PR Ideas of the Year

THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS TOME

Editor James Gordon-MacIntosh, Hope&Glory PR Ideas of the Year Jury Perveen Akhtar, Intel Andrew Bloch, Frank PR Charlie Coney, Golin Harris Dan Glover, Mischief Mike Mathieson, Cake Group Frankie Oliver, Fever PR Dionne Parker, McDonald’s Ben Smith, PR Moment Huge thanks to Dominique Daly Tom Bradley Designed by Vic Salmon, Moustache Design

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A Hope&Glory Publication

CONTENTS

06 Introduction from the Editor 07 PR Moment introduction 09 11 12 13 14 16 18 19 20 22

The Ideas of the Year adidas #takethestage Beatbullying’s “Big March” Foot Locker’s “Sneakerpedia” EDF “Tweet the London Eye” Jackpotjoy.com “FUNdation” O2 Santa Red Bull “Stratos” Paddy Power “Sky-Tweets” TNT Push to Add Drama

25 27 28 29 30 32 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Best of the rest Tooth Inflation Launching Nemesis Sub-Terra The Secret Policeman’s Ball The world’s First Guard cat BA claims “Home Advantage” Ben & Jerry’s “Apple-y Ever After” British Cheese Board “National Anthem” R UV Ugly?

Castrol EDGE #RonaldoLIVE Chapel Down “EU Must Be Mad” Charlie Bigham’s Cock and Bull Pie Coke Zero Skyfall

42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 52

Removal Van Persie The Cow & Gate Potty List Stand Up and Be the Change The Dulux Dog Walk FA Cup Dreams Peter “Foxybite” Wright “A-GROW-BICS” Happy Egg Co.’s “Nice Pecks” Heineken Open Design Explorations Tower of London’s “Oldest Timeline on Facebook”

page 16

page 29

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page 19

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54 55 56 58 59 60 62 63 64

DIY Louboutins Hyundai Monkey Testers IKEA goes “Happy to Bed” Jägermeister’s Coolest Gig Ever “Wake up and smell the coffee” The World’s first “Tweetshop” MaritalAffair.co.uk’s “Win A Divorce!”

Marmite Gold Christmas Lights McDonald’s “Happy Readers”

66 The Launch of Shwopping 68 Jaffa Cakes “Nibble Art” 70 An Internet Explorer Production: The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator 72 The Stair of the Dog 73 Teddy & Stanley’s Tall Tale 74 Pantone’s “Palette Fit for a Queen” 75 Persil’s “Ten Things To Do Before You’re Ten” 76 The Resident Evil 6 Human Butchery 77 Ribena Plus Play Report 78 Royal Mail’s Olympic Stamps 80 Putting Sea Containers on the Map 81 Snickers’ “YNYWYH”

82 83 84 86 87 88 89 90 91

Surf Summer D’Reem T-Mobile “Smoasting” UKTV’s Hotel Alcatraz #ReverseRiots Virgin Atlantic’s “PlaneView” The Warburtons Toastie Knife Wonderbra’s Ultimate Plunge YPlan’s “Little Wedding Chapel” The “Gherkin” becomes the “Penguin”

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INTRODUCTION FROM THE EDITOR

There are times when you have a bright idea.

You do nothing. It passes. You forget.

Then there are times you have what seems a bright idea and you think to yourself “that can’t be a complicated thing to do, I’ll crack on and do that”.

Ideas of the Year was neither of those things.

I hope that those who read it will agree that it was a bright idea. It was not, however, uncomplicated.

What’s this Ideas of the Year all about then?

Ideas of the Year is a celebration.

Creative people in the PR industry are rarely celebrated – certainly they are not lauded in the way that our cousins in advertising venerate their creatives.

I thought that was wrong.

So I set out to find the best creative work of 2012 and bring it together into a book that will, I hope, become an annual fixture of the PR industry. An annual of the best ideas in the business. Those that got people talking, made the public smile, stood out, disrupted, caused controversy.

Because in a world of digital media, scoring 50 pieces of coverage for something has become a pretty simple thing to do. Getting a NIB for some research that generated a client mention remains as straightforward as always it was.

But creating ideas that are memorable and that really impinge on the consciousness of the Great British public is an altogether trickier thing to pull off – particularly where those ideas rely on the precious resources of a client’s budget and reputation.

So this book seeks to celebrate the people who are creating the ideas that do cut through: that were memorable or remarkable in some way.

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Why did you do it?

When I was growing up in PR, there was nowhere to go to be inspired. To find in one place the sorts of ideas that I wanted to create and deliver for clients.

Since then, the PR industry has been pretty good to me.

So I thought that, in the spirit of enlightened self-interest and of giving something back to an industry that has treated me so well, I would invest some of my time (and the time of my peers, for which I am enormously grateful) in creating the resource that I so lacked when I was a kid.

So if I hear that someone fresh to our business picks up this book and is inspired to think a bit harder, a bit more laterally or a bit more creatively about one of their client’s challenges, this tome will have succeeded in its purpose.

Simple as that.

What was the decision making process?

I contacted as many people in the PR industry as I could find. Sent emails, chased, badgered and cajoled.

Then, with around 100 ideas collected and written up, a jury made up of (in my opinion) some of the best creative PRs in the UK was convened to choose the work that would make it into this inaugural book.

Once we had weeded out the ideas that we didn’t feel made the grade (for an idea to make the book, at least 50% of the panel had to agree that it should be included), we selected those ideas that we felt were “Best in Book” and deserved special recognition for having been the most remarkable of the year.

There are some ideas missing, how can you call this “Ideas of the Year”?

Yes there are.

To accurately title this book, it is “An Incomplete Compendium of the PR Ideas of the Year”. But that is a rubbish title for a book.

If your work isn’t in here but you didn’t enter it, then I am sorry. I tried all I could. I can only say that I hope that you will consider entering next year.

James Gordon-MacIntosh Managing Partner, Hope&Glory

PR MOMENT INTRODUCTION

Public relations is changing.

Today, it’s an industry concerned with content, engagement, humour, excitement and enjoyment.

At its best, the last year has shown that great PR can transform the perception of a brand.

And modern campaigns have the power to change the fortunes of a business overnight.

People working in the industry may be doing ever more diverse things.

But regardless of how campaigns manifest themselves, at the heart of great PR, there always has been, and still is, a great idea.

This idea can either define a brand’s narrative or be a tactical creative offshoot. The proliferation of the media has meant that publishers have an almost insatiable appetite for content.

Those factors have combined with the great British sense of humour and a media that loves to entertain, and has resulted in us living in something of a golden age for PR ideas.

Social media has created a culture of content sharing, which has meant that all the best PR ideas and stunts are designed to engage a brand's stakeholders. This ability to reach out and engage with customers is almost unique to public relations.

The aim of our Ideas of the Year annual is to collect the best creative PR ideas together in one place.

Is this a definitive list? Probably not. Like all these things this has been a subjective process.

That said, we deliberately made the entry free so that we did not deter anyone from entering.

In addition, our judges had ten “bonus balls” that they could use to nominate any brilliant campaigns that had not entered.

PR has always been a pretty broad church, from financial PR, to crisis PR, healthcare and consumer. Therefore, I don't think we are suggesting that this is a collection of the best public relations campaigns in 2012. Bearing in mind the different types of PR, I think that is an exercise that would be impossible to achieve.

No, the Ideas of the Year Annual is a selection of the most glamorous, exciting, engaging, humorous and fun PR ideas of 2012.

Enjoy …

Ben Smith Founder, PR Moment

Ideas of the Year 2012

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THE IDEAS OF THE YEAR

01 adidas #takethestage The team was tasked with maintaining the momentum of the #takethestage campaign up to the Opening Ceremony of 2012’s Olympic Games, as well as of communicating adidas’ brand values of being fun, human, authentic and energetic to 14–19 year olds.

So it was that sixty unsuspecting sports fans were invited to show their support for Team GB in a specifically designed green screen photobooth. Here, they were photographed wearing their kit in support of Team GB where David Beckham jumped into their photo sessions.

The fans’ enormous surprise and emotional reactions were captured; a compilation video produced and photographs taken and put online as a lasting memory of an emotional Olympics moment.

The campaign delivered over 160 items of press coverage across all national print, as well as 18 pieces of broadcast coverage and 128 online media titles that reached 916 million alone. In fact the campaign coverage reached 1.5 billion around the world. In addition, there were 3.3 million YouTube views and 47,000 shares and 6,000 mentions of #takethestage on Twitter.

Most important, the campaign delivered unprecedented sales figures for the adidas Team GB Olympic kit and made the Team GB sweatband the “must have” adidas games merchandise.

Lead agency Hill+Knowlton Strategies Client adidas Other agencies 10 Who came up with the idea?

Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Who signed it off client-side?

Sarah Gower, adidas Steve Marks, adidas Who delivered it?

Seb Bell Claire Holden Glen Holland Ashley Lewis Michelle Rainey Sacha Oswald

BEST IN BOOK

Perveen Akhtar says: I think of all the activity from the various Olympic sponsors, adidas had some stand out work.

The #takethestage strapline which flowed through all of their activations was simple and effective. For me though the best of their ideas was the Beckham Photo Booth. They clearly had access to some top tier talent as part of their sponsorship and they used it really effectively. The Beckham Photo Booth was a great idea, capturing the buzz of the Olympics and giving something back to the fans. The shock on the faces and reactions from members of the public who were lucky enough to get the Beckham surprise visit was priceless.

Ideas of the Year 2012

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02 Beatbullying’s “Big March” Bullying is a worldwide issue, with cyber bullying a large, and growing problem. Beatbullying wanted to use the internet for good and harness its clout to draw the world’s attention to fighting bullying across the world. It wanted to use technology to unite people in standing up to the issue.

Frank PR created the world’s first global protest march with people around the world connecting to join in.

Supporters built a digital likeness of themselves on The Big March’s website joining with thousands of others on the day itself. The campaign brought on board a team of partners who allowed the marchers to cross their sites in real time, increasing visibility.

Hundreds of organisations, schools and individuals from 190 countries across the world pledged their support. A whopping 1.3 million people signed up.

Over 30 famous supporters from the worlds of politics, entertainment and sport joined, including Stephen Fry and Desmond Tutu. These famous supporters Tweeted their involvement out to their social media followers, extending the reach of the campaign yet further.

Corporate and third sector partners, like Facebook, Google and The Sun, allowed The Big March to walk across their websites showing industry solidarity for the cause.

Traditional coverage hit broadcasters, print titles, online and kid’s media outlets.

Lead agency Frank PR Client Beatbullying

Who signed it off client-side?

Emma-Jane Cross, CEO, Beatbullying Who delivered it?

Frank PR’s Beatbullying team

BEST IN BOOK Dan Glover says: A brilliantly simple, inherently newsworthy, big idea that delivered genuine fame for a worthy message.

Whilst executed online – where most bullying is happening – it was clearly built to work across every discipline and all media platforms. Interesting, simple and effective. March on.

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Ideas of the Year 2012

03 Foot Locker’s “Sneakerpedia” Sneakerpedia set out to position Foot Locker as the global authority on sneakers and sneaker culture, at the same time creating a service for the sneaker community that would give the brand kudos and credibility with true aficionados.

The “site” created the world’s first and biggest online archive of sneakers – a Wikipedia for every sneaker ever created – “owned” and curated by Foot Locker but with content supplied by fans.

The results were phenomenal, with 12,000 sneakers uploaded and 9,000 members signing up to the site from around the world.

And the site got people talking: delivering 4.7 million Twitter responses, 6.4 million views on Vimeo and 143 pieces of UK coverage on launch.

Lead agency Frank PR

Who signed it off client-side?

Amanda Bigaret

Client Foot Locker

Who delivered it?

Frank PR

Other agencies Sapient Nitro Who came up with the idea?

Sapient Nitro

BEST IN BOOK Dionne Parker says: The fact my sister is a sneakerhead probably makes me a little biased but I loved this idea: a platform that encouraged community chat while collecting customer data – a social space rather than a retail site – very clever. Everything from concept to execution was spot on, demonstrating the brand understood its audience and their culture.

Ideas of the Year 2012

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04 EDF “Tweet the London Eye” The big utilities are not known for their epic PR scores. Rather for their monumental PR fails.

However, when they took on the sponsorship of London’s iconic big wheel, EDF stamped their mark on the skyline with the Tweet the London Eye campaign.

According to the blurb, every single comment on Twitter about the Olympics was analysed by a team of experts at the Eye. The Tweets were then separated into positive and negative attitudes towards the Games by a state-of-the-art software application and the sentiment visualised through a light show.

“Energy of the Nation” got people talking – and got them engaging – with a campaign that brought the Olympic mood to life.

And it did a cracking job across the media – with pieces everywhere in the onlines and nationals. A brilliant piece of sponsorship activation that made EDF very much a part of the Games.

Lead agency Ignite Client EDF

BEST IN BOOK

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Ideas of the Year 2012

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05 Jackpotjoy.com “FUNdation” This campaign needed to increase Jackpotjoy.com’s spontaneous brand awareness by amplifying their advertising creative of doing something “Just for the Jackpotjoy Of It”: a call-to-action for people to have more daft fun in their lives (much like playing bingo!).

The campaign team did the most fun thing they could think of and sailed a giant 50 foot high and 60 foot wide yellow rubber duck down the river Thames to celebrate the launch of the Jackpotjoy FUNdation – a £250,000 bursary created on Facebook to fund and reward daft ideas.

The stunt increased Jackpotjoy’s spontaneous brand awareness by 7% nationally and 10% in London.

It delivered over 55 pieces of coverage from a cross section of national and online press including Daily Mirror, The Sun, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, Metro, The Guardian, Mail Online and Yahoo.

The duck featured on the 6.00 pm and 10.00 pm airing of London Tonight with the stunt also discussed on BBC Breakfast’s paper round up. It spread across the globe and was covered by media in America, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Portugal, India and more.

And it trended on Twitter (#2 in the UK, # 7globally, generating over 12,500 tweets).

Lead agency Fever PR

Who signed it off client-side?

Lee Fenton, COO Gamesys

Client Jackpotjoy.com

Who delivered it?

Caroline Farley Frankie Oliver

Who came up with the idea?

Frankie Oliver, Fever PR

Honourable mentions Lucinda Glover Emily Taylor

Picture credit: Solent News

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Ideas of the Year 2012

BEST IN BOOK

Ideas of the Year 2012

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06 O2 Santa Hope&Glory came up with O2 Santa – the world’s first digital grotto – to help O2 engage with social media fans at a critical time of year. The idea was also designed to deliver messaging around the brand’s Priority Moments scheme.

People who wanted a message simply sent a Tweet with the words they wanted delivered, to @o2 using #o2santa. The Hope&Glory team picked up the Tweets, turned them into scripts that could be delivered from the grotto, filmed Santa delivering the message, edited the resulting films which were uploaded to YouTube before Tweeting the link to the film back to the message-sender.

In order to spread the work and seed the campaign, a series of seeding messages was created: targeting the Twitterati (@jasonbradbury, @gadgetpolly, @janeGRAZIA, @alexwintersTV et al) and media titles themselves (@ZOO_UK, @Nuts_Mag, @LoadedMag, @mizzmag and co). Each message was personalised, with scripts written to reflect each person’s interests and the contents of their previous messages.

In addition, the team ran an online media relations campaign that delivered coverage across the social media outlets and a host of blogs. The highlights were coverage on AdAge (shared 397 times) and social media bible, Mashable (an article shared 101 times on LinkedIn, 151 times on Facebook and 339 times on Twitter). In all Santa generated around 50 pieces of online coverage.

There were 2,800 messages that directly mentioned the campaign and a further 1,500 that referenced the activity (eg. messages that linked to articles about the campaign). In total, 4,394,000 people were reached on Twitter alone (according to RTO2, O2’s bespoke social media measurement tool).

On YouTube, the 1,024 films were collectively viewed 38,090 times (at the time of writing). These can all be seen at www.youtube.com/theo2santa.

In total (across Twitter, YouTube and Facebook) there were 6,000 engagements with consumers through the campaign and sentiment was net 43% positive (and 55% neutral) – the best score that O2 has ever achieved for a social media campaign.

Lead agency Hope&Glory

Who signed it off client-side?

Alex Pearmain, O2

Client O2

Who delivered it?

James Gordon-MacIntosh Laura Bevan

Who came up with the idea?

James Gordon-MacIntosh

Honourable mentions Chris Hickling Jem Fraser

BEST IN BOOK Andrew Bloch says: I love this campaign from O2 which took Santa digital, housed him happily in a virtual grotto, and enabled him to Tweet good girls and boys with personalized messages on his very own You Tube Channel. The execution of this campaign was flawless, and high production values combined with the clever use of O2's social media channels enabled it to cut through and spread some festive cheer.

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Ideas of the Year 2012

07 Red Bull “Stratos” Red Bull Stratos was not merely an “Idea of the Year,” but an idea that will last a lifetime in the memories of those who saw it.

In the end, the event was a global moment – thanks to intense build-up, preparation, and a remarkable job delivered by Red Bull and its teams across the globe.

The YouTube stream was watched by 8.3 million people live – making it the most watched live stream of all time. The event was carried live by over 100 broadcast partners in 60 countries – with an estimated live global broadcast audience of 600 million. There were over 8,000 individual pieces of global TV coverage in the week of the jump.

What’s more – the world was talking about the event – there are generally reckoned to have been over 3,000 Stratos-related tweets every minute at the peak of the broadcasts.

And the interest was sustained and made a new global celebrity: with 492,782 Likes and 51, 052 shares of Felix’s official landing photo on Facebook in the first 72 hours after the jump.

A truly remarkable campaign.

Client Red Bull

Who delivered it?

TVC Pretty Green amongst others

BEST IN BOOK James Gordon-MacIntosh says: Idea of the Year only comes close. I’ll remember this piece of work alongside other moments that are a lot bigger than any PR – it ranks up there with the death of Diana, the election of Obama first time around and Greg Wallace’s “Buttery Biscuit Base” clip on YouTube. An epic event and an equally epic piece of PR. Ideas of the Year 2012

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08 Paddy Power “Sky-Tweets” The brief was a simple one: to deliver the biggest stunt Paddy Power had ever attempted to disrupt the Ryder Cup and generate global PR (as well as impacting players and fans on course at Medinah).

The idea was “Sky-Tweeting”.

Using a squadron of skywriting aircraft and a patented technology that allowed the brand to write customers’ Tweets in the sky 10,000 feet above the course, the grand plan enabled the team to get messages in the sky within 45 seconds of them being Tweeted, all poking fun at America and supporting Team Europe.

Needless to say, the campaign worked. Not only were there over 100,000 Tweets (prompting Paddy Power to trend on Twitter twice), there were also 200,000 YouTube views across hundreds of official (and un-official) videos.

The campaign achieved a Guinness World Record, 90 minutes of TV coverage on Sky Sports, NBC and BBC, campaign mentions and coverage in over 150 countries, two European players and mentioning the campaign as source of inspiration on a BBC Radio Five Live show.

And of course Europe completed the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup History. Whether the latter is related to the campaign, we can only speculate.

Lead agency Curb Media

Who signed it off client-side?

Ken Roberston, Paddy Power

Client Paddy Power

Who delivered it?

Curb Media and Sky Typers

Who came up with the idea?

Curb Media

Photo credit: Phil Inglis

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Ideas of the Year 2012

BEST IN BOOK

Ideas of the Year 2012

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09 TNT Push to Add Drama Bagging a crop of awards, Duval Guillaume Modem’s spot for Belgian TV channel TNT captured the world’s imagination – and has created a new benchmark in quality digital content.

After 45 million YouTube views, the spot, in which an unsuspecting audience was treated to a visual delight by actors creating a variety of dramatic scenes, has become an icon of the year – a great creative idea, smart use of content and the remarkable response of the global internet-dwelling public combining to create a massive hit.

What’s more, the spot garnered editorial attention across the world. From TV shows playing out the ad to blogs globally sharing the commercial (2,500 pieces in all) to a monumental social media outpouring of delight (it has become the most shared ad on Facebook ever and garnered over 126,000 Tweets), this was one of the great campaigns of 2012.

Was it a PR campaign? Yes … and no. But whether it started out as a piece of PR, it became one. And that is what matters as far as this year’s jury was concerned.

Lead agency Duval Guillaume Modem Client Turner Broadcasting, TNT Other agencies Czar

Who delivered it?

Geoffrey Hantson Katrien Bottez Dieter De Ridder Ad Van Ongeval Marc Wellens Jana Vervoort

Charlie Coney says: TNT launched last year in Belgium, a country with a population of just 11 million. Their idea – a live action piece of content which travelled around the world at the push of a button – was the very embodiment of the TV channel’s strapline: “we know drama”. It’s brave, it’s fun, it’s highly shareable and over 42 million people have watched it so far. A pretty dramatic result, if you ask me.

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Ideas of the Year 2012

BEST IN BOOK

Ideas of the Year 2012

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THE BEST OF THE REST

10 Tooth Inflation How much did you get for your milk teeth? 2p? 20p?

Kids these days have it made – Unity’s researched showed that they get on average £1.50 per tooth.

With commodity prices nosediving across the board, could they prove that milk teeth are the new gold?

For Aquafresh, Unity compared the cost of a milk tooth as a commodity to petrol prices – and discovered that teeth are indeed the stronger market, which made a great infographic.

The “research” generated 21 pieces of coverage, including three nationals. Importantly, for Unity, the parenting media loved the story – starting conversations on Ask a Mum, Netmums, eParenting and BabyWorld.

However, the red stripe in Unity’s Aquafresh was their “Tooth Fairy calling cards,” created for mummy bloggers to leave under their kids’ pillows, personally signed by the tooth fairy.

Lead agency Unity

Who signed it off client-side?

Caroline Bishop, Aquafresh

Client Aquafresh

Who delivered it?

Unity

Who came up with the idea?

Unity

Ideas of the Year 2012

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11 Launching Nemesis Sub-Terra How can you tangibly convey the terror of a theme park attraction, within the obvious limitations of print, broadcast, online and social media?

How can you also create excitement on a national scale for an attraction which is dark and underground, with nothing to photograph or share until a week prior to launch?

This was just the challenge that Alton Towers Resort put to Cake for the launch of their new attraction, Nemesis Sub-Terra.

Cake created a succession of media moments, treating the launch of Nemesis Sub-Terra as though it were a horror film. As part of the five-part campaign, a lift in Wandsworth was made to appear bottomless through clever artistic trickery, and the British Board of Film Classification was persuaded to give the first ever age-rating for a theme park ride.

The campaign generated over 200 pieces of coverage, with a reach of 96 million. Over 1 million people viewed the lift stunt video.

And Alton Towers achieved a 1.3% year on year increase in visitor numbers for the opening weekend.

Lead agency Cake

Who signed it off client-side?

Liz West, Alton Towers Resort

Client Alton Towers

Who delivered it?

Cake

Who came up with the idea?

Cake

Dionne Parker says: To treat the brief as they would a film release showed brilliant creativity. The lift video was possibly my favourite viral of the year (still makes my hands sweaty). It was great use of celebrity with Jack Osbourne testing it and a red carpet launch event. But for me the stand out thinking and news generator was to get an age rating for the ride. The resulting increase in visitor numbers on opening weekend speaks for itself.

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Ideas of the Year 2012

12 The Secret Policeman’s Ball For the first time ever the famous Secret Policeman’s Ball was being hosted in New York, rather than the UK. Splendid Communication’s role was to introduce a new UK audience to the cause – free speech – and build an authentic engagement between Amnesty and the British Comedy community.

With the majority of performers at the ball being American, the team needed to drive interest and relevance amongst UK media.

To do this, Splendid created the “World’s Shortest Gig” competition which gave up-and-coming British comedians the chance to win a 15 second slot on stage at the ball.

The competition secured 30 pieces of coverage including The Sun, Metro, The Independent and blanket coverage across comedy press and blogs.

In addition to this, promotion of the airing of the ball on Channel Four delivered 247 pieces of coverage of which 69% included a free speech message.

Lead agency Mother Client Amnesty International Other agencies Mother Who came up with the idea?

Splendid Communications

Who signed it off client-side?

Andy Hackman, Amnesty International Who delivered it?

Matthew Fletcher-Jones Claire Hewitt Letitia Thomas Olivia Gibson

Ideas of the Year 2012

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13 The world’s First Guard Cat Mischief had to create a low-cost, quick-hit tactic to promote toy company Bandai’s boys’ toys – including ThunderCats, Power Rangers and Ben 10 – ahead of Christmas 2012.

They decided to employ the world’s first security cat to watch over the new toys in the Bandai warehouse ahead of Christmas distribution.

There were over 50 pieces of coverage including Metro, The Daily Telegraph, First News, OK! and National Geographic Kids and hundreds of online and social media mentions – all helping to contribute to above-target Christmas sales for the ranges.

Lead agency Mischief

Who signed it off client-side?

Andrew Welch, Bandai

Client Bandai

Who delivered it?

Mischief

Who came up with the idea?

Mischief

Honourable mentions Millie the cat

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Ideas of the Year 2012

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14 BA claims “Home Advantage” The Home Advantage campaign was a result of extensive research looking at the airline’s role in the Games and the desire to create a campaign with maximum impact.

Identifying the power of home advantage, the airline launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign, which asked the nation not to fly during the Games and to stay home to support Team GB. To lend its support to Team GB and rally the home advantage, a giant image of Gold medallist Jessica Ennis was placed in a park under the flightpath to Heathrow alongside the message “Welcome to our turf”.

It was to be seen by thousands of athletes ahead of the Olympic Games, and also made its way onto BBC TV News and the Jonathan Ross Show.

The lady herself commented in The Sunday Times: “life certainly changes when British Airways puts a huge image of your face, the size of 15 football pitches on the Heathrow flight path!”.

Ahead of the Paralympics an image of wheelchair athlete Shelly Woods was projected onto a building near the runway with the message ‘Welcome to our manor’, which also featured in media coverage.

The Home Advantage campaign generated 47 pieces of coverage, which reached a cumulative audience of 16 million.

Client British Airways Who delivered it?

Kathryn Williamson, British Airways Sophia Antoniades, British Airways Mark Whelan, Cake Natasha Broady, Cake Rob Haycocks, Cake Alex Coulson, IMG Daisy Bannerman, IMG

Other agencies BBH Zenith Optimedia 12th Floor

James Gordon-MacIntosh says: BA demanded epic scale and some serious PR front to carry-off their Olympics support.

As just one of a sequence of executions – from the planes up your street on Street View to the painted Firefly to the Torch Relay support, the brand ruled the air during the Games. Their Ennis stunt captured the imagination and the mood of the nation perfectly ahead of the main event.

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Ideas of the Year 2012

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15 Ben & Jerry’s “Apple-y Ever After” Ben & Jerry’s is a much loved brand. Not only does it taste good but it also does good through the issues and causes it’s supported from day one.

The gay marriage debate seemed like a perfect cause for the brand to get behind.

The team came up with “Apple-y Ever After” – a re-branded version of flavour “Oh My Apple Pie” – which, through a partnership with Stonewall, would put its support behind the cause.

This was then promoted through a Facebook app – allowing mates to marry online – alongside personalised tubs sent out to influencers and media.

The concept caught the attention of the public, celebrities and even the government.

Around 150 pieces of coverage included the Guardian, Evening Standard, FT and the front page of the Daily Telegraph. Notable tub re-tweets included Stephen Fry, Perez Hilton and Lyne Featherstone (Equalities Minister). And the public in their thousands got hitched online.

Our esteemed PM reacted by inviting the brand to No.10 – an event for organisations supporting same-sex marriage in the UK – and Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were nominated for Stonewall’s annual “hero of the year 2012” award.

In February 2013 MPs approved same-sex marriage in England and Wales in a key Commons vote.

Lead agency Unity and Mischief (Unity concept creation, Mischief UK delivery) Client Ben & Jerry’s Who came up with the idea?

Concept devised by Unity

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Who signed it off client-side?

Jochanan Senf, Unilever Rhodri Morgan, Unilever Who delivered it?

Unity (core concept, Stonewall partnership, app creation and delivery, and bespoke tub production), Mischief all other

16 British Cheese Board “National Anthem” Kindred were tasked to come up with a promotion to rejuvenate a well-known cheese: Cheddar. Though popular, it is oft overlooked and taken for granted.

So a cunning plan was required.

Kindred invited the nation’s cheese lovers to write an “ode” to Cheddar, in a search for an anthem to really get that classic British snack back in the public eye.

Launching their own anthem with the Vivace Choir of Arlesey – and with the backing of renowned cheese-maker Alex James – the sell-in began.

Within a week the story was on BBC Online, BBC Six Music, Radio 2, Radio Five Live, The Huffington Post and Sun.co.uk. By the end of the week it was the centre of a three-minute conversation on Have I Got News for You. In addition to this, there were 147 pieces of coverage, 29,000 views on YouTube and over two-thousand votes to decide the winner of the anthem. Hits to the British Cheese Board website doubled, and even BBC 6 Music’s breakfast show submitted their own entry, with Mark King and Elbow in tow.

Lead agency Kindred Agency Client British Cheese Board Who came up with the idea?

The Kindred team

Who delivered it?

Lorna Gozzard, Jessica Duncanson, Carrie Greene, Emma Parrish Honourable mentions The Kindred creative team and the Vivace Choir

Picture credit: Nicolette Wells

Ideas of the Year 2012

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17 R UV Ugly?

Cancer Research UK tasked Unity with the challenge of discouraging youngsters from using sun beds.

Unity came up with the insight that the very insecurity that causes sun bed use – appearance – could be used to discourage usage and that skin scanners could be used to reveal the cosmetic damage that already lay beneath their young skin.

“R UV UGLY?” played into youth obsession with beauty and featured a photo booth that travelled the country dispensing passport pictures with a difference – they took UV images revealing the cosmetic damage beneath the skin invisible to the naked eye.

A supporting media story saw the team persuade the UKs leading model agencies to agree to a zero sunbed tolerance policy.

The campaign saw 1,648 skin scans conducted and delivered 27 pieces of coverage, including a double-page spread in The Sun and a Metro front page, and 75 pieces of broadcast coverage, including ITV Daybreak, Sky News, Radio 1 and BBC Breakfast.

Following the completion of a pre- and post-campaign questionnaire, it was deemed that the R UV UGLY? campaign had provoked a marked change in reported attitudes to sunbed use. The majority of participants said that after engaging with the campaign, they would think twice before using a sunbed again.

Lead agency Unity Client Cancer Research UK Who came up with the idea?

Unity

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Who signed it off client-side?

Abigail Brown, Cancer Research UK Who delivered it?

Unity

18 Castrol EDGE #RonaldoLIVE The agency team was asked to increase awareness of the release of “Castrol EDGE Presents Ronaldo Tested To The Limit,” the 2011 smash film-documentary, as a free iTunes download. They also wanted to push the boundaries of experiences and technology.

So the idea was that fans devised challenges for Ronaldo.

A barrage of footballs was fired from the ceiling. Ronaldo had seconds to react and shoot into whichever of the four targets around the room the fans at home had chosen. Fans connected to the action and took control of the targets via a Facebook app.

The campaign gave over 35,000 fans unrivalled live access to one of the world’s greatest footballers – from the comfort of their homes.

As a result, fans from 180 countries and 6 continents logged on to take part and test Ronaldo.

Castrol EDGE Presents Ronaldo Tested to the Limit was downloaded 21,000 times in the week after #RonaldoLIVE, reaching Number 1 in the iTunes download chart. In one week, #RonaldoLIVE resulted in over 4,000 tweets with a global reach of 35.1 million. The Facebook app was shared by 13,180 people.

What’s more, print and broadcast coverage reached a global audience of 139 million, ensuring reach beyond the digital space.

Lead agency M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment

Who signed it off client-side?

Paul Goodmaker, Global Sponsorship Manager, Castrol

Client Castrol EDGE

Who delivered it?

Alison Hope Haran Ramachandran Sarah Kendall Laura Tucker May Kirkby

Other agencies Mindshare Gamaroff 20:20 Who came up with the idea?

Jamie Wynne-Morgan, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment Alison Hope, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment Haran Ramachandran, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment Sarah Kendall, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment Laura Tucker, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment

Honourable mentions Ronaldo’s fans worldwide

Ideas of the Year 2012

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19 Chapel Down “EU Must Be Mad” When competing against an organisation such as the European Union, you wouldn’t think that a campaign would have overwhelming success. Van Communications showed they were the exception to prove the rule.

For World Malbec Day, Chapel Down Wines produced a Kent Malbec using air-freighted Argentine grapes. Ready and waiting to be sold, just a week before release the EU told Chapel Down it could not call “An English Salute” (AES) a wine, nor sell it.

In stepped Van Communications.

Traditional media relations highlighted the “madness” of the EU legislation.

After giving away bottles with every 12-bottle case of Chapel Down wine, bottles of the Kent Malbec were distributed to leading wine writers and bloggers to review.

Six national papers picked up the story, further emphasising the EU’s crazy ruling. But it didn’t stop there, as media enquiries were received from across the world, from the traditional wineproducing countries of France, Italy and Spain to those even further afield: Australia, the US and – of course – Argentina.

And if the company weren’t victorious enough, UKIP MEP Nigel Farage hosted a ‘non wine-tasting’ at the European Parliament to put pressure on EU officials to reconsider.

Lead agency Van Communications

Who signed it off client-side?

Guy Tresnan, Chapel Down

Client Chapel Down Wines

Who delivered it?

Mark Cooper Harriet Sharp

Who came up with the idea?

Both client and agency

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Ideas of the Year 2012

20 Charlie Bigham’s Cock and Bull Pie Posh ready meal brand Charlie Bigham’s approached Frank at the end of 2011 with the brief to increase awareness and drive sales for the little-known brand across 2012.

The key element of the brief was to bring to life Charlie Bigham’s “twosomes” positioning. So Frank created the world’s first aphrodisiac pie.

Mixing a selection of the most sexually-stimulating ingredients from around the globe (including “Mama Juana” liquor, pulseracing Ginseng and testosterone-rich bull’s testicles), the pie was created and profiled in a limited edition Valentine’s campaign.

The aptly named Charlie Bigham’s Cock and Bull Pie was available ahead of Valentine’s Day via retail partner, Ocado.

The results were over 40 pieces of coverage in just one week, including six pieces of national "front of paper" coverage with The Sun having the first taste and three broadcast pieces from Live with Gabby to the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show. The campaign also got the Twitterati chattering, with over 400 campaign Tweets, including one from Loose Women’s Lisa Maxwell.

Interest even came from the international media including Australia’s Today Show, Capetalk/702 (South African Radio) and even to Dutch television show “Spuiten & Slikken”.

Lead agency Frank PR Client Charlie Bigham’s

Who signed it off client-side?

Charlotte Bearn, Charlie Bigham’s

Who came up with the idea?

Frank PR

Ideas of the Year 2012

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21 Coke Zero Skyfall Coke Zero’s activation to mark its association with James Bond flick Skyfall took the live action-to-viral film schtick to a new level in 2012, with Antwerp station turned into a gigantic obstacle course designed to put wannabe Bonds through their paces.

Challenged by a vending machine with the simple question: “Want the chance to win exclusive tickets to Skyfall?” punters were given 70 seconds to race to platform six.

A variety of impediments – including spilled oranges, a dog walker with tangled leashes and frustrating joggers who won't get out of the way – helped the resulting online film quickly became an international hit.

Another piece of Duval Guillaume wizardry, it’s a campaign that shows that a small selection of ad agencies “get it” when it comes to creating content that gets people talking.

Lead agency Duval Guillaume Modem Client Coke Zero Other agencies Monodot

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Who delivered it?

Geoffrey Hantson Katrien Bottez

Ideas of the Year 2012

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22 Removal Van Persie Coral had never done a PR stunt before, which was surprising given how active its competitors are in this field.

Just before the 2012 Premier League season Coral tasked Cow with creating a big impact PR stunt that would connect with its core male audience and football fans in general.

The agency’s answer was to create the “Removal Van Persie” to help the eponymous striker shift his belongings from Arsenal to Manchester Utd. The minute RVP’s transfer was publicly announced the Coralbranded removals van was parked up outside the Emirates stadium and photographed as removals men hastily loaded an empty trophy cabinet into the back.

The stunt generated over 40 pieces of coverage with national pick up in The Sun, The Mirror, Mail Online, Daily Star, Metro, Zoo, BBC and Daily Telegraph. The total reach for all coverage exceeded 98 million.

Within hours of the stunt going live #removalvanpersie was trending across the UK and the idea had gone truly viral – with many footie fans (including Arsenal supporters) saluting Coral for pulling it off.

One single tweet by a football fan was retweeted 1,254 times, and by the end of the day the estimated Twitter reach was over 2 million.

Lead agency Cow Client Coral Who came up with the idea?

Cow

Who signed it off client-side?

Olly Raeburn, Coral Jack Humphreys, Coral Who delivered it?

Cow

Charlie Coney says: This is a great bit of news hijacking. A lowcost piece of work designed to appeal to the innate rivalry of football fans … and there’s a great pun too. OK, a clever bit of wordplay isn’t always a cast-iron guarantee of success, but it certainly contributed to the story trending on Twitter.

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Ideas of the Year 2012

23 The Cow & Gate Potty List Cow & Gate believes that the toddler years are amazing, where little ones under-go an incredible period of growth and development. This should be celebrated and encouraged so that every toddler is taking part in activities that allow them to develop their own personality.

Adult milestones often warrant bucket lists.

Why shouldn’t toddlers be the same?

So to celebrate the toddler years (and catapult them to fame), the Frank PR team compiled the first ever Potty List.

The release of the list delivered over 50 pieces of coverage, including BBC News, The Independent, Daily Telegraph, and The Sun. Coverage on Netmums helped spread the word, with two radio stations and a national newspaper in Ireland picking up the story from there.

The Potty List also captured the imagination of key Mummy Bloggers, with more than 23 posts talking about their toddler and what they had already ticked off their list ‌ including a poo in the bath!

Overall, via print, broadcast, online, parenting, and blogger coverage, the Potty List reached an audience of over 262 million.

Lead agency Frank PR

Who signed it off client-side?

Helen Messenger, Cow & Gate

Client Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk

Who delivered it?

Frank PR

Ideas of the Year 2012

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24 Stand Up and Be the Change John Doe’s goal was to build awareness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s global message of “Stand Up And Be The Change” within the UK’s disengaged youth audiences – as well as using social networks to drive awareness and attendance for a free talk on the subject of peace at the MEN Arena.

To get people interested, the agency commissioned creative Rankin and journalist Jefferson Hack to produce a film within 48 hours using Skype. The 1.46 minute film was a calling card for the event and was in line with the Dalai Lama’s global message.

John Doe utilised their celebrity network to read parts of the message, pro-bono.

The announcement of Russell Brand as host for the talk and the release of the viral film received blanket press coverage pre- and post-event. There was top-tier national media coverage, including ITV News, Guardian Online, Radio 1 & NME. The total numbers for circulation exceeded 280 million.

The talk took place at full capacity with an estimated 25,000 young people in attendance.

Lead agency John Doe Client Office of Tibet Other agencies Dazed Films Gary Aspden DaweBell Mandi Lennard Who signed it off client-side?

Thubten Samdup, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Who delivered it?

Rana Reeves Meena Khera Peter Chipchase Debora Burns Eliz Helvacioglu Charlie Vance Jamie Mancini Honourable mentions Beth Ditto, Michael Stipe, Jarvis Cocker, Alison Mosshart, Grimes, Marina Abramovich, Russell Brand, Stella McCartney and Apichatpong Weerasethakul

25 The Dulux Dog Walk Dulux wanted to promote the fact that they’d been named a top 10 brand in the annual Superbrands list.

Not content with a name-check, Mischief devised a picture-led strategy to ensure Dulux became the hero image accompanying the Superbrands story.

On a cold Sunday morning models with shaggy-haired Dulux dogs strutted through London, turning the streets into a colourful “dogwalk” – securing lead image status in the next day’s Superbrands reports.

Over 200 pieces of print coverage including page leads in the Metro, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, The Independent and the front page of The Daily Telegraph: Business were the result. There were 100s of broadcast mentions and 1,000s of global and domestic online and social media mentions.

The images have since been used in Dulux advertising campaigns.

Lead agency Mischief

Who signed it off client-side?

Letty Edwards, Dulux

Client AkzoNobel (Dulux)

Who delivered it?

Mischief

Who came up with the idea?

Mischief

Honourable mentions Spud, the Dulux dog

James Gordon-MacIntosh says: As the judges pointed out, if most agencies were told “we’ve got into the SuperBrands Book, can you get some coverage?” there would be eye-rolling and general despair. Mischief’s response was different, aiming to capitalise on the coverage that the SuperBrands Book gets and to make the most of Dulux’s appearance in it. Simple, smart PR. Ideas of the Year 2012

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26 FA Cup Dreams The FA wanted to introduce the magic of The FA Cup to a new generation of football fans and increase family attendance at early round fixtures.

The plan was to take The FA Cup Trophy on tour around the UK – specifically promoting early round fixtures – and offering young football fans a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to “win” a sleepover with the Cup itself.

Four lucky children experienced the magic of spending time with one of the world’s most iconic trophies.

The campaign ran for three months generating over 500 pieces of editorial coverage ranging from a 20-minute feature on Daybreak to a piece on CBBC Newsround, a full page in The Sun and every relevant kids magazine.

Sir Trevor Brooking, The FA Director of Football Development, starred in a video trailer for the competition talking about his childhood and player memories of The FA Cup, which received over 100,000 views in the week of launch.

The FA Cup Dreams campaign was directly responsible for a 9% increase in families wanting to attend early round fixtures compared to the previous season.

Lead agency Mischief

Who signed it off client-side?

Charlie Boss, The FA

Client The FA

Who delivered it?

Mischief

Other agencies Iris (events agency responsible for The FA Cup Trophy Tour) Who came up with the idea?

Mischief

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Ideas of the Year 2012

27 Peter “Foxybite” Wright This campaign set out to gate-crash the Ladbrokes World Darts Championships with a quick and dirty PR stunt for Foxy Bingo.

The team at Frank PR made darts star Peter “Foxybite” Wright the first-ever sportsman to have his head sponsored for his secondround match in the Championships.

As part of his sponsorship deal with Foxy Bingo, Peter agreed to have his famous mohawk hairstyle dyed ginger and had a fox painted on the side of his head. He also agreed to have his name changed to Peter “Foxybite” Wright (from his normal nickname Peter “Snakebite” Wright) for the big match.

The campaign delivered 10 pieces of national and international coverage. The story featured with prominent pictures in The Sun on Sunday, Sunday Mirror, The People and Daily Star Sunday, as well as on The Sun Online and a number of specialist darts websites.

Lead agency Frank PR

Who signed it off client-side?

Sahin Gorur, Foxy Bingo

Client Foxy Bingo Who came up with the idea?

Frank PR

Photo: Solent

Ideas of the Year 2012

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28 “A-GROW-BICS” The small chain GYMBOX has long punched well above its weight as a five-strong chain. With the help of Frank PR, they got much more than they bargained for.

Focussing on a common insecurity – and creating a new exercise class to “solve” it – A-GROW-BICS was born.

A combination of pilates, yoga, strengthening and speed work – plus a session on a 15th Century-inspired rack – was offered with a full money-back guarantee if participants did not grow two inches over time.

This operation to lengthen peoples’ spines certainly got tongues wagging, as #AGROWBICS was trending on Twitter following a piece in The Sunday Times Style.

Featuring in six other national news and consumer titles, GYMBOX subsequently received more than 100 calls booking the course. As well as this, and due to pieces appearing about the fitness programme in Germany, the US – and even Japan – GYMBOX is planning to license the class to gyms overseas due to the interest created.

Oh, and if you’re thinking of booking, call quick: the class is booked for the next six months.

Lead agency Frank PR

Who signed it off client-side?

Frank PR

Client GYMBOX

Who delivered it?

Frank PR

Who came up with the idea?

Frank PR

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Ideas of the Year 2012

29 Happy Egg Co.’s “Nice Pecks” Aren’t we all happier when we have that special someone in our lives? Well, it appears that hens are, too. And to demonstrate that happy hens lay tasty eggs, Mischief decided to live up to their name with this campaign for the happy egg co.

After discovering that hens are actually calmer when they’re in the company of cockerels, the team started thinking about ways they could bring some gorgeous men into their hard-working hens’ lives ... and thus, Nice Pecks was born: the first ever cockerel calendar for hens.

Hung up in hen houses up and down the country, this story created over 100 pieces of print coverage including a page lead in The Guardian and page three of Metro – all communicating the key message behind the promotion.

Broadcast mentions and thousands of social media mentions helped drive record traffic to the happy egg co.’s Facebook page – where fans could request their own Nice Pecks calendar.

Lead agency Mischief

Who signed it off client-side?

Claire Jappy, the happy egg co.

Client the happy egg co.

Who delivered it?

Mischief

Who came up with the idea?

Mischief

James Gordon-MacIntosh says: Cute pun, cracking (sorry) take on the “make a calendar and promote that” school of media relations and a neat tie-back to the brand: fit cocks make happy hens. Looks so simple when you see it, took a creative leap of some genius to come up with it.

Ideas of the Year 2012

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30 Heineken Open Design Explorations The brief set for the Heineken team was to help the brand break into the design world and showcase it as pioneering and design led.

The team set out to communicate this on a global scale and build relationships with global design media, creating relationships between emerging designers and the brand.

The platform to achieve this was the launch of a crowd-sourced nightclub, co-created by 19 emerging designers from around the globe and from multiple disciplines. The concept space was unveiled on a live global stage at the prestigious Salone del Mobile design fair in Milan.

The launch resulted in 400 pieces of global coverage – with more local articles published within markets. There were 14 interviews placed with the Heineken design team. Video content generated over 33,500 views on YouTube.

The team also partnered with Wallpaper*, which reported a record number of interactions on their Heineken online hub.

The team also established a global partnership with PechaKucha, the prestigious design network who powered the designer selection events.

Lead agency iris PR Client Heineken International Other agencies MSL (New York), Baratino & Partners (Italy) Who came up with the idea?

Heineken International Design team, developed by iris PR

Who signed it off client-side?

Mark van Iterson, Caroline van Hoff, Marnie Kontovraki, Heineken Who delivered it?

Vicki Harding, Robin Davies, Jane Walton, Amy Vickery, Rachel Newman and Lizzie Colville

Charlie Coney says: Most blokes dream of opening their own pub – but maybe not a concept bar at the Milan Design Fair. This idea positioned Heineken as leaders in bar and nightlife culture and, by involving designers, innovators and nightlife influencers from around the world, they simultaneously punctured the dreams of most of the world’s beer drinkers.

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Ideas of the Year 2012

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31 Tower of London’s “Oldest Timeline on Facebook” Historic Royal Palaces wanted to raise awareness of, and engagement with, the Tower of London’s Facebook page. The aim was to allow audiences to interact with the site’s historic stories in the same way they engage with their friends and record their own lives.

The team put the 32 most infamous events in the Tower of London’s 1,000 year history onto its Facebook timeline, including Anne Boleyn’s execution, Guy Fawkes’ torture, the “murder”of the Princes in the Tower and the Great Fire of London.

Dubbed the “oldest timeline on Facebook”, the activity resulted in a 1,200% increase in both new likes and page views with a promoted post reaching 135,853 people.

The team also ran a parallel Twitter campaign. #OldestTimeline, tweeting 1,000 years of history in a day which resulted in a reach of approximately 2.4 million Twitter users.

Coverage spanned print, online and trade titles, including Metro, Daily Mail Online, Londonist, We Are Social People and Social Media Today.

Brand Historic Royal Palaces Team In House Who came up with the idea?

John Shevlin, Digital Media Officer, Historic Royal Palaces

Who delivered it?

Tim Powell John Shevlin Honourable mentions Yeoman Warder Jim Duncan Sally Dixon-Smith Bridget Clifford

Dionne Parker says: This idea shows the power of simplicity. While many were bemoaning the introduction of timeline to facebook, the Tower of London used it to full advantage. Using great visuals to complement historic moments, they creatde facebook's oldest timeline and a clever way to engage new audiences.

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Ideas of the Year 2012

32 DIY Louboutins The brief set by Homebase was to generate reactive, tactical news coverage for Homebase to ensure it is kept front of mind for consumers during the peak summer months for decorating.

The idea was to create a new “trend” where DIY had met fashion: “make your own Louboutin shoes” using tester pots of red Homebase paint. After uncovering some girls “faking it” for weddings, the team reacted quickly using sales figures, anecdotes, a case study and photography to ensure Homebase owned the trend and the story flew.

The result was 55 pieces of coverage, including eight in national newspapers. Highlights included full-page features in the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph and a double page spread in the Independent on Sunday. Journalists created their own DIY Louboutins for features and videos. Vogue.co.uk covered the story as did global blogs and fashion sites.

The story gained a total reach of more than 70 million people.

Lead agency iris PR Client Homebase Who came up with the idea?

Liz Beswick, iris PR

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Who signed it off client-side?

Judith Ineson, Homebase and Vikki Adamson, Home Retail Group Who delivered it?

Liz Beswick Rachel Stevenson Jo Shakespeare Jessica Lovell Kathryn Smith Fran Derry

33 Hyundai Monkey Testers This campaign needed to generate traffic to the Hyundai website and sales enquiries for Hyundai i30 through media coverage outside the specialist motoring press.

The campaign started with the simple truth: that families, especially children, are tough on cars.

It set out to show how the i30 had been designed, built and tested with families in mind.

To take this to an extreme, the PR team set up a stunt in which safari park monkeys would give the Hyundai i30 the ultimate wear and tear test.

The activity generated over 150 pieces of media coverage in the UK including half-page stories in the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Daily Telegraph, Daily Star, Hello Magazine. International media coverage was also achieved, with pieces as far afield as North America and Canada (ABC News, Fox News, CNN), Germany, South Korea and South Africa (national TV news) What’s more, all the articles featured Hyundai brand mentions and 94% featured key product messages on durability and quality.

Lead agency M&C Saatchi PR

Who signed it off client-side?

Natasha Waddington, Hyundai

Client Hyundai

Who delivered it?

Nathan Kemp Steve Kirk Jack Hutchinson

Who came up with the idea?

Chris Hides, M&C Saatchi PR

Ideas of the Year 2012

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34 IKEA goes “Happy to Bed” IKEA set Cake the challenge of positioning the retailer as experts and leaders in life at home in the bedroom by showcasing their knowledge of the UK household as part of a fully integrated marketing campaign. IKEA needed to demonstrate the store’s development and how its knowledge creates smart and affordable solutions that help people go happy to bed.

Research by IKEA found that many in the UK are embarrassed about properly testing a mattress in store.

To break down these barriers, Cake decided to give some of the 96,000 fans of a Facebook group entitled “I wanna have a sleepover at IKEA” the chance to do just that. 100 consumers were invited to spend the night in an actual IKEA store, testing beds and furnishings and learning about the best way to create a relaxing bedroom environment from IKEA’s experts.

The campaign generated over 190 pieces of coverage in national publications, regional titles, radio broadcast and online. As part of a wider social media campaign, the sleepover helped IKEA gain an extra 1,624 likes on Facebook, reaching a total of 23,852.

Nearly 500 people applied for a chance to take part in the sleepover, and the video content amassed over 32,000 views.

The Lakeside store (home of the sleepover) became number one for year-on-year sales growth in bedrooms.

Happy to Bed has already picked up a Cannes Lion, Media Cristal, PR Week Award, PRCA Award and a Marketing Week Engage Award.

Lead agency Cake Client IKEA Who came up with the idea?

Cake PR and Creative teams

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Who signed it off client-side?

Lois Blenkinsop & Lewis Marshall Who delivered it?

Cake PR and Digital teams

Ideas of the Year 2012

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35 Jägermeister’s Coolest Gig Ever The brief was to drive engagement and buzz for Jägermeister among its core target audience (of 18-30 year-old men). They also wanted to reinforce brand’s “Ice Cold Shot”: the preferred serve.

So the plan was to send ex-Busted heartthrob-turned-rockmusician Charlie Simpson to the coldest inhabited place on earth –the village of Oymyakon in Siberia – to perform literally the “coolest gig ever”.

Charlie and the support team crossed icy plains to play the 15-minute gig to locals at -30˚C, establishing a “Coldest Ever Gig” Guinness World Record.

There were 304 fully branded editorial items which included 21 TV spots (amongst them BBC News, BBC World News, 4 Music) and eleven national pieces. Radio coverage included Xfm, BBC Radio Five live, LBC, Kerrang! and Heart.

Lead agency Clarion Communications

Who signed it off client-side?

Marcus Thieme, Cellar Trends

Client Jägermeister

Who delivered it?

Clarion Communications and Cellar Trends

Other agencies Secret Compass Rawpower Management Deft Productions Who came up with the idea?

Tom Carson, Cellar Trends

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Honourable mentions Charlie Simpson

36 “Wake up and smell the coffee” GolinHarris was tasked with driving brand awareness and coverage for Kenco Millicano by hijacking the news agenda, making the brand both relevant and current.

Using “The Bridge” (GolinHarris’ live media monitoring hub), the team spotted the opportunity to jump on Nick Grimshaw’s appointment and presented it to client as a low-cost, low-risk idea.

Nick was hijacked on his first day as the morning presenter on the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show.

They turned up at the studios with two team members dressed as roosters, “Wake up and smell the coffee” signs and a basket full of Kenco Millicano – the perfect way to set him up for his early starts.

There were eight pieces of coverage including Mail Online, Evening Standard and the Mirror online, with a campaign OTS/H of over 136 million. All the coverage included a branded image.

Lead agency GolinHarris

Who signed it off client-side?

Stephanie Okell, Kenco

Client Kenco

Who delivered it?

Eryl Baum Georgi Simpkin Martin Frizell Louisa Ham Bella Laxton Jo Walsh Anya Court Anna Pank

Who came up with the idea?

GolinHarris

Honourable mentions Anya Court and Anna Pank for becoming real life roosters

Ideas of the Year 2012

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37 The World’s First “Tweet Shop” In a world full of shoutouts, mentions and retweets, Mischief PR jumped on the Twitter bandwagon to make Kellogg’s new Special K Cracker Crisps a genuine talking point for both media and consumers.

With a world first, a Tweet Shop was created – where social currency replaced financial, and people paid for a packet of the new crisps with a social media mention rather than cash.

Influential sites such as CreativeBoom, Mashable, Trendhunter and Pocket-lint helped kick off over 100,000 branded conversations during the week of the products launch; over 1,500 people visited the Special K Tweet Shop during four days of social trading – sampling over 5,000 packs of Special K Cracker Crisps – and directly recommending the product to their combined 240,000 friends and followers.

There were over 400 pieces of coverage in the UK – and globally – including Metro, The Independent and Guardian Online, and The Tweet Shop was voted into the 2012 Social Media Hall of Fame.

How’s that for word-of-mouth …?

Lead agency Mischief

Who signed it off client-side?

Paul Wheeler, Kellogg’s

Client Kellogg’s (Special K)

Who delivered it?

Mischief

Other agencies Slice Experiential Agency Who came up with the idea?

Mischief

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Ideas of the Year 2012

Ideas of the Year 2012

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38 MaritalAffair.co.uk’s “Win A Divorce!”

The primary objective of this campaign was to drive traffic to – and memberships of – MaritalAffair.co.uk by generating media coverage in national and lifestyle publications. The main business challenge was that new entrants to the market were encroaching on the UK aiming for the same market.

Champion Communications designed and implemented a campaign called “Win A Divorce”. It was a public competition, hosted on microsite winadivorce.com, which offered one winner £1,800 towards the legal fees of their divorce (which an Aviva study found is the average amount spent).

The press release launching the competition was covered by a debate about the competition on BBC Radio Newcastle, coverage across the Daily Star and Daily Mail, Huffington Post, Reveal and a host of blogs. The competition winner’s story was featured as a “real life” story in Bella magazine.

Lead agency Champion Communications

Who signed it off client-side?

Paul Graham, MaritalAffair.co.uk

Client MaritalAffair.co.uk

Who delivered it?

Adam Winfield Rob Latham

Who came up with the idea?

Richard Cook, Champion Communications

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Ideas of the Year 2012

39 Marmite Gold Christmas Lights DDB was challenged to drive excitement among Marmite lovers, and new audiences, by delivering a creative execution for the Christmas limited edition: Marmite Gold (Marmite with gold coloured flecks).

Splendid came up with the idea of enabling fans to be part of the famous Oxford Street Christmas lights display via a Marmite Facebook app.

Sixteen celebrities put their faces in lights, including Piers Morgan, Olly Murs, Derren Brown and Chris Moyles, between them developing the largest social media campaign the West End has ever seen.

Over 150 pieces of coverage were secured across a broad range of media including Loose Women, Sky News, ITV News, Metro, The Sun, The Guardian, i, DailyMail online, Reveal and MTV. Lead agency DDB Client Marmite Other agencies DDB, Mindshare Who came up with the idea?

Splendid created the idea of making the lights a participation platform

Who signed it off client-side?

Jolanda Wells and Joanne Oriada, Marmite Who delivered it?

Zoe Weeden Rebecca Maund Olivia Gibson Sophie Rowe Salma El Amin Honourable mentions Robbie Williams for the switch on

Ideas of the Year 2012

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40 McDonald’s “Happy Readers” In January 2012, McDonald’s ran a pilot Happy Meal promotion, replacing toys with children’s books by War Horse author Michael Morpurgo.

The challenge was to elevate a marketing promotion and create a campaign that drove trust amongst consumers, especially parents, and created national debate amongst opinion formers without the use of the author.

The team secured the backing of the National Literacy Trust to bring to life the barriers to reading and decided to campaign in a consumer-friendly way with single dad-of-two Jeff Brazier, commissioning photography and film for social media.

At the end of the trial, nine out of ten parents said they’d like to see more book promotions from McDonald’s.

In January 2013 McDonald’s launched a long-term campaign to put millions of books into the hands of families. At the launch, 160 pieces of coverage delivered 64 million opportunities to see and 98% of that coverage was positive or neutral.

Most important, the number of people who say McDonald’s is a company they trust reached an all-time high.

Lead agency Blue Rubicon Client McDonald’s UK Other agencies Markettiers4DC Who came up with the idea?

McDonald’s UK and Blue Rubicon

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Who signed it off client-side?

McDonald’s Marketing and Press Office teams Who delivered it?

McDonald’s and Blue Rubicon

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41 The Launch of Shwopping Unity was asked to land the “Shwopping” concept in the hearts and minds of the UK public by highlighting the problem of clothing waste. The aim was to show that M&S has a solution and to inspire people to take part, normalising a “buy-one-give-one” culture.

The approach was to give the problem scale and context and capture imaginations around what can be done with old clothes.

Using just 5 minutes worth of waste items (9,513 items of clothing), the team clothed a London street to create a powerful visual for launch day and to effectively show future uses for old clothes.

By 4.00 pm on launch day the stunt had generated 4 million social impressions and had three Twitter trending topics: Joanna Lumley, Marks & Spencer and Shwopping. There were also 50 blog pieces on launch day alone.

The public “Shwopped” in their thousands, with a tally at the end of week one of 36,000 donated items, growing to 100,000 by the end of week three.

Lead agency Unity

Who signed it off client-side?

Dominic Fry, Marks & Spencer

Client Marks & Spencer

Who delivered it?

Unity

Who came up with the idea?

Unity

Honourable mentions Fraser MacAndrew, Centre for Sustainable Fashion

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42 Jaffa Cakes Nibble Art Mischief set out to reawaken the nation’s affection for Jaffa Cakes.

The idea was to tap into “eating rituals,” commissioning artist Dominic Wilcox to create the world’s first exhibition of “nibble art” made from eaten Jaffa Cakes.

Iconic UK landmarks were recreated, including Tower Bridge, Loch Ness and Stonehenge, with people encouraged to contribute their own nibble art online.

There were over 50 pieces of coverage, which included a full page in The Sun and Evening Standard.

Influential online outlets such as NotCot, Dezeen and Trendhunter helped generate thousands of online conversations and contributed to record Facebook Likes and shares.

Lead agency Mischief

Who signed it off client-side?

Philippa Tilley, Jaffa Cakes

Client McVities: Jaffa Cakes

Who delivered it?

Mischief

Who came up with the idea?

Mischief

Honourable mentions Dominic Wilcox, Artist

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43 An Internet Explorer Production: The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator Success in the browser market is determined by showing relevance to the needs of modern web users. The brief for 3 Monkeys was to come up with an integrated campaign to shift perceptions, create engagement and position Internet Explorer as the “must have” browser showing the beautiful, rich experiences Internet Explorer 9 offers thanks to HTML5.

The plan was to work with award-winning director Edgar Wright and illustrator Tommy Lee Edwards to create a unique animated web series, enhanced with Internet Explorer 9. Narrated by The Mighty Boosh’s Julian Barratt, the world’s first animated web experience was created, putting the audience at the centre of the production.

“The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator” was born.

In response, there were 202 pieces of positively branded print, broadcast and online coverage including BBC Radio 2, Daily Telegraph, Wired and Shortlist. There were over 600,000 unique visitors to the site, more than 2,000 new likes on Internet Explorer 9’s Facebook page – and an overall reach of 62.3 million on Twitter.

Lead agency 3 Monkeys Communications Client Microsoft/Internet Explorer Other agencies LBi, Jam and UM Who came up with the idea?

3 Monkeys Communications and writer/director Edgar Wright

Who signed it off client-side?

Gabby Hegerty, UK Internet Explorer Lead, Microsoft Who delivered it?

Gabby Hegerty James Tutt Toral Karia (Microsoft) Stuart Yeardsley Katie Boulton Andrew Burton Tanya Harding Honourable mentions Edgar Wright Tommy Lee Edwards David Holmes Julian Barratt

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44 The Stair of the Dog MORE TH>N wanted to raise awareness of the rising pet obesity problem in the UK through an impactful PR stunt.

Experts predict that, by 2022, half of all dogs in the UK will be obese – a result of owners overfeeding and under-exercising their pets. Consequently, man’s best friend faces a stark future where they’ll be too fat to even climb a simple set of stairs.

To visualise this future the team created the first stair lift for dogs, called the “Stair Of The Dog 2022”.

One photo shoot with an overweight dog taking the stair lift for a spin later and they had a compelling image that would stir a debate in the UK and beyond.

The stunt generated 51 pieces of picture-led editorial coverage across national and international media outlets including The Sun, Daily Mail, Huffington Post and the Mail Online.

There were also hundreds of mentions across Twitter, with the images of the solemn-faced pooch riding the stair lift shared again and again.

Lead agency Cow Client MORE TH>N Who came up with the idea?

Cow

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Who signed it off client-side?

Carmel McCarthy, MORE TH>N

45 Teddy & Stanley’s Tall Tale Cow was tasked with developing a real solution to the problems dog owners face every year on Bonfire Night, when deafening fireworks displays have dogs all over the country cowering in fear.

So the team created the world’s first bedtime story for dogs: a free audiobook that was scientifically designed to calm down dogs on Bonfire Night.

Entitled “Teddy & Stanley’s Tall Tale” the story was developed with the scientific know-how of the UK’s leading dog behaviourist, the imagination of an up and coming children’s author and the soothing Shakespearean tones of actor Simon Callow.

The story generated 146 pieces of coverage worldwide across national print, online and broadcast media.

Coverage highlights included The Daily Telegraph, BBC News, BBC Radio 4, Radio 5 Live, The Daily Mail, Metro, Mail Online, The Guardian, The Independent, Daily Star and The Sun (which particularly praised the effectiveness of the story for stressed dogs).

In addition, the YouTube video showing Simon Callow narrating the story has racked up over 35,000 completely organic hits, while Twitter reach has exceeded one million.

Lead agency Cow Client MORE TH>N Who came up with the idea?

Cow

Who signed it off client-side?

Bart Nash and Kaidee Sibborn, MORE TH>N Who delivered it?

Cow

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46 Pantone’s “Palette Fit for a Queen” To raise awareness of the Pantone brand and generate buzz whilst commemorating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and demonstrate Pantone’s expertise in colour, the team came up with a colourful idea.

Hotwire created a limited edition Pantone colour wheel using the Queen’s silhouette in place of the standard slides, to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee. Each colour was one of the signature colours that the Queen wears. These were distributed to the press to drive buzz.

There was a total campaign reach of 43.6 million including pieces of coverage in Campaign, Creative Review, Huffington Post, Gizmodo and Fashion Monitor. A video was also created about the making of the guide.

There were 60 original colour wheels printed for PR purposes, and following the PR outreach Pantone received over 1,000 incoming inquiries, and over 200 of these requests were to buy a copy of the guide as a direct result of the campaign. The limited run of guides created has meant they’ve have become collector’s items.

Lead agency Hotwire Client Pantone Other agencies Leo Burnett Who came up with the idea?

Leo Burnett & Hotwire

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Who signed it off client-side?

Paul Graham, Sales Director, EMEA, Pantone Who delivered it?

Hotwire Honourable mentions Precision Printing

47 Persil’s “Ten Things To Do Before You’re Ten” GolinHarris was tasked with making Persil small & mighty the laundry detergent of choice with their target audience. This involved convincing mums of Persil’s stain removal power through the stories Persil tells, and creating trust with the brand as a support of child development.

The team created “10 Things to Do Before You’re 10”.

The guide included ten activities suggested by Bear Grylls that children could try. These were backed up by videos of Bear demonstrating four of the activities – including building a den, rolling down hills, and making a rope swing. The activities inspired families to get stuck in to a range of outdoor activities, ensuring that all activities communicated the “Dirt is Good” brand positioning.

The campaign gained 86 pieces of coverage, 19 media and blogger interviews with Grylls and 7,600 entries through three placed competitions to win a year’s supply of Persil and meet Bear Grylls.

The total reach was 100 million, with 62% of the Persil target audience being reached 2.8 times.

Lead agency GolinHarris Client Persil Who came up with the idea?

Charlie Coney, GolinHarris

Who delivered it?

Charlie Coney Jennie Webb Jo Walsh Anya Court Anna Pank Jen Harris

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48 Wesker & Son: The Resident Evil 6 Human Butchery Wesker & Son, the human butchery set out to generate buzz for the launch of gaming epic, Resident Evil 6 and to reach nongamers attracted by its no-holds barred approach.

The campaign set out to offend, pushing the limits of taste by bringing to life the idea that a butcher had been forced to make use of all the human meat lying about as a result of the mass fatalities caused by the game’s C-Virus in order to survive.

In the words of Miss Cakehead, the results were “Insane levels of coverage and word of mouth, widespread newspaper coverage, online buzz and broadcast coverage in four different countries.”

Lead agency Cakehead Loves

Who signed it off client-side?

Adam Merrett, Capcom

Client Resident Evil, Capcom

Who delivered it?

Miss Cakehead The team at Full Fat PR

Other agencies Full Fat PR Who came up with the idea?

Miss Cakehead

Honourable mentions Sharon Baker Zoe Rutherford Emily Evans

Picture credit: Nathan Prask

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49 Ribena Plus Play Report The Plus Play Box Christmas is so commercial nowadays, with one-in-ten parents spending over £500 per child.

Unity wanted to show that Ribena Plus understands the pressures parents are under at this time of year, whilst simultaneously providing a solution to their problems.

To do this, the team took on the toy industry to prove what all parents know – that the humble cardboard box is actually the ultimate Christmas toy.

Cardboard boxes with templates for cars, boats, and much more, were created and taken to parents guerrilla style via removals company, Pickfords.

Launching two days before the Toy Retailers Association’s annual “Dream Toys” list, the timing was perfect, securing 269 pieces of coverage, including 10 nationals and 226 regional pieces.

The team also hijacked the TRA event, turning up outside and giving away Play Boxes to media, securing four extra national hits.

But best of all was the reaction from the kids and their parents.

Photos were posted on Twitter of children playing with the boxes, accompanied by thanks from mums everywhere.

The Pocket Playground Ribena and Unity wanted to help mums keep their children entertained during the August Bank Holiday for less than the cost of a tube ticket.

Enter the Pocket Playground – a travel-sized treasure trove of eight low-cost items (costing £6.12), and 50 ideas for how to use them, crowdsourced from the members of Netmums.

Statistics from the “Ribena Plus Play” report were also included, revealing the cost of modern play, the rise of screen-based play, and the decline of traditional open play.

The pack gained 45 pieces of coverage in a week, including 8 nationals, 8 broadcasts and 7 pieces with the target audience themselves: mummy bloggers. The highlight was a double-page spread in The Daily Mail of a journalist trying out the Pocket Playground with her kids – who absolutely loved it.

Lead agency Unity Client Ribena Who came up with the idea?

Unity

Who signed it off client-side?

Caroline Fredj, Glaxo Smith Kline Who delivered it?

Unity

James Gordon-MacIntosh says: As the judges of this book will attest, the “do some tangential research and hope it makes news” approach to media relations is still alive and kicking in our industry.

In some ways, the Play Plus report is just that, but the idea of adding to the research with real products – the Pocket Playground and the Cardboard Box of fun – means that this campaign is elevated and got that much more engagement as a result.

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50 Royal Mail’s Olympic Stamps The Royal Mail was an official supplier to the Olympic Games, but came out with many of the plaudits. While their Golden Post Boxes was widely regarded as a PR coup, it was the stamps that caught media imagination.

Grabbing photos (in a partnership with photo agency Getty Images) as the UK athletes scored gold, stamps were turned around and behind Post Office counters just 24 hours after the winning line was crossed.

It was a sure-fire way of demonstrating just how quickly the Royal Mail could deliver (a pretty core message if you’re in their business).

The stamps got themselves everywhere – from the Olympics broadcast to national print, from daytime chat shows to a standing placement on BBC News Online.

A brave piece of work expertly exploited by the team across the media.

Lead agency Eulogy Client Royal Mail

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51 Putting Sea Containers on the Map The grand plan was to draw interest from ABC1 potential tenants and guests ahead of the opening of Sea Containers House in 2013.

The agency also wanted to tap into the nation’s Jubilee spirit and outshine other Thames developments.

The big idea was to blow up a picture from the Silver Jubilee and cover the building with the largest ever photo of the Royal Family – chosen to be a talking point for the progress of Britain and the South Bank since 1977. The team revealed this over the week before the flotilla.

There were tens of millions reached through BBC coverage (through the wrap reveal and global flotilla broadcast), BBC World News, CNN, ITN, Sky, NBC, CBS “This Morning,”, ABC News, France 24, Germany’s ARD “Das Erste” and NDTV, India’s global news network, Yahoo, MSN, AOL. There was a full page in the Standard, cover of FT, half/quarter pages in Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Sun, Sun Online and Dailymail.co.uk (who gave the campaign an eleven picture montage of wrap installation), Metro.co.uk, Huffington Post, LA Times, ITV news online, Estates Gazette, International Business Times, Architects Journal Online and over 1,300 websites tracked

by Meltwater news.

The Sunday Times Magazine used the Sea Containers image as the cover for their commemorative 2012 issue, entitled “It’s A Wrap”.

Lead agency Golden Goose PR Client Sea Containers Who came up with the idea?

Miki Haines-Sanger, Golden Goose PR

Who signed it off client-side?

Trevor Sherling, Yorke Property Management Who delivered it?

Miki Haines-Sanger Zoe Sobol Harriet Vocking Katie Hancock Honourable mentions Jim Marks

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52 Snickers “YNYWYH” Snickers’ global strap is the notion that “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry”.

Rather than break the campaign idea in the UK using TV, AMV BBDO decided that they would go after the brand’s youth audience through a social media campaign rather than a traditional route.

Five celebrities – including Katie Price most notoriously – sent Tweets that were completely out of character. A final tweet revealed the line: “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” with a Twitpic of said celeb eating a Snickers and reverting to normality.

Each celebrity sent just five tweets. But the campaign was reported in press, on TV and radio – and was even mentioned in Parliament. The agency spent £70,000 but reckons they reached 26 million people.

Controversial, entertaining, disruptive.

Lead agency AMV BBDO Client Masterfoods, Snickers

Who delivered it?

Adrian Rossi Alex Grieve Tim Riley

Other agencies AMV Pulse

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53 Surf Summer D’Reem Golin Harris was asked to drive awareness and talkability around Surf as a provider of great fragrances that last and last, with the aim to get more consumers buying Surf. In addition, the creative idea had to relate to Surf’s sponsorship of the idents of “The Only Way is Essex”.

In response, the team created a limited edition Surf variant called Surf Summer D’reem, created in part by Joey Essex.

Activity included leaked paparazzi shots of Joey in the labs, a summer themed launch event, a Facebook making-of / behindthe-scenes, Joey tweeting to congratulate fellow scientists at CERN, and in-store retail partnership activity.

The activity generated £1.2 million Gross Sales Value and 212 pieces of coverage (including Joey appearing on Daybreak) resulting in a 90% target audience hit. And over 600 people signed up to the waiting list to try the product.

Lead agency GolinHarris

Who signed it off client-side?

Clare Logan

Client Surf

Who delivered it?

Charlie Coney Jo Shepherd Neil Watts Tom Cherrill Anna Pank Rosie Wigfall Eryl Baum

Who came up with the idea?

Charlie Coney, GolinHarris

James Gordon-MacIntosh says: This could’ve been one of my Ideas of the Year. A PR agency coming up with a new line – with a bang-on name and a built-in promotion mechanic. It takes the idea of a product with media appeal “baked in” to new levels: an idea of scale and ambition that others would do well to take note of.

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54 T-Mobile “Smoasting” Fever was tasked with making T-Mobile’s new Broadband and Internet Travel Boosters – data roaming – interesting to tabloids and seen by the “Loose Women” TV audience demographic.

The team highlighted that Facebook is packed with people checking-in on holiday and sharing beach bragging pictures – but paying sky high mobile data prices for the privilege.

The term “Smoasting!” (or “social media boasting”) was coined to explain this phenomenon.

Survey data was used to prove British holiday-makers are a nation of “Smoasters”, and that the Travel Boosters were a response to this new social trend.

The campaign resulted in 28 pieces of coverage including The Mail on Sunday and Daily Star, in addition to slots on Loose Women and the Capital FM Breakfast Show.

Lead agency Fever Client T-Mobile Who came up with the idea?

Bruce McLachlan and Melissa Robinson

Who signed it off client-side?

Sarah Jones, Senior PR Manger at T-Mobile Mat Sears, Head of PR at T-Mobile Who delivered it?

Ranj George Melissa Robinson Lisa Rebak Blair Bishop

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55 UKTV’s Hotel Alcatraz The Hope&Glory PR team were set a brief to promote the launch of new TV series, Alacatraz, on UKTV’s Watch. The grand plan was hatched to create a pop-up “Hotel Alcatraz” – a faithful recreation of the prison when it closed in 1963, complete with 9ft by 5ft cells, guards and “regime” – that people could actually stay in.

The launch of Hotel Alcatraz delivered over 300 pieces of coverage in all. That included national pieces from Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Evening Standard, Daily Mirror and online coverage across the board.

An APTV piece went global delivering over 130 pieces of TV news coverage around the world – from Singapore to Mexico.

The launch also got people talking: stimulating Twitter chat that (according to TweetReach analysis) reached over 4.5 million people from over 2,000 Tweets.

Lead agency Hope&Glory PR Client UKTV Other agencies Helix 3D Who came up with the idea?

Jo Carr and James Gordon-MacIntosh

Who signed it off client-side?

Zoe Clapp, UKTV Laura McTurk, UKTV Who delivered it?

Jo Carr, James Gordon-MacIntosh, Carl Steer, Laura Bevan, Emma Thomas, Adrian Chitty Honourable mentions Jem Fraser and his band of merry men, Brian and the team at Helix 3D

Dan Glover says: A campaign to deliver a TX line for a TV show is not easy. H&G's solution was a perfectly formed campaign – genuinely experiential (the public could book), a news story, loads of traditional and online features and a big social talking point.

Did it work? I'm betting it smashed viewing targets.

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56 #ReverseRiots Unity and vInspired wanted to use the anniversary of the London riots to bust the myth that Britain’s youth are thugs that make no contribution to society.

To do this they formulated #ReverseRiots, which used social media to encourage youngsters to upload photos of themselves holding a written message of positivity.

The team enlisted the involvement of celebrities, encouraging them to donate their Twitter profiles for the day. This allowed fans to replace the profile picture of their idol with their own.

In addition, the team covered The House of Reeves furniture store in Croydon (the burning emblem of the riots) with the thousands of images, turning it into a beacon of hope for young people.

The campaign generated 152 pieces of coverage including Daybreak, Grazia, NBC, BBC Radio 2, ITN, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent and more. #ReverseRiots trended and gained support from 23 celebrities including Paloma Faith, Delilah and Plan B resulting in 17 million celebrity tweet impressions.

Nick Clegg also referenced the campaign in his closing speech at his party conference as “an example of what makes Britain great”.

Lead agency Unity

Who signed it off client-side?

Jenni Young, vInspired

Client vInspired

Who delivered it?

Unity

Who came up with the idea?

Unity

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57 Virgin Atlantic’s “PlaneView” To promote the new Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Suite and hit pre-agreed bookings targets within the first month of the fleet being on the runway, Virgin roped in Mischief (who then roped in the folks who worked on the development of Google Street View) to create PlaneView, a way for Virgin to showcase their suite to potential customers.

Users could virtually walk around the plane and click on forty separate YouTube videos to see every detail of the redesign, making it the most social showroom in the world – generating passenger desire and driving online bookings.

Unsurprisingly, the campaign spawned over 400 pieces of coverage across news, travel, lifestyle and technology outlets including The Sunday Times, Shortlist, Mashable, T3 and Pocket-Lint.

200,000 people logged on to take a virtual walk around the new Upper Class Suite – and booking targets were exceeded in record time.

Lead agency Mischief

Who signed it off client-side?

Greg Dawson, Virgin Atlantic

Client Virgin Atlantic

Who delivered it?

Mischief

Who came up with the idea?

Mischief

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58 The Warburtons Toastie Knife As part of an on-going integrated PR/social media campaign, Clarion was tasked with coming up with a tactical idea to help make Warburtons – Britain’s biggest Bakery brand – synonymous with Breakfast.

The idea needed to work across all platforms, from print and broadcast to digital and social media.

The solution was, of course, the “Toastie Knife”: the world’s first knife which spreads cold butter straight from the fridge.

Having identified a desire for the product via consumer research, a battery-powered prototype with heated element was made by Design Works, and supported with media collateral including infographic, YouTube demo and #toastieknife hashtag.

The result was 88 pieces of coverage, across the nationals (Daily Mail, Daily Express) and onlines (Sun Online, Mail Online, Guardian Online, etc). The highlight was a fully-branded presenter demo on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch. In addition, there were 185,000+ YouTube Views.

There was also international recognition. The knife was given a “design and technical innovation” award nomination at the Madridfusion International Gastronomy summit in Spain.

Lead agency Clarion Communications Client Warburtons Other agencies DesignWorks Who came up with the idea?

Howard Bowden, Clarion Communications

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Who delivered it?

The Warburtons team at Clarion Honourable mentions Sean Miles at DesignWorks

59 Wonderbra’s Ultimate Plunge Launch Wonderbra has always been celebrated for its bold, high-impact product launches. iris was asked to launch its Ultimate Plunge bra. The agency needed to make it a famous event, highlighting the “deep plunge” and celebrating female audacity. The team was also tasked with increasing the number of fans engaging with the brand through Facebook.

So Facebook fans were invited to “take the ultimate plunge”: a bungee jump in front of a projection of model Adriana Cernanova wearing the Ultimate Plunge bra on Battersea Power Station.

In addition, survey results proved women lacked the confidence to wear plunging necklines, positioning Wonderbra as the perfect underwear solution.

The stunt generated 77 pieces of coverage including The Sun, Mail Online, Daily Mirror, Evening Standard, New and Glamour Online.

Globally it reached more than 188 million people.

Talkability was so widespread it was the subject of a Daily Mail cartoon.

The campaign increased Wonderbra Facebook Likes by more than a third, and increased the number of people talking about Wonderbra by 350 per cent.

There was a 400 per cent increase in sales for Wonderbra at ASOS over the two day launch period. Within six weeks, this niche product was outselling Wonderbra’s best selling Ultimate Strapless in retailers.

Lead agency iris Client Wonderbra (DB Apparel) Who came up with the idea? iris Who signed it off client-side?

Julia Nolan, Wonderbra

Who delivered it?

Nick Porter Dawn Newman Nina Taylor Selina Heathcote Jane Walton Sarah Hall Laura Wing Abigail Wilson Honourable mentions Richard King and his dare devil skills

Picture credit: Getty Images Ideas of the Year 2012

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60 YPlan’s “Little Wedding Chapel “ To promote the launch of YPlan , the app that encourages Londoners to embrace their spontaneous side, Frank PR brought the world’s most spontaneous city – Vegas – to a corner of Shoreditch.

The agency recreated the “Little White Wedding Chapel” so that Londoners could get married on a whim. Naturally, Elvis conducted the ceremonies and weddings were scheduled via the app.

What’s more, a “Tweet Elvis” service accompanied the pop up for tweeters to send and receive love messages from the King.

Remarkably, there were 100 wedding ceremonies over the five day event. There was national coverage in the Daily Mail and the Evening Standard picked up on the launch. There was a five minute feature for the brand on Magic FM, over 20 pieces of target online coverage.

There were also 50 “Tweet Elvis” messages created for media and celebs which reached over 500,000 people according to Tweetreach.

Most important of all, the download targets were hit for the YPlan app as a result of the campaign.

Lead agency Frank PR Client YPlan Who came up with the idea?

Frank PR

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Who signed it off client-side?

Rachael Tasker, YPlan and Rytis Vitkauscas, YPlan

61 The “Gherkin” becomes the “Penguin” ZSL London Zoo needed to ensure that its brand new Penguin Beach exhibit (and inhabitants) was at the front of mind for Londoners and visitors to the Capital ahead of the busy 2012 summer.

The team engaged a design company to mock-up an image of London’s iconic Gherkin, transformed into a giant Humboldt penguin to promote ZSL London Zoo with a fun and light-hearted stunt ahead of the Olympic 2012 Games.

The Penguin Gherkin achieved press coverage with reach of more than 17.5 million people.

The PR stunt was hugely successful; particularly on Twitter where the “Penguin” trended throughout its launch day (with more than 2,000 tweets and re-tweets).

The story was heavily featured on XFM radio – they interviewed ZSL’s Head of Communications, Emma Edwards, discussed the idea with Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman and turned it into a daily feature for a week – proposing other buildings to be turned into animals.

As well as articles in the Daily Telegraph, the Times, and ITN News, the story was published internationally, including Washington Post, Malaysia Star and Australia Daily Telegraph.

Brand ZSL London Zoo Team In-house Who came up with the idea?

Emma Edwards and Rebecca Smith

Who signed it off client-side?

Rich Storton, ZSL Director of Communications Who delivered it?

Rebecca Smith, Senior Press Officer Honourable mentions Emma Edwards, Head of Communications

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