Winner:

Ketchum and Kimberly Clark: Kleenex Moments #1 Fan for Life

Never a major player in the Olympic marketing game, Kleenex wanted to change that during the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy. With the event approaching, Kleenex decided its 97% brand awareness among moms would be its most useful tool. Its goal was to strengthen its relationship with moms age 25-54, turning that high level of awareness into emotional consumer relationships.

Kleenex decided the best way to cut through the big-time Olympic sponsorships and ad campaigns was to follow the emotional journeys and "Kleenex Moments" of three US Olympians up to and during the Games through their moms' eyes. It believed these stories would resonate with US moms and their children.

Kleenex identified three athletes whose journey to the Olympics exemplified "Kleenex Moments" – bobsledder Vonetta Flowers and her grandmother Bobbie Jeffrey, speed skater Elli Ochowicz and her mother Sheila, and hockey player Kelly Stephens and her mother Kris.

A non-site media blitz followed, including a Today special revealing the surprise arrival in Turin of Flowers' twin boys and mother. SMTs were conducted on three separate days from Turin featuring all the athletes and their mothers.

In all, 108 interviews mentioned Kleenex Moments shared between mom and daughter during the Games and a call-to-action to read the moms' blogs. NBCOlympics.com had a page where fans could see daily diaries, photos, and articles about program spokespeople.

The effort generated 1,507 stories and a total of 113,826,706 impressions, exceeding Ketchum's goal in each category. Additional coverage also occurred in national media such as The Weather Channel, ABC Radio, and Forbes.com. Other coverage included The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, and The Washington Post.

Ninety-three percent of Kleenex mentions were features about athletes, with discussions of a Kleenex Moment. Post-Olympics studies showed 42% of consumers associated Kleenex with the
Olympics, and 74% of those aware of the Olympic support use Kleenex.

One judge said the campaign was an "excellent mix of objectives, strategy, audience analysis, tactics, and results." Another judge said it was a first-class program "that was [totally] PR-driven, and the strategy was excellent. It's very difficult to get attention around something like the Olympics, and this was a very creative approach."

Finalists

  • Edelman and Axe Deodorant
     AXE Dry Gamekillers Campaign
  • Ketchum and Kimberly Clark
     Kleenex Moments #1 Fan for Life
  • Manning Selvage & Lee and Procter & Gamble
     Swiffer Amazing Women of the Year
  • Text 100 Public Relations and Sprint Nextel
     Creating a New Dimension of Entertainment
  • Weber Shandwick and Ocean Spray
    Big AppleBog

Honourable Mention

T ext 100 Public Relations and Sprint Nextel: Creating a New Dimension of Entertainment

Sprint Nextel tapped Text 100 to help it execute a campaign designed to distinguish the brand from its competition by leaving behind its traditional carrier image and repositioning it as an emerging mobile entertainment brand. The launch of Sprint's high-speed EV-DO Power Vision services for consumers was the focus, and young connected influencers and national consumer lifestyle media were the targets. Text 100 utilized a three-pronged launch strategy for the Sprint Music Store that highlighted Sprint's vision for the future of mobile entertainment on the third screen. The strategy generated several hundred positive articles and comparisons to other entertainment companies, such as Apple. The campaign increased Sprint's share of voice in the mobile entertainment discussion from 42% at pre-launch to 48% post-launch. "[It was a] good program that showed a match between objective and results," said one judge.

About the Sponsor

Padilla Speer Beardsley

Padilla Speer Beardsley is an employee-owned communications firm with headquarters in Minneapolis and an office in New York. Services include marketing communications, investor and corporate relations, employee communications, media relations, interactive and graphic design, public affairs and research. The firm is a founding partner of the Worldcom Public Relations Group. www.psbpr.com.