In the news & press releases.

House Party, a leading consumer activation and experiential marketing company, announces its international expansion, extending its signature in-home activation parties to more than 12 locations across the globe.  The company’s inaugural global event helped Microsoft Corp. debut and demonstrate its new Windows 7 operating system through thousands of launch parties in 11 international locations and the United States, on various dates within the month of October. An estimated 800,000 people participated.

Houseparty.com lets you apply to host parties that are sponsored by brands from Kraft to Proctor & Gamble to Mattel, so you and your friends can be the first to try new food, games, and more.

Wanna throw a party at home and get free snacks to munch on, or perhaps an advance copy of a new TV show or movie? Submit an application to Irvington-based House Party, and you and a dozen of your closest friends could soon be trying Hershey’s latest candy or previewing the newest CSI spinoff.

One evening earlier this week 14 guests arrived at Diana Burroughs' condo in Manhattan's West Village; seven of them were dogs. After sniffing one another and joining in a dog-and-owner look-alike contest, the pooches happily feasted on filet-mignon- and potato-flavored kibbles from Chef Michael's Canine Creations.

Nestle Purina in recent weeks has spent $150,000 sponsoring 1,000 home gatherings like this three-hour party to market its newest line of dog food. The marketer is among 30 that have hired House Party, a company that matches brands and party hosts, over the past year.

In the age of high-tech, digital marketing and Internet sales, the lowly door-to-door salesperson is still wearing out shoes, making cold calls, braving barking dogs and suffering rejection. They're also making sales - nearly $31 billion worth in 2007. A surprising roster of companies, ranging from financial services to telecommunications, are returning to the age-old technique once thought to be the sole domain of the Fuller Brush man and the Avon lady.

To get pizza lovers talking about its new American Legends pizzas, Domino’s Pizza in June supplied free pies to more than 2,000 in-home parties. House Party, an Irvington, New York-based consumer activation and experiential marketing company, activated the parties where approximately 30,000 consumers on June 20 chowed down on the specialty pies which feature a collection of seven new flavors inspired by regional tastes such as New Fiery Hawaiian, Cali Chicken Ranch and Memphis BBQ chicken.

Last year about this time I wrote this post on a really cool promotional event that Hershey's sponsored and executed with an interesting marketing firm called House Party to help launch their new Hershey's Bliss Chocolate line. House Party integrates actual social events that happen in the real world with social media in the online world. Since last year House Party has really been expanding and they helped to create a party earlier this year called Warner's Fit-to-a-T House Party that I just have to share with you all here. Now a House Party™ is thousand parties on one day taking place across the country with an exclusive brand experience at the center of the action. These Houseparty_logospecially designed parties are sponsored by a leading brand and take place in the homes of carefully selected consumer hosts who can invite their friends, family, neighbors, classmates , co-workers, whoever they wish, to experience these uniquely fun parties and the products they feature.

At first glance, it looks like any old pizza party: kids reaching for cheesy slices, dads on the couch watching baseball, moms arranging cardboard boxes and trying to control the chaos. But in reality, the event at a Fayette Avenue home in Buffalo last weekend was a two-hour, in-your-face commercial for Domino’s Pizza with host Robyn Brewer as the star.

On a blustery day in March, Sandra Linen-Ward was getting ready to host a bra-fitting party in her Bronx apartment. Chicken drumettes, crudités, chips and salsa were on the menu, and she was putting together gift bags with a T-shirt and samples of Avon perfume. She had handouts with exercises to "boost your breasts" and a reprint of a Redbook article about girlfriend get-togethers. "My girlfriends are excited," Linen-Ward said a few days before the party. "They feel they don't really know how to measure themselves. Besides, it's a party, and we're going to have a good time." Linen-Ward is a real brand advocate. She's the one who's always sharing info about new products with coworkers and friends. While she loves coupons and deals, she also believes that name-brand products offer better quality. "I like being able to bring people together and show them something new," she says. When the 15 women of various ages and sizes converged in her home, Linen-Ward would be ready. She had a DVD explaining the subtleties of bra fitting, a tape measure and two sample bras. Yes, it was a lot of work, but Linen-Ward had a lot of help. She was one of approximately 1,000 women participating in the Warner's Fit-to-a-T House Party to launch Invisible Bliss, a new bra designed to be worn under T-shirts. To find 999 other Sandra Linen-Wards, Warner's turned to House Party, a sort of online dating service for brands that combines social media, word-of-mouth and in-home promotions.

Hershey's partnered with word-of-mouth marketing firm House Party to let 10,000 people dole out Hershey's new premium Bliss chocolates at sponsored house parties. The soirees lured nearly 150,000 guests, and House Party estimates that they have shared their bliss -- and their Bliss -- 10 million times.

On June 4, a thousand American homes will hold wine-and-cheese parties courtesy of the French government. France has long played up its culture of culinary excellence. But now the government fears the country's highbrow food traditions may have alienated the average consumer. So, in an effort to boost sales of wine and cheese -- two of France's more lucrative exports -- it is trying to promote the laid-back apéritif, a moment before dinner when the French kick back with a glass of wine and some finger food.

The menu of McDonald's and Bud Light wasn't exactly haute cuisine. It was enough, however, to satisfy the 150 hockey fans who got together last week in New York as part of a series of parties organized online by the National Hockey League to celebrate the start of the playoff season. The NHL held what is probably the most extensive "Tweetup" to date, using the service to hold parties in 23 U.S. and Canadian cities. They ran the gamut of large and small, with some like the one in Regina, Saskatchewan, drawing 350 attendees and others, like the one in Edmonton, Alberta, attracting just 10. The NHL and other brands are taking a page from political groups that use social-networking tools to help their constituencies organize themselves. The most prominent example, of course, is Barack Obama's presidential campaign, which proved social networking is a powerful way to create a grassroots movement. Brands are eager to replicate his success — both online and in real life.

House Party Inc. announced that it has closed a $3.4 million round of Series B financing.  The round was led by Josh Weinreich, a director of the company and an investor in House Party’s Series A financing.  A majority of the company’s high profile Series A investors also participated in the current round as well as several new, high profile angel investors.

In March, Warner's is launching a campaign to help women find their true bra size, so we can all look our best. Together with REDBOOK, Warner's will be hosting Fit-to-a-T House Parties around the country and will be providing resources to women in stores and online.

Sargento will bring its Salad Finishers and Potato Finishers food items to the place where people are most likely to use them: the kitchen. The company is staging more than 1,000 parties with help from House Party, an agency that hosts in-home events. Hosts are solicited online and through House Party's extensive database, and prescreened to assure a good fit with the products — which in this case combine Sargento cheeses with other ingredients for salads or baked potatoes. Hosts in the Sargento sampling will invite dozens of family members, friends and coworkers, and set up salad and potato bars. As part of the fun, hosts will hold blindfold tastings for their guests and play salad-themed trivia games. The program is expected to draw between 13,000 and 15,000 guests, mostly women ages 35 to 54 who are passionate about cooking. The guests will be given product coupons to take home, and blogs will be monitored to gauge their satisfaction.

Advertisements can be broadly categorized into three buckets: the ones we see offhandedly and never think about again; those we see, scoff at, criticize, and eventually tire of and let blow over; and then the ones we can’t resist, the ones that stick with us when we go to make a purchase. These are the ones we have to send to a friend—if you loved it, they must!—the ones we have to talk about because if we don’t, someone else certainly will. Amazingly, the campaigns that stick these days are the ones that don’t feel like campaigns. Therein lies the Catch-22: “Buzz” is an extremely powerful metric, but equally difficult to measure. Given today’s economy, executives want tangible proof, which makes creativity a tough sell.

Marketers who want to reach mothers — a group 75 million strong in the US — through word of mouth are taking advantage of social media and teaming up with bloggers to give their viral cam­paigns a boost. This is a group that wields the kind of clout that marketers covet. They influence 85% of all house­hold purchases, according to experts who study the mom market. They are also the big spenders in the family. By some estimates, mothers in the US alone spend about $2 trillion a year. Some projections suggest that figure could grow to $3 trillion by 2012. As consumers, women also rely heavily on Web sites and blogs to research everything from diapers to medical issues. That reliance grows when they're planning a family, with some research showing use of the Internet reaches 94% among women expect­ing to have a child in the next 12 months, says Kitty Kolding, CEO of House Party, a marketing firm specializing in word-of-mouth campaigns.

House Party announces the hiring of Greg Besner as the company’s Chief Operating Officer.  An experienced and successful entrepreneur with a background in financial services and software, Besner will oversee several key areas of the company, including finance, human resources and technical development as well as supporting the operational aspects of the company’s delivery organization. House Party’s word-of-mouth marketing platform specializes in engaging thousands of qualified consumer advocates to host in-home parties where a brand or product is at the center of the party.

On Sunday, thousands of women across the country are expected to welcome friends to their homes not just to watch the Super Bowl, but to dip into bowls of Velveeta ultimate queso dip.

House Party conducted more than 50,000 parties across the country in 2008, and as a result, connected with more than 50 million consumers through direct and viral communication. House Party specializes in engaging a select group of consumer advocates to host in-home events, where a brand or product is at the center of the party. Providing an exclusive, hands-on brand experience, House Party activates brand engagement through peer-to-peer endorsement and a viral online community where consumer advocates build transactions and excitement for the brand.

On a recent Saturday, about 1,000 women across the country moonlighted as marketers for Microsoft's newest Xbox services. House cleaners, hairdressers, guidance counselors and IT technicians got a $150 pack of Xbox freebies for opening their homes to at least 10 friends or relatives. And they earned bragging rights.

House Party, a leading word-of-mouth marketing company, conducted more than 10 thousand in-home parties across the country to help The Hershey Company launch Hershey’s Bliss™ chocolate, a new rich, creamy and bite-size chocolate indulgence. House Party, which engages a select group of consumer advocates to host house party events and provides an exclusive hands-on experience with a brand, reports that more than 129,000 people attended the parties, making the event the largest in House Party history.

House Party, a leading word-of-mouth marketing company, and The Hershey Company were named winners in the Energizing category of the 2008 Forrester Groundswell Awards, announced recently at Forrester Research’s Consumer Forum in Dallas. To celebrate the launch of Hershey’s Bliss® chocolate, The Hershey Company partnered with House Party, which engages a specially selected group of consumer advocates to host thousands of in-home events where a brand and product is at the center of the party, to conduct more than 10,000 in-home parties nationwide. The Energizing category recognizes social technologies that get a company’s best customers to evangelize its products.

House Party featured on Good Morning America segment, “Free Stuff for Consumers” with host Diane Sawyer. Hershey’s Bliss Chocolate Party featured.

The continuing financial crisis is causing people to go out to eat less, travel less, shop less and, yes, spend less. And study after study says they are doing more TV watching, net surfing, and hanging out with family and friends at home. Tupperware, the king of the at-home-party industry, has seen an increase of almost 10% in new recruits in the past three months. This might be just the beginning. A recent Booz & Co. study found that while one-third of consumers have made "substantial" cutbacks in dining out, driving and everyday shopping, 62% said they would make even more significant cuts if faced with a 10% decrease in disposable income. And two-thirds said that will likely happen, expressing a belief that the economy would worsen or stay the same in the next six months. So, naturally, it's time to throw a party.

The trouble with word-of-mouth buzz on TV skeins is that it's hard to come by -- and even harder to quantify. But nets and cablers have found a way to stir some up on their own, with the help of upstart marketing firm House Party Inc. The Irvington, N.Y.-based company specializes in setting up thousands of pre-premiere viewing parties for shows in the homes of TV enthusiasts around the country. Hosts aren't paid or reimbursed for their expenditures, but they are provided with custom "party packs" full of themed tchotches, decorations and, of course, a DVD of the program.

Last month, Hershey’s launched its Bliss brand at 10,000 outlets you might not have expected. They were the homes of nice people like you, who decided to play host to Bliss-themed house parties. The viral-marketing concept comes from houseparty.com, who have offered similar services to The Biggest Loser, Gerber, Disney Cruise Line, and SC Johnson. The idea seems inordinately clever — those hosting the House Party get the VIP treatment: “You get sneak previews of the best TV shows, free stuff, and the best offers out there on the things you really like.” The brand can quickly build a social network among its customers and event hosts — in addition to gathering valuable data through the House Party Web site.

The Hershey Co. has turned to parties to generate word-of-mouth and buzz around some of its products. The company recently used themed house parties via House Party, a marketing services firm, to support its new Hershey’s Bliss chocolate line. Hershey’s staged 10,200 ” House of Bliss“ parties over the April 25 weekend to sample its latest item and spread interest as the product rolled out in stores.

The terms "marketing" and "house party" are rarely used in the same sentence. If anything, we might think of Tupperware parties, but those would hardly be considered an entertaining night out. And yet parties are a wonderful way of bringing friends together. In a world where the customer is a marketer's best salesperson, it's no wonder the magazine Better Homes and Gardens (BH&G) jumped on the opportunity to throw some parties of its own. "We're always looking for something new and exciting to offer our advertisers," says Kristen Stucchio Suarez, BH&G's promotions director. So when it came across New York--based viral marketing platform provider House Party, BH&G saw an opportunity to engage in viral marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, and social networking, all in one package--a trifecta that would otherwise have required multiple distinct programs. The primary objective of the party was to promote the awareness of BH&G's limited edition of its Pink Plaid cookbook, which supported the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Hungry to engage consumers in a way TV commercials don’t, some studios are throwing their upcoming products in-home fan parties. New York-based marketing firm House Party helps studios hype the latest seasons of various TV shows by distributing party favor packs to the series’ biggest fans. The goal is that studios win the purest form of praise, as peer-to-peer recommendation spurs more sales than traditional ads can achieve.

Identifying influencers — people who are passionate about your brand — is a key element of word-of-mouth marketing. Four experts discuss this growing and highly measurable sector.

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Ford Motor Co. is trying an unusual tactic to generate interest in its products: an automotive twist on the Tupperware party. With an event called the “Ford Big Drive House Party,” the auto maker is asking Ford owners to invite friends and neighbros into their homes this weekend to cheerlead for the cars, the New York Times reports.

When creating advertising, the longtime industry executive John O’Toole once advised, “it’s best to think of yourself as an uninvited guest in the living room of a prospect who has the magical power to make you disappear instantly.” Ford is asking owners of its cars to hold a house party this Sunday and have guests see, sit in and even drive their cars. Those words may have guided executives at the Ford Motor Company as they developed a marketing event intended to stimulate interest in products like the Ford Edge and Ford Focus. The event, called the “Ford Big Drive House Party,” is recruiting Ford owners to invite friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers into their homes this weekend and talk up their cars.