Case Studies

For a full list of the clients, brands, and organizations we have worked with, click here.

Case Studies In Depth

The Pinehills / Plymouth, MA

The Fabulous Food Truck Festival

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The Pinehills /
The Fabulous Food Truck Festival

CHALLENGE

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Our PR client, The Pinehills, wanted a new event in 2011.  We had created music events, holiday events and art events for the community…it was time for something different.  So what could we do? We had heard about these things called food trucks.  They were very hot in L.A. and were heading east.  We took on the challenge of creating something different and new for our client with the launch of the first-ever New England food truck festival called the Fabulous Food Truck Festival at The Pinehills.
 

APPROACH / Recommendation

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We found a total of eight food trucks in New England at that time and asked them to come together at The Pinehills for day of food and fun.  We worked with media partners such as CBS Radio Boston to spread the word and PR almost wrote itself as this was the first ever area food truck festival so the media was extremely interested and eager to write about us.  When the trucks asked how much food to bring, we estimated an audience of 1,000 people and told them to bring enough to feed that many.  And then….
 

RESULTS / ACCOMPLISHMENTS

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5,000 people showed up for the Fabulous Food Truck Festival at The Pinehills.  Trucks were running out of food so we were bought cheese, bread and hamburgers by the hundreds at the Pinehills Market to keep everyone going!  It was a huge success.  Who knew people would be willing to stand in a long line for 45 minutes for a grilled cheese!  The client was thrilled at the many young, hip foodies who visited The Pinehills that day… a place they would not have known existed had it not been for the food trucks.  Following this event, we created a second company….Food Truck Festivals of America which created 100s of these festivals throughout the country.

Mt. Auburn Hospital / Cambridge, MA
Pink Pages - An Evening with Your Favorite Authors

Mt. Auburn Hospital /
Pink Pages - "An Evening with Your Favorite Authors"

Challenge
 

Mount Auburn Hospital, a Harvard Teaching Hospital in Cambridge, MA, was looking to raise funds and visibility for its Hoffman Breast Center, named after locally renowned author Alice Hoffman, who had received treatment there for breast cancer. The hospital decided that for the first time in its 150 year history it would create a high-profile, celebrity-driven event in an effort to raise substantial revenue for the center and to communicate to the Greater Boston community that the hospital offered top-quality health services for women. 

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Approach / Recommendation

To create the Alice Hoffman hosted “An Evening with Your Favorite Authors” featuring renowned writers such as Doris Kearns Goodwin, Amy Tan, Sue Miller, Robert Parker, Sebastian Junger, Jennifer Weiner, Gregory Maguire, and Rosie O’Donnell. Celebrating its tenth year in 2010, the event evolved from a dinner in a hotel ballroom to a true evening of entertainment held at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge. 

Along with anecdotes and readings from each author, the evening included moving comments from a breast cancer survivor and the recognition of a Mount Auburn Doctor or Nurse who had made a special impact on the lives of breast cancer survivors. 

Aigner/Prensky also recommended the creation of an event committee filled with high-profile women supporting the cause of breast cancer prevention who helped with added creativity and key ticket sales. 

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RESULTS / ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Even during challenging economic times, the event sells out at $250 per seat with a long waiting list. It is one of the top fundraisers for Mount Auburn, having brought in more than one million dollars over the years. 

There is always extensive media coverage in the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the Boston Business Journal, The Improper Bostonian, and the many local papers in Mount Auburn’s service area which helps to raise the hospital’s visibility and drive home the key message that Mount Auburn is a top hospital for women’s health, and breast health in particular. 

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Scotties / USA

Trees Rock!

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Scotties /
Trees Rock!

CHALLENGE

Scotties, one of the leading facial tissue companies in the US was interested in increasing their visibility nationally and bringing their passion for the environment to the masses. After much thought, the TREES ROCK! video contest was born. This contest runs each year and not only educates 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders on the importance of trees, but gives them the opportunity to win great prizes including $10,000.00 for their school.

APPROACH/ Recommendation

To create an educational program aimed at 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders about the importance of trees. This is how the Scotties TREES ROCK! curriculum and video contest were born. With the creation of a national PSA and public relations component to support the launch, kids everywhere were able to learn about the outdoors and show off their passion for trees in a 1-3 minute video. 

RESULTS / ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Entries came in droves from kids all across the United States. Scotties was able to position themselves not only as a dedicated community player, but as a brand with a conscience. 

The Pinehills / Plymouth, MA

The Healthy Market

CHALLENGE

The Pinehills, a 3,000-acre, nationally-recognized mixed-age master planned community in Plymouth, was about to take the next step in the evolution of the community – the building and opening of a grocery store.

But The Market at The Pinehills would not only be serving the residents of The Pinehills, but, in order to thrive, The Market would need to draw from the greater Plymouth region. 
As importantly, as a full-service but independent grocery store, emphasizing fresh, produce, locally grown when in season, full-service meat and seafood departments, in-store bakery, deli, sushi and prepared foods, The Market also had to dispel the notion that its prices were higher than mainstream supermarkets. Thus, to get the general public’s attention with precise messages, The Market needed an exciting grand opening, preserving its sense of style while encouraging people to “try it”. 

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APPROACH/ RECOMMENDATIOn

As part of our public relations recommendations, Aigner/Prensky pitched a high-profile pre-event story, chronicling the building of The Market to entice interest in the project early and build a following. To “get it right”, The Market was holding focus groups with the community at large, to determine what the customers really wanted from a smaller grocery store. We thought this research process would be a good story. 

Aigner also recommended a two-week period of exciting events that included working with radio partners on promotional events, educational experiences, and meet-and-greets with key Market personnel, including the butcher, the seafood supervisor, etc. We kicked off the festivities with a ribbon-cutting complete with costumed characters dressed as fruit, tastings, and giveaways.

Over the course of the next two weeks, The Market welcomed local high-profile radio personalities and sports mascot Pat the Patriot. The Market also welcomed renowned children’s cookbook author Katie Wilton. The festivities concluded with a visit from Olympic gymnast Alicia Sacramone. All of the events were free and open to the public. 

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RESULTS / ACCOMPLISHMENTs

As a result of our public relations approaches, the Boston Sunday Globe wrote a six-page story on the pre-opening process of building The Market, how it was gathering customer feedback, etc. The story was published in the Globe’s Sunday magazine section 9 months prior to the opening and created tremendous interest in the project, both in the commercial and public sectors.

We were also able to secure additional coverage on Boston.com, and in the Boston Globe, Griffin Report (Trade), The Patriot Ledger, and countless local weekly papers. In addition, the two weeks of grand opening festivities brought thousands of people to The Market out of curiosity, thus building a customer base that has remained strong to date. 

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The Pinehills /
The Healthy Market

Assembly Row / ?East Boston, MA

Assembled : A Handmade Arts Market

Assembly Row / 
Assembled: A Handmade Arts Market

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challenge

Assembly Row was under construction in 2013 with a 2014 opening date.  It faced a challenge in that it was tucked behind a large shopping center and the public did not know where it was, how to get there or what it was to become. A true identity problem that needed a solution.  Our challenge was to create an event in the middle of a construction site with the goal of bringing large numbers of people there despite the noise and the chaos.  

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APPROACH/ Recommendation

Aigner/Prensky worked with the Assembly team to create “Assembled: A Handmade Arts Market” which took place in the middle of the construction and still drew thousands of people over the summer anxious to shop this live Etsy-style market as well as curious to find out what this Assembly Row was all about.  The event was supported by extensive public relations and strategic radio advertising, all of which drew traffic to the market and greater knowledge of what and where Assembly Row was.

RESULTS / ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Assembled was a huge success.  Taking place every Saturday of the summer, it drew thousands of people to Assembly Row for shopping at the market and for learning what the center was going to be.  The Assembly Row team had a table at every Assembled that educated visitors as to what the “Row” was going to be.  When Assembly Row finally opened months later, it was well known and easily found.

Boston Hub On Wheels / Boston, MA

Hub On Wheels  (or Years x, y, z)

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Hub On Wheels /
Boston

CHALLENGE

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Hub On Wheels – Boston’s only citywide bike ride — has been established as a Boston destination event, attracting riders from throughout the country and as far away as Europe. In 2009, the City of Boston decided to expand the one-day event, by adding world-class criterium men’s and women’s races the day before, making it a weekend-long celebration. After signing a sponsorship deal with TD Bank, the city had a big challenge on its hands – how to attract spectators to a pro cycling race in a city that is still trying embrace the culture, and do it without losing the brand recognition that Hub On Wheels had built over the last few years. 
 

APPROACH/ Recommendation

Because Hub On Wheels had been in existence for a few years, we recommended a multi-pronged approach to increasing visibility of the new race, without losing sight of Hub On Wheels. We decided to utilize our media partners from the previous years – CBS Radio Boston, Comcast and other local organizations (MBTA, Wall Media, Yelp, etc.) to help us spread clear messaging about the two events. 

In addition to utilizing our media partners, we conducted a major outreach to traditional trade, national, regional and local media outlets. We used a variety of race-focused pitches to help secure stories, including profiling local racers and the big-name racers, piggy-backing off sponsor events (i.e. Wheelworks hosted an event to which we invited local racer Mark McCormack), using a “worst-to-first cycling city” approach, etc. We also used the Boston Bikes Facebook page and Twitter to help generate publicity and spread the word about the two events. We also recommended using coverage of the race to promote Hub On Wheels for the following day, in the hopes of boosting day-of registration for Hub On Wheels. 

RESULTS / ACCOMPLISHMENTS

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Because Boston had been annually voted as one of the worst cycling cities in America, we were able to capitalize on that with the trade publications, helping us to land feature stories in Bicycling magazine, VeloNews, Bicycle Times, Daily Peloton, etc. In addition to the trade coverage, major Boston publications – Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Improper Bostonian, Boston Magazine, Metro Boston, etc. — also had significant pre-event coverage, while New England Cable News did a live broadcast from the race for their 9pm news, one of the most-viewed newscasts in New England. 

As a result, there were an estimated 10,000 spectators for the men’s and women’s races and more than 4,000 people signed up to ride in Hub On Wheels (would have most likely been closer to 5,500 if it had not been raining the day of the ride). 

Extra One? / USA 
- or delete if you don't need

Mayflower Beer Garden!