Rawle-Murdy - Rawle-Murdy associates wins Mediaweek's Plan of the Year comptetition - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Brandweek, June 18, 2001 by Richard Brunelli

Best use of out-of-home

Sometimes, a little creative vandalism really pays off.

Strangely, that was what the media department at Rawle-Murdy Associates in Charleston, S.C., found out as they implemented an attention-grabbing--make that attention-arresting campaign for client Charleston IMAX Theatre.

The campaign, which won Rawle-Murdy top honors in the Out-of-Home category for Mediaweek's Plan of the Year competition, was for the IMAX film T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous, which premiered last August.

At the time, the theater was only about two months old. Ticket sales for the first movies, which focused on dolphins and Mount Everest, were underwhelming. The city--which still draws millions of tourists to its Civil War historic sites, its graceful and painstakingly preserved plantation estates and its elaborate gardens--seemed slow to embrace the high-tech IMAX concept.

"Ticket sales were sluggish in June and July," says Julie Johnson, media director at Rawle-Murdy. "Plus, in August [when T-Rex debuted] we knew people were getting into back-to-school mode. So we really knew we had to launch this and grab people's attention."

As it turned out, that was not a problem once the campaign was set in motion.

Using a total of eight 14-by-48-foot billboards on major arteries in and around Charleston, Rawle-Murdy set to work. The creative called for a killer campaign. Well, actually, a campaign that looked like a killer had attacked the large boards.

Billboard vinyls were literally ripped to pieces along the left- and right-hand portions, making them appear as though the claws of a T-Rex had shredded the creative. A rough hand-painted message reading "T-Rex In 3-D! Now Attacking IMAX" was placed in the middle of the billboard to make it look vandalized.

Though the outdoor campaign had a minimal budget, its impact was of Jurassic proportions. For starters, a good deal of the people of Charleston (not to mention the tourists) were scratching their heads when they looked up at the big boards. But more importantly, that curiosity sparked a 10 percent surge in IMAX ticket sales for all movies (not just T-Rex) playing at the theatre last August.

"This campaign allowed us take great creative and use it in a really innovative way," says Johnson. "I think we pushed the envelope here."

The agency's media plan certainly did that. The first level involved making the IMAX theatre's current boards look like they had been hacked by T-Rex talons. Then Johnson and her team, which included media buyer Jennifer Sousa, negotiated a deal with local radio station WAVF to use the claw technique on its billboards. Additionally, the team developed promotional deals with the station involving on-air IMAX ticket giveaways.

Rawle-Murdy then upped T-Rex's presence by getting other clients involved. Grocery chain Piggly Wiggly donated the use of its billboard for two months ... free of charge. The agency also struck a deal with Adams Outdoor, which allowed Rawle-Murdy to negotiate with Adams clients whose contract had expired to have their boards shredded by T-Rex before they came down. Adams got so wrapped up in the campaign that it provided old boards of previous clients, and installed the creative at unsold locations.

"One of the most surprising things about this campaign was what an easy sell it was for us in the media department," Johnson recalls. "This was a really unique way for us to use the inventory."

And it was extremely unique for Charleston, which is not known for its innovative use of out-of-home.

"This is a beautiful, historic town," Johnson says. "It isn't a great outdoor market." Translation: Charleston does not equal Time Square.

Erin Collier, who worked in the agency's public relations department on the T-Rex campaign and is now marketing manager of the IMAX theatre, puts it another way: "We didn't want to seem the red-haired stepchild around Charleston. We wanted to embrace the community. But we wanted to show that IMAX is a very different animal."

But there were some at Rawle-Murdy Associates who voiced concerns about the campaign when it was still in the planning phase. One, in particular, was agency president Bruce Murdy.

His chief concern--and it was probably a good idea that someone sent up a red flag on this point--was that the vinyl that was torn by mock dinosaur claws not be just left there to flap around in the breeze. "I had some concerns about how it could be done without it looking trashy," he says.

The solution was a two-step process: in essence, tear the vinyl downward as if by an angry beast, but then partially paste the shreds back onto the board. An agency art director was sent with the outdoor company to help achieve the desired effect.

"Personally I've always loved outdoor," Murdy says. "It's larger than life. And if you have a great message it can affect people in big ways."

Would he be supportive if his employees came up with another bizarre idea that surprises people, generates a buzz in the community and makes a client's cash register ring?