Promoboxx: Helping clients work with retailers
Taryn Plumb, Special to the Journal
W. Marc Bernsau
While spending time at his family-owned package store as he grew up, Ben Carcio experienced first-hand how big brands interact with retailers selling their products.
And — particularly in the digital age — he knew the process could be improved.
So in 2010, he co-founded Boston-based Promoboxx, a startup that helps companies work with retailers to market their products.
Promoboxx largely deals with what Carcio calls the “activation challenge.”
“It’s one thing to create marketing materials,” said Carcio, the company’s CEO. “It’s another to create marketing materials that retailers get excited about and want to participate in.”
Promoboxx is an online marketing platform; through a Web-based dashboard, brands can select retailers or groups of retailers to participate in and customize campaigns, and, through Promoboxx’s retailer messaging platform, send them checklists of marketing tools and reminders to share via social media, their website or email blasts. They can then view charts and graphs of engagement levels, campaign views, social shares, and lead counts.
One big campaign Promoboxx’s platform powered was for Chevrolet prior to Super Bowl XLVI; that effort allowed 6,000 Chevy dealers to share the company’s Super Bowl ads prior to the game via various online channels.
At Canton-based Reebok, using Promoboxx “allows us to stay consistent with how our brand looks and feels at all times,” said Bethany O’Dell, Reebok’s U.S. associate trade marketing manager.
Along with focusing the message, the Promoboxx approach has allowed clients to get more feedback from retailers, which ultimately can be used to make the campaigns better, O’Dell said.
Promoboxx has also dedicated resources to helping retailers in times of need. In April, the startup launched the BacktoBackBay initiative, which worked to raise the profile of the dozens of retailers affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. Many of them had to close down during the ensuing investigation into the bombings, and Promoboxx pitched in by providing the retailers with free marketing tools, listing them on the BacktoBackBay site, and helping to initiate a recent “pub crawl” at a number of the restaurants and bars affected.
Ultimately, BacktoBackBay has engaged more than 200 affected retailers, Carcio said.
“We’re a Boston company at its core,” he said. “It’s critical to give back to the ecosystem.”
A participant in the 2011 session of TechStars Boston, Promoboxx now employs 22 and is supported by $2.25 million in seed funding. Investors include LaunchCapital, Boston Seed Capital, SK Ventures, CommonAngels and Stage 1 Ventures, as well as dozens of angel investors.
One goal for the future is to focus on franchise groups, Carcio said, and eventually expand to serve smaller brands that don’t necessarily fit into the firm’s current fee structure.
Although e-commerce is undoubtedly becoming more of a part of our lives, Carcio points to U.S. Census data showing that physical stores still account for 95 percent of retail sales. Thus, manufacturers have no choice but to support brick-and-mortar retailers, he said.
“Frankly, buying things in stores is never going to go away,” Carcio said.
Original story link here.
And — particularly in the digital age — he knew the process could be improved.
So in 2010, he co-founded Boston-based Promoboxx, a startup that helps companies work with retailers to market their products.
Promoboxx largely deals with what Carcio calls the “activation challenge.”
“It’s one thing to create marketing materials,” said Carcio, the company’s CEO. “It’s another to create marketing materials that retailers get excited about and want to participate in.”
Promoboxx is an online marketing platform; through a Web-based dashboard, brands can select retailers or groups of retailers to participate in and customize campaigns, and, through Promoboxx’s retailer messaging platform, send them checklists of marketing tools and reminders to share via social media, their website or email blasts. They can then view charts and graphs of engagement levels, campaign views, social shares, and lead counts.
One big campaign Promoboxx’s platform powered was for Chevrolet prior to Super Bowl XLVI; that effort allowed 6,000 Chevy dealers to share the company’s Super Bowl ads prior to the game via various online channels.
At Canton-based Reebok, using Promoboxx “allows us to stay consistent with how our brand looks and feels at all times,” said Bethany O’Dell, Reebok’s U.S. associate trade marketing manager.
Along with focusing the message, the Promoboxx approach has allowed clients to get more feedback from retailers, which ultimately can be used to make the campaigns better, O’Dell said.
Promoboxx has also dedicated resources to helping retailers in times of need. In April, the startup launched the BacktoBackBay initiative, which worked to raise the profile of the dozens of retailers affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. Many of them had to close down during the ensuing investigation into the bombings, and Promoboxx pitched in by providing the retailers with free marketing tools, listing them on the BacktoBackBay site, and helping to initiate a recent “pub crawl” at a number of the restaurants and bars affected.
Ultimately, BacktoBackBay has engaged more than 200 affected retailers, Carcio said.
“We’re a Boston company at its core,” he said. “It’s critical to give back to the ecosystem.”
A participant in the 2011 session of TechStars Boston, Promoboxx now employs 22 and is supported by $2.25 million in seed funding. Investors include LaunchCapital, Boston Seed Capital, SK Ventures, CommonAngels and Stage 1 Ventures, as well as dozens of angel investors.
One goal for the future is to focus on franchise groups, Carcio said, and eventually expand to serve smaller brands that don’t necessarily fit into the firm’s current fee structure.
Although e-commerce is undoubtedly becoming more of a part of our lives, Carcio points to U.S. Census data showing that physical stores still account for 95 percent of retail sales. Thus, manufacturers have no choice but to support brick-and-mortar retailers, he said.
“Frankly, buying things in stores is never going to go away,” Carcio said.
Original story link here.
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