Ogilvy PR Melbourne Measure’s Up with The Department of Health and Ageing

Challenge: The Measure Up social marketing campaign aims to promote good health outcomes through the prevention and early detection of avoidable chronic diseases. The initial advertising campaign worked to raise awareness of the link between an increased waist circumference and chronic disease – but many Australians lacked the information and tools needed to help them take positive action. The challenge for Phase Two of the campaign was to provide at-risk Australians with the ‘How’ message prompting involvement and action, especially in harder to reach communities young women 20-35yrs, people in regional communities and socially disadvantaged groups.

Insight: Body image, fitness and weight are very personal subjects – lecturing is ineffective. Real inspiration needs to come from personal key influencers as well as real Aussies with real life stories in the real language spoken on the street and in the regions. By harnessing the power of grassroots communication, it is possible to engage, empower and encourage fellow Aussies to Measure Up.

Campaign: To help communicate the important ‘How’ message, Ogilvy PR Melbourne took a two phase approach: A) engaging with health practitioners and providing them with important resources to help them champion the cause with patients; and B) making the messages as accessible as possible to the target audience.

General Practitioners received an early ‘heads up’ prior to the national campaign launch via a Medical Media campaign which saw background information displayed in GP staff rooms nationally. This tactic ensured that key influencers were well briefed and able to reinforce campaign messages once the advertising campaign commenced. Support patient information resources were also provided to health practitioners with a suite of additional ‘how’ materials also developed.

To tap into the critical regional audience, Ogilvy PR Melbourne created the ‘Country Pantry’ series of ‘how to’ food and nutrition fact sheets to provide families with real tips and ideas in the language they speak at home.

Recognising that inspiring, real life stories were fundamental to encourage other Australians to take action, Ogilvy PR Melbourne produced three online videos, showcasing down to earth real life success stories, allowing a metro family, a regional family and a community group to share their inspiring stories in their own words online. Online support for the campaign grew in conjunction with the growth of the campaign and availability of new in-line support tools, which were featured on a revamped campaign website.

Results: GPs ranked the Measure Up Medical Media social marketing campaign as one of the most memorable and valuable campaigns in 2010. Research has shown high awareness for the campaign and the waist circumference message and confirmed the consultancy’s positioning of just making small changes to make a big difference. Additionally the website revamp has boosted consumer engagement and interaction allowing more real Aussies to download practical resources, such as the Country Pantry fact sheet series, share tips and inspire each other to keep their waistlines in check.

Heinz GO BEET

The Brief: Heinz launched GO BEET, a new beetroot juice, in Australia in November 2010. Beetroot has shown to be a high source of dietary nitrate, which is linked to a boost in endurance and stamina by allowing muscles to use oxygen more efficiently. With this in mind, GO BEET is a particularly beneficial product for sportspeople. Consumer public relations agency, Pulse Communications, was tasked with raising awareness and hype for this new product to lead to trial and adoption.

Ideas: Pulse Communications executed a range of sampling opportunities, events and media activities over the course of 12 months to raise maximum awareness for GO BEET, which included:

• Recruiting high profile athletes (without fee) to genuinely endorse the benefits of GO BEET as a fleet of ‘BEET Boys & Girls’
• Outreaching to media with tailored angles most relevant to them, to secure editorial coverage
• Securing sampling opportunities at popular Ocean Water Swim events
• Conducting a series of free ‘BEET Camp’ outdoor training sessions for the public to get involved and taste GO BEET for themselves
• Communicating training tips and GO BEET benefits via social media

Influence:

• Pulse Communications secured GO BEET trials with more than 30 high profile athletes, including Ian Thorpe, Stephanie Rice, Essendon FC, Jane Saville and Libby Trickett – nine of these publicly endorsed GO BEET
• Editorial coverage on GO BEET reached almost 6 million Australians
• Tens of thousands of Aussies sampled GO BEET at top-tier Ocean Water Swim events
• BEET Camps were conducted in both Sydney and Melbourne
• Views on the GO BEET Facebook page increased by 700% over the course of the campaign, with a total reach of 35,257 post views in this time

 

Don’t Be A Tosser, Bin Your Butts

Challenge: On 1 July 2007, the Victorian Government banned smoking inside licensed venues. Butt litter was expected to increase significantly unless action was taken. Cigarette litter already constituted 56% of Victoria’s litter stream. Sustainability Victoria recognised the need for a campaign to change smokers’ behaviours.

Insight: When targeting butt litter messages to smokers, the public relations campaign needed to be mindful that socially many smokers already felt persecuted. The campaign’s message couldn’t point the finger at them or lay blame. The campaign’s creative ‘Don’t be a Tosser – Bin Your Butts’, therefore used humour to capture their attention.

Following extensive research and stakeholder consultation, a campaign was developed focussing on changing smokers’ behaviour at venues identified most at risk of increased littering. Harnessing hospitality industry and local government involvement activities aimed to minimise pressure on local governments and pubs and clubs and make it easier for them to take an active role in the campaign. This included providing bin infrastructure and promoting cleanliness.

Campaign: The public relations campaign encouraged a collective approach to reducing butt litter between the smoker, licensed premises, local government and state government. Campaign toolkits were provided to pub and club owners and local government staff. An incentive scheme was introduced to encourage licensed premises to buy appropriate butt bins. Radio, bus shelter and convenience advertising and a state-wide media campaign raised awareness of the issue and kept it on the public’s agenda. ‘Butts Champs’ took to the streets handing out ‘Don’t be a Tosser’ personal ashtrays and extensive media publicity highlighted the problem and what needed to be done about it.

Results: The campaign achieved a major increase in the number of smokers binning their butts, and no increase in butt litter, demonstrating that smokers’ behaviour changed.  Butt littering behaviour fell by almost half. Independent evaluation found 73% of targeted venues actively supported the campaign and 66% of Victoria’s local governments participated in the campaign. Media publicity firmly placed the issue on the public’s agenda –212 positive electronic and print media items were achieved over four months with the majority highlighting key messages.

The public relations campaign was awarded an International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Gold Quill Excellence Award and a Public Relations Institute of Australia Golden Target Award in the environmental category.

DonateLife: To donate life, discuss it today – OK

Challenge: Over 1,700 Australians are on the official organ and tissue transplant waiting list[1] – many will die waiting. Despite widespread public support, Australia’s family consent rate for organ and tissue donation to proceed is just 56%. A six-week advertising campaign ‘To donate life, discuss it today – OK’ was aimed at increasing the number of Australians who have discussed their organ donation wishes with their loved ones. Our challenge was to provide opportunities to deepen the discussion and get the community talking about the issue. We needed to reinforce the advertising campaign’s call to action.

Insight: Experience showed us that using donor families to tell their story was a powerful vehicle for motivating people to think about organ donation and then have a conversation with their families. Case studies also provided strong media interest. Therefore opportunities were created for Australians to share their stories online and in traditional media and at a grassroots level. Our approach was that mass media plus community outreach would result in many more discussions.

Campaign: The campaign was launched by the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with a high profile donor family representative being widely featured in the media. Stakeholder briefings were held and community leaders were sent “call to action” kits to extend the campaign’s reach and encourage their involvement. Talk programs on radio and TV were targeted as were media doctors.

A social media campaign was implemented to dovetail with the mainstream advertising campaign and media relations initiatives. It provided the opportunity for real people to have discussions online, creating a burgeoning online DonateLife community. The campaign involved education and engagement strategies working across federal government agencies, state health departments and local governments.

Results: Campaign results included levels of family discussion increasing by 10%, of which 83% were rated by respondents as memorable conversations. Knowledge of family member’s wishes increased by 7%. Over 32,000,000 Australians were reached via extensive print, broadcast and online media publicity during the campaign. Social media activity was very successful with Facebook fans increasing 1,080 per cent during the campaign. DonateLife Twitter followers increased by 50% during the campaign period. Ninety five events promoted the campaign  and supporting activities were implemented by local councils, schools, GPs, hospitals and medical centres and Rotary, Lions and Probus groups.

Square Kilometre Array – the world’s biggest telescope

Issue: Ogilvy Public Relations was engaged by the Department of Innovation Industry, Science and Research (DIISR)  to get the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) public behind the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) bid to bring the world’s biggest telescope to Australia. With the bid element of the project nearing crunch time (early 2012), it was time to ramp up public awareness, build excitement and most importantly gain the public’s support.

Challenges: Ogilvy PR had to overcome several challenges in order to successfully execute the campaign objectives:

• Creating the news hook: Given there were no new bid milestones during the campaign activity period, Ogilvy PR had no timely news hook to engage media around.
• Making a complex message relevant and engaging for the public: The SKA is a technical scientific feat had previously only received interest from the science community. The radio astronomy jargon had to be broken down and the question “why should I care about a telescope?” had to be answered before gaining the support of the ‘man on the street’ for the project.
• Overcoming negative perceptions such as the project cost and environmental impact:  The SKA will cost the international community over $2 billion to build – to some, a perceived waste of tax payers’ money. Many Australians were also feeling uneasy about the way in which 3,000 dishes would change and impact the Australian landscape.

Public Relations Strategy: To create mass awareness and gain the support of the Australian public, Ogilvy PR developed a number of media opportunities to feed to the media over the three month campaign period. In order to build these opportunities, Ogilvy PR:

• Put a personal face to the story: Science commentator, author and radio presenter, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki was engaged as the campaign ambassador; a spokesperson which the Australian public could relate to and who transcends the science community, taking the story out of the “geek” world and into the everyday. Dr Karl took part in a media tour supported by additional spokespeople relevant to different audiences and media outlets

• Created a unique media experience: To provide media with new and exclusive content, Ogilvy PR coordinated a media visit to the proposed SKA site in Western Australia. TV, online and print journalists attended capturing photographs and footage of the site coupled with interviews with various key spokespeople

• Generated tailored stories that would spark interest with the different audience groups:Ogilvy PR created a number of different angles to bring to life the bid for different media. This ensured the SKA message reached everyone from school children to young males, from the working professional to the tech savvy individual.

Outcome: Ogilvy PR achieved 50 pieces of coverage, exceeding the KPIs by 185%, with a campaign reach of over 38 million Australians. Coverage highlights included: The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph, ninemsn, News.com.au, Sunday Times, The Age online, Herald Sun online and Today Tonight. The overall return on investment for the DIISR came in at 6:1. Having successfully brought the message of the SKA to the Australian public, Ogilvy PR look forward to the SKA bid announcement, due to take place in February 2012.

Pulse meets Mickey & Minnie Mouse

On May 29 2011, Disney Junior, a new multiplatform brand and channel devoted to children ages 2-7, debuted in Australia on FOXTEL and AUSTAR. The channel replaced Playhouse Disney, and consumer public relations agency, Pulse Communications, was tasked with securing positive editorial in high profile outlets to raise awareness of the launch and encourage parents and kids to tune in on launch day and beyond.

To celebrate the launch, Mickey & Minnie Mouse travelled to Australia from Disneyland for the first time in 7 years. An exclusive launch party was held at the Sydney Opera House in the week before launch, which was attended by hundreds of parents and kids. Pulse also secured a number of celebrity mums and dads to attend the launch party, including cricketer Ricky Ponting and TV star Katrina Warren.

In addition, Pulse managed a media photo call with Mickey & Minnie and excited local kids at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair. Nancy Kanter, Senior Vice President for Disney Junior Worldwide was also in Australia for media interviews in the days before launch, and Pulse secured back-to-back interviews for Nancy over the course of two days.

At the conclusion of the public relations campaign, Pulse had secured positive editorial coverage on the Disney Junior launch that reached over 8 million Australians. Coverage highlights included morning TV show The Circle, and large news pieces with photos in The Australian and the Courier-Mail.  The campaign delivered a 4:1 ROI and exceeded KPIs by almost double.

On launch day, Disney Junior rated the #1 kids channel in Australia and enjoyed 44% more viewers compared with Playhouse Junior the previous Sunday.

Hot Wheels™: Small cars with a big history

From humble beginnings, to becoming the world’s biggest car manufacturer, Hot Wheels continues to be a hit for Aussie car lovers of all ages in 2011.

With more than four billion model cars sold since 1968, Hot Wheels is one of the world’s most enduring motor vehicle manufacturers. Starting with a range of just 16 cars, the Mattel Hot Wheels brand now boasts a an awesome range of over 1000 models, with an estimated 41 million adults loving and ‘driving’ Hot Wheels all over the world. In 2011, consumer public relations agency Pulse Communications, has been tasked with reigniting the passion and creating great experiences for ‘vehicle loving boys of all ages’.

To kick the year off, in January and February 2011 Hot Wheels^™ gave motorists in the key markets of Sydney and Melbourne, a blast from the past, transforming Shell service stations into fully serviced pit stops and offering fuel at the price it was in 1968, an amazing, 10c/L, the year the toy brand began manufacturing. The Fuel Your Passion public relations campaign aimed to draw on the spirit of 1968, by offering Aussies the chance to remember the ‘good old days’ when fuel was cheap and many of today’s classic cars were born.

The events held between 12-2pm at key Coles Express service stations attracted over 1200 customers and generated news coverage reaching 13,897,428 eyeballs nationwide.

To maintain this momentum, Hot Wheels introduced 3D projection to Australia for the first time when the dynamic speed racing battle lit up Sydney’s Customs House on the evening of March 10. Brought to life by international digital production agency Muse, the projection featured footage of the world’s fastest toy vehicles, shattering the building’s facade and racing into a fantasy world. Hot Wheels® fans, young and old, gathered to watch the debut live on March 10 as the iconic Twin Mill crossed the finish line and Sydney’s most historic buildings was left in a virtual pile of rubble.  Since then, almost 200,000 Aussies have clicked through to get in on the action. Check it out below!

And some fun fast facts about Hot Wheels:

• The highest price ever paid for a single Hot Wheels car is approximately $72,000, for a pink 1969 1:64-scale Volkswagen Beach Bomb, in 2000
• Placed front-to-rear, all Hot Wheels vehicles produced in the last 40 years would circle the Earth more than four times
• Some of the largest Hot Wheels collections are valued at more than $1,000,000
• To commemorate Hot Wheels 40th anniversary and the production of the four billionth Hot Wheels car, celebrity jeweller Jason of Beverly Hills created a one-of-a-kind, 1:64-scale jewel-encrusted Hot Wheels valued at $140,000

Telstra Productivity Indicator 2011

In 2009, Telstra Enterprise & Government (Telstra’s largest sales and service division, which provides services to more than 1,500 large organisations) launched a three-year thought leadership campaign to re-position the brand from transactional supplier to trusted advisor and differentiate it from its competitors.

For the third year, Howorth worked with Telstra Enterprise & Government to launch the “Telstra Productivity Indicator” – a commissioned research report

surveying more than 300 directors, senior executives and managers around their attitudes and behaviours to productivity.  This year, the research focused on traits that successful businesses had in realising productivity improvements, a group Telstra labeled ‘Productivity Leaders’. Over the last three years the campaign has successfully been integrated into TEG’s sales and marketing initiatives, meaning that besides media relations activity, Howorth has been integral in developing internal collateral including sales materials, customer brochures and website copy.

The challenge in 2011 was in launching findings that would still continue to be relevant and interesting to Telstra’s target audiences and the media. As has worked well in previous years, embargoed media briefings were conducted with tier one business and technology media to maximise the amount of quality media coverage. Following the briefings, a general news release was distributed.

PR drove positive results with more than 40 pieces of traditional print and online media coverage achieved, with 31 articles appearing on launch day.

Key highlights so far this year have included:

• Paul Geason, TE&G Group Managing Director, was interviewed under embargo by eight national newspapers, news wires and business television programs including The Australian, AAP, Business Spectator, Sky Business News and ABC Lateline Business;

• 23 articles appeared in Telstra’s core media list (The Australian, iTWire, Business Spectator, BNET, Communications Day, Exchange, Sky Business News, BRW), doubling 2010’s day-one coverage;

• The Telstra Productivity Indicator continues its influence and reach to TEG’s key audiences – in April, the 2010 report was referenced in the Federal Government’s draft paper on its information and communications technology (ICT) strategy. Previous reports have also been referenced by Australian public policy think tank The Grattan Institute and in a speech by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Puma and Pulse Communications invites you to meet someone fit at the Puma Love Run

Puma staged its first-ever ‘Love Run’ on the 2011 Valentine’s Day weekend, which saw almost 1500 Melbournians take to the streets in search of a Valentine’s date.

Consumer public relations agency Pulse Communications, in an integrated plan with Badjar Ogilvy Melbourne urged Melbournites to pull more than a muscle and snag themselves a date with the fun run which was followed by a love-inspired after party featuring Nova’s Jody Mcleod and hit international act, Miami Horror. The campaign, which used the strap line ‘Meet someone fit’ was created as a fun event for people who love staying fit and the challenge of exercise but are not necessarily elite runners. Bringing runners together in a social sense was key and attracted a great crowd with people connecting in a fun fitness inspired way. As part of the Love Run, participants wore different colour tees indicating if they were single or if ‘hooked up’. Runners could undertake a 4.5km ‘cheeky quicky’ run, or a longer 6.5km event.

Ambassadors Chris Judd of the Carlton Football Club and Nova DJ Ash Williams were engaged to spread the love with the event securing coverage in the Herald Sun, MX, MTR, News.com.au, B&T, FHM and News.com.au and reaching over 33 million people Australia wide

The goal for 2012 is to spread the love nationally with more love run events popping up over the nation next year and bringing more lovers together.

For more information and images, please contact Alice Coulthard at Pulse Communications 03 9684 6332 alice@pulsecom.com.au

Puma www.puma.com.au

Ogilvy PR makes Malaysia the hottest, most talked about cuisine in Australia

Ogilvy Public Relations’ consumer PR agency, Pulse Communications, helped to put Malaysian cuisine on the map when it recently launched Malaysia Kitchen Australia, transforming Sydney’s State Theatre Laneway into Australia’s first ever Malaysia Kitchen Food Market.

Malaysia Kitchen is an initiative from the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), and aims to increase Australians’ awareness of Malaysian cooking and encourage them to experience the diverse tastes of Malaysian cuisine in restaurants across the country. It follows the successful roll out of Malaysia Kitchen in London and New York.

The Malaysia Kitchen Food Market was a contemporary take on a Malaysian hawker-style market and featured long dining tables, where guests were seated to experience a tasting plate of authentic Malaysian dishes from some of Sydney’s finest Malaysian restaurants including Chinta Ria and Mamak[i].

Interest in the contemporary hawker-style event was much higher than anticipated with over 1,300 guests attending, completely selling out for both lunch and dinner sessions for the four days Malaysia Kitchen Food Market was open in February.

Over 16 million Australians heard about the campaign via a tailored PR program which included over 8o pieces of editorial coverage including The Morning Show, Sydney Morning Herald, MX and News Limited online.

A social media campaign saw key bloggers such as Helen Yee of Grab Your Fork and Jennifer Lam of Jenius encourage Sydney-siders to visit the food market, and start a discussion around Malaysia cuisine.

Matt Buchanan, Managing Director of Pulse Communications said: “We are thrilled with the success of the launch of Malaysia Kitchen Australia, and the positive response to Australia’s first Malaysian Food Market.  The popularity of the event completely surpassed our expectations and it was amazing to see how many Sydney-siders were willing to queue to experience a taste of Malaysia. The results demonstrate the strength of a truly integrated PR and social media campaign to drive consumer engagement.”

Australians can continue to engage in Malaysia Kitchen Australia, by visiting the dedicated Malaysia Kitchen website, www.malaysiakitchen.com.au which provides information on Malaysian cuisine, recipes, chef profiles and tips and events taking place across the country.

For more information and images, please contact Lyndsey Gordon at Pulse Communications on 02 8281 3839 / Lyndsey@pulsecom.com.au

• Ogilvy Public Relations www.ogilvypr.com.au
• Malaysia Kitchen www.malaysiakitchen.com.au
• MATRADE www.matrade.gov.my

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