McDonald’s Buy 1 Share 1 Program PR Campaign

McDonald’s Buy 1 Share 1 Program PR Campaign

Public Relations Case Study

Buy One Share One Happy Meal® Program

There is a staggering food gap among children in central North Carolina. This hard truth gets worse during the summer months when school is not in session and children do not have access to free or reduced breakfast and lunches. With 1 in 4 children suffering from food insecurity in the area, our client, McDonald’s of the Triad, set out to raise the level of awareness and actively involve local customers to take part in providing a solution.

The Challenge:

To address this issue, our client enlisted our help in bringing a regional McDonald’s initiative — the Buy One Share One Happy Meal® Campaign (B1S1) — to the Triad. While B1S1 isn’t something new for McDonald’s, we approached it from a slightly different angle. In most other markets, B1S1 runs during the months of November through December to provide meals to children during the holidays. However, we knew that in our area specifically, the larger need occurs during the summer since many local children rely on school-provided meals as a part of their daily nutritional intake. When school is out, they often go without a meal. So, to effectively address this need, we opted to run this program from June-August.

The Strategy/Campaign:

After establishing the basics of the campaign, we set out to find a local organization that we could partner with to help execute our plan. We landed on Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina: a major food bank in our area that has been working to eradicate hunger in northwest NC for almost 40 years. We were excited to learn about their Summer Feeding Program, a program designed specifically to help children who are most at risk of suffering from food insecurity during the summer — this would dovetail perfectly with our client’s goals.

With this partnership, we were able to establish the campaign guidelines: for every Happy Meal purchased on Mondays during the month of June, one would be donated to Second Harvest. Then, in conjunction with their partner agencies, the food bank would distribute these meals to children in their Summer Feeding Program.

The Execution:

We knew the success of this campaign relied heavily on its execution — specifically, making sure local community members were aware of and participating in the initiative. While we did engage in some traditional forms of advertising like hanging window clings in each restaurant and working with a local company to negotiate the placement of eight pro-bono digital display billboards throughout the Triad, we relied primarily on traditional public relations tactics to raise awareness within our local community.

To do this, we leveraged existing relationships with local television, newspaper and radio stations to get the word out. Since it was a month-long initiative, we wanted to remain in the news cycle as much as possible. We knew that to achieve this, it would be crucial to come up with different tactics for engaging local media so that the information never seemed stale or repetitive.

We decided to engage the media at three different touchpoints throughout this initiative: Pre, During and Post Campaign. We also refined our approach so that we were actively spreading the larger message of “food insecurity within children” and then narrowing down the message by showing what McDonald’s is doing to make a difference locally. 

During our “pre-campaign” stage, we arranged for a local restaurant owner interview on 98.7 Simon’s Sunday morning radio show the day before the campaign was set to begin. We used this time to discuss the program’s goals and announce all its important details. Then, on the first Monday morning of the campaign each year, we had another local owner appear on WFMY News 2’s Good Morning show to help announce its official start. To round out our pre-buzz efforts, we also submitted the campaign details to local event calendars for community members to see.

In addition to posting about B1S1 on Triad McDonald’s social media accounts, our team engaged media during the campaign by inviting them to semi-spontaneous food deliveries in July to children at specified summer camps. Over the course of the campaign, we coordinated more than 10 Happy Meal deliveries and received media coverage for almost all of them. 

Lastly, we sought out post-media coverage by sharing the program’s outcome far and wide. In addition to the number of meals we delivered to children at summer camps, we would report on the total number of meals donated during each June as a result of local community participation.

The Results

The success of this campaign rested on our ability to effectively alert local community members throughout the execution of both traditional and non-traditional public relations tactics. From a media relations standpoint, we could not have asked for a better outcome. Each year, we were able to secure coverage in several of the major media outlets in the Triad including television interviews on all three primary TV stations (WFMY, WXII and Fox 8), print articles in key newspapers like The News & Record and High Point Enterprise and digital coverage on dozens of websites and social media accounts. Our efforts resulted in the generation of millions of potential media impressions, which can be seen by the increase in participants each year.

But the most important result we got from this campaign is the number of children we were able to provide with a balanced and nutritious meal when they needed it the most. For three years in a row (2015-2017), we significantly increased the number of Happy Meals donated to local children in need.

Happy Meals Donated in 2015

Happy Meals Donated in 2016

Happy Meals Donated in 2017

PART: Business 40 Closure PR Campaign

PART: Business 40 Closure PR Campaign

 

Public Relations Case Study

Late in the fall of 2018, the closing of a section of Business 40 had commuters anxiously awaiting to see the impact the construction would have on their drive to and from work. Determined to help ease this anxiety, the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation (PART) hired Bouvier Kelly to work with them to develop an advertising and communications strategy that would raise awareness of their work to create transportation solutions. It would also help communicate the importance of ride-sharing and how changing your commute could make the closure easier on everyone.

The Challenge:

Because the closure was such a highly anticipated event that would impact so many people, we knew we were dealing with a large, diverse audience who would most certainly be seeking information on how the construction would affect them. They would also want to know how they could avoid the worst of the construction woes. With information coming from a variety of sources and publications across the Triad, we wanted to position PART as an informed, reliable source that was working in conjunction with the community to alleviate commuting issues.

We also faced the challenge of the closure’s duration: how do you remain top-of-mind for over a year? It was a priority to establish a multi-tiered PR plan that would allow us to share timely news without seeming forceful or irrelevant and that would complement the overall marketing and advertising strategy.

The Strategy: Phase One

We broke our approach into two phases, with the first taking place the month leading up to the closure. Our phase one goal was to preempt the construction by engaging local media with information about the closure and then supplementing it with PART’s commuter transportation solutions.

We accomplished this by distributing a press release that included specific details about the closure as well as how PART’s enhanced and discounted services would help address construction-related issues. We also developed a “Commuting Fun Facts” section as an engaging way to encourage commuters to consider mass transit options. It demonstrated all the things one could achieve in the time gained from taking alternative modes of transportation.

And, since the majority of those affected would be commuting in and out of Winston-Salem, we partnered with WXII 12 News to develop a segment dedicated to this announcement. The on-location interview featured PART’s Executive Director who shared further details about their dedication to improving commuting conditions.

The Strategy: Phase One

We broke our approach into two phases, with the first taking place the month leading up to the closure. Our phase one goal was to preempt the construction by engaging local media with information about the closure and then supplementing it with PART’s commuter transportation solutions.

We accomplished this by distributing a press release that included specific details about the closure as well as how PART’s enhanced and discounted services would help address construction-related issues. We also developed a “Commuting Fun Facts” section as an engaging way to encourage commuters to consider mass transit options. It demonstrated all the things one could achieve in the time gained from taking alternative modes of transportation.

And, since the majority of those affected would be commuting in and out of Winston-Salem, we partnered with WXII 12 News to develop a segment dedicated to this announcement. The on-location interview featured PART’s Executive Director who shared further details about their dedication to improving commuting conditions.

The Strategy: Phase Two

Our second phase kicked off six months later and focused on updating the community on the positive impact PART was having on commuting conditions during the closure. This phase was bolstered by statistics and rider testimonials we had gathered from several riders with different commuting routes and habits. For newsworthiness, we focused on the larger message of Clean Air Month (May) and how PART’s increased ridership was positively affecting the local environment.

Then, we supplemented that message with commuter testimonials advocating that while the Business 40 project may have been the reason why they started using PART, a positive rider experience is what keeps them coming back. Our efforts drew the attention of several local media outlets, including Spectrum News, which did a prime-time feature on the updated information

“If I had to describe my experience riding PART in three words, they would be: efficient, comfortable and affordable.”

Alexcia Lane

Routes 1 and 2 from Winston-Salem to High Point and Greensboro

“Riding the PART bus feels like I have my own private chauffer who knows and cares about me and my daily life outside of my commute.”

Greg Southard

Route 28 from Clemmons to Winston-Salem

“The best thing about riding the PART bus is the fact that I’m not driving and having to manage the traffic.”

Sharon Gaskin

Route 1 from Greensboro to Winston-Salem

Commuting Fun Facts

The average carpooler can save as much as $600 each month on commuting costs such as gas, parking, tolls and car maintenance.

Commuting Fun Facts

In the Triad, the average commuter will spend 22 hours each month on the PART Express Bus. In that time, you could watch all eight Harry Potter movies, read a 1,000+ page classic novel such as Lord of the Rings, send over 26,400 text messages, or get an extra 5.5 hours of sleep each week!

Commuting Fun Facts

PART’s Vanpool program participants helped reduce 12,982,032 in single occupancy vehicle miles traveled in FY2018.

Commuting Fun Facts

The average Triad commuter will spend 14.5 hours each month using carpool or vanpool. That’s the same amount of time it would take you to binge watch a season and a half of Game of Thrones, read the entire Hunger Games trilogy twice, or plan out your monthly budget for the next year.

The Results
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2.1m

Potential
Impressions

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$17,000

Public Relations
Value

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7.4%

Increase in
Ridership

From a numbers standpoint, we generated 2.1 million potential impressions (the number of people who could have seen the coverage based on when and where it ran) and a PR value of almost $17,000 between the two phases, which was a significant ROI. Our communications strategy has also played a significant role in PART’s larger marketing plan, which has contributed to a 7.4% increase in ridership over the last fiscal year. And while all of these statistics point to a successful campaign, we are just as thrilled to help our client spread the larger message of how ridesharing and public transportation can contribute to a cleaner, greener and less traffic-filled environment for all of us.

McDonald’s Hearts of Gold

McDonald’s Hearts of Gold

McDonald’s Hearts of Gold Case Study

Background

It’s no secret that McDonald’s is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. And with nearly two million employees worldwide, they’re one of the largest employers in the world, too. So when local restaurant owners came to us looking to develop find a unique way to recognize the people who make their brand so great, we jumped at the opportunity to help.

The Challenge:

Like any good employer, McDonald’s knows that their brand’s best ambassadors are their employees. They also know that one of the most effective ways to recruit and retain stellar personnel is to show them that they are valued and appreciated. Because there are close to 100 McDonald’s restaurants in the Triad area, we knew there were sure to be plenty of special individuals whose contributions deserved to be acknowledged — and we wanted to know about all of them.

The Challenge:

Like any good employer, McDonald’s knows that their brand’s best ambassadors are their employees. They also know that one of the most effective ways to recruit and retain stellar personnel is to show them that they are valued and appreciated. Because there are close to 100 McDonald’s restaurants in the Triad area, we knew there were sure to be plenty of special individuals whose contributions deserved to be acknowledged — and we wanted to know about all of them.

The Campaign:

Our conversations with both upper-level management and employees about what they were looking for in a rewards program led us to develop “Hearts of Gold: A Campaign for Kindness.” The goal of the campaign was simple: to recognize and reward employees for their dedication to the McDonald’s brand and encourage them to continue going above and beyond for their customers and one another. We made a point to design a campaign that would allow us to recognize multiple individuals each month while still maintaining an air of exclusivity that would instill a sense of pride in the winners.

The Execution:

Our execution was two-fold: we not only had to get the new program up and running, but we also had to make sure management and employees alike were aware of its existence and wanted to participate in it, either by nominating someone or by working hard to ensure they had a chance at being nominated.

To raise awareness for Hearts of Gold, we created posters that explained the program and placed them in the break rooms at each restaurant. We also designed attention-grabbing mobiles with additional campaign messaging to hang in break rooms. We even took to social media and shared information about the program on the Triad McDonald’s Twitter account.

The Execution:

Our execution was two-fold: we not only had to get the new program up and running, but we also had to make sure management and employees alike were aware of its existence and wanted to participate in it, either by nominating someone or by working hard to ensure they had a chance at being nominated.

To raise awareness for Hearts of Gold, we created posters that explained the program and placed them in the break rooms at each restaurant. We also designed attention-grabbing mobiles with additional campaign messaging to hang in break rooms. We even took to social media and shared information about the program on the Triad McDonald’s Twitter account.

Our execution was two-fold: we not only had to get the new program up and running, but we also had to make sure management and employees alike were aware of its existence and wanted to participate in it, either by nominating someone or by working hard to ensure they had a chance at being nominated.

To raise awareness for Hearts of Gold, we created posters that explained the program and placed them in the break rooms at each restaurant. We also designed attention-grabbing mobiles with additional campaign messaging to hang in break rooms. We even took to social media and shared information about the program on the Triad McDonald’s Twitter account.

Our execution was two-fold: we not only had to get the new program up and running, but we also had to make sure management and employees alike were aware of its existence and wanted to participate in it, either by nominating someone or by working hard to ensure they had a chance at being nominated.

To raise awareness for Hearts of Gold, we created posters that explained the program and placed them in the break rooms at each restaurant. We also designed attention-grabbing mobiles with additional campaign messaging to hang in break rooms. We even took to social media and shared information about the program on the Triad McDonald’s Twitter account.

The Results:

Over the course of 23 months, we received a total of 853 nominations from our Triad-area restaurants and we were able to distribute 460 prize packages, totaling more than $20,000 in monetary rewards.

And, because this is a public relations campaign after all, we were even able to help McDonald’s gain some positive local recognition through this program. When we received a nomination about an employee who called and paid for a cab for a female customer with two children who had no transportation, we knew their act of kindness deserved more than a prize package. WFMY News 2 did too. After hearing this story, the local television station enlisted our help to set up an interview with the employee to share their good deed with our community.

But the results we’re most proud of aren’t the tangible ones. It is impossible to recall how many times throughout the campaign we heard from winners and their nominators alike about their admiration of the program, or the gratitude and pride they felt for being recognized for their hard work. We are proud to have helped shine a light on some of McDonald’s hardest working team members — one Heart of Gold at a time.

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853

nominations

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460

prize packages

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$20,000

in monetary rewards

Allard Get Back Up

Allard Get Back Up

Public Relations Case Study

Allard

If you knew you had a life changing product that could significantly improve the lives of millions of people but awareness of the product was very low, what would you do? Launch one heck of a PR effort that’s what! And so began our relationship with Allard and their game changing ToeOFF® foot brace technology designed to help alleviate the struggle of millions suffering with the debilitating neurological condition known as foot drop. Beth Deloria, who suffers from the disorder, became the first Allard ambassador for this new technology and approached us to help bring it to the national spotlight.

The Challenge:

The goal was straightforward: national awareness. Because there are so many people who could use this technology to significantly improve their quality of life, the audience was there and waiting to discover something like ToeOFF. They were all similar to Beth Deloria, who was a marathon runner prior to a spinal chord injury that led to her diagnosis of foot drop. She spent years searching for a brace that would at least allow her to walk normally again. Every single one of the most commonly known braces designed to help foot drop sufferers proved painful and barely helped Beth walk, much less allow her to run marathons again. So with literally millions needing help like Beth, the PR effort would have to be thorough, expansive and focused.

The Campaign/Strategy:

Because ToeOFF is so life-changing, we knew there would be others like Beth that were able to resume their active lifestyles thanks to the brace. It was time to bring them together and create a grassroots movement to get the word out. “Get Back UP Today” was created as a rally cry of encouragement and hope, and from that came Team UP, founded by Deloria as the only national team of people with foot drop. Within the first year there were 8 members, and now there are almost double that. Beth and Team UP have been featured in national media and spoken to thousands across the country. A large social media push across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even Pinterest was developed alongside the PR movement to create a genuine, close community of people who could help inspire each other and help spread the word about Allard’s technology.

The Results

50,310

Followers

Across the country in markets both large and small, the Get Back UP Today campaign has made waves in helping bring the ToeOFF brace technology to those who need it most. Facebook now has a following of 32,917 followers (and counting) and Twitter has helped solidify national media connections that will work to serve the campaign for years to come. The website www.GetBackUPToday.com has helped to unify the community even more by coordinating events, publishing inspiring stories from fellow users of ToeOFF braces and creating a national awareness of foot drop.

The Results

Across the country in markets both large and small, the Get Back UP Today campaign has made waves in helping bring the ToeOFF brace technology to those who need it most. Facebook now has a following of 32,917 followers (and counting) and Twitter has helped solidify national media connections that will work to serve the campaign for years to come. The website has helped to unify the community even more by coordinating events, publishing inspiring stories from fellow users of ToeOFF braces and creating a national awareness of foot drop.

50,310

Followers

6.6%

Engagement Rate

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