CHALLENGE: Creating awareness..

Freeport-McMoRan was a Fortune 250 company headquartered in New Orleans, actively engaged in the exploration, mining, production, processing and marketing of natural resources. Freeport-McMoRan doesn’t market a consumer product, so they had little brand name recognition. However, they did need community support to conduct their business effectively.

STRATEGY: Giving something back.

With a demonstrated commitment to supporting New Orleans philanthropically, environmentally and economically, Freeport-McMoRan had proved itself to be a good corporate citizen. However, the company wasn’t doing much to let people know about its dedication to New Orleans and the other communities it does business in. We developed a campaign that would not only raise awareness of Freeport-McMoRan’s corporate good deeds but would also encourage other companies to get involved in giving back. The “Giving Something Back” campaign was introduced, with the key objectives of measurably improving the awareness, favorability and trust of Freeport-McMoRan in the New Orleans community. As part of the campaign, we suggested that Freeport-McMoRan sponsor the renovation and reopening of a shuttered playground and then take the lead in developing a program that would encourage other businesses to do the same. New Orleans Recreation Department’s Adopt-a-Playground program was born, resulting in the restoration of 40 playgrounds around the city.

RESULTS: Striking gold.

Kids weren’t the only ones that benefited from this campaign. Initial results of “Giving Something Back” were so impressive that our work for Freeport-McMoRan grew to cover their regional, national and international operations, with versions of the campaign running for six years. Freeport-McMoRan’s consumer favorability increased 86%, trust increased 116%, and 85% more consumers felt that the company was making a positive contribution. Additionally, Peter Mayer won a Gold EFFIE award for the strength of the campaign.