What kind of relationship do you have with the media?

"Make a Delicious Difference Week"

On October 5, 2009, Kraft will hold its first global week-long period of community service. The event is being called "Make a Delicious Difference Week," which will start on October 5th and will run through October 10th. The goal of the program is to fight hunger, support healthy lifestyles, and build strong communities. More than 10,000 employees in 32 countries will participate in the event.

"For years we've provided employees with opportunities to give back to their communities," Rosenfeld explained. "But, given the increased needs, we can all do more. We're doing our part by doubling our U.S. volunteer efforts and taking the spirit of the Serve America Act across U.S. borders to employees from France to Indonesia."- Chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods, Irene Rosenfeld.

Kraft is partnering with organizations all over the country, such as Feeding America and Save the Children.

Here are some examples of projects:

In Brazil, employees will promote healthy lifestyle habits to children at the Icaro Institute and child education centers.

In China, volunteers will educate children on nutrition in rural schools and orphanages.

Kraft believes in healthy lifestyles.

"As the second largest food company in the world, Kraft Foods is taking a stand when it comes to fighting hunger and promoting healthy lifestyles. Since 1997, the company has provided more than 1 billion servings of fresh food. The company contributes approximately $100 million annually to community organizations in more than 130 countries."

From a public relations standpoint..

I think Kraft's public relations practitioners are doing a very good job at planning and executing their community service-oriented event. Kraft is doing a great job with getting their employees involved on a global scale. It illustrates how Kraft cares about all of their communities.

One of the public relations aspects has been focused on informing the public how large-scale the event will be. Kraft employees will be performing various acts of community service on the same week around the world. Most companies perform acts of community service, but it usually is not done with all of the company employees on this type of scale.

Another public relations aspect of the campaign includes the organizations. Kraft has set up projects with some well-known non-profit organizations, that have causes that people can relate to. This can help promote Kraft with volunteers who are involved in these specific non-profit organizations who may not necessary know about Kraft.

It makes the public assume that Kraft employees must love their jobs. With the amount of employee participation, it portrays how likable the company's management must be.

Media


One of the ways that Kraft public relation practitioners are publicizing the event is through a press release. Kraft published the press release on their corporate website. When you go to their corporate website, there's a little summary of the event posted right on the main corporate page.

Another way that the event has been published is through online articles. I read a few of them on different websites, and for the most part, they were all set up the same, and contained all of the same information. It makes me think that either Kraft sent them their corporate press release, or journalists from other companies created an article using Kraft's press release as their base.

Was the company successful?

Yes, I think Kraft's media thus far has been successful. The event hasn't occurred yet, and I've already seen a handful of articles with details about the event. I am curious to see what kind of media the company will receive during the week-long event. I am sure the event will gain tons of media all over the world. I'll be on the lookout for press coverage as everything gets underway.

Performance.

I think the company did a good job with getting the event's details out on the internet, but I think it should have been publicized a lot more. If I hadn't been searching for topics to blog on, then I never would have known that Kraft was doing such a wonderful act of kindness.

I think Kraft did a great job at planning such a large-scale service concept because I've never heard of a company that has done anything like it. However, when it comes to promoting it, I think the Kraft could have used more social media outlets to promote the event.

Comments? Thoughts? Ideas?


I think Kraft could have done a number of things to promote the event beforehand. Kraft's "Make a Delicious Difference Week" has a great concept to it, and I think the public would have benefited from knowing earlier.

I think Kraft should have created a 15 second public service announcement on television. This could have showed the public how much their care about their customers and their communities. The scale of the event has the potential to create a lot of great word-of-mouth publicity about the company.

I think Kraft should have utilized their already-made Facebook page. They could have included events that employees were doing all over the world. They also could have used the Facebook page to encourage their target audience to partake in community service as well. They could have used a slogan like "if we could do it, then you could do."

Kraft also could have made a short video clip to post on YouTube. It could have explained the basics about the event. After I read the press release on the corporate website, I went to YouTube, hoping I was out of luck.