Rita's Water Ice Lets Customers Name New Product

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NetPlus Marketing Helps Nation's Largest Italian Ice Franchise Meet Business Goals with Successful Localized Pilot Program

Conshohocken, PA— November 6, 2006 — Today at the ad:tech online advertising tradeshow in NYC, top 50 interactive agencyNetPlus Marketingand Rita's Water Ice Franchise Company LLC, the nation's largest and fastest-growing Italian ice chain, announced the success of a unique product naming promotion for a new series of Italian Ice treats. The creative campaign,"Rita's TBD,"succeeded in boosting customer satisfaction and support of Rita's products and initiatives by engaging its customers in meaningful dialogues and applying their feedback directly to the business.

Launched in August, the new product was made available throughout the Lehigh Valley, PA area, where, after tasting, patrons were encouraged to go online and help shape the destiny of the line of treats. The campaign's online components, combined with offline promotions at Rita's franchises, were designed to build awareness for the new product and increase traffic to stores and the Web site. The promotion showed great promise very early on with sales of the new product accounting for ten percent of overall sales at some locations.

NetPlus Marketing believes that a large part of the program's success can be attributed to its focus on the customer. In the age of Web 2.0, there are many channels for consumers to have a voice on the Internet, from blogs to social networking sites to video sharing networks. Within the first three weeks, Rita's received 1000+ responses from its Pennsylvania-based customers eager to make their mark on the future of the company.

"Today's consumer wants to be involved in the world of advertising that surrounds them - they want to feel like they have a say in what companies are trying to sell them," said Denise Zimmerman, president and chief strategy officer of NetPlus Marketing. "One of the great things about the Rita's campaign was the combining of online and offline channels to immerse the consumer in the product and the naming process. Who better than someone who has actually enjoyed a product to help name it?"

With the help of NetPlus Marketing, Rita's was able to fully track the performance of this campaign online and directly apply the results to their offline initiatives. As more marketing dollars are moving to the Internet, interactive agencies like NetPlus are leading the way for mid-sized companies who wish to maximize the impact of their online and offline efforts.

"We chose NetPlus as a marketing partner because of its depth of knowledge and experience with interactive campaigns," said Tom Spadea, director of franchising, Rita's Water Ice Franchise Company. "In working with them, we have been impressed with their ability to map online campaigns to our overall business value and seamlessly integrate with our offline marketing efforts to increase our bottom line."

Rita's, one of the Wall Street Journal's 25 fastest-growing franchises, is putting the availability of local stores to good use as a test bed for national programs. With the help of NetPlus, Rita's is incorporating some of the more sophisticated capabilities to reach the local audience, opening up new opportunities that make sense to the business as a whole. NetPlus has long adhered to the philosophy that aligning strategy with overall business objectives spells success, and this local program has done just that. In fact, due to the success of the pilot program, Rita's plans to roll out similar campaigns across the country through 400+ franchises.

About Rita's:

Today, Rita's Water Ice Franchise Company LLC is the nation's largest Italian Ice chain with more than 400 locations operating and another 30 under construction throughout the East Coast and as far west as Ohio. Rita's was recently named one of the Top 25 Franchise High Performers by the Wall Street Journal's "Startup Journal." For more information, please visit:www.ritasice.com.

About NetPlus Marketing:

Celebrating 10 years of success, NetPlus Marketing creates programs that have measurable impact on their clients' marketing and business objectives. A top 50 interactive advertising agency located outside of Philadelphia, NetPlus has been delivering award-winning, online marketing and advertising programs since 1996 for clients such as Charming Shoppes, Inc., Coventry First, Crosstown Traders, Inc., Hanover Direct, Inc., Harriet Carter, Nature Made, Rita's Water Ice Franchise Company LLC, Toll Brothers, Inc., Universal Studios, and other discerning marketers. To learn more visit: www.netplusmarketing.com.

Media Contact:
Carla Vicens
blast! PR for NetPlus Marketing
919-833-9975 x.10
carla@blastpr.com

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News Source : Rita's Water Ice Lets Customers Name New Product