Heading in to 2012, traffic to MSV and engagement on its social properties were on the decline. In an effort to increase site traffic and user engagement, EMD engaged Edelman to re-launch the community, eliminate barriers to visibility and user loyalty, and to find new ways to encourage dialogue and deliver true value to Canadians living with MS.

After re-launching MSV and implementing our new digital strategy, we have more than doubled the average unique monthly visits to the website, increased the average weekly percentage of Facebook fans talking about MSV by 25%, increased user engagement with MSV on Twitter by over 550% and grown our following.

A survey of MS Village users conducted from August 1, 2012 – November 27, 2012 also found that of users who have visited the website at least 5 times:

• Over 95% found MS Village easy to use.

• Over 95% found the information easy to understand & follow.

• Over 80% were able to find what they were looking for quickly & easily.

• Over 30% were familiar with Rebif®, RebiSmart®, Interferon, or injectable DMDs used for the treatment of MS.

By re-launching and re-invigorating the community, MSV has become an even more valuable resource for patients transitioning to life with MS, and demonstrates EMD’s commitment to improving the overall quality of life for Canadians living with MS.

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Canon Day at the Toronto Zoo gave the 10,000+ visitors the chance to capture their experience with beautiful photo memories. They could visit the Canon stations throughout the zoo and borrow a Canon camera to learn how to take the best photos of the animals, family and friends with the help of Canon photo experts.

Edelman also had two pieces of 3D art designed so that visitors could have their photo taken “in” the artwork. The photos were taken by pro Canon photographers and printed onsite for free on Canon photo printers – further showcasing the capabilities of Canon products to the public.

To promote the zoo day to the public, Edelman worked with local media to publicize that if families brought a Canon camera to the zoo on that day, they received a free child’s admission.

The day was a success:

• 240 people redeemed free children’s admission coupons

• 4,000 swag bags were handed out; including product tips and information, coupons and memory cards

• CP24 promoted the event, along with 14 online outlets, generating nearly 16 million impressions

• Two influencers from the National Post and CityLine joined a private media tour where they were able to borrow Canon cameras and received one-on-one tips on photographing their children and animals at the zoo.

• Visitors gave positive feedback. One shared: “I have worked on numerous marketing projects with people but seriously, I wish I had thought of it or something similar to it.”

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To create awareness for the change, Knorr created a “Salty’s Missing” contest for consumers with its beloved salt & pepper shakers, Salty and Pep.

Consumers were encouraged to participate in the contest by purchasing specially-marked Knorr products for a chance to win prizes including Salty & Pep shaker sets and the grand prize of $25,000.

The program reached millions of consumers and became a vehicle to drive sales for Knorr in a challenged category.

Based on 2011 success, the contest was brought back again in 2012.To bring the contest to life on Facebook for the second time, and drive consumer engagement with the story, Edelman focused on compelling content that told the story of the search for Salty.

This time, the search for Salty had gone global, with the dejected salt shaker travelling worldwide.

A series of “Salty Sighting” images were released throughout the campaign to help narrate the story of the missing character, and to entice consumers to join the search.

To tie it back to the product, the team published specially-developed recipes featuring reduced sodium products based on each location Salty visited.

Edelman also launched a Salty photo application on Facebook where fans created “Salty Sightings” of their own by super imposing or photobombing Salty into their own travel photos.

The results were outstanding and far exceeded all expectations. The photo app was accessed 15,000+ times, 1,600+ user-generated photos were shared, 11,700+ new Facebook fans were acquired and the Salty Sighting photo posts generated an average of 97.4 likes and 74.5 comments each.

Using the brand’s tagline, MiO: Squirt Some, our strategy focused on three key product elements: change up your water, personalize it and it’s all about the squirt.

Understanding the popularity of extreme sports and cool trick shots with the target audience – male millennials (18-30 year-olds), we came up with the notion of extreme trick squirts, using MiO as new way to squirt fun and flavor into water and “trick it out” like never before. We then challenged global YouTube sensation and basketball trick shot pros Dude Perfect to create a series of “trick squirts” using MiO to show consumers just how radical water—and change—can be.

We partnered with Dude Perfect to create relevant, creative and engaging original video content, that Kraft didn’t own but rather lived on Dude Perfect’s channels. These videos proved to be the ideal way to increase awareness among male millennials and ensure amplification across all channels of the media.

The MiO video attracted more than 124,000 views in less than one month, and 95 percent of these viewers were males under 35. According to Nielsen consumption data, after just three months in the Canadian market, the Beverage Mix category grew 10 percent and another 9 percent the month after—driven by results from MiO.]]>

Dude Perfect, YouTube sensation and basketball trick shot pros

Dude Perfect gets ready to film their MiO Trick Squirts Edition video

Edelman quickly developed a strategic outreach program, leveraging a series of announcements to drive awareness and application submissions.

The team employed a transmedia strategy, leveraging traditional and digital media channels to spread the word about HYPERDRIVE. This included a robust media relations program to targeted online properties across North America, as well as an influencer relations program.

Under tight deadline, Edelman was able to generate significant online media coverage and successfully amplify awareness of the HYPERDRIVE launch through seven forum submissions and nine articles including top-tier coverage in the National Post and Globe and Mail. The outreach totaled 3.9 million media impressions, and Communitech received a total of 117 application submissions - exceeding the goal by 134%. ]]>

With the Eye Remember campaign, we had the opportunity to engage Canadians around glaucoma in a unique way – through an online photo contest – while at the same time providing credible, easy-to-understand information that would enable people to care for their eyes and prevent unnecessary vision loss. We also had the opportunity to educate the general public about glaucoma, and encourage Canadians to visit a free CNIB glaucoma screening clinic in their community. All of this information was on the website Edelman developed – www.eyeremember.ca and www.laprunelledemesyeux.ca.

Eye Remember involved a carefully planned and phased approach over a period of five months with a number of program components, including: glaucoma omnibus survey; contest and media launch; submission of photo entries; updated information online about free community glaucoma screening clinics and local media outreach; and finally, voting by celebrity judges and the general public on the top-five entries and announcing the winner locally.

A successful media strategy with a phased approach, coupled with survey results, effective spokespeople and an interesting contest, helped generate 217 media hits and 40,318,407 media impressions. A $0.002 cost-per-contact was also achieved, with an MRP Quality Score of 84.45 per cent. Finally, participation in the campaign exceeded expectations, with 128 national contest entries, resulting in 13,064 website visits and 4,192 votes cast.

As a result of the Eye Remember campaign, whether it was by submitting a photo, casting a vote or participating in one of CNIB’s free glaucoma screening clinics across the country, CNIB and Canadians helped raise awareness about the dangers of glaucoma – and helped many Canadians improve their vision health. Qualitatively, the campaign also raised the profile of CNIB, whose mission it is to be Canada’s leader in promoting vision health.

Despite polling that demonstrated Ontarians’ perceptions of doctors was very high, pre-launch research conducted by Edelman demonstrated that any online conversations were not reflective of the positive sentiment towards doctors by the majority of Ontarians. To address this behaviour gap, we developed Thanks Doc! — an online platform designed to collect and showcase stories about Ontarians’ interactions with their doctor.

Throughout the six-week campaign, we received individual stories from more than 450 people from all-across the province. Nearly 2,000 people also ‘liked’ the stories submitted by others, creating an engine to drive positive online discussions that reflected Ontarians’ gratefulness towards their doctors. By the end of the campaign, the size of the Ontario Medical Association’s Facebook community had more than doubled in size, and over 22,000 Ontarians were exposed to positive stories about Ontario’s doctors.]]>

In celebration of YVR’s 80th anniversary, Edelman launched Live@YVR, a contest to find someone to become the YVR Storyteller, and to live at the airport…for 80 days. Armed with a video camera, the winner shares the stories of the airport with the world via the Live@YVR online channel…in a sense, an online reality show with a message.

The campaign was initially driven by traditional media relations and social media, which ensured a strong social media fan following and audience of the Live@YVR “channel” even before the Storyteller was in place at the airport.

Edelman used traditional and online media relations to tell the company’s compelling success story to its key audiences, including investors, customers, potential customers and media. Avigilon’s multi-chapter story of fast growth (zero to $32 million in revenues in three years), proprietary Canadian technology (the world’s most powerful HD surveillance cameras), Canadian R&D and manufacturing, and expanding global operations garnered business coverage by influential media such as the Globe and Mail, National Post, Vancouver Sun, Business In Vancouver, BNN and others.

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Edelman developed and launched a community-based social marketing program consisting of a wordmark, program look-and-feel, print pieces, cart hanging tags, instructional videos, and a dedicated presence on the City’s website and Greenest City Facebook page. A multilingual outreach team was also deployed to engage residents door-to-door and at local community events with informational materials and program-branded equipment.

Measurement of the campaign’s communication tactics in different quadrants against participation and contamination rates will inform the citywide rollout of food scrap recycling and contribute to a behavior change that will help divert millions of tonnes of waste from landfills and help Vancouver reach its goal of becoming the world’s greenest city by 2020.

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