Cover Page



Katie Corbut

Aubrey Haskins

Tyler Norris

Lauren Vogel

Country Pure Foods of Akron, Ohio has recently entered in an agreement with 93 Northeast Ohio Walgreens stores to distribute the product iCafe, a canned iced coffee beverage. iCafe maintains alliances with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Monsters and Browns, allowing for greater exposure in the Northeast Ohio region.

Country Pure Foods challenged Right Path PR to design a comprehensive seven-month campaign to generate awareness about iCafe and its availability at Walgreens among target audiences. So far, little brand awareness of iCafe exists, due to the fact that iCafe is competing for space against large, well-established brand names.

iCafe also faces a disconnect between what the product is and where it is located. Also, the consumers of the product category do not regularly shop at Walgreens.

iCafe has a relatively low level of participation in social media, creating a large opportunity for success in creating brand awareness and consumer participation. The existing landing page for iCafe is out-dated and difficult to locate through search engines.

Secondary research conducted by Right Path PR revealed the best way to reach key audiences is through the Internet and maintained social media sites. Going forward, adjustments can be made to iCafe’s online presence to optimize search engine capabilities, and get the product on the right path to creating awareness.

While there are many challenges in creating awareness, primary research conducted by Right Path PR indicated many opportunities exist for iCafe and its entry into the iced-coffee market. Taste tests conducted by Right Path PR revealed that once consumers tried iCafe, they preferred the iced coffee over the leading Starbucks® iced coffee. This is the basis for which future initiatives will be designed.

Problem Statement

iCafe lacks the awareness it needs to gain momentum in a market that is saturated with canned beverage options. There is also the issue of product placement, which provides additional barriers to consumers who are unaware of the products’ availability at Walgreens.

Target Audiences

Right Path PR has established key audiences based on the rates of which they drink coffee and the amount consumed. We’ve broken down the audiences further by identifying geographic areas and intertwining key demographics.

Primary Audiences

• College age students, 18 to 24, who drink coffee and live within a 10 to 15 mile radius of a Walgreens at the following universities: Kent State University, University of Akron, Cleveland State University, Youngstown State University, John Carroll University and Case Western Reserve University.

• Coffee drinkers age 25 to 34 who shop at Walgreens for prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs and hygiene products in the Cleveland Metropolitan areas which encompasses seven counties: Lorain County, Cuyahoga County, Medina County, Summit County, Portage County, Geauga County, Lake County and Ashtabula County.

• Coffee drinkers age 25 to 34 who shop at Walgreens for prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs and hygiene products in the Canton-Massillon statistical area.

Secondary Audiences

• Media Outlets in Northeast Ohio

• Campus Media outlets

• Northeast Ohio Food and Beverage bloggers

• Country Pure Foods employees at the Akron facility

• Northeast Ohio Walgreens shoppers

Plan Objectives

• To increase awareness about iCafe and its availability at Walgreens stores among college students in the defined Greater Cleveland area, who drink coffee and live within 10 to 15 miles of a Walgreens store by earning 500 brand-recall impressions by November 2011.

• To increase participation on targeted social media sites among key audiences from less than 200 to 1,000 followers and earn two traditional-media clippings, one blog mention and two campus media clippings by November 2011.

• To motivate 100 college students in the defined Greater Cleveland area to sample a taste of iCafe by November 2011.

• To motivate Akron Country Pure Food employees about iCafe to encourage five employees to become brand ambassadors by June 2011.

• To increase awareness among coffee drinkers age 25 to 34 who shop at Walgreens within the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan area and Canton-Massillon statistical area about iCafe by earning 500 brand-recall impressions by November 2011.

Plan Strategies

• Work from and redevelop the “Where do you iCafe” strategy using new social media.

• Engage audiences through further development of social media sites.

• Create relationships with nonprofits and local organizations to generate traditional media attention for iCafe.

• Use partnerships with Walgreens and Cleveland professional sports teams to generate awareness of iCafe.

• Use events on or around Cleveland Metropolitan area universities and Youngstown State University to engage college students through face-to-face communication.

• Take a creative approach to press materials, which will be actively distributed to traditional media outlets, campus media outlets and food and beverage bloggers.

• Create enthusiasm about new media and campaign tactics among Country Pure Foods employees.

Plan Tactics

The identified audiences respond greatest to face-to-face communication tactics and social media initiatives. In order to “Tackle the Day with iCafe,” Right Path PR has created an integrated communications plan with strategic intent to increase awareness of iCafe and where it is sold.

Internal Communications Tactics

“Tackle the Day with iCafe” Corporate Luncheon

Right Path PR will create a 20-minute presentation explaining its role within the “Tackle the Day with iCafe” campaign as well as the benefits of using certain strategies, such as social media, media relations and face-to-face communication to the corporate employees of Country Pure Foods.

Evaluation:

• Number of employees at the luncheon

• Increase in brand loyalty for iCafe among employees

• Number of Country Pure Food employees dedicating time to help execute and implement other iCafe tactics created by Right Path PR

“Tackle the Day with iCafe” Corporate eBlast

Right Path PR will create an iCafe eBlast template that will be sent to the Country Pure Foods employees through the Country Pure Foods e-mail database. Information on the eBlast will include media hits about iCafe, a list of upcoming iCafe events and an overview of the campaigns success for that particular month.

Evaluation:

• Number of opened eBlasts

• Increased brand loyalty for iCafe among employees

Community Outreach Tactics

iCafe and Boys and Girls Club SHAZAM! Fundraiser

iCafe staff will sponsor and attend a Greater Cleveland area Boys and Girls Club corporate fundraiser event to achieve positive community status and possible media coverage. iCafe will give a corporate donation of $1,000 to the event, and will introduce the iCafe cookbook fundraiser and present the Greater Cleveland area Boys and Girls Club with the proceeds from the fundraiser. Two corporate executives from iCafe will attend the event.

Evaluation:

• Number of mentions iCafe received in top-tier traditional news media

• Number of “retweets” on Twitter pertaining to the event

• Visits to social media sites and links to articles pertaining to the event

Back to School Drive

Country Pure Foods and iCafe will offer incentives to consumers who participate in the Walgreens’ Back-to-School Drive. The drive is sponsored by the Cleveland Cavaliers and provides school supplies for Cleveland, Akron, Loraine and Lake County-area schools. For every five items purchased for donation, iCafe will supply the consumer with a Buy-One Get-One Free coupon for iCafe priced at $1.49.

Evaluation:

• Number of BOGO coupons redeemed in conjunction with donated supplies

• Number of “likes,” comments and “retweets” on iCafe social media sites about event

College Involvement Tactics

iCafe Greek Kick-off Week

The iCafe Greek Kick-off will be a competition between the Greek Communities at each targeted university. The competition will be based off the already created “Where Do You iCafe” strategy. Country Pure Foods will challenge each sorority and fraternity to produce a 60 to 90 second creative video describing where they like to iCafe. The videos will be submitted to the iCafe website, which already provides a place to upload videos. The winner of the video contest at each university will be granted 100 points to their overall Greek Week scores, and the top five videos will be posted to all iCafe social media websites.

Evaluation:

• Number of Greek chapters participating

• Number of videos uploaded to the iCafe website

• Number of related interactions on social media sites

• Frequency of media coverage by campus media outlets

iCafe Cook-off to Tackle Hunger

Kent State University recently launched a chapter of Campus Kitchen, an organization that invites college students to prepare food for a local soup kitchen in the community. Right Path PR will sponsor a contest with the student chefs in the program. Chefs will compete to make the best dish using iCafe as the secret ingredient. The winning chef will earn an honorary $500 donation to the Kent State Campus Kitchen chapter.

Evaluation:

• Number of campus media mentions of the event

• Number of “likes,” comments and “retweets” pertaining to the event and iCafe on social media sites

• Number of top-tier traditional news media mentions

Social Media Tactics

iCafe Campus QR-Code Promotion

Right Path PR will place quick-read (QR) codes on t-shirts to be distributed to student governments at targeted universities. The shirts will display an oversized code with the headline “Tackle your day.” Whichever school earns 1,000 scans throughout the campus and community during a two-month period will earn a $500 donation to a 501(3)(c) charity of its choice. Students will be encouraged to wear the shirts and interact with students, because the more the student wears the shirt, more scans he or she is likely to earn. Schools will choose their charity before the event begins.

Evaluation:

• The number of hits on the specially tailored iCafe landing page

• Total number of scans per each student wearing a t-shirt

• The amount of proceeds raised for by each school

• Measure of face-to-face interaction

“Tackle the Day with iCafe” Foursquare Check-ins

Right Path PR will use the existing partnership with iCafe and Walgreens to create iCafe-Foursquare check-ins at Northeast Ohio Walgreens. There are several promotional elements to choose from that will encourage Smartphone users to Check-in to the Chiller for discounts and promotions.

Evaluation:

• Total daily check-ins

• Most recent visitors

• Top frequent visitors

• Gender breakdown of customers

• What time of day people check-in

• Portions of your venue’s Foursquare check-ins that are being broadcast on Twitter and Facebook

Preview of Additional Tactics

Right Path PR is excited to explain in further detail, all of the above tactics, and share others we are proud of on April 20, 2011.

You will learn about our iCafe Online Newsroom, where media efforts for iCafe will be organized and easily accessible for the media.

We’ve designed a cookbook to invite consumers to think outside the box when buying iCafe, especially because a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland.

We’ve also created a promotional event in the Canton area that will refresh consumers in one of the hottest months of the summer.

Campaign Media Relations

Press releases, video news releases and social media pitch elements will be created by Right Path PR to be implemented by Country Pure Foods to target audiences in the Northeast Ohio region.

Campaign Key Messages

In order to convey our theme, “Tackle the Day with iCafe,” a few key messages have been implemented to guide each tactic in the right direction.

• iCafe presents quality and value not traditionally found in the iced-coffee market.

• iCafe connects with causes and organizations that are important to consumers.

• iCafe presents information to its consumers where they want it.

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“Tackle the Day with iCafe”

Campaign Summary

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY

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