Case study fileKatie Torpey and Savannah Hardwick

Market research Market analysisMarketing strategyAdvertisingBrand promotion

Case study 1- BOTTLE PR, Poundland Campaign.

‘’BRIEFWith well over 400 stores, Poundland wanted to capitalize on its high street presence. It wanted to become an essential location for everyone’s weekly shop. It wanted to own the hearts and minds of the nation’s shoppers.

INSIGHTSPoundland was seen by many as an occasional and/or seasonal shopping destination. We knew this challenge was all about making key audiences aware of its broader range of branded groceries and household goods. In doing so we could put Poundland firmly in the same playing field as ‘the big four’ supermarkets.

STRATEGYWe devised a ‘Weekly Essentials ’ campaign that challenged shoppers to find out just how much they could save on their usual weekly shop with Poundland. The campaign was leveraged via a mix of social media and traditional PR. A NetMums partnership and outreach to key mummy bloggers was blended with a research-led news release supported by a proactive media relations drive to key national, online and women’s titles.

OUTCOMESThe campaign delivered 30 pieces of branded coverage across the personal finance and consumer affairs pages. These included a double page spread in the Daily Mirror that compared Poundland’s branded ranges favourably to those of the major supermarkets. Over 250 mums shared their Poundland money-saving experiences on the influential Netmums forum. A series of competitions in key national women’s titles to win a weekly shop for a year, supported the outreach. There was a tangible shift in consumer perception of

Managing the messagePositive publicity‘Spin’Damage limitationOrganizing eventsLobbying

the brand. As a result of the activity, year-on-year sales increased by 56% in the grocery category, 26% in health & beauty, and 20% in household.’’

http://www.bottlepr.co.uk/work/poundland-becomes-part-weekly-shop/

This piece of text is a case study on how Public Relations Company Bottle worked on a campaign for Poundland, a variety chain store in the UK. The campaign was to help Poundland to be seen as more than an occasional shopping destination, Poundland wanted to become a place were you could go and do your weekly shop for low prices. The campaign featured both marketing and PR techniques, including market research and market analysis, advertising, brand promotion, Lobbying and positive publicity. BOTTLE, the company working on the campaign has used each of these techniques for obvious reasons, some more than others, but all of them are used effectively and appropriately.

You can see in this case file how BOTTLE, the PR company chosen to work on the Poundland campaign, have done plenty of market research into their client, finding out about how many stores they have, what type of products they sell and who the consumers are for this retail unit. They used market research to find out who their target consumer were, which in this case are specifically women, possibly mothers, who are most likely to be doing the ‘weekly shop’. BOTTLE then did further market analysis in order to see what these shoppers would want from this store, how Poundland could attract them to their store and how Poundland could be seen as more than just an occasion/seasonal shop. BOTTLE then created a marketing strategy, a business approach to how they would achieve these things. A way for them to market Poundland in the way they wanted is to find a way to reach out to their target consumer, middle aged women, who might be mothers. Their strategy was to create a ‘weekly essentials’ campaign, which was challenging shoppers to find out how much they could save weekly, just by shopping with Poundland. They broadcast the campaign through different medias, including a NetMums partnership and an outreach to key ‘mummy bloggers’ and were greeted with a research led news release, which was supported by proactive media. Poundland wanted to change peoples perception of them, so they used a PR technique called lobbying, wanting to influence others. Poundland then surrounded themselves with positive publicity, having double page spreads written about them in the Daily Mail, as well as having blogs written specifically about them, which showed not only Poundland in a positive light, but the PR company BOTTLE as well. The access to the media helped with this campaign profusely, having positive publicity and a good campaign helped to get their message across,

that they are more than an occasion/seasonal shop. This case also features an example of advertising; because Poundland had an article written about them, its likely that a lot of people will see/read the article, which is positive and is essentially advertising them to the public through the article. The campaign is effective because of the PR and marketing techniques that have been used to further change peoples perception of Poundland.

Case Study 2

Market Strategy Advertising Promotion Organizational Event Success

Bridesmaids have all the fun

Bringing a Royal touch to the DVD launch of Universal’s Bridesmaids

Everyone loves a good party, and there was no bigger party than the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. To help Universal Pictures UK Home Entertainment launch the DVD for comedy hit Bridesmaids, Cohn & Wolfe leveraged the hysteria surrounding the Royals and the nation’s obsession with the ultimate bridesmaid: Pippa Middleton.

We worked with renowned photographer Alison Jackson – famous for her celebrity lookalike images –  to imagine some behind-the-scenes Royal Wedding scandals, including very real looking spoofs of Pippa at Kate’s bachelorette party and dancing with ‘Prince Harry’ at the reception. We offered the “exclusive”  series to the media, securing high impact, branded coverage across all of the UK’s national tabloid press on the day of the DVD release with such headlines as “Cheeky Harry:  Did He Rear-ly Grope Pippa?” To reiterate the party themes of the movie, we also hosted a rousing high-end ‘hen do’ (a British bachelorette party) for media and celebrities – complete with goody bags and a build-your-own cupcake factory. With over 500 million media impressions across tabloid and consumer press, the results were worthy of a red carpet premiere.  Sales of almost 300,000 DVDs in week one were  critical to securing retailer commitments and ultimately made Bridesmaids a Top 10 best selling DVD of the year.

To help raise awareness of the release of the DVD Bridesmaids the distributor Universal Pictures UK Home Entertainment contacted cohn & wolfe to help them promote the DVD by holding an organisational event to interest and raise awareness from the target

market of the DVD. By holding this event it caught attention of hundreds of people and the theme of the event even astonished them more. As the subject of William and Kate’s wedding took an interest of many people they decided that this was a perfect theme to carry out as everyone knows about it and shows interest towards it. They decided to use Pippa Middleton (Kates Bridesmaid) as the main focus of the event and use look a likes to represent different situations the bridesmaid would be in and because the movie was called bridesmaids this idea fitted in perfectly. This case study uses a range of different marketing and PR functions to communicate through to the audience. The first feature, which they have included, is the market strategy. The first sentence sums up the objective for the campaign. By including an objective of the campaign it clear to understand how they are going to carry out the campaign without releasing too much information. Although that they didn’t include much information about the market strategy and the market analysis it is clear that they researched and came up with a clear plan of what they wanted to achieve from the outcome of the event as it was a huge success. I think that the market strategy of having the theme of Royals is a successful marketing strategy, as it will interest a large number of the public. Another marketing function, which has been used during this campaign, is advertising. As it states that during the event the media was allowed access to the event to publish articles and images from the event. This was used as an advertising technique as it meant that it would raise more awareness of the bridesmaid’s movie and eventually increase sales. As it states that the coverage was released the day of the DVD release and included headlines, which would grab attention. By doing this it advertised the event and it also advertise the DVD. Promotional techniques were also used during this case study. By using an iconic role model this is a good method of promoting a product, as it will gain attention from a range of different members of the public, as they will be interested in the celebrity and be influenced by them. An organisational event is one of the main functions of PR that this campaign has followed as they set up an event inviting members of the public and inviting the media so they can broadcast the event to other members of the public. By doing this it has drawn attention from the audience and other members of the public. The event did allow the public to see the campaign in a different way and allowed them to enjoy the campaign in a unusual way instead of seeing it on poster advertisements. By having royal look-a-likes at the campaign this would make the public also feel like royals and they maybe feel persuaded to buy the DVD. At the end of the event the guests were given a goody bag. This is also another promotional function used as they are giving free gifts away with the persuasive message that they should buy the bridesmaids DVD. From this campaign the marketing and PR field in which it follows is Media, celebrities and entertainment. This is because it has used a range of techniques,

which include using celebrities as a way to promote the product and also allowing the media to be there to photograph and broadcast the event to the nation. By twisting the story and adding unusual situations like create a made up scandal of Prince William and Pippa Middleton this method is entertaining and will grab attention from the audience and also potentially new customers who are interested in this event. From using all these different marketing & PR techniques and functions this marketing campaign was very successful. With almost 300,000 DVD sales within the first week the DVD was released allowing the DVD to gain a place in the top 10 best selling DVDs of the year.