TV ‘Deals & Steals,’ jingle for biz promo
“The idea is to push Farragut businesses, and (the businesses) come up with the Deals & Steals to promote,” said Steve Krempasky, executive director of Shop Farragut/FBA. “I just let people know what’s going on in Farragut and why they should shop Farragut.”
Along with Deals & Steals, a jingle also is in the works.
“We haven’t unveiled it yet, but we just completed a Shop Farragut jingle that we will be using in upcoming Shop Farragut programs,” he said. “It features everything about Farragut and Shop Farragut. It’s short and sweet … it’s jazzy.”
The Deals & Steals promotion started two months ago.
“(Deals & Steals) was not my brainchild,” he said. “It was more of the sales force at WATE-TV.”
Krempasky said WATE sales representatives approached him with the idea “to get local businesses involved in an on-air showcase for local merchants.
“But if you know the advertising industry, local businesses don’t necessarily have all the wherewithal to pay for TV spots,” he said. “The idea was to break the coverage up into smaller segments, and Shop Farragut would add some additional dollars to help make it affordable to everybody.”
Shop Farragut’s part is rounding up businesses who have been interested in doing TV but never had the wherewithal to do it, Krempasky added.
“So, by using our contacts here in Farragut — and this is only for Farragut businesses — we were able to put together five-minute segments once a month on (WATE’s) 3 p.m. program ‘Living East Tennessee,’” he said. “The three businesses and I show up about 2:45 and get ready.
“They bring products or a coupon or a demonstration of something that they’re selling,” Krempasky added. “The first three businesses that were involved were Flour Power, The Consignment Shoppe and Premier Martial Arts.
“We have other businesses who are also interested in future months, but this was a three-month test program, The businesses do put some money into it to help pay for the package deal, and Shop Farragut contributes about 20 percent of the overall cost.”
WATE backs up the promotion with their website and pushes the coupons on air.
The final Deals & Steals is expected to take place Friday, July 23, but Krempasky said he is looking for more businesses to do another three months.
“As long as WATE is doing it, I’ll support it,” he said. “We just thought that the mom-and-pop shops here don’t always have an opportunity to get on television.”
While the first versions of the jingle were reminiscent of the Andrew Sisters’s “swing and boogie-woogie style,” Krempasky said the most recent versions were “updated a bit.
“But creating a jingle is a tough thing, especially when you are trying to get a snappy catch phrase with the name Shop Farragut,” he added.
“We just need the appropriate commercial to unveil it … probably during this fall’s football campaign.“
