Fresh Thinking Published October - November 2006 Neutrogena Uses Video Blog to reach teenagers The concept behind YouTube is being adopted by marketers. In the US, Johnson & Johnson’s Neutrogena brand is now using video blogs as a way of offering 15-24 year old girls the opportunity to build a strong association between the range of Visibly Clear products and treating young girls’ skin problems. The girls were invited to video themselves talking bout their beauty secrets and post it on the branded ‘Visibly Pretty’ video blog site to win prizes.  So successful was the promotion that after only two weeks 1500 videos had been received and nearly 1000 of them were on the site. Targeting employers helps consumers wake up to new medication US drug maker Cephalon was the beneficiary of some fresh thinking when it hired a PR agency to promote the sleep-fighting medication Provigil.  Instead of directly targeting consumers, the pr agency instead advised Cephalon to target employers with an ‘education’ campaign with two ex-NASA scientists warning employers that the lack of alertness at work could be dangerous.  The PR agency, Dorland Public Relations, also created an “Alertness” website which is reported to have reached four times its hoped-for audience. Sore thumbs create awareness for hotel spas When US Hyatt Hotels and Resorts’ HyattPure Spas looked to PR to help with their rebranding, the PR agency Ketchum (the affiliate of the publishers of PR Influences) came up with a novel hook.  To capture the attention of the business traveller market they focused on the theme of the “Blackberry Balm Hand Massage” - a treatment for those with sore thumbs from using their PDAs too much.  A multitude of media outlets, including CNN, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post ran stories. Consumers donate hair for cancer in cause marketing initiative Procter &Gamble recently ran a US campaign called “Pantene Beautiful lengths” which encouraged people to “grow, cut and donate their hair to make wigs for women who have lost hair due to cancer treatment”.  P&G’s PR firm, DeVries Public Relations, came up with the idea for the campaign which is great example of cause marketing. Hair campaign takes to the streets Again in the US, Unilever is targeting the 25 year old single woman with its Sunsilk ‘Hairapy’ debuting in theatres, bars and malls.  In shopping malls they create displays for malls that transmit ‘Sonic blankets’ of broadcast-quality audio.  The laser-activated motion-detector technology triggers the audio when shoppers pass by the display and a voiceover addresses hair issues to consumers.  In bars, 3D bathroom ads offer solutions like “I wish my hair could borrow volume from my butt”.  In addition, ‘hairapists’ will also be writing guest columns for magazines such as Glamour and InStyle For examples of 'fresh thinking' in Australia view the work of Network PR

PR Influences Australian Public Relations Newsletter. Article: Fresh thinking items regarding public relations