Company
Clorox
Campaign
Power a Bright Future
Agency mix
Ketchum (PR); TPN (consumer shopper promotions); Critical Mass (digital agency); Matter (branded entertainment); OMD (media strategy and buying); AKQA (digital media)
In-house team
Jay Stilwell and Mara McCune, brand managers; Lindsay Kane, associate brand manager; Rita Gorenberg, manager PR; Kim Harrison, digital planner; Sarah Knox, senior associate manager CSP; Niki Quinn, media manager
Budget
$200,000 to $300,000
For the fourth consecutive year, Clorox is supporting education by providing grants to school programs through the Power a Bright Future campaign.
The initiative invites consumers to nominate and vote for schools to win, with the cleaning products company giving away $200,000 in total, $50,000 more than 2011. People can nominate schools on PowerABrightFuture.com and voting opens on November 5.
“The goal is to continue to position Clorox as a leader in schools and communities, and build a connection to our audience,” explains Rita Gorenberg, PR manager at Clorox. She adds the company wants more schools and consumers involved than last year.
Working with public relations AOR Ketchum, the program kicked off with a focus group of social media-savvy teachers to figure out where teachers, parents, and students go to find information, says Gorenberg.
The company learned about a site for teachers and students called Edmodo, and now Clorox is looking to leverage the site for the initiative, whether through a partnership or a Clorox page on the site, so the brand can “directly communicate with these influencers,” she adds.
Clorox had an influencer launch event for the program at the 2012 BlogHer Conference in New York, which had more than 5,100 attendees. The campaign also incorporated a lot more social media elements, such as Pinterest, while retaining its strong traditional media outreach.
On a grassroots level, Clorox has teamed with third-party influencers, including the National Alliance for Youth Sports.
For the last few years, Clorox, with the help of media buying firms OMD and Matter, has partnered with NBC's Parenthood, including several TV spots featuring stars of the show.
Alli Sherman, managing account supervisor at Ketchum, says the campaign is “a great example of a fully integrated program that reaches audiences at a very high level.”
