Table of Contents 6 2012 OVATION Awards Winning Entries

generally about current events and issues – it was important to reach him through the media that
matters to him.
Goals and Objectives
The overall program goal was to generate awareness of the Keith’s Green Initiative through traditional
media coverage. The following measureable objectives were developed based on the given budget and
the singular role of PR in the program.
Garner 10 pieces of top‐tier media coverage nationwide
Generate 1.5 million earned media impressions by end of April
Secure eight media to show their plaid on‐air by wearing the Keith’s kilt
Secure a cost per contact of less than $0.03
Generate five pieces of social media coverage from those outlets that showed their plaid
Solution Overview
To get media interested in the Keith’s Green Initiative, Edelman created the ‘Show Your Plaid’ program –
a national challenge to media personalities across the country to wear the Keith’s kilt on‐air. In return,
Keith’s offered to make a donation on behalf of the media to one (or all!) of the participating ecocharities.
The donation amount was increased if they posted a photo of themselves in the kilt on
Twitter, Facebook or a blog.
Show Your Plaid provided media with an experience worth talking about and sharing through their social
platforms. In order to effectively target media in a personalized way, we did background research on
personalities in each key market before we pitched them to tailor our approach to either their Scottish
heritage and/or their passion for environmental causes.
Tactics:
Pre‐promotion and media relations:
A creative call‐to‐action was developed and distributed to key news, lifestyle and sports media and
challenged them to wear the Alexander Keith’s kilt on air. The team then followed up diligently to secure
interest in participating and share more program details. We also worked with the charity partners to
develop a media release announcing the program to encourage consumers to participate, while
underscoring the brand’s commitment to the environment.
Media tour: Throughout a one week period, kilts were couriered across the country for media to wear
on‐air. A chatter sheet was also provided to ensure reporters had the correct messaging and were able
to properly brand the segment.
Fan page awareness: The Keith’s Facebook page has a high level of engagement and large number of
fans. To keep them updated on the success of the program, Edelman developed posts and worked
closely with the community manager to ensure updates were shared with the community.
Implementation and Challenges:
The program budget was under $50,000. The Edelman team provided everything from strategic
oversight and planning to event management and execution support. The program was very successful
and faced a few challenges that were overcome by flexibility, quick thinking and safety pins:
‐size fits all – we had only a small selection of sizes that did not fit all media
Charity partners were not relevant to all major markets
Updates were not immediately reflected on the Facebook page, affecting the momentum of the
program amongst fans