Hot WaterA Crazy Contemporary Tea Party

Submitted to: Kenton LarsenPublic Relations Instructor

Submitted by: Michelle PerronPR Contact for Hot Water Magazine

15 Battleford BayWinnipeg, MB, R3Y1K4

March 19, 2015

HOT WATER

MAGAZINE

Hot WaterEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Hot Water is a local magazine dedicated to bringing Manitobans inside the vibrant tea culture that exists in Manitoba today. Hot Water is a local magazine that teaches Manitobans how to enhance their tea experience by showcasing tea houses and stores in and around Winnipeg, as well as information about all the different teas that are in the market today. Hot Water targets women between the ages of 20-50.

My campaign, as outlined in this proposal, looks at making Hot Water prominent in the minds of our target audiences and tea drinkers across Manitoba. Hot Water has five hard-working editors who are dedicated to bringing their readers the most-interesting content, and helpful information to benefit their tea-drinking experience. Hot Waters target audiences are heavily influenced by social media, and rely on this platform to gather information. We want to use social media accounts to grab the attention of our target audiences.

The theme of our campaign is Crazy Contemporary Tea Party we will execute the strategy by incorporating many different interactive events to get our audiences excited about the magazine. We plan to host a tea and yoga event at Moksha Yoga Winnipeg, and a tea tasting at Tea Story Caf. We hope that these interactive events will get people interested in the magazine and draw the attention of the media. We will take advantage of connections and resources that we have available to us to make the launch a success.

I have included a budget of $400 and an evaluation to measure our success once the launch is over.

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Hot WaterTABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary

Purpose Statement

Situation Analysis

Target Publics and Analysis

Desired Outcomes

PR Strategy

Preliminary Budget

Evaluation

Magazine Trade Fair Poster

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Hot Water

The purpose of this social media/launch plan is to generate as much publicity, notoriety, and momentum for Hot Water as possible, leading up to and including a successful Magazine Trade Fair on Thursday, April 2.

This campaign:

1. Puts Hot Water at the forefront of our target publics mind and creates brand interest.2. Gets people talking about Hot Water and encourages our target publics to buy it when it comes

out.3. Includes a way to build a database of people who are interested in Hot Water and a plan to

convert them into readers and buyers later4. Harnesses new and traditional media, PR and publicity to reach potential readers.5. Gets people talking about Hot Water by giving them a stated or implied invitation to participate

online and at the Trade Fair. 6. Is fun.

PURPOSE STATEMENT

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SITUATION ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

Hot Water is a tea magazine that gives tea drinkers in Manitoba better knowledge of the beverage theyre drinking, the benefits it has, and where it came from. The magazine features different teahouses and establishments in Winnipeg and around Manitoba. Hot Water is targeted at tea drinkers across Manitoba who are interested in learning more about tea. Before having a successful magazine launch, Hot Water must recognize the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist.

Readers have the chance to see some of their favourite places in the magazine and learn about teahouses they arent familiar with in Manitoba. This is something that we believe could catch the attention of readers and make them want to come to the magazine launch. The local aspect of the magazine appeals to local advertisers in Manitoba. Hot Water has five editors who are dedicated to producing a creative product that is attractive and intriguing to our audience. Because tea is a beverage that is enjoyed all year long, Hot Water has a topic that is showcased in different ways throughout the different seasons. Multiple editors at Hot Water drink tea, and are knowledgeable about the beverage.

Hot Water will only attract people who are interested in tea. The magazine has to compete with the other large hot beverage market of coffee drinkers. The editors at Hot Water are making the first issue of the magazine and have limited experience in planning a launch. The magazine also has a limited budget to put toward production and the launch of the first issue.

Hot Water has the opportunity to show Manitobas different teahouses and tea stores that are not known throughout the province. Hot Water also has the opportunity to use tea from the popular tea store Tea Story. Owner, Daniel Song, has agreed to supply us with tea for the magazine trade fair. Hot Water will launch a Twitter and Instagram account one month prior to the magazine trade fair. The accounts will showcase amazing places and teas one can find in Manitoba.

Hot Water has to compete with other magazine groups that will be launching their magazines on the same day. Because the magazine launch will take place in the spring, a fast melt may lead to bad weather causing people to not make it to the launch. There will be a competing beverage magazine at the launch, and because of this we will have to differentiate ourselves from their magazine.

Hot Water

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Hot WaterTARGET AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

Primary Target: Curious College Students

Curious College Students are men and women between the ages of 18-30 who are enrolled at Red River College. Many of these people spend their days juggling their studies with a job, and a social life. Many Curious College Students work part-time jobs to allow for money to support their day-to-day spending habits. They like to let loose and take time for themselves whenever they have the opportunity. For many, that means sleeping all day, or spending the evening watching Netflix. They are easily influenced and often looking for new and interesting things to read and watch in their spare time.

Name: Katie Age: 21

Katie is a second-year business student at Red River College. When Katie isnt hitting the books, she is out socializing over drinks with her close friends. Katie works part-time at Earls to pay for outings with friends, and gas for her Honda Civic. Katies favorite thing to do to unwind is running on the treadmill, or binge watching Greys Anatomy with a cup of tea in bed.

Secondary Target: Exchange District Business Owners

Exchange District Business Owners are men and women between the ages of 30-50. Many of these career-oriented people are well established, and enjoy the finer things in life. They are often the breadwinners of the family, and produce the primary income in their household. They always have projects on the go, but often like to vacation down south in the winter. On weekends, you can find these people at trendy restaurants in the city. They are always looking out for potential clients, and co-workers who show potential to fit well within their business.

Name: MarkAge: 40

Mark is the co-owner of an advertising company in the Exchange District. Mark and his wife Kate live in a house in River Heights, and enjoy spending nights out for dinner with friends in Osborne Village. Mark is a foodie, who enjoys trying out new restaurants in the city. Mark is a dedicated Winnipeg Jets fan who spends some of his weeknights taking clients to home games.

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Tertiary Target: Supportive Stay-at-home Moms

Supportive Stay-at-home Moms are women between ages of 35 and 55. These women are mothers to high school, and university/college students. They like to stay involved in their childrens lives. Supportive Stay-at-home Moms are the heart of the family, and the person that makes sure everything runs smoothly. They endure busy weeks doing things for their husbands and children, and lunch dates with other moms like themselves. Most of these women live in suburban areas of the city and enjoy doing things for others. They are always up to date with anything important going on with their children and attend all school events in which their children are involved in.

Name: BethAge: 52

Beth is a sweet stay-at-home mom who spends her week doing things for her husband and children. Beths husband, Mike, is the executive director at Manitoba Hydro. Her son, Anthony, is a 3rd year engineering student at the University of Manitoba. Beth and her family live in Linden Woods, a suburb in the south end of the city. Beth enjoys watching Ellen in the mornings while running on the treadmill, and likes to spend the day gathering groceries and meeting her friends for a cup of tea.

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DESIRED OUTCOMES

Curious College Students

We want our primary audience to change from latent to active, and be aware of Hot Water and interested in buying the magazine. We want them to be interested in the content of the magazine, and to subscribe to upcoming issues. We will aim to grab the attention of this audience by using the local aspect of our magazine, which will showcase different teahouses in and around the city. Curious College Students will start following our social media accounts, looking out for new issues. We are confident that this audience will help in building brand recognition to their friends and family by sharing our items on social media. This audience is filled with new customers who we want to be familiar with our magazine, and excited about the content. We think that by building awareness of Hot Water with this audience, advertisers will also start to pay attention, and want to buy ad space in the magazine. Exchange District Business Owners

We want our secondary audience to change from latent to active. We want to create strong brand recognition with this audience. We believe Curious College Students, can have a moderating affect on Exchange District Business Owners through social media. We believe that when Exchange District Business Owners see Curious College Students interested in Hot Water, they will also pay attention. We want this audience to be interested in our magazine. They are constantly in the area, so we believe they would be interested in coming to the magazine fair and subscribing to our magazine.

Supportive Stay at Home Moms

Our tertiary audience is aware of Hot Water magazine and the magazine fair itself, but we want to help develop their awareness of what the magazine has to offer them on social media. We want them to spread brand recognition to people they know through word of mouth and subscribe to Hot Water. We think this is a great target audience because Hot Water is a magazine that many Supportive Stay at Home Moms will be interested in. Because they are always looking at new things, they could find many new places to go with friends, and new products to try. We think that many Supportive Stay at Home Moms are likely to put on a pot of tea at home in the afternoon, so Hot Water could further their knowledge of tea.

Hot Water

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Hot WaterLAUNCH STRATEGY

ACTION

Theme: A Crazy Contemporary Tea Party

Our strategy will emphasize the importance of tea, and how beneficial it is for the body. We will focus on how popular tea is in Manitoba, and promote awareness of local teahouses and stores in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba. We plan to host events such as a hot yoga tea class, and a tea tasting. We plan to generate buzz and awareness using traditional, new, and social media. We will promote Hot Water in areas where our three target audiences spend time, so that it will grab their attention. We believe that these methods will give Hot Water a successful launch.

Where?

We will focus on three main areas in Winnipeg to reach our target audiences. First, we will focus on the Exchange District to grab the attention of our primary and secondary audiences. Second, we will focus on targeting Red River College campuses, and the University of Winnipeg and Manitoba campuses. Finally, we will focus on Corydon and Academy neighborhoods to grab the attention of our tertiary audience when they are out in that area.

Who will be involved?

The Hot Water team consists of five members: me, Chynna Hildebrant, Matthew Dyck, Sabrina Simonic, and Maegan Chartrand. Daniel Song will provide us with tea from Tea Story Cafe for the trade fair.

What will happen?

Leading up to the magazine trade fair, our campaign will use a mix of a few interactive events, marketing tactics, and buzz.

We will first generate buzz through the teahouse owners we interviewed for the articles in our magazine. We will ask them to tell their clients about Hot Water. We will also place posters in their stores and encourage them to tell their clients about Hot Water. We will then publicize and host a hot yoga tea class at Moksha Yoga Waverley. We will also host a tea-tasting night at Tea Story Cafe leading up to the magazine trade fair. We want these events to raise awareness of Hot Water to those who spend time at these places, and those who are in our target audiences.

When?

We will start our strategy in the last week of January, and run the campaign for eight weeks leading up to our launch day, April 2, 2015. We will then follow-up in April to measure our success.

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At the trade show, we will have tea (provided by Tea Story Cafe on Osborne), and macaroons/cupcakes from a local bakery (either Jenna Rae Cakes or Sweet Impressions). We hope to get these sweets donated with the promise of advertising and showcasing their business cards at the booth. We will also have a photo booth inspired by the cover of our magazine: A Mad Hatter Theme Tea Party (Alice in Wonderland). Customers can take a crazy picture in a photo booth in Alice in Wonderland inspired costumes. Customers will fill out a ballot to win a gift basket with an assortment of teas from stores around the city.

In the weeks following the trade fair, we will continue to generate buzz around Hot Water and keep readers interested in the magazine. We will continue to advertise and put up posters as we did prior to the magazine fair. We will reach out to the tea houses and stores that we featured in Hot Water. We want these places to carry copies of the magazine after the trade fair for a small cost to give out to their customers to further brand recognition.

COMMUNICATION

Our communication strategy before, during, and after the launch event will heavily rely on online and social media. We think this will help to create awareness of the magazine, and the launch, to our different target audiences.

New Media

In the weeks leading up to the trade fair, we will launch a Twitter account (@hotwaterwpg), and an Instagram account (@hotwatermag). Each editor will follow people they know to start to get people familiar with the magazine. We will use these accounts to interact with our audiences, keep them informed of upcoming interactive events, and give them sneak peaks at content that is going to appear in the spring issue. We believe that the more buzz we generate with these accounts prior to the trade fair, the more successful our launch will be. We want to use these accounts to constantly keep our target audiences aware and interested in Hot Water.

We will use posters to market the events and magazine itself, leaving them in different places we expect our target audiences to go, such as, tea houses and tea stores. We will also put up posters in the Exchange District and on the different college/university campuses in the city to draw our target audiences attention.

During the trade fair, we will upload the pictures taken at the photo booth onto our Instagram account so that customers can easily access the photos, and we can drive traffic to the account. We are also going to have a contest during the duration of the trade fair to tweet a crazy tea picture using the hashtag: #hotwatermag. At the end of the trade fair, we will pick the best one. The winner gets a gift basket with different teas from tea stores in the city.

Public RelationsIn the third week of March, we will send out news releases to local media outlets, such as CTV Morning Live, and Virgin 103.1 informing them of Hot Water, and the launch event. We will send copies of Hot Water with a tea cup and thank you note to the news outlets that covered our story.

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Advertising

We believe that by getting the establishments where we host our events involved in our campaign, we will create buzz for their clients. For the hot yoga tea class, we will encourage Moksha Yoga to mention Hot Water and the event on its website and social media outlets. We hope to do the same thing with Tea Story Cafe for our tea tasting, and create buzz for both events.

We also hope to advertise in Winnipeg magazines, like Ciao Winnipeg and Downtown Winnipeg BIZ to capture our secondary and tertiary audiences attention.

Thank you notes

Following the magazine trade fair, and the interactive events leading up to the trade fair, we will send a copy of our magazine to the establishments and news outlets that gave us publicity. The magazine will be rolled inside of a tea cup that has a personalized thank you note inside of it. We think this gesture will help raise good brand recognition, and encourage establishments in Manitoba to want to do business with us in the future.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Hot Water team will make sure everything goes smoothly before, during, and after the launch. The Hot Water team will have access to the Instagram, and Twitter accounts, and post and follow people who fall into our target audiences. Matthew will get tea from Tea Story Cafe, and the rest of us will go out and get teas from different stores to make up our tea gift baskets. We will work together to build the photo booth, and use our DSLR cameras to take the pictures at the trade fair. At the trade fair, two of us will be wrangling attendees, and bringing traffic to the booth. Chynna will be taking pictures at the photo booth, and the other two people will be keeping track of social media, the ballot box, and showcasing the magazine to customers.

TIMELINES

Before Last week of January- launch Twitter and Instagram accounts for Hot Water Last week of February- Hot Yoga Tea Class @ Moksha Yoga Waverley First week of March- Tea Tasting @ Tea Story Cafe Second week of March- acquire tea from different tea stores Third week of March- send out news releases to news outlets Last week of March- finalize display for the booth and acquire last-minute materials

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Day of trade fair (April 2, 2015)

11a.m.-2p.m.- Set up booth, get tea, macaroons, photo booth, and ballot box ready 2 p.m.- launch magazine fair booth 3 p.m.- refresh macaroons, cupcakes, and tea at the booth 3:30pm- make draw for two gift baskets (Twitter and ballot box) 4:00pm- end of magazine fair and cleanup

After

First week of April- update social media with pictures Second week of April- send out copies of the magazine, and tea cups to news outlets that cov-

ered the story as well as tea establishments featured in the first issue.

RATIONALE

Our events and strategy we put in place before, during, and after the launch will connect readers to Hot Water by featuring interesting content, and interactive events. We put advertisements and posters at tea stores, in the Exchange District, and on college/university campuses because we know our target audiences will be there. We introduced two fun interactive events in our campaign, so that readers associate these fun events with the name Hot Water. We want to have our events at Moksha Yoga Waverley, and Tea Story Cafe because those are two establishments we discuss in our magazine. We believe that having our events at these places will also create strong strategic alliances for the future. We want our targets to become more aware of Hot Water, the content in the magazine and the prominent tea culture in Manitoba.

By sending out copies of our magazines rolled up inside of a tea cup with a personalized thank-you note, we think the concept of tea and Hot Water will stick in peoples minds. Having a creative thank-you note will help people remember Hot Water and strengthen brand recognition. We think that being interactive with our audiences, and the media will build good rapport. We believe that good rapport will help us have a successful launch, and give us great brand recognition. Using these different tactics in our strategy will allow us to have a successful future, and attract new subscribers and advertisers to Hot Water.

We think that using new media is the most effective tactic for Hot Water. New media, and specifically the use of social media, will consistently keep readers up to date with new information, and allow us to interact with our targets. We will build status on social media through likes, retweets, and constant updates. We believe that social media encourages new customers to find Hot Water on their favorite apps, and become excited about the content. Traditional media will help to reinforce our brand name with our audiences, and inform them of new content.

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Hot WaterPRELIMINARY BUDGET

Item Cost

Three different teas from Tea Story Cafe Free- supplied by Daniel Song (owner of Tea Story Cafe)

Macaroons (approx. 50) $40.00

Rental of Moksha Yoga Waverley location for one hour

$200.00

Rental of Tea Story Cafe for one hour $100.00

Thank-you notes and tea cups (approx. 20) $75.00

Props for photo booth (lighting, fascinators, background etc.)

$25.00

Total Cost= $440.00

The following table outlines the main costs of our launch. The most expensive costs will come from our interactive events.

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EVALUATION

Hot Water

The Hot Water team will measure the success of our efforts in the following ways.

Before the Launch:

Before the trade fair, the Hot Water team will locate our different target audiences by going to places we expect them to be, like university and college campuses and the Exchange District. We will measure the success of our efforts before the trade fair in the following ways:

Measure how many people follow us on our Twitter and Instagram accounts 75+ follows on both Twitter and Instagram= highly successful 50+ follows on both Twitter and Instagram= successful 35+ follows on both Twitter and Instagram= somewhat successful Under 35 follows on both Twitter and Instagram= not successful Measure how many people attend our hot yoga tea class at Moksha Yoga 50 people= successful 30 people= somewhat successful Under 30 people= not successful Measure how many people attend our tea tasting at Tea Story Cafe 30 people= successful 20 people= somewhat successful Under 20 people= not successful

During the Launch:

During the trade fair, the Hot Water team will measure the success of our efforts based on how effective our booth is and the traffic we are getting that day. We will do so in the following ways:

Measure how many people take a magazine off the table All 10 of the magazines= successful 5 magazines= somewhat successful Less than 5 magazines= not successful Measure how many of our macaroons are left at the end of the trade fair Measure how many tea cups are in our garbage can at the end of the fair Measure how many pictures were taken on our DSLR camera for our photo booth and shared on

social media 100+ photos= successful 50-100 photos= somewhat successful Under 50 photos= not successful

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Measure how many magazines we sold 20+ magazines= successful 10-20 magazines= somewhat successful Under 10 magazines= not successful Measure how many people tweet and post on Instagram using the hashtag #hotwatermag 100+= successful 50-100= somewhat successful Under 50= not successful Measure how many media outlets came to our booth Determine the relevance of these media outlets to our target audiences

After the Launch

After the trade fair, the Hot Water team will reach out to 15 the advertisers , people and establishments featured in the magazine and media outlets. We will know that our booth at the trade fair was successful by measuring the success of our efforts in the following ways:

Measure how many establishments carry our magazine 5-10 establishments= successful Under 5 establishments= somewhat successful No establishments= not successful Measure how many people follow Hot Water on social media in the three weeks following the

magazine trade fair 30+= successful 15-30= somewhat successful Under 15= not successful Keep track of how many advertisers approach Hot Water to acquire ad space 5+ establishments= successful 3-5 establishments= somewhat successful Under 3 establishments= not successful Keep track of circulation - try to sell at least 30 copies per month Measure the impact of the resulting publicity (positive/negative, dollar value)

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Whats sweeter than free tea and macaroons?

HOT WATER

MAGAZINE

Thursday, April 2Noon-4pm@ RRC Exchange District Atrium

At Hot Water Magazine we think nothing is sweeter, and we want YOU to join us!

@hotwaterwpg @hotwatermag14