Category: Case Studies

What does a PR Agency Do? LEKKER Bikes

Jasmin SessomsBlog, Case Studies, Raleigh PR Agency, , , , , 2 Comments on What does a PR Agency Do? LEKKER Bikes

Client: LEKKER Bikes US

Objectives: In 2014, LEKKER Bikes US became the first American distributer of LEKKER bikes, Dutch-inspired bicycles originally established in Amsterdam and later sold in Australia. LEKKER Bikes US retained Clairemont Communications to research the U.S. cycling market, capture the public’s attention and craft a dynamic event to introduce this custom-designed cruiser to the American audience.

Execution: To maximize online and in-person engagement with LEKKER’s target audience, Clairemont focused its efforts for “LEKKER Bike’s First 24 Hours in America” in the following areas:

24-Hour City Tour: LEKKER’s debut event introduced the first LEKKER bike in the U.S. by positioning it as a celebrity during its first day in America. During the 24 hours of festivities, the LEKKER bike made stops at nine local hot spots throughout Greensboro. Clairemont strategically planned the event in tandem with First Friday—one of Greensboro’s most popular community events—to maximize visibility.

Media Outreach: We targeted each news outlet with hyper-individualized pitches, highlighting the nontraditional 24-hour aspect of the event. Clairemont secured local TV anchors to host the bike as the first appearance of the day and live-tweet an inaugural ride on the morning show.

Social Media Campaign: Clairemont established LEKKER’s online presence and engaged its target audience on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Pre-established relationships on social media paid off as local organizations spread the word through Twitter and Facebook.

V.I.P. Reception and Community Outreach: Clairemont hosted a special V.I.P. reception during the 24-hour event at a local restaurant for community leaders, biking experts, media and bloggers to increase in-person interaction with the bike.

Website and Print Collateral: We carefully crafted SEO-friendly content—key messages, company history, mission statement, product descriptions and photography—to showcase LEKKER’s custom quality and accessible style. Additional collateral featured eye-catching photography and easy calls to action; Clairemont designed and distributed these materials during the event to attract and secure new leads for future sales.

Onsite Support: The Clairemont team worked around the clock for 24 hours to escort the bike between locations, distribute information, encourage interaction and live post the bike’s adventures on social media.

Results: Our efforts landed the bike on stage with a nationally renowned bluegrass band, at a pub party and in a four-star hotel where the chef honored the bike with its own signature cocktail. With the goal of only four stories, Clairemont secured a total of five media stories, one in every key outlet in the market. The event produced five blog posts and more than 100 social media posts to at least 285,000 followers, a result that exceeded the goal by more than 300 percent. Through the 24-hour event, more than 350 individuals encountered or interacted with the bike, including 30 community influencers that attended the V.I.P. reception, also exceeding our goal.

Our team agrees that this was one of our most fun assignments in 2014. The LEKKER bikes are beautifully designed, and we loved introducing it to everyone from potential buyers to members of the media to fashion bloggers who saw the bike as a hot summer accessory! Thank you Will at LEKKER Bikes US for letting us be part of bringing LEKKER to North America!

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What Does a PR Agency Do? The Design Network

Tracy LathanBlog, Case Studies, Furniture PR,

Photo from thedesignnetwork.com

Furnitureland South is widely known as a top furniture destination in the Southeast. In April 2013, Furnitureland South executives Jason and Jeff Harris launched The Design Network, a broadband, all-screens network that aligns the best designers, architects and home enthusiasts to offer instructional and entertaining videos about home design and fashion. In just one year’s time, The Design Network garnered more than a million page views and approximately 10,000 subscribers. Due to this success, the decision was made that on April 1, 2014 The Design Network would make its debut on its own channel on Time Warner Cable in the Piedmont region of North Carolina.

The new Time Warner Cable partnership was a milestone for The Design Network and Furnitureland South. As such, Furnitureland South retained Clairemont Communications for media relations support surrounding the announcement of the launch. We established the objectives as follows:

  1. Build awareness of the new Design Network channel on Time Warner Cable in the Triad by securing placements in at least three top Triad area local media outlets.
  2. Build industry awareness of Furnitureland South and The Design Network by securing placement in at least one furniture trade outlet.

With a tight budget and quick turn around time, we devised a focused media outreach strategy to determine proper timing and pitch targets. Since the cable channel was scheduled to launch on April 1, it was determined the news announcement would coincide and be made that same day. We established our goals and objectives and created our media target list, which included local triad media (TV and print), trade media and design industry bloggers/influencers.

Once the targets were determined, we crafted a news release announcing the new Design Network channel. On the morning of April 1, we kicked off the campaign by reaching out to our media targets with personal calls to pitch the story. We also complemented our pitching efforts by posting the news release on Business Wire. The response was impressive, thus we spent a great deal of time in the days that followed scheduling and facilitating interviews with Furnitureland South representatives and key media contacts, including The Triad Business Journal and the Tomorrow Will be Televised radio program based in New York.

The media relations campaign was a success. We secured placements in three top local papers (Triad Business Journal, Greensboro News & Record, High Point Enterprise), a national online radio program and one top industry trade magazine. Additionally, the Business Wire release was viewed more than 1,700 times and the news was tweeted almost 21 times by a variety of Twitter accounts. Most importantly, traffic to The Design Network website increased, which the client attributed to the buzz about the new channel on Time Warner Cable.

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What Does a PR Agency Do? Tiger Eye Security Sensor

Clairemont InternAwards, Blog, Case Studies, Raleigh PR Agency, , ,

Client: 10 for Humanity

Situation Analysis: 10 for Humanity is a for-profit company with a goal to develop 10 innovative technology-based products and mobile applications to reduce acts of violence globally by 10 percent in the next decade. The company’s first product was a revolutionary, hands-free device called the Tiger Eye Security Sensor (TESS), a piece of wearable technology designed to sense high stress in a wearer’s voice when activated by words such as “help,” “stop,” or “no.” The piece has the capability to instantly dispatch police based on the wearer’s GPS location and to video and audio record to aid in the identification and prosecution of criminals. With the Tiger Eye Security Sensor expected to enter the market in spring 2014, 10 for Humanity turned to Clairemont Communications to assist in building awareness of the company and its first product, TESS.

Objectives: Agreeing upon a media relations campaign within the client’s strict two-month deadline, we established the objectives as:

  1. Drive awareness of 10 for Humanity and TESS through media relations, securing a minimum of one print news story and one TV media placement.
  2. Increase awareness of the Indiegogo campaign benefiting TESS, securing mention of the campaign in at least one news story.

Execution:

Media Materials — With the introduction of any new technology comes the potential for technical details to overwhelm those who are unfamiliar. To avoid this issue when working with media, Clairemont first created a message board with clear points outlining TESS and its functional components, which guided media materials and pitch development. Clairemont also drafted a carefully written news release announcing TESS and its Indiegogo campaign. Additional materials included an oversized diagram of the TESS product and USB media kits promoting the Indiegogo campaign as well as photos and background information on the company, TESS and the company’s CEO, CJ Scarlet.

Telling a Story — Clairemont’s mission was to tell the story of CJ Scarlet – the inventor of TESS and CEO of 10 for Humanity – to convey the importance of this revolutionary product. Scarlet, a survivor of sexual assault and a well-respected victim’s advocate, believes deeply in TESS and its potential to change lives by reducing interpersonal violence. Clairemont secured key media interviews, allowing her to tell her personal story. In one interview, the reporter was so compelled by Scarlet’s story, she felt comfortable sharing her own story of sexual assault. Additionally, we leveraged Scarlet’s past as a U.S. marine to connect with military-beat media, resulting in coverage.

Tapping into Influencers —To garner both media and community attention, Clairemont coordinated an evening cocktail event themed “Raise Your Glass (and Voice) Against Violence,” with the goal of bringing together influential women within the greater Raleigh, N.C. community to raise awareness of TESS. Nearly 40 guests attended, including the North Carolina secretary of state. Target media were also invited, allowing Clairemont to facilitate multiple media attendees and resulting in an on-site interview with Scarlet and a local TV anchor.

Results/Evaluation:

  1. Drive awareness of 10 for Humanity and TESS through media relations, securing a minimum of one print news story and one TV media placement.
  • We secured seven media placements in a variety of news outlets including print, TV, and online. With two TV stories – including coverage on the DMA’s most watched television news station – Clairemont also surpassed its goal of securing one TV story.
  1. Increase awareness of the Indiegogo campaign benefiting TESS, securing mention of the campaign in at least one news story.
  • Successful media pitching ensured mention of the Indiegogo campaign benefiting TESS in five of the seven articles, helping drive awareness of the product and its upcoming launch.

What did you think of this public relations case study? Was it helpful? We’re here to answer any questions you may have!

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What does a PR Agency Do? Creative Tactics

Jasmin SessomsAwards, Blog, Case Studies, Raleigh PR Agency, , , ,

Clairemont has had the pleasure of working with Briar Chapel as its agency of record for several years, allowing us a variety of opportunities to put on our thinking caps and get creative with our wonderful clients. As the largest master-planned green community in North Carolina and part of Newland Communities, the country’s most prominent privately held residential real estate developer, we strive to help showcase the beautiful homes and amenities of Briar Chapel. Looking back at the work we’ve done together these past few years, there are two initiatives that Clairemont conceptualized at different times and to accomplish different objectives that we thought would be fun to highlight in one blog post.

The first was born in response to a very smart question from one of our Briar Chapel clients. She asked, “Instead of trying to add fans and followers purely for the sake of building our numbers, how can we increase engagement with our existing fans to encourage them to be our brand advocates?” After careful thought and planning, Clairemont answered the question with a question. “Are you Briar Chapel’s Best Buddy?”

The Clariemont team created a contest and participants were encouraged to get creative in using social networks to earn points to win a Buddy Scooter, with this prize tying into the contest name. The contest encouraged community members to take to the social channels of their choice and post using the Best Buddy hashtags.

In order to reach the target audience of residents and local community members and to engage throughout the six-week long contest, Clairemont focused its efforts on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest and Foursquare. The Clairemont Team was able to increase fan engagement and community awareness of Briar Chapel. The Briar Chapel Facebook page engagement skyrocketed by 400 percent, the fan count increased by 159 percent and the viral reach of the page expanded by nearly 600 percent. Briar Chapel was most pleased with the positive, third party content that directly generating local word-of-mouth advertising for Briar Chapel.

A couple of years later as Briar Chapel neared its fifth anniversary, we found ourselves answering this question: “How can we get media to come out to Briar Chapel to see the progress the community has made in the five years since the grand opening?”

Clairemont used creative thinking to plan a visual event that interested the media. The Clairemont team decided on an aerial media tour. Who could resist an invitation to ride in Big Red, the hot air balloon? Creative and individualized pitches were used to pique the interest of targeted media, and themed media kits were strategically delivered to media contacts in the morning just before editorial meetings.

The aerial tour provided a bird’s eye view of the development’s progress by taking members of the media up in a hot air balloon, while allowing Briar Chapel representatives to talk about accomplishments and future plans. Though the hot air balloon served as the event’s focal point, Clairemont worked with the Briar Chapel community to build in other visual and informational elements to attract media. We strategically scheduled the event to fall just before two of Briar Chapel’s popular, annual events: the Parade of Homes and the Pepper Festival.

The creative, experiential campaign exceeded expectations by rebuilding relationships, engaging 18 target media contacts on-site in a fun, positive way. For many, the event offered their first hot air balloon ride, allowing Briar Chapel to leave a lasting, memorable impression.

Clairemont received several NCPRSA InSpire Awards and RPRS Sir Walter Raleigh Awards for both of the these creative campaigns.

 

 

 

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WHAT DOES A PR AGENCY DO? PDQ Blogger Campaign

Tracy LathanBlog, Case Studies, Public Relations, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , , 2 Comments on WHAT DOES A PR AGENCY DO? PDQ Blogger Campaign

Client: PDQ (People Dedicated to Quality)

Situational Analysis

PDQ, which stands for People Dedicated to Quality, is a fast-casual restaurant that specializes in hand-battered chicken tenders and offers a full menu of fresh, made-to-order items, including daily cut fries, hand-spun milkshakes and fresh salads. Founded in Tampa, Florida in 2011, PDQ opened its first North Carolina location at the end of 2012 and now has five locations in the Triangle. As PDQ quickly expanded in the area, managers wanted to introduce moms and families to the restaurant and build awareness of the company’s brand.

PDQ turned to Clairemont Communications to introduce influential moms to one of the newest fast-casual dining options and raise awareness about the restaurant’s dedication to freshness and quality. With no microwaves or freezers in the restaurant, Clairemont wanted to educate moms that there are healthier options available when they need to feed their families on the go. Clairemont created an event that directly targeted PDQ’s key audience of moms and in turn created loyal PDQ brand ambassadors.

Planning

Based on our primary and secondary research, Clairemont established the following objectives to achieve brand awareness for PDQ:

  1. Increase awareness of PDQ by securing at least five bloggers to attend the event.
  2. Secure 15 social media mentions.

We offered two seating times – a late lunch and an early dinner – to better increase our chances of coordinating with their schedules. Since PDQ is a family restaurant, we also decided to open the event to the bloggers and their families so they would get the true experience.

Because the Clairemont team knew that the bloggers would be live tweeting and posting pictures on Instagram, we created a document with the attendees’ handles so we could make sure PDQ’s social media team tagged them and responded accordingly. Additionally, we worked to identify which bloggers had allergy concerns and coordinated with PDQ to develop a document that detailed menu items’ ingredients to answer any allergen or dietary concerns.

Execution

To maximize engagement in-person and through social media, Clairemont focused its efforts for the mom blogger event in the following areas:

  • Creating the Dining Experience for Moms: To get the full experience, we directed them to the counter to order directly from the menu. As most of them had never been to PDQ, we encouraged them to ask the staff questions. This allowed employees to demonstrate their knowledge of the brand and its menu, while showcasing their excitement for PDQ. It also allowed the bloggers to experience how easily menu items can be customized as part of a regular PDQ visit and not just at a special event.
  • Engaging the Kids: With two moms on the Clairemont team, we know that the key to happy moms is happy kids! The children of the mom bloggers were treated as VIPs at the event. They were given behind-the-scenes Fresh Tours of the kitchen where they were invited to make their own shakes and to try the “potato punch down” that PDQ uses to make fries.
  • Onsite Support: Two members from the Clairemont team staffed each of the sessions to engage with the bloggers, distribute information and take pictures to be shared on PDQ’s social media channels.

Evaluation

The PDQ executive team attributes this event to helping put the brand on the map in the Triangle region, and Clairemont successfully exceeded our objectives within our budget as follows:

  1. Secured attendance of 14 bloggers, exceeding our goal of five, which ultimately resulted in 10 blog posts. In aggregate, these 10 blog sites receive approximately 212,865 unique site visitors per month.
  2. Secured 21 social media mentions, exceeding our goal of 15 posts, which were visible to more than 42,000 combined followers.

Additionally, the bloggers provided feedback, stating that this was one of the best-planned and executed blogger events they had attended. They were impressed by the food, service, the allergy information and the special way their children were treated. Overall, Clairemont effectively engaged a group of vocal, visible bloggers, many of whom have become regular customers and PDQ brand advocates.

 

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