Whirlpool: Care Counts [image] [alternative version]

Credits & Description:

Title: Care Counts
Agency: Digitaslbi
Brand: Whirlpool
Country: USA
Entrant Company: Digitaslbi, Chicago
Advertising Agency: Digitaslbi, Chicago
Media Agency: Digitaslbi, Chicago
Pr Agency: Ketchum, Chicago
Production Company: C41 Media, New York / Cutters, Chicago / Goodstory Films, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Ronald Ng (Digitaslbi)
Evp, Managing Director, Executive Creative Director: Morgan Carroll (Digitaslbi)
Evp, Group Creative Director: Michael Frease (Digitaslbi)
Vp, Creative Director: Louie Calvano (Digitaslbi)
Vp, Creative Director: Jeremy Bacharach (Digitaslbi)
Vp, Creative Director: Chris Jansma (Digitaslbi)
Senior Art Director: Bryan Haupt (Digitaslbi)
Senior Copywriter: Samantha Bordignon (Digitaslbi)
Lead Experience Designer: David Plant (Digitaslbi)
Vp, Director, Executive Producer: Greg Lederer (Digitaslbi)
Producer: Amanda Riley (Digitaslbi)
Vp, Account Director: Kristine Kobe (Digitaslbi)
Account Director: Julie Wisniewski (Digitaslbi)
Associate Director, Project Management: Themi Psarras (Digitaslbi)
Svp, Technology Group Architect: Sujal Patel (Digitaslbi)
Vp, Group Director, Creative Strategy: Brian Sherwell (Digitaslbi)
Associate Director, Social Strategy: Rachael Datz (Digitaslbi)
Vp, Director, Media: Caitlin Finn (Digitaslbi)
Associate Director, Media: Ryanne Donnellon (Digitaslbi)
Director: Mai Iskander (Goodstory Films/C41 Media)
Partner, Brand Practice Director: Corinne Gudovic (Ketchum)
Vice President, Group Manager: Sarah Gates (Ketchum)
Account Supervisor, Strategic & Creative Planner: Rachel Carlisle (Ketchum)
Senior Account Executive: Kelsey Mcgovern (Ketchum)
Account Executive: Stefani Duhon (Ketchum)
Svp, Technology: Tony Bailey (Digitaslbi)
Senior Manager, Shopper Marketing - Key & Mail: Chelsey Lindstrom (Whirlpool Corp)
Vp, Senior Director, Brand Marketing: Bill Beck (Whirlpool Corp)
Product Marketing Director: Jon Hall (Whirlpool Corp)
Senior Brand Manager: Ryan Morand (Whirlpool Corp)
Outcome:
We smashed an ambitious year one with 350MM PR impression goal in just two months.–378MM earned impressions–600+ total earned stories –110 Tier 1 outlets, including ABC World News Tonight, Today.com, Parade, Business Insider, Huffington Post, U.S. News & World Report, NPR, The Atlantic’s City Lab, BBC, Daily Kos and UpworthyFour national broadcast stories helped fuel 60 more broadcast segments across 18 states. The program was included in the Cassandra Report as a featured community initiative to promote civic and social betterment. The attention piqued government interest including the White House and L.A. Mayor’s Office. One of our featured teachers in the program was named ABC News’ Person of the Week, garnering a full segment about the program and its impact on a national broadcast.Of all this PR coverage:–100% had a Positive/Neutral Tone–100% gave Whirlpool “credit” for creating school laundry program–89% included program resultsAccording to a Whirlpool 2016 Cross Media Results Report done by Millward Brown, media assets designed to support the program increased purchase intent for the brand. Even with subtle branding, 71% of those who were aware of the program linked it to Whirlpool. These efforts also contributed to a:4 pt lift in ad recall6 pt lift in ad recall among millennials8 pt lift in message association with millennialsAdditionally, our PR efforts have (to this point) resulted in over 1,000 additional schools expressing interest in starting Care Counts in their districts.
Synopsis:
Every day in America, thousands of kids miss school because they lack one thing: clean clothes. And kids who regularly miss school are 7 times more likely to drop out.As the brand that celebrates the value of everyday care (i.e. cooking, cleaning and washing), Whirlpool created the Care Counts program to see if something as important as school attendance could be impacted by something as simple as laundry.
Execution:
Before launching publicly, we ran the Care Counts program in schools across the country for a full year, collecting data and video content so we could launch our PR campaign with a complete story backed by measurable results.We finally launched publicly during the back-to-school season of 2016, leveraging the moment in time when the topics of school, kids and attendance are most relevant in the news cycle.We used our documentary-style video to help outline the issue for local and national news outlets and explain how Care Counts was addressing it.Our media materials were full of content, stats and sound bites that helped shed light on this under-reported issue – giving news outlets a uniquely insightful story to tell.And we created a roster of school officials, teachers and Whirlpool brand representatives who could offer a powerfully human account of our program’s emotional story.
Media Strategy:
The Care Counts program itself was born out of the data we collected after fielding a nationwide survey of public school teachers. The survey revealed that 1 in 5 students struggles with access to clean clothes. It also showed how unclean clothes affects students’ performance in class, behavior at school and their overall attitude towards school. These insights are what drove us to create a program that could make a difference.Once begun, the only way to prove the effectiveness of the Care Counts program was by collecting data relating to individual students’ washer usage and their attendance. So we created custom devices to collect data from the washers and send it directly to our cloud database so we could constantly monitor washes and student attendance throughout the year. Without this data, there would have been no way to measure the impact of Care Counts.
Strategy:
The typical Whirlpool target audience is a modern caregiver, but for the Care Counts PR efforts we adjusted our messaging to speak to 4 specific subsets within that broad overall target:-Parents-Educators-Socially conscious millennials-People likely to donate to children’s charitiesBecause the issue of laundry and attendance was something the national media wasn’t familiar with, our messaging approach required a certain sequence to maximize its impact:-First, we had to increase awareness of the issue: students without clean clothes are susceptible to harassment, and may stay home from school to avoid it-Then, educate media on the linkage between access to clean clothes and school attendance-Then, start social and traditional media conversations that bring the issue to the attention of policy makers and education decision-makers-Lastly, create awareness of the Care Counts program as a solution
Relevancy:
The Care Counts laundry program is a philanthropic initiative from Whirlpool, and their intention is never to boast about it through loads of self-promoting paid media. So we’ve relied mainly on PR outlets to realize the widespread relevance and impact of this program and share it with their audiences. PR has been essential for helping this program expand to all areas of the country that can benefit most from it. And that’s what makes it relevant for PR Lions.
Campaign Description:
We installed washers and dryers into schools across America to give at-risk students access to clean clothes. As part of the program, we created data collection devices for each laundry pair. The devices let us track washer usage for each individual student, and relate that to their attendance data, so we could see how clean clothes were directly impacting each student’s attendance.To help tell our story, we filmed a documentary featuring teachers, students and administrators before and after a full year with the program. The film revealed how Care Counts impacted not only attendance, but the academic and social well-being of students as well.