From a PR perspective, the big challenge with celebrity endorsement is to get past the media’s desire to concentrate on the celebrity and get coverage of the brand he or she is there to promote.

So when Streets decided to use David (‘The Hoff’) Hasselhoff  to launch Splice Real Fruits,  the question asked of us was ‘could we create a media relations program that would help generate a strong return on the investment?’  Streets realised that the role of PR would be critical to the success of the proposed marketing program – without extensive media coverage incorporating the Splice brand, the number of people exposed to the campaign would not have justified the investment. 

And with ‘The Hoff’s’ penchant for creating controversy, there was the real risk that media interviews would focus on this aspect of the Hoff’s life and further diminish our ability to deliver the messaging.

So we set about developing a plan that would deliver the desired editorial outcome for the Splice brand and created a branded VIP event – Spice Island – to secure brand coverage in the social pages and entertainment/lifestyle blogs.

We took the decision to set-up a series of exclusive editorial slots for ‘The Hoff’ where we pre-negotiated to construct stories/features to ensure appropriate brand mentions and visuals were integrated into the editorial.  Those included exclusives with the likes of Channel 7’s Sunrise program and OK! magazine. 

The VIP event we created – Splice Island – secured excellent social media coverage and was voted ‘Party of the Week’ by both The Sunday Telegraph and Sun Herald newspapers.  In total, we tracked 131 pieces of editorial coverage with a combined potential reach of over 42 million (based on circulation and view / listenership figures).   More than 90 per cent of the coverage carried brand messages and/or visuals and The Hoff’s behaviour didn’t become the story!  A stellar result all round.