.
Tide diamond-in-the-box
The Nutri-Sweet (sp?) Gumball samples that were sent out when the sweetner was being introduced.
The Pepsi Challenge Burger King's TV coupon "Battle of the Burgers"
Permission Marketing via the internet has been my favorite idea. People go to your web page because they want something from it. In order to get something from it, they fill out a relatively detailed questionaire (protection of that information - ie: not selling the database to anyone - is crucial). You can then shape the information you send them to how they filled out the questionaire. The crux is following up and delivering on what you promise.
No one individual idea comes to mind but a play on words, wit and humour are definately keys to successful promotional ideas
Nike chainsaw commercial... then had to go to the Internet see how it ended. Great idea, but did not anticipate the technical limitations and that many could not download the video file.
I've always liked promotions that are as personalized to the individual consumer as possible. It's not flashy, but the coupons that print on the back Safeway store receipts are one of these ideas. The coupons are selected and generated based on the items I buy at the store. They are targeted specifically to me. That's the best kind I think. It's subtle, targeted and effective.
When we were first asked to do a sweeps for a pasta company some years back, the suggested prize was a trip to Italy. We proposed instead to offer a new kitchen, and not just any kitchen, but a truly high-end kitchen -- the Kitchen Unsurpasta. Sure enough, we generated an average of 10,000 entries per market -- exceeding the entire population of some of our markets in the targeted region!
All time favorite is IVORY soap "see if it floats or sinks" promotion, re-inforced key brand difference/equity and sold soap at the same time.
Soviet Union Going Out of Business Sale

Cheerleaders and car dealerships! Just kidding - but it works. Just heard a local radio spot and it persuaded me to set time aside to go see the new Hummer H2 this weekend. Harleys, Hummers and Hot Rods.
WKRP's turkey giveaway for a Thanksgiving radio promotion
Pepsi Challenge
Burger King's audio coupon. Come in and cluck = get a buck off a chicken whopper. definitely an innovative approach to direct response promotion.
Camel's promotion idea, even when I don't smoke. Coke's promotion idea and Nike's one
In the HVAC industry many companies will do a "Free AC (or Furnace" at a trade show for the oldest AC (or frunace. It is a contest were potential customers sign up their equipment information and we send out a technician to inspect the equipment to see how "old" it really is. The person with the oldest gets the free equipment includign installation, but many will upgrade to a higher model. Plus we have TONS of leads. Many times you can get over 100 leads of people with old equipment. It is very successful and only cost you one install.
hitching a ride on the Goodyear blimp
In general, they are promotions that involve the target consumer in a way that isn't complicated, while really speaking to the brands identity, like the Guiness pub sweepstakes, etc.
A web site by Chicago-based Killian & Company Advertising Agency. Its irreverent site sells the company's fresh creativity right on the home page with the usual questions about looking for an agency that has ... then giving their own unexpected answer: "You're asking a helluva lot. Lots of luck, pal." Sold!
Britta's sponsorship of beach clean ups in which they gave away coupons for their products which generated sales of filters. They also gave away hats and t-shirts and got their name in all the TV coverage of the event (written on all those hats!) for local newscasts, all while aligning their brand with caring for the environment and clean water.
My favorite is the pizza restaurant who said to bring in all the printed info from their competitors to get a free pizza - thus removing the competition from future decisions.
money saving packages
Dorito's Scratch & Win!
Direct marketing launch for VPT voice-powered VCR controller
No real favorite. Promotions should have multiple winners so people feel they have a chance of winning and grand prizes for families should be for more than 4 people. Many Hispanic families have 3+ children.
Leggs Old product...completely new "gestalt" No one had ever seen this before, but recognized it instantly when they did!
Hush Puppies aren't such a fancy shoe, or a phony shoe. They're just dumb.
Snapple "Win Nothing", Pepsi Challenge, and Marlboro Miles
Taco Bell Star Wars "Feel the Force." People of all ages actually played along and put the game pieces to their foreheads to see if they had won a prize (they could have just warmed the piece in their hands). Really put Taco Bell on the map in terms of promotion as entertainament as extension of brand and hallmark of brand experience. Oh, and Cracker Jack. "Candy coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize. That's what you get in Cracker Jack." One of the great ones.
I can't even begin to recollect one that stands out as a favorite.......
Nike's "Bracketville" promotion from several years ago. Tag line was "Stay As Long as You Can." The promotion tied into the "March Madness" NCAA college basketball tournament. The promotion was designed around a "town" called Bracketville, where people lived, worked and played. All elements of the fictional "town" related to the way that teams played each other and were eliminated in the tournament - this process is laid out in brackets. The promotion was brilliant.
The "TOP FIVE" Fanta "Fantasy Summer Vacation" Schlitz Beer "50th Anniversary of World War II" Old Style Beer "Goat Boat" Old Milwaukee Beer "Hit Kickin' Music" Coca-Cola "Bring the Whole Family Together" Holiday 2L Promotion

Marlboro Miles - quite addictive
Web Coupons
Put a radio guy in a rain room for 20 consecutive hours to promote 20th anniversary of Gore-tex outerwear. Poor guy... when he finally got out, it really rained!
Several years ago, a car maker (I'm pretty sure Volkswagen) had a tie-in deal where if you bought one of their cars (I think Jetta, or maybe it was Golf), you got a free bike roof rack and the bike to go on it (I think a Trek, or maybe it was Cannondale). This was a great job of matching a product with a consumer psychographic/lifestyle. On the other hand, I don't exactly remember who the partners were anymore. I hope it sold cars, because I thought it was great thinking.
Anything that enhances and deepens a customer's relationship with the brand
From both a professional and consumer perspective, I'd have to say Campbell's Labels for Education has done the best job of creating a comprehensive program that works at both grassroots and national levels, garners public attention, appeals to the target thorugh their "soft spot" (kids) and most importantly drives sales in commodity categories - the most effective at-shelf tie breaker I know. UPromise is similiar in many ways and likely to be the next blockbuster of this type in my mind.
strategic promotions which build the franchise like trial, loyalty etc. or tactical promotions as competitive defense, volume booster or intensifying emotional bonding
ballon rides in New Mexico for a local car dealership
I personally like the beer promotions - Labatt's "Out of the Blue" in Canada where people were called out of the blue, given prizes and the calls were played on air. Molson's "Molson Rocks Blind Date Tour" where consumers won trips to a secret small/intimate concert. They're also doing a "House Party" promo now (http://www.iam.ca/house_party/). One of the big beer companies is doing a promotion now where there are geographic sensors hidden in certain cases of beer to electonically track where the case/bottle is taken. Sprite did a promotion one time where the grand prize winner received a trip to snowboard on all four continents - great offer for a snowboarder. I generally don't like the free shirt/hats in the cases, however, I've noticed some 'loyal Moldson Canadian' friends have recently switched to Labatt JUST because of Labatt's recent promo - the "Beer Coldies" of an NHL jersey in each case. I can't believe people actually collect these things. They even try to peek inside the cases at the beer store to try and get the whole set. They're even being sold on eBay. Shopper's Drug Mart's new loyalty program - Optimum - is apparently doing well.
Win a Pub in Ireland by Guinness Blind Date by Miller
One of the best ever was when a national cereal company gave away land in Alaska...one square inch at a time....millions received their land deeds, but no one ever collected.
clinique bonus time; friends & family coupons over the internet for in-store use
Frito-Lay - cash inside bags
Herb Albert - Album cover- Girl in whipped cream
Roll up the rim to win. Win-a-winnebago.
The Wishing Well
Bus shrink wrapping ads were cool when first introduced. God billboards got my attention,
The Harry Potter Owl Prowl - Online and Offline Media, International program- Win a chance to fly to London, win a part in the movie, and see a preview screening of the 2nd installation of Harry Potter.
Vote for the new M&M color
Send 24" statue of Superman to corporate executive with letter explaining how our software can help the exec become a "Super CXO."
one step ideas, easy for consumer to participate and easy for communications to be developed so consumer "gets it"
Nothing specific but, the best are usually those where strengths are leveraged rather than a simple exchange of $$$ for Materials.

We were promoting a telephone feature and actually upgraded customers with the feature, then notified them by mail that they had been upgraded and could try the feature Free for 1 month or call to cancel. Most kept the feature.
i get promotional pens all the time, but one i received from a pharmaceudical company was shaped like a pill...it was truly the bestpromotion i have received...
In connection with Nokia's Sugar Bowl sponsorship, 40 consumer winners were flown to the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl over 4 days in the Nokia Hip Bowl Hop several years ago.
Recently, Sponge Bob Square Pants ice cream bars at Baskin-Robbins
Oh, boy. I can't think of a single example, but I like anything that is so useful that it becomes a necessary part of the target's life and puts the company's name in front of them frequently.
The Target in the Ocean-will the falling space debris hit it?
Liked the Budweiser frogs
i'm really into product placement on video games right now
Straight promotion: If the Ivory soap sinks, you win $1,000,000. Integrated idea: my facts are very iffy here, and this was a campaign before my time. My guess is that it was done by Stan Friedberg. Here goes: a particular beer had a radio campaign in which the supposed owner of the brand was always confiding in his shrink. He was complaining that making such a good beer takes all his time. The shrink, over the course of the campaign, tries to convince the brewer to take a vacation. He says he would but that would leave his brother-in-law in charge. The shrink says how badly could he mess things up over a short vacation. The owner finally agrees to put his brother-in-law the screw-up in charge and go on a quick vacation. THE VERY NEXT DAY, in all stores, all of the bottles of that brand of beer HAD THEIR LABELS UPSIDE DOWN. Even if I have half this story right, it's brilliant.
The company has had great success with the VW Beatle auto wrap
Coors Light's Summer ATM promotion - win cash!
don't have a favorite.
Air miles
loyalty promotions
I give a free gift to everyone that orders long distance. I also have a drawing once a year and give away 1 diamond ring for the top order, one drawing that everyone is in and one dinner for two ($50) for an Individual Ordering guest. The next year I advertise the winners in every mailout. It has kept my Hostesses/Guests very happy.
My two all time favorite "Promotions" were aimed at "brand connectiveness" and did not involve "selling" a product at that moment. The "I want to be like Mike" and the Coca Cola Mean Joe Green commercials. Both endeared the product to the consumer, and connected with them emotionally.
Selling 5,000 raffle tickets at $100 each for a charity. Used direct mail, newspaper ads, radio,and public relations. The winning prize was a house. It was unique so you can imagine our creativity. We could of sold 50% more tickets. The last two days the phone never stopped ringing. Another was a customer survey for a funeral home, but that is another story.
Baseball card companies inserting memorabilia in their packs of cards. Makes you want to purchase more packs in the hopes of getting that one piece of history. One of my old school favorites s the toy in the cereal or cracker jacks box. Got me everytime.
FREE!
I love product placement (e.g. survivor using products as rewards and prizes.
The Malboro adventure challenge
absolut vodka

Continuity Programs - going all the way back to S&H green stamps ... when grocery stores offered stamps with purchases and shoppers could get merchandise for free ... to air-line continuity programs for free travel I believe in awarding consumers for loyalty
I really like the current vote for the new color of M & M's. Pepsi Stuff still solid.
A multi-categoried promotion in-store tied to a movie release.
Hard to pick one...but a favorite is: An independent casual restaurant/bar located in a rather out of the way location in SW Michigan, wanted to build awareness & drive sales among summer visitors to the area -- especially golfers who played at the many area courses. We know that one thing a golfer cannot do is pass up a "lone" golf ball that appears to have been left/lost. So we purchases several gross of reclaimed balls, and had the following message printed on each: "After your game, come and have a cool one at (Name of Restaurant/Bar). We then paid area high schoolers to play the courses and "drop" the marked balls throughout the courses. The results were amazing. More than 57% of the balls were "returned". The beauty of the promotion was that no golfer comes in alone...they come w/their foursome. Sales, customer count increased over the summer and rose to about the same level the following summer.
Just about any beer promotion
Bud Points. The budweiser promotion where consumers purchase products, collect points from the packaging and redeem for merchandise.
Recreating Disney's Bahamian island in the middle of Times Square.
win the product before it's released and we'll overnight it to you the day before everyone else gets it. HUGE response (VERY VERY long anticipated kids' property). . . of course fulfillment had it's problems
McDonald's Monopoly the first time out.
We tend to like campaigns that involve multi senses. A design to please the eye, a handout that requires touching . Brilliant copy writing to move one's imagination. Finally, packaging to put everything together.
The unsolicited promotion.....I surprised our sales force when they "went beyond" (exceeded a sales dollar figure) just by sending them a little trinket like a bubble pen and a thank you. The badge of honor, being able to blow bubbles during meetings, swept across the country by word of mouth among employees and made sales shoot up in those products.
Guiness - Win an Irish pub
BMW on-line mini-movies
Marketing student housing properties...The mascot for the football team is a tiger.. We had a shirt made for the tiger with our name "the Exchange" and webb address.... All students love the tiger and remember our webb address "notthedorm.com. and name...Our tag line was a change is comming, the Exchange...We have trippled our phone calls and internet hits....
Developing a field marketing force that was used for in-store sampling program that far outsold any demo agency or the in-house demo unit.
hot dog eating championship by nathans
Any sort of 'save the cap/lid/wrapper' for cool stuff (especially during the summer...like collecting Kool-Aid envelopes for kid gizmos! I find I now do promos with my own kid!)
It was a local promotion for the opening of a new parking garage. The invitations were hand -delivered, and with them came a little car. Simple - and very effective. The opening was packed.

Buried Alive - on air talent buried in a cement tomb for 48 hours or until we raised X amount of toys for Toys For Tots. We received lots of press and plenty of on-site visits from listeners. Promotion was held in a client's parking lot.
Barqs Root Beer "Soviet Union Going Out of Business Sale"
Just For Men Strike Out the Gray. This was done at minor league stadiums to get men at the grassroot level to understand that it is OK to get rid of gray hair
putting a special "call for help" phone number/info tag on common household products that are often used in child abuse.
instant give-aways
don't have enough time :)
The nintendo Game Cube traveling club event/promotion last winter. Amazing. Dynamic. Completely out of the box thinking.
Miller Lite's Case of the Missing Case--fully integrated promotion providing clues to find the missing case with $1.0MM Big Jake Budweiser Sweepstakes--Live fish seeded with instant cash in regional lakes
I loved the way M&Ms engaged consumers when they did their first promotion to add a new color. I still remember the phone number 1-800-FUNCOLOR! Talk about generating ownership in a product! It must have worked well, they just did it again.
Gilette sent me a top of the line new razor in the mail (trial). I still use it today and they've got me on the razor blade cost.
1. Plop,plop, fizz, fizz 2. Where's the beef? 3. Can't leave home without it
At a sales meeting the new "Coffin Snowboard Bag" was introduced by the team leader - a co-hort emerged from the bag dress as the "gimp" from "Pulp Fiction". The bag was one of the most popular bags of the season and sold well to all accounts.
Tracker Can - Pepsi UK. Tracking device inserted into can - first to open receives 1,000,000 pounds delivered by celebrity within 1 hour (live TV, use of Spice Girls etc).
MarketSource sample boxes in Toys R Us
Frequent flyer program when first initiated.
When I was a kid, there was a promotion in which kids got to vote for their favorite of two cereals from same company, Quik vs. Quake. The loser would be discontinued. Quik won (got my vote) and continues to exist as specialty brand to this day. Quake? RIP.
Chatelaine (Canadian publication) online laundry promotion and any of the Cdn beer company promotions around hockey playoff season.

giving away sample products works well
Complete gift box of items that support a theme, customized for the recipient
The "I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU A $250 HAIRCUT FOR FREE!" 4-letter direct mail campaign created to build the brand of "Kenneth's Haircutting, Inc." Designed to attract attitude and image leaders who have the discretionary income to afford our prices, by the third letter that essentially says, "Whatsa matta with you? You're gonna turn down a $250 FREE offer?", we usually get them in. Of course, only my husband charges (and gets) $250 per haircut. He's well known in our city and beyond. Here's how it works: We get the targeted clients in for a free $250 haircut. Kenneth uses the opportunity to turn the promotion into a haircutting class (so everyone benefits from the promotion). All of a sudden, you don't have just a free (expensive & quality) haircut any more: it's turned into theatre. And the client is the star. We never strong-arm these targeted clients into staying with us. They are usually so amazed at the difference in their hair, they want to return. Kenneth then suggests they work with one of the designers who have been watching & learning during the haircut (at a lower price). The potential client walks away knowing that designer has been personally instructed by Kenneth on how to create the cut he has designed the next time. Sometimes they become regulars. Sometimes they insist on continuing with Kenneth. Sometimes they buy lots of retail during that first "free" visit. And sometimes, they refer a lot of friends and family to us. It's terrific!
Buy a BMW by end of promotion period, get 3 day trip to sports driving school. Built image, brand loyalty, and added value from purchase.
American Airlines AAdvantage Miles Program
The most elegant campaigns last - e.g. Macintosh 1984 & "Yum", Lexus "tree", BWM "driving machine", Coke's 1970's "Thirsty?" Ads (Desert), VW "Dah, Dah, Dah" And the most outlandish - e.g. Coke "wrapping" a highrise tower in Bejing, Bud "Waz-zabbie"
watch and win promotions
treasure hunts
I believe in the mecanism- prize guarantee- for ex. Buy 8 pots of yogurt and get IMMEDIATELY in the shop a gift ( IMPORTANT: the gift should be attractive adding value on the product)
I don't think it is possible to choice just one because of different objectives you have due to time, competitor, budget, preferences...Genrally I prefer, and I believe they will be the future, all CRM project meaning complete project in front of special action.
land mine awareness campaign in perth. cirlular disks were scattered on street same colour as tarmac. once they stuck to your foot, as you turned it over it the message explained how you just had your leg blown off if you were living in areas with mines etc etc - very impactful
In the UK it was Harry the Lime. Consumers purchased a carton of Ribena (black currant drink), but if it was lime flavoured you won a prize.
Selling a 100 novels book collection to improve news paper sales: increasing sales, building brand earning money.
Blue M&M's
A Shopping Center was to open in a short time so the goal was to get the biggest number of shops they could get. So a couple of bodyguards went to potential clients and "Forced" them to buy their shops in the Mall by opening a suitcase with all the papers needed. This action won an epica award.
Miller Beer Blind Date McD's Olympics (if US athletes win you win)
Comedy sketches e.g. John Smiths bitter (UK)

Barq's "Soviet Union Going Out of Business" McDonald's Olympics "When the US Wins, You Win" BMW Online "Films"

For Bubblicious - we created the Adapt-a- Whale promotion. Children sent in proofs of purchase to receive an ìAdoption Certificateî of a whale, a photograph of their whale, (with a full description on the reverse side), and a booklet (30+ pages) which gave them all types of information on whales. The photographs and booklet where created for this program by the ìAllied Whale at the College of the Atlantic ñ a conservation group that studies sea mammals
Cuervo Nation. Cuervo Tequila knew that when people think of their brand, it conjured up not just an image, but a lifestyle. Cuervo Nation, a real island nation in the British Virgin Islands, was founded for the pursuit of life, liberty and Cuervo Margaritas. The thing that is great about Cuervo Nation is that after more than five years the idea is still valid. Cuervo Nation keeps evolving and to this day the idea is still a cornerstone for the Cuervo brand as a whole. Advertising, promotions, PR, website, etc. all incorporate Cuervo Nation. The idea drives brand image and sales.
anything at drycleaning stores
I don't have just one favorite, but I do like innovative promos rather than throwing a new spin on an old idea. An example that comes to mind is the Ocar Meyer hot dog truck.
Promotion was linked with launch of new car model. Car keys were attached to weekend issues of newspaper. Everyone who will visit dealer outlet with a key had a chance to check if it opens the car. If it does he wins a car. Everyone who takes a test drive was taking part in a lottery - main price the new car.
For me it's a tie between the Jetson's Open House we did for Century 21 and the Showerpalooza karaoke Bar Tour we created for Malibu rum.
Free 1 sq. in. of land in Alaska gold territory.
Stress apples.
There have been several over the years - I like receiving a direct mail pieces; one that stands out is a plastic pouch that was filled with water, a little sand and a small golf ball - it was promoting the opening of a new golf course. One we complete at work was a box of fortune cookies mailed to all our customers to celebrate our company anniversary. Inside the cookies were "fortunes" that promoted our company - their "Lucky Number" was our phone number.
Using "monsters in the attic" thematic approach and characters as part of promotion for roofing vents an associated building products
Most of the Budweiser adds are amazingly creative and build brand image.
Meet and greets with celebrities, visits to TV shows/sets. Winning a million dollars. Things that are otherwise not obtainable by the consumer.
Kool-Aid Wacky Warehouse (was innovative at the time... nice use of "leftover" premiums from other programs to meet a new set of continuity/loyalty promotional objectives)
Cooler giveway filled with product for contractor market
It's the one's I recall (from years ago) that 1) changed my perception of a brand and 2) I still recall because they remain in the recesses of my brain are the: Pepsi Challenge and Burger King's Battle of the Burgers.
appearing prize on ketchup bottle

Bud Bowl
Mobil Speed Pass Waasup on line promotion
Anti-hacker gel promoting our security service.
Secret code rings from the 50's.
Stuff-A-Bus, using a mass transit buss for a Christmas Charity, having a radio station encourage listeners to drop off new toys, hats & mittens during the Christmas season for distribution to children in the area
The oreo cookies stacking contest
Lexus promoted their sports coupe by inviting target market of 25-34 yr. olds to Chicago Motor Speedway for test drives (first ate great catered food/non-alcoholic drink, watched video and then drove yourself through obstacle course and also had competition's models to test-drive and compare against the Lexus) and high accelerated drives around the track with professional race car drivers.
Pepsi beeper program ~'96 - was timely and got attention. Unfortunately a little negative press about kids and beepers and school held the program back...it may have been ahead of its time...
Geico, Budweiser commercials, commercials that reach the heart favorably
UTC
I believe any promotion that has a measurerable impact on increasing sales and/or product/service loyalty is worthy of mention.
Without seeming like a prude, it doesn't matter what I like. It's what they (the target audience) tells us is best, and when we measure what they really do in the marketplace, we have an objective, ROI-based scorecard to make decisions. For me, this question reinforces the "old school" (negative) stereotypes about promotional agencies.
Biz card sized mint packs given to summer fair attendees.
Bugle Boy Hot Air Balloon Tour 16 weeks, 2,000,000 viewings 80% recall 2 years later with test group
25 years of Corvettes from VH1
Interactive 'Absolut Vodka' campaign (with book to win)
Ben & Jerry's Free Scoop Day (which I think was tied into the REading is Fundamental campaign)

I "autowrapped" VW beatles advertising a feminine protection product in one city in the NW. The campaign itself gathered national news.
promotions that offer kids dream give-aways to meet their favorite athlete etc.
esso tiger
animal shape caps for children as a in-pack promotion
viral marketing freebies. for example, there is a group of hotels in eastern europe offering 14 free nights accomodation if you email 7 of your friends.
Pre-paid VISA gift cards in denominations of $25, $50, etc., used for corporate gift-giving. This successful concept was started by 2 women in their 70s neither of whom had any background in the promotion or credit card worlds.
A book with a custom cover and a cut out of a business card inside.
Anything Martha Stewart does.