1. What is the central case problem?

2. What course concepts are relevant to the case?

3. How would you evaluate managerial understanding and actions?

4. What recommendations would you make for optimizing company performance?

Can you answer these questions in copious detail?

Overview Though consumers understood Dawn Dishwashing Liquid's core equity (tough on grease), they were unaware of its value proposition: Just a little Dawn cleans lots of dishes. As a result, consumers were being lured by lower-priced products in larger-size bottles that appeared to offer more value. Dawn turned to Marina Maher Communications (MMC) with a challenge: Lead an integrated communications campaign that would illustratein a unique, dramatic, and breakthrough way, that Dawn's Lift Action formula is the best value (just one twenty-five-ounce bottle cleans more than 10,000 dishes). Objectives The campaign would need to meet three critical criteria: 1. Generate national awareness of the value claim. 2. Create relevance for consumers (including the large and growing Hispanic market). 3. Be easily integrated with other marketing disciplines. Tactics To allow consumers to "see" and "believe" Dawn's cleaning power, MMC developed a massive event "torture test" concept that told the story: Dawn Goes the Distance (Dawn Supera la Distancia). The key visualproviding news/media value, advertising content, and consumer interactionwas to use daredevil Robbie Knievel, son of the legendary Evel Knievel, to attempt to jump over 10,000 dishesall cleaned with just one twenty-five-ounce bottle of Dawn! Using Knievel allowed MMC to establish the positioning of "It takes a daredevil to attempt to beat what Dawn can accomplish" The four-pronged integrated marketing effort featured a giant festival and wash-a-thon- staged at California's Irwindale Speedway (a recognized motocross locale)and provided highly visual footage for a new advertising campaign. Key elements included: Credible eating/washing event (where attendees witnessed the 10,000-dishes dishwashing claim) Hispanic market location (Los Angeles, home to a large US Hispanic population) "Wow" visual for media coverage and advertising shoot (associating the low-interest category of dishwashing with the excitement of a daredevil motocross attempt) Celebrity spokespeople (Knievel to communicate brand value message and Hispanic celebrity host to emotionally connect with Hispanic target audience) Results More than 5,000 bilingual flyers were distributed in market and an ANR, airing pre-event, garnered attendance of 1,685 consumers. Irwindale Speedway marquee signage was seen by 525,000 LA-area consumers/drivers over five days. In addition, 1,700 product samples were distributed at the event. The MMC campaign generated sixty-seven million consumer impressions in just one week. More than 575 TV placements spotlighted Dawn in general market and Hispanic outlets, including CNN's Headline News, American Morning, and Airport; ESPN Sportscenter; Fox News Live; Univision's Des- pierta America, and Telemundo's Al Rojo Vivo with Mara Celeste. Coverage saturated all top-ten ADI markets in the United States. Radio coverage included 484 stories, while Dawn's photo ran on the AP wire service, and the Los Angeles Times featured the Dawn story and brand name-highly unusual for a low-interest category in the nation's third-largest newspaper. TV advertising launched on January 12, 2004, and Dawn's brand manager reported: The Dawn Mileage program creates a permanent impression in consumers' minds about Dawn's long-lasting performance in a way that no competitor can challenge or match.... The program generated results well beyond our expectations." Source: Dawn with Marina Maher, "Dawn Dishes It Out: Changing Consumers'Perceptions on Value,"Council of Public Relations Firms, http://prfirms.org/resources/dawn-dishes-it-out-changing-consumers-percep tions-on-value. Overview Though consumers understood Dawn Dishwashing Liquid's core equity (tough on grease), they were unaware of its value proposition: Just a little Dawn cleans lots of dishes. As a result, consumers were being lured by lower-priced products in larger-size bottles that appeared to offer more value. Dawn turned to Marina Maher Communications (MMC) with a challenge: Lead an integrated communications campaign that would illustratein a unique, dramatic, and breakthrough way, that Dawn's Lift Action formula is the best value (just one twenty-five-ounce bottle cleans more than 10,000 dishes). Objectives The campaign would need to meet three critical criteria: 1. Generate national awareness of the value claim. 2. Create relevance for consumers (including the large and growing Hispanic market). 3. Be easily integrated with other marketing disciplines. Tactics To allow consumers to "see" and "believe" Dawn's cleaning power, MMC developed a massive event "torture test" concept that told the story: Dawn Goes the Distance (Dawn Supera la Distancia). The key visualproviding news/media value, advertising content, and consumer interactionwas to use daredevil Robbie Knievel, son of the legendary Evel Knievel, to attempt to jump over 10,000 dishesall cleaned with just one twenty-five-ounce bottle of Dawn! Using Knievel allowed MMC to establish the positioning of "It takes a daredevil to attempt to beat what Dawn can accomplish" The four-pronged integrated marketing effort featured a giant festival and wash-a-thon- staged at California's Irwindale Speedway (a recognized motocross locale)and provided highly visual footage for a new advertising campaign. Key elements included: Credible eating/washing event (where attendees witnessed the 10,000-dishes dishwashing claim) Hispanic market location (Los Angeles, home to a large US Hispanic population) "Wow" visual for media coverage and advertising shoot (associating the low-interest category of dishwashing with the excitement of a daredevil motocross attempt) Celebrity spokespeople (Knievel to communicate brand value message and Hispanic celebrity host to emotionally connect with Hispanic target audience) Results More than 5,000 bilingual flyers were distributed in market and an ANR, airing pre-event, garnered attendance of 1,685 consumers. Irwindale Speedway marquee signage was seen by 525,000 LA-area consumers/drivers over five days. In addition, 1,700 product samples were distributed at the event. The MMC campaign generated sixty-seven million consumer impressions in just one week. More than 575 TV placements spotlighted Dawn in general market and Hispanic outlets, including CNN's Headline News, American Morning, and Airport; ESPN Sportscenter; Fox News Live; Univision's Des- pierta America, and Telemundo's Al Rojo Vivo with Mara Celeste. Coverage saturated all top-ten ADI markets in the United States. Radio coverage included 484 stories, while Dawn's photo ran on the AP wire service, and the Los Angeles Times featured the Dawn story and brand name-highly unusual for a low-interest category in the nation's third-largest newspaper. TV advertising launched on January 12, 2004, and Dawn's brand manager reported: The Dawn Mileage program creates a permanent impression in consumers' minds about Dawn's long-lasting performance in a way that no competitor can challenge or match.... The program generated results well beyond our expectations." Source: Dawn with Marina Maher, "Dawn Dishes It Out: Changing Consumers'Perceptions on Value,"Council of Public Relations Firms, http://prfirms.org/resources/dawn-dishes-it-out-changing-consumers-percep tions-on-value