Company: Yum Brands
Agency: Weber Shandwick
Timeframe: 2007
More than 850 million people go to bed hungry, which accounts for more deaths each year than war, tuberculosis and AIDS combined. Put plainly, a child dies every five seconds
somewhere from hunger. There is no question that hunger is a serious issue; last year, it became the focus of a global initiative launched by Yum! Brands, parent of KFC, Pizza
Hut, Long John Silver's and Taco Bell.
Partnering with the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), a leading humanitarian agency that feeds 58 million hungry children in 80 of the world's most impoverished communities,
Yum! execs sought to raise awareness of the hunger crisis by mobilizing nearly 1 million employees and family members companywide to raise funds from the 125 million weekly
customers who patronize their brands. During the week of Oct. 14-20, 2007, their efforts to stop world hunger became known as "World Hunger Relief Week" (WHRW).
Beyond The Point Of Purchase
Planning for WHRW began in early 2007. As KFC's agency of record for about four years, Weber Shandwick had already developed a solid working relationship with the Yum! brand.
Noting that all the sub-brands, including Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, were doing their own outreach related to the effort, agency executives examined and researched Yum!'s
philanthropic/CSR-related programs.
This was a crucial preliminary step because, according to Michael Schiferl, the agency's SVP and director of media relations, "Yum! made a decision not to tie the sale of a
product to what a customer had to do to help."
After reading criticism of programs in which product sales were tied in with proceeds for philanthropic efforts, the Yum! team opted not to follow that model, which it felt was
self-aggrandizing. The team wanted the WHRW program to be about elevating awareness of hunger as a serious global issue. It was also decided that WFP should be given latitude as
to where the money should be distributed because it was more familiar with which areas were most in need.
Awareness = Change
The idea behind the program was that the more awareness it generated, the more lives would be saved.
"Since last year, the market forces have raised the issue to a much larger platform," says Schiferl, explaining the media's heightened interest in this issue. "But when we were
planning for it--despite the fact that hunger is the leading cause of death--it's something the media wasn't paying attention to."
With hunger not being on the radar at the inception of planning, the project team had its work cut out. So, to reach audiences across the globe, Weber Shandwick targeted
various media segments, such as sports and business, that might be pertinent in terms of celebrity spokespersons or outreach areas.
"We wanted to drive the news wide and deep," says Amy Sherwood, Yum! Brands' VP of public relations and consumer affairs. "Targeting different slices of the news pie was
critical."
Think Local, Act Global
Because the campaign was organized as a global effort at the grassroots level, it was important that media outreach in all areas of the world be specific to its local market.
This enabled franchisees in far-flung corners of the world to get the word out within their communities.
"We wanted to make sure that what we were doing was in the cultural context of what people around the world are talking about," Schiferl says. "The program was meant to [use] a
broad, overarching strategy."
Aside from raising awareness of hunger as a world issue, it was also designed to encourage volunteerism, and to raise money and funds for the WFP or local food efforts.
"On the surface it seems simplistic, but when you're talking about a million employees and media outreach conducted in multiple languages, the logistics are complex," says
Schiferl. "There were a lot of moving parts. With one country, it may not work, whereas in another it might. It all pertains to how hunger is or is not addressed in that country."
Also, Yum! as a brand is better known in some countries than in others.
Timing Is Everything
The selection of the particular week for WHRW was strategic. The week in October coincided with the 10th anniversary of Yum! Brands, as well as with the Oct. 9 publication of
company CEO David Novak's book The Education of an Accidental CEO: Lessons Learned From the Trailer Park to the Corner Office (Crown Business). Proceeds from the book would
go to the WHRW effort.
"David Novak is very personally committed to hunger as an issue," says Schiferl, noting that prior to WHRW, Yum! had been involved in the effort to alleviate hunger, but never
on the world stage.
To prepare themselves for this program, Yum! executives "literally traveled across the world where hunger is really an issue and saw firsthand what was happening," continues
Schiferl.
"Our chairman dared us to think about what we can do that would galvanize the world [when it comes to hunger] and also unite us," Sherwood says. "If you look at the statistics,
they are sobering. It's equivalent to 37 747 airplanes filled with children crashing every day. It's the worst point it's ever been in history."
Climbing And Running For World Hunger
To raise awareness and money for WHRW, Yum! Brands staffers employed inventive tactics. Highlights were the following:
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On Oct. 15, 2007, Novak, along with hundreds of other Yum! employees, kicked off WHRW and marked the company's 10th anniversary with a virtual ringing of the New York
Stock Exchange opening bell from Louisville, Ky.; afterward, Novak and the rest of Yum!'s executive team served hot lunches to the hungry at a local food bank;
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KFC South Africa launched WHRW with a "Spread a Smile" campaign throughout its 470 stores. "Spread a Smile" badges, posters and fliers were deployed in restaurants to
generate interest in hunger relief for the WFP;
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Pizza Hut employees in the U.K. climbed Wales' highest mountain as part of a leadership fundraiser and netted $9,000 for WFP; and,
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Yum! Brands' CMO Micky Pant ran the 26-mile Flora London marathon as a fund and awareness raiser for the WHRW, collecting $15,000 in donations.
The events didn't end there. In the U.S., KFC's fabled Colonel character took a cross-country "Honk for Hunger" road trip, visiting cities that included New York, Las Vegas and
Los Angeles. Each time someone honked when seeing the Colonel during his seven-day tour, Yum! donated $1 to Friends of the WFP; the tour elicited about 25,000 honks.
Volunteerism was also an important underpinning of the campaign. This was illustrated by the many events volunteers participated in to raise funds for the initiative: car
washes in London and Canada, handbag and art auctions, bake sales and canned food drive efforts in the U.S. and text messaging fundraising challenges in South Africa. Imbued with
purpose and drive, Yum! employees traveled far and wide to places like Guatemala to deliver relief supplies. According to Sherwood, the overall volunteer effort clocked in at
close to 4 million hours.
Celebrities were also recruited to the effort to raise awareness and funds for WHRW. Actor Mario Lopez, reality TV stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt (of MTV's The
Hills), the Detroit Lions' Roy Williams and Disney teen sensation Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) were among the volunteers. Lopez worked alongside KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco
Bell associates at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, while Montag and Pratt challenged Taco Bell customers to join the cause at a World Hunger "Reality Check" in Los Angeles.
Sports star Williams delivered Pizza Hut pizzas--donating his tips and $5,000 of his own money to the cause.
Emmy Award-winning composer Peter Buffett (Dances With Wolves, Spirit--The Seventh Fire) composed a song and created a music video that captured his experiences
in West Africa to raise awareness for hunger relief.
Logging Hours Online
The project team created a Web site (http://www.fromhungertohope.com)
to accompany the initiative. Two months after the WHRW, more than 10 million
users from 183 countries had visited the site.
"Online was such a big component of the program," says Schiferl. "We knew it was easier to spread the word there and for people to send in donations. We encouraged employees to
post online what they were doing in their part of world."
To accentuate the international aspects of the campaign, ads, PSAs and in-store materials raising awareness about global hunger were created in multiple languages and
distributed across several media platforms worldwide. Media outlets were given access to Internet press kits that included "culturally relevant images."
Overall, 35,000 company and franchised restaurants in 112 countries participated in the campaign, generating $16 million. However, according to Sherwood, the total value of
monetary donations, food donations, awareness campaigns that includes PR, in-store point-of-sale items, PSAs, volunteer hours and advertising totaled $187 million.
WHRW was a rallying point for all involved. "It was such a great bonding experience," says Sherwood. "One of the things that came out of it was that we heard from our
restaurant employees how proud they were to be involved in such a program on a global scale. It brought us all together with the same intent to make a difference."
After the WHRW initiative, a post-mortem session was held in which members of the project team analyzed the program from a tactical point of view. The feedback that was
elicited from this meeting will be used as best practices for this year's effort which, according to Schiferl, will be held in September prior to the November U.S. presidential
election. PRN
CONTACTS:
Michael Schiferl, [email protected], Amy Sherwood, [email protected]
Lingua Franca Of PR
Michael Schiferl, SVP and director of media relations of Weber Shandwick, absorbed several lessons while working on the global, far-reaching World Hunger Relief Week project.
"Being culturally relevant is key," he says. "You couldn't have one formula when you're talking about a truly global program. You have to allow people to have their
localization."
Also, with Yum! not being familiar to many people outside of the business world, "we had to be very brand specific so people would know which restaurants and markets we were
talking about."