Global PR and Media Campaign Increases UL Brand Recognition

Client: Underwriters Laboratories | Agencies: Rhea + Kaiser

After successful PR campaigns in the United States, Underwriters Laboratories relies on Rhea + Kaiser and Worldwide Partners to continue the momentum globally

Situation

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is a world leading product safety testing and certification organization. In North America, most consumers know that a product bearing the UL Mark has been thoroughly tested and meets stringent safety standards. However, the Mark does not have the same recognition elsewhere even though UL is a thriving, global company. To increase brand recognition, awareness of product safety and UL’s public mission, UL launched a global PR campaign and asked Rhea + Kaiser to lead it.

Strategy

Rhea + Kaiser teamed up with Partners in Japan and China, to locally adapt public safety topics and press materials. R+K, which has worked with UL for five years, used the ongoing strategy of giving media the tools it needs to develop high-quality safety stories and leveraged existing North American assets to cost-effectively launch the program in Japan and China. Assets included existing safety packages with press releases, templates, graphics, news clips and other materials. Each agency localized an existing package and distributed it every 6-8 weeks. Localization involved more than just translating materials. The partners made sure safety topics had a cultural fit and included relevant data, third-party sources and statistics.

Results

In Japan, consumer education and outreach was packaged into a monthly newsletter to media, each month featuring a new safety topic. The agency also leveraged UL’s involvement with tracking systems on container cargo ships to increase awareness of UL as a safety organization. The initiative yielded 70 million audience impressions.

In China, the team secured a role for UL on the educational Beijing TV show “How Should You Do?,” which educates viewers on what to do in emergencies. One half hour show had an audience of more than 400,000. The agency also hosted a tour of the UL testing plant in Suzhou that garnered several immediate hits and led to a request by a local TV station to build a news story around safety testing.

Overall, R+K and its partners garnered more than 477 million impressions worldwide.

“Positioning UL as an organization that cares about the safety of people in these markets improves manufacturers’ perceptions of UL,” said Joe Hirschmugl, manager, Global Media Relations, “and demonstrates the organization’s global commitment to public safety.”
 

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