2009 Platinum PR Awards: Research & Measurement—The Coca-Cola Company & FD

Managing Ahead of the Curve

As part of the relationship between FD and the Coca-Cola Company, the two parties decided in November 2008 to launch an investor relations-focused and research-based engagement study to recalibrate investor messages within a challenging economic environment.

To gain an understanding of the investment community’s perceptions of Coca-Cola’s near- and long-term issues of concern, the team developed a Market Intelligence Research Program. Targeting 80 investors, the team conducted telephone interviews to find out their feelings on topics ranging from Coca-Cola’s investor communication efforts to its M&A strategy.

Partly as a result of the research program, stock in the Coca-Cola Company rose 7.6% on February 12, 2009, the day the company issued its fourth-quarter earnings report. This was the largest single-day gain in the company’s stock price in almost 20 years. ■

Honorable Mentions:

Pleon & Center Parcs: Pleon Performedia: Measuring the ROI of PR—Partnering with European travel agency Center Parcs, Pleon conducted a pilot study to determine the extent to which holiday bookings were affected by PR, ultimately finding that 30% of the Center Parcs’ bookings could be linked to these efforts.

KDPaine & Partners & USO: Designing and implementing the perfect measurement system—In need of a better vehicle to strengthen USO’s research capabilities, KDPaine & Partners created and implemented a robust online dashboard that could accommodate data, assessments and reports.

Ogilvy PR & FEMA: Making America FloodSmart—In order to ensure that FEMA’s campaign to increase the number of flood insurance policy holders, Ogilvy PR created a targeting model based on factors such as media use, flood risk and geography.

Ogilvy PR: Influencer Mapping—To bring structure to influencer engagement Ogilvy execs created the Influence Quotient Mapping tool, which first identifies and prioritizes influencers, develops specific engagement strategies and measures the strategy’s progress over time.

Cramer Krasselt & Meredith Publications: The Gamma Factor—To shed its “dusty” image, Meredith tapped Cramer Krasselt to conduct the “What Do Women Want” research effort, the results of which helped grow its consumer segment to 55 million women.

McDonald’s & Gagen MacDonald: Leadership Communications Effectiveness 360—Gagen MacDonald execs partnered with McDonald’s to deliver leadership communications effectiveness, strategy alignment and execution to advance the company’s progress in meeting desired business objectives.

October 26, 2009