The Top 10 PR Campaigns of 2012

By CARLY LEVISON 1. Invisible Children - Kony 2012 Release date: March 5, 2012 (initial release) Directors: Invisible Children Inc., Jason Russell Screenplay: Danica Russell, Kathryn Lang, Jedidiah Jenkins, Jason Russell, Ben Keesey, Azy Groth While this campaign is controversial, there is no denying the results.  Just 7 days after the campaign launch, the video had received 112 million views, many of them posting clips on their Facebook profiles or tweeting links to the documentary.  While exact financial information has been released about the donations since the campaign launched,  1.7 million people visited the Invisible Children donation page in the first week. 2. Red Bull - Red Bull Stratos Date: October 14, 2012 Team:

• Felix Baumgartner -  Red Bull Stratos Pilot
• Art Thompson - Stratos Technical Projector Director
• Jonathan Clark, M.D. –Medical Director
• Joe Kittnger - Joe Kittinger is enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame, Credited for Helping NASA’s Astronaut Program.
• Andy Walshe - High Performance Director
• Mike Todd - Life Support Engineer
• Marlie Hewett - Program Manager & Senior Flight Test Engineer
• Luke Aikins - Skydiving Consultant

On October 14, 2012 Feliz Baumgartner broke the sound barrier in a 24 mile space jump, which broke the existing record for the highest altitude skydive. The event, (which Red Bull sponsored) was watched live by roughly 8 million people. According to the Dachis Group, the Stratos conversation generated more than 61,634,000 likely impressions across social channels. That means Red Bull garnered more than 60 million instances of peer-validated earned media through social as a result of Stratos.  ReTgardless of the impressions, this was by far one of the greatest marketing stunts of all time. 3. Tropicana: Trafalgar Sun Date: January 23, 2012 Artwork: Greyworld To kick off the Tropicana “Brighter Mornings” campaign, Greyworld  designed  and erected a giant light installation resembling a sun in Trafalgar Square,  one of the most instantly recognizable locations in the world. The artwork was displayed the same day the Brighter Mornings TV campaign began to tie the campaign together. More than 35,000 cartons of orange juice were given out that day and the brand achieved international coverage in outlets such as the Daily Mail. 4. Pfaff Auto: Instant Direct Mail Client: Pfaff Porsche

• Agency: Lowe Roche, Toronto
• Creative Directors: Dave Douglass, Pete Breton
• Art Director: JP Gravina
• Copywriter: Simon Craig
• Print Producer: Beth Mackinnon
• Account Team: Dave Carey
• Video Production: Motion Pantry
• Director / Cameraman / Editor: Dean Vargas

Using the headline, “It’s closer than you think.” Lowe Roche in Toronto created customized direct mail for their one-day campaign. They photographed one of the Plaff Auto Porsches in the driveways of affluent homes, then used each image to create a direct mail ad left at the home where it was shot. According to the case study video, there was a 32 percent response rate to a site where recipients could schedule a test drive. Is this the future of product branding and direct mail? 5. Royal Mail - Royal Mail goes Gold this summer For the first time since 1874, the Royal Mail painted several of their iconic red mailboxes gold in the hometowns of Olympic and Paralympic gold medal athletes, as a way to help celebrate their victories. The Royal Mail also issued special gold stamps to celebrate each Team GB member or team that won gold. Some of the post offices were even open on Sundays during the games to allow customers to buy the stamps as soon as they became available. 6. Taco Bell – Doritos Los Tacos The campaign included TV commercials, online ads, radio, online, digital, social and public relations, as well as an internal marketing effort with more than 135,000 employees. Taco Bell sold more than 10 million Doritos Los Tacos in the first 10 weeks of the campaign, making it the “most popular product the company has ever released”. Their rival fast food chain McDonald’s, took 18 years to sell 100 million burgers. Thousands of tweets have been generated from the #doritoslocostacos hashtag and the most popular tweets have been featured in their commercials. 7. Dunkin Donuts – Top of the WorlDD Agency: Hill Holiday Dunkin Donuts is offering the chance to have your photo or video displayed on the most high-profile placement on New Year’s Eve: A billboard in New York’s Times Square.  Fans have been asked to submit a photo or a video in wishing friends and relatives a happy new year. 8. Kotex – Women’s Inspiration Day Agency: Smozy Creative Kotex launched the first ever Pinterest campaign targeting 50 influential women and analyzed them based on their Pinterest boards. Kotex made them a gift box based on their interests. To get the box, all the lucky ladies had to do was re-pin their gift. Kotex then mailed then the box, completing the buzz-worthy cycle. The campaign launched 2,284 interactions and 694,853 impressions online. 9. Pizza Hut – Pizza Hut Perfume Agency: Grip Ltd Pizza Hut asked Facebook fans what they would name a perfume that smelled like “a box of Pizza Hut pizza being opened,” and then they decided to actually make the perfume. An aromachologist brewed 110 bottles of Eau de Pizza Hut, which the chain sent to a few lucky Facebook fans. According to the news release, the perfume was designed to commemorate Pizza Hut Canada reaching 100,000 Facebook fans. 10. Coke Zero- SkyFall Agency: Duval Guillaume Modem Unsuspecting travelers at Antwerp Central station in Belgium step up to a vending machine and are prompted with the following question: "Want the chance to win exclusive tickets to Skyfall?" If their answer is yes, they're given a challenge -- they have 70 seconds to race to platform six. Maybe not the most successful campaign in terms of bringing awarness, but probably one of the coolest and my personal favorite.