Cabot Creamery Cooperative: The World's Best Cheddar
Cabot Creamery Cooperative has been in continuous operation in Vermont since 1919 and is best known as makers of "The World's Best Cheddar." Cabot is owned by the dairy farm families of Agri-Mark, the Northeast's premier dairy cooperative.
When Cabot Creamery was looking for external assistance for their internal public relations team in 2005, the company turned to PRCG to support Cabot's wide range of marketing and public relations initiatives. Impressed with the service and results, the company expanded its relationship with PRCG by periodically engaging the services of eight additional members.
PRCG team members working on the account handle a wide range of tasks including: new product launches, arranging media tours for Cabot's celebrity spokes-chefs, publicizing Cabot's highly-successful supermarket Road Show program and "Calcium is Cool" nutrition education programs and managing media relations for numerous community relations programs. PRCs were recently brought in to work on a number of important programs, including the World's Largest Mac & Cheese Event in New Orleans, the Community Celebrity Cruise Program and the multi-market Great American Voter Trek. Thanks to their hard work, talent and tremendous effort, each was a resounding success. Over the years, the PR team has generated millions of media impressions - including over 150 radio interviews - and numerous major media hits in nearly every regional media outlet in the markets they serve.
PRCG support for Cabot Creamery Cooperative currently covers the entire east coast with plans to expand public relations support on an as-needed basis throughout the remainder of the U.S. in 2011.
D'Oh Thank Heaven: 7-Eleven / Simpsons Campaign
7-Eleven turned 11 stores nationwide into Kwik-E-Marts for the month of July, to help promote The Simpsons Movie release on July 27. Colorful character cut-outs and products taken straight from the TV series, such as Buzz Cola, Krusty O's and Squishees (7-Eleven's legendary Slurpees, renamed), attracted thousands of delighted Simpsons fans to the stores. The story, spurred by the efforts of PRConsultants Group members in major markets, was picked up by media nationwide, resulting in TV media values of nearly $4 million in the first week and helping to sell more than one million bright pink Simpsons Sprinkalicious donuts.
PRCG members gave an advance to key journalists for the first day of the Kwik-E-Mart transformation, and then pitched the Simpsons story to print, TV, radio and the Internet, arranging for hundreds of in-store TV segments and interviews with 7-Eleven management. PRCG members also handled delivery of hundreds of bright pink Simpsons Sprinkalicious donuts and other Simpsons collectibles around town, garnering a total of 1,400 TV segments, hundreds of print articles, including mentions in all top US newspapers and numerous radio segments. The promotion, lauded by marketers as a "bold, brilliant, genius and award-winning" example of reverse product placement, was an Internet buzz leader, hitting the Yahoo and Entertainment Weekly top 10, and was featured in countless blogs. Publicity value was estimated at a very conservative $6.7 million.
Cold Stone Creamery
PRConsultants Group, under the management and direction of member agency teamworks communication management, worked in 43 states to remind consumers that every day is a great day for ice cream!
teamworks communication management worked with Cold Stone Creamery’s headquarters team in Scottsdale, Arizona, to develop ongoing local market media relations to promote the Creamery's new products, promotions, and initiatives.
Our team announced the new Cold Stone To Go product, as well as publicized a free ice cream for Mother's Day. We promoted National Ice Cream Month and a Shake It Up! Dance Contest. We were instrumental in getting the word out about the World’s Largest Ice Cream Social to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, generating more than 124 million impressions for that fundraiser alone! In total, teamworks and the 29-member PRC project team generated more than 230 million positive impressions for Cold Stone Creamery during a nine-month period, beating the headquarters annual goal for all media impressions, including national media.
This is not only a great example of how PRConsultants Group can successfully execute marketing and media relations programs in local markets, it also speaks to the management and creative counsel our project managers provide. teamworks worked actively with the client each quarter to identify opportunities that would set Cold Stone apart at the local level and develop appropriate media materials and messaging.
RedEye: Think Flood's Red Eye Universal Remote
In 2009-2010, PRConsultants Group was chosen to provide media relations, radio promotions and social media support to Boston-based Think Flood Inc., a privately held company, for the launch of their new Red Eye universal remote control. ThinkFlood (http://thinkflood.com/) designs and develops remote control hardware and software, transforming the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad into a personal remote that allows control of virtually any home entertainment device from any room in the home.
A team of PRCs in the most “wired” cities in the nation (New York, San Diego/Orange County, Seattle, Minneapolis, Houston) mobilized to brainstorm, strategize, then flood the market with publicity, getting the word out about Red Eye through bloggers and tech media reaching audiophiles, home entertainment and home automation enthusiasts and distributors. The team implemented a targeted campaign to include word of mouth marketing and social media, radio promotions, and product reviews in highly respected print media.
PRConsultants Group’s Red Eye PR team secured over 60 national and regional media placements and radio promotions. In addition to social media outreach, blog placements, and a dozen value-added radio promotions placed without an advertising buy, here are just a few of the quality media placements secured in just a few months: CoolMomPics, WIRED GeegDad, Thrillist Boston, Financial Times, TIME Magazine's Techland, PARADE, NYT Blog Gadgetwise, New York Times and Pinstripe Magazine.
AVID - Advancement Through Individual Determination
PRConsultantsGroup worked with AVID, a college-readiness program celebrating 30 years of success, to develop strategies to increase awareness of their programs, both in local target markets and nationally. The nonprofit organization trains teachers to help middle–of-the-road students, who are often economically disadvantaged, graduate from high school and excel in college.
At the local level, PRCs in six target cities set up a media campaign to garner media attention of Summer Institutes, where teachers are trained. Using outstanding local student success stories, they developed plans to place interviews on television, radio and in local newspapers. In October and November, spurred by NBC’s Education Nation initiative, PRCs tied in with NBC affiliates in Chicago and San Diego to highlight AVID success stories on air.
PRCs also developed a three-pronged national marketing plan, focusing on college readiness, outstanding students, and the African American Male Initiative. Using social media, blogs, editorials and traditional media tactics, PRCs conducted outreach to familiarize high level media with AVID’s message.
Make-A-Wish Foundation Case Study
When Make-A-Wish Foundation partnered with Macy’s for the third annual Macy’s Believe Campaign and Santa Bus Tour in 2010, they turned to teamworks and PRConsultants Group for media relations support in 20 markets across the United States. Teamworks managed the efforts of 15 PRCs, promoting the Believe Campaign in 10 markets and the Santa Bus Tour in 13 cities. More than 1.6 million letters were delivered to Macy’s during the campaign, a 20 percent increase over the previous year, when the program was executed without PRCG support.
Through the Believe Campaign, Macy’s donated $1 for every “Letter to Santa” dropped into the Santa Mail Letterbox at any Macy’s location, up to $1 million. PRCs supported this initiative by developing news stories featuring past and present Wish Kids, school letter-writing campaigns, and Wish grants associated with National Believe Day on Dec. 10.
Meanwhile, following the annual Macy’s Parade in New York, Santa jumped onboard his own “rock star style” motor coach to visit 26 cities nationwide, promoting the Believe letter-writing campaign.
Our team garnered 45 TV segments in the 20 supported markets, not including additional rebroadcasts.
PainePR: Local Outreach through PRCG
PainePR, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, has been working with the PRConsultants Group for many years as a way to expand and enhance local outreach efforts for its clients.
Under the direction and auspices of Paine PR, members of the PRConsultants Group have handled local media efforts and event planning and execution for a variety of Paine's clients, including Duracell, Old Spice, Pampers, Dreft, Luvs, Ivory, Levis, Dockers, Ricoh, Hilton Garden Inn, IAMS and XM radio.
PRConsultants Group acts as an extension of Paine PR on these projects, enabling the agency to offer broad yet local media expertise and outreach. Paine oversees the project, and can depend on the experienced local PRCG member to offer the advice and provide the skills to handle all details in the field, greatly increasing local media coverage.