OOP!-ing It Up

OOP! is a whimsical contemporary American craft gallery with two 2,000-square-foot locations in Providence, Rhode Island. One store is in the College Hill district near Brown University, established in 1990; the other opened in 1999 in the downtown Providence Place Mall. For a special event in December, the management at OOP! proved that their marketing philosophy is every bit as whimsical as their merchandise.

Every December for the last ten years, OOP! (which stands for Out Of Providence) has held a charity fundraiser to coincide with the holiday shopping season. "Our December promotions take advantage of the holiday spirit to do some good, and have a little fun in the process," said store owner David Riordan.

For the last three years, the fundraisers have taken the form of a raffle benefiting AIDS Care Ocean State, a local outreach program that gives support to people living with AIDS as well as family members affected by the disease. Over the years, Riordan and his staff have designed creative themes to help market the holiday fundraisers in the community and make the store as lively as possible for the shopping season. Past themes for December fundraisers have included Christmas Wish List and Ticket to Bliss.

Last December, according to its Merchandising Achievement Awards entry form, the staff at OOP! "had a hankerin' for a gun-slingin', cow-tippin', tumbleweed-blowin', spur-clinkin', lasso-twirlin' Western theme." Hence, the Ride 'Em High Holidays raffle was born.

After securing the proper gaming licenses for holding a raffle, and a sufficiently "grand" grand prize (two round-trip airline tickets, donated by Southwest Airlines) to drum up interest, the OOPsters were ready to set the promotion in motion.

First they created a boisterous spokesperson for the raffle: Doc Holiday, an over-the-top cowboy character dressed all in pink, crowned with a pink plush cowboy hat, riding a hobby horse, and brandishing a holster belt full of candy canes. His rallying cry? "Giddy OOP!"

In advance of the raffle, which began on December 1, the staff at OOP! conducted a marketing blitz, sending postcards to regular customers and press releases to media outlets, as well as papering the neighborhoods near the two store locations with theme posters and flyers.

Twelve thousand "OOP! Scoop" calendar brochures were printed in October, promoting the raffle as well as the store's other winter events. The calendar brochures used the Western design scheme, and featured Riordan in the guise of the inimitable Doc Holiday. Inside the stores, a pink motif — inspired by Doc's signature color — was "tastefully overused," along with raffle signage and outsized photos of Doc Holiday in the windows.

OOP! also utilized local media to promote the event. Advertisements in Providence's East Side Monthly magazine featured Doc Holiday promising a "Holiday Shopping Hoe-Down" at the stores, and immediately after Thanksgiving, their "achy breaky radio commercial" hit the airwaves.

Once the raffle got underway, the OOP! staff got into the spirit as well. Each OOPster wore a pink plush cowboy hat, a silver sheriff's badge, and a pin bearing the phrase "Fly free? Ask me!" to encourage customers to donate a dollar or two to the raffle. The staff also got into the habit of shouting "Yeehaw!" and challenged customers to do the same, with the promise of free OOPJuice for particularly impressive hollers. Both the decor and the staff involvement helped create a fun shopping environment during the stressful holiday season.

As lines grew longer during the Christmas shopping rush, various employees donned the Doc Holiday gear and passed out candy canes to folks waiting in line to make purchases. Doc Holiday also posed for Polaroid pictures with customers and mounted them on monogrammed photo cards, as well as passing out merchandise coupons that shoppers were invited to redeem on their next visit to either of the OOP! stores.

By December 24, when the raffle was held, the OOPsters' promotional zeal had raised nearly $2,200 for AIDS Care Ocean State, and contributed to a fun and lively holiday shopping season. In addition, they presented two very lucky customers with airline tickets

According to Riordan, sales for the holiday season were brisk. "We had our strongest November on record, and December was very solid," he said.

But the fun didn't stop with the winter 2000 season. OOP! exhibits its brand of whimsical marketing throughout the year, with community-oriented promotions for such noteworthy dates as Elvis' birthday weekend and the anniversary of the premiere of Laverne & Shirley. And every fall, they hold a "Think Pink" fundraiser to benefit the American Cancer Society. The OOPsters prove time again that a good promotion is all about the attitude you bring to it. Giddy OOP!