Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola brand had a major boost as a result of a public relations triumph in the unlikely setting of the Second World War. The president of the company at the time was Robert W. Woodruff. Woodruff managed to persuade the United States government that the American war effort would be aided greatly by providing the troops with Coke.
In 1941, after Pearl Harbour was bombed, Robert W. Woodruff declared that a bottle of Coca-Cola would cost only five cents to any man in uniform, regardless of what it cost or where he was. The United States government supported this as it was an alternative to alcohol and agreed to pay for the cost of shipping the beverage around the world to reach the troops. They also paid for the bottling equipment to be transported and set up at the front lines.
The beverage boosted morale amongst the troops and the American GIs introduced the brand to many new countries around the Pacific Rim and across Europe.
As a result of this public relation success, five billion bottles of Coca-Cola had been consumed by American troops by the end of the war and 64 new bottling plants had been built abroad. The company’s achievements in this relatively short space of time may have taken years longer if they had used an alternative method of marketing.
De Beers achieved a huge amount of success in its public relations campaign which centred on promoting diamond engagement rings. Their goal was to alter the traditional public perception of diamonds from being seen as a luxury that only the very rich could afford to jewels which were accessible to all for very special occasions.
The marketing strategy was employed following the discovery of a large amount of diamonds in South Africa. The brand decided that an effective way to sell these would be through the promotion of diamond engagement rings.
The public relations campaign focused on cultivating the image of a diamond, particularly a diamond engagement ring, into the ultimate symbol of eternal love. They achieved this by providing popular movie stars with diamonds to use as symbols of love. They also had stories published in the media which focused on the size of the stars’ diamonds and displayed photographs linking diamonds with romance. De Beers even invited Queen Elizabeth II to visit some of their mines. This trip was well covered in the media and Queen Elizabeth accepted the gift of a diamond from them.
As a result of this public relations triumph, diamond sales increased by 55% and the image of the diamond engagement ring became a well-known symbol.