Part 2 – Continued from http://ronntorossian.wpengine.com/beverage-pr-success-stories/

Jason Lee

We reached out to celebrities’ publicists, agents, and managers via personal relationships with “care packages” that included a Grolsch Swingtop bottle, paints, paintbrushes, a release form, and a disposable camera for the celebs to take pictures of themselves. Bingo! Donald Trump, Woody Allen, Lil’ Kim, Charlie Rose, and a host of other big names were willing to help out our charity by painting and autographing the bottles. We launched on eBay, and the “Pop Art” went for hundreds of dollars a piece during the two week auction.

“The Donald” naturally created a frenzied bidding war with his artwork—he painted a unique “You’re Fired” bottle himself. Jason Lee, star of the TV show My Name Is Earl, sent us a bottle with a shot of himself on the set. Many of the celebrities were happy to “talk up” the auction and their participation in it, in large part because they were doing it for charity. Woody Allen even granted a rare interview to discuss Grolsch Pop Art and educate men on the importance of having their prostates checked.

Donald Trump (left) Woody Allen (right)

In the end, the campaign was good fun and garnered extensive media coverage from a variety of entertainment, trade, and online publications. We were able to drive high traffic to eBay, which increased bidding on the bottles and further linked people to Grolsch, and created positive celebrity association with the Grolsch brand. And consumers felt good about Grolsch helping charity—all at a super-low cost to the brand. It was amazing PR for the Grolsch brand, and what happened after?

1. The NPCC hired us for a project immediately after the Grolsch campaign ended to help them promote its own charitable and educational initiatives.

2. Grolsch ended its five-year relationship with their importer and signed a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch, a much larger company.

3. Anheuser-Busch hired us for entertainment PR work following the campaign.

 

To buy Ronn Torossian book on Amazon click here:

https://www.amazon.com/Immediate-Release-Deliver-Game-Changing-Relations/dp/1936661160

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Ronn Torossian
https://www.5wpr.com
Ronn Torossian is the Founder & Chairman of 5W Public Relations, one of the largest independently owned PR firms in the United States. Since founding 5WPR in 2003, he has led the company's growth and vision, with the agency earning accolades including being named a Top 50 Global PR Agency by PRovoke Media, a top three NYC PR agency by O'Dwyers, one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces and being awarded multiple American Business Awards, including a Stevie Award for PR Agency of the Year. With over 25 years of experience crafting and executing powerful narratives, Torossian is one of America's most prolific and well-respected public relations executives. Throughout his career he has advised leading and high-growth businesses, organizations, leaders and boards across corporate, technology and consumer industries. Torossian is known as one of the country's foremost experts on crisis communications. He has lectured on crisis PR at Harvard Business School, appears regularly in the media and has authored two editions of his book, "For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations," which is an industry best-seller. Torossian's strategic, resourceful approach has been recognized with numerous awards including being named the Stevie American Business Awards Entrepreneur of the Year, the American Business Awards PR Executive of the Year, twice over, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year semi-finalist, a Top Crisis Communications Professional by Business Insider, Metropolitan Magazine's Most Influential New Yorker, and a recipient of Crain's New York Most Notable in Marketing & PR. Outside of 5W, Torossian serves as a business advisor to and investor in multiple early stage businesses across the media, B2B and B2C landscape. Torossian is the proud father of two daughters. He is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and a board member of multiple not for profit organizations.

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