It was a textbook worst-case scenario and a corporate nightmare.
Last October, a third grade class in a small North Carolina town had counted the chocolate chips in an 18-ounce bag of Nabisco Biscuit Company's [NA] Chips Ahoy cookies and came up with only 600 chips -- 400 short of the number promised on the package.
Worse, the counting activity had been part of a classroom exploration of truth in advertising in corporate America -- and had happened just days before Nabisco was set to launch a national kids contest.
When the chip count came in low, the classroom from Wadesboro Elementary School sprang into action. They wrote 130 letters to the company that were forwarded to James Post, Nabisco's president, accusing the company of false advertising and lying to them.
Not only did Nabisco respond immediately, they unexpectedly received local press coverage -- which they quickly converted into extensive national press coverage.
The company's response is indicative of how an apparent crisis in communication can be turned to a company's advantage -- by facing rather than running from the challenge.
What Nabisco proposed was to count a bag of cookies in front of the entire third grade at Wadesboro Elementary School -- and the media -- and quash the allegations of misleading advertising.
"The news media felt it was good copy regardless of how it turned out," says John Manfredi, executive VP of corporate affairs at Nabisco. "We were confident enough to take a big risk in front of the networks and let the chips fall where they may."
And the chips fell correctly -- and garnered more than 109 million impressions.
Letting The Chips Fall
Despite Nabisco's size (sales in '96, $8.9 billion) it moved nimbly, contacting the school almost immediately when it received the kids letters.
"We called to find out what their [counting] methodology had been, and realized that they had only counted the chips on the outside of the cookies," says Ann Smith, director of marketing communications, Nabisco. "We said we'd love to come down there and show the kids how to do it properly."
Execs at Nabisco were not entirely surprised that the students had called their bluff.
"We look for opportunities to bring visibility to our products," says Manfredi. "One of the reasons why we made the 1,000-chip claim is that it would bring incredulity on the part of the consumer.
"The fact that they called us to question us was consistent with our strategy and provided us an opportunity" to promote the product.
On Jan. 6, a Nabisco team, consisting of "cookie technician" Jessica Aronofsk, associate brand manager Cassie Hallberg and Smith went down to Wadesboro and purchased cookies locally, so no one could accuse the company of bringing a bag that had been "fixed" from corporate headquarters.
In preparation for the counting event, Nabisco, assisted by its PR firm, Manning Selvage and Lee/New York, sent out a media alert inviting Wadesboro and North Carolina media. It was picked up by the Raleigh, N.C. Associated Press desk.
"They saw it as a David and Goliath story and put it on the AP as a teaser," says Manfredi. "All of a sudden everybody knew about it. Radio stations all over the country were calling."
After generating hits with the AP and the local ABC-TV station in Charlotte, the Nabisco team used this coverage to interest the national media to cover the count on Jan. 7.
The national ABC news desk and CNN were alerted and they were provided footage from the Charlotte ABC station. This footage ran the night of Jan. 6, requiring the media to cover the counting event at the school the next day in order to follow the story to its conclusion.
"I said, 'Wait a minute, I don't even have a press release,' " recounts Smith. "The media just took the story and ran with it."
One, Two, Three...
The next day, before the counting began, the team conducted a bit of kid-friendly PR by running a Q&A session, a math lesson and sharing some fun facts connected with making the cookies for the entire third grade.
They also took the opportunity to show the kids new Chips Ahoy commercials and some footage that showed how the cookies were made.
The team then demonstrated the "cold water method" of counting by pouring cold water over the chips, which melted the dough away from the cookies. With TV cameras running, more than 1,000 chips -- 1,181 to be exact -- were counted in one bag of cookies.
National media coverage included "ABC World News Tonight," "NBC Nightly News," "CBS This Morning," "The Today Show," "FOX News Channel," CNN, MSNBC, "Good Day New York," New York Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous radio placements.
The coverage made an impact on the bottom line as well. Nabisco reported a 19% jump in sales in the four-week period following the event. (John Manfredi, Ann Smith, Nabisco, 201/682-7149)