TAG Best Event Marketing: "Catch the Poetry Bug"

Selling to Kids, May 3, 2000

The Team

Todd Boss, Acct. Executive; Laura Bright, Asst. Acct. Executive; Grace Baldridge, PR Intern; Ricka Kohnstamm, Principal, Kohnstamm Comm.; Josh Kohnstamm, President, Kohnstamm Comm.; Dave Kapell, former president, Magnetic Poetry; Michael O'Halloran, President, Magnetic Poetry

The Case

Magnetic Poetry had risen to pop culture status in the early 90s. But in the winter and spring of 1999, sales of the tiny magnetic word tiles that can be arranged to create your own poetry had plateaued. Kohnstamm Communications was challenged to reignite the product's popularity on a $275,000 budget, including $120,000 for PR.

The Strategy

Kohnstamm aligned Magnetic Poetry with another cultural icon, the newly redesigned Volkswagen Beetle. The firm planned an 11,218-mile marketing tour to bring the "Poetry Bug" to kids through schools, libraries and other venues in 37 U.S. and Canadian cities.

The Beetles were plastered with Magnetic Poetry tiles, and EMTs (Emergency Metaphor Technicians) dressed in white lab coats furthered the "Catch the Bug" theme. The EMTs served as drivers as well as additional PR staff, contacting the media in cities along the route.

While the Bugs were on the road, Kohnstamm contacted more than 2,500 top media outlets to pitch them with the story.

The Results

The campaign received 238 minutes of local and national broadcast airtime, coverage by eight major news services, 91 newspapers and 39 magazines. Lessons learned? "I would not do a national event the same month as the Columbine shootings and the war in Kosovo," says Josh Kohnstamm, president. Despite hurdles to reaching the media, coverage reached an estimated 75 million people.

Although he says it's difficult to track the impact of the campaign on sales, Magnetic Poetry President Mike O'Halloran says sales are extremely responsive to PR. "We don't do much advertising," he says, but the "Catch the Poetry Bug" campaign generated $1.5 million worth of publicity.

Linking Magnetic Poetry to the Beetle gave it cultural clout, and the "Catch the Bug" medical theme pervaded every element of the tour, from the EMTs to the stethoscopes they wore to hear "poetry in kids' hearts." Plus, bringing poetry to kids made for plenty of warm fuzzy media attention.