Great PR campaigns have always been a huge factor in changing the way people look and interact with a brand. Some campaigns have a direct impact on the sales of a business, while others are created for purely branding purposes.
Today, we are going to discuss 5 PR Campaigns for the year 2018 that were so captivating, that it will make you fall in love with Public Relations.
MCDONALD’S FLIPPED CAMPAIGN
On International Women’s Day, Mcdonald’s flipped its iconic golden arches upside down, turning the “M” into a “W” to honour women all around the world for their hard work, dedication and accomplishments.
The campaign garnered around 1.6 billion impressions and dominated Google as the No.1 brand query on International Women’s Day.
The brand also rolled out custom packaging, uniforms and caps across 100 stores in the United States, and updated all their digital channels and social media sites.
McDonald’s Chief Diversity Officer, Wendy Lewis said in a statement, “In celebration of women everywhere, and for the first time in our brand history, we flipped our iconic arches for International Women’s Day in honour of the extraordinary accomplishments of women everywhere and especially in our restaurants.”
KFC’s We Are Sorry Campaign (FCK)
PR professionals need to learn a lesson or two from KFC for handling a crisis with humour and finesse.
The fast-food chain had to shut down most of their outlets in the United Kingdom after a shortage in chicken, because they had changed their delivery supplier from Bidvest Logistics to DHL on February 14, 2018.
In order to apologize for the inconvenience caused to their customers and also to thank their staff for the hard work they put in during the crisis, KFC with the help Mother London agency, created an ad that rearranged the letters on their bucket to say “FCK” with the slogan: “WE’RE SORRY”.
The ad redirected customers to its website to provide more information on the status of its restaurants.
CALM’s Project 84 Campaign
According to the Suicide Prevention Charity CALM ( Campaign Against Living Miserably), suicide is the leading cause of death among men in the UK below the age of 40 years.
In order to raise awareness of the alarming statistics – that on an average 84 men commit suicide every week in the UK, a campaign was created called Project 84.
With the help of artist Mark Jenkins, the charity mounted 84 sculptures of men with hoods on top of the ITV South Bank Studios to represent the statistic that 84 men take their life every week.
The campaign was created by Adam & Eve/DDB and was supported by ITV show This Morning with three days of programming dedicated to male suicide.
Following the two weeks since the launch of the campaign, CALM saw a 34 percent rise in the support they offered via the helpline and online chat facilities.
They also received over 170 million impressions on Twitter and 220 thousand signatures on a petition to the Secretary of Health, that resulted in a parliamentary discussion on male suicide.
DIESEL’S KNOCK-OFF CAMPAIGN – ‘DEISEL’
Diesel is known for its creative PR Campaigns and this one was no exception. Banking on people’s obsession for funny logos from knock-off brands, Diesel set up a fake goods store in New York’s Canal Street, that sold the counterfeit alternative they called ‘Deisel’. They then sold genuine merchandise to unsuspecting customers under the knock-off brand name Deisel.
Not all fakes are fake. Introducing the one-of-a-kind, limited-edition Deisel knock-off collection. #GoWithTheFlaw
The campaign was set up ahead of the Lakme Fashion Week and the use of tongue-and-cheek humour definitely worked in their favour.
CANCER RESEARCH UK’S ANTI-OBESITY CAMPAIGN
Cancer Research UK launched a campaign on February 27, 2018, to highlight Obesity as the 2nd highest preventable cause of cancer after smoking.
They did this by encouraging people to guess what is the biggest cause of cancer after smoking by filling in the blanks.
They also reiterated the message by handing out fake cigarette packets to shoppers with french fries in it.
Cancer research mentioned that obesity is linked to 13 different types of cancer however only 15% of people in the UK were aware of this connection.
Even though the campaign received a social media backlash which was started of by Sofie Hagen and picked up by several news outlets like the Telegraph and the Daily Mail for body shaming.
Right, is anyone currently working on getting this piece of shit CancerResearchUK advert removed from everywhere? Is there something I can sign? How the fucking fuck is this okay? pic.twitter.com/b7eU7lulms
— Sofie Hagen (@SofieHagen) February 28, 2018
Cancer Research UK stuck to its message about Obesities link to Cancer and went on to handle the situation professionally
(1/2) Hi Sofie, our campaign isn’t meant to make anyone feel bad about their weight or make anyone think negatively about people who are overweight or obese. Our aim is to raise awareness of the link between cancer and obesity…
— Cancer Research UK (@CR_UK) February 28, 2018
(2/2) … as after smoking, obesity is the second biggest cause. It is our duty to inform people about this and lobby the government on policies which will help us all to keep a healthy weight. For more info, head to our website: https://t.co/eOrFWGfWUb
— Cancer Research UK (@CR_UK) February 28, 2018
They responded to her tweets and also received support from various other Social Media Influencers.
CONCLUSION
A successful PR campaign needs to stand out from the clutter. It does not matter if you are using humour to drive your message or if you go all out and aggressive to get your point across.
What really matters is how you’re able to build a strong connection between people and make them stop and think about the message that your brand wants to share.
Is there any PR campaign that changed the way you think? Let us know in the comments below.
