Not sure what to do with your vuvuzela now that the World Cup is over? KFC has an idea that is sure to satisfy your stomach (and your neighbor’s ears).

KFC’s new Vuvuzela Exchange Program offers heartbroken soccer fans a free taste of the Colonel’s famous comfort food in exchange for their recently silenced plastic horns. The Vuvuzela Exchange Program is simple - the first 500 U.S. residents who mail their vuvuzelas to KFC Headquarters by July 15, 2010 will receive a KFC gift check to try the new Doublicious™ sandwich in return.

I wonder what KFC plans to do with their soon-to-be vuvuzela collection?

The J.M. Smucker Company launched an online promotion offering 20,000 coupons for free four-packs of Smucker’s Uncrustables Sandwiches on September 28, and the coupons were gone within hours. The promotion stated that the offer was valid through Oct. 30, or while supplies lasted. “We weren’t sure how fast this would happen-we were certainly surprised at just how fast word of mouth travels,” noted a spokesperson for Smucker.

The giveaway was positioned as helping busy moms provide their kids and the whole family with a wholesome, satisfying and convenient snack. The first 20,000 adults to go online (uncrustables.com), register and submit an “after-school organizational tip” were eligible for the coupons.

The promotion’s premise is based on a survey of 1,520 moms (84% with kids under 14) conducted for Smucker through MomCentral.com, a nationwide network of mom influencers, bloggers and grassroots community organizers. The survey found that 68% of moms feel stress or pressure “when trying to prepare wholesome snacks for their children.”

Source: Marketing Daily

Some local McDonald’s franchisees are making friends with computers in busy cities by giving them free rail tickets and coupons for its burgers. In Denver, street teams met commuters headed to the Denver Broncos game and handed them free round trip, one-day rail passes, along with coupons for a free Angus Third Pounder, a new menu item at McDonald’s. Denver is the third stop on the firm’s national “Try Free, Ride Free” tour.

The promotion continues throughout the month with additional stops in busy metropolitan cities aimed at people riding the rails, including Chicago, Dallas, Baltimore and Washington, DC. In Atlanta, for example, riders are offered complimentary one-way Breeze tickets and free Angus Third Pounders.

Source: Promo Magazine

KFC’s grilled chicken launch has been under way for a couple of weeks now, and was intensified by a free grilled chicken meal give-away announced on Oprah last week. And when Oprah Winfrey is involved, you know you’re going to get some serious hype - KFC went skyrocketing to the #1 topic on Twitter the day of the announcement. Unfortunately KFC didn’t quite plan properly for the 10 million free-meal coupon downloads and had to pull the plug early on the promotion after only two days, resulting in many unhappy customers. Ad age discusses what went wrong and the first comment at the bottom of the article has some great tips on how to execute a successful web-flash coupon, such as: determine maximum capacity and set a limit, set redemption time parameters, and provide a value-add in place of a free meal.

Source: Ad Age

Cash-strapped consumers appear to be picking up their scissors and cashing in on coupons more often then they used to, according to a recent WSJ article. Research shows for the first time in 15 years coupon redemptions didn’t decline and actually rose in some cases. Some companies are using coupons as a creative way to provide their consumers with better value in this time of economic difficulty. For example, as people eat out less, Campbell Soup Co. is partnering with Kraft Foods for an upcoming FSI that will carry coupons for Kraft cheese singles and Campbell’s soup side by side in an effort to promote the idea that consumers can put together a low-cost meal at home, made up of a grilled-cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup. As more people are looking for ways to save and to get more value for their dollar, creative FSIs may continue to be rising trend. Click on the link below to read the full article.

Consumers Pick Up Clip of Coupons - WSJ