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Campus Books Case Study – New Industry Data PR Campaign – Chicago Public Relations Company

Chicago Public Relations Company Paramount Public Relations Client Case Study

THE CLIENT:

CampusBooks.com, the leading textbook price comparison website that tracks over eight million college textbooks. The online resource searches thousands of sellers and compares prices on new and used books, rentals and eBooks for students.

THE ASK:

Chicago Public Relations Company Paramount Public Relations was tasked to launch a public relations campaign leveraging CampusBooks.com’s new data in time for back-to-school coverage.  The public relations program goals were to:

  • Generate media coverage of the company and its new data
  • Position the website as a leading resource for textbook comparison; buying and selling
  • Differentiate CampusBooks.com from its competition and position it as an industry leader
  • Drive traffic to the website and increase sales

THE CAMPAIGN:

The public relations company’s campaign announced how COVID-19 severely impacted the back to school textbook industry according to data from Campusbooks.com.  The data revealed that there were price increases, a new textbook purchasing boom and how rentals and used book sales declined.

Here is a link to the press release.

Other pitch angles the public relations company used were ways to save money on college textbooks, best apps for college students, ways to cut textbook costs, among others.

The data was based on CampusBooks.com’s textbook sales and searches in 2019 and 2020. During that time over 1.4 million students visited CampusBooks.com to research and compare prices about textbook options.

THE RESULTS:

Chicago Public Relations Company Paramount Public Relations secured media placements in U.S. News & World Report, Yahoo News, Chase.com, Digital Trends, University magazine, The College Investor, Mashable, among many others. Chicago Public Relations Company Media Results

ABOUT CAMPUSBOOKS:

CampusBooks.com carries over eight million new and used college textbooks in one convenient location. The online resource searches thousands of sellers and compares prices on new and used books, rentals and eBooks for students. For more information, visit www.campusbooks.com.

ABOUT PARAMOUNT PUBLIC RELATIONS:

Founded in 2003, Paramount Public Relations is a full-service public relations and marketing agency in Chicago that offers big-agency expertise with a boutique, entrepreneurial mindset. With every campaign, the firm makes it their goal to solve communications challenges, build brand identity and create visibility in the competitive media marketplace. The agency’s programs aggressively and creatively push client’s position to key audiences—consumers, employees, industry peers, analysts and, of course, national and local media—and they demonstrate a profound understanding of how to work with these audiences and gatekeepers. Above all, Paramount Public Relations works hard and measures their performance by the results. The company has been chosen by Expertise.com as one of the Best PR Firms in Chicago for the fourth year in a row. For more information, please visit www.paramountpr.com, call 312-544-4190 or email info@paramountpr.com.

 

Chicago PR Firm – The Plan Collection Case Study

Chicago PR Firm Paramount Public Relations Client Case Study

THE CLIENT:

The Plan Collection, a pioneer of online home design plans, offers more than 20,000 affordable house plans developed by the nation’s most talented architects and designers. Through the use of pre-drawn yet customizable plans, both builders and those looking to build can develop their dream homes at a lower cost.

THE ASK:

Through media coverage, The Plan Collection wanted to reach their target audiences – consumers, potential and existing homeowners, builders, designers and architects.  The goals were to increase brand awareness, position the company as an industry leader and drive traffic to their website through direct links.  Online press coverage supported their digital marketing efforts by generating traffic and links from popular, credible media websites back to www.theplancollection.com.

THE CAMPAIGN:

Due to the Fall timing of the campaign, Chicago PR Firm Paramount Public Relations recommended a media relations program that focused on the following year’s home design building trend forecast and predictions.  Since the press typically covers stories towards the end of the year, the PR team wanted to get started on an industry predictions outreach program early to ensure the client would be included in these annual industry stories and reinforce their category leadership.

To leverage their spokesperson as an industry expert, the PR team secured quotes in several articles and coordinated guest blog posts.

CHICAGO PR FIRM RESULTS:

The successful campaign generated nearly 300 million online impressions and meaningful referral traffic to The Plan Collection.

Result highlights include media coverage in U.S. News & World Report, Realty Times, HFN, House Beautiful, Yahoo Finance, Builder and Developer, among many others.

ABOUT THE PLAN COLLECTION:

The Plan Collection offers more than 20,000 affordable house plans developed by the nation’s most talented architects and designers. Through the use of pre-drawn yet customizable plans, both builders and those looking to build can develop their dream homes at a lower cost. In addition to the wide selection of available plans, the site offers detailed how-to articles and knowledgeable customer service representatives to help visitors find swift answers to their questions. For more information, visit https://www.theplancollection.com/.

CHICAGO PR FIRM – ABOUT PARAMOUNT PUBLIC RELATIONS:

Founded in 2003, Paramount Public Relations is a full-service public relations and marketing agency in Chicago that offers big-agency expertise with a boutique, entrepreneurial mindset. With every campaign, the firm makes it their goal to solve communications challenges, build brand identity and create visibility in the competitive media marketplace. The agency’s programs aggressively and creatively push client’s position to key audiences—consumers, employees, industry peers, analysts and, of course, national and local media—and they demonstrate a profound understanding of how to work with these audiences and gatekeepers. Above all, Paramount Public Relations works hard and measure their performance by the results. The company has been chosen by Expertise.com as one of the Best PR Firms in Chicago for the fourth year in a row. For more information, please visit www.paramountpr.com, call 312-544-4190 or email info@paramountpr.com.

PR Company Case Study – Farmer’s Fridge Launch: Breaking the Fast Food Mold

Chicago PR Company Paramount Public Relations Client Case Study – Farmer’s Fridge Launch

PR SUMMARY

Breaking the Mold on Fast Food

Vending kiosks dispensing restaurant-quality salads and snacks made fresh each morning was virtually unheard of before Farmer’s Fridge debuted, making headlines not only in the United States but also across the globe in countries such as Brazil, France, Spain, Italy and the UK. The Chicago-based company’s mission was to create healthy salads, soups and snacks easily accessible through completely independent and technologically advanced vending kiosks. Placed in high-traffic areas, Farmer’s Fridge’s kiosks targeted anyone who wanted to make a healthier on-the-go meal choice. The PR company recommended a campaign that leveraged their environmentally conscious, unique mason-jar salad packaging as well their donation of day-old salads to a local Chicago food pantry.

Since Farmer’s Fridge was a start-up company with a very limited budget, Paramount Public Relations leveraged media relations to the fullest. The public relations launch of Farmer’s Fridge garnered over 2 billion media impressions, sparked global discussion and challenged the concept of “fast food” today as we know it.

RESEARCH

Vending Kiosk vs. Vending Machine

While traveling for his previous job, the founder and CEO of Farmer’s Fridge, realized that healthy eating on-the-go came with a tradeoff. At highway rest areas and common fast food establishments, it was nearly impossible to find healthy, fresh options. While traditional vending machines were commonly associated with candy bars and quarters, Farmer’s Fridge’s refrigerated high-tech, touch-screen and credit-card-only kiosk seemed to fall in its own category.

One of the PR company’s main strategies was appropriately positioning Farmer’s Fridge in both the consumer and vending industry. It was important to differentiate Farmer’s Fridge from traditional vending machines without offending other players in the industry. The program strategically avoided the vending machine stigma altogether by positioning Farmer’s Fridge as a vending “kiosk.”

PR COMPANY PLANNING

The objective was to successfully launch a targeted public relations campaign for Farmer’s Fridge and the goals included:

  • Introduce Farmer’s Fridge to business and consumer and trade media
  • Generate coverage of Farmer’s Fridge in key media outlets
  • Drive traffic to Farmer’s Fridge kiosks
  • Position Farmer’s Fridge as the newest innovation in the vending machines—natural, healthy, fresh food easily available to the health-conscious consumer
  • Differentiate Farmer’s Fridge from other innovative vending machines
  • Leverage the founder as an innovator and industry leader

Farmer’s Fridge target audience included key health, food and trade media, consumers, business partners and health enthusiasts.

STRATEGY AND EXECUTION

Catering & Media Drops

In addition to the kiosk locations, Farmer’s Fridge also offered catering across the Chicagoland area to local businesses. Before the official launch, the team targeted mid-size companies in the Chicago Loop that were not only located near the kiosk but also corporations that could potentially become catering customers. Not only did this help test the product but also grew organic, local buzz around the concept, especially on social media. After the catering initiative, the PR team then moved on to media drops at top Chicago media outlets.

Leveraging Competitors, TV Segments and Trend Stories

For the official launch of Famer’s Fridge, Paramount Public Relations distributed the launch press release over PR Newswire and to comprehensive, targeted media lists that included both local and national media. Some additional tactics included:

  • Identifying other vending “outliers” across the globe to align with Farmer’s Fridge, including caviar, champagne and makeup vending machines to include in a national trend story. Coverage included Good Morning America, San Francisco Chronicle and more.
  • Pitching a healthy eating television segment tied to the New Year, which resulted in a WGN-TV
  • Leveraging the popularity of the Mason jar salad trends seen on Pinterest and other websites to position Farmer’s Fridge as trend-forward.
  • Monitoring timely news for any relevant angles and competitor coverage.

PR EVALUATION

Local & National Media Attention

Paramount Public Relations secured media placements in the following media outlets: NBC Nightly News, CNN, SHAPE, Fox Business News, Chicago Grid, The Huffington Post, Good Morning America, Progressive Grocer, Huffington Post, BusinessWeek, Food Network, The Daily Meal, WMAQ-TV, Yahoo! Small Business, Vending Times, Entrepreneur, MSNBC, WCIU-TV, CNET, The Daily Mail, Crain’s Chicago Business, Examiner, WGN-TV, Daily Candy, PureWOW, Well and Good and many more.

Closing

The public relations efforts for the launch of Farmer’s Fridge garnered more than 2 billion impressions with a very limited budget.

ABOUT PARAMOUNT PUBLIC RELATIONS

Founded in 2003, Paramount Public Relations is a full-service public relations and marketing agency in Chicago that offers big-agency expertise with a boutique, entrepreneurial mindset. With every campaign, the firm makes it their goal to solve communications challenges, build brand identity and create visibility in the competitive media marketplace. The agency’s programs aggressively and creatively push client’s position to key audiences—consumers, employees, industry peers, analysts and, of course, national and local media—and they demonstrate a profound understanding of how to work with these audiences and gatekeepers. Above all, Paramount Public Relations works hard and measure their performance by the results. For more information, please visit www.paramountpr.com, call 312-544-4190 or email info@paramountpr.com.

GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team Case Study – Chicago Public Relations Agency

Chicago Public Relations Agency Paramount Public Relations Client Case Study

THE CLIENT:

The GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team is a six-plane squadron of vintage WWII aircraft that performs at 15 U.S. air shows annually.

THE ASK:

The GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team wanted to generate national and local media coverage to increase brand awareness and reach their target audiences – consumers and potential and existing GEICO customers.

THE CAMPAIGN:

To achieve the program objectives, Paramount Public Relations executed a national and 15 market local media relations campaign.

The PR team leveraged its media relationships and invited top-tier press outlets for an exclusive media ride with the WWII airplane squadron to experience a unique formation flight.  The results included photo and article coverage – often front-page – and numerous television segments. To further increase the exposure, the team leveraged GoPro cameras to capture in-flight video footage with strong visual brand coverage to accompany the reporter’s story or TV segment.

When broadcast TV reporters were unable to conduct a media ride, we coordinated LIVE and taped television segments from the airshow to broaden the consumer reach. To ensure the key brand messages were delivered, we crafted key messaging and media trained the client spokesperson(s) to communicate the messages during all press interviews.

In addition to media coverage and to increase target audience reach and reinforce the brand, Paramount Public Relations coordinated autograph signings with the team’s pilots for interaction with consumers and fans.

THE RESULTS:

The campaign resulted in more than 1 billion impressions. National media coverage included FOX News Channel, ABC News, among others and ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX TV affiliates in media markets such as New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C./Baltimore, Cleveland, Miami, Tampa, Orlando and more.  Additional coverage included the top local market daily newspapers/online sites such as the Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Virginian Pilot, Orlando Sentinel, Newsday, among others.

In the 15 markets the GEICO Skytypers performed in, the team earned more than 50% of the share of voice among media when compared to the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and U.S.A.F. Thunderbirds performance teams.

ABOUT THE GEICO SKYTYPERS:

The GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team, the leading vintage airshow performance squadron, fly six WWII SNJ aircraft, the North American SNJ built for the Navy, the Air Forces T-6 variant. Both trainer aircraft were used to prepare pilots of “The Greatest Generation” for WWII combat. The team performs a low-level, precision-flying demonstration featuring tactics and maneuvers designed by team members who served in the United States military. In addition to their air show performances, the team “skytype” giant messages in the sky. Five aircraft fly in a line-abreast formation to produce 1,000-foot tall messages that can be seen for 15 miles in any direction. For more information, please visit www.geicoskytypers.com.

ABOUT PARAMOUNT PUBLIC RELATIONS:

Founded in 2003, Paramount Public Relations is a full-service public relations and marketing agency in Chicago that offers big-agency expertise with a boutique, entrepreneurial mindset. With every campaign, the firm makes it their goal to solve communications challenges, build brand identity and create visibility in the competitive media marketplace. The agency’s programs aggressively and creatively push client’s position to key audiences—consumers, employees, industry peers, analysts and, of course, national and local media—and they demonstrate a profound understanding of how to work with these audiences and gatekeepers. Above all, Paramount Public Relations works hard and measure their performance by the results. For more information, please visit www.paramountpr.com, call 312-544-4190 or email info@paramountpr.com.

Public Relations and Consumers: TikTok’s Rise During 2020 and Quarantine

The most downloaded app of 2020? TikTok of course. Its rise in popularity began in 2019, but with the onslaught of COVID-19 and most of the world in lockdown in the spring of 2020, downloads spiked and millions of users turned to the app to avoid boredom. From learning dances, to sharing funny skits and learning life hacks or new recipes, TikTok provided users, mostly Gen Z and Millennials, with an escape from the uncertainty of the year. With its popularity amongst consumers firmly secured, public relations professionals have now turned to the platform to setup brand accounts pushing content and launch campaigns with influencers on the app as well. Will TikTok rival Instagram? Time will tell, but the diversity of content on the app shows that there is a corner of TikTok for everyone and endless possibilities for PR professionals to utilize the app. Some of the biggest trends on TikTok in 2020 included:

  • Dances like the “Renegade”
  • Funky recipes such as whipped coffee and pancake cereal
  • Influencer campaigns to boost PR launched by companies from Walmart to Prada
  • Content that not only helped keep people connected during a challenging and lonely year, but kept them laughing too

One campaign, fit for the year, was launched by Lysol called #HealthyHabit6Step. The campaign incorporated the popularity of TikTok dances into the concept of the campaign, having users dancing and demonstrating six healthy habits to keep themselves and others safe in the pandemic, all to the beat of a song. While influencers have gotten more and more creative on Instagram over the year, TikTok presents content creators and the public relations industry with even more opportunities to think outside of the box and create fresh and unique content. Instagram Vs. TikTok? Time will tell.

For a closer look at TikTok’s impact in 2020, click here.

Heinz is Taking a Special Interest in Chicagoans

America’s favorite ketchup company may have its feelings hurt over Chicagoans refusing to put the delicious condiment on their hot dogs. Whether you’re from Chicago or not, it’s no secret that according to Chicagoans ketchup just doesn’t belong on hot dogs. We love our all beef dog on a poppy seed bun with all the fixens of chopped white onions, pickled sport peppers, one large pickle spear, dash of celery salt, sweet pickle relish, tomato slices and mustard. Ketchup? No, thank you.

chicago dog

Heinz thinks it may have a more inclusive solution to incorporate a tomato based condiment for Chicago dogs. It is being very careful not to refer to this sauce as ketchup, but rather “Chicago Dog Sauce.” In honor of National Hot Dog Day, one of the many days dedicated to delicious food that the world has adopted within the past years (see post here about World Chocolate Day), Heinz went to Chicago hot dog shops and provided them with the new Chicago Dog Sauce. The locals’ reactions were positive until they found out what was really in the Chicago Dog Sauce. Watch the ad below to see how Heinz’s Chicago Dog Sauce experiment really went.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtDikj2BeSk

5 Ways for PR to get Involved in ‘World Chocolate Day’

It seems like there is a world or national day for just about every day now. For example, there’s ‘National French Fry Day,’ ‘National Eggnog Day‘ and ‘National Avocado Day‘ to name just a few. Well today, July 7th is ‘World Chocolate Day.’ Today, the world comes together to celebrate one of the most delicious treats out there. PR Daily posted an article today about how PR and marketing can take part in the celebration.

chocolate

“Worldwide, roughly $101 billion is spent on chocolate each year.

PR and marketing pros taking part in World Chocolate Day are hoping to increase that number—or at least grab consumers’ attention.”

Read the entire article here!

4 Professional Athletes with Excellent Branding

With talent comes fame and with fame comes criticism. Along with our favorite singers and actors are those men and women who play for our favorite sports teams. While many children look up to these talented individuals, they do have their flaws. Think Lamar Odom, Ray Rice, Aaron Hernandez, Tiger Woods… the list goes on. The media tends to focus on the athletes with the bad reputations rather than highlight those that are using their fame to make a positive impact. Here’s a list of four professional athletes with great branding.

  1. Jordan Spieth– While his talent has been compared to Tiger Woods, they are very different off the golf course. At just 23 years old, Spieth has already had 10 PGA Tour wins, became the face of Under Armour’s golf attire and launched his own line of golf shoes. Spieth created The Jordan Spieth Family Foundation in 2013. With his younger, special needs sister as inspiration, the foundation increases awareness and provides financial assistance for those children with special needs, military families, and youth golf.

js

2. Martellus Bennett– While he is known as a professional football player, Martellus Bennett claims he doesn’t really view himself as a football player. Rather, he is a creative and an entrepreneur. Known for his funny personality, what people might not know about Bennett is that he founded his own multimedia production company, The Imagination Agency. At his company, he has written children’s books and created educational mobile games and toys. He says that he was inspired by his young daughter and wanted to create books with lead characters with features similar to her.

martellus

3. JJ Watt– Fellow football player, JJ Watt, has a passion for giving. Shortly after signing his contract with the Texans, Watt bought his mom a brand new car. In 2010, Watt launched the Justin J. Watt Foundation. His foundation’s mission is to provide middle school-aged children with the opportunities to get involved in athletics. Watt hosts multiple events, such as the Charity Classic, to raise money for his foundation. He is also known for his efforts supporting the troops.

jj

4. Serena WilliamsSerena Williams will go down in history as one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. Not only has she won 72 career titles, but she won her most recent, the 2017 Australian Open, while pregnant. Although, there is much more to this woman than her athleticism. She is very involved in the fashion industry and in 2015 she became the first black female athlete to be pictured alone on the cover of Vogue and she has presented her clothing line at New York Fashion Week. In addition to this, she is a certified nail technician, has appeared on various television shows, can speak four languages, technically owns the Miami Dolphins (she’s a minority owner) and has written a book.. to name a few of her accomplishments. On top of this, she created the Serena Williams Foundation to fund a school in Kenya and provide scholarships for underprivileged students in the United States. Serena Williams is a beautiful reminder to girls everywhere that they are capable of great things.

sw

Uber vs. Lyft

We’ve all been there. You get in your car and drive to meet up with your friends for a drink or two. You tell yourself that you will have AT MOST two drinks and that you will be totally fine to drive home. But as the night goes on you’re having so much fun talking and laughing with your friends that two drinks turns into three and then four and then you know that there is absolutely no way that you can operate a moving vehicle. There are no cabs in your area and you have work at 8:00 am so you really can’t stay the night. This is probably the predicament that Garrett Camp had in mind when he founded Uber.

uber

Garrett Camp founded Uber in San Francisco in 2009. I’m sure we have all heard of and probably used Uber, but in case you haven’t, Uber is a transportation company connected to a smartphone app. The cars come to you and drop you off at your destination and then at the end of your trip you are automatically billed through your credit card that is linked to the app.

Since 2009, Uber has been immensely successful bringing in approximately 6.5 billion dollars. Just a few years later, Logan Green and John Zimmer decided to join the market and founded Lyft. While the companies have the same basic foundation, they do have their differences. Uber is no stranger to controversy. Throughout the years, there have been various incidents of sexual harassment and just recently the CEO stepped down.

lyft

 

However, despite its many setbacks, it seems that Uber is still on top. Recent statistics prove that Uber’s numbers are still dramatically higher that Lyft’s. Will Lyft take over or will it always be stuck in the shadow of Uber?

Just When You Thought Ice-T Couldn’t Get Any Cooler

Ice t ice

Who doesn’t love Ice-T? And to be clear I am talking about the rapper turned actor turned loving husband and father, not the delicious and refreshing beverage (which I also love). Whether you listen to his music or you watched him on Law & Order: SVU, everybody knows and loves Ice-T. He has a down to earth personality and a cool vibe about him. In this interesting article by AdWeek, Ice-T just got cooler by partnering with Sonic.

After 6,000 years of human civilization, it’s come to this: A finely detailed, life-sized ice sculpture of rapper/actor Ice-T will slowly melt, drip-drip-drip, during a live internet event. When its microphone falls the to floor, it will make winners of some lucky Sonic Drive-In fans.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners came up with the chill stunt, which will stream Tuesday on Facebook at 1 p.m. ET. The sculpture, made by David Fong of Ice Illusions in Santa Clara, Calif., will be holding a real mic, and once it drops, the first 100 users to comment will receive a limited-edition Ice-T T-shirt that changes color when frozen.

Read more by visiting AdWeek!