2. Chapter 2: Sales & Marketing
the footwear group, we asked for specific data on
sales of the products featured in the article. He was
able to provide information on sales of those SKUs
(stock keeping units) for the three weeks leading
up to the article and for three weeks following the
article. We looked at sales in the New York/New
Jersey market, Chicago (our control market), and
also our national numbers (to verify that Chicago
was not an anomaly).
Plotting the sales data for each market showed
an astonishing jump in sales in New Jersey, a mod-
est lift in New York and negative sales trends in
Chicago and nationally.
We also saw that the impact of the article lasted
only about a week as sales returned to national
norms in the second week after the article ap-
peared.
Tracking sales showed a marked increase in New Jersey.
Lessons Learned and Application
was fortunate enough to land a very positive article The New York Times/Fashion Footwear example
in the Sunday New York Times featuring a line of does not mean that every favorable article will
inexpensive fashion footwear modeled after much result in positive revenue increases, but it does
more expensive designer shoes. clearly establish a very direct link between positive
The headline for the article was, “The Look Says publicity in a respected publication and a dramatic
Blahnik; The Label Is Sears.” The article itself went jump in revenue as a result.
on to profile an individual who regularly attended
red-carpet events in New York and often wore Sears
How Can This Be Replicated in Other
shoes. She also regularly received compliments on Companies?
her taste in Blahnik’s. A photo featured an assort-
ment of women’s fashion footwear and the article 1. Become familiar with the capabilities of
your finance and IT departments. Any
appeared on the front page of the lifestyle section. business that tracks customer purchases using
It was a home-run placement. Almost. The ar- UPC codes and scanners potentially has a wealth
ticle ran only in the New York/New Jersey edition of data on purchase habits which can be mined for
of the paper, not the national edition. Initially, I re- this type of information. Enlisting these profes-
ceived the comment, “Oh, it’s a shame it didn’t run sionals also adds a great deal of credibility to your
nationally, but nice placement anyway.” And, “Our measurement results. Finance has no vested inter-
customers don’t read the New York Times.” est in making your department look good, so if
This was one of those moments where circum- they can verify the numbers and the methodology
stances conspired to present a perfect measure- you will have great credibility.
2.
ment opportunity. Identify opportunities to measure the
impact of significant articles in local mar-
Measuring Publicity of the Placement
kets, using the technique above. A national article
Because the article ran only locally, we knew that
or placement on the Web will be difficult to isolate
it had the potential of impacting revenue in the
since you will lack a control market to measure it
New York/New Jersey market, but would have no
against. You can always map it to sales trends and
impact on Chicago or nationally. We could there-
prior year sales, but people will be reluctant to
fore isolate the publicity variable in one market
credit the publicity if they can say there are other
and compare to control markets in other cities and
variables to consider.
nationally.
Enlisting the help of the finance vice president in
3. You will have to be willing to take some
prnewsonline.com PR News’ PR Measurement Guidebook Volume 6 41