1999 Platinum PR Honorable Mention
The Case (of Bubbly)
Staffers at Korbel Champagne Cellars knew the 2000 New Year's Eve celebration would constitute the richest PR opportunity they'd see in their lifetimes. In 1995, they amassed
a "synergy" team of ad, marketing and PR executives - including agency of record Edelman PR Worldwide - and set out to make Korbel the most visible champagne brand at the turn of
the millennium. The PR budget alone was a cool $2.5 million.
Taste Tests
Research provided an early sobriety check. The winery commissioned third-party quantitative Internet surveys and qualitative focus groups in 1997 and 1998 to gauge attitudes
about the millennium and to shape its marcom strategy. And the results showed that the brand was on the right track:
- Champagne (specifically Korbel) was the most logical sponsor for millennium celebrations.
- Millennium celebration sponsors were expected to announce their roles at least a year in advance.
- Watching the ball drop in Times Square and making champagne toasts were the activities most frequently associated with New Year's Eve.
- New Year's Eve 2000 was considered a major milestone, in which people wanted to take part.
No Time Like the Present
In 1997, Korbel announced it would become the first global sponsor of the Times Square 2000 celebration and trademarked the phrase, "Official Champagne of the Millennium." But
rather than waiting until Dec. 31, 1999 to quench consumers' thirst, Korbel's team devised a year-long campaign designed to build brand awareness and loyalty among established and
potential champagne drinkers. The plan: a Millennium Practice Party Tour would make the rounds in major U.S. cities, offering consumers the chance to sample Korbel's product and
practice their toasts before the final hour. The objectives:
- To encourage champagne/sparkling wine consumption and increase sales.
- To lead the category in talking to media and consumers, thereby generating positive awareness of the Korbel brand.
- To differentiate Korbel from other companies in the champagne category, which was suffering an overall decline.
- To generate 1 billion media impressions.
Practice Makes Perfect
At the start of 1999, Korbel began a 365-day countdown. To kick off its Millennium Practice Party Tour, the company unveiled the world's largest champagne bottle - a five-
foot-tall, 372-pound icon, certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. The Korbel Millennium Mobile (which carried the monster bottle from city to city)
transformed into a stage featuring a nine-monitor video wall and New York City skyline backdrops. The tour was originally scheduled to hit 25 markets, but ended up making more
than 40 stops. Consumers attending each event participated in a practice "countdown to noon" and watched a video, themed "2000 Moments in Time." They also were encouraged to
share their attitudes and opinions about the millennium via interactive touch-screen kiosks, and to sign an archival, millennium-sized toast book.
Korbel also identified a radio partner in each market, arranging for on-air personalities to emcee the events and promote the Ultimate Millennium Toast Contest. Mayors in 13
cities proclaimed a "Millennium Practice Party Day" in recognition of the event - a coup for an alcoholic beverage company.
Excitement Reaches Frenzy
To bolster its momentum, Korbel scheduled satellite radio tours exactly six months and 100 days before the millennium celebration, hitting time markers that would likely spark
media interest. The first tour focused on party preparation, while the second tour shared the results of an August 1999 survey gauging America's attitudes about life heading into
the new millennium.
In the week leading up to Dec. 31, the team issued an audio news release offering toasting tips and distributed b-roll covering champagne storage and serving advice. Other
activities included a satellite radio tour from the heart of Times Square, a national mailing announcing the winners of the toast contest, a mailing to television stations
offering "toast hotline" information and a media pitching blitz reinforcing Korbel's "official" status. On New Year's Eve, team members (by that time, old pros) raised their
glasses with thousands of people in Times Square.
Grand Finale
More than 15,000 consumers attended Korbel's practice events nationwide, and the team exceeded its media goals, generating more than 1.3 billion impressions. Korbel sales and
revenue exceeded all other champagnes during the month of December 1999, and beat out table wines for the first time ever, realizing a 22% sales increase over the course of the
12-month promotion. In fact, the winery produced to capacity (an additional 200,000 cases) in preparation for New Year's Eve, and completely sold out.
(Korbel, Margie Healy, 707/824-7715; Edelman Chicago, Susan Peters, 312/297-7429)
When Drinks Are In Order
The world's largest champagne bottle was never designed to be removed from the Millennium Mobile. But what the media wants, the media gets. Edelman staffers had to hire a
forklift operator to move the 372-pound bottle onto the sets of "The Today Show" and "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee." (It was worth it.)
Edelman Worldwide
Founded: 1952
HQ Offices: Chicago, New York
Total Offices: 38
Employees: 1,800
Fees (1999): $175 million
Clients: Allstate, Bayer Animal Health, DuPont Pharmaceuticals, Kraft, S.C. Johnson
How they celebrated the end of the campaign Jan. 2: Slept.