PR = earned media. Advertising is = paid media.
Anything that you don't pay for, isn't easy to get. And you have to have a good reason to get free coverage. I respect that.
Having been a journalist myself, I truly understand how it feels to receive a press release which is all about the brand and of no service to the reader. So when I embarked on a career of brand PR, I vowed to never do the things I observed as "not editorial enough".
The key to getting coverage is to offer a good story. A good story that would excite readers, worth announcing and worth a journalist's time. And never send a press release without pictures - unless you're from a bank. Even so, you still might want to include a photo of a spokesperson or a picture of your bank facade, whatever is relevant.
Anyway, when I realised that World Happiness Day (WHD) was coming up (March 11th), I thought, let's hijack that and do something that fits the brand proposition of Cadbury Dairy Milk! Cadbury Dairy Milk is all about sharing the happiness and multiplying joy and WHD was a perfect fit. Then I came up with an idea of a roving Cadbury Dairy Milk vehicle that would randomly pick people up and send them to their next destination. A journey that's so happy and magical that everyone would talk about it on print and social media.
I proposed the idea to the marketing team and they said YES. We were 1 week away from WHD and work started. We rented a Hummer, dressed it up in purple and fit the car with automatic bubble makers. It was a beautiful sight.
On WHD, the Cadbury Dairy Milk Happiness Taxi created a lot of buzz in the bustling Kuala Lumpur, driving consumers to our Cadbury Facebook. Thousands of chocolates were given away as a sampling activity and our magician delighted the crowd with cool tricks.
I managed to convince some really helpful celebrities to participate in our tactical campaign. They were Ben Ibrahim and Marsha Milan. Ben Ibrahim used the taxi as a treat for his wife Sofia who was due to give birth to their first child (she delivered their baby, Kyla Natasha, the next day!). Marsha surprised her fans with a magic show and free chocolate treats. It was also her way of saying thanks to her loyal fans. The story was published in major dailies and by different desks from news to entertainment.
It was a great consumer engagement activity and we achieved 7 million eyeballs. Social media was abuzz with sightings of the purple taxi!
Most importantly, Cadbury Dairy Milk multiplied the joy and shared the happiness!
Watch the video here.
Melati
No comments:
Post a Comment