Local B2B marketing firm, Leverage Marketing Group, recently concluded a ten week promotion with iced tea company Luzianne, touring eight southern states and offering consumers samples of freshly brewed sweet, unsweetened and green iced teas.

The Specially Blended Tour began in late May, targeting consumers of all ages at major festivals and retail locations. Brand Ambassadors and tour managers offered six ounce tea samples, games, and prizes. The Specially Blended team traveled to each location in a wrapped RV, which is the grand prize in the "Specially Blended Sweepstakes." Aimed to hit the core markets that Luzianne is most recognized, the tour stopped in a diverse range of southern states from Texas to Georgia.

Leverage employees managing the account participated in the southern tour, helping Luzianne distribute more than 250,000 samples of tea and $82,500 worth of coupons. CEO Tom Marks, participated on-location for much of the tour. "We had fantastic weather and met some amazing people" Marks said. "The tour ran pretty smoothly and our team had the set-up down to a science. This tour was a well-oiled machine."

Along with face-to-face interactions, Leverage utilized social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to generate press, publicity and a large number of cost-efficient impressions from consumers. Leverage Account Executive, Jennifer Brabson, was at the helm of all social media for the promotion. "Social Media is definitely a word-of-mouth device that has amplified our message across 10 iced tea drinking markets. Creating events and letting our fans know that we were coming to their town, definitely helped us on-location" she claimed.

Leverage hopes to "sweeten" the tour up even more in 2012, and looks to offer even more locations, giveaways and online events for next summer's tour.