Our motto at Weinstein PR is “relationships, connections, results.” This phrase has rung true year after year for us, in both PR and employee communications. Our work with popchips—the San Francisco-based maker of an amazing potato chip that’s neither baked nor fried, but popped—is a case in point.
When popchips was looking to introduce their product in Portland, Ore., they had already done successful tests in two other markets. What they needed from WPR was to work with us and key Portland thought leaders, tastemakers and other well-knowns, to make their debut here.
We love connecting our clients with the public, and we often do it by alerting key figures in communities who can help spread the word. But we always do it strategically and carefully. WPR has terrific relationships with many leaders and organizations, and we don’t take them for granted. Any communications effort has to be a good fit—a combination of the right brand and the right opportunity for both the client and our contacts.
So we tested popchips. We loved the product, the company and its marketing message. Keith Belling, their CEO and founder, is a super guy. It was then that we knew this campaign could be a complete home run for popchips and the Portlanders who had yet to discover them.
We helped popchips develop three programs to create local awareness of their product:
- Pop it forward. Popchips were delivered by bike to people who were then able to “pop it forward” by going online and entering the names of five of their friends, who’d then also receive a delivery of tasty popchips.
- Gather ’round. We identified key organizations where popchips could provide a quantity of their chips for employee gatherings and events.
- Note to health. Fitness and yoga instructors in Portland were a natural choice to receive deliveries of popchips. These leaders in healthy living and eating were among the first to know that this healthy, delicious snack was coming to grocery aisles in town.
The takeaway: People like getting free stuff, and they love getting good-quality free stuff. It brightens their day and makes them feel special. So it’s no surprise that with some well-orchestrated, strategic planning, the popchips launch went terrifically. Popchips has been an amazing success in Portland. Whenever we see it in the grocery store aisle, we always smile. Then we munch!