Table of Contents 6 2012 OVATION Awards Winning Entries

and cork flooring retailers. Additional elements included trade print advertising, a highly visual,
informative website (realcorkfloors.com) and cultivation on social community sites, Twitter
(@RealCorkFloors), YouTube, Vimeo and Flickr.
IMPLEMENTATION AND CHALLENGES:
The gross campaign budget was €2.2 million (including advertising creative, media buys, PR, social
media, retail training, and website programming). Within this framework, the North American PR budget
(fees and disbursements) was €1.5 million for all PR planning and program development, program
management, measurement and evaluation, reporting and all individual activities included in the
program for both fees and disbursements. The agency was constantly challenged by APCOR to justify
utilization of the budget to ensure strategic and effective touch points with multiple audiences within
the campaign time frame. The agency was also challenged to work under the direction and supervision
of both APCOR, the governing association based in Portugal and reporting to the Portuguese
government, as well as the North American‐based Board and Marketing Committee, consisting of CEO’s
and marketing executives from eight cork flooring manufacturers and distributors in the United States
and Canada. The agency was required to effectively deliver a campaign that addressed the objectives
and goals of both contingents and reported to both parties on a monthly basis for the duration of the
18‐month campaign.
MEASUREMENT/EVALUATION:
Through impactful and innovative touch points, APCOR was effectively able to interact with its target
audiences, providing clear and consistent messaging that made a measurable impact on media,
consumer, stakeholder and influencer awareness, knowledge and desire levels. Measured against the
quantifiable objectives as outlined in the GOALS/OBJECTIVES section, the campaign far exceeded media
relations, awareness and sales expectations.
Key campaign results were as follows:
1. Garnered over 520 million media impressions; over 5,000 editorial hits; a qualitative score of 87%
and a total cost‐per‐contact of $0.003 (measured against the PR budget). APCOR mandated DDB PR to
use a specific evaluation system that is similar to MRPs (Media Relations Rating Points), applying it to
both US and Canadian media coverage.
2. More than 360,000 home décor and design influencers, retailers and target consumers toured
Décor(k) or were exposed to cork flooring first hand through influencer seeding opportunities, product
placements and events
3. Over 80,000 unique visitors, with an average time spent of 2:52 minutes on www.realcorkfloors.com
4. Over 10,000 Twitter followers, 93,000 views on Flickr and 16,000 views on YouTube and Vimeo
5. Measured through social monitoring software, a 12 per cent increase in positive consumer sentiment,
product awareness and desire for cork flooring in relation to ‘Eco‐Chic’ design conversations was found
across the majority of social media networks
6. Achieved a 10 per cent increase in cork flooring consumption for fiscal year 2010/2011 (based on
confidentially submitted sales data from APCOR North American affiliate companies)