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Slide 1: WHITNEY BRYAN: Account Planner Three One-Act Advertising Stories
Slide 2: The theatre was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation. -Stella Adler
Slide 3: A few words about the playwright/director/lead actress: For about 7 of my 25 years, if you had to look for me, I’d probably be on stage. What does this have to do with planning? Well, it means that I’ve had to be able to understand the thoughts and desires of a lot of different people very quickly (both real and fictional!) I like to get beneath the surface of people and find out what really makes them tick – as they say in the theatre, it’s all about discovering a character’s motivation. While I may not have pursued a career in theatre, my desire to get inside the heads of all sorts of characters has never gone away. I’m primed to figure out what people really want. just what they say they want. Not
Slide 4: Act 1: PNC BANK Cast: Account Planner Account Planner Copywriter Art Director Whitney Bryan James Colistra Alphie Ali Umut Gocmen
Slide 5: (At center stage stands THE CHALLENGE: PNC, a bank with a regional presence in the Northeast, Midwest, and Florida, wanted to add a new credit card to its portfolio and attract a new, dynamic audience for the brand. The 4th largest bank in the US, PNC achieved its rank through its commitment to customer service and to safeguarding its customers’ money and investments.) TARGET: We cemented our target as young urban professionals – people between 22-28 years old in the first five years of their careers. After talking to some of these people, we discovered something interesting. While young professionals can manage their finances fairly well, they have nothing left over at the end of the month to save – they just “break even.” As one person we talked to said, “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to save for the future when I have no money TO save.” At this point, we decided that the card we were going to create had to do something about this cyclical process of breaking even month to month. Clearly, this was an opportunity to connect with a major frustration that our target had and demonstrate how PNC can actively alleviate this frustration. INSIGHTS: HOW WE STARTED: After getting the brief, we began to wonder about the credit history of other people around our age and at a similar stage in life – do they have similar credit histories? What financial issues do they face? What do they wish they could change about their financial situations? We researched PNC’s existing credit cards and had a look at the market overall. None of the cards in PNC’s current line of personal cards were marketed towards college graduates or young professionals. And, as we looked at the credit card market as a whole, the cards marketed to young professionals had limited benefits. THE CARD: We decided that this presented an excellent opportunity to draw in a new group of customers to PNC. People who could be potential lifetime customers. And we’d create a product that actually suited their needs. We called our card the PNC Plus Card. We decided that it would take a percentage of what the customer spends on the card each month and put it into a low risk mutual fund. It would effectively help young professionals plan and save for their futures. It also featured discounts at participating restaurants and entertainment venues in the areas where PNC has a high presence.
Slide 6: COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY: The PNC card for young professionals helps you break out of breaking even. CREATIVE STRATEGY: ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY: Breaking even is no way to live. Use interactive tactics that will give consumers an immediate sense of how the card will help them save for the future. -END SCENE-
Slide 7: Creative Executions We created a microsite for the card, where customers could manage their monthly budget and monitor their mutual fund. We also created a smart phone application that linked directly to the microsite. Customers could see the benefits of the card’s other main feature, discounts at local restaurants and entertainment venues, on their receipts.
Slide 8: A final thought about the creative work on PNC… While our strategy tapped into a problem unique and specific to young professionals, we should have made the creative campaign resonate more with our target audience. We could have developed executions that depicted what our target’s futures would be like without savings, and demonstrate how the card can improve these futures. Additionally, we could have more closely examined what it means for our target to lack the ability to save monthly in a more immediate way. Are they unable to afford major emergency expenses? Do they have to cut back on small indulgences like buying coffee in the morning and going out to dinner? The creative work could have been stronger had we focused on these areas.
Slide 9: Act 2: Uncle Ben’s Rice Cast: Account Planner Account Planner Copywriter Art Director Whitney Bryan Ebubekir Kalkan Corey Stoddard Juan Pablo Lemus
Slide 10: (Again, at center stage stands THE CHALLENGE: Uncle Ben’s has traditionally tried to market to mothers. However, its 90 second ready rice variety hasn’t been connecting with them. We were tasked with finding new insights to help Uncle Ben’s better communicate this product to moms – or, potentially communicate to an entirely new target.) HOW WE BEGAN: To tackle this problem, we started out by looking at cooking blogs. Interestingly, by reading the blog entries and the comments, two different types of cooks emerged. And they weren’t necessarily moms. One type we identified as “aspiring gourmets” – people who enjoyed the cooking process as much as the meal itself and loved to discover different recipes and experiment with ingredients. TARGET (contd): They wanted to make food that was wholesome and healthy and were concerned about artificial ingredients and additives in their foods. We discovered that the “health conscious speed cooks” had a few reservations about instant side items – Uncle Ben and its neighbors on the aisle which include Hamburger Helper, Rice-a-roni (and its sister Pasta-roni), Kraft Mac N Cheese, and other similar foods. As one member of our target put it, “Stuff from the box is kind of sketchy.” Uncle Ben’s is most certainly not sketchy – its ingredients list is tremendously different from other boxed items. How could we convince this group that Uncle Ben’s was a box without sub-par ingredients? Fortunately for us, the answer was on the Uncle Ben’s box label. Unlike many of its competitors, Uncle Ben’s states that it’s heart healthy and low in cholesterol on the box – its wholesome credentials are obvious. INSIGHTS: TARGET: We selected the other type of cooks we discovered as our target - the “health conscious speedcooks.” This group was more interested in finishing the cooking process as quickly as possible so they could get down to the business of eating – their ideal cooking time was half an hour on average. Though they wanted to make meals quickly, they weren’t interested in compromising on the quality of the ingredients in their meals.
Slide 11: THE COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY: Uncle Ben’s rice is the only box that fits in with your wholesome meal. THE CREATIVE STRATEGY: Uncle Ben’s – wholesome food real estate. THE ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY: Use print and online tactics that demonstrate how Uncle Ben’s rice fits in with the other healthy items on your plate. -END SCENE-
Slide 12: Creative Executions We created a coupon print piece, inserted into the real estate section of papers, positioning Uncle Ben as a “food realtor.” We came up with print executions that illustrated the real estate theme. We also created a web banner directly comparing Uncle Ben’s to its competitors.
Slide 13: A final thought about the creative work on Uncle Ben’s… Our creative executions needed to better specifically reflect what our target is already cooking, and how Uncle Ben’s fits in with those meals. Our tagline and creative idea allude to this, but the executions themselves stop short of illustrating the exact types of meals our target is making, and how Uncle Ben’s fits in with those meals.
Slide 14: Act 3: Starbucks Doubleshot Coffee + Energy Cast: Account Planner Account Planner Copywriter Art Director Whitney Bryan Ebubekir Kalkan Corey Stoddard Juan Pablo Lemus
Slide 15: (For the last time, at center stage stands THE CHALLENGE: The North American Coffee Partnership [NACP] and Freedom Zone tasked us with developing a marketing platform based on the film industry to promote Starbucks Doubleshot: Energy + Coffee. While the drink leads in sales against its direct competitors, Java Monster and Rockstar Roasted, NACP and FreedomZone wanted to generate greater brand awareness in younger consumers, specifically college students. Additionally, HBO agreed to help facilitate part of the project to create greater brand desirability amongst the same audience.) INSIGHTS (contd): College students drink a ton of energy drinks, but all of the drinks only focus on giving them a boost of physical energy. None help them create sustained mental energy – an important thing to have when you’re constantly looking for inspiration to write papers and essays. Starbucks Doubleshot has ingredients that help boost mental performance. The caffeine in the drink gives you an initial jolt of energy, and the guarana and ginseng in the drink are known to boost mental functions. We realized Doubleshot was uniquely positioned to give our target something they needed, but hadn’t ever gotten from an energy drink before – mental energy. But we wanted to go one step farther and tell our audience why having sustained mental energy is important. We wanted to tell them exactly what extra mental energy can help them do – overcome those pesky mental barriers that plague many people anytime they sit down to write something. HOW WE BEGAN: We looked at the energy drink market as a whole to see how Starbucks Doubleshot compared to other drinks in the marketplace. We read online energy drink reviews and looked at marketing programs that brands like Monster, Rockstar and Redbull have developed and are currently developing. We also conducted a series of focus groups to find out how college students consume energy drinks. We wanted to find out what brands they drink, and where and why they drink them. INSIGHTS: Our key findings came from an intersection between unique characteristics of the Doubleshot product, and how college kids have been buying and drinking energy drinks.
Slide 16: “PROJECT WRITER’S BLOCK”: We decided to build a platform that focused on the most common mental barrier – writer’s block. The centerpiece of the project worked like this: Screenwriter Alan Ball, Academy Award winning screenwriter and creator of HBO’s True Blood, would announce that he needs help finishing his next project - a new TV movie for HBO. He would start off his concept for the story (introduce the characters and the basic scenario) and then ask the public to help him finish it. The story would be completed in phases – after Alan explained the intro, the public would first develop and pitch ideas for the rising action, then the climax, then the falling action/ending. For each phase of the story, people would get to submit their ideas online at a microsite, and other users/members of the public would vote on their favorite ideas for how the story should progress. So, the idea that received the most votes would be the idea for that phase of the story, then people would submit ideas and vote on the next phase of the story, and so on. “PROJECT WRITER’S BLOCK” contd: The story would go into production during its completion and premiere as an actual movie on the HBO channel, HBO’s website, and as part of HBO and Doubleshot’s current college film program “Doubleshot Double Feature.” COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY: Starbucks Doubleshot helps you breakthrough mental barriers. CREATIVE STRATEGY: Write on with Starbucks Doubleshot. ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY: Generate grassroots buzz and galvanize people to participate with the brand with word of mouth, experiential, and online tactics. -END SCENE-
Slide 17: Creative Executions We used social media to generate buzz about the project… …in addition to on and offline community boards and classified listings.
Slide 18: Creative Executions The microsite provided background on the rules for the project, Alan’s story intro, and a space to submit your own ideas… The microsite also provided practical help on how to get over writer’s block – you could find out the nearest place to get a Doubleshot, and view live feeds to get visual inspiration.
Slide 19: Creative Executions For college students, we created giant “writer’s blocks,” where people could write words of inspiration to help overcome writer’s block. Doubleshot campus ambassadors would be on hand to hand out product samples. We also developed an online version of the giant block, which projected people’s words of inspiration onto an a web banner.
Slide 20: A final thought about the creative work on Starbucks Doubleshot… The creative idea reflected the strategy and contained engaging, audience-relevant executions. The central part of The Writer’s Block project could have been adjusted to be more low-involvement. The project required people to submit story ideas in 500 words – we could have found a way for people to continue the story in a more effortless and less time-consuming way. We could have also developed point of sale executions to directly drive additional sales of the product. While our project has many awareness-raising components, we should have created executions that would do more to actively drive consumers to buy Doubleshot.
Slide 21: If you’re casting for a new planner… …check out my experience below 302 Vine Court Mandeville, LA 70448 whit_14@hotmail.com (985) 373-8446 Whitney Elana Bryan Experience Highlights Education MORE TH>N Insurance "Life's Worth" Campaign: Worked alongside Hyper, digital arm of Fallon, to create the "Life's Worth" website (http://www.yourlifesworth.com/) - an online tool that allows MORE TH>N customers to calculate the worth of their home contents and predict how the value of the contents will change over time. Kellogg's NutriGrain "Bring back the tea trolley" Campaign: Worked to develop an online viral (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WszjwMV7BEs) and media drop initiative featuring Kellogg's baker boys calling for a return to the traditional British tea breaks at 11am and 4pm. The PR activity supported the Kellogg's NutriGrain television campaign. Apetina Cheese "Text for recipes" Campaign: Worked to develop mobile service allowing Apetina cheese customers to receive recipe ideas via SMS. Apetina's retained advertising agency, McCann Erickson, supported the activity with a print campaign. Work Experience Third Sector PR London, England, UK Senior Account Executive January 2009 – September 2009 Cow PR London, England, UK Account Executive January 2008 – December 2008 Zehnder Communications New Orleans, LA, USA Public Relations Associate January 2006 – August 2006 Miami Ad School – Account Planner’s Bootcamp 2010 M.A. International Public Relations; Cardiff University, School of Journalism and Media, 2007 Graduated with distinction (equivalent of Summa Cum Laude) B.A. Loyola University New Orleans, 2006 Major: Drama/Communications President, Alpha Psi Omega (National American Dramatic Honour Fraternity) Member, P.R.S.S.A. (Public Relations Student Society of America) Graduated Summa Cum Laude (3.9 GPA) Academic Scholarship and Drama Scholarship to Loyola University Dean’s List Every Semester Additional Skills and Interests Languages: Spanish (intermediate) Classically trained mezzo-soprano Participated in over 15 productions in the New Orleans, Louisiana theatre community, including original works as well as contemporary and classical plays (Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, Wilder’s Picnic) Additional Honours/Memberships Member, Alpha Sigma Nu (National American Jesuit Honour Fraternity) Member, Sigma Delta Pi (National American Spanish Honour Society) Loyola University Women’s Issues Leadership Award-2005 References Nick Dear MORE TH>N External Communications Consultant Nick.dear@uk.rsagroup.com (+44) 207 337 5620 Amy Mahfouz Tulane University Communications Manager amy_mahfouz@hotmail.com 504 337 6181
Slide 22: Thanks for reading!