PR News Case Study: CNN Event Marketing Teams Hit the Road
Posted on Wed, May 05, 2010
March 22, 2010
Company: CNN
Agency: Pro Motion
Timeframe: 2008
The latter half of 2008 was a special time in U.S. history. The nation’s first African-American Democratic presidential nominee was running neck and neck with an experienced Republican candidate, and history was in the making. The pressure on both Barack Obama and John McCain was intense.
Nearly as intense, however, was the battle between the leading television networks to win the election ratings war. The presidential election had become a worldwide affair, as a curious and engaged public watched and waited to see who would win. It was a time when perennial election night ratings leader CNN knew it had to pull out all the stops to maintain its dominance in the broadcast race to election night.
Recognizing the public passion generated by the close campaign and the desire of citizens to take part in the political process, CNN decided to take its campaign to the people as well. Direct, face-to-face engagement with the voting public would, in a sense, mirror the presidential campaign—criss-crossing the nation, traveling thousands of miles and meeting thousands of people who would share their thoughts, feelings and impressions of the candidates.
“The nation was politically divided, and we couldn’t ignore that,” says April Andrews, publicist at CNN. “We wanted to have a two-way conversation on the ground, giving the public a real voice.” To enable this conversation, Atlanta-based CNN turned to a communications platform that might not have the sexiness of social media, but is still top-of-mind with most organizations: the live event (see graphic). CNN rolled out a not-so-secret weapon: a classic silver Airstream RV that was transformed into a mobile production studio, and surrounded by an “Express Yourself” mini-village filled with interactive political tools for the public. In essence, the Airstream would act not only as a conversation conduit, but as a veritable content machine.
The Express Yourself mobile marketing tour was born during the hotly contested midterm elections of 2006, when it helped propel CNN to the top of the ratings heap. But could the Airstream successfully drive CNN’s ratings once more? It would take a truly integrated effort from CNN’s PR and marketing functions, and from St. Louis- based field marketing agency Pro Motion.
TRIP PLANNING
Luckily, CNN’s marketing and PR departments do not operate in silos. “We’re really joined at the hip,” says Keisha Taylor, CNN’s marketing manager. It was also advantageous to have planned and executed the prior Express Yourself effort.
The first step was to collaborate on a timeline and plot the campaign route across the country. Main targets were the Republican and Democratic conventions and presidential and vice presidential debates. Around those stops, Express Yourself would visit high schools and colleges, state fairs, festivals and a few shopping malls (more on that later). “We wanted to get to as many parts of the country as we could,” says Taylor. “And we also wanted to make sure we had flexibility, in case something newsworthy happened and we needed to make a change in the schedule.”
The schools were key, says Andrews, because one target audience was first-time voters, a demographic ripe for introduction to the CNN brand. Once the route was set, the PR team went to work with local outreach for each stop. “We made sure to invite the local press, and put announcements calendar sections announcing the date of arrival,” says Andrews.
Meanwhile, Pro Motion president Steve Randazzo and his team were creating a highly interactive touch point for not only CNN consumers, but also cable partners, affiliates and advertisers. The “Express Yourself” mini-village was anchored by the Airstream, which would be outfitted to serve as a video production studio. There, visitors could record a short video profile expressing their views on the campaign, which then would be broadcast by CNN on air and online to promote their election coverage. In addition, CNN would do live shots from the site to further promote the effort.
Randazzo and the CNN team based the planning on two key questions: What is best way to get them to talk to us, and how do we collect that content as feedback? The videos were one way, but there were many other points of interaction. Outside the Airstream, a variety of activities would draw consumers in and give them multiple opportunities to express their political views to CNN. Those activities included:
- A graffiti wall on which visitors wrote their opinions
- Political memorabilia button-making stations
- On-site texting services so visitors could text their views directly to CNN
- TV kiosks to lure visitors to watch the cable channel
- An Internet café
- Computer polling stations to provide the network with instant data for live reports.
In addition, through CNN.com’s iReport feature, visitors also could send in content captured on personal video cameras and cell phones for potential broadcast. And, to further involve CNN’s vital cable partners, affiliates, advertisers and other stakeholders, there were catered VIP cocktail receptions at each tour stop.
LONG, STRANGE TRIP
The Express Yourself tour began in September at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, and visited 23 other cities en route to its final stop on election day in New York City’s Times Square.
Although Pro Motion handled on-site logistics, PR was there every step of the way. Says Andrews, “We worked with national and local affiliates, giving tours of site.” And being in close contact with an energized public and involved in live broadcasting, much of Andrews’ engagement activities were “off the cuff”—i.e. arranging for quick interviews and directing people to various activities.
There were bound to be challenges, and a big one was the weather. “It was so cold once we got to New York,” says Andrews. “It was hard to get people to stay on the site for the live shots.” A destination choice also proved to be a challenge, and something CNN would rethink. “Going to malls was a huge lesson learned, because we quickly found out that people were there to shop, not to talk politics,” says Andrews. In contrast, Taylor wishes they could have stayed longer in some of the cities, particularly the college towns. “The enthusiasm level of the students were off the charts,” she says.
BROADCAST BONANZA
The CNN Express Yourself tour covered 9,000-plus miles and attracted more than 50,000 participants along the way. Over 2,000 iReports were created by the public, which led to mountains of available video content to show on-air and online.
The campaign team distributed more than 100,000 CNN-branded items, including the wildly popular do-ityourself election buttons. “We probably gave away 25,000 of those,” says Randazzo. The broadcast numbers also proved successful. CNN had the largest election night viewership among cable networks, and election night was the channel’s most watched primetime event ever, with an average of 12.3 million viewers, 3 million ahead of closest competitor Fox News.
Gary Brockman, Turner Network Services vice president of marketing and operations, said that the Express Yourself Tour was the “crown jewel” of CNN’s election strategy, and the Airstream is firmly established as a permanent CNN election “vehicle.”
Tweaks for the next election cycle? Taylor says a social media component is bound to be added to the tour, especially considering their new audience of first-time student voters.
http://www.prnewsonline.com/corporate/13806.html
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