It's occurred to many companies recently that placing their products into schools is a great way to promote visibility of their product and develop brand loyalty among teachers and kids. It's also an excellent way for corporations to gain positive media coverage in the educational setting -- coverage that helps to position the company as a generous and concerned corporate citizen. (See PRN, 12/8/97, 10/20/97, 10/6/97, 9/8/97, 8/25/97)
Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Canon Computer Systems, Inc. (CCSI) pursued that route in its recent "Create A Card for the First Lady Tour," that ran from Sept. 15 to Oct. 26, 1997. After its 19-city nationwide van tour introduced kids to its new Photo Bubble Jet printer, software and digital cameras, they created birthday cards for the First Lady. The tour planned on having kids personally present Hillary Clinton with the birthday cards they had created using Canon's products at its conclusion.
Though Mrs. Clinton ultimately declined to accept the cards in person, the linkage between kids making birthday cards on the computer for her high-profile birthday caught the eye of the media in almost every city the tour stopped in. (The firm did arrange for a photo op with kids holding mailbags full of the cards, standing in front of the White House, and later on mailed the cards to her.) Mrs. Clinton's unexpected no-show was a disappointment but did not derail the campaign.
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Canon Computer Systems
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"The timing [of running the tour and leading up to Mrs. Clinton's birthday] couldn't have been better," says Jennifer Boggs, senior account executive at the Los Angeles office of Golin/Harris, the PR firm that planned and executed the tour. "I don't think the media would have come out to watch kids making birthday cards for their mothers. This gave them a timely hook."
Early Planning, Coordination Essential
After discussing with Canon the possibility of using a van tour, Golin/Harris received the green light to proceed with the project in early August -- and had just four to six weeks to plan it. Luckily, the firm conducts van tours for other clients, such as Nintendo, and "executing a tour has become like clockwork," says Boggs. Golin/Harris also has conducted two previous van tours for Canon, touting other products.
A team of six Golin/Harris staffers divided up the responsibilities; one staffer handled contacting schools, while each staffer took on calling the media in two or three different markets a few days in advance of the van arriving in that city. Also, the L.A.-based team took advantage of its sister offices in cities the tour would be stopping in to help them get to the right media contacts.
Logistically, the driver took the van to a city, and then one or two staffers from Golin/ Harris flew to meet the van. On a few occasions, when the van made stops in cities with a Canon facility, a PR staffer from Canon met the tour as well.
"We worked closely with Canon on planning the tour, but once it got going, they looked to us to execute and take control of it," says Boggs.
The tour kicked off at an elementary school near CCSI and then visited major cities in almost every region of the country. And, characteristic of the best in-school promotion programs, the company left something behind in each school it visited. As part of the tour, Canon donated $50,000 in printer equipment; each school received several Bubble Jet printers as a gift.
"We chose to make this donation to the schools because we recognize that education budgets often limit the amount of computer equipment purchased for students, and we want children to be able to print out what they create," says Peter Bergman, VP, marketing and customer care, CCSI. "The tour presents an enriching, educational and fun opportunity to teach children useful computer applications."
Tours of this kind not only introduce a company's product in a personal and grass-roots way to consumers, but (if a tour is well-conceived and executed) garner lots of priceless media coverage. Golin/Harris says that the Canon tour garnered more than 11 million impressions, including coverage on major network affiliates in each city. Both NBC-TV and ABC-TV in Los Angeles covered the story; the story also was picked up and ran in newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Boston Herald and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"Compared to paying for every one to two minute segment we had on TV, the tour is probably far cheaper [than actually purchasing a TV ad spot]," says Boggs.
The cost of the tour was approximately $175,000, including a driver, hotel and travel expenses, repairs to the van and the firm's fee. (Jennifer Boggs, Golin/Harris, 213/623-4200; Sheri Snelling, Peter Bergman, Canon, 714/438-3075)