Pub Case studies

Lindt – Give A Child A Golden Chance

Client objectives

As Lindt’s newly appointed PR agency (in January 08), we were tasked to create a platform that would enhance the emotional appeal of Lindt and its key Easter product, Lindt Gold Bunny, amongst the target consumer at this key seasonal sales period. In addition, the campaign needed to give Lindt ‘cut through’ at a crowded time for the confectionery category. The challenge – we had less than 10 weeks to bring the campaign to life!

Tactics

Any Easter campaign would need high impact and a powerful call to action to get stand out during this busy season. Partnering with children’s charity, ChildLine, we launched a direct-to-consumer campaign called ‘Give A Child A Golden Chance’ in the 2 week run up to Easter 2008.

Themed around the Easter message of ‘hope’, the campaign was designed to appeal to families to help raise awareness and money for those children often forgotten during this festive time of year. The campaign was brought to life with a Gold Bunny Wonderland at The London Eye from 11th March through to Easter Bank Holiday Monday. Visitors to The London Eye wandered amongst giant statues of the iconic gold bunny, sitting in meadows of giant flowers. At the centre of the wonderland was an oversized ChildLine green phone programmed to ring as each donation dropped into the gold bunny, playing a ‘thank you’ message from ChildLine founder, Esther Rantzen. In return for each coin donated, Master Chocolatiers and ChildLine volunteers handed out Lindt Gold Bunnies chocolates. Amongst the wonderland, families could take part in face painting and story telling. As the sun set on the daytime family festivities, night saw the dramatic lighting of the Shell Building. Every night in the run up to Easter, this landmark building on the Southbank was turned into a giant 6,000m2 children’s story book, projecting a tale of hope written by children’s author Mimi Thebo. The tale was brought to life by world famous light artist Gerry Hofstetter, who has lit up famous landmarks around the world in his role as UN ambassador.

Lindt Golden Bunny ChildlineLindt Golden BunnyLindt Golden Bunny Childline

Results

Our PR campaign was designed to amplify both the partnership with ChildLine and drive footfall down to The London Eye. Our tough negotiation saw us secure a competitive two-week national media partnership with The Express that ran across all newspapers and supplements within the group, generating 36 million opportunities to read about the charity link-up and the on-site activity, extending exposure of the campaign beyond London and the South East.

The campaign launched officially on 11th March with the world premiere of our stunning light show. Hosted as a VIP party, the media were treated to a champagne flight in private capsules on The London Eye, to ensure they had the best view of the Shell Building and the first exciting glimpse of our giant Lindt story book. Due to the specialist nature of the lighting used, we worked with Gerry Hofstetter’s team to capture the best quality images and video footage of the light show, which were then sent out to media generating some fantastic picture-led coverage in the London media the day after the launch. Interviews with Esther Rantzen and Gerry Hofstetter appeared on BBC News 24, MSN and PA and the footage secured over 500 views on YouTube. To keep the momentum going after launch, we staged a photocall with Esther Rantzen in the second week of the activity, to raise awareness of ChildLine and the plight of the children who use the charity. Giant Lindt Gold Bunnies were also delivered to the studios of all London and national radio DJs, with Chris Moyles giving the bunny over 10 minutes of air time. An exclusive partnership with Heart FM meant the campaign was talked up on air the week before Easter and the station even sent down their hit squad to help shake the buckets and raise money for ChildLine. All this activity was underpinned with a hard-working product placement campaign for Lindt Gold Bunny on the food, news and gifting pages of the consumer media.

Lindt Shell ProjectionLindt London Paper

Outcome


  • £20,000 was raised for ChildLine through the activity
  • 156,459 visitors to the London Eye and the Lindt Gold Bunny Wonderland
  • 100,000 x 10g Lindt Gold Bunnies sampled over the two week period
  • Media campaign created 133.8 million opportunities to see
  • In total, 48 pieces of media coverage appeared with a media value of £938,090
  • Over 550 views on You Tube and MSN over the Easter Weekend
  • Over 1545 entries to the Daily Express reader competition
  • Won ‘best campaign’ at Lindt’s internal global marketing awards in April
  • Easter 2008 sales of Lindt Gold Bunny increased by almost half a million pounds*, year on year.
    *Source: AC Nielsen 12 week ending, March 2008

Relation to objectives and cost-effectiveness


This multi-channel PR campaign created high awareness and sales for Lindt during Easter but most importantly allowed Lindt to use its brand profile to raise vital funds for ChildLine and strengthen the emotional associations with the brand.