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Challenge:
How do you make news for a women’s beauty product that is not new, or has no new features? This was the challenge Paradigm faced when challenged with developing a media relations campaign to support the Schick Quattro for Women razor – a great product, but one where there had been no innovation for several years. This meant that the traditional channels for generating media coverage (women’s magazines) were out. With nothing new, there was little reason for the media to feature a razor without a new story angle.
Strategy & Execution:
To help create some news, Paradigm developed a tongue-in-cheek media relations campaign that leveraged the major news topic of the day (and year) the economic downturn. After conducting an analysis of key stock market booms and recessions matched with skirt lengths, Paradigm created the Schick Index, an indicator of the connection between skirt length and stock market fluctuations. The connection between the two had played out over the past 100 years – the 1920s boom featured flapper fashion with knee length dresses and the subsequent crash in the ‘30s saw women’s hems drop to the ankle. The booming economy of the ‘60s gave birth to the mini, and during the recession in the ‘70s the maxi dress was invented. Schick encouraged women to help boost the economy by “showing some leg” and “raising their hemlines”. Paradigm developed a graphic to show the correlation and worked with a third party spokesperson who validated the historical correlation between hemlines and the stock market. The campaign had an immediate impact that resonated with key business, lifestyle and beauty media across Canada.
Results:
The campaign generated 41 Canadian news stories
Stories were filed by CanWest that appeared nationally, the Financial Post online and the front page of the Windsor Star’s lifestyle section
The story was picked up worldwide on international websites like Eco89, a Paris-based website, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network and United Press International online
Total Reach: 6,639,128