What Sticks? The Marketing Mix

In Response to "What Sticks", posted by Loyalist PR on September 11, 2007.

Myself, having a fairly broad knowledge of the Marketing Mix, have to agree with Loyalist PR and the direction of their blog to an extent.

I agree that PR is what sticks, and it is what consumers/publics/target audiences (T.A.) care about. PR should be used before any traditional advertising, simply because the T.A. needs a solid, honest, and proven connection to the product/ service/ organization. They (T.A.) need to become familiar with what is being pushed, and familiarity comes from trust. Trust is earned through the efforts of diligent PR practitioners and backing from endorsements by opinion leaders.

I also truly believe that there is a place for traditional advertising in the marketing mix, and that place will never be fully diminished. Traditional advertising takes over where PR starts, and should be used in conjunction with PR. Once the T.A. has a fully established relationship with the product/ service/ organization advertising is a relatively cost effective way to reach them, thus keeping top of mind recall. When advertising is used effectively with PR a constantly growing and believing consumer base can be established and reached.

I truly believe that PR is the very first step any company should take when launching a product in a virgin market, or if they are trying to re-invent the product to existing consumers. PR is the tool that warms even the most cynical T.A. to a product, which then allows traditional advertising to take hold. Again, there is a place in this world for both PR and traditional advertising, and when used together, they achieve a synergy, meaning that they sum off all parts are greater than the parts on their own.

But hey, I could be wrong.


Cheers for now.
Lucy

Exposure

I've learned a little about the PR and Community Relations profession in the few short months tht I;ve been practicing my trade. The most interesting though, relates to media/press releases and the use of them in local media. I have sent nearly 30 press/media releases in my three months on the job and nearly every single one has been used. What is more interesting than that though, is that most have been used verbatim. It leeds me to think that perhaps I have a good writing style that is appealing to the market, but to be honest, that couldn't be further from the truth. I think the real reason that our releases are used is because of the orginization that I work for and our reputation in the community, as well as the size of the community.

The city I live in is what could be considered a mid-sized, Eastern Ontario town and is a long way from a busstling Mecca for news. That being said reporters for the local media outlets are very much busy and need some help from time to time. Truth be told, our community members also like a little good news, and what is better than hearing successes from the Local Community College?

I really enjoy what I have been doing lately, not to the extent that I could continue doing it for a career, but it is a nice break. I also like seeing my by-line in the paper from time to time as well...

Cheers!
Lucy

Class of '08

It's been a long, long while since I posted last, so I figured that I'd get back into it.

I'm proud to say that I, along with 24 other top notch PR practitioners are ready to enter the work force, if we haven't done so already. I know that we will take the industry by storm if we so choose, but more than that, I know that we will all stay in touch and look out for one another. I know that our group is destined for great things in life and in our careers, but I can't help but think that we all connected on a very large scale. We were able to find common ground with each other, we played to our strengths and networked well. Our class of 25 strangers closed out the year as a close-knit, and almost family like unit.

I'm proud to say that our class was the tightest of any I've been a part of. I look forward to many years of on going communication and partnership with everyone from the PR class of '08.

PR Class Success

Loyalist College PR students raise ovr $2400 for Quinte United Way in just 6 hours! Though it's not a national campaign, this one is special to all in our class. The long hours, hard work, sweat, laughter, and teamwork paid off. In under 6 hours, in one day, in a population of 2600 we raised $2400! It's amazing what our Mission Possible, Mystery Envolope campaign was able to accomplish for the United Way. We smashed the previous year's total, hell, we even smashed our predicted total. We were able to get coverage on no less then three local radio stations, two newspapers, and even a lead story on a Kingston T.V. news program. What is even more amazing is that we did it all with a limited budget, how about $0, and with only one certified PR practitioner (Thanks Kerry). I can only wish next year's class luck, because there is no way that they're going to touch us, unless they give away a car or something. We are the example that small business should look towards, we are the studnets that agencies should employ, we are the next brightest PR practitioner, and best of all, we had fun.

Old Spice, Dance off? Sounds Like Grandpa's Polka-ing tonight!

One of the cooler events that I noticed while seaching for campaigns was one put on by Old Spice (OS). Research showed that the Males, 18-34 were the hardest target to reach, also that this same group loved to dance and go out to bars (actually it seems like they were targeting women...) To appeal to this audience, OS planned an event-driven campaign to reach these cynical, and apparently, very metrosexual men. The premis of the campaign was to stage dance offs, at many popular clubs and across Canada, to crown the best after hours dancer in the country. The dancers would compete on a branded dance floor and the best examples would be filmed and streamed online on the company website. Product trial was also a determining factor in the PR process; the PR agency leveraged nightclubs to place the product in restrooms during the night's events. Music scene heavyhitter MuchMusic was brought onside to cast some credibility on the judging end during the final event. Results were tracked and the numbers were staggering; sales were up 65%, over 38 000 votes were cast online, and 52 000 hits were generated on OS's website. Not only were the numbers good, but the awards came grooving in as well.

Pucks of Cheese

Would you pay $5.6 million to watch a hockey game? Well, 79 million PR impressions and 2.2 million viewers say that Kraft Hockeyville is worth it. What better way to go nationwide is there than getting communities from coast to coast to boast how they're Canada's Hockeyville? Kraft and the NHL teamed with CBC to showcase how each town is the best hockey community in Canada. the winner of the contest got renovations to their arena and the chance to host a televised NHL game. How is this PR you ask? Well, was the backbone to this campaign, that also included radio, tv, and print ads. The PR came in the form of celebrity endorsement (NHL game) and a seven episode series featured in primetime on CBC. Who could have thought that Kraft was actually hosting the event? I for one totally forgot that Kraft was the reason that this campaign was even launched, but I was subject to their brand repeatedly. That is what makes PR so effective, that consumers don't necessarily equate a brand's name with paid advertising while the company is running an event of this nature.

PR and Bad Drivers

When was the last time you yelled at someone while driving? Do you think that you've got roadrage, or are they just that bad? Well chances are, if they're that bad they're a contestant on Canada's Worst Driver. The campaign won a bronze in this year's Marketing Mag awards annual under the PR catagory. The campaign consisted of banged up cars being towed around major Toronto traffic areas. The joint venture between Discovery Channel, inhouse PR and Abrams Towing was conicdered a "Smash" hit with the audience. Actually, this PR event helped increase the audience by 156% over the previous year's debut, 42% above expectation. so if you see a bad driver on the road, thank the inroad PR for the plug, bad drivers everywhere are looking for the limelight these days. This case is proof that PR can work better than pure old fashioned Advertising.