The Associated Press reports that Downy is doing a cross promotion with Macy's, pitching the fabric softener as a sleep aid—all via displays in Macy's windows. P&G will promote the product with a 7-day live window display featuring comic Mike Birbiglia in one of its stores next week. Birbiglia talks about sleepwalking in his routines, so it sounds like a good fit. He's set to interact with fans and actually sleep there for a week!! The effort will be supported with Twitter and Facebook and television ads.

I'm not sure, but I'm assuming Macy's expects to sell some beds or linens from the promotion, and certainly drive traffic. This is a great example of a well-integrated, well-strategized marketing campaign that uses a mix of traditional, non-traditional and social media. And in this case, stands to benefit more than one advertiser. You can expect there will be a lot of earned media, too, becuase this has some sensational news opportunities.

At MB Piland, we always look for ways to stretch our client's budgets to the max—at the same time, we make sure the efforts have a strong strategic foundation. I think this promotion could be a winner.

We have some killer ideas that would help them get even more mileage from this promotion:

• Though I'm weary of flash mobs, they might stage impromptu public pillow fights.
• Or what about fans that  blow the fragrance of the Downy out to people walking past the windows?
• Could they have a contest to see who could snore the loudest?

We're curious about the results and we'll be watching. You can read the story here.

—Martha