Suppose you are Brian Maloney, a founder of New York PR shop Maloney & Fox. Now suppose software giant Microsoft asks you to publicize the relaunch of its Internet
services, MSN and MSN Explorer. Yours is a small shop - just 12 employees - but Microsoft wants big things, and it wants them fast.
In the fall of 2000, Maloney faced just that situation. The firm was given a fabulous budget - $800,000 - but had just three weeks in which to produce an equally spectacular
campaign.
On the plus side, Maloney did not have to go it alone. The online organization Communicator E was already managing a huge online sweepstakes in support of the launch. Waggener
Edstrom had a media-relations effort in place, and GCTV was working with the broadcast media. "We stepped in, looked at all three of these major elements that were going on, and
had to find a way to tie it all together in a seamless launch," says Maloney.
Thinking On the Fly
Playing off the Microsoft butterfly logo, Maloney and his team came up with the "B-FLY Bladers," 125 butterfly-costumed rollerbladers in 16 cities. The B-FLY Bladers were meant
"to give MSN a contemporary, upbeat, interesting way to position themselves versus AOL," says Maloney. "'Be free, do things differently on MSN.' It gave everyone a position and a
message strategy to link all of [the separate campaign elements] together."
The plan for the stunt was simple. The unbranded B-FLY Bladers would hit the streets to build anticipation in advance of the product launch. On the day of the launch, the
bladers would identify themselves with branded sashes and flags and would hand out branded software, hats, t-shirts, magnets, temporary tattoos and sweepstakes entries. While the
plan was simple, implementation was another story.
"As we began to get our heads around 'Operation B-FLY,' we realized that we'd created a project of monumental logistical proportions," Maloney recalls. The stunt would require
dozens of van drivers and on-site representatives in more than a dozen cities. The skaters would need costumes, meals, insurance, travel arrangements and media support.
To get the job done, "we looked at the big immediate chunks we needed to solve, and then we divided and conquered," Maloney recalls. One PR team identified the skaters in each
market and took care of having the costumes made. A program manager coordinated with the teams at the other PR firms. A graphics team generated 800,000 promotional cards for use
in restaurants. A lone staffer coordinated the vans that would be needed.
To keep everyone on the same page, "we would have morning meetings where we would lay out all the immediate challenges for that day, and also forecast what we thought the next
day's challenges would be," says Maloney. At the end of each day, he would update the client on the status.
To pull off the event within budget, the PR team recruited friends and family to help out in each of the target cities. "We needed them to make sure costumes were in the
hotels, food was in the van," says Maloney.
Lessons Learned
The B-FLY event went as planned - but that's not to say that it went off without a hitch.
Planners forgot to take into account the differences in climate around the nation, and as a result "our Miami folks did get a pretty good, sweaty workout," says Maloney.
It might have helped, too, if the PR team had more details in place before they started recruiting skaters. "They would say - 'Where do you want us and when do you want us?' -
and we just didn't know," he recalls.
The event also had a small run-in with the law, when a skater ducked into Central Park to use a restroom and was promptly ticketed for "unlawful promotion."
The Payoff
The stunt drew print and broadcast coverage in all 16 markets, as well as coverage in national outlets like the Associated Press, the "Today" show, and even The Weather
Channel. Microsoft says 900,000 downloads of the new MSN occurred in the immediate aftermath of the stunt.
"I actually had people call me to ask whether I had anything to do with these butterfly people," recalls Amanda Casemore, marketing product manager at Microsoft. "There clearly
was buzz."
(Contacts: Brian Maloney, 212/243-2000, http://www.maloneyfox.com; Amanda Casemore, 425/706-7533, [email protected])
Agency Stats
Maloney & Fox, LLC
Founded: 1997
HQ: New York City
Employees: about 12
Staff on the campaign:
Lois "Aunt Lo" Kempler
Jilliann Teets
Denise Tate
David Kornhaber
Betty Woodward
Duval Hopkins
Pamela Adkins
Ellen Werther
Sheryl Hillman
Audrey Cohen
Margie Fox
Brian Maloney
URL: http://www.maloneyfox.com
Campaign Stats
Timeframe: Oct. 22-27, 2000
Budget: more than $800,000
Details, Details
Maloney & Fox's forethought for the campaign included every detail, including providing van drivers rolls of quarters for parking meters. Maloney describes the campaingn
as "an unforgettable three-week odyssey of endless nights, cold coffee and Oreos."