CAMPAIGNS

GAME NIGHT UNITES FAMILIES.

GAME NIGHT UNITES FAMILIES.

Client: Hasbro Games, division of Hasbro (Pawtucket, RI)

PR Team Fleishman-Hillard (New York)

Campaign: Family game night

Time Frame: February to December 1998

Budget: dollars 110,000

Product Use.

How do parents and kids spend quality time together? The answer was a

crucial piece of information that Hasbro Games researched in order for

its traditional board games to compete against hi-tech CD-ROM games.

Hasbro’s study indicated that both generations enjoy playing board games

and want to play together more often. Hasbro therefore aimed its

subsequent integrated marketing campaign at encouraging families to set

aside one day a week to do so.

Strategy

The first objective was to dispel the misconception that CD-ROM and

video games meant the demise of traditional board games. Using data from

the parents-kids survey, the team developed messages highlighting the

social interaction that board games provide.

Hasbro’s PR agency, Fleishman-Hillard, considered it critical to

maintain consistency throughout the campaign’s various marketing

efforts. The public relations and advertising efforts mirrored one

another in look and feel to ensure that messages and visuals resonated

with consumers.

To reach family gatekeepers (moms) directly with this information, it

was considered important to get third-party partners who would add

credibility to the program and provide a network for grassroots

outreach. In summer 1998 Fleishman introduced Hasbro to The National

Parenting Center (TNPC).

The center is dedicated to providing parents with guidance from nine of

the world’s most renowned child-rearing authorities.

The PR team also brought in TNPC expert panelist Evelyn Petersen, a

nationally known, award-winning parenting columnist and child and family

advocate.

Tactics

A three-pronged campaign - advertising, public relations, promotions -

was devised. Elements included a press kit; radio news release; mat

feature news release; consumer brochure that was distributed via media

and through promotional partners, including Pizza Hut and Kraft; and a

national radio promotion, which aired on 55 stations in the top 50 US

markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Washington, DC.

A satellite media tour featuring Petersen launched in September 1998.

With 40 years of experience as an early childhood educator, she was a

perfect fit for the program, according to the agency.

The tour was picked up in 12 US markets, including Phoenix, Baltimore

and Milwaukee.

Petersen assisted in the development of a brochure that addressed the

importance of family game play. She also included information about the

project on her web site (www.askevelyn.com), wrote a number of articles

that were distributed through her syndicate, Knight-Ridder, and

participated in print and broadcast interviews.

The TNPC partnership included the design of a banner ad on its web site

(www.tnpc.com), which brought viewers to a ’Family Game Night’ page. The

page spoke to the campaign’s messages and showcased the consumer

brochure available via e-mail, which was hot linked to the page. TNPC

also wrote two articles on Family Game Night in its monthly newsletter,

ParenTalk, which was distributed to its membership base.

Results

During the fourth quarter, following the launch of the advertising and

PR campaigns, sales of Family Game Night games were up at Hasbro’s top

retail customers by 12% over the same time period in 1997. Annual sales

for the games at the top retailers in 1998 were up over 8%.

More than 90% of the media coverage mentioned at least four of the

games.

Rosie O’Donnell featured the project on her show and aired the

commercial - the first time that program aired a TV commercial in an

editorial context.

Through placements via broadcast TV, radio, newspapers, mat newspaper

and radio features and radio promotions, the campaign messages reached

more than 20 million consumers.

Future

’The campaign is now a model for effective integrated marketing at

Hasbro Games,’ says Hasbro PR director Mark Morris.

As Family Game Night becomes better known, the company’s PR efforts will

focus on developing strategic promotions, local market events and other

timely initiatives to build on the momentum already gained by this

program.

Alvin M. Hattal

DIAPERS BOOST PRENATAL CARE.

Client: BabyCal (California Department of Health Services)

PR Team: Hill & Knowlton Social Marketing Team (Los Angeles) Campaign:

’Dribbling for Diapers’

Time Frame: May and June 1999

Budget: about dollars 25,000

Event Marketing.

BabyCal is a California public awareness effort aimed at combating low

birth weight and decreasing infant mortality. Naturally, delivering its

messages to high-risk women is vital. To achieve this it uses statewide

advertising, special events and corporate sponsorship, in addition to

grassroots support of community-based organizations (CBOs), which

include Planned Parenthood, Positive Youth Development and Sacramento

Life Center.

Recently the state has been working with Hill & Knowlton to build

awareness of the program, which is administered by the Department of

Health Services.

’We were looking for an angle to freshen up the campaign,’ says Eric

Borsum, senior managing director at H&K in LA. ’We wanted to create a

regional media event that would shine a spotlight on the work of

Sacramento CBOs and promote the key messages of BabyCal.’

Strategy

H&K’s team of statewide CBO consultants researched the needs of

expectant mothers and discovered that the most-requested baby care item

is diapers.

So H&K designed a diaper-donation program and a corresponding media

event called ’Dribbling for Diapers.’

Part of the idea came from the already established partnership between

BabyCal and the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Sacramento

Monarchs. The Monarchs had already been planning on donating proceeds

from an exhibition game to BabyCal. H&K then tapped one of the

campaign’s long-time corporate sponsors, Raley’s and Bel Air, a local

supermarket chain, to match the money raised at the game and to donate

diapers at cost. As a result, more than dollars 10,000 worth of diapers

were donated to local CBOs.

Tactics

To make a large-scale impact at the game, the PR team used as visuals a

Raley’s and Bel Air 18-wheeler delivery truck and giant pyramids of

diapers - more than 1,200 packages.

On hand for the diaper-donation ceremony were mothers, babies (including

three sets of triplets), CBO people and Raley’s and Bel Air reps, as

well as Monarchs players.

Yolanda Griffith, the team’s leading rebounder and scorer, spoke about

the importance for pregnant women to stay healthy by eating right and

not smoking, for example.

’Yolanda was a great choice as the spokesperson for the team,’ says

Borsum.

’Not only is she the kind of woman that our target audience looks up to

but she is also a mother herself, so her message had even more

impact.’

Borsum says another media angle included a 60-second shoot-out after the

donation ceremony. Area CBO representatives took part in the shoot-out

by partnering with Monarchs team members. Winners received autographed

basketballs to display at their facilities.

Results

An estimated audience of 2,084,084 was reached through media coverage of

the Dribbling for Diapers event. Seven segments were broadcast on five

Sacramento TV stations, including KXTV (ABC), KCRA (NBC), KOVR (CBS),

KTXL-TV (FOX) and KMAX (UPN). The event also received print coverage in

the Sacramento Bee.

’Thirty percent of women interviewed reported that they started prenatal

care for the first time after hearing or seeing BabyCal campaign

messages and its programs like Dribbling for Diapers,’ Borsum says.

Future

The California Department of Health Services was so impressed with the

positive coverage of the event that it asked H&K to look into conducting

a similar event in Sacramento in 2000.

The organization also contracted with H&K to introduce a program in

Southern California with the Los Angeles Sparks.

Kelley Crowley

POST OFFICE SETS UP PC POSTAGE.

Client: US Postal Service (Washington, DC)

PR Team: Electronic media relations division of News/Broadcast Network

(Washington, DC) Campaign:Lick, Stick and Click PC Postage program

Time Frame: July to August 1999

Budget: about dollars 30,000

Service Launch.

The Web is creeping into more areas of everyday life, including the

sacred bond between Americans and the post office. After 70 years, the

U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced that we won’t have to trudge down

there to buy stamps anymore. PC Postage is a new technology that allows

such purchases by downloading and printing from the Internet.

It is an innovative idea, but the postal service was faced with the

challenge of reaching the people who use the Internet the most. The USPS

turned to News/Broadcast Network (NBN), a company that provides a range

of broadcast services for the PR industry. NBN helped the USPS create a

multileveled, multimedia tour.

Strategy

The postal service planned a three-pronged attack: a radio media tour, a

live press conference simulcast on the Internet and a post-conference

package that included B-roll and a web rebroadcast using SMIL

(Synchronized Multimedia Integrated Language) technology, which allows

for on-demand rebroadcast.

NBN targeted message boards and newsgroups that would be responsive to

the business news and technology innovation. The radio tour aimed at the

shows and personalities interested in those same angles. The final stage

of the approach was to set up TV stations for the live feed and B-roll

package. The webcast was announced not just to journalists but to the

general business public as well.

Tactics

’The webcast expanded the reach of the event,’ says Monica Hand,

spokesperson for the USPS. ’The press event was well attended, but we

wanted to provide that first-hand information to media outside of the DC

area who had expressed interest in this story from the beginning.’

Jeff Wurtz, VP of marketing and sales at NBN, adds that after testing

business groups and media his company ’offered a soft registration and

so created a ready-made direct mail list.’ Business radio outlets that

gave airtime to the event included Bloomberg News Radio, The Wall Street

Journal Radio Network and Fred Fishkin’s Bootcamp on the CBS Radio

Network.

Results

The USPS had more than 15 camera crews cover the press conference.

B-roll was broadcast 183 times, reaching an estimated audience of 7.5

million on 88 stations, including KCAL (Los Angeles), WPIV

(Philadelphia), KDAS (Dallas) and KCPX (Seattle-Tacoma). The radio media

tour reached nearly 25 million listeners on eight stations and

networks.

The webcast had 1,062 registered participants. The broadcast can be seen

on www.usps.gov and www.newsbroadcastnetwork.com.

Future

’We would definably consider using the webcasting medium again,’ Hand

comments. ’We were interested in providing Internet access from the

beginning, but we weren’t sure how to pull it off. I was delighted to

learn that News/Broadcast Network could make it happen.’

Adds Wurtz: ’The Lick, Stick and Click campaign is a perfect example of

how integrating all three mediums can maximize an audience.’

Kelley Crowley.