The Insight
Green Candy is an online budgeting and assessment resource aimed at getting Gen Y on the right financial track. Because Green Candy is the brainchild of financial author—comedian and national TV/radio personality Peter Dunn (aka "Pete the Planner"), someone who has made his name by making finance accessible and even humorous—we proposed placing the charismatic Dunn front and center of our program. Once he bought into the idea, we were able to leverage his charisma and financial expertise to introduce Green Candy to the masses.
The Master Plan
We highlighted Dunn's entertainment alter-ego "Pete the Planner" in our media outreach—a move that quickly distinguished him from others in the financial industry. But rather than saturate the media with images and sound bites of the happy-go-lucky and financially-sound CEO, we chose a more tailored approach. We zeroed in on our media targets, first segmenting them by geography, beat, platform and audience, and then focusing on specific outlets likely to attract Gen Y, their parents (even their grandparents), financial gurus, and the business savvy.
Messaging
We crafted custom messages to cater to the needs of each of our target demographics. For example, outlets that cater primarily to parents of Gen Y-ers received messaging to the effect of "Pete the Planner explains why Gen Y is entitled...to financial freedom." We created tips sheets based on Peter's expertise and sent them to relevant media outlets and writers who were invited to use them in full so long as he was credited.
This quite possibly could shape up to be the best money ever spent on anything in the history of civilization. Keep up the ridiculously great work.
— Peter Dunn, Founder, GreenCandy.com
Positioning
We made use of timely messaging tie-ins to Christmas (
"A subscription to Green Candy makes a great stocking stuffer!"); New Year's (
"Never mind weight loss, financial resolutions are all the rage this year!"); the dismal state of the economy (
"Get back in fiscal shape!"); and post holidays (
"What happens when the turkey's gone, the gifts are unwrapped and the tree is dried out? Reality hits and the credit card bills roll in...").
Giveaways
We found out early on that financial bloggers had an agenda of their own. Not surprisingly, they were interested in trading posts for ad dollars, which wasn't part of our plan. We were, however, able to offer online outlets free GreenCandy.com subscriptions to offer to their readers. We leveraged Dunn's broadcast know-how with local and national radio and TV shows, many of which welcomed the seasoned guest again and again with open arms.
The Results
In just one month, Green Candy and Dunn took off on a national level. Channel V Media secured several spots on Fox News's Studio B with Shepard Smith, where Dunn continues to discuss everything from Gen Y's finances to the U.S. housing market and the state of the economy. He's been a guest on several radio shows across the country, and Green Candy has been featured in print publications such as Consumers Digest, and online publications such as CreditCards.com, Indy.com, Indy Dads and Thrifty Jinx.
The launch program resulted in a drastic increase in traffic for GreenCandy.com and an exponential boost in subscriptions with each new piece of media coverage. Finally, Dunn was able to parlay his national exposure into a syndicated program (60 Days to Change) with Indianapolis's WISH-TV (a CBS affilitate) and later package his financial expertise into a nationally-recognized book of the same name.
Learn about Dunn's book
60 DAYS TO CHANGE, published by Channel V Books.
