Do Good Communications Actually Make A Difference?

In this profession, I'm often asked: 'What can PR actually do to affect my business?'

In the last few weeks, we’ve had a client feed back to us that, as a result of an article in a trade publication, they had a call from one of the UK’s largest insurance companies. ‘We don’t yet know exactly how you can help us,’ was the message, ‘we just know that you can. Let’s meet.’ And so a small tech-related North East company is now working in partnership with a giant in the insurance business on developing new, bespoke tools for them. Job done.

But here’s a really interesting case study of client work affecting the decisions of one of the globe’s biggest brands. You may have seen the news that Cadbury has reduced the price of their Freddo chocolate bar. Anyone with kids will know those little froggy-themed bars can turn any subdued toddler into a sugar-fuelled maniac in seconds. But that’s straying from the point.

Why would Cadbury decide to do that? Well, a week beforehand, W had released information on behalf of its client, MoneySupermarket.com about the ‘value’ of £10 now against the value of £10 back in 2000. Then, you could buy 19 loaves of bread with a tenner, but today that same tenner would get you just nine.

The news was released on the day the old £10 note officially went out of circulation (PR lesson – release information that has relevance to that day’s news agenda. It’ll give you a much better chance of success). With some hard and in-depth desk research from the W team, we’d looked at all the different things that had risen in price over and above the price of inflation.

And we found the humble Freddo topped the charts, increasing by a whopping 200 per cent. You could have bought one for just 10p in 2000. Now, they’ve rocketed to 30p. And so the media honed in on how and why Freddo bars had suddenly become so bloomin’ expensive. Electric bills (133%), house prices (132%) and the price of a pint in the pub (106%) was left trailing in that little green Frog’s wake.

To name but a few, the Daily Mail, The Sun, Metro and the Huffington Post all led on the alarming rise of the price of that smallest of chocolatey treats. The story then naturally gathered unstoppable pace on social media. How on earth had we all allowed Cadbury to get away with increasing the price of one of their chocolate bars by 200 per cent since the turn of the Millenia? (Another PR lesson – mainstream media still has enormous power and ability to set the agenda).

The noise and the pressure was too great. Cadbury crumbled like a Flake (who’s price hasn’t fallen, sadly) and within seven days they had issued statements that the price of a Freddo would fall back to 25p. If you’ve ever eaten a Freddo, you’d know that these really are one-bite wonders, but here was MoneySupermarket.com getting a second bite at the story just a week later. Every story that ran with Cadbury’s announcement referenced the initial findings from MoneySupermarket.com a week earlier.

So, was it MoneySupermarket.com’s intention to get the price of Freddo down? Not for a second. It was, however, their intention to be seen as the eyes and ears for people trying to save a few quid in these most straightened of times. A Freddo coming down by five pence is hardly likely to make the difference for you and I on whether we’re choosing between Butlins or the Bahamas for the family break this summer, but the message was loud and clear: MoneySupermarket.com has your back when it comes to watching the finances.

So, yes. If you’re doing it right, PR does have an impact and it can sway the decision making of some of the very biggest in business.