Success Stories

Euro RSCG Worldwide PR is sizzling. We’ve recently gone through a world of change—literally. We’ve helped Prince Charles save the earth’s rain forests. We launched the planet’s first global summit for young leaders. We’ve had people far and wide S.T.A.N.D. up for diabetes awareness. We’re lending a helping hand to Wyclef Jean as he helps heal Haiti in the wake of its recent disaster. And we worked on PR for “Tck Tck Tck,” the most successful digital-environmental campaign ever. We’ve won praise and earned awards, but, much more important, we’ve changed the conversation on some of today’s most pressing global issues.

When Grammy Award–winning artist Wyclef Jean approached us to manage the crisis and brand communications for his NGO, Yéle Haiti, he made it clear that he no longer wanted to be seen as another celebrity puppet attaching his name to a good cause for his own ego boost. Instead, we were able to show the public how he and his organization have been legitimately involved in the efforts to rebuild the Haitian nation since even before the earthquake hit in January 2010. In just two months, we have successfully been able to shape him as the face of this movement and secured him radio, TV and print placements fit to bolster any politician (The Philadelphia Inquirer, ABC’s “World News,” CNN, NPR, BBC and “60 Minutes”). We knew we were doing something right when someone asked us if he was planning on running for president of Haiti in the near future.

In an effort to define the spending and communications habits of teen girls and to illustrate those habits for marketers, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR commissioned a nationwide study of girls age 13 to 18. The resulting research and white paper, “The Teenage Girl as Consumer and Communicator,” showed that marketers can no longer afford to ignore the intricacies of this powerful group. The paper revealed other fascinating finds—not only did today’s teenage girl contradict most cultural stereotypes related to spending and communications, for instance, but with all teens spending more than $200 billion each year, teenage girls also represent an awesome consumer force in their buying, spending, trendspotting and trendsetting. The findings helped launch the Euro RSCG PR initiative The Sisterhood, which provides a forum for teens to chat about everything from shopping and products to people and media; it also gives marketing and PR professionals help in reaching the vastly important but complex teenage demographic. Media efforts in the first few months alone scored original stories about The Sisterhood in The Orange County Register and The New York Times as well as hundreds of online stories and blog posts.

MegaRed is Schiff Nutrition’s answer to the omega-3 supplement market. Although there are many fish oil supplements that offer the same cardiovascular benefits, MegaRed’s ingredients are extracted from krill, not fish, providing the pill with clear advantages over the competition: no fishy aftertaste or “burp back” in a much smaller, easier-to-swallow gel pill. Euro RSCG PR began an initiative to essentially explain the benefits of krill versus fish oil and sent MegaRed gift packages, in a heart-healthy Valentine’s Day goody bag to producers and reporters at national broadcast outlets. “The Dr. Oz Show” loved our offering and featured generic krill oil pills in a segment on “the best supplements you can take.” Because MegaRed is the No. 1–selling krill oil product, Schiff reaped the rewards of the spot. Sales of MegaRed increased significantly in the days following the segment.

Tapping into the connection between dog owners and their four-legged friends, Purina Chef Michael’s canine creations engaged Arnold Worldwide and its sister agency Euro RSCG Worldwide PR to leverage Valentine’s Day to drive brand awareness and trial of Chef Michael’s canine creations thoughtfully prepared meals. The creative “Be My Doggie Valentine” campaign—which included a national search for the most unforgettable Doggie Valentine and a star-studded Chef Michael’s “Be My Valentine” Doggie Dinner Party on Feb. 10, 2010—highlighted the growing trend of people including their pets in their traditional holiday celebrations. Celebrity guests included Elisabeth Röhm, Jennifer Esposito, Jill Zarin, Michael Urie and the cast of “Rescue Ink,” along with lifestyle expert Kimberly Schlegel Whitman. The campaign generated more than 77.6 million media impressions for Purina Chef Michael’s, including mentions in 900-plus media stories. CBS Newspath and the New York Daily News were among the many outlets.

A delegate list of nearly 1,000 people ages 25 or under from 104 countries? Check. Dozens of worldwide corporate sponsors? Check. A who’s who of top world leaders? (Think: Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Bob Geldof, Muhammad Yunus.) Check. The inaugural One Young World global youth leadership summit held in London on Feb. 8-10, 2010, gathered tomorrow’s leaders with today’s top minds to discuss, debate and pass resolutions on such issues as climate change, global business and the changing role of media. During plenaries, panels and breaks—and on Twitter—delegates and counselor mentors inspired one another to change the world, whether through a single small action, as microfinance pioneer Yunus started doing, or by getting 12 million people to march in the streets, as Oscar Morales, who used Facebook to start his One Million Voices Against FARC campaign, has done. One Young World, co-founded by the global CEO of Havas Worldwide and Euro RSCG Worldwide, David Jones, and Euro RSCG U.K. Group Chairman Kate Robertson, was covered by media around the planet—BBC (U.K., Brasil, Mundo, Arabic), CNN, Al-Jazeera, MTV, The Huffington Post, The Economist, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, L’Express, Canal +, La Nación and The Himalayan, to name a few—and began a new movement for change.

Transitions Optical asked us to help persuade vision-care plans to cover and promote Transitions lenses. Euro RSCG PR launched Healthy Sight Working for You, an education program for vision plan providers, benefits brokers and HR pros. At Transitions’ annual Academy, an event for 1,200 distribution channel partners, we developed an education track for 100 benefits providers and consultants. The presentations became the foundation of outreach to HR media, bylined articles, presentations to vision plan providers, white papers for direct marketing, a kit for HR pros to use with employees and a website with content for all audiences. Transitions Healthy Sight Working for You reached thousands of pros, secured 50 news articles and influenced eight vision plan providers to promote Transitions lenses.

With zero budget, we designed a campaign based on social media and remote cooperation. A digital petition on the campaign site let people around the planet record themselves saying “Tck” in support of global climate legislation. The campaign launched at Cannes Lions in June 2009 and ultimately got more than 15 million people to “tck” their support online, 700,000-plus to download the free campaign track (a remake of “Beds Are Burning” by more than 60 international artists) and 30-plus global brands (including Oxfam and Greenpeace) to become partners. Media coverage was literally all over the map.

The Emerson Process Management Power & Water Solutions’ Ovation Users’ Group conference is roundly known as a yearly gathering of those involved in operating power plants and water/wastewater facilities—vital components of the U.S. infrastructure. But with tight travel budgets, some past attendees were saying “Oh, no” to ’09. Euro PR decided that if some users couldn’t come to Ovation, Ovation would go to them. We altered the notion of a conference attendee by leveraging the power of Twitter to deliver media-rich updates by the minute, drawing “home attendees” into the conference and motivating them to book the event for next year. The result? Not just an enriched conference but also a future-ready company—Emerson’s Power & Water Solutions Industry Center has made the @OvationUsers Twitter handle a permanent part of its core comms strategy.

Schiff Nutrition makes Tiger’s Milk, a protein-rich nutrition bar known as “America’s Original Nutrition Bar.” Euro RSCG PR had been trying to develop ways to reinforce the brand’s positioning as a healthy snack alternative to candy and differentiate it from other similar protein bars. As part of a 2009 Halloween initiative, the PR team developed a unique product giveaway and created trick-or-treat baskets filled with a variety of flavors of Tiger’s Milk. The PR team “trick-or-treated” and presented pumpkin baskets to producers and reporters at select national broadcast outlets that cover food and snacks, suggesting that Tiger’s Milk was the ideal substitute for candy—and a great Halloween treat. After several weeks of follow-up, the team secured a terrific segment on the national “Rachael Ray” show, which has an audience of 2.2 million viewers, highlighting Tiger’s Milk as the Snack of the Day and a great alternative to sugary snacks.

The American Diabetes Association estimates that 50 million Americans will have diabetes by 2025, yet there are many misperceptions about the disease and its treatment, and there must be greater urgency to take action. Seeing that social marketing was a perfect method for creating that urgency and dispelling myths, we created a novel leadership platform for sanofi-aventis U.S.’ metabolism franchise through a partnership with Taking Control of Your Diabetes (TCOYD) and the Start Taking Action Now for Diabetes (S.T.A.N.D.) social marketing program. We organized a two-day summit that brought together medical leaders, health and fitness advocates, marketing leaders and entertainment execs and charged all with thinking of new ways to communicate about diabetes, via traditional and non-traditional channels. Our ongoing program, which includes a national Public Service Announcement and a report that highlights the challenges and opportunities in advancing diabetes awareness discussed during the S.T.A.N.D. Summit, is the foundation for a new model to raise awareness about diabetes and the importance of blood sugar control.

Transitions Optical was launching its sixth-generation light-adjusting lenses—the largest product launch in industry history. We wanted eye-care providers to try Transitions lenses, see their benefits and recommend them to customers. Our campaign centered on an 11-city tour that included a high-energy presentation, an Experience Card that led attendees through the displays, vouchers for free prescription lenses, a diligent trade media campaign and documents to guide the sales force and customer service. In the post-event survey, 90 percent of attendees said they would definitely recommend Transitions VI lenses to all patients. Sales of Transitions lenses in North America increased 15 percent the year following the launch.

In 2003 the trendspotting unit at Euro RSCG’s ad side—including current Euro RSCG PR prez Marian Salzman and Chief Strategic Office Matt Donovan—was poring over survey data for a beer client. Some patterns just didn’t match the stereotypes. It reminded us of behavior described by British writer Mark Simpson, who coined the term metrosexual in 1994. We quickly took metrosexual from nowhere to everywhere (like The Daily Telegraph and The New York Times). It was bandied about during the U.S. presidential primaries in 2004. The word’s path from obscurity to omnipresence is a textbook example of the power of earned media. Journalists latched onto the term, and we were on the radar of any journalist or brand that wanted to discuss trends. P.S. This will be our self-promotional case of the decade.