Since starting at connective3, I have sent a pair of keys to space, transformed a cottage to a puppy love getaway, created horoscopes for dogs and tracked a dog’s heartrate to see how much they love us. So it’s fair to say I know a few things about creative campaigns!
If you’re looking to find out more about creative, bigger campaigns – from what they are to my top tips for executing them, then look no further…
What is a bigger, creative campaign?
If a campaign is constituted as a bigger, more creative concept, this means it is set apart from the usual, bread-and-butter PR campaigns.
Examples of larger, creative ideas include:
- Sending something to space
- Out-of-home activations
- Stunts
- Interactive assets
- 3D designs
- Big competitions.
Why are they important?
Each piece of PR work has its value, but a wider, creative concept is often executed to really showcase your brand in the best possible way. They cut through the noise of the usual campaigns journalists see day-in, day-out, showcasing creativity and helping you be remembered.
Here are the top tips I’ve learnt from my work on creative campaigns:
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Organisation is key
As with any PR campaign, it’s vital you stay organised when planning a bigger, more creative campaign. A concept of this scale will often take longer than a couple of weeks to turn around and you’ll need to make sure you’ve allocated enough time to properly plan and execute it.
For all campaigns, we always make sure we have a roadmap in place, where we split up tasks and priorities week by week. This is a great way of keeping on track with what needs doing and what’s coming up. Bi-weekly catch-ups with your team on the campaign will also help make sure whoever is working on it is informed of what’s going on.
Remember that there are a lot of additional parts included in a creative PR campaign, aside from what we would usually do, like surveys, static designs, or desk research. You’ll most likely need development work, interactive designs, and have a lot more to organise, too. So make sure you’re allowing enough time for each of these things in your roadmaps and work closely with your creative, design, and content teams.
What’s important to note is that bigger campaigns will require more budget, so do bear this in mind before executing one.
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Get your team involved
Nobody can run a big campaign alone (trust me I have tried!), and it’s important to ensure you’re utilising the team’s skills to ensure you’re getting the most out of your campaign.
If you’re lucky enough to have a creative team, then really rely on them for executing these bigger ideas. Their additional input and knowledge on how to maximise campaigns and get the most out of them will be helpful to your campaign’s success, so make sure they’re involved every step of the way.
Bigger campaigns are worth shouting about, so make sure that your social team (if you have one) are on hand to assist and execute a social strategy to support the campaign. Whether it’s reangling assets to fit on social, or running an entire strategy to promote the campaign, make sure your bigger campaign is shouted about across social.
Paid social will also be great here to help boost your campaign and ensure it reaches the correct audience, especially if you’re running a competition and want to target a specific group of people. Content is something that is often needed across PR campaigns, especially when you’re creating something bigger. Whether it be writing copy for a new page on-site or writing a blog detailing the campaign, make sure you are utilising your team of copywriters if you have them!
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Don’t worry if you’re unsure what to do
Anyone in my team can attest to my many days spent worrying over the creative campaigns I have planned (sorry guys), and if there’s one thing I have learnt it’s to step back and rationalise.
You will learn so much working on these creative campaigns, and even when I have thought that there’s no way a problem that’s come up can be sorted, I’ve found that there’s always a solution! Rely on other team members for their advice too. Often, I have been so far in a campaign that all I need is someone not so close to take a fresh look at it. Then once you’ve done it once, the next time you’ll know exactly what to do.
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Keep your stakeholders/clients updated
Whether you’re a brand or agency marketer it’s important to keep all stakeholders involved in the project – whether that’s your boss, CEO or client. It’s vital that you get your stakeholders/clients on board with your idea and how you expect it to work right from the start, so everyone is bought into the same vision right from the get-go.
It’s also a good idea to arrange a weekly/bi-weekly call separate from your usual status call to run through the campaign. This is when you can talk through any issues that come up.
If you’d love to join our PR team, check out our vacancies, or if you’d like to chat about how we can help with your PR campaigns, get in touch with us today.
