Buena Vista Home Video, the company charged with overseeing the marketing, sales and promotion of the video release of Disney's "101 Dalmatians," was dogged with the challenge of spreading the word about something that had already saturated the consumer market.
"Our challenge and strategy was to recreate a major campaign surrounding the release of the video for a property that had already received an enormous amount of attention," recalled Marcelle Abraham, executive director of PR for the Burbank, Calif., company. "We knew we had to do something extraordinary to get the media's attention."
Even though Disney execs aren't willing to reveal how much the PR surrounding the April 15 release of the video cost, it's probable that a campaign like this can run into the hundreds of thousands.
In fact, a core group of Buena Vista staffers (the company won't say how many) were tossing around ways they would use to reach the public and the press six months before the video premiere, around the time the movie was first released.
During that time, research and cost analysis was conducted to find what methods would be most effective to reach its target groups: moms with kids and the media.
In the end, what Buena Vista came up with was an event that attracted between 3,000 to 5,000 attendees and resulted in coverage on CNN and "Entertainment Tonight" and netted two Associated Press photos and more than 115 electronic stories in the top 75 markets, including Los Angeles and New York, based on a B-roll news package sent via satellite.
And here's the pet PR strategy it used:
On Saturday, April 12, 1997, Central Park in New York became the stage for a Dog Party and 1.01 Fun Walk, the largest ever organized gathering for dog lovers worldwide.
From a visual perspective, it gave the press just what they look for: images that would captivate the public long after the event was over. Just imagine a New Yorker, her dog dressed up in a 101 Dalmatian pet costume, standing alongside more-than-30-foot blowups of pet stars Pongo and Perdy -- and you get the gist.
"I think we felt it was well-received," said Abraham, "simply based on the media coverage we had --I knew I wanted national and local media and I believed we had a great idea that would drive the media."
At Central Park, a location that was selected because it is a cultural icon that "transcends New York and has national appeal," the site also became a location where Disney's politically correct, '90s family side could shine.
Informational booths featured Yuppie Puppy Pet Care, The New York Humane Society, the National Dog Registry and Holistic Veterinary Care. And Nestle provided Alpo giveaway bags.
Dan Cough, manager of special events for Buena Vista, said he thinks the event worked because it came together so fluidly, given that event logistics -- from handling security to making it an open party for any dog and his/her "human pet" -- were fairly involved. Cough oversees anywhere from 15 to 30 events (including press screenings and characters' store appearances to full-blown galas) for video releases every year.
"I think it was successful because it was so incredibly unique," Cough added. "We were able to reach our core audience with an event that revolved around dogs. It was a beautiful sight."
To publicize the event, Buena Vista had placed a full-page ad in the New York Times two weeks before the dog party and had sent invitations to more than 5,000 dog owners in New York through the help of a mailing list it bought. It also gave away more than 1,000 T-shirts to those who arrived first.
But it wouldn't be fair to limit the PR campaign, which generated more than 500 million impressions, to just a party. Buena Vista had used some earlier PR tactics that set the stage for the Central Park event.
For the International Toy Fair, which was held in New York in February, the "101 Dalmatians" character Cruella DeVil, with puppies and her two henchmen in tow, made appearances, which were filmed and distributed to the media, throughout Manhattan.
A segment (which Abraham called a coup) with Katie Couric from "The Today Show" was filmed on the first day of the fair; Cruella made an appearance at Mattel [MAT] (to plug toys linked to 101 Dalmatians) and Cruella swept into the Toy Fair to trigger trade interest.
"We can't just put the movie in a box and put it out there," said Abraham. "We have to recreate a retail phenomenon. Because movies are all so different [from one another], each PR campaign warrants a unique kind of thinking that has to pay out in media results. In the end, this campaign gave us a lot of exposure." (Buena Vista, Marcelle Abraham, 818/295-4600; Dan Cough, 818/295-4634)