It was a rush hour surprise for motorists heading in or out of the Boston area one recent Friday. 
    On the approach to the toll gates, uniformed and orange-vested state police officers were waving motorists through without paying. 
    As cars slowed to navigate the bottleneck, signage at both sides of the booths and on top announced that it was Free Toll Day in Massachusetts.
    The free pass-through was compliments of Utility.com.
    Utility who? motorists wondered, and rightly.
    Until that day most people had not heard of the company, a discount online service peddling electricity, gas, telephone and internet connections that was just then entering the market.
    Utility.com, of Albany, Calif., was out to change that in one swoop, and what better way than to get in people faces as they are communing to or from work and give them a gift?
    It worked. The promotion got tons of notice--including press attention--and the company succeeded in signing up a slew of new customers.
      One-shot, high-profile promotions work best for branding or name recognition when the potential customer base is broad, and that's what inspired Utility.com to sponsor Toll Free Day. Everyone buys utilities.
    (It doesn't necessarily work on all markets, though. A similar promotion in San Francisco backfired mightily; commuters became infuriated that someone would dare festoon their  bridge with banners.)
   This is the seventh in a Media Life series on how to buy the new out-of-home venues. They appear on Mondays.

Fast Facts:

What:
-Toll Free Day on the Massachusetts Turnpike for all travelers, compliments of Utility.com (billed as the world’s first internet utility company). From 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Friday, April 28, drivers traveling the Massachusetts Turnpike at interchanges 18, 19 and 20 eastbound and westbound were not charged a toll. Tolls are usually 50 cents per car.

Who:
-The Utility.com promotion was coordinated by Rob Dahlke from CBS/Infinity Promotions Group in Boston.

How it works:
- Advertising in the Boston area seven days prior to Free Toll Day included radio, print and web ads placed by CBS/Infinity Promotions for Utility.com.
- Turnpike officials decided on what day would work best for the promotion and their staff handled logistical concerns, including hiring off-duty state police to direct traffic and keep it flowing.
- Ads were placed on four top radio stations with 220 60- second spots. Banner ads were also placed on the radio stations’ web sites.
- Press releases to TV stations brought coverage on promotion day, including a 10 minute segment by Channel 5 in Boston.
- Utility.com handled the creative while CBS/Infinity Promotions handled logistics--setting things up with the turnpike authorities and police, placing the ads, printing banners and other signage.
- Signage included 30-foot by 30-foot displays on toll booths. A 53-foot-long by 3-foot-high sign was displayed above the booths. Additionally, 14-foot  by 6- foot signs were posted by the fast lanes. The signs were the company’s blue and black logo against a white background with black lettering announcing "Free Toll Day" and "Utility.com."
- Dahlke says his agency is ready to handle similar campaigns. "It’s a way for a company to brand themselves in a unique fashion. It’s a way to be recognized overnight as a household name. It fits dot.coms or an established name introducing a new product or division."

Markets:
- Utility.com is considering similar promotions in other new service areas. It will soon be in the Pennsylvania utilities market. However, at this time, it doesn't plan to use a free toll promotion in California. "In California you have to be a lot more careful," says Robyn Forman, Utility.com director of marketing communications.
    "There are so many more environmentalists and there are certain things they’re not too happy with," she notes, referring to the promotion that backfired in San Francisco. A little over a year ago a dot.com paid tolls on the Golden Gate in exchange for putting up ads on the bridge that one day and there was a lot of negative radio on it. People were disgusted with advertising on their bridge."

Numbers:
- While Utility.com isn’t sharing numbers when it comes to number of customers or cost of the Massachusetts Turnpike promotion, executives will say traffic on their site on April 28 was 40 percent higher than the entire previous month and that most of that increase was from the Boston area.
- Rob Dahlke at CBS/Infinity says Massachusetts Turnpike traffic was up 10 percent to 15 percent (in excess of 100,000 cars) on Free Toll Day.

Making the buy:
- Lead time from Utility.com’s end was about four weeks. Infinity’s Dahlke said he spent 60 days from conceptualizing the idea to presenting it and assessing costs.
- Advice from Utility.com’s Forman is to enter the arena ready to negotiate.
    "One thing that’s really important for media buyers to remember is that everything is negotiable in terms of price. Push hard to get what you want. They’ll want to throw in things. If they offer a concert promotion you can say ‘no,’ that you want radio time. They may offer a jacket and you may want another newspaper ad instead. Especially with radio, a lot comes with stuff attached, which might be great for the person setting it up. But this is the company’s money. You don’t need stuff so ask ‘what can you do for me?’"

What’s unique:
- According to Dahlke, even Massachusetts Governor Paul Cellucci got involved in planning Free Toll Day.
- The dozens of thank you notes and e-mails that Utility.com received on Free Toll Day and during the following days.

What they’re saying:
- "Why did we try this over other types of marketing? Radio and TV last in your mind for a shorter period of time. You have to see a billboard a couple times before you remember it. This was an impact in one big day, a day to remember. And the key for any dot.com is having people remember your name."--Robyn Forman, director of marketing communications for Utility.com.
- "I drive the pike every day to and from work. Sitting in traffic I had some down time to reflect, to brainstorm. The client (Utility.com) was coming into the Massachusetts market from California and I realized: This is their demographics. What better way to get people than a positive association? It's a human response thing."--Rob Dahlke of CBS/Infinity Promotions Group in Boston.

Web site info:

- Utility.com

- CBS Infinity Promotions Group at www.infinitypromotions.com

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