Public relations professionals commonly use several tools, including new-product publicity, product placement, consumer education, sponsorship, and Web sites. Al- though many of these tools require an active role on the part of the public relations professional, such as writing press releases and engaging in proactive media rela- tions, some techniques create their own publicity.
New-Product Publicity
Publicity is instrumental in introducing new products and services. Publicity can help advertisers explain what’s different about their new product by prompting free news stories or positive word of mouth about it. During the introductory period, an especially innovative new product often needs more exposure than conven- tional, paid advertising affords. Public relations professionals write press releases or develop videos in an effort to generate news about their new product. They also jockey for exposure of their product or service at major events, on popular televi- sion and news shows, or in the hands of influential people.
Product Placement
Marketers are increasingly using product placement to reinforce brand awareness and create favorable attitudes. Product placement is a strategy that involves product placement
A public relations strategy that involves getting a product, ser- vice, or company name to appear in a movie, television show, radio program, magazine, newspaper, video game, video or audio clip, book, or commercial for another product; on the Internet; or at spe- cial events.
product placement A public relations strategy that involves getting a product, ser- vice, or company name to appear in a movie, television show, radio program, magazine, newspaper, video game, video or audio clip, book, or commercial for another product; on the Internet; or at spe- cial events.
Howard Stern quit CBS radio and joined censor-free Sirius satellite radio, Sirius’s subscriber base mushroomed from 600,000 to over 3.5 million in one year.
© AP PHOTO/GREGORY BULL
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getting one’s product, service, or name to appear in a movie, television show, radio program, magazine, newspaper, video game, video or audio clip, book, or commer- cial for another product; on the Internet; or at special events. Including an actual product such as a can of Pepsi adds a sense of realism to a movie, TV show, video game, book, or similar vehicle that a can simply marked “soda” cannot. Product placements are arranged through barter (trade of product for placement), through paid placements, or at no charge when the product is viewed as enhancing the vehicle where it is placed.
Product placement expenditures amount to about $5 billion annually. Though this amount is small relative to other marketing expenditures, it is growing rapidly due to increasing audience fragmentation and the spread of ad-skipping technol- ogy, and continues to grow at about 30 percent per year.67More than two-thirds of product placements are in movies and TV shows, but placements in alternative media are growing, particularly on the Internet and in video games. Most product placements are for transportation, clothing, food, beverages, home furnishings, travel, and leisure time activities. Companies like BMW, Lexus, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, and Hershey have frequently used product placement as a public relations strategy. Indeed, Pepsi appeared in seven top-ranked films in one year.
Digital technology now enables companies to “virtually” place their products in any audio or video production. Virtual placement not only reduces the cost of product placement for new productions but also enables companies to place products in previously produced programs, such as reruns of television shows and movies.
Companies obtain valuable product exposure, brand reinforcement, and increased sales through product placement, often at a much lower cost than in mass media like television ads. For example, Burger King products were woven intoThe Apprentice when contestants wore Burger King uniforms and flipped burg- ers as part of a challenge; Ford sponsored the show 24, with the main character, Jack Bauer, driving a Ford Expedition; and S.C. Johnson placed the ant killer RAID in an episode of the popular HBO series The Sopranos. When Red Stripe, a Jamaican- brewed beer, appeared in the movie The Firm, its U.S. sales increased more than 50 percent in the first month after the movie was released.68
Consumer Education
Some major firms believe that educated consumers are better, more loyal customers.
BMW of North America, for example, sponsored an instructional driving school for teenagers in major cities across the United States. Teens received a special four-hour training session that included driving techniques, accident avoidance skills, and trac- tion aid tricks from a professional driver. Financial planning firms often sponsor free educational seminars on money management, retirement planning, and investing in the hope that the seminar participants will choose the sponsoring organization for their future financial needs. Likewise, computer hardware and software firms, real- izing that many consumers are intimidated by new technology and recognizing the strong relationship between learning and purchasing patterns, sponsor computer seminars and free in-store demonstrations.
Sponsorships
Sponsorships are increasing both in number and as a proportion of companies’
marketing budgets, with worldwide sponsorship spending expected to exceed $30 billion in 2006. Probably the biggest reason for the increasing use of sponsorships is the difficulty of reaching audiences and differentiating a product from competing brands through the mass media. With a sponsorship, a company spends money to support an issue, cause, or event that is consistent with corporate objectives, such as improving brand awareness or enhancing corporate image. Most commonly, companies sponsor events such as festivals and fairs, conventions, expositions, sporting events, arts and entertainment spectaculars, and charity benefits. Typical examples of sponsorships include Jose Cuervo Tequila’s sponsorship of the 2006 sponsorship
A public relations strategy in which a company spends money to support an issue, cause, or event that is consistent with corporate objectives, such as improving brand awareness or enhancing corporate image.
sponsorship
A public relations strategy in which a company spends money to support an issue, cause, or event that is consistent with corporate objectives, such as improving brand awareness or enhancing corporate image.
Promotion and Communication Strategies
Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, Domino’s Pizza’s sponsorship of Michael Waltrip for the 2006 NASCAR season, Hilton Hotels’
sponsorship of the Hilton Family Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular 2006 on NBC, Levi Strauss & Co.’s partnership with the San Francisco Giants to sponsor the right field
section of the park to be named “Levi’s Landing,” and An- heuser-Busch’s Bud Bowl 2006 that featured hip-hop star Snoop Dogg and rock band 3 Doors Down.69
Although companies have recently been turning to specialized events such as tie-ins with schools, chari- ties, and other community service organizations, the most popular sponsorship events are still those involving sports, music, or the arts.
For example, Vodafone, Coca-Cola, Saturn, Michelin, and Yamaha were among the sponsors of the 2005 Gravity Games extreme sporting event in Perth, Australia, which competes with ESPN’s XGames. More than 55,000 people attended the games to watch 110 of the world’s biggest names in action sports participate in freestyle motocross, skateboarding, wakeboarding, BMX, and aggressive in-line skating. Spon- sors distributed free samples, hosted extreme athlete autograph sessions and sports demonstrations, and organized alternative music concerts.70 Likewise, McDonald’s expanded its “I’m lovin’ it” campaign to include sponsorships of NASCAR, the Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, and the Big Mac Challenge—a 20-stop lifestyle-oriented car show including DJs and other youth-focused activities. Similarly, Yahoo! sponsored a video game tour to promote Yahoo! Music Unlimited, Napster forged a deal with the Dew Action Sports Tour, and MSN Music hosted Milwaukee’s Summerfest and Manchester, Tennessee’s Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.71
Marketers sometimes create their own events tied around their products. The state of Hawaii organized its own mall touring event, titled “Experience Aloha:
Hawaii on Tour,” to promote the islands as a tourist destination. The tour traveled to 22 U.S. cities for weekend mall visits that included hula dancers, chefs cooking Hawaiian cuisine, lei-making demonstrations, and a virtual reality film simulat- ing a helicopter ride over Hawaii’s islands. Many other states also sponsor events promoting tourism.
Corporations sponsor issues as well as events. Sponsorship issues are quite diverse, but the three most popular are education, health care, and social programs.
Firms often donate a percentage of sales or profits to a worthy cause favored by their target market.
A special type of sponsorship, cause-related marketing, involves the associa- tion of a for-profit company with a nonprofit organization. Through the sponsor- ship, the company’s product or service is promoted, and money is raised for the nonprofit. In a common type of cause-related sponsorship, a company agrees to donate a percentage of the purchase price of a particular item to a charity, but some arrangements are more complex. In the United Kingdom, for example, Blockbuster Entertainment Ltd. works with Starlight Children’s Foundation to raise money, and Tesco supermarkets raise money for computers in schools. Similarly, in the United States Avon, Yoplait Yogurt, and BMW support the Susan G. Komen Breast Can- cer Foundation, and J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. Bank works with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Findings from several studies suggest that some consumers onsider a company’s reputation when making purchasing decisions and that a company’s community involvement boosts employee morale and loyalty.72
Internet Web Sites
Companies increasingly are using the Internet in their public relations strategies.
Company Web sites are used to introduce new products, promote existing products, obtain consumer feedback, post news releases, communicate legislative and regula- tory information, showcase upcoming events, provide links to related sites, release financial information, and perform many more marketing activities. Online reviews from opinion leaders and other consumers help marketers sway purchasing decisions cause-related marketing
A type of sponsorship involving the association of a for-profit com- pany and a nonprofit organization;
through the sponsorship, the company’s product or service is promoted, and money is raised for the nonprofit.
cause-related marketing A type of sponsorship involving the association of a for-profit com- pany and a nonprofit organization;
through the sponsorship, the company’s product or service is promoted, and money is raised for the nonprofit.
PR NEWSFOTO/© NIKE GOLF
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in their favor. On its Web site for Playstation3 (http://www.playstation.com), Sony has online support, events and promotions, game trailers, and new and updated product releases such as Bode Miller Alpine Skiing 2007, King Kong, Madden NFL 07, Playboy Mansion and Jak X: Combat Racing. The site also includes message boards where the gaming community posts notes and chats, exchanges tips on games, votes on lifestyle issues like music and videos, and learns about promotional events.73
Web sites are also being incorporated into integrated marketing communica- tions strategies. For example, CBS integrated broadcast advertising with product placement by placing a bonus scene from CSI: Miami on its Web site featuring a plot twist that was not revealed to television viewers until later in the season. The bonus scene page was sponsored by General Motors’ Hummer brand, which also appeared in the bonus scene itself.74
More and more often, companies are also using blogs—both corporate and noncorporate—as a tool to manage their public images. Noncorporate blogs can- not be controlled, but marketers must monitor them to be aware of and respond to negative information and encourage positive content. Wal-Mart has been especially active in cultivating bloggers to get the company’s message out. Mona Williams, Wal-Mart’s spokeswoman, says, “We reach out to bloggers in the same way we reach out to reporters. A lot of people are looking to bloggers for their news source, and this is a good way to get our message out.”75 The company has enlisted the services of a public relations firm to help it combat negative publicity. The publicist assigned to the Wal-Mart account, Marshall Manson, contacts bloggers who write pro-Wal-Mart content and asks if he can send them materials to use in their com- mentaries. Those who agree become champions for the giant retailer.76
In addition to “getting the message out,” companies are using blogs to create communities of consumers who feel positively about the brand. The hope is that the positive attitude toward the brand will build into strong word-of-mouth marketing.
Companies must exercise caution when diving into corporate blogging, however.
Coca-Cola launched a blog authored by a fictional character that did little except parrot the company line. Consumers immediately saw the blog for what it was (a transparent public relations platform) and lambasted Coca-Cola for its insincerity.77