Winner
Fleishman-Hillard and Papa John's International: Papa John's Unveils “A Pie in the Sky”
In May 2008, Papa John's enjoyed good sales when it debuted its whole-wheat crust pizza. That immediate bump was short-lived, however, so Papa John's sought a big idea to reignite sales and reinforce the “better for you” message of this latest item, the only such product offered by a national pizza chain. The company turned to Fleishman-Hillard to cook up an appropriate effort.
The agency thought “big” – several acres big, in fact. With the help of ConAgra, Papa John's' wheat supplier, Fleishman set out to create a six-acre crop field in the middle of a Denver wheat patch.
The location and timing were well thought out. The city is where Papa John's harvests most of its wheat. Moreover, Denver was just weeks away from hosting the Democratic National Convention. The field's presence, one mile away from the airport that 35,000 people were about to fly into over the course of a week, assured a large audience.
What those people would see from the air was a crop circle created by famed “earthgrains” artist Stan Herd that depicted a large whole-wheat pizza under the words “America's Choice.” Those two words were a nod to both the upcoming election, as well as the chain's recognition from the American Customer Satisfaction Index as the preferred pizza brand.
The agency conducted a series of deskside briefings with local media, while also working with the Colorado Wheat Commission to plan the unveiling. The visual impact was certain to be a draw, which, in turn, would give Papa John's a good forum to tout its offering.
“[This was an] extraordinarily efficient means of making a product truly larger than life,” noted one judge.
On August 7, the crop circle was officially unveiled. A “lift truck” provided aerial views at upwards of 90 feet. “Pizza drops” were also conducted to all local broadcast networks. Event photos were turned into a b-roll that was distributed to other markets, and posted on Papa John's Web site, which received 10,000-plus hits within two days.
Gross media impressions exceeded 65 million, and the event was covered in 314 media outlets, including The New York Times and CNN. Moreover, whole-wheat crust pizza orders accounted for 20% of online sales during the promotional push and the offering is now a permanent menu fixture.
“This creative campaign was the perfect recipe of a highly visible event that tied directly back to the brand values,” affirmed one judge.
Honorable Mention
Middlebury College: Spring Break Quidditch Tour
The Harry Potter books introduced the world to quidditch, a rough, semi-contact team sport. Some clever kids at Middlebury (VT) College sought to introduce a nation of university students to the earthbound version of the game, which had been thriving at the school for two years. Targeting schools that would draw maximum media attention, as well as ones that were not on Spring Break at the time, the team conceived an eight-day road trip to eight colleges. Tour details were mapped out on a special Facebook page. Extensive e-mail networking also played a role. The tour offered some excellent visuals – including players in full costumes with customized brooms. Numerous press outlets certainly had fun with it. CBS' The Early Show devoted a 13.5-minute segment, including live cut-ins to a match between Middlebury and Princeton. ESPN, MTV, The Boston Globe, and Gawker, among many outlets, all covered the tour. True victory, however, was achieved when the 60 teams registered before the tour nearly tripled to 179 following it. One judge lauded the effort's “brilliance in leveraging mainstream media from an unexpected source.”
Finalists
• Fleishman-Hillard and Papa John's International: Papa John's Unveils “A Pie in the Sky ”
• GolinHarris and Nestlé USA/Butterfinger: Launching “The Finger”
• Kaplow and Target Stores: Target Takes Manhattan with 4 Designer Pop-Up Stores
• Middlebury College: Spring Break Quidditch Tour
• Weber Shandwick and KFC: Shh ... The Secret's Out. KFC Relocates Colonel's Original Recipe
Sponsor: Coyne Public Relations has been shortlisted for PRWeek's Agency of the Year for five of the last seven years for its outstanding consumer and business-to-business creative approach to communications. The firm continues to grow in double digits, while maintaining itself as one of the best agencies to work for in America, boasting a 97 percent employee retention rate.
