An international PR campaign by Damco

An international PR campaign led to new business and an increase in awareness for freight management company Damco.

Damco, part of the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, is one of the world’s largest providers of freight forwarding and supply chain management. Recently, Damco developed a unique and specialised logistics solution for the toy industry and Bottle won a competitive pitch to support one of Damco’s key 2012 business targets: to position Damco as the preferred provider of logistics for mid-sized toy wholesalers, distributors and retailers within the toy industry.

Toys on tour
The campaign objectives were to:
• Raise Damco’s profile and engage with toy manufacturers in the UK and Germany.
• Up-sell the toy value proposition to Damco’s existing retail customers.
• Generate leads and secure new customers/business.
• Foster relationships with trade media for long-term benefits.

To stand out from other logistics providers and capture the imagination of the toy trade, Bottle decided the campaign needed to push boundaries on traditional logistics companies’ PR campaigns.

Bottle created the ‘Damco toy trip’, inviting toy manufacturers, distributors and retailers to donate a toy for a round-the-world trip of a lifetime. Budding ‘toy tourists’ were ‘checked-in’ at the Damco Executive Airport Lounge at London Hilton Olympia on Wednesday 25 January 2012 and also at the Global Toy Conference in Nuremberg on Monday 6 February 2012.

The toys visited 10 cities travelling through seven countries spanning three continents over a four-month period. Cities included Munich, New York, Shanghai and Madrid, and the toys travelled in a range of Damco transportation before arriving back in London at the beginning of June.

The toys’ progress was tracked at damcotoytrip.com and updates were sent direct from Damco to toy manufacturers, distributors and retailers. At the end of their trip the toys were donated to the Evelina Children’s Hospital, part of Guys and St Thomas’ in London and SOS Kinderdorf in Nuremberg.

International reach
Toy manufacturers and retailers in the UK and Germany were sent mock airline tickets, inviting them to check-in one of their toys on a round-the-world trip. Spaces were limited to 50 to emphasise the uniqueness of the opportunity.

Bottle created check-in lounges at the UK and German Toy Fairs complete with a departure board, air hostesses, relaxation area and refreshments.

Bottle also created a blog that was hosted on a specially designed microsite so manufacturers could monitor their toys’ progress and journalists could keep up-to-date with the toys’ adventures. Individual toys blogged from the countries about their adventures.

An initial launch release was issued pre and post-event, and twice monthly throughout the campaign targeting the trade toy media in the UK and Germany, it was accompanied by creative imagery. Each release had a ‘soft’ focus on different elements of the Damco offering – reinforcing Damco’s message of being a leading third-party logistics provider.

To continue the engagement with potential customers, regular email updates were sent providing the Damco sales team with an opportunity to keep in contact.

Meeting objectives
Damco was pleased with the campaign outcomes. Results included:
• All 50 seats on the trip being taken – this exceeded Damco’s year one target of engaging with toy manufacturers in the UK and Germany.
• Two hundred leads have been identified to date, which are being processed by the Damco sales team in both the UK and Germany.
• Four business contracts were won as a direct result of the campaign.
• Client relationships were reinforced.
• Bottle secured 20 items of coverage to date. The campaign truly caught the imagination of the toy trade media.
• Maersk also featured the campaign on its Facebook page, securing 387 Likes, and through its Twitter feed, which has 1641 followers.
• Each ‘Damco toy trip’ blog post received approximately 50 hits each and each set of photos on the Damco Toy Trip blog received approximately 50 views per set. The top 10 most popular individual photos were viewed over 100 times each.

Commenting on the campaign, Lianne Jones, head of marketing at Damco Europe, said, “Bottle’s creative approach to the brief as well as their commitment and planning throughout the campaign has been second to none and the impact the activity is having on the Damco business is going from strength to strength.”

 

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