Canned Food Alliance

Influencer Communications and Real Life Social Networking

The Situation

• Generate discussion among Chicago-area moms about the ease, convenience, nutrition and taste of canned food through CANdelight Dinner parties
• • - Leverage online and offline strategies to create wider Chicago mom dialogue
  • - Extend buzz and canned food discussion to moms outside of Chicago test market via mealtime.org
• Establish canned foods as an integrated component of the dinner occasion

The Haystack Group Approach

• Implement at-home party model as the "catalyst" to drive discussion with a wider audience of women about canned food
• Drive traffic to www.mealtime.org to target women not participating in the parties and position the site as an ongoing resource for product information and recipes
• Deploy and integrate online and offline WOM techniques for 360 degree communication with moms, including:
• • - Letters and postcards to meet up and social groups
  • - Postcards with CFA messaging and web site to Haystack database and mailing list
  • - Emails with approved CFA messaging and web site link to popular Chicago blogs
• Create dedicated Myspace.com party page
• • - 100% qualified as moms in Chicago between 25-45 years – Fairly even ethnic split between African American and Caucasian

Results

• 100,000 touch point communications with moms in Chicago – exceeding goal and resulting in an expansion of the program into three markets in 2008
• • - Met target of 25 parties hosted in Chicago
  • - 17,000 mom impressions with offline CFA messaging 93,700 impressions with viral tactics

TheraSeed

Integrated Campaign

The Situation

• Expand awareness of proven prostate cancer treatment options among men and their loved ones beyond radical prostatectomy
• Entrench brachytherapy with TheraSeed as a leading treatment for prostate cancer

The Haystack Group Approach

• Take the bull by the horns with a fully integrated national public relations campaign:
• • - National Media Relations – Sponsorship with Professional Bull Riders
  • - Team TheraSeed sponsorship with Owen Washburn and Lee Akin
  • - Grassroots Initiative "Blue Ribbons for PBR Fans"
  • - 30-second television commercial Broadcast in six markets and 31 PBR events across America

Results

• Nearly 100 local and national media placements, including CBS News' "The Saturday Early Show," The Christian Science Monitor, Stuart Elliott's "In Advertising" on the New York Times' Web site, Sports Business Daily, and CNN's Tips from the Top
• Increased calls to TheraSeed Call Center following television commercial broadcast by 1,110% (CA) 2,260% (OK) 403% (AZ) 2,440% (KS) Colorado: 1,143% (CO)
• Direct sales increased for seventh consecutive quarter; Comprised 31% of total seed revenue in third quarter 2005

MomCorps

Media Relations

The Situation

• Mom Corps, a fledgling staffing firm, specializing in the placement of working mothers was trying to strengthen its brand among prospective candidates and organizations seeking flexible workers and introduce its online job board.

The Haystack Group Approach

• 60% Traditional Media – Working to capitalize on the shrinking economy, Haystack created a fast-track six-month communications plan to reach national, trade and local media in the top 10 Mom Corps markets.
• 40% Social media and Influencer Groups – Haystack reached out to influential online and offline moms groups to drive influencer communications and social networking among prime online and offline mom groups.

Results

• More than 18 million media impressions secured in 90 days, including The Today Show, Fox News "America's Pulse," Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Better TV and Entrepreneur magazine. Local media in targeted areas included Lake County News Journal (Chicago), The Record (New Jersey), WXIA-TV (Atlanta), WHDH (Boston) and The Plain Dealer (New Jersey).
• Of the editorial coverage, 100 percent included one brand mention, 70 percent included a Web site link or address
• Positive buzz around Mom Corps by bloggers and online mom influencers, including Metropolitan Mama, Workathomerevolution, Misstropolis and Divine Caroline. Digital media coverage also included articles on WSJ.com, NorthJersey.com and New York Daily News.
• Steady increase of visits to Mom Corps Job Board (More than 200 submitted applications on Job Board).

Maid Brigade

The Situation

• Maid Brigade, a national residential cleaning company, launched its Green Clean Certified™ system in May 2007 – a time when the media was already saturated with stories about green products, services and practices. The company selected The Haystack Group to drive awareness and preference of its new green cleaning system through robust media relations efforts.

The Haystack Group Approach

• Stand-out core messaging: Through preliminary research, Haystack identified health and wellness as the primary reasons for adopting a green lifestyle, while noting an overall lack of certainty among the target consumer base of which green offerings were authentic. Haystack developed Maid Brigade's core messaging to focus on the health benefits of green cleaning; while helping the general public understand what truly constitutes "green" cleaning products and services.
• An expert's voice: Since Maid Brigade was the first national housecleaning company to offer a complete green system, it needed third party credibility from a subject matter expert. Haystack secured Green Living expert and best-selling author Annie Bond to serve as the campaign spokesperson and further position Maid Brigade as the authority on green cleaning through media interviews and event appearances.
• Create a newsworthy angle: When faced with feedback that publications had already covered the topic of green, Haystack created new angles to tell Maid Brigade's story – green for your health; quick tips for going green; a house schematic outlining ways to incorporate green in each room of your home; the gift of green cleaning for the holidays; and several more.
• Don't rely on the media alone: To further break through the media clutter, Haystack led efforts to target consumers directly through a consumer-centric Web site focused on green living; a series of educational Web casts featuring Bond; and appearances by Bond at established green events where she delivered keynote speeches and interacted with attendees at Maid Brigade's booth.

Results

• More than 80 media placements generating 170.3 million media impressions, including The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur magazine, Consumers Digest, Working Mother and Realtor Magazine. Local media in targeted areas included Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Seattle Times, Mile High Newspapers (Denver, CO), Atlanta Business Chronicle, NWCN (Northwest Cable News), WBAL-TV (Baltimore, MD) and KGW-TV (Portland, OR).
• Of the editorial coverage, 100 percent was tremendously positive and 75 percent included a Web site link or phone number.
• Positive buzz around Maid Brigade by bloggers and online influencers, including Mama's Musings, Grist Magazine, Inhabitat.com, Ecofabulous and EarthTimes.org. Digital media coverage also included articles on WSJ.com, Entrepreneur.com, Univision.com and SmallBusinessTrends.com.
• More than 100,000 consumers reached through Bond's appearances; 970,000 online impressions through affiliation with green events; and 750,000 impressions through media coverage surrounding the events.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta

The Situation

• Employment surveys indicate a national nursing shortage predicted to reach a shortfall of nearly one million by 2020. This projected shortfall means that many healthcare employees can be selective about where they work.
• To remain competitive for top healthcare talent and grow with the ever-increasing need for pediatric healthcare services, Children's recognized the need to be an "employer of choice" for existing and prospective employees.

The Haystack Group Approach

• Position Children's as a nationally-recognized employer to attract top talent locally and nationally. Haystack recommended that Children's submit for top employer award recognition and implemented a plan to make it happen.
• For consideration as a "100 Best Companies to Work For" by Fortune magazine, Haystack helped Children's create an illustrated book that told "the story" of Children's employees in an interesting, engaging and child-centered way. The beautiful storybook was enclosed in a toy chest with items representative of Children's employee-focused culture.

Results

• In 2006 Children's was named No. 76 in Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" 2006, an honor that made a significant impact on recruitment, retention, organizational branding and employee morale. In 2007, Children's increased its ranking to No. 35 and continues to be on the list each year.
• Submitted job applications to Children's increased from 25,000 in 2005 to 53,000 in 2006, allowing Children's to fill open positions more quickly, particularly those for managers or senior management.
• Employee turnover time decreased seven days from the previous year.
• The vacancy rate at Children's dropped to 3.3 percent at the end of 2006, successfully below the organizational goal of 4 percent.
• The "100 Best" list received national attention in print, broadcast and online media outlets, including CNN, NBC and ABC News, Reuters, Advertising Age, PR Week, Forbes and Yahoo! News. The national coverage Children's received in Fortune magazine alone is equivalent to more than $60,000 in advertising space.