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CASE STUDIES


Fredericksburg Area Tourism
The Fredericksburg area is an undiscovered gem, challenged to compete for visitation amidst central Virginia's more well-known, and well-funded, historic destinations. BCF stepped in to build a distinctive brand that combines the lure of history, embodied in a new BCF-created travel concept, Identitiy Travel™, and a lively small-town appeal, resulting in the positioning: Fredericksburg. Timeless. The Fredericksburg brand continues to be one of Virginia's most noted, discussed destination marketing initiatives, with results that defy expectation given the clients limited budget.


Redskins Beach Blitz
Ever mindful of Virginia Beach's need to sell room nights, and ultimately its status as a premiere East Coast destination, BCF turned a casual conversation with a Washington Redskins representative at Super Bowl XXXIX, into the genesis of an unprecedented fan appreciation festival. Beach Blitz is a partnership between the Redskins and the Virginia Beach CVB which brings serious star power to the region. With 4.9 million fans in the Mid-Atlantic, the festival puts Virginia Beach center stage through advertising, promotions and press coverage. BCF brought a strong offense throughout the planning process, brokering the original partnership and the subsequent sponsorship agreements, and creating a powerful brand for the festival.


Home Depot
Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer and the third lagest retailer in the United States. In an effort to increase awareness of new products, how-to clinics, kids workshops and seasonal topics specific to locality, BCF leveraged its strong media relationships to gain regular, live and taped broadcast placements of Home Depot's Homers - their orange-aproned spokespeople.
For each of Home Depot's southeast stores, we media-trained a full-time employee, helping to establish them as a local media expert in kitchen and bath, lawn and garden, electrical, power tools, plumbing, paint and décor, flooring, grills, storage, building materials, windows and doors.


The New Virginia Beach Convention Center
Virginia Beach's new convention center is fueling the city's emergence as a highly competitive meeting destination. BCF has worked closely with the Convention and Visitors Bureau through the planning and development phases of this state-of-the-art center, and continues to work with the CVB sales staff to build awareness. With a goal to increase year-round visitation to Virginia Beach and build its reputation as a progressive and buzz-worthy meeting destination, BCF has developed online marketing, print advertising and sales support tools that have been the target of many competitive destinations' ire.


Splash-O-Soleil
Canada has long been a major feeder market for Virginia Beach tourism. But as the Canadian dollar suffered in the late 90's, there was a trend toward vacationing where buying power was greatest - Canada. BCF created the Splash-O-Soliel summer vacation program as a vehicle to maintain a strong presence in the Canadian market and provide incentives through discounts and packages, all marketed to Quebec in both French and English, and reflecting Canadian dollars. BCF partnered with CAA-Quebec, as well as Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens and Water Country USA to broker discounts and booking facility.


Loonie Savers Cupid Initiative
The Loonie Savers program (named after the Canadian dollar) is designed to attract overnight and year-round Canadian visitation to Virginia through discount offers. Its budget is limited, and entering its eighth year, garnering media interest required new thinking. BCF developed an innovative street marketing initiative to create buzz and media coverage. The Cupid promotion leveraged the State's Virginia Is For Lovers positioning with teams of costumed cupids in strategic high-density Toronto locations the week of Valentine's Day, distributing 10,000 promotional cards with chocolate Loonie coins attached.


Tetra
Tetra, the world's leading brand of aquarium fish food and equipment, was faced with a decade of flat sales, largely as a result of hobbyist dropout in excess of 30% annually. Why such a high rate of attrition? Put bluntly, their fish died. CGMC™ and Ethnography research yielded findings which led to TetraCare, a revolutionary web-based, real-time support system which virtually eliminated fish mortality and immediately increased sales volume. TetraCare provided much needed information in the form of e-Minders, online resources, and aquarium specialists available by phone or e-mail. Since its inception, TetraCare has become the essence of the Tetra brand.


Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau
Insight gained from intensive ethnographic consumer research led to the latest evolution of the Virginia Beach brand: Live the Life. Live the Life disrupts the norms of the travel category by building a brand based on lifestyle rather than the conventional use of destination attributes. Strategies include heavily integrated marketing and promotions for both tourism and meeting and convention sales, web delivery and data harvesting, and extensive PR support.


Amelia Island and Estancia Wine
A study in PartnerShift® Marketing, this nationwide sweepstakes promotion brought together a little known, high-end destination with a very well known, high-end product. In our estimation, Amelia Island, one of Florida's most exclusive destinations, and Estancia Wine, one of the nation's premier wineries, made perfect partners. The result of this marriage? A quarter million wine bottle neck hangers, point-of-purchase displays, and in-store banners promoting the contest, generating nearly one million impressions in four months for a vacation destination with an extremely limited budget.


Reynold's Consumer Products
For the recent launch of Reynolds Wrap® Release® Non-Stick Aluminum Foil, BCF used HybridPR™ to reach both food influencers and consumers to drive massive trial and awareness. Efforts included meetings with food editors and test kitchen directors, press kits to over 2,000 food editors nationwide, an in-studio broadcast media tour with personalities from the Reynolds kitchens, a new product co-op satellite media tour, and a business b-roll that was produced and distributed in less than 24 hours. Within a short few months these efforts gained significant coverage in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle and Southern Living, as well as over 200 television stations throughout the country.


Delta Airlines and Aluminum Association
On behalf of the Aluminum Association, BCF created a cause-related marketing initiative bringing together Delta Airlines and Habitat for Humanity. Cans for Habitat increased and promoted Delta's aluminum recycling efforts by making customers aware of the program at the very time they had an opportunity to participate - while onboard. Advertising appeared in Sky Magazine, during in-flight videos, and on custom pins worn by flight attendants. The initiative reached over 450,000 consumers each day, at little to no cost to its participants.


Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center
With a name that undersold its vibrant reality, and plans for expansion that required serious funding, the Virginia Marine Science Museum needed a new approach. BCF played a key role in changing the facility's name to better focus attention on its role as an attraction and its mission as a coastal resource. The brand promise developed for the Aquarium, It's a Life Experience, serves as the platform for all communications. Employng traditional media, nontraditional, ambient media, and creating combination admission/IMAX feature coupons, attendance increased 12% in the first six months since the inception of the new brand. Attendance records were shattered in ensuing months, and the Aquarium continues to achieve steadily increasing revenue.


First Colony Coffee and Tea
Despite a 100-year history of selling fine coffee, the First Colony Brand had grown tired and in need of revitalization. Through extensive client dialogue, we undearthed a gem: Every bean selected by First Colony is grown by members of the Cooperativa de Caficicultores de Antioquia - a confederation of growers inhabiting the Antioquia region of Colombia. The unique relationship allows First Colony to roast, package and sell beans grown and nurtured by one individual farmer on one, typically tiny, plot of land. This provided coffee drinkers a new, more authentic product than previously available: The Colombian Collection - Estate Grown beans from First Colony.
As a result of this product innovation, and related brand repositioning and package design, significantly increased distribution (a primary objective) was achieved in both specialty and grocery stores.


Amelia Island Tourist Development Council
Amelia Island is an eclectic North Florida destination with a well-heeled target audience and a unique story to tell - full of enigma, history, culture and beauty. In January 2005, BCF distilled this into A Storied Place, a new brand proposition supported online with a redesigned website (which included Customer Relationship Management tools) as well as print advertising and heavy PR. The result? A massive year over year increase in vacation guide requests, 20% increase in online inquiry and 14% increase in bed tax revenue.