Dawn: 1 Bottle=$1 To Save Wildlife

(Photo Courtesy of Official Dawn Website)

By: Courtney Clark

For the past 30 years, Dawn dish soap has been committed to conserving wildlife. The Proctor and Gamble brand, Dawn, launched a campaign called "Saving Wildlife". This campaign is cause-related, and donates $1 to conserving wildlife for every bottle of Dawn dish soap purchased. Once the donation is activated online, one dollar, up to $500,000 is donated to the International Bird Rescue Research Center and the Marine Mammal Center.

While Dawn has always been involved with saving wildlife, the recent oil spill in the gulf has given consumers a new motivation. Dawn has created special edition bottles of dish soap with pictures of different animals being affected by the oil spill in the gulf. In addition, Dawn's latest commercials show how the grease dissolving soap is actually used to clean oil off of the affected animals. These emotional commercials target animal lovers and those with a passion for wildlife conservation. This strategy is used to motivate consumers to purchase Dawn dish soap over all the other brands.

On the website where the consumer can enter their donation, visitors are made aware of the Facebook page called Everyday Wildlife Champions. By joining this page, visitors can connect with other Everyday Wildlife Champions and discover more ways to get involved in saving wildlife.

Dawn has surpassed its goal of $500,000 but is still activating donations. Overall, this is a successful campaign that is driven by the cause. The campaign motivates its publics to get involved in helping the oil crisis by simply purchasing a bottle of Dawn.

Walmart Joins the Blogosphere

(Image from chrisuggen.blogspot.com)

Walmart Joins the Blogosphere

By: Kathryn Collins

The Walmart Corporation has created one of the most successful super stores in the entire world. Due to its low prices and its ability to relate to everyday people, the store has shown that it can continue to climb the charts of accomplishment. The creator of Walmart strives to exceed to expectations of the client and eliminate any inconveniences. However, the store has not had the best reputation in recent years.

Despite its overwhelming success, Walmart has received a lot of complaints from clients and workers over issues such as health benefits and low wages. In order to improve its image and clear up any misconceptions about the corporate, Walmart has launched a blogging campaign. The goal of the campaign is to bind up wounds with employees and consumers by giving positive feedback to their concerns. I believe that this strategy is beneficial because it allows Walmart to be more personal with the target publics through direct communication. It is crucial in a campaign to relate to your audience and address any possible complaints.

Although this campaign seem as if it would clear out any negative talk about Walmart, there have been reports of "flogging," or fake blogging, through social media campaigns. Bloggers are sometimes paid to write positive things in order to improve the image of the company. How can the corporation be trusted with through a false campaign? Also, Walmart has failed in a previous campaign utilizing social media through Facebook. This campaign failed due to a lack of dialogue with the audience. Public relations for Walmart needs to focus on interactive communication between the audience and the corporation. Is social media really the best tactic for a public relations campaign?

Gatorade "Replay" Campaign

Photograph by Edward C. Clougherty

Gatorade "Replay" Campaign

by Bo Walbrick

One more play, one more shot, one more game—a second chance at the glory days of their youth is a dream that lives in the heart of any former high school athlete. Gatorade, makers of the most popular sports drink in history, has been making some of those dreams a reality for a few American men over thirty.

Gatorade launched its Replay campaign as part of an effort to motivate men in their thirties, who used to consume the sports drink in their youth, adopt healthier, more active lifestyles. The study was based upon the statistic that 70% of U.S. adults in their thirties do not exercise enough.

Now into its third season of the campaign, Gatorade has sponsored three separate Replay games. In the first season of the campaign, Gatorade staged a rematch of a 1993 high school football game between teams from Easton, Pennsylvania, and Phillipsburgh, New Jersey. The 1993 contest ended in a 7-7 tie.

In the second season of the Replay campaign, Gatorade staged a rematch of two high school basketball teams from Michigan who played one another in 1999. In 1999, the game was abandoned due to one of the players getting his throat sliced by a skate.

In the recently played third season competition of the Replay campaign, Gatorade staged a rematch of two Chicago high school basketball teams whose game in 2000, ended in controversy.

The campaign has been a major success to say the least. Not only has it inspired many men over thirty to adopt more active lifestyles, but Gatorade has seen increases in sales of its products since the campaign began.

Gatorade created a website for the campaign where Replay fans can watch webisodes from each of the three seasons. They also posted workout videos inspired the workouts of the men who competed in the Replay games. A Facebook application was also created that helps fans reunite with former high school teammates.

In 2010, at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, Gatorade was given the grand prix award in the promotional and public relations categories. The multi-faceted campaign was developed by ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day.

The overall campaign concept is brilliant in its own right, but the use of the website with videos of the Replay seasons along with workout videos is an effective public relations tool. Also, the implementation of the Facebook application is a great way to tap into social media and create an interactive communication channel for people to get more involved.

Disney's "Magic of Healthy Living"

(Image: www.disneychannelmedianet.com)

Magic of Healthy Living

By: Diana Truss

In an effort to helping children lead healthier lifestyles, Disney kicked off a public relations campaign entitled “Magic of Healthy Living”, in order to educate children on the importance of healthy eating and leading an active lifestyle. The campaign was launched on September 30, 2010 and will continue for an entire year.

The goal of the campaign is to inform children on the importance of eating healthy as well as maintaining an active lifestyle. Disney understands the value and benefit of eating healthy and wants children to engage in this lifestyle. Disney paired with First Lady Michelle Obama and various Disney Channel stars, such as Nick Jonas, Brenda Song, Alyson Stoner and Tiffany Thornton to deliver public service announcements that will air on the Disney Channel, Radio Disney, Disney.com, Disney XD and the ABC network.

There will also be two web sites available for parents and children to access who want to learn more about the campaign’s efforts. These web sites can be found at Disney.com/healthyfun and Family.com/healthymagic. The web sites feature healthy recipes, tips for healthy living and exercise suggestions.

Starting October 21, 2010, Disney is featuring a national essay contest through the campaign called Magic of Healthy Living the Weekend, where children can submit ideas about how to live a smart, healthy lifestyle at home, school or in their community. There will be 50 winners across the United States who will have the opportunity to spend the weekend at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Along with the campaign, Disney will give a $1 million grant in order to build gardens and play spaces in 10 underprivileged communities around the nation. Disney will team up with KaBOOM, a non-profit organization whose vision is to provide playgrounds for every child within walking distance.

In my opinion, Disney’s multimedia initiative is very effective in delivering their messages by having Disney Channel stars that kids recognize and look up to discuss healthy living. The fact that Michelle Obama also appears in the campaign is effective as well. Obama is extremely passionate about eating healthy and is highly recognized by families. It is effective and appealing to have celebrities deliver information regarding nutrition because it grabs the attention of parents and children when they see famous teenagers who they love to watch on television and in movies. Also, Michelle Obama has a reputation for eating smart and parents are going to listen to what she has to say.

"Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty"

“Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty”

By: Cathleen Shelby

(Image taken from the official Dove web page.)

From young girls to old women, much is expected in terms of what society has labeled beauty. This unrealistic view of what is “beautiful” has left many women feeling as if they are falling short of society’s demands. After a global study conducted by Dove, called “The Real Truth about Beauty: A World Report,” Dove learned that women now view beauty as something that is near impossible to attain. To change this negative cycle, Dove launched a campaign to alter this caustic reality. In 2004, “Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty” began, hoping to help girls learn to love themselves the way they naturally are.

The Dove campaign had several phases in which Dove worked with other partners, including: Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and Girls Inc. Together, Dove and their partners aimed to raise the amount of self esteem women, particularly young girls, have for themselves.

The main topics in this campaign are self-esteem and body image. The target public focuses mainly on young girls, but is for all women in general.

There were many strategies used in this campaign. One of the first strategies was using everyday women with bodies of different shapes and sizes to be the models for the campaign. This advertisement projected these women, who were not society’s ideal “beauties,” laughing and appearing happy and comfortable in their own skin. The campaign included television and print advertisements, videos, and workshops all based on revealing issues with body image and how to fix them.

Dove also has created a self-esteem fund, so that every product that is bought, some of the money goes to the fund. The fund sponsors programs that teach young women how to deal with body issues and ways to maintain good self-esteem.