JORDANS

The Big Buzz, a national campaign to raise awareness of the importance of bees and encourage people to plant bee-friendly plants, was spearheaded in 2009 by Jordans to bring to life its commitment to nature friendly farming using the plight of the bee as a symbol. An on-pack promotion, giving away thousands of plants and 'Buzz Stops', digital activity, experiential and PR all played a role.

Our three main aims were:

• To generate positive media coverage for the Big Buzz campaign in consumer media as well as national news pages and regional press
• To raise awareness of Jordans' Conservation Grade™ Scheme among target consumer audiences
• To drive traffic to Jordans Big Buzz microsite

How we did it
The Wild Card team overcame ‘bee fatigue’ in the media by generating support from key spokespeople including Boris Johnson, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Buglife, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and respected experts in bees to give the campaign authority and additional credibility.

We launched the campaign at an exclusive media event at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, hosted by Bill Jordan and the head beekeeper at Kew. Over 20 high profile media attended the event and were then given a tour of the Jordans Bee Discovery Centre and wildflower display.

To gain more traction on the campaign, individual journalists covering food, features and environment were also targeted with media releases, bee friendly plants and offered interviews with the key spokespeople. The team set up press trips and media visits to the Discovery Centres in Pensthorpe and Kew, generating regional coverage.

Blanket coverage was achieved on the news pages and broadcast media with a photocall at Kew Garden, capturing the moment when 20,000 honeybees were released into two new hives, sponsored by Jordans Cereals.

The results
More than 90 pieces of coverage were generated versus a target of 30.
Coverage included The Times, BBC London, London Tonight, Daily Telegraph, Sky News, Woman & Home, BBC Good Food Magazine and more. This was equivalent to a circulation of over 80 million.

Evaluation of the coverage using Metrica showed the Big Buzz was the key driver of coverage for Jordans over the period with coverage achieved in all Jordans' target media. The pieces contained the message deliverables – nature friendly, natural ingredients and 'join the buzz.' Almost 10% of all articles mentioned Jordans in the headline with images as the most prolific impact measure over the period. Metrica also found that the reach and frequency with which Jordans coverage was seen by its target audiences was higher than that to 'all UK adults.'

And also...
Over 25,000 plants were given away and there were more than 83,000 visits to the Big Buzz microsite. Jordans tracking research showed that the brand gained ground on social measures indicating the campaign went some way to raising awareness of Conservation Grade and Jordans' commitment to the environment with most respondents acknowledging that Jordans is 'helping to protect British wildlife' and ‘showing they have a sense of responsibility.'

Wild Card has been selected as a finalist in the 2010 PR Week Awards for its work on the Jordans Big Buzz campaign.