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GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team Case Study – Chicago Public Relations Agency

Chicago Public Relations Agency Paramount Public Relations Client Case Study

THE CLIENT:

The GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team is a six-plane squadron of vintage WWII aircraft that performs at 15 U.S. air shows annually.

THE ASK:

The GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team wanted to generate national and local media coverage to increase brand awareness and reach their target audiences – consumers and potential and existing GEICO customers.

THE CAMPAIGN:

To achieve the program objectives, Paramount Public Relations executed a national and 15 market local media relations campaign.

The PR team leveraged its media relationships and invited top-tier press outlets for an exclusive media ride with the WWII airplane squadron to experience a unique formation flight.  The results included photo and article coverage – often front-page – and numerous television segments. To further increase the exposure, the team leveraged GoPro cameras to capture in-flight video footage with strong visual brand coverage to accompany the reporter’s story or TV segment.

When broadcast TV reporters were unable to conduct a media ride, we coordinated LIVE and taped television segments from the airshow to broaden the consumer reach. To ensure the key brand messages were delivered, we crafted key messaging and media trained the client spokesperson(s) to communicate the messages during all press interviews.

In addition to media coverage and to increase target audience reach and reinforce the brand, Paramount Public Relations coordinated autograph signings with the team’s pilots for interaction with consumers and fans.

THE RESULTS:

The campaign resulted in more than 1 billion impressions. National media coverage included FOX News Channel, ABC News, among others and ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX TV affiliates in media markets such as New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C./Baltimore, Cleveland, Miami, Tampa, Orlando and more.  Additional coverage included the top local market daily newspapers/online sites such as the Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Virginian Pilot, Orlando Sentinel, Newsday, among others.

In the 15 markets the GEICO Skytypers performed in, the team earned more than 50% of the share of voice among media when compared to the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and U.S.A.F. Thunderbirds performance teams.

ABOUT THE GEICO SKYTYPERS:

The GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team, the leading vintage airshow performance squadron, fly six WWII SNJ aircraft, the North American SNJ built for the Navy, the Air Forces T-6 variant. Both trainer aircraft were used to prepare pilots of “The Greatest Generation” for WWII combat. The team performs a low-level, precision-flying demonstration featuring tactics and maneuvers designed by team members who served in the United States military. In addition to their air show performances, the team “skytype” giant messages in the sky. Five aircraft fly in a line-abreast formation to produce 1,000-foot tall messages that can be seen for 15 miles in any direction. For more information, please visit www.geicoskytypers.com.

ABOUT PARAMOUNT PUBLIC RELATIONS:

Founded in 2003, Paramount Public Relations is a full-service public relations and marketing agency in Chicago that offers big-agency expertise with a boutique, entrepreneurial mindset. With every campaign, the firm makes it their goal to solve communications challenges, build brand identity and create visibility in the competitive media marketplace. The agency’s programs aggressively and creatively push client’s position to key audiences—consumers, employees, industry peers, analysts and, of course, national and local media—and they demonstrate a profound understanding of how to work with these audiences and gatekeepers. Above all, Paramount Public Relations works hard and measure their performance by the results. For more information, please visit www.paramountpr.com, call 312-544-4190 or email info@paramountpr.com.

Heinz is Taking a Special Interest in Chicagoans

America’s favorite ketchup company may have its feelings hurt over Chicagoans refusing to put the delicious condiment on their hot dogs. Whether you’re from Chicago or not, it’s no secret that according to Chicagoans ketchup just doesn’t belong on hot dogs. We love our all beef dog on a poppy seed bun with all the fixens of chopped white onions, pickled sport peppers, one large pickle spear, dash of celery salt, sweet pickle relish, tomato slices and mustard. Ketchup? No, thank you.

chicago dog

Heinz thinks it may have a more inclusive solution to incorporate a tomato based condiment for Chicago dogs. It is being very careful not to refer to this sauce as ketchup, but rather “Chicago Dog Sauce.” In honor of National Hot Dog Day, one of the many days dedicated to delicious food that the world has adopted within the past years (see post here about World Chocolate Day), Heinz went to Chicago hot dog shops and provided them with the new Chicago Dog Sauce. The locals’ reactions were positive until they found out what was really in the Chicago Dog Sauce. Watch the ad below to see how Heinz’s Chicago Dog Sauce experiment really went.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtDikj2BeSk

4 Professional Athletes with Excellent Branding

With talent comes fame and with fame comes criticism. Along with our favorite singers and actors are those men and women who play for our favorite sports teams. While many children look up to these talented individuals, they do have their flaws. Think Lamar Odom, Ray Rice, Aaron Hernandez, Tiger Woods… the list goes on. The media tends to focus on the athletes with the bad reputations rather than highlight those that are using their fame to make a positive impact. Here’s a list of four professional athletes with great branding.

  1. Jordan Spieth– While his talent has been compared to Tiger Woods, they are very different off the golf course. At just 23 years old, Spieth has already had 10 PGA Tour wins, became the face of Under Armour’s golf attire and launched his own line of golf shoes. Spieth created The Jordan Spieth Family Foundation in 2013. With his younger, special needs sister as inspiration, the foundation increases awareness and provides financial assistance for those children with special needs, military families, and youth golf.

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2. Martellus Bennett– While he is known as a professional football player, Martellus Bennett claims he doesn’t really view himself as a football player. Rather, he is a creative and an entrepreneur. Known for his funny personality, what people might not know about Bennett is that he founded his own multimedia production company, The Imagination Agency. At his company, he has written children’s books and created educational mobile games and toys. He says that he was inspired by his young daughter and wanted to create books with lead characters with features similar to her.

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3. JJ Watt– Fellow football player, JJ Watt, has a passion for giving. Shortly after signing his contract with the Texans, Watt bought his mom a brand new car. In 2010, Watt launched the Justin J. Watt Foundation. His foundation’s mission is to provide middle school-aged children with the opportunities to get involved in athletics. Watt hosts multiple events, such as the Charity Classic, to raise money for his foundation. He is also known for his efforts supporting the troops.

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4. Serena WilliamsSerena Williams will go down in history as one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. Not only has she won 72 career titles, but she won her most recent, the 2017 Australian Open, while pregnant. Although, there is much more to this woman than her athleticism. She is very involved in the fashion industry and in 2015 she became the first black female athlete to be pictured alone on the cover of Vogue and she has presented her clothing line at New York Fashion Week. In addition to this, she is a certified nail technician, has appeared on various television shows, can speak four languages, technically owns the Miami Dolphins (she’s a minority owner) and has written a book.. to name a few of her accomplishments. On top of this, she created the Serena Williams Foundation to fund a school in Kenya and provide scholarships for underprivileged students in the United States. Serena Williams is a beautiful reminder to girls everywhere that they are capable of great things.

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Uber vs. Lyft

We’ve all been there. You get in your car and drive to meet up with your friends for a drink or two. You tell yourself that you will have AT MOST two drinks and that you will be totally fine to drive home. But as the night goes on you’re having so much fun talking and laughing with your friends that two drinks turns into three and then four and then you know that there is absolutely no way that you can operate a moving vehicle. There are no cabs in your area and you have work at 8:00 am so you really can’t stay the night. This is probably the predicament that Garrett Camp had in mind when he founded Uber.

uber

Garrett Camp founded Uber in San Francisco in 2009. I’m sure we have all heard of and probably used Uber, but in case you haven’t, Uber is a transportation company connected to a smartphone app. The cars come to you and drop you off at your destination and then at the end of your trip you are automatically billed through your credit card that is linked to the app.

Since 2009, Uber has been immensely successful bringing in approximately 6.5 billion dollars. Just a few years later, Logan Green and John Zimmer decided to join the market and founded Lyft. While the companies have the same basic foundation, they do have their differences. Uber is no stranger to controversy. Throughout the years, there have been various incidents of sexual harassment and just recently the CEO stepped down.

lyft

 

However, despite its many setbacks, it seems that Uber is still on top. Recent statistics prove that Uber’s numbers are still dramatically higher that Lyft’s. Will Lyft take over or will it always be stuck in the shadow of Uber?

Just When You Thought Ice-T Couldn’t Get Any Cooler

Ice t ice

Who doesn’t love Ice-T? And to be clear I am talking about the rapper turned actor turned loving husband and father, not the delicious and refreshing beverage (which I also love). Whether you listen to his music or you watched him on Law & Order: SVU, everybody knows and loves Ice-T. He has a down to earth personality and a cool vibe about him. In this interesting article by AdWeek, Ice-T just got cooler by partnering with Sonic.

After 6,000 years of human civilization, it’s come to this: A finely detailed, life-sized ice sculpture of rapper/actor Ice-T will slowly melt, drip-drip-drip, during a live internet event. When its microphone falls the to floor, it will make winners of some lucky Sonic Drive-In fans.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners came up with the chill stunt, which will stream Tuesday on Facebook at 1 p.m. ET. The sculpture, made by David Fong of Ice Illusions in Santa Clara, Calif., will be holding a real mic, and once it drops, the first 100 users to comment will receive a limited-edition Ice-T T-shirt that changes color when frozen.

Read more by visiting AdWeek!

Avoiding The Go-To Costume

Happy Halloween Everyone!

As people start scrambling to find the perfect Halloween costume for the weekend, most people will resort to dressing up as their favorite TV show character. Molly Horan from Mashable proves that this could lead to an awkward party of four Walter Whites and instead suggests that people dress up as their favorite character did in a Halloween episode.

Whether you are a third wheel like Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother or an honorary Hogwarts Student like Liz Lemon on 30 Rock, Horan’s article shows us how to be creative this Halloween and rock a one of a kind costume.

Read and see more costume ideas here: http://mashable.com/2013/10/30/halloween-costumes-tv-characters/

6 Ways to Irritate a Journalist or Blogger and Blow Your Chance at Big Time Exposure

Journalists and bloggers are constantly receiving pitches from PR pros working to get their clients media coverage. An online mention from a respected journalist or blogger can mean big things for a client, but irritating them and losing the opportunity is extremely easy.

Christine OKelly from Dashburst recently asked a group of journalists and bloggers what people do that drives them crazy when they submit pitches or material and then compiled them into a list for the rest of the PR community to take notes from. Below are the six reasons your pitch will definitely be skipped over: Continue Reading →

Want Your Press Release Picked Up? Always Follow These Six Guidelines

photo credit: ragemonthly.com

In public relations, a single error can make or break whether or not your press release will be picked up by an editor. Mickie Kennedy of PR Daily provides six essential tips to keep in mind when writing a press release, specifically following the Associated Press grammatical guidelines:

1. Set your objective in the introduction. Set your goal at the beginning of the release. If a journalist reads the first line or two of your release and doesn’t find the objective, he’ll toss your release and move on to the next one. Continue Reading →