Lifestyle Engagement

The agency saw great success launching and running the social media and digital presence for the ClubCorp Classic, a first-year celebrity and professional golf tournament near Dallas, Texas. Running a 3-month campaign with a 28-day ramp-up period leading up to and during the 3-day tournament in April 2022, the agency generated over 23 million social media impressions, 2 million video views, and 200% follower growth in just four weeks.

The Pollack Group’s social media team tactics included content ideation and calendaring, designing a tournament brand aesthetic and color palette, utilizing copywriting to establish a clear, sharp, fun, and concise brand voice for the event, leveraging social media growth techniques to build an audience of DFW-area golf fans aligning with the tournament’s target demographics, and building a social media presence to help augment ClubCorp’s overall social and digital presence.

Working in conjunction with the client, the agency team established a cadence for social channel content that, when combined with content from celebrities, fans, influencers, ClubCorp members, sponsors, and other parties, created a strong buzz and excitement around the event.

The plus-size community has long been “leveraged” for performative allyship in an effort for brands to grow potential revenue. As such, Big Fig Mattress, creators of the first mattress built specifically to meet the needs of the plus-size sleeper, tapped The Pollack Group (TPG) to boost awareness of Big Fig and run its influencer and affiliate relations program to build trust among this inherently distrustful niche demographic.

To highlight product attributes and features, the agency rolled out drumbeat media relations in support of influencer and affiliate relations. We worked with Big Fig Mattress to launch #SeeAllOfMe, a new platform dedicated to advocacy, community service, and heightened visibility for the plus-size demographic through activism, increased allyship, and authenticity, as well as to encourage other brands to take the plus-size community’s interests to heart. The agency also invited and onboarded eight plus-size personalities to join the Big Fig Collective, an advisory panel consisting of prominent voices within the plus-size community to provide insight, expertise, and perspective.

Our combined efforts helped Big Fig take its rightful ownership as the #1 niche mattress brand for the share of voice term ‘Plus Size,’ the #2 share of voice position for ‘Back Pain,’ the #2 share of voice position for ‘Cooling,’ the #3 share of voice position for ‘Side Sleeper,’ and the #1 share of voice position for ‘Sagging’ in over 425+ articles secured in 2021.

Over TPG’s 18-month relationship with Big Fig, sales grew 35% a year. The company doubled its business during COVID-19 and increased sales by 40% in 2021. The agency secured 508 pieces of earned media coverage, totaling 14.63 billion impressions. This coverage had an ad equivalency of $27.5 million. In addition, the affiliate relations program netted in 1,045 sales, totaling more than $1.97 million in gross sales. Additionally, TPG managed more than 75 individual influencer relationships, whose postings across multiple campaigns resulted in a reach of more than 2.3 million with an earned value of $871,100.

As the agency of record for Diamond Resorts’ CEO, Mike Flaskey, the agency attended the 2020 Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Florida to assist with on-site social media content production. This included capturing photo and video content from the tournament, the first event of the 2020 LPGA season. The tournament also featured celebrity golfers competing alongside LPGA pros, including former Bachelor Ben Higgins, comedian, Larry The Cable Guy, NFL star Larry Fitzgerald, actor Michael Pena, actor Alfonso Ribeiro, Diamond Resorts CEO Mike Flaskey, and eventual winner, and MLB Hall of Fame pitcher, John Smoltz. The agency was especially focused on content supporting Flaskey, all aimed at boosting his social media impressions, reach, cadence, and follower growth leading up to, and during, the week of the tournament. Results included Flaskey’s four best-performing Instagram posts to date, over 17,500 video views on Flaskey’s Twitter posts, and high engagement on posts around Flaskey’s new branded apparel line, which donates all net proceeds to charitable causes.

The #1 Social Casino game, Slotomania, chose to celebrate the 170th Anniversary of the California Gold Rush with a bus tour of its own throughout California. The bus tour was a creative way of bringing attention to Slotomania and tie it in with a milestone of note. The tour included special events, prize giveaways, VIP dinners, and a “gold rush” scavenger hunt where the well-known Twitter account @HiddenCash hid $2,000 in Fresno, Los Angeles, and San Diego for the public to find. The agency worked in coordination with Slotomania’s parent company, Playtika, to facilitate a week-long radio promotion campaign in the three markets, inviting listeners to download the app and participate in the scavenger hunt. As the bus passed through each city, the agency reached out to local media to garner further attention and coverage for the bus tour. The overall marketing effort brought out hundreds of eager participants in three different California markets and secured almost 100 million impressions  across traditional media outlets including radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, and print publications.

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The Pollack Group (TPG) was brought on by Oceanic Society to support the organization’s 5 x 50 campaign, which highlights Oceanic’s 50-year commitment to environmental conservation education. In addition to managing relationships with those influencers who joined Oceanic’s conservation trips, the agency promoted the organization’s message, partnerships and key conservation issues.

When news broke out about a young whale found dead with nearly 90 pounds of plastic in its stomach, TPG moved quickly to leverage the news cycle. The agency developed a quick POV and secured interviews for Oceanic Society’s spokesperson, Lindsay Mosher, with the Washington Post and Live Science, among other media outlets. The interviews focused on ways individuals can reduce their plastic consumption and embrace “blue habits”to mitigate the plastic pollution epidemic. TPG caught the wave of news, which resulted 73 secured articles that  netted 911,784,270 impressions within 48 hours. 

The campaign efforts resulted in a 350% growth of Oceanic Society’s social media audiences across platforms.

When GoodJanes, a beauty company using naturally derived ingredients to promote health-conscious options for its users, came to the agency, it  tasked it to build and drive awareness and interest to promote sales for its new beauty and makeup product, the Kiss My Lash Mirror, a patented triangulated mirror. To first promote consumer engagement with their product, we audited their site for SEM and SEO and for navigational ease. Subsequently, we made recommendations for changes and, simultaneously, the agency’s LAB186 created video assets to use on the GoodJanes website and social media platforms. Moving on to editorial media, we targeted beauty and lifestyle beats and influencers offering immediate product trial to each and suggesting to hundreds of influencers to create social media posts and reviews in their blogs and on YouTube videos and include them in holiday gift guides. The results were vast, across blogs, social media platforms and media -- such as being on Daytime TV and The Lifestyle List “Fall Beauty Must Haves” segments and making the Luxe List’s “Fab Fall Finds” segments across U.S. markets, among others.

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SodaStream has become synonymous for disruptive marketing video campaigns. April Fool’s 2017 was no different, with the agency playing an integral role in the development, logistics and coordination and media distribution of the launch of a new faux brand of condensed sparkling water by Paris Hilton: NanoDrop. We helped develop the initial concept that led to the creation of NanoDrop and secured Paris Hilton to appear in a spoof video that conveyed brand messages. In addition to acting as a liaison to secure Paris for the campaign, the agency coordinated negotiations between talent managers and PR reps, agents and SodaStream—as well as exclusive media interviews with Paris’s team, agency partners and SodaStream corporate HQ in Israel. The PPMG team was also responsible for drafting talking points for Paris’ interviews, creating a global press release announcing the gag, and arranging for global PR coordination. On launch day, the PPMG team conducted outreach to health & wellness, marketing & advertising, food & beverage and corporate business verticals, securing more than 712 million media impressions.

Before tattoo-brightening beauty product Tatul tapped Kickstarter to crowdfund the innovative new skincare tool, they needed third-party endorsements and testimonials from their target audience: Millennial women. Since evaluating a product means trial, we created a special vetting process to identify the best possible online beauty and cosmetic influencers who would spread the word about Tatul. The criteria designed to vet participants was by influence, ranking, size of social networks and views. Some of the most influential tattooed Millennials on the web landed on our influencer list. We then invited hundreds to participate and create social media posts, videos, tweets and blogs about their experience using the product. Armed with several high-quality placements from influencers in their target demographic, we were able to re-purpose them to help add credibility to their Kickstarter campaign.

The American public has a love affair with speed. We leveraged that “love” to engage consumers, and spark interest and demand for the one-of-a-kind speed measurement device Pocket Radar: the world’s only palm-sized, full-performance speed radar device. When it launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the dual messaging platform that we created had to resonate with two sets of audiences — professionals and everyday consumers. Pre-show, we sent creative media mailers to pique curiosity and generate word-of-mouth buzz. The product’s innovative technology, a break-through Doppler radar sensing and processing system, earned it a CES Innovations Honoree award, which was highlighted and leveraged to secure one-on-one interviews and post-show product reviews. The resulting coverage totaled 202,722,673 media impressions.

Frequently overshadowed by its more renowned neighbors up north, namely Sonoma County and Napa Valley, The Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Association (SBCVA) needed to find an identifiable brand for the region that would resonate with both wine connoisseurs and regional tourists. They asked the agency to unify the Association’s 62 vintners and wineries into a cohesive branding effort that included all collateral material, messaging and positioning that emphasized the region’s attributes. Additionally, targeted food, wine, lifestyle and tourism media were invited on familiarization trips and to SBCVA festivals and tasting events to explore the region’s offerings. The Santa Barbara wine region was put on the media radar map and noted by Decanter Magazine, Wine Spectator and Gourmet Magazine as well as national news and travel outlets.

The Santa Monica Pier, the West Coast’s last remaining pleasure pier, turned 100 years old. Its rich history conjured up nostalgia of a bygone era. When called upon to awaken memories, our agency brought it all back by engaging the surrounding community as well as national and international tourists as part of the celebration. We launched a nationwide online and offline media blitz focusing on the iconic pier’s legacy and its value for future generations, as well on a series of celebratory events such as the SideShow at the Pier, Schools Out!, La Monica Ballroom Redux and Centennial Day, to gain exposure and get a myriad of stories out about the pier. Social media outreach alone netted an estimated 3 million impressions plus 400 million media impressions.

With people looking to express themselves through functional fashion choices, Ritmo Mvndo came to the agency to capture international attention of its accessible luxury brand. Leveraging the trend of coupling affordability and luxury, the agency utilized an international media relations campaign across trade, fashion, lifestyle and entertainment outlets to position Ritmo Mvndo as a trendsetter. Capitalizing on Ritmo Mvndo’s extensive celebrity clientele, unique price point and myriad of styles, the agency positioned the brand as an elite fashion accessory of the stars, yet accessible to the general public. Following the product launch media blitz and representation for two consecutive years at the world’s largest watch trade show, BaselWorld in Basel, Switzerland, the watches were seen as the hottest accessory emanating from Hollywood.

Recognizing that in today’s marketplace, a global reach in sales, marketing and distribution is essential for any property’s success and growth. L.E. Hotels, a hospitality brand that represents a “limited edition” collection of independently owned and operated properties, reached out to the agency to create a program that would link all of its properties across 18 countries through a global marketing program, and support each individual property’s particular needs and challenges. The program included quarterly regional promotions, trade and local media relations, blogs, newsletters brimming with company and member news and travel/tourism trade shows, as well as social media and native advertising. We also sought out Millennial-focused media outlets and scheduled editorial desk side briefings as a way of maximizing the individual property’s visibility. 

When LegalShield, a leading provider of affordable legal services and identity theft solutions retained the agency, the client directed it to establish a thought leadership platform for its senior executives and drive media attention to its suite of products, including IDShield, an identity theft monitoring and restoration service. In capitalizing on the news of the high-profile data breaches at Equifax and Facebook, the agency established LegalShield as a much sought-out cybersecurity expert to address identity theft safety. In addition to multi-year PR and marketing campaigns, the agency established the LegalShield Law Index and the Legal Advisory Council, netting additional media attention and increasing the conversion rate by 200,000 new members. Eight billion offline/online media impressions were garnered, as well as profiles in The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN.com, Associated Press, Investor’s Business Daily, and more. 

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Selected by both the manufacturer of the vitamin products and the family of the late Dr. Linus Pauling, a major push was necessary to launch this new line of Linus Pauling Vitamins™ into an already over-exhausted competitive environ while overcoming the challenge of lack of awareness of the “persona” among the younger generations. The agency strategically crafted an editorial story that was then produced as camera ready artwork and distributed to newspaper outlets across the country. To increase repetition of the message points, a radio mat release program was also coordinated. The six-month campaign resulted in over 728 placements in newspapers nationwide, representing a circulation of over 7.6 million people. The radio mat release, which was timed to “break” just prior to the print stories, garnered broadcasts totaling over 740 airings of our “prepared” story, for a total audience reached figure of over 4.3 million. In addition, the agency created a video news release which generated coverage for Linus Pauling Vitamins on major network affiliated in top-tier cities.

When the nation’s leading supplier of massage chairs looked to us for a strategy to showcase the company’s newly re-branded consumer product division, we started by maximizing visibility of Human Touch and its award-winning HT-7450 Zero-Gravity Massage Chair at key technology and design trade shows that focused on wellness, design and technology. At CES and Las Vegas Market, we played into the weariness of trade show participants and attending media, and engaged national broadcast media outlets to take a moment to “experience” the H-7450 massage chair themselves.  Our national public relations campaign completely re-focused media perception of the product category itself — massage chairs — from just “simple comfort/luxury indulgence” to essential lifestyle,health and wellness.

When WHAM-O, makers of the beloved and universally popular Frisbee, wanted to move it from the toy category into a new Frisbee Sport line of products, the challenge was to reconnect with the hard-core Frisbee enthusiasts and create a brand new generation of loyalists eager to experience the spirit of the brand’s competitive roots. Rather than focus on athletes, the agency targeted parents and their young children and teenagers. We developed a family-focused media relations program, timed to peak during the key spring and summer selling seasons, and implemented a junior high school physical education Frisbee sport teaching curriculum, coordinated with the Ultimate Players Association. Midway through the campaign, the Association officially approved the Frisbee Sport Disc for match play.

High school students have traditionally relied on college counselors to guide their futures. Enter Destination-U (D-U), an online higher education-matching service aimed at the mass college-bound Millennial audience that analyzed students’ unique needs and attributes. We needed to establish credibility for the developer and CEO, Toby Waldorf, a certified college consultant, as well as tout D-U’s innovative research and proprietary algorithms that made it a valuable tool. So we “piggybacked” onto national news about declining college graduation rates and conducted a satellite media tour, and developed a content strategy that included social media, digital and word-of-mouth communications and a mat release program focused on matching students’ personal college satisfaction metrics vs. searching just for traditional college attributes. We also penned several op-eds under Waldorf’s byline.

Shopping for healthy food products at the grocery store can be challenging, due to the overwhelming choices and often conflicting nutritional information. With the introduction of Eaturna’s chef-created, prepared food products, the agency was challenged to cut through the clutter of the competition, and create rapid brand awareness for Eaturna foods in one neighborhood as a trial. The “Eaturnalize your Neighborhood” experiential product launch focused on word-of-mouth marketing, signed pledges committing to healthy eating habits, “Partnership for Healthy Neighborhoods” street teams driving consumer trial, family-focused community events and partnerships where Eaturna food got tasted. Within 60 days, the entire neighborhood had been reached one-on-one and pledged to eating healthy.

Considering that most individuals today spend more time on digital entertainment than on family conversations, the agency developed a kid-focused family lifestyle campaign to ignite renewed interest in backyard astronomy as a “well-spent family pastime.” With the launch of Celestron’s innovative SkyScout Personal Planetarium at CES, instead of just sending media new product pitches, we keyed into the mystique of the age-old question “what is that object in the sky?” while noting that this product could take the “mystery” out of the sky. The agency also leveraged national celestial events to generate curiosity in astronomy, as well as a Boy Scouts of America partnership to attract that particular demographic.

When the city of Beverly Hills, renowned for its special glitz worldwide, turned 100 in 2014, it wanted to celebrate in a big way. A  block party was staged on Rodeo Drive, creating a family-focused experiential event replete with a commissioned birthday cake by agency client Luxe Rodeo Drive Hotel, created in partnership with famed pastry chef Donald Wressell of the Guittard Chocolate Company. The staggering 4,000-pound chocolate cake that depicted Beverly Hills City Hall and Rodeo Drive served 15,000 people, which generated hundreds of millions of earned media impressions as well as social media mentions. To build up momentum to that day, we “seeded” media stories, planned mini events, held a cake-tasting preview for media, showed off with a 3-D model of the cake design and shot a video of the “making-of-the-cake” — a time-lapse video that wowed viewers around the world when released.

The Brita Water Filter System, a portable water filter system from The Clorox Company, is a household name today. But back when it first entered the market, public confidence in tap water was at an all time low. Clorox retained the agency to pilot test the product in Southern California, with the goal of changing the behavior of bottled-water-obsessed consumers. Through an experiential sampling program and a specially designed “Brita Water Cart,” managed by a “Brita Water Patrol” that showed up where bottled waters did — at sports events, marathons, home shows, trade shows, etc. — coupled with our national media campaign focused on health and wellness, sales increased by 26 percent in nine months. Our product launch campaign had unleashed the powerful “word-of-mouth” tool.

The saying “no news is good news” did not apply to Axiotron, an award-winning, authorized Apple Proprietary Solution provider that built its reputation by adapting consumer technologies to innovative new products. After the company suffered product delays, it faced stern customer backlash from the online community. Complaints stemmed from the company’s lack of news and unresponsiveness when questioned about product availability, and its reputation suffered. We were tasked with generating media and consumer interest, as well as lifestyle engagement, in the product launch of the Mac® Axiotron Modbook, an innovative pen-sensitive LCD tablet—particularly within the design industry. Immediately, we increased online community engagement and fed Axiotron news particularly around key event/trade shows. We partnered with artists and designers to present their art work in the booth at the Macworld show, which focused on design and digital art and earned wide attention.

Re-branding is never a simple matter, especially when it involves more than 70 individual storeowners — all entrepreneurs, and franchisees of a 60-year old established brand – Baskin-Robbins. So when our partner, Schneider Associates, asked our firm to support Baskin-Robbins’ “new retail look” in Southern California, it fell to the agency to manage each individual store’s grassroots efforts, as well as its engagement in experiential programming.  The overall marketing effort extended to creative educational programs and special local events such as a “31-cent scoop night” at 31 Baskin-Robbins stores.

Crucial.com, a division of Micron Consumer Products and a leading online retailer specializing in computer memory upgrades, needed to increase awareness of their do-it-yourself memory upgrade as an easy solution for computer problems that plague consumers on a daily basis. In Phase 1, we utilized consumer survey research, satellite and ground media tours, media mailers, infographics and aggressive media relations strategies, to speak to the computer-induced frustration and stress that results from an underperforming computer, with the easy solution, of course, offered by Crucial.com. In Phase 2, the agency commanded audience attention through creative campaigns such as “Love Your Computer”, “Get Tough on Your Computer”, and the nationwide search for the “Official, Unofficial Office Computer Go-to Superstar” – and resulted in over 100 million media impressions.

National Public Gardens Day was all about fostering public programs, resources and educational initiatives to instill the importance of environmental preservation and landscape water conservation. In partnership with American Public Gardens Association (APGA), the agency created an annual National Public Gardens Day to inform of the vital role of APGA’s more than 500 gardens and arboreta in promoting environmental stewardship, plant and water conservation and education. On-the-ground agency partners were tapped in five markets to stimulate local interest and support a national media outreach program. On the pre-celebration day a Satellite Media Tour was launched together with a government outreach program and an expansive social media component. The result was a staggering. The 782 million media impressions promoted ecosystem management and the efficient use of water.

When Sanyo Corporation tapped the agency to introduce their new Xacti Sound Recorder, we recognized that adoption without trial first would be near impossible; after all, the market was already flooded with recorders that claimed to be the best. So we targeted musical influencers to review the product and encouraged them to spread the word within their own networks to advocate for the product and brand organically. We reached out to musicians across all music genres, from rock to classical, music educators, songwriters and performers. After that, we engaged music fans and consumers through an agency-designed microsite and online contest. In just four months, 50 media outlets requested the unit for review well before the product even rolled out to market.

The challenge for Luxe Hotels was to design an experiential and lifestyle synchronized communications platform that was workable for both Luxe Hotels (branded properties) and L.E. Hotels, a collection of premier independent hotel properties worldwide, across 31 countries. Multi-channel digital communications streams had to work in concert with each other regarding overall positioning and messaging, and needed to be dynamic by design, addressing different audiences from various angles. The programming was designed to be foundational and sustainable, as the brand expanded. We implemented an overarching brand platform and specific programming per business unit, that included a Brand Share of Voice and Consumer Engagement as well as Partnerships and Quarterly Engagement, Influencer Marketing and Special Promotion programming that would be tied to seasonal happenings, news cycle or opportunistic events.