Winner: rbb Public Relations
Campaign: M&Ms Go Hispanic
Budget: $150,000, with the majority going to professional services and about 10 percent going to media mailings and associated costs.
When M&M/Mars made the decision in 2001 to launch a candy specifically geared to the growing U.S. Hispanic market, it was tasked with getting word out about the new product
without actually having the product in hand. The media - and consumers - just ate it up.
The new M&M candy, using dulce de leche caramel - a staple of Hispanic desserts - and chocolate inside the classic M&M candy shell, would launch in the five U.S.
locales with the highest populations of Hispanics: Los Angeles, McAllen/Brownsville (Texas), Miami, San Antonio and San Diego. A possible national rollout was slated for 2003. But
in the meantime, M&M wanted to launch as quickly as possible in the Hispanic markets since McDonald's was also planning a rollout of a dulce de leche dessert, potentially
stealing M&M's thunder.
M&M worked with rbb Public Relations in Florida to leverage the trend angle of the campaign with the media. rbb's research showed how strong the Hispanic market was (about
35 million in the continental United States). The media strategy was built around the angle that M&M was responding to the trend and the power of the Hispanic market.
When food trade pubs that had seen the candy at a trade show leaked the information on the new treat to national media, rbb rushed to move up the consumer launch, beating
McDonald's to press and ensuring that the PR team - and not hungry media - was controlling the message. The earlier launch meant the team had to go to the press with no product
available. It didn't seem to matter, however.
"We reached out to print media first," says Tina Elmowitz, EVP and partner with rbb. "The visual is not as important there." The campaign kicked off with two simultaneous
exclusives in a West Coast daily (The Los Angeles Times) and an East Coast daily (The Miami Herald). From there, the story grew, garnering coverage in other important outlets.
"Some of the broadcast outlets didn't even mind that we didn't have product," Elmowitz says. They simply ran footage of classic M&Ms.
The campaign won more than 211 million media impressions nationwide, and M&M officials declared it the most successful product rollout to date. Although M&M/Mars does
not share sales figures, rbb says after one week of sales, all stores had to be restocked, and orders for the dulce candies continue to pile in. (Elmowitz, 305/448-7459)