Most of the $62.3  million in contracts for creating the marketing program and advertisements  was used for a $40.5 million national advertising campaign featuring  George Washington that was designed to build public awareness, generate  acceptance, and encourage the new dollar coin’s use. The Mint also worked  with contractors to stimulate the new dollar coin’s use in state and local  government operations and used its own staff for marketing activities in  federal government facilities. According to the Mint, from  January 2000 to December 2001, it released approximately 1.1 billion new  dollar coins into circulation that generated approximately $968 million in  seigniorage after subtracting costs. Public Resistance Is the Greatest Barrier to Increased Use of the New Dollar Coin

The Mint faces a number of barriers in its efforts to increase public use of  the new dollar coin, the most substantial of which is the widespread use of  the dollar bill in everyday transactions and public resistance to start using  the dollar coin. Other barriers that hinder wider circulation of the new dollar coin by  the public include potentially negative public perceptions of a dollar coin  after two failed introductions, insufficient public understanding of dollar  coin savings to the government and other advantages of the dollar coin’s  use, and the weight and bulk of the coin. In general, the Mint did not track the  costs for the use of its own staff for marketing efforts to federal  government agencies. As is consistent with previous studies, the  Mint plan also notes that successfully achieving widespread use of the new  dollar coin will be difficult if it cocirculates with the dollar bill. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

In studying the United States Mint’s marketing of the new dollar coin, our  objectives were to (1) describe the Mint’s new dollar coin marketing  program costs, the contracts and promotional programs in which the Mint  engaged, and the revenues that were generated; (2) assess the barriers the  Mint faces in increasing the public’s use of the new dollar coin; (3) describe  the Mint’s future plans to promote the new dollar coin and the extent that  these plans address the barriers; and (4) assess the extent that the Mint’s  2001 and 2002 reports to Congress on the marketing of the new dollar coin  fully and accurately described the marketing programs, the results  obtained, and the problems encountered.
What GAO Found

If the public used the dollar coin rather than the dollar note, the government could potentially save up to $500 million annually. The Mint spent $67.1 million to promote the new dollar coin from 1998 to 2001, including expenditures for a marketing and advertising program; public relations and publicity programs; 23 partnerships with banking, entertainment retail, grocery and restaurant chains; and promotional events with transit agencies. Most of the $67.1 million was used for a national advertising campaign to build public awareness, generate acceptance, and encourage use of the new dollar coin. The Mint also worked with contractors to stimulate the new dollar coin's use in state and local government operations and used its own staff for marketing activities in federal government facilities, but it did not track the costs for the use of Mint staff. According to the Mint, between January 2000 and December 2001, the new dollar coin had generated $1.1 billion in revenue and $968 million in seigniorage. The Mint faces several barriers in its efforts to increase the new dollar coin. The most substantial barrier is the current widespread use of the dollar bill in everyday transactions and public resistance to begin using the new dollar coin. Other barriers that hinder wider circulation include (1) negative perceptions the public may have of the coin after two failed introductions, (2) lack of public information about the savings to the government from using the new coin, (3) lack of public awareness about the comparative advantages of the dollar coin over the dollar bill, and (4) the idea that the ease of carrying the bill is more beneficial than the durability of the dollar coin. In general, the Mint's marketing plan describes a program that is much smaller in scope than the marketing campaign used to launch the new dollar coin in 2000. The Mint plans to address some, but not all, of the barriers to increasing use and recognizes that successfully achieving widespread use of the new dollar coin will be difficult if the dollar bill cocirculates with the new dollar coin. The Mint's 2001 report to Congress did not fully and accurately describe the costs of the marketing campaign, the results obtained, and problems encountered. The 2002 report gave more details on marketing costs and a fuller description of the problems encountered.