A Blueprint of Successful PR Campaigns - An Outline
The best campaigns are always modelled on the previous successful ones even while the company leaders try to focus on the perspective which would put them in best light, the ability of it to convert customers and the credibility that they would collect from the campaign. At the core of successful campaigns that are discussed below are features like relatability, impact and ability to solve a problem.
A Message from the Heart
The soap company Dove went on a campaign called “Real Beauty” when it decided to focus on self-love and confidence as its brand ideas. It hired real women instead of models as the face of their brand and continued the campaign by popularising them through shows like Ellen Degeneres and Oprah.
The initial video of the campaign where a normal woman’s image is transformed by applying make-up and her photo photoshopped, stressed the point that the images that we view in the ads are all fake and we are ‘as beautiful as we are’. The campaign ended up as a success as the annual sales for the brand almost doubled during the decade long campaign.
Relatability
Shopping Slot’s campaign which relies on the real life case studies and stories of user experience was a huge success. Shopping Slot, a space that enables us to search for grocery delivery slot, shares its profit with NHS which has also strengthened its campaign. Sabrina Stocker, the co-founder of Shopping Slot and now founder of Two Comma PR, asserts relatability as the key point in their success apart from timeliness.
Entertainment boosts the campaign: with the social media platform becoming more and more important in our lives, any campaign with true entertainment value would succeed. There are variety of challenges and millions of people who participate in such social media challenges for fun and also for a good cause. The #ALS ice bucket challenge is the best example.
People from different parts of the world, from different age groups participated in it just for fun and people all over the world viewed the videos of people pouring ice-cold water on another person. The campaign succeeded raising nearly $115 million for ALS Association.
PR campaigns – Key points that would help to make a difference in audience exposure:
- PR campaigns should be based on a compelling message and stand for the long run reputation of the brand rather than merely advertising. The essential value of the campaign make the brands stand out from the rest of the products.
- Rely on the user experience of your product. Try to identify who has benefited and from it, rather than merely making claims.
- Including larger goals in the campaign strengthens it. for example, the Shopping Slot stood for the NHS and the #icebucketchallenge was for the ALS Association.
- Try to connect the mission of your brand with innovative ideas and challenges which could include participation of people. Challenges and dares make campaigns even more meaningful.