 |
|
|
|
|
|
    
|
|
||||
 |
 |
Team members find that supporting high-profile New Zealand products is an experience second only to visiting one of the planet’s purest, most beautiful countries firsthand—with some consultants lucky enough to do that, too. The kiwifruit—arguably New Zealand’s most iconic product—has generated unprecedented creativity and regional cohesiveness among the network in Asia Pacific, with no less than six offices having worked on the world’s premier kiwifruit brand, Zespri. For instance, the Beijing team centered its most recent campaign on dinnertime, which has traditionally played an important role in Chinese family life. In today’s hectic world, more people are working overtime and dining out, but GH saw the opportunity to turn this situation into a national family campaign, communicating the nutritional and family values of kiwifruit. After conducting an online survey, GH held a press conference to promote the “2030” concept: going home before 20:30 and devoting 20-30 minutes each day to enjoy fruit and family time, drawing scores of media in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In 2006 the Shanghai office won IABC Gold Quill and IPRA Golden World awards for its work promoting Zespri kiwifruit. Despite Zespri’s premium product status and comparatively high price, GH helped the brand exceed sales goals by 360 percent through two remarkable campaigns. Inside an airplane cabin—a notoriously poor environment for skin—GH screened a video in which a nutritionist endorsed kiwifruit as a source of nutrients for the skin and also a way to prevent deep-vein thrombosis. The team also partnered with a women’s website to hold a “kiwi wedding” for newlyweds to profess their “kiwi love.” In addition to generating an impressive 81 stories, the team successfully married the Zespri brand to the message that health is the best gift for your partner.
In Hong Kong, Zespri and GH took a more serious route by conducting a nutritional study with Hong Kong University, researching the effects of kiwifruit on constipation. Also, reaching out to youth, the team partnered with a local restaurant chain to include Zespri kiwifruit in school lunches. In one day, Zespri gave away 45,000 pieces of its GOLD kiwifruit at 70 schools. The campaign generated significant coverage in print and television media. Most recently, in May 2007, a consultant from Hong Kong escorted top lifestyle journalists to Zespri’s kiwifruit orchards in New Zealand, a getaway unlike any of the reporters had ever experienced. GH’s love for New Zealand extends beyond kiwifruit. Based on research that showed more than 70 percent of beef sales come from the hotel and restaurant industry, the Taipei office implemented a cooking competition to reinforce NZ Beef’s key position as the healthy and tasty beef. GH also designed an online campaign through the NZ Beef website and a cooperating website, Enjoy Gourmet, where consumers could play interactive games and learn more about NZ Beef. Andrew Pirie, regional managing director in Asia Pacific (and New Zealand native) said, “It’s personally rewarding for me to see a great New Zealand brand like Zespri become one of our most prized clients across the Asia Pacific region. And it’s rather ironic to see that a key focus of our PR activities is in China—as not many people know this, but the humble kiwifruit originated in China many years ago … in fact, when I was growing up in New Zealand, we used to call the fruit a ‘Chinese gooseberry!’”
As the global leader in the express and logistics industry, DHL wanted to ensure that its network of employees across 41 countries and territories worldwide would be ready in the event of a crisis outbreak. To help prepare them, the team in Singapore conducted a media and crisis training workshop for nearly 40 DHL communicators when they attended the DHL Corporate Communications and Sustainability Conference. This was the third time that GH has supported DHL in their regional training in Asia Pacific. Communicators from countries across the region attended the training to hone their communications skills on the onset of a crisis. This year’s session focused on pandemic flu outbreak. As in previous years, GH developed the content of the training kit and facilitated the training. The team conceptualized a range of issues and crisis scenarios, which were simulated at the workshop. Lina Poa and Shen Jegathesan from Singapore, along with Winnie Yip from Hong Kong, teamed up with DHL Corporate Affairs team members to lead the training groups. The successful training reinforced GH’s role as a strategic communication consultant and provided a model for sharing crisis management lessons across the region
The Dow Chemical Company recently partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to sponsor the 2007 Global Business Summit for the Environment (B4E). GolinHarris, which counts Dow among its global clients, is also the official PR agency of UNEP. Colleagues from the Chicago headquarters and the Singapore office were instrumental in facilitating Dow’s significant contribution to the summit. Jim McIlvenny, president of Dow Greater China and Asia Pacific, participated in a panel discussion about corporate environmental responsibility. In another discussion about climate change, David Graham, Dow vice president of Environmental Health and Safety, attested to Dow’s positive impact through delivering alternative energy sources. Dow executives also hosted a luncheon in which Graham, the architect behind Dow’s sustainability efforts, presented Dow’s 2015 Sustainability Goals to delegates. By carefully implementing reputation management, GH helped Dow leave a positive impression on delegates—including 600 CEOs and senior executives from leading multinational companies, government leaders and representatives from international NGOs—all the way down to the information booth. Using only recycled materials for its corporate pack content, Dow selectively distributed the materials to NGOs and journalists—a decision that set well with environmentalists. Some expressed their delight that Dow had not flooded the tables with pamphlets and booklets, which would have been against the spirit of the environmentally friendly event. As the summit closed, delegates commended Dow on their sustainability efforts as well as their informative presentations. Having garnered such positive feedback, the team agreed that the Dow-B4E partnership was a success, opening the door for Dow executives to strengthen relationships with the region’s key stakeholders, UNEP, NGOs and Singaporean government officials.
President Foods, Taiwan’s first corporate Olympic sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, marked the historic announcement in a way that only the popular noodle producer could. As the Official Noodle Sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, President Foods pledged to donate 10 percent of their noodle sales from China’s 1.3 billion noodle eaters to Project Hope—a non-profit organization helping financially challenged students in remote regions complete their education. GolinHarris was the agency of choice to unveil this heartfelt program to the public. Beginning with the media invitation, which was packaged as instant noodles, the Shanghai team sought to infuse the launch event with the best of the Beijing Olympics and President Foods’ popular noodles.
A children’s performance and a moving photo exhibition about those helped by Project Hope appealed to the audience’s heart, while Olympic ring-inspired plates of noodle dishes appealed to their appetites. Most importantly, the launch event brought together President Foods China President Wu-Chung Lin and representatives of the Beijing Olympic Committee for a high-profile media appearance. The launch event generated a host of media publicity in nationally circulated newspapers and magazines, including media from Taiwan. Most of all, the media coverage presented President Foods’ program as a model of corporate social responsibility.
Longtime client Jaguar introduced its flagship New XKR coupe/convertible to the Japanese market, reinforcing the British automobile manufacturer’s brand philosophy of “fast and beautiful cars.” Several weeks earlier, the team had already launched the first wave of media test rides, targeting trade publications and magazines and getting more than 130 eager journalists and photographers behind the wheel of Jaguar’s newest machines to tour the winding roads near the upscale, hot spring resort town of Hakone. The Tokyo team is currently planning the second wave of test drives targeting lifestyle magazine editors. The 4.2-liter, supercharged engine-equipped vehicles will be able to unleash their full power across miles of open road in the countryside of Hokkaido later in the summer.
Each year the Taiwan Academy of Veterinary Internal Medicine (TVMA)—the largest veterinary association in Taiwan with more than 5,000 members—holds the two-day Annual International Advancing Knowledge Seminar. Pet Foods International (PFI) approached GolinHarris to help strengthen relations with Taiwan’s veterinarians. The agency suggested creating an innovative outreach campaign to attract veterinarians to the PFI booth. For PFI’s booth at the industry trade show, team members placed pet images to draw interest and reinforced PFI’s key messages with takeaway brochures for visitors. The team designed an interactive quiz game to test visitors on key messages, educational materials including a “Five-Minute Bible” on pet-related knowledge and arranged for knowledgeable booth attendants outfitted with animal costumes. As a result of the team’s efforts, PFI’s booth became the most popular booth in the trade show. More than 200 veterinarians approached the booth each day, with a total of 211 leaving clinic contact details for further contact.
Unilever skincare product Pond’s launched its first anti-aging brand, Ageless Miracle, last year. To continue driving market momentum, our Taipei team sought to increase product awareness among the target audience of young women through an Internet viral marketing campaign. Next, team members cooperated with well-known beauty blogs in Taiwan, inviting them to write in-depth introductions on Ageless Miracle products and share their experiences with the product. More than 295,300 individual Internet users visited the articles. The team also found that among the target audience, Yahoo! Auctions is a major channel to buy beauty products. GH cooperated with three Yahoo! Auctions sellers to sell the product online. After driving word of mouth, GH created an interactive consumer event to strengthen brand preference. Partnering with Yahoo! Personals, Taiwan’s largest personals website, the team created a dating party for the target age group with two well-known, youthful-looking celebrities to endorse the event. The celebrities also interacted with participants at the event, including a speed-dating session. More than 400 participated and the party generated more than 78 media clippings.
Javaheads have been snapping up Starbucks Cards by the millions—115 million to be exact—because it is an easy, cash-free way for them to enjoy a cup of their favorite daily grind. Consumers can pre-charge their Starbucks Card to a desired amount and get a cup of high-quality brew at any store in Australia, Canada, Greece, Thailand, the U.K. or the United States—without changing currency. Early this year, GolinHarris helped Starbucks launch the Card in Hong Kong. During the launch Starbucks also announced a special “Starbucks Card Design Competition,” open to all of the city’s residents. The winner would see their design—themed on the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s establishment—gracing one of the next Starbucks Cards in Hong Kong and enjoy complimentary coffee for a year. Demonstrating the team’s ability to go beyond the “regular” realm of public relations, GH helped design the competition, research rules and regulations for the contest and even oversee the judging by a celebrity panel of artists and designers.
To increase media and public awareness of a new trend on the Yahoo! Kimo Auctions platform—the trading of goods in person (known in Mandarin as As the campaign date was nearing an important religious holiday in Taiwan (the birthday of the Buddhist goddess Matsu, female protector of the seas), GH proposed the idea of trading Matsu statuettes to attract buyers. Buyers and sellers were invited to the event to exchange their products, garnering great media interest. In addition, with every deal decided on the scene, Yahoo! Kimo agreed to donate NT$100 to the Taiwan Guide Dog Association. The majority of reporters were interested in knowing why more buyers and sellers were trading goods in person and the stories these auctioneers had to share. In addition, media reported on the “dos” and “don’ts” of purchasing expensive and rare items like Matsu statuettes via the Internet. Yahoo! Kimo Auctions also identified the top-10 spots and most popular items for face-to-face auction trading. A total of 28 reporters from 20 media agencies attended the event, generating 63 instances of coverage, including 33 TV reports. |
    |