When the Kleenex brand began to put together it's Olympic marketing budget two years ago the tissue paper company initially considered running an ad campaign that would tie its
products to the Summer Games, which kick off this Friday in Athens, Greece (and run through August 29). But the company wiped that idea from the slate and decided to instead
devote all of its communication dollars to PR.
Is Kleenex blowing it? Hardly. As the Summer Games get underway, emotion will run high throughout the two and a half week competition, as yet-unknown athletes, through
brilliant or bizarre feats, become household names virtually overnight.
With this in mind Kleenex will have its "Kleenex Moments" to show the world. Here's how the campaign works: each day of competition editors at nbcolympics.com will scour the
Games to find (and shoot digitally) three "Kleenex Moments" that will be downloaded onto the Web site. Viewers will be invited to vote each day for the best Kleenex Moment on an
"emotional" page link that Kleenex will have banner ads posted on. And during the course of the Games, three athletes will help to plug Kleenex Moments.
"What we're trying to execute here is to capture real-time images and the key word is real-time," says Mary Goggans, associate marketing director for Kleenex. "With advertising
there's no way to turn the story around as quickly as it could be with PR." She adds that bonding emotionally with athletes can, if executed properly, put brands in a favorable
light. "Consumers are engaged in the Games but want to know what's behind those medals. Our brand wants to be a part of that and help congratulate the athletes."
Ann Wool, senior VP of the Ketchum Sports Network, who works with several major brands on the Olympics PR, including 24 Hour Fitness in addition to Kleenex, stresses that any
company planning an Olympics-related campaign must make sure to have PR strategically in place from the get-go, which could be years before the actual Games. "One of the key ways
to get your message out is to tell a story through the media," she says. "Paid advertising is fine, but you have 15,000 journalists covering the Games and you can't afford to miss
that opportunity" by short shrifting your PR budget.
The Kleenex brand hopes to take "ownership" of the emotional moments that are sure to take place during the Games. Similarly, 24 Hour Fitness in May announced its "Commitment
to Athletes" and "Team 24 Hour Fitness" programs. The former provides financial and training support to athletes who have trained for the Games while the ladder has a variety of
U.S. Olympic athletes (vying for the medal in Athens) who will lend their support as well as provide personal appearances for the health club chain's PR.
Both programs help to "differentiate us in our industry," says Kevin Steele, VP, sports marketing for San Ramon, Calif.-based 24 Hour Fitness, which has 3 million members
nationwide and 320 facilities throughout the country (with 25 more scheduled to open this year). "It adds to our credibility with members and potential members by stating we are
the exclusive provider of fitness training to Olympic athletes. Consumers might think, 'If it's good enough for Olympic athletes, it's good enough for me.'"
Leading up to the Games, Steele's PR team has been pitching health club trades, as well as local TV and radio stations, about the athletic sponsorships. During the Games 24
Hour Fitness will help to equip the High Performance Center for the U.S. Olympic athletes. And looking toward the '06 Winter Games and '08 Summer Games, 24 Hour Fitness has
already upgraded the Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo., and is planning to refurbish OTC facilities in Chula Vista, Calif., and Lake Placid, N.Y. The
various sponsorships are a "huge advantage to us," Steele says.
Indeed, scoring PR returns on the Olympics requires a long-term commitment. Visa U.S.A., for example, has been an official Olympic sponsor dating back to the Calgary Winter
Games in 1988. Members of Visa's Olympic "Task Force," including PR, advertising, promotions, marketing and online marketing reps, start to huddle at least two years before
competition starts to create a comprehensive plan. Integration "helps the process of getting buy-in from senior management," says Joe Carberry, VP/corporate relations at Visa
U.S.A., "and helps facilitate the best thinking." There are three components to Visa U.S.A.'s Olympic PR:
- A "network effect" with Visa's 14,000 member banks. For Athens, 213 of the banks -- including the top 12 in terms of volume - are tapping into Visa's various Olympic
sponsorships to cross-pollinate with their own brands, including in-store signage, direct mail and national promotions. - A full-court press on media relations to generate stories on the Olympic athletes (there have been about 100 news stories to date) and working National Governing Bodies (for
each competition) in order to work with athletes throughout a long period. - Working with advertising department to provide PR support for ads that'll be running throughout the Games.
In the case of the Olympics, "We don't view PR as a stand-alone," Carberry says, "but inclusive to a long-term approach to marketing."
Contacts: Joe Carberry, 415.932.2164, jcarberr@visa.com; Mary Goggans, 920.721.5899, mgoggans@kcc.com; Kevin Steele, 925.543. 3176, ksteele@24HourFit.com; Ann Wool, 646.935.4127, ann.wool@ketchum.com