Company: F & H Porter Novelli, Munich, Germany

Company Description: F & H Porter Novelli is one of the leading German PR agencies and is the most successful one in the Southern part of Germany. We have an office in Munich and one in Düsseldorf and employ 70 people. F & H is not a specialised PR agencies it sees it´s strength moreso in using synergies created by working for different industries

Nomination Category: Team Awards Categories

Nomination Sub Category: Best Creative Team

Nomination Title: Expedia.de Public Relations Team Seeks Germany’s Most Vacation-Ready Worker

   1. Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

The Expedia.de F&H Public Relations team has a range of public relations responsibilities including events, trade shows, speaking opportunities, creative campaigns, surveys and proactive image and crisis management. During the calm summer months of 2005, the team was faced with the challenge of generating a broad scope of coverage in all types of media (print, online, TV, radio); to position Expedia.de as a young, dynamic online travel portal and create a positive association between Expedia.de and the topic of vacation.

The team chose to correlate the topic of jobs and vacation as a basis for Expedia.de’s summer PR campaign. In Germany, employment is a touchy subject, always present in the media due to the political situation. Creating anticipation and suspense will also attract the media’s and the public’s attention.

In an international survey conducted by Expedia on the topic of work and vacation, Germany ranked second among countries with the most vacation days, with an average of 27 per year. The survey also found that despite the amount of vacation they have, 51 percent of Germans do not feel properly rested after their vacation. A national survey from Expedia.de conducted in June 2005 showed that 37 percent of Germans feel guilty because their work piles up and is neglected during their absence.

Based on these results, the “feeling guilty about taking vacations” angle was used as a theme for the summer campaign. Expedia.de developed a competition, and the winner, Germany’s most vacation-ready worker, would win a relaxing holiday while a celebrity took his place at work during his vacation. A television crew would film the celebrity on the job and the shots would be aired on television. It was important to have a celebrity who would attract TV audiences, and Princess Xenia of Saxony, a royal blond, was ideal for the part.

The next challenge was to find media partners to cooperate with, not only to find Germany’s most vacation-ready worker, but also to air the results on once filming was complete. TV Today (weekly TV guide), Radio Energy and ProSieben (top German TV channel) covered all outlets and were all strong media partners that targeted broad audiences.

The vacation-ready worker found was a warehouse manager for a drink company in Stuttgart. His duties in the warehouse included supervising workers, taking orders, loading and unloading trucks, spraying off bottles, piling up crates of drinks etc. For one week, while the warehouse manager and his family were whisked off to Egypt on vacation, courtesy of Expedia.de, the princess worked at the drink company.

The TV report was broadcast in three 4-5 minutes parts over three days on ProSieben in the early evening. The reports document the princess carrying drinks and twirling around the warehouse in blue overalls under the watchful eye of the boss. The warehouse manager was shown being handed branded travel documents by an Expedia.de employee, while carrying an Expedia.de bag. His family wore their Expedia.de branded caps. The total reach of the media coverage was 42,963,650 viewers.

   2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, http://www.youraddress.com:

   3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of this nominated team:

Christina Harvey-Duwé is the Director of International Development at F&H Public Relations. She studied marketing and worked for several communications agencies in London. Christina has 15 years of agency experience across a range of industries and has served clients such as Russell & Bromley, Bermuda Tourism and the renowned Orient Express. At F&H, she directs the tourism and sports practices and leads the Expedia.de and Hilton Hotels teams.