Building international relations

Challenge: Australia Unlimited is a national brand developed by Austrade in response to global research that demonstrated Australia’s global reputation was based more on our physical attributes than our intellectual ones.

While Australia has a very strong international reputation, regularly ranking among the top countries in global studies, Australia Unlimited was tasked with promoting Australia’s credentials in business, technology, creative industries and science to overseas markets.

In an effort to draw attention to the depth and breadth of Australian talent around the world, Australia Unlimited was preparing to launch its Global 50 list comprising of expat Australians who are not household names, but who are doing work that deserves to be recognised.

Strategy: With a million Australians offshore at any one time and many more involved in international work, they are a ready-made corps of promotional ambassadors for the nation. Our people are the best evidence we have that Australia today is a creative, clever and globally engaged nation.

As part of this content driven campaign, Social@Ogilvy identified a list of 32 influential Australian expats living in the key markets of US, UK, Europe and Asia, so that Australia Unlimited could target them to build relationships with these key influencers while also sharing their international success stories and portray a contemporary Australia through its people.

In order to drive awareness of Australia Unlimited’s Global 50 list and mobile apps, and maintain conversation in the lead up to and throughout the Australia Day weekend, Social@Ogilvy developed a strategy encompassing content creation, influencer outreach, and conversation management, drawing new stakeholders to the Australia Unlimited brand.

Results: The integrated digital and social campaign was successful in driving traffic to Australia Unlimited’s website, with social media the top driver of referral traffic, and building key relationships with international influencers.

More than 2.174m Twitter accounts reached

80 retweets representing a 515% increase on the previous week and 100+ mentions over the campaign

8% increase in Twitter followers

70% of all traffic to the website referred from social media channels

184% increase in application subscribers

Faces of the Australian open

Challenge: Getty Images believes that mobile photography has made huge strides in a short time, so much so that the company provides its photographers with software tools that allow them to create smartphone-style images that are of high enough quality to be used by their commercial clients.

As the official photographic agency for the Australian Open, Getty Images’ team of photographers embraced the smartphone look  by applying special effects to their portraits of quirky spectators, umpires, ball boys, media and event staff.

These images became known as the Faces of the Australian Open.

Strategy: To capitalise on the hype building around the grand final match; Howorth developed a two-fold media strategy.

Part one: offer national metropolitan titles the Faces of the Australian Open album to run as an online image gallery.

Part two: provide national lifestyle tech title, CNET with exclusive access to Getty photographer, Cameron Spencer, to develop a feature on the ever-increasing popularity of smartphone photography from a professional perspective.

Results: The result saw a ¾ page article featuring Faces of the Australian Open images published on page six of the Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media also syndicated an online image gallery across 24 metropolitan and regional news sites.

CNET published two stories including an online image gallery and an in-depth article on how professional photographers integrate smartphone technology in their work, featuring comments from Cameron Spencer.

In total, 27 news clips were generated from this campaign reaching a potential audience of 4,419,355 Australians.

Bride again

Challenge: When Getty Images photographer Adam Pretty won the prestigious Getty Editorial Fellowship, he grabbed his camera and prize money and headed to the Japanese town of Kesennuma – one of the most devastated regions from the Tohoku quake and tsunami in 2011.

Overwhelmed by the scope of tragedy, Adam resolved to give something back to the people by reconstructing wedding portraits of couples whose original wedding photographs were destroyed.

Adam’s Bride Again project is a strong example of the depth and power of the work of Getty Images’ photographers.

Strategy: To coincide with the second anniversary of the Tohoku quake and tsunami, Howorth approached two media outlets – Fairfax Media and ABC – with the opportunity to speak with Adam.

Both interviews would discuss why Adam chose to focus on the Japanese tsunami and uncover stories of survival and love among the families involved in the project.

The story that Howorth and Getty Images wanted to tell was that of the strength, resilience and hope of the Japanese people living in Kesennuma.

Results: Following an interview with The Sun Herald, a half page article featuring a Bride Again wedding portrait was published in the newspaper.

This piece was syndicated to 157 online Fairfax metropolitan and regional news sites including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times as well as featuring in Fairfax’s tablet edition.

Adam’s interview with the ABC resulted in an online feature piece, exposing the news to a potential audience of 3,700,000 Australians.

This campaign generated a combined total of 159 clips and reached a potential audience of 18,022,235 Australians.

Target 100 Virtual Farm – Bringing the farm to the city

Challenge: Target 100 is an initiative by Australian cattle & sheep farmers to deliver sustainable farming by 2020 and help Australians understand more about where their food comes from.

We needed to communicate with a mass audience about how their food is produced, as for many people, farming is not close to home.

Research showed that this was a topic of interest for many though – with 58% of urban dwellers saying they are interested to know about the process undertaken to produce the beef and lamb they consume.

Strategy: What better way to bridge the gap between city folk and the country than to bring the farm to the city?

In order to overcome traditional barriers, Pulse Communications created the Target 100 Virtual Farm, a pop-up farm in Martin Place complete with native bushland, farmers from across Australia, and live cattle and sheep.

A giant screen beamed members of the public into Aussie farms using virtual technology, providing a unique opportunity for passers-by to speak directly with farmers without leaving the city centre.

We also enlisted popular journalist, blogger, qualified health coach and Target 100 ambassador, Sarah Wilson to share tips with the public on why beef and lamb are an important part of a healthy and sustainable diet.

Results: Numerous Sydney-siders got involved in the Target 100 Virtual Farm and spoke directly with our farmers Kara and Stu.

Media coverage was enormous – with over 214 clips to date, and a reach of over 8 million.

The event was attended by regional TV and radio networks which was crucial to its success.

Making Olive Oil from Spain the consumers choice

Challenge: As we all know, olive oil is a staple item in many Australian pantries.

However, research found that many consumers are undecided as to which type and variety of oil to choose. With a large number of brands, types and nationalities of oil on the market, who wouldn’t be overwhelmed?

Our aim was to simplify this problem by making olive oil from Spain, the oil of choice for Australian consumers.

We needed to leverage the quality, taste, heritage and value-for-money olive oil from Spain offers consumers, and take a leadership position amongst other olive oils that are available in stores.

Strategy: To introduce the campaign to the public we created a pop-up Spanish olive oil grove in the middle of Sydney’s CBD (George St) to celebrate Spain’s culture and heritage – imagine a fiesta of colour, sound and taste.

Our prestigious media and bloggers were also treated to an exclusive dinner hosted by ambassador Justine Schofield. They were able to preview the delicious array of food, infused with a splash of Spanish goodness (olive oil from Spain) that was to be opened to the public for breakfast, lunch and dinner the following day.

This provided consumers the opportunity to taste and sample the olive oil for themselves, all the while in a fun Spanish setting.

Results: The olive oil from Spain campaign was not only fun for us but also for the estimated 7,500 Sydneysiders who tasted olive oil from Spain, consuming a total of 35 litres of Spanish olive oil varieties.

Another 1,500 Sydneysiders tasted Justine’s tasty dishes featuring olive oil from Spain for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

We generated a huge amount of coverage with 28 articles reaching over 1.8 million Australians with messages about olive oil from Spain. Highlights included mX, TimeOut and The Morning Show.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II DLC Drop

In November we helped Activision launch Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the biggest selling entertainment product of all time. Sometimes when you launch a product the work ends there – in the world of gaming, the mission has only just begun.

With the evolution of gaming online, publishers are now looking to keep the momentum alive with what is known as DLC – downloadable content. DLC allows gamers to take their gaming experience and inject it with new life. Revolution, the first Black Ops II DLC drop in 2013 gives players access to four new maps, a new weapon – The Peacekeeper, and for the first time ever they can play their favourite game as a Zombie.

To help Activision get their core gaming audience excited about the January 30^th Revolution launch on Xbox360, we engaged one of Australia’s most influential gamers, a man by the name of Champ Chong.

Champ Chong is an online oracle for Aussie gamers, an expert gamer with all the latest news, reviews and developments in the gaming world. Champ Chong loves the Call of Duty franchise, and jumped at the chance to help get the word out about Revolution.

With 300,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel we took our announcement and bought it life for his army of viewers. Working With Champ Chong we organised a special FX makeup expert to transform him into a Zombie for his show. The clip looked awesome, and as you’d expect things got a little messy.

View CLIP: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChampChong

Over 58 thousand viewers and counting have checked out the clip, and Champ Chong has posted regular updates on both his Facebook page (14,526 fans) as well as his Twitter handle (26,767 followers). The activity was a way to get news of the DLC drop to the game’s core audience in a fun, compelling way – and the results speak for themselves.

A Winning Formula: The Official Launch of Windows 8

Challenge:  Building on the wave of interest and anticipation from Windows 8 Consumer Preview, the PR team was tasked to deliver a high impact, broad-reaching publicity campaign to amplify the local Windows 8 story.

Windows 8 heralded a huge brand shift for Microsoft, of which the PR campaign needed to emulate. The approach needed focus on people not product, stories over messages and product engagement over sales in order to help audiences emotionally connect with the experience that Windows 8 offers.

Strategy:  With an audience spread across the entire gamete of media – from technology to consumer lifestyle and everything in between, the PR team developed an educational approach that would deliver targeted information, purely relevant to each segment before culminating in the official launch event.

In September, a series of 10 one-on-one briefings were held with the most influential people across technology media in order to ensure a well-grounded level of knowledge and understanding of the Windows 8 story in the lead up to launch.

Following this, in October five consumer lifestyle mini-events were hosted at the Ivy Penthouse. The events saw the presence of 26 key media from Australia’s highest circulating consumer glossy magazines, providing these media with a first look and touch of the new operating system.

The third phase of activity offered our influencers the opportunity to ‘touch and try’ Windows 8 through the seeing 10 RTM Samsung Slate 7 devices.

Results:  All of this activity culminated in the official Windows 8 Australia launch on the 26th October 2012.

Launch day kicked off early with three pieces of solid coverage across breakfast TV which highlighted the availability of Windows 8 and Surface in Australia. The PR team worked with key morning reporters to educate them on the new product features so they could speak as ‘experts’ on Windows 8.

The tone of the coverage was very positive, with many broadcast articles positioning the Windows 8 launch as Microsoft striking back against other tablet competitors – to quote Sunrise host Andrew O’Keefe commenting “The Empire strikes back,”. News of the availability and Harvey Norman’s Midnight Madness stunt echoed across the daily news cycle and wells as the availability of devices and the different SKUs available locally.

The Australian media event commenced at 9:30 AM and saw the attendance of over 110 media from an extensive array of consumer lifestyle, broadcast, news, consumer tech and more. Media guests included the likes of Channel 7, Channel 9, SBS World News, ABC Radio National, ABC News 24, 6PR, Better Homes and Gardens, Rolling Stone, Men’s Health, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph…etc.

Key results include:

• 1457 pieces of local coverage in the first 14 days post launch
• 246 hours of broadcast coverage
• 110+ media attended the launch event

 

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Challenge: Call of Duty is the biggest selling entertainment franchise of all time.

To continue the success of the gaming phenomenon, Activision engaged Pulse Communications to help launch its latest release, the ninth installment in the franchise Call of Duty: Black Ops II into the Australian market.

Q4 is the busiest time in the gaming calendar and the challenge was to ensure that we generated a high level of anticipation about Call of Duty: Black Ops II  and effectively communicate to consumers why they should purchase this game above all others in market. We needed to drive home that this was a bigger and better game than its predecessors and competitors.

Strategy: The gaming community were key in driving early buzz around the game. They are our core audience so we hosted an exclusive event to give our top 50 AU players the chance to play the game before anyone else.

Celebrity influencers were also important in spreading the excitement of Black Ops II. Pro rugby players like Quade Cooper and Karmichael Hunt, musicians like Ronan Keating and Guy Sebastian received early delivery of the game which lead to them driving conversation ahead of the release within their fan base.

We also hosted AU media at several press events in Los Angeles throughout 2012 to secure front cover features which gave fans their first look analysis of the new game.

Results: We landed front covers across the main gaming magazines. We generated mainstream news stories off the back of nationwide midnight store launches at EB Games including a prime time news feature on Sam Worthington’s role in the game on Today Show.

We generated mass conversation through social media channels and drove early talkability of the game.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II set a new entertainment record by making $1 billion in just 15 days.

Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)

Challenge: The CDP Australia and New Zealand Climate Change Report 2012 analyses climate change disclosures made by ASX200 and NZX50 companies through the CDP to its 655 institutional investor signatories with US$78 trillion in assets. These companies represented 85% and 91% of the total market capitalisations of the ASX200 and NZX50 respectively.

This annual report, written by Deloitte Australia, provides an annual update on greenhouse gas emissions data and climate change strategies at the largest listed companies in Australia and NZ.

OgilvyEarth was briefed to develop and execute a communications strategy which placed the key findings in mainstream news media.

Strategy: The report was scheduled to be launched at Carbon Expo Australasia in Melbourne so OgilvyEarth worked to leverage interest in the event and align the results of the report with broader environmental issues in the current news agenda.

OgilvyEarth identified and targeted key business and environment writers and offered embargoed interview opportunities with James Day, CDP’s Director for Australia & New Zealand, in the lead up to the launch in order to maximise launch day coverage.

Immediately following the launch event, OgilvyEarth issued a press release announcing the results of the report and continued to reach out to key media, offering media interview opportunities and byline articles written by James.

Results: The coverage achieved for the CDP Australia and New Zealand Climate Change Report 2012 was the most coverage received for any CDP Australia and New Zealand report to date.

OgilvyEarth achieved a total of 110 pieces of coverage for the report in key print, radio, broadcast and online publications including the Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Canberra Times, ABC News Online, ABC 702 Sydney, Sky News, and Climate Spectator.

Download the report here.

Imagine Cup Microsoft

Challenge: Student technology competitions, such as the Imagine Cup, have traditionally appealed to a narrow audience. Howorth was challenged with taking the Imagine Cup to the masses. Mainstream media coverage that told stories for the everyday Australian which generated conversations, and told the Microsoft innovation story around four key event milestones: the local finals, the Road to Sydney, the 2012 World Wide Finals, and the APAC BizSpark Entrepreneur Summit.

Strategy: Howorth focused on strategic storytelling across broadcast and key national print media. To ensure understanding of the key messages, we brought the story to life using the student’s journey and their projects to showcase the innovative solutions they have devised to solve real-world issues, and positioning the students as tomorrow’s Bill Gates or innovators.

Results: Results included high impact and broad stories on the Imagine Cup. Telling the Imagine Cup story through broadcast outlets and the student projects helped us showcase the global nature of the competition and brought media on the journey. Out of the 75 unique pieces of coverage for the World Wide Finals, 72 clips mentioned Microsoft and were in-line with corporate key messages for the competition.

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