The Campaign: PetSmart Halloween 2007
Objectives
As Halloween becomes an increasingly important (retail) holiday in the human world, it is also growing in the world of pet parents. But beyond dogs and cats in funny costumes, this campaign also presented an opportunity to reinforce PetSmart and its experts as sources for safety tips, trends and products, as well as position PetSmart stores as places for pet and pet parent Halloween events.
Insights
The media do love dogs and cats in cute costumes. And who can blame them? Those images look great in print and on TV. For this campaign, the PetSmart and Markowitz team decided to create an entire micro-site – a one-stop shop for the media.
Groundwork
As with past campaigns, we secured the dog and cat models, art directed the photo shoot, managed the design and programming and worked on the copy.
Strategy
We invited the media to the site via a link in the October Smart-E and by e-mailing a teaser page to the media list. The site itself provided downloadable hi-res photos of those adorable dogs and cats, the safety tips from the PetSmart experts, a press release and a media advisory detailing the Halloween in-store event.
ROI
The campaign secured nearly 9.5 million impressions, including national hits in USA Today (which featured a photo downloaded from the site) and on Fox & Friends, as well as more than 100 local and regional print and broadcast stories. The print articles and broadcast segments referenced trends, products and PetSmart experts. Total costs for the entire campaign – including photography, design, programming and e-mailing to the media list -- were less than $10,000. The estimated return was $900,000.
The Campaign: Cirque du Soleil Quidam
Objectives
Our raison d'être was to encourage our fellow Pittsburghers to go where they had never gone before, to seek out the strange, new world that came to life under the grand chapiteau (aka the big top) for 10-plus performances a week at $45 to $125 a ticket.
Insights
When the Cirque du Soleil entourage arrived in Pittsburgh they might as well have been from another planet -- that’s how foreign this concept of a theatrical, animal-less circus was.
Groundwork
We wanted to get the buzz going before the Cirque caravan ever hit the parkway (and got stuck in traffic). So we started lining up preview stories for the media and began introducing Cirque reps to local government and corporate leaders. Another key component centered around the opening night performance and party. We were charged with making sure Pittsburgh’s movers, shakers and talkers were on the invitation list.
Strategy
Following opening night, we had more reasons for Cirque to make the news. Quidam was glowingly reviewed in all the papers and the party was prominently featured in the society columns. Our next move involved pitching specific story ideas to specific reporters. As a result, the Post-Gazette did Cirque du Cuisine, KDKA-TV’s Dave Crawley talked to the riggers and WTAE-TV’s health editor Marilyn Brooks interviewed Cirque’s staff of on-site sports physiologists and therapists.
Strategy
Cirque was so pleased with our efforts; we were given the additional responsibility of taking charge of the media buy for the last two weeks of the show. Our negotiations resulted in three live remotes, promotions, call-backs and more interviews..
ROI
By the end of the troupe’s month-long stay, Markowitz Communications had amassed some 30 print articles and 2 hours, 34minutes and 20 seconds worth of television coverage, but who’s counting. In addition, the demand for tickets was so strong that the run was extended not once – but twice.
The Campaign: Fatburger Bergers and Frys Mixer
Objectives
Our mission was to make the Los Angeles-based restaurant phenom Fatburger a Pittsburgh staple by creating a pre-opening VIP event.
Insights
Given its location (Robinson Station), Fatburger was up against significant competition. There was Robinson Towne Center and The Pointe (with their various and sundry eating establishments), The Mall (with its food court) and nearby free-standing restaurants, such as Buca di Beppo and Joe’s Crab Shack. But one key ingredient in our favor was the fact that this was the region’s first Fatburger.
Groundwork
Teaming up with our friend and colleague Mickey Stobbe, the overall opening campaign included advertising (radio and bus shelters), creating and coordinating key events (a media day preview and VIP party) and employing public relations tactics (writing press releases, pitching the media and e-mailing Burger Bites).
Strategy
We had an idea: What if we invited all the Burgers and Bergers, Fries, Frys and Fryes, and of course, the Heinzes, Pickles and Dills to a Fatburger Mixer; and then tossed in a few Steelers (especially Hines Ward and Ben Roethlisberger) and members of the media (say, WTAE-TV’s Kelly Frey and Bob Mayo and Saturday Light Brigade’s Larry Berger)?
Strategy
The result would be a unique Fatburger event. We also fattened things up by offering media and VIPs their very own FatPass (entitling them and a guest to one free Fatburger a day for an entire year) and delivering Fatburgers, shakes and fries to radio stations (in the hopes that the DJs would enjoy the food so much, they would talk about it on air; they did) and other media outlets.
ROI
Success is often in the eye of the client. “The party exceeded my expectations,” our Fatburger client asserted. “Having all these Burgers and Frys at the restaurant brought the Fatburger concept to life and paved the way for an opening that was as good as or better than any in franchise history.” In addition, corporate Fatburger was so impressed with the party that it decided to offer the concept to other franchise owners.
The Campaign: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Grand Opening Cranberry
Objectives
Krispy Kreme was coming to town. Western Pennsylvania’s first-ever KKD store was set to open in late summer 2001. Our job was to convince the skeptics that a Krispy Kreme doughnut was worth standing in line for.
Insights
Although Cranberry is known for its prime residential real estate, it’s still located a good 20 miles north of the city, which translates to about a 45 minute drive. In a town where most people are reluctant to leave their neighborhood and actually venture across a river, our challenge was to give consumers, as well as the media, a good reason to make the trip KKD country.
Groundwork
With no advertising support, we created a straight-ahead public relations campaign that included a non-traditional (in other words, no dirt and shovels) groundbreaking event, plenty of media relations and lots of doughnuts (we personally delivered doughnuts to area corporations, businesses and media outlets and handed them out to commuters stuck in traffic. We also arranged for 3WS’s (one of the area’s most popular radio stations) morning drive team talk about Krispy Kremes on air at no charge to our client. (When all was said and done, the amount of airtime we received added up to nearly $100,000.)
Strategy
Nancy Feyrer and her dog shared a dream. They wanted to be the first in line when the doors to Krispy Kreme finally swung open. Our idea was to have that lucky person switch on the “Hot Doughnuts Now” sign. That was enough to prompt Nancy to pitch her tent at 8:15 a.m., Monday, September 10 -- more than 20 hours before the grand opening.
Strategy
Shortly thereafter, college students in sleeping bags began gathering along the store’s concrete walkway. Before dawn on that fateful day, the 3WS remote truck pulled into the parking lot, followed by the NBC, CBS and ABC affiliates, all setting up to go live. Radio and print reporters from near and not so near were also on the scene.
ROI
From 5 to 7 a.m. that morning, Krispy Kreme was mentioned a total of 31 times on the three network affiliates. The 3WS live remote ran from 4 a.m. – 9 a.m. The line never let up. Never. Not even as news from New York, Washington and closer to home in Western PA began to dominate the headlines. One local writer simply couldn’t understand why. “If anyone who stood in that line would care to write and explain,” he wrote, “we’d be happy to publish your thoughts.” Write they did...
ROI
“In the evening the sadness was overwhelming to all of us,” responded one woman. “It was then that my husband and I decided to ‘get out’ and take the kids to Krispy Kreme. We waited 45 minutes, but in that time they were back to being children and anticipating the ‘best’ of this world – in the form of a sweet doughnut straight from the oven – and not the worst.”
The Campaign: Cricket Communications $.99 Gas Promotions
Objectives
In the competitive world of wireless communications, Cricket was looking for a way to distinguish itself. As the company’s public relations agency for the Pittsburgh region, we encouraged Cricket to become a part of the community by giving back to its customers.
Insights
With gas prices reaching new record highs in the summer of 2006, the timing was right to offer a .99-cent gas promotion. As if cheap gas wasn’t enough, we decided to add some other elements into the mix. First, we wanted to keep the people waiting in line – and there were plenty of people – as happy as possible.
Insights
That’s why we handed out free (free to us and free to the people) Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, with green sprinkles, of course, and water. We also cleaned windshields. We handed out bounce-back cards (using a driving theme) designed to encourage people to come into a Cricket store to participate in an enter-to-win contest.
Groundwork
We handled the logistics of the event; developed the concept, wrote the copy and managed the design and production for the bounce back card; wrote the press release and media advisory; and placed follow up calls to the media.
The Campaign: Gilda’s Club Western Pennsylvania DVD
Objectives
When Gilda’s Club Western PA opened its doors in June 2006, Markowitz signed on as its public relations agency. From day one, our goal was to raise awareness as a means of helping raise funds and increase membership. Founded in memory of comedian Gilda Radner (of Saturday Night Live fame), all Gilda’s Clubs throughout the U.S. and Canada provide free workshops, support groups and social activities to members, their friends and family.
Insights
Initially, Gilda’s Club was reluctant to invest the time and money in a DVD. In fact, the idea of producing a video was so overwhelming, the executive director shuddered (literally) whenever it was mentioned. However, we recognized its power. Unlike a brochure, a DVD would enable us to tell the stories and show the faces of people not only touched by cancer, but more importantly, touched by Gilda’s Club.
Groundwork
We developed the concept (an unscripted roundtable discussion featuring actual Gilda’s Club members), art directed both the roundtable and the b-roll shoots and supervised the editing, all the while continuing to calm one nervous executive director.
Strategy
We arranged for the DVD to premier at a major Gilda’s Club fund raising event in October 2006. We invited the stars to attend and receive the red-carpet treatment.
ROI
Total costs for the DVD, including production, post production, was $5,000. In 2007, after touring the clubhouse and watching the DVD, two organizations -- the Pirates’ Wives (as in the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team) and the local Saks Fifth Avenue (as part of the company’s national Key to the Cure campaign) decided to designate Gilda’s Club as the beneficiary of their annual fund-raising events.
ROI
As a result, Gilda’s Club Western PA took home more than $75,000. In addition, our Gilda’s Club topped the 300-member mark in its first year – a goal no other clubhouse had ever attained.
The Campaign: The International Culinary Institute
The Situation Analysis
Since what we do is help organizations develop identities, build awareness and project the right message -- we set out to put the International Culinary Academy (ICA) on the map. Our next challenge involved finding the catalyst. In theater, it's booking the Phantom of the Opera; in retail, it's opening a new store, for a museum, it's the debut of a new exhibition. For the ICA, it was Le Cordon Bleu.
As soon as we discovered that ICA and Le Cordon Bleu had struck a deal, and that representatives of this renowned global cooking school would be traveling to Pittsburgh, we knew we had the ingredients for a successful public relations campaign.
The Planning
Basically it went like this: we wanted to transform Pittsburgh into an international destination, a place where French speaking and French cooking are savored. To that end, we decided to create many events -- each one having its own unique flavor -- to maximize media coverage. We also decided to take advantage of the excitement we were generating to celebrate the official opening of ICA's new facilities.
In addition to developing and planning these events, Markowitz Communications worked behind the scenes pitching story ideas to the media. Although we focused on the Le Cordon Bleu angle, we also presented a compelling business angle. We made the case that ICA, by opting to keep its headquarters in Downtown Pittsburgh, had made a significant investment in our community.
Also, in an effort to maximize ICA's media exposure while minimizing its expenses, we coordinated our strategy with the school's media buyer. As a result, the press releases and events coincided with the airing of 15-second television commercials. (Keeping with our theme, these commercials welcomed Le Cordon Bleu to our city, and were done entirely in French, with English subtitles.) We in public relations like to call this approach integrated marketing.
The Results
We succeeded in getting a number of stories in local newspapers, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Pittsburgh City Paper and the McKeesport Daily News. In addition, local network affiliates covered many of the events -- in fact, one station invited ICA and Le Cordon Bleu to participate in a cooking segment.
But beyond the media highlights, ICA was the talk of the town. Pittsburghers in general became more aware of the school and what it has to offer, and potential students called to inquire about enrollment.
The Campaign: Dave & Buster's Grand Opening
The Situation Analysis
Big time fun in the form of Dave & Buster's was coming to town. The problem was, few people in our area had ever heard of Dave or Buster. Given seven weeks and minimal advertising support, our job (since we did decide to accept it) was to generate a sense of excitement and anticipation regarding the arrival of D&B.
The Planning
We immediately began looking for story ideas unique to our region and then developing those ideas into compelling press releases. While we were busy providing various and sundry reporters with business angles and human-interest features, we were also preparing a star-studded influentials list of people to invite to the grand-opening event.
The Results
Dave & Buster's Pittsburgh opening was an unqualified success. In fact, according to the folks at D&B corporate, it was one of the best - if not the best -- openings in the company's 18-year history. Considering D&B boasts 30 locations throughout the world, that's no small feat.
We counted 53 media representatives at the press preview and estimated there were some 2,300 revelers waiting in block-long lines to get into the VIP party. We recorded more than 30 minutes of television and radio coverage. We clipped countless newspaper articles covering all the angles. As a result, D&B stories were found on the business pages, as well as the society columns.
The Campaign: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
The Situation Analysis
The analysis was simple, really. In this service-oriented world of Borders and Barnes & Noble and on-line shopping, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (CLP) - including the Main Library, 18 branches and four bookmobiles - was considered out of step with the pace of the modern consumer.
While preserving the integrity and history of the 106-year-old CLP, Markowitz Communications and the library's internal marketing staff, set out to create an inviting, fun image. And so as National Library Week (April 1 - 7) approached, we decided the time was right to take our first step by allowing folks to return their overdue books with no fees attached.
To make this event even more fun (if that was possible), the branch that received the most overdue books would throw a party and the keeper of the longest overdue book would be honored with prizes, including a non-electronic organizer (we didn't want to run the risk of the winner misplacing the batteries), and much fanfare.
The Planning
We set out to change the public's perception of the library. This involved working with the CLP's design staff to create a fanciful and colorful Return to Lender logo, which became the focal point for all on-site signage and bus placards.
But the major element of the campaign was basic public relations. We wrote and sent out press releases and followed up with phone calls targeting those specific members of the media we thought would be the most responsive to this type of story.
The Execution
During the week of March 5, all branches began displaying Return to Lender posters and handing out bookmarks, and the first press release was issued. In addition, teaser cards asking "Did you find it?" and "Have you seen it?" and urging people to "Look for it." ("It" being the longest overdue book) were posted in neighborhood stores and coffee shops and university bulletin boards.
Preview stories began to hit. Television and newspaper reporters were getting into the spirit of the campaign. In fact, some news anchors even admitted - on air -- that they might be harboring their share of overdue books.
The 2nd media wave hit later in the month, that's when the final tallies were made and the keeper of the longest overdue book was announced. The celebratory party was held April 26, giving the media another story to cover.
The Results
First, the numbers. According to the CLP, nearly 12,000 overdue books were returned to lender during National Library Week. One branch alone gathered nearly 3,000 books, and that's where CLP decided to throw its party honoring the keeper of the longest overdue book.
Lucille Colamarino returned The Ruling Passion: Tales of Nature and Human Nature. It was due in 1924. You could hardly ask for a better public relations angle than that.
In terms of media coverage, all four local network affiliates and the two major newspapers did pre- and post- Return to Lender features. The story even went national when The New York Times and the Associated Press picked it up.