Staples, the world’s largest office products company with over 2,000 stores in 27 countries, tapped Duffy & Shanley to create and execute an integrated marketing program for its 2009 holiday season.

D&S managed a multi-faceted public relations campaign to generate media coverage and consumer impressions for Staples around the holidays. In addition to traditional long- and short-lead public relations efforts, D&S also developed an outreach plan to include moms, the masterminds of the holiday purchasing season. D&S tapped into their network of mommy groups across the country to help spread Staples’ holiday messages.  Activities included exclusive mommy shopping events, Twitter and blogging contests and giveaways, and specialized e-mail blasts catering to the mommy-set. In addition, D&S tapped one mom to serve as a spokesperson for an integrated TV, radio, and Web program to tout Staples’ deals and time-saving solutions for busy moms.

D&S additionally provided a specific focus and strategic counsel on social media tactics, including a tactic to “leak” Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals across Twitter and Facebook FIRST. The resulting media coverage centering on Staples’ social media efforts was more than 3 times the anticipated amount. Online sales at Staples.com increased during this period over 62%, a direct result of an aggressive, digital program geared towards building communities of followers and advocates for the brand.

As the world’s leading provider of juvenile products, Dorel Juvenile Group (DJG) had never “stepped up” to a leadership role in an organized way. It was a philanthropic company, but efforts were disjointed and regionalized. D&S recognized DJG's core brand attribute was its compassionate culture, which was borne of a reverence for the critical life-saving nature of its products. In 2004, a national cause marketing program, Get on Board with Child Safety!, was launched in partnership with The National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions in order to bring that corporate personality to life.

Today, initiatives for the program have grown and have included a satellite media tour educating consumers about how to prevent childhood injuries, the funding of safety stores and safety centers in children’s hospitals nationwide, and the placement of mobile “safety houses” in more than 100 children’s hospitals. The agency also led an initiative to begin selling Safety 1st branded products directly to children’s hospitals. Today, more than 120 hospitals are purchasing low-cost Safety 1st branded products and distributing to needy families in communities across the country.

Get on Board with Child Safety! has helped elevate Safety 1st through its association with the nation’s children’s hospitals, positioning the brand as the leader in child safety.

Dorel Juvenile Group (DJG), the world’s largest juvenile products manufacturer, charged Duffy & Shanley with the U.S. launch of its high-end Quinny stroller brand amidst a very crowded and competitive high-end stroller market. D&S implemented a comprehensive public relations campaign aimed at developing awareness of the Quinny brand. Our plan included conducting aggressive media relations tactics and sampling to “mom-fluencers,” including top mom bloggers, celebrities, and trendsetting mothers with large social networks in their communities. The agency also helped broker a relationship between the brand and designer Lela Rose, who created a limited edition Quinny stroller. The year of the launch, DJG exceeded its sales expectations for the brand by 35 percent.

D&S also launched DJG’s high-end car seat brand, Maxi-Cosi, with similar success. Both Quinny and Maxi-Cosi continue to be extremely popular, and have made appearances on television on the hit NBC series 30 Rock, on the runway at Miami Fashion Week, and in the hands of such celebrities as Matthew McConaughey and Alessandra Ambrosio.

Sagus International, an innovative furniture-supply company based in Chicago, hired Duffy & Shanley in March 2009 to manage the company’s public relations, with a particular focus on boosting Sagus’s market visibility and positioning the company and its CEO, Darryl Rosser, as leaders in the national effort to improve students’ learning environments.

D&S conceived of Sagus’s well-publicized makeover of J.V. Martin Junior High School, providing strategic counsel and guiding the company’s messaging for this tremendous philanthropic effort. The company’s donation of $250,000 worth of Sagus furniture completely transformed the rundown Dillon, S.C., school, which had become a national poster child for what’s wrong in American education today. D&S’s media-relations effort earned Sagus coverage in Time and People magazines, on ABC’s 20/20, and on CNN and MSNBC. The Chicago Tribune published a front-page feature story on Sagus. The Associated Press story on Sagus’s donation was published in nearly every major U.S. metropolitan newspaper, including USA Today, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. D&S provided additional public relations support to Sagus when it later co-hosted a symposium on rebuilding J.V. Martin as a model 21st-century school.

Deepwater Wind,
a leading U.S. offshore-wind energy developer, selected Duffy & Shanley in September 2008 to manage the company's Rhode Island public affairs, and government and media relations after Deepwater was selected as the state's preferred developer for offshore wind farms.

D&S embarked on an intensive, grassroots public affairs campaign to connect Deepwater with state and local leaders, economists, policy makers, environmentalists and labor officials. D&S provides daily strategic counsel to Deepwater Wind, guiding the company's messaging with local and federal lawmakers, with area media outlets, and with residents on Block Island, the community that would play host to Deepwater's first proposed offshore wind farm. Additionally, D&S coordinates Deepwater's public outreach, speaking engagements, social media efforts, brand development and website design.

D&S's ongoing media relations efforts have earned Deepwater Wind extensive coverage by The Providence Journal, Providence Business News and The Block Island Times, as well as the Associated Press and Reuters newswire services and national wind-power trade publications. D&S's counsel has advanced Deepwater Wind's position as a driving force behind Rhode Island's emerging green economy and as one of the nation's leading offshore-wind developers.

Duffy & Shanley is an expert in consumer public relations and social media outreach, especially when clients are looking to get key mom-fluencers buzzing about new products and services. In July 2009, Duffy & Shanley teamed up with Stride Rite to promote its new line of shoes for children ages 9 months – 2 years, called Sensory Response Technology (SRT) Collection.

The goals were simple. Get attention for the product by educating key stakeholders, engaging moms and, ultimately, driving consumers to Stride Rite stores to encourage purchases. More specifically, the team used multiple pitch angles to help secure coverage by communicating the new product story, fashion story and health story.

To build buzz for the brand and its new SRT collection, Duffy & Shanley launched a national and regional media relations campaign targeting print, online and broadcast outlets. The team also hosted a long-lead media event in NYC and mommy blogger events throughout the country, sharing information about the new shoes while also utilizing a pediatric doctor to serve as an expert who could speak to the research and technology that helped to develop the SRT collection. Through it all, we ensured our attendees had fun too! We developed a Stride Rite “Big Kids” Obstacle Course at the mom network events to engage and educate mothers about the benefits and technology behind SRT. The course included big, awkward-fitting clown shoes, educating the participants on the value of wearing proper footwear; six “stops” or questions pulled directly from the SRT presentation; and an “S” shaped course that was designed with Stride Rite colors, pens and notepads. That’s not all. We also partnered with celebrity mom and Emmy-award winner, Victoria Recano, to help us tell the SRT story. 

By taking a focused approach and utilizing a wide variety of media tactics, the team secured more than 270 placements, resulting in 58+ million impressions. During this three-month campaign, mom-fluencers shared SRT information with friends and fellow moms via word-of-mom marketing and social media channels such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr (posting a #SRT specific hashtag to promote the campaign). The team secured coverage in top media outlets and mommy blogs, such as Babble.com, Baby & Kids Magazine and Celebrity Baby Blog. Most importantly, Stride Rite received positive brand and product endorsements, resulting in great awareness for the company and its new Sensory Response Technology.

Duffy & Shanley continues to handle all public relations efforts for Stride Rite Children’s Group, further building relationships with key stakeholders and media outlets to serve as a foundation for future success.

Foster Grant is the world’s largest sunglasses distributor and, historically, one of the most widely recognized brands in the popular-priced sunglasses market. In the 1960s, the “Who’s That Behind Those Foster Grants?” ad campaign began featuring celebrities such as Raquel Welch, Mia Farrow, Vanessa Redgrave, and Woody Allen, establishing the brand as a fashion leader. In 1974, Elvis Presley raised brand awareness to new heights by wearing Foster Grants as his signature look. Years later, the “Who’s That Behind Those Foster Grants?” ad campaign was touted by Advertising Age magazine as one of the Top 100 Ad Campaigns of the Century.

In recent years, Foster Grant had done little in the way of traditional advertising or marketing outreach. Efforts to revitalize the brand with Cindy Crawford print ads in the late '90s did not yield the same results as the ads of the '60s. In time, brand recognition diminished among the 18-44 year-old sunglasses shoppers. In 2006, the company appointed a new CEO and began a strategy to drive brand preference, not just volume sales. Shortly after, Duffy & Shanley, Inc. was hired to revitalize the brand with an integrated public relations campaign.

D&S continues to elevate Foster Grant as a fashion-forward, stylish brand and have executed tireless media relations campaigns including outreach to women’s general interest and fashion magazines, implementing a social media effort with targeted blogger outreach, organizing seasonal radio giveaway programs for on-air presence, and overseeing a celebrity gifting effort in LA for the 2009 Oscars.

Brahmin, the national luxury handbag company, tapped Duffy & Shanley to raise brand awareness, buzz, and consumer demand for their timeless handbag collections. D&S developed a comprehensive public relations campaign focused on both traditional and digital media relations and on fleshing out Brahmin's digital presence. Our plan included conducting aggressive media relations tactics with top fashion media and influential digital media, sampling to fashion-focused celebrities and taste-makers, and planning the logistics and press relations around regional Brahmin store openings. The agency also strategized and executed Brahmin's new consumer-friendly website and their Facebook page. Over the course of the first year working with Brahmin, D&S garnered 49 million media impressions with editorial credits and reviews in publications like Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, InStyle, Marie Claire, and more.