When publicity and public relations can deliver $1.34m in value to a campaign, itÕs high time to reconsider their use in any marketing mix. Here, put simply, was the brief to Lisa Chapman, managing director of PR Works, from her client SPC, only nine months ago. ÒWe need your help urgently. WeÕve just signed up Shane Warne to be the face of microwavable baked beans, and we want a big PR splash. Small problem Ñ he leaves for India tomorrow and isnÕt available for media. What can you do?Ó One thing you can do is put out a press release about yet another sportsperson sponsorship by a food company and get minimal press, another is to structure a strategic campaign that requires your client to take a risk. Chapman obviously went for the latter, disregarding setbacks such as Warne being in India and not available for interviews, his having an existing endorsement with Channel Nine restricting other station access, an extraordinarily tight schedule, and a blanket of secrecy around the whole deal. SPC was initially keen to hold a media conference in India with Warne as he announced his new 12-month deal, but Chapman strongly advised against this for a multitude of reasons. There were the unknown aspects of dealing with the Indian media, the time differences, who would be at the conference, the cost, and most importantly, the conference itself would not, in ChapmanÕs view, attract sufficient interest. Instead, she suggested SPC use the actual filming of the commercial in India as the Ònews eventÓ itself. Clemenger BBDO (Melb-ourne) was planning to shoot the commercial on WarneÕs single day off in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay). It was dispatching a crew to film in a crowded street market, in a location no-one had seen, with only eight hours to do it in, starring a man who would inevitably be mobbed by excited fans. PR Works arranged for a video news release to be shot of Òbehind the scenesÓ footage, as well as showing Warne eating the product (happily) in his hotel room. These filmed segments as well as the still editorial images for print media had to be fitted in around an already rushed film shoot. The timing of the whole media distribution was carefully orchestrated to gain maximum impact, with media having to be convinced the pictures and arranged interviews where worth including in their news rundowns and pages. After all the video news release elements were pre-assembled, PR Works was ready to drop in the finished TVC literally within minutes of its completion. The video news release was distributed to TV newsrooms around the country just in time for the prime news bulletins, with radio news starting to run the story from noon. Newspapers had both copy and photographs for the next dayÕs edition. The client was over the moon with the result (see box above). It estimated the return on investment at 2,900%, with a total of $1.34m in publicity, and a result showing the campaign Ñ both PR and advertising Ñ lifting the sales of SPC microwavable baked beans and spaghetti Òthrough the roofÓ. Jane Schou-Clarke
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