With 80% of fish brought by British shoppers being one of the ‘Big 5’ (cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns) experts predict that these species could be extinct by as early as 2050. 

As the largest retailer of MSC-certified fish in the UK, Sainsbury’s was in a strong position to drive change in consumer behaviour whilst simultaneously positioning themselves as the leading supermarket within the sustainability debate.

Blue Rubicon worked with Sainsbury’s to develop Switch the Fish, a campaign that would not only differentiate the supermarket from the competition but also demonstrate genuine commitment from the business to shift shopping behaviour.

In a UK first, Sainsbury’s offered any customer asking for one of the ‘Big 5’ species a sustainable lesser known alternative for free. Using a one day offer with a clear and simple call to action as its centrepiece, Switch the Fish fused experiential activity, powerful social media campaigning, in-store activity and internal engagement to give Sainsbury’s a strong leadership platform around sustainable fish.

By the end of the campaign an extra 46 tonnes of sustainable fish had been sold as a result of our work. The business impact of the campaign was also far felt – with sales of sustainable fish varieties up 32% year on year and 40% week on week.

The Women’s Royal Volunteer Service (WRVS) has a heritage that stretches back to WW2.  With 45,000 volunteers, one of the country’s largest volunteer bases, WRVS reaches thousands.  Despite this, when Blue Rubicon was commissioned, just 1% of people were aware of the organisation.  Many of its own volunteers were not fully aware the work they supported was a WRVS project.  What’s more, with a dominant competitor in Age UK, WRVS was struggling to achieve cut through with media and stakeholders.

 WRVS recognised it faced a repositioning challenge in competing for squeezed public funding, societal relevance and the next generation of volunteers and donors.  It also recognised the need to turn existing volunteers into advocates.

WRVS’s long-term strategic vision is to ‘make Britain a great place to grow old’.  To address the challenge, the Gold Age Pensioners campaign aimed to create a platform to enable WRVS to own and stimulate national debate that is positive about age.  WRVS needed to reach a spectrum of audiences including policy influencers and to generate media coverage – putting WRVS firmly at the centre of this debate. 

As a grassroots volunteering body, the charity is best placed to comment on - and harness - the positives of ageing and chip away at the stereotypes and wrongly held views about older people and ageing in the UK – widely portrayed as a looming disaster.

Gold Age Pensioners aimed to challenge this.  We developed ideas in partnership with volunteers and potential supporters, placing creative control in the hands of the audiences we wanted to reach, ensuring our campaign would resonate with them, and that the existing network of volunteers was engaged with it.

The campaign needed to create debate amongst a variety of audiences – older people, spanning different age groups – from the active over 65s not able or wanting to retire, through to those in their 80s, and those who are vulnerable and in need of the services offered by WRVS.  The campaign also had to reach stakeholders and stimulate debate amongst younger mass audiences.

There were two big moments to the Gold Age Pensioners campaign which succeeded at placing WRVS in a position of leadership in the age debate with key audiences.  The first was a research report which put a financial figure on the economic and societal contribution those over 65 make to the UK, the second was a celebration of this contribution through a ‘power list’ of the UK’s most influential pensioners.  This was underpinned with pieces in relevant media, online and through owned channels and by using existing networks to build new community partnerships to build momentum behind the campaign.

Overall the campaign delivered 259 pieces of coverage, with key targets including the FT and Guardian, through to the Daily Mail, Daybreak and My Weekly – all positive and with WRVS named in 89%.  It delivered over 64million opportunities to see and over 2million over 40s – our key audience target – were reached at least once with branded campaign messages.

Initial tracking research shows the campaign has generated at 9% awareness (definitely or maybe heard of), a significant boost.  Support for WRVS has gone up by 50% (from 2% to 3% of the population).

Alice Cleland, Gold Age Power List local hero winner: “When I was in my post office today the woman behind the counter said to me ‘Are you the lady in the list with the Queen?’.   She had recognised me from the paper.   And then another one said ‘It's to do with the WRVS, isn't it?’  I am amazed at how many people have picked up on it, not just locally but friends from all over the country have rung me.  In the middle of writing this email, I have had a call from my mother's oldest friend who is now 96 and has rung up to ask me to lunch with her.   She is still driving.   So what's this old age thing?!”

Blue Rubicon started working with the number one boy band in July when we announced  they were the latest celebs to back Coca-Cola’s Olympic Torch Relay nomination campaign – Future Flames – the search for inspirational young people to get the once in a lifetime opportunity to run with the Olympic Flame next year.

The team overcame their vertigo to hold a photo shoot on top of the Trafalgar Hotel and despite having limited time with the boy band, set up some great interviews with MTV, Metro, Daily Star and Capital with Jonny and  Lisa, resulting in cracking coverage including blanket reporting across the MTV network.

This follows an amazing campaign launch in June which saw us take over London’s Westfield to host a free concert with performances from Dizzee Rascal, Eliza Doolittle and You Me At Six – where we kicked off the search for our Future Flames.  Check out our brilliant video which captures the highlights of the day.

So far, we’ve generated over 666 pieces of targeted coverage across the national, regional, broadcast and online media – with much more expected to come over coming months.

The team are really excited about going on the 70 day UK wide, Olympic Torch Relay next year and meeting all the inspirational Future Flames.  If you know a young person you think deserves to be celebrated for the great things they do by carrying the Olympic Flame (and joining the BR team on the road!) – nominate them at www.cokezone.co.uk  

In Spring 2011, Blue Rubicon worked with Halifax to highlight the mortgage lender’s commitment to First-Time Buyers (FTBs). Even though mortgage affordability is at its most favourable since 1999 and eight in ten applications are approved, actual applications from FTBs were down 42% in 2010.   

We wanted to use Halifax’s FTB strength to kick-start a debate on how the housing market is at risk of jamming. The audience was two-fold ­­­- potential FTBs who feel unable to own their own home (but don’t read personal finance media), and stakeholders to whom Halifax wanted to demonstrate industry leadership.

To create a campaign that would truly resonate with non-homeowners, we commissioned an in-depth study on how the credit crunch has impacted attitudes to home ownership.  Focus groups in Manchester and London suggested factors affecting renters and buyers.  We then tested these with quantitative polling to ensure they were nationally representative. 

Polling and focus group findings were analysed by the National Centre for Social Research which identified the emergence of ‘Generation Rent’ – two-thirds of non-homeowners who believe they have no prospect whatsoever of buying a home.

Through the research we identified the transparency of the mortgage application process as a key concern: people were intimidated by the application process and did not know what to expect if they were to apply.  This insight enabled us to shape and then launch a Halifax First Time Buyer Pledge that would remove the fear factor from the mortgage application process and open the market up.

On launch day, the Generation Rent report was one of four mortgage surveys issued into the same media space.  We differentiated Halifax’s by making it the most in-depth analysis of the fears, hopes and aspirations of would-be homeowners.

This story was front page news.  Virtually every national newspaper covered the story (news and commentariat) as well as every major broadcast outlet, from the Today programme and BBC Breakfast all the way through to Channel 4 News and Newsnight.  The Times alone covered the story editorially with double page spreads on consecutive days and four other articles.  The Guardian and the FT each devoted a further four articles to it, including a Lex column.

Five days after the story broke seven articles appeared in the weekend press. 

Over two weeks the story generated 68 national pieces (28 of which appeared in print), 14 broadcast pieces aired and 41 online articles.  The story galvanised ‘Generation Rent’, with thousands of tweets in a matter of days and went international, with pick up in Australia and New York.

Halifax’s FTB Pledge was mentioned in 39% of coverage and in July, Housing Minister, Grant Shapps cited the Pledge as something industry should be replicating to help FTBs onto the housing ladder.

The campaign has also opened doors for Halifax to discuss and shape housing policy with Number 10, with Grant Shapps and with the DCLG.

In October 2010, Blue Rubicon worked alongside Land Securities to launch One New Change; the City of London’s high profile retail development situated a mere 50ft away from the dome of Sir Christopher Wren’s famous St Paul’s Cathedral. The campaign was designed to reach a myriad of contrasting audiences from sensitive stakeholders such as The City of London and St Paul’s; to business, property, consumer, architecture and travel and tourism journalists. This six month PR campaign encompassed issues management, tactical PR, social media, innovative experiential events, unique media partnerships and a strong ATL creative that was all based on the principle theme of ‘old London meets new’. 

The campaign had six key objectives:

- Increase seven-days-a-week footfall, dwell time and customer spend by raising awareness of One New Change, Cheapside and the City of London through targeted media relations and social media

- Drive footfall from the October launch and roof-terrace launch through to subsequent events by utilising celebrity musical acts, social media channels and targeted editorial to amplify activity at One New Change

- Communicate that One New Change’s arrival played an integral part in the economic and historical regeneration of Cheapside

- Mitigate any issues by liaising closely with key local stakeholders

- Highlight the historical and economic context of One New Change’s arrival in the City of London and the regeneration of Cheapside by using media partnerships and third party spokespeople

- Reach an audience stretching outside of the City of London by targeting international publications and blogs as well as UK national media, positioning One New Change as a destination venue with unrivalled views of St Paul’s 

We developed a staggered launch strategy to amplify numerous high profile events over a three week period with the arrival of 60 new retail outlets and restaurants in October and the unprecedented views from the much-hyped roof-terrace in November being the focus. We developed a campaign proposition centred around ‘old London meets new’ and ensured that it was embedded in all media materials to deliver an integrated message. By developing a creative and innovative PR-led campaign comprising of tactical media relations, bold photo-stunts, construction milestones, retailer unveils and relevant celebrity partnerships, we brought this proposition to life.

Stakeholder relations pre-launch in the form of on-site one-to-one briefings paved the way for a successful campaign by bringing powerful advocates on board in support of One New Change. We also built mutually-beneficial relationships with vital stakeholders such as St Paul’s and the City of London to emphasise the positive benefits of the arrival of One New Change.Pre-launch, significant milestones and picture opportunities were complemented by CGI’s and pre-commissioned photography which lead to coverage on the front page of The Times, in The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, Sunday Express, The Guardian, Time Out, The Evening Standard, City A.M. and the LA Times as well as receiving blanket coverage across the national retail and marketing media. We also began raising public awareness with a digital outreach programme creating official One New Change Facebook and Twitter accounts and holding blogger briefings on site.

We then created a diverse series of media moments throughout the day of launch to ensure there was a constant stream of content appealing to all publications. We partnered with The Prince’s Trust for the first media moment, a photocall with Jennie Falconer serving a ‘Cabbies Breakfast’ to raise money for the charity; a scheduled interview on the morning ran in Closer magazine. The ribbon cutting with Sir Stuart Rose attracted over 30 national photographers and video broadcasters to the press pen with Sky News, BBC London, The Times, Daily Express, The Sun, City A.M., Getty, Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC all in attendance. We worked with Sir Stuart Rose and the City of London on the ribbon-cutting speeches to include key messages about the history of Cheapside and what One New Change means for the Capital and the City of London. These key messages were later relayed in numerous broadcast and print interviews including Sky News, BBC London, The Times, Daily Express and The Evening Standard.

Getty and OK! were given exclusive access inside the subsequent roof-terrace party, with Retna, Ferrari, WENN, Rex and freelance photographers given access to the press pen located on the red carpet. We received further coverage in Daily Star, Daily Express and City A.M. as well as blanket online coverage including Dailymail.co.uk

The launch was an explosive affair with Sir Stuart Rose officially cutting the ribbon and other high profile business heavyweights such as Sir Philip Green taking in the new development. The combination of the business titans and pop royalty in the form of Alesha Dixon and The Hoosiers led to over 300 pieces of coverage spanning international, national and regional broadcast and print, radio and online publications, and helped attract 6,000 shoppers into the development within the first hour and 17,000 in the first day.

Following the launch, the Centre Director at One New Change was positioned as an industry commentator and has commented on retail figures and trends on The Jeff Randall Show, BBC World News and Bloomberg. 

The campaign has been featured in PR Week. 

The Women’s Royal Voluntary Service is a charity with a proud history spanning over 70 years. It offers a range of practical services – like Good Neighbours and Meals on Wheels - to help and support older people to live well, maintain their independence and play a part in their local community.

Blue Rubicon was appointed to design a creative campaign that would drive broader awareness of the organisation. This, in turn, would help to recruit a new generation of volunteers, drive fund-raising and increase knowledge of services amongst people who may need them.

The new campaign would also create an opportunity to communicate WRVS mission of helping to make Britain a great place to grow old and present it as a modern and relevant organisation. This created a particular challenge: to build new appeal while driving new engagement amongst the charity’s existing 45,000 volunteers.

Rather than launching directly into traditional campaign development where the team would use research and insight to develop ideas in isolation, we understood that we couldn’t build creative behind closed doors. With that in mind, we used our co-creative process where we work directly with audiences to create campaigns. In this instance, our audiences had been identified as potential future and current WRVS volunteers.

After writing a creative brief, we developed initial concepts with WRVS during a long brainstorming session. We then refined and merged elements of our thinking to create several skeletal campaign routes which we would use to kick-start additional creative sessions.

We then assembled three groups of people in London and Cardiff: one consisted of women in their thirties; one of men and women in their 50s and 60s and one of WRVS volunteers and people who use their services.

We worked with these groups to develop our sketches of ideas into fully formed campaigns. During co-creation sessions, each member of the group is encouraged to make contributions by our trained facilitators who use a range of techniques that encourage people to be bold and tangential in their thinking. We created a fun and enjoyable atmosphere where people feel rewarded for their contributions. The premise behind the sessions is simple: pretty much anyone can be creative with the right tools and in the right atmosphere.

Given the marked difference in our WRVS groups, we also used the sessions to find the shared space between our audiences to create three fully-formed campaign executions. We then developed a visual presentation to showcase our collaborative approach to Lynne Berry, Chief Executive of WRVS, to allow her to choose which route to implement.

Sarah Mitchell Head of Marketing at WRVS says: ‘This way of developing creative was reassuring for us. It meant that any ideas were absolutely rooted in our target audiences and are more likely to have an impact.

‘It was also both interesting and encouraging that our different target audiences all focussed on the same ideas, were passionate about their success and, as a result, made campaign altering contributions to their development.’

Aviva’s first ever global brand campaign, You Are the Big Picture, aimed to bring to life their brand promise to recognise the needs of their customers better than any other insurance company.

The business wanted to show how they are putting customers at the heart of the business by wrapping landmark buildings in key cities worldwide in portraits of their customers, employees and business partners. While this was going to deliver Aviva consumer awareness, the campaign needed an additional ingredient to deliver media engagement, and cut-through with their business audiences.

Aviva’s first ever global brand campaign, You Are the Big Picture, aimed to bring to life their brand promise to recognise the needs of their customers better than any other insurance company. To deliver this deeper engagement, Blue Rubicon democratised the concept of ‘recognition’, by creating a tactic to give tens of thousands of people the chance to see their face projected onto an iconic building in one of six cities across the world. These high impact public projections were delivered by a social media word of mouth campaign and far-reaching media relations, which took Aviva into fertile new ground.

The social media element of the campaign took Aviva from a standing start to a fully integrated campaign using personalised videos, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter to motivate the public to tell their friends and families. Not only did social media secure mass engagement, but it also resulted in mass approval from members of the public who relished the opportunity to get involved.

In addition, for every photo submitted via youarethebigpicture.com and facebook.com/aviva, Aviva also donated £1 to its Street to School programme to support the needs and rights of street children.

As well as shining a light on customers of today through its brand campaign, Blue Rubicon also developed a platform for Aviva to take a fresh view on the major global financial issues of tomorrow. A selection of the world’s leading thinkers were brought together to form the ‘Future Prosperity Panel’ – a think tank aimed at helping Aviva to better understand how to improve prosperity around the world. By generating fresh intellectual insight, the panel is underpinning the ongoing consumer activity with substantive recommendations for stakeholders, which will be released in Spring 2011.

In just the first six weeks following the campaign launch in London, Paris, Warsaw, Dehli and Singapore, over 40,000 pictures were uploaded, 150 pieces of coverage delivered, a million website hits counted, and 18,000 new Facebook fans generated.

The campaign will be rolled on in by new markets in 2011.

Generation Green is British Gas’s nationwide schools programme designed to empower teachers, schools and their local communities to tackle climate change through greener behaviour.

Our challenge was to take the Generation Green programme out of the classroom and into communities. British Gas wanted to give children an opportunity to actively engage in environmental policy making, whilst supporting reappraisal of the British Gas brand and helping to support its promise “count on us to look after your world”.

In early 2009, British Gas launched a search to find 22 of the brightest andgreenestyoung minds to join a unique environmental think tank for 7-14 year olds. We wanted to create a mass-local campaign to drive grassroots action within schools and communities across the UK, rather than a top-down, nationally focused campaign.

Backed by environmental experts, the think tank members were taken to three locations over the year to inspire them to create their own manifesto for a greener Britain.

A series of post-workshop challenges activated individual members within their own communities. The campaign finale saw the think tank descend on Parliament to present its final manifesto at a private audience with Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and a high-profile reception at the House of Commons, hosted by Greg Barker MP, Shadow Climate Change Minister.

“I am really impressed by the Generation Green Think Tank’s grasp of the importance of climate change and I am inspired by their enthusiasm for action . . .  It’s great to see that companies like British Gas are playing a role in helping innovative and engaging green education to take root across the country.” Greg Barker MP, Minister for Climate Change

The campaign produced over 44 million opportunities to see or hear, and in support of the objective to support brand reappraisal, British Gas branding appeared in 80% of coverage, with all coverage (195 pieces) containing Generation Green branding. Coverage highlights included a full page in Times 2 and the Sunday Express, and a special feature on BBC Radio 4 Costing the Earth.  Importantly, the campaign drove a 48% increase in school engagement in Generation Green and 2,000 new schools signed up to the programme.

The manifesto was presented on behalf of the 4 million children who take part in Generation Green, and more than 1,700 signatures of public support backed the campaign. Ed Miliband stuck to his promise to include one of their recommendations in the Labour election manifesto and the event was recorded by the BBC’s flagship children’s programme Blue Peter. In addition, Greg Mulholland MP tabled an Early Day Motion commending British Gas and the Generation Green think tank and members have succeeded in driving real change in their local communities.

The Home Heat Helpline is a free, not for profit helpline aimed at vulnerable customers struggling to pay their fuel bills and keep warm and is run by Energy UK on behalf of Britain’s major energy suppliers. Our task was to drive calls to the helpline during winter 2009/10. The challenge was to not only reach consumers, but to raise awareness among the industry’s political stakeholders of the work being done by energy suppliers to beat fuel poverty.

To reach our two audiences – consumers and stakeholders – we undertook a three pronged approach:

• We commissioned research from the New Policy Institute which quantified the “missing millions” who could potentially benefit by calling the Helpline. The research in-depth data covering every local authority and parliamentary constituency in the country, allowed us to mount highly targeted media and political outreach.
• We recruited Kym Marsh as a celebrity ambassador who could both appeal to the full spectrum of vulnerable customers and talk credibly about fuel poverty. We brokered interviews with key national newspapers, broadcast outlets and consumer magazines including an exclusive media partnership for the day of launch with the Daily Mirror.
• We took our celebrity, Kym Marsh and a team of energy advisors on a  pop up living room tour of shopping centres around the country which provided customers with an opportunity to talk directly to  people who could help. Celebrity attendance at each event enabled us to secure considerable print and broadcast coverage on a local level enabling the reach of the roadshow to stretch far beyond the footfall of each event itself.

Most importantly, our campaign succeeded in its goal of getting vulnerable consumers to call the Helpline – real evidence of behaviour change through communications. Coverage highlights include: Working Lunch, Daily Mirror, The Sun, The Times, Sunday Mirror’s Celebs on Sunday, Paul O’Grady Show, Woman’s Own, New, The Scotsman, ITV Central, ITV Yorkshire. As a direct result of our campaign, calls to the Helpline surged to 1,400 on two successive days during our national launch, fourteen times the normal daily average. Over the five-month campaign, call levels topped 15,000, 76% up on the previous year. Our independent evaluation of the results shows:

• 305 articles / mentions
• 100% favourability
• Total OTS: 80,993,000
• PR value: £1,370,298
• Total AVE: £677,574

The campaign also succeeded in achieving cut-through with political stakeholders. More than 20 MPs issued local press releases citing the Missing Millions research, including former environment secretary and current Labour leadership contender David Miliband and the new Welsh secretary Cheryl Gillan.

The film and television film industry loses in excess of £500 million every year to copyright theft. In 2008, the UK government announced plans requiring Internet Service Providers to play a more active role in protecting copyright and then threw down the gauntlet to the UK’s creative industries to play their part.

UK film body, the Industry Trust for IP Awareness, challenged Blue Rubicon to create a communications campaign that would complement government efforts.  Our core target audience was 16-34 year olds males – the most prolific illegal downloaders.

The You Make the Movies campaign revolutionised the Industry Trust’s messaging by adopting a positive tone that engaged its audience.  The new approach paid homage to the public’s role in enabling the British film industry to flourish – thanking the public for consuming legal film content and positioning consumers as active stakeholders in film and TV creation.

At the heart of the campaign was a cinema trailer designed with everyday people delivering famous film lines.  This equipped UK cinemas to play a prominent role in supporting the campaign with media space.  

British actors, directors and production teams including Noel Clarke and Nick Moran breathed life into the industry’s ‘thank you’ with personal accounts of film-making and funding challenges through print and radio interviews.

Online was identified as a crucial space in which to engage audiences so we briefed influential film bloggers to ensure their support.  Noel Clarke tweeted his 20,000 followers to fuel momentum.  The campaign was underpinned by online advertising that delivered digital ‘thank yous’ and drove traffic to a message-rich competition page designed to facilitate interaction with the film industry.

In total, the campaign achieved 86 pieces of media coverage, with over 60 million opportunities to see/hear, 8,000 YouTube views and a return on investment of 13:1.

The campaign achieved high awareness among 16-34 males, with over 60% recalling campaign messages.  A poll revealed a 47% increase in the number of young people who felt positive about the film industry after seeing the campaign.  

Finally, trade association from other countries have sought advice from the Industry Trust on how to combat problems in relation to copyright theft following the campaign.

• European Sabre award Trade Association campaign of the year, 2008
• European Sabre award Trade Association campaign of the year, 2009
• European Sabre award Consumer Industries (Entertainment, Culture and Sport), campaign of the year, 2010 

Liz Bales, Director General of the Industry Trust:
“The You Make the Movies campaign marked a seismic shift in the industry’s communications around copyright theft as a culmination of Blue Rubicon’s three-pronged behaviour change strategy.  The agency skill-fully communicated our message to a vast audience, creating a palatable narrative for national arts, technology and news media alike.  A combination of credible celebrity endorsement and insightful future-gazing around young people and downloading helped ensure the announcement stormed the press, airwaves and online media.  The campaign achieved groundbreaking results for the Industry Trust not once but twice in a year-long campaign.”    

The founders of Waitrose were ahead of their time in recognising that commercial success depends on showing the highest level of corporate social responsibility. In 2009 Blue Rubicon was briefed to work with the Waitrose press office to help them reinforce this leadership in sustainability and retain existing heartland consumers whilst broadening appeal.

The task was to build an iconic moment around the company's support of the End of the Line - a film which looks at the plight of the world's fish stocks and was released nationwide in June 2009. Waitrose has championed sustainable fish for the last 12 years, and supporting the film allowed the supermarket to raise awareness of an issue close to its heart - helping ensure fish remains on the menu for future generations.

The PR campaign, jointly developed and executed by the Waitrose internal PR team and Blue Rubicon, aimed to enhance Waitrose's reputation as the leading supermarket in the field of CSR, highlight Waitrose's involvement with the End of the Line, raise awareness of the issue and Waitrose's sustainable fishing policy, and encourage consumers to ask where fish comes

To reveal the widespread misunderstanding around the issues, we commissioned a survey of 2,000 adults - providing content to tie the film to Waitrose - and developed a call to action for consumers to question where there fish comes from.

We invited key influencers and media on an embargoed trip to a fishery in Iceland - the BBC, Guardian and Treehugger website. The consumer polling, call to action and Iceland press trip were released one week ahead of the film's launch - a package including B-roll footage and Waitrose interview opportunities.

To maintain momentum, the launch was underpinned by spotlighting celebrities supporting the campaign and new Waitrose sustainable fish announcements.

We secured 80 branded articles and features, including 16 national print/newswires; 9 broadcast, and 20 online pieces - creating 100 million opportunities to see/hear.

As well as extensive media coverage, the results have been clear throughout the business with Waitrose fish counter staff inundated with questions on sustainable fish and sales of Waitrose fish increasing by 15%. Externally, other big retail names such as M&S, Sainsbury's and Pret have been forced to outline their policies.

Greenpeace described Waitrose as the most forward thinking of the supermarkets when it comes to sustainable fishing, and Marketing editor, Lucy Barrett, commented in The Guardian

By tying up with the film, Waitrose has already provided its credentials to its customers. This film is the best bit of CSR I have seen for some time.

Mark Price was invited to discuss the issue at The World Food Business Summit in New York and Prince Charles urged other retailers to follow Waitrose's lead in his opening video address at this conference.

Blu-ray officially won the high definition format war against the rival format HD-DVDs in 2006. However, three years later in 2009 consumer awareness of format was still low, despite the increase in household HDTV penetration, and there were still considerable perceived barriers to purchase.

Blue Rubicon was approached by the British Video Association, on behalf of the leading Hollywood studios, to create buzz and excitement around the format, raise awareness of the benefits of Blu-ray, inform and educate consumers regarding Blu-ray to break down barriers to purchase.

Our strategic approach centred on helping move consumers from awareness of the format to a deeper understanding of the benefits of Blu-ray. To achieve this we adopted a three pronged approach which included creating new news around the format to reignite editorial interest, developing in-depth features through a “nuts and bolts” press office function and brokering big bang media partnerships, underpinned by smaller promotions in partnership with hardware suppliers.

In order to create new news around the format we commissioned research into consumer use of home entertainment technology in the living room. This provided us with a broad range of content that allowed us to talk about home entertainment more generally, therefore maintaining wider news appeal, whilst positioning Blu-ray as the must have state-of-the-art in home technology. In addition we used our research to highlight consumer confusion surrounding high definition technology in general and used Blu-ray as an example of how consumers should make the most of their HDTVs.

These big media moments were underpinned by our reactive and proactive press office function which allowed us to create bespoke features for the likes of Shortlist magazine and work with technology editors, such as Charles Arthur at The Guardian, to ensure our key messaging was included in wider reviews of the formats success.

The final element to the campaign was the big bang media partnerships we brokered across both broadcast and print media, including media partnerships with GMTV, Now, Shortlist, IGN.com and the News of the World.

The campaign generated nearly 76 million opportunities to see, with an AEV of almost £900,000 and our GMTV partnership alone generated over 29 million opportunities to see with an AEV of £393,000. We achieved blanket media coverage across TV, radio and print media, including national coverage in The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Metro, The Guardian, Daily Star, News of the World, Sky News Radio and BBC 6 Music.

The campaign helped drive consumer awareness of the format, which increased from 80% in 2008 to 92% by the end of 2009 and also helped drive sales of Blu-ray discs, which were expected to increase from 9.7 million in 2009 to 16.8 million in 2010.

Millions of mobile customers deem existing networks as cold, misleading, or just plain disappointing. Consumers crave a fairer partnership with their provider. Hello giffgaff - a community-run mobile phone network that delivers an interactive way of doing mobile. In return for helping with marketing and customer support, members receive points which can be converted to money, giffgaff account credit or donated to charity.

giffgaff partnered with Blue Rubicon to round off an eight month beta phase with a full consumer launch to:

• introduce the brand identity and mission
• create awareness and consideration around the product offering
• directly increase activated customer base

A three-phased launch strategy was devised:

• 1.Big bang launch advertising 
  Using a mixture of press, high impact digital outdoor and high reach online display, giffgaff was launched and ‘The Man’ character (representing all things corporate and excessive) was set down as the problem that giffgaff is here to tackle.
• 2. Online engagement
  The campaign was supported with prominent placement of ‘The Man’ identity on giffgaff. com, where people tested how like ‘The Man’ they were via their Facebook / Twitter activity, and paid-for search activity so that all interest generated was captured and directed to the site.
• 3. Joined-up editorial media campaign
  Who’s ‘The Man’? To help consumers identify with ‘The Man’, we asked them which famous faces they visualised when thinking of him. The results created a striking photofit image including facial features from Gordon Brown and Katie Price, which gained mass media traction. 
  
  ‘The Man’ in Hyde Park: Thirty actors posed as fat cat businessmen dressed in mankinis while floating on Lake Serpentine in giant rubber rings. This cheeky take on big corporate’s excessive behaviour created a disruptive moment of theatre in tune with the giffgaff brand.

A-list media briefing programme for in depth messaging. Key media received bespoke briefings highlighting giffgaff’s new model for mobile and superb value. The biggest success came from inclusion in the Money Saving Expert newsletter.

The launch campaign was judged on qualitative and quantitative metrics, comparing key performance in main areas from the final results achieved in May (one month before) and final results end of July 2010 (one month after).

• Daily Activation rate up by 407%
• Active SIM user base increased by 187%
• Daily traffic visits up by 101%
• Daily unique visits up by 77%
• Organic traffic increased by 8%
• Twitter followers grew by 60%
• PR OTS increased by 76%
• Buzz mentions (twitter, blogs, forums) increased from end May to end June by 125%
• Overall cost per activation including all marketing spend reduced by 68%

Despite being one of the world’s most recognised brands, McDonald’s has regularly suffered from criticism and poor perceptions of its food, employment practices and social responsibility.  McDonald’s responded with a revitalisation programme which included a major investment in its restaurants, menu and employees.

Blue Rubicon was challenged to support this programme to help rebuild trust in the brand.  Our aim was to provide consumers with the opportunity to reconsider their perceptions of McDonald’s.

Such a wide ranging revitalisation programme required a correspondingly thorough communications strategy and one which addressed each point of the programme.

A central plank of our strategy was to commission a major piece of research which, for the first time ever, provided a comprehensive analysis of the casual eating out market in the UK.  ’Eating Out in the UK 2009’ allowed us to position McDonald’s as the voice of the informal eating out sector and allowed the brand to drive debate around the current and future states of the market.

Existing research was used to provide a balanced and objective third party view. One such piece of research came from Lancaster University and highlighted the business value of older workers, an area of the workforce which McDonald’s has supported for a long time.

At the other end of the employee spectrum, we made the counter intuitive announcement in January 2009 that McDonalds was to become the UK’s largest apprenticeship provider.  This allowed us to stimulate further discussion and position McDonald’s at the heart of a debate on the commercial value of maintaining investment in people and skills during the recession.

Our strategy laid the ground for Steve Easterbrook, McDonald’s CEO, to take part in interviews with the most significant and respected media as the figurehead of an organisation that was pro-active, authoritative and a thought leader across a range of key industry issues.

Using a range of measures, the campaign proved to be an outstanding success. Independent research revealed McDonald’s regained the high trust ratings it received in 2002 (experiencing an increase of 62% since 2005).  In addition, the company rose up the rankings in Populus’ ‘Concerned Consumer’ Index. McDonald’s is now increasingly recognised as a source of credible business comment on employment and economic issues.

From the point of view of the workforce, there has been a 4% increase in the number of McDonald’s employees who say they are proud to work at the company (79%).  A total of 5,000 employees have already joined the apprenticeship programme.

When Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7, its stated ambition was to promote every handset. However, it quickly became apparent that Orange’s status as the ‘go big’ partner put coverage of O2 and the HTC HD7 at risk.

To create media cut-through and ensure positive product reviews, Blue Rubicon organised an exclusive drinks reception for trusted web, print and TV media contacts. Attendees, including Charles Arthur, Mark Prigg, Nic Fildes and Claudine Beaumont, were given the opportunity to borrow one of 35 exclusive HD7 prototype handsets while receiving one-to-one briefings on the phone’s functionality. For those unable to attend, Blue Rubicon created a waiting list of around 20 additional influential tech journalists who were offered a handset as soon as one became available.

During the month before the launch announcement O2’s involvement in Windows Phone 7 was covered in 84 articles across print and online media, generating over 40m OTS. During the same period Orange’s involvement in Windows Phone 7 was covered in just 62 articles, despite their position as the ‘go big’ partner. Following the launch many attendees at O2’s event only wrote about one Windows Phone 7 phone. By briefing journalists separately we ensured this was the HTC HD7.

The pain relief market is becoming increasingly crowded. Blue Rubicon was brought in by GlaxoSmithKline to help reclaim Panadol’s position as the original paracetamol. The challenge was to tackle consumer apathy towards pain relievers, put pain relief back on the consumer agenda and establish Panadol as the paracetamol brand.

We set out to show how apathy about pain relief was caused by consumer confusion. We commissioned research which revealed a third of people found pain relief bewildering; the difference between paracetamol, aspirin and ibuprofen and suitability of each was unclear.

To educate and engage the public we created a campaign hinged on medical research, which supports the view that paracetamol is the right choice for the majority of people.

We launched a confusion story during Ask About Medicines Week inviting people to reappraise what they know about pain relief and to make more considered choices. The story was launched via national press and through a radio campaign fronted by This Morning’s Dr Chris Steele. This generated debate amongst the widest possible audience - with Panadol at its heart.

Pharmacy assistants were identified as key influencers and we produced pain relief training guides and information charts to equip them to educate customers. This activity was amplified by developing in store training and features, which ran on Lloyds pharmacy radio during Ask About Medicines Week.

Ask About Pain Relief leaflet produced for consumers and made available via a helpline, website, Tesco pharmacies and 4000 GP’s surgeries extended the campaigns reach.

    •    Within a two month period 101 items of media coverage (radio, print and online) with a reach of over 36 million was achieved.

    •    83% of coverage included a quote from a credible spokesperson, 75% positioned paracetamol as the first choice painkiller and 45% was Panadol branded.

    •    The media got fully behind our confusion about painkiller debate, with The Sun, Express, Independent and Guardian all running major features comparing and contrasting paracetamol, ibuprofen and aspirin; and utilising Panadol survey results.

    •    Key message delivery was high with the majority of articles incorporating, paracetamol as the right choice for the majority and ‘think before you buy, what suits you best?’

    •    The Ask About Pain Relief leaflet was distributed to 4,000 GP surgeries and consumers continue to request copies via the helpline

    •    Training guides and information charts were distributed to 28,000 pharmacy assistants - a key audience for influencing consumers pain relief choice.

Since it started, the popular TV programme Dragon’s Den has consistently sparked debate around entrepreneurialism. Can you teach someone to become a successful entrepreneur?  Are they born, or made?

One of the show’s leading Dragons, Peter Jones, believes firmly that entrepreneurialism can be taught. After discussing his vision with government, employers and education experts, he established the National Enterprise Academy (NEA) - the first-ever UK educational organisation dedicated solely to enterprise and entrepreneurship.

In January 2009, we were tasked by Peter Jones with creating a PR campaign to establish the credibility and reputation of the NEA ahead of its national launch in September 2009.

A pilot scheme was undertaken in the months running up to the launch to refine and finalise the NEA curriculum and to showcase its potential. The results were used to reinforce key messages about the impact of the NEA on BBC Breakfast and Sky News, while the first intake of students brought the story to life across the media.

Peter Jones himself acted as spokesperson, reinforcing the need for, and value of, a dedicated enterprise academy. We amplified this using Levi Roots, an entrepreneur in whose Reggae Reggae Sauce Peter Jones had invested, to deliver a kitchen master class and further media interviews.

The official launch event was attended by over 150 stakeholders and partners, while key education and business journalists were invited to individual briefings with Peter Jones.

The activity generated 40 pieces of national media coverage and 32 million opportunities to see/hear.  Media coverage was referenced by one third of NEA applicants as their key source of information.

The Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson hailed the NEA as playing

“a vital role in helping young people unlock their talent and gain the skills necessary for a better future, both for themselves and the country.”

Cadbury Dairy Milk bar is the UK's favourite chocolate bar and has a history stretching back over 100 years. Against a backdrop of increased consumer interest in sustainable business practices and ethical sourcing, in March 2009, Cadbury changed the game overnight by announcing Cadbury Dairy Milk was to be Fairtrade certified.

We used the announcement to create a debate, centred on Cadbury Dairy Milk, around the 'mainstreaming' of ethical sourcing. We garnered widespread support from stakeholders and consumers, producing a halo effect that would reflect well across the company.

To reinforce its credibility, the announcement was led by the Fairtrade Foundation and was timed to form the jewel in the crown of Fairtrade Fortnight. It was positioned as not only a significant move for the Fairtrade movement itself but, by tripling sales of Fairtrade cocoa, as one that would significantly improve the lives of Ghanaian cocoa farmers and farming communities.

A powerful media package was created including key stats and case studies to demonstrate the impact for farmers and Fairtrade. B-roll captured cocoa's journey from 'bean to bar' alongside impactful photography of cocoa farmers and the new product. When the first Fairtrade bars were produced, media were invited to the chocolate factory in Bournville to see the bars coming off the production line and to record interviews on site.

Media coverage of the announcement positioned Cadbury as industry leaders in sustainable business and ethical sourcing. The move itself was hailed as a major breakthrough for Fairtrade and groundbreaking news for farmers.

In the first week alone, the initial announcement generated 109 pieces of positive coverage. The production of the first bars generated a further 100 positive hits. During campaign evaluation, independent research captured a return on investment of 39:1.

Unplanned pregnancy rates in England are still high and STIs, such as chlamydia, are on the increase. The government set ambitious targets for reducing the rate of under-18 conception and for increasing testing levels within the National Chlamydia Screening Programme of 15-24 year olds.

Drawing on international academic evidence demonstrating that better communication is a key driver of safer sex, the Department of Health created a unifying campaign brand, Sex. Worth Talking About, as a first step towards achieving these goals. The subsequent campaign was designed to encourage and normalise conversations about contraceptive choice and protection against STIs among young people and all who engage with them.

We created a series of high profile, disruptive moments to reach our core audiences of 15-24 year olds, younger teenagers and parents.

To launch the campaign with a bang and literally get the nation talking about the positive potential of conversation, we created a Sex Worth Talking About week. Consumer polling demonstrated how, despite having overcome many traditional reservations about touchy subjects, our conversations are often superficial, misinformed and potentially harmful to our sexual health. We identified unhelpful attitudes to talking about sex and relationships. By highlighting dangerous sexual health myths and misconceptions we provoked discussion of the facts. The activity was designed to provide opportunities to answer questions many people shared but were too embarrassed to admit.

We carried out an independent analysis of 410 pieces of coverage secured across online, broadcast and print media through Metrica. The coverage achieved a 99% favourability rating and 192m impacts. We also generated extensive conversations across social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and blogs.

Other highlights included blanket coverage across the BBC and an unprecedented 1,000 individuals engaged directly in a national radio promotion both of which encouraged parents and teens to talk more about sex and relationships.

Over 123,000 British businesses trade on eBay, yet early in 2008, its perception remained principally one of a consumer-to-consumer marketplace.  There was little awareness of the importance of eBay to the success of hundreds of thousands of online entrepreneurs. 

Our challenge was to increase awareness of eBay as a business marketplace and position it as a champion of online entrepreneurs. 

Together with eBay, we developed the Online Business Index, a regular barometer to track the trading performance and attitudes of 500-700 firms trading on eBay. Using a survey conducted by an independent research consultancy, the goal was to establish the Index as an authoritative barometer of online business performance, one which also carried insights from businesses trading on other online marketplaces, not just eBay. Such flexibility and impartiality would then provide eBay with the raw materials to examine a range of issues relevant to a range of audiences, from journalists and political stakeholders to online businesses themselves and not risk being seen as simply promoting is own platform.

The inaugural Online Business Index was launched in the UK in March 2009 and since its creation has focused on a range of key issues including consumer choice, business insight, business support and exports.

“The Online Business Index has been one of eBay’s key pillars of activity in helping to position the brand as the voice of online businesses in the UK.
 
The results Blue Rubicon achieved through their work on the Online Business Index campaign have been so successful in the UK, among both media and key stakeholder groups, that we have now rolled it out across Europe.”

Jenny Thomas, eBay UK Corporate PR Manager:

Through the Online Business Index, eBay has been able to highlight issues affecting businesses to help shift long-held perceptions.  It has seen eBay offered speaking opportunities at the Retail Week and Enterprise Nation conferences.  It has also provided a valuable platform from which to engage with key political stakeholders and resulted in an endorsement from former Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and then Shadow Business Minister Mark Prisk.

Building this success, ahead of the 2010 general election, eBay launched “Backing Online Business”, the first ever manifesto for online businesses.

This was followed by an innovative research partnership with the Sunday Telegraph – the policy blind taste test.  This assembled a focus group of leading entrepreneurs and online businesses to rate the business policies of the three main parties, but without the panel knowing which party was proposing what.  By getting businesses to assess policies on their merits, the research showed that none of the main parties measured up in the eyes of entrepreneurs.

Social networks moved from insignificant in the 2005 UK general election to a major part of the public’s participation in the 2010 election.

While Facebook was widely used by the public and stakeholders, it is not always well understood.

Facebook’s challenge was how to communicate

its potential to engage and activate people in the political process during Britain’s first two screen election.

Blue Rubicon designed and launched Democracy UK – a single hub for users where anyone with an opinion could congregate to share and harness political debate.

Democracy UK was set up in March to galvanise Facebook’s existing users in the political debate leading up to the election. In the run up to the election it was both seen and used as a platform for mass engagement. In harnessing Facebook’s key strengths of speed and scale, we were able to engage a huge audience.

Unlike traditional media, users weren’t just given news or asked to comment on it. Users were given the tools to participate in public debates and create the news themselves, with live commentary and dial tests on the debates and also the ability to register to vote, take part in polls on major issues and persuade their friends to vote. Users could also get involved in light-hearted political content such as the Ministry of Mates where users could nominate friends to be in their own personal cabinet.

Regular status updates were reactive to the rolling news agenda, asking questions and provoking comment rather than simply updating news events. We also invited journalists to have live debates on the hub and created a series of fleet of foot polls that received offline coverage.

This activity achieve staggering results online, with over two million users declaring ‘I Voted’ on polling day, nearly 300,000 joining our Democracy UK page and thousands registered via Facebook.

With just under 600 pieces of coverage, the campaign also created waves within traditional print and broadcast media, as well as creating a storm through other digital outlets including Twitter, the blogosphere and mainstream national, trade and PR channels.

Facebook was recognised as having played a central role in the UK’s first social media election. In the months after the election Prime Minister David Cameron announced a major partnership with Facebook, while both leading Labour leadership contenders were interviewed by Democracy UK users.

Most major organisations now have nominated charities, with employees across the country carrying out fantastic work to raise money for good causes.  Following an employee vote in May 2008, Gala Coral nominated Sue Ryder Care as the group’s principal charity and looked to us to help cut through the public’s ‘charity fatigue’.  Our challenge was to gain traction for Gala’s commitment to raise £1 million for the organisation in 2009.  We aimed to create a campaign that would capture the public’s imagination, inspire further donations, position Gala Coral as the most dynamic and exciting bingo brand and create a stronger relationship with the company’s core C2DE customers as well as its stakeholders.

We audited the company’s planned fundraising activity and alighted on a pre-existing CSR activity which had seen 24 Gala Coral employees trekking up Mount Everest to raise £100,000 for Sue Ryder Care.  We repositioned this as an endeavour to set the record for the world’s highest ever game of bingo.  This formed the campaign platform, capturing both the media and the public’s imagination..

The campaign was divided into two distinct phases:
•    Building excitement and momentum prior to the trek and personalising the mission
•    Celebrating the pioneers and capitalising on the trekker’s new world record

Both phases were underpinned by solid media relations that saw tactical exploitation of national and regional broadcast, print and online media.

Our strategic, two-pronged approach delivered multiple points of engagement with the media, consumers and stakeholders and secured the maximum possible cut-through for Gala Coral’s key messages.  In total the campaign achieved 123 separate pieces of media coverage and almost 90% contained at least three of Gala Coral’s key messages.

We created over 45 million opportunities to see/hear and delivered a total PR Value of over £530,000. This represented a return on investment of £27 for every £1 spent.  The trek itself, driven by regular media mentions of ‘how to donate’, raised over £110,000 and helped Gala Coral smash its target of raising £1million for Sue Ryder Care with a month to spare.

Smoking is the biggest killer in England and causes in excess of 80,000 deaths every year. In August 2009, the Department of Health, Blue Rubicon and six partner communications agencies created a campaign to target the most difficult to influence audience – male smokers in routine and manual (R&M) work. The aim of the initiative was to reinforce motivation to quit and encourage attempts to quit amongst male R&M smokers.

Capitalising on the audience’s love of sport and humour, a virtual quitters’ football club was created. ‘Smokefree United’ aimed to tap into interest in football and male pride, linking these to the ability to ‘get more out of your game’ by quitting. An interactive, football-focused website acted as a hub for the campaign and aimed to create an inclusive community that provided motivation to those wanting to stop smoking.

Blue Rubicon orchestrated the PR launch of the campaign and created a second media moment half way through the campaign to help boost sign-up to Smokefree United. In order to create a strong campaign launch story we combined independent research, demonstrating the effects of smoking on people’s football game, with supportive quotes from Premier League clubs and players, whilst also negotiating the support of ex-Premier League star John Barnes. This provided us with a strong package of content to take to both print and broadcast media with a clear call to action to sign up to Smokefree United. The second wave of activity centered on harnessing the highly competitive attitude football fans have about their teams’ performance and using it to drive fan’s interest in their teams performance in the Smokefree United League.

An underlying piece of activity to engage with the football clubs’ websites and fans forums was implemented throughout the campaign which resulted in a strong Smokefree United presence across a number of Premier League and League clubs websites during the campaign.

Campaign success was judged by awareness, engagement and quit-related targets. Over 220 pieces of media coverage were generated, including in key R&M titles The Sun and The Mirror, on 17 Premier League club websites and forums and two club facebook pages. Total opportunities to see/ hear topped 18.5 million and campaign awareness amongst smokers and ex-smokers reached 16% (from a base of 0%).

Furthermore research conducted after the campaign had finished revealed that from a sample of people who’d signed up to Smokefree United 84% had made a quit attempt and 62% of those quit attempts were still successful at the time of research, two months after the campaign launch.

During 32 days of regional activity, 10,000 smokers were spoken to face-to-face - 4.4% of these went on to request help from their local NHS Stop Smoking Service. Over an eight week period, the Smokefree United website received over 26,000 visitors and more than 2,000 smokers signed up - providing a 7.7% direct conversion rate. The campaign saw a return on investment of 5:1.