Erin Doherty
SKM Group - Buffalo Advertising Agency - Creating results through targeted marketing.
When Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) established its Center for Personalized Medicine (CPM) last year, the world-renowned cancer research and treatment facility knew it had a complicated message to get out in the community.
Thanks to support from SKM Group and local country music station 106.5 WYRK-FM, we were able to execute a public awareness campaign using social media that not only brought attention to Roswell Park and the CPM, but also had a specific call to action where those wanting to support the CPM’s mission could log onto www.roswellpark.org/tobysjeans, and every $10 given would enter that person to win a pair of jeans signed by Toby Keith and every country music artist who came to perform in Western New York from November 2012 to June 2013.
Recognizing that mobile marketing and social media were the most efficient and effective tactics to employ, we set up Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages for Toby’s Jeans, all having consistent looks and messaging. Each of the pages followed musicians, fan groups, local entities, companies and organizations specific to the realms of country music, Western New York and fighting cancer. We used WYRK’s Winter Taste of Country show in November to launch the Toby’s Jeans social media pages. Live tweets and pictures from the concert provided an “in the moment” feel for people at the event as well as those who could follow from wherever they were. Chatter from the WYRK DJs, along with their blog postings, PSAs and a special Toby’s Jeans page on the radio station’s website all gave credibility to the campaign so listeners could find out what their favorite personalities were saying about the jeans as well as which country music celebrity was signing the jeans next.
For our part, each month we set out to engage and entertain the ever-growing number of Toby’s Jeans followers through posting content. At the beginning of the campaign, from December to March, we took more of an informational, soft sell approach: an introduction to what the Toby’s Jeans promotion was all about and how to participate, the mission of Roswell Park’s CPM and how support through Toby’s Jeans will help scientists unlock the secrets of our genes to help diagnose and treat cancer. We posted on Facebook and Twitter three to five times per week, and topics ranged from jeans fashion to news from the country music scene (especially concerning artists who had/would be signing Toby’s Jeans) to facts and information about the history of cancer and its treatment. April marked when the campaign switched to “high gear”—marked by seven to 10 posts per week and more of an outright ask to log onto the Toby’s Jeans website and support the campaign. We also used community events, such as RPCI’s Tree of Hope lighting ceremony in December and the television broadcast of the American Country Music Awards in April, to interact with fans via social media and help spread the word about Toby’s Jeans and RPCI.
The campaign’s apex was WYRK’s Taste of Country concert on June 14. Of course Toby’s Jeans live tweeted from the event and RPCI set up a table at the venue for concert goers who wanted to make a last-minute donation and enter to win the jeans. The promotion was open until June 15, and the winner was announced on air the morning of June 17. In all, Toby’s Jeans sported the signatures of over 25 country music artists ranging from newcomers like American Idol Season 10 winner Scotty McCreery to established stars like Miranda Lambert and legends like George Strait.
The campaign’s success from a public awareness standpoint was validated though Facebook metrics which told us there were over 17,000 impressions from updates posted from January to June, and tweets from Toby’s Jeans were retweeted numerous times, from country musicians to fans to local entities such as buffalo.com.
Erin Doherty
Interactive Project Manager
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