■ Turn satisfied customers into advocates:Customer databases and profiles can yield sat-
isfeid customers who can become role models and spokespeople for the product.
■ Influence the influentials:The influencer may be an authority figure like a teacher,
doctor, or pharmacist, but it also can be someone who has a different kind of one-
to-one relationship with the consumer, such as a hair stylist or personal trainer.
Choosing Messages and Vehicles
The manager must identify or develop interesting stories to tell about the product.
Suppose a relatively unknown college wants more visibility. The MPR practitioner will
search for possible stories. Do any faculty members have unusual backgrounds, or are
any working on unusual projects? Are any new and unusual courses being taught?
Are any interesting events taking place on campus?
If the number of interesting stories is insufficient, the MPR practitioner should
propose newsworthy events the college could sponsor. Here the challenge is to create
news. PR ideas include hosting major academic conventions, inviting expert or
celebrity speakers, and developing news conferences. Each event is an opportunity to
develop a multitude of stories directed at different audiences.
Event creationis a particularly important skill in publicizing fund-raising drives for
nonprofit organizations. Fund-raisers have developed a large repertoire of special
events, including anniversary celebrations, art exhibits, auctions, benefit evenings,
bingo games, book sales, cake sales, contests, dances, dinners, fairs, fashion shows,
parties in unusual places, phonathons, rummage sales, tours, and walkathons. No
sooner is one type of event created, such as a walkathon, than competitors spawn
new versions, such as readathons, bikeathons, and jogathons.^71
For-profit organizations also use events to call attention to their products and ser-
vices. Fuji Photo Film Company flew its blimp over the renovated Statue of Liberty
during its massive celebration, outdoing its rival Kodak, which had mounted a per-
manent photo exhibit at the site. Anheuser-Busch sponsored a Black World Champi-
onship Rodeo in Brooklyn, attracting more than 5,000 spectators. P&G chose to
sponsor a Barry Manilow concert tour under the names of some of its detergent prod-
ucts, because it wanted to attract the middle-aged women who were Barry Manilow
fans and who were the target market for the detergents.
The best MPR practitioners are able to find or create stories on behalf of even mun-
dane products such as pork (“the other white meat”), garlic, and potatoes. Here is an
example for cat food:
■ 9-Lives Cat Food One of the top brands of cat food is Star-Kist Foods’ 9-
Lives. Its brand image revolves around Morris the Cat. The Leo Burnett ad-
vertising agency wanted to make Morris more of a living, breathing, real-life
feline to whom cat owners and cat lovers could relate. It worked with a pub-
lic-relations firm that proposed and carried out the following ideas: (1) Launch
a Morris “look-alike” contest in nine major markets; (2) write a book called
Morris, an Intimate Biography; (3) establish a coveted award called the Morris,
a bronze statuette given to the owners of award-winning cats at local cat shows;
(4) sponsor an “Adopt-a-Cat Month,” with Morris as the official “spokescat”;
and (5) distribute a booklet called “The Morris Method” on cat care. These
publicity steps strengthened the brand’s market share in the cat-food market.
Implementing the Plan
Implementing public relations requires care. Consider placing stories in the media: A
great story is easy to place, but most stories are less than great and might not get past
busy editors. One of the chief assets of publicists is their personal relationship with
media editors. PR people look at media editors as a market to satisfy so that these ed-
itors will continue to use their stories.
Evaluating Results
MPR’s contribution to the bottom line is difficult to measure, because it is used along
with other promotional tools. If it is used before the other tools come into action, its^609