Winner: Hard Rock International & Coyne PR
Campaign: Hard Rock Launches Rocktober Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign
For eight years, Hard Rock International has mounted a Rocktober campaign, aimed at raising awareness and funds for breast cancer research in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness
Month. Through this month-long initiative, Hard Rock has raised millions for the fight against breast cancer.
Rock On
Last year Hard Rock International joined forces with Coyne PR to create a multifaceted program for the Rocktober campaign. Seeking to highlight The Breast Cancer Research
Foundation as an organization striving to find a cure for breast cancer while working to gain maximum media exposure, Hard Rock Cafes around the world hosted live music events
throughout October, which featured well-known artists such as singer/songwriter and breast cancer survivor Melissa Etheridge (see photo). In addition to proceeds going to The
Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Hard Rock created a Rocktober Pin and offered specialty Pink Drinks in collaboration with Bacardi.
Using Etheridge as a celebrity spokesperson, Coyne PR secured one-on-one interviews with major media outlets in late September 2007 to kick off Rocktober. Coyne also targeted
all local and national media to cover the event, which included a star-studded "pink carpet" appearance by former Vice President (and Nobel Prize Winner) Al Gore, who attended
with his wife, Tipper.
Coyne also was charged with publicizing each of the 70-plus Rocktober events, which included creating media alerts for each and notifying local media to maximize coverage.
The budget for the overall initiative was $30,000.
Standing Out
One of the main challenges for this project was having it "stand out in a market cluttered with branded Breast Cancer Awareness products," says Kristen Hauser, assistant
account executive of Coyne PR. Another was making sure that each Rocktober event "received ample public relations support."
The ROI of a job well done included the following:
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More than 500 million consumer impressions to date;
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Placements in top media outlets, such as USA Today Online, US Weekly, Star Magazine, People Magazine and Rolling Stone;
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Hard Rock's 2007 Rocktober Pin sold out in less than a month;
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Hard Rock sold more than 30,000 Pink Drinks in five weeks--up 40% from Hard Rock's initial sales projections; and
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More than $220,000 was raised for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.