To generate further interest, HPR conducted a radio media tour and distributed a pre-recorded news release to radio stations across the country. To highlight the design features of the Scotch Contour Dispenser, HPR entered the dispenser into six prestigious design award competitions, and sent the dispenser to influencers in the design world, including museum curators, design storeowners and managers, and university professors of product design.

The Scotch Contour Dispenser, in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of Scotch transparent tape, resulted in more than 3,200 placements and 152 million impressions. Media highlights include: Better Homes & Gardens, Dwell, New York Magazine "Best Bets," Parents, Washington Post (syndicated), Redbook, Working Mother, Dallas Morning News, St. Petersburg Times, Family Life Radio, USA Radio, Metro Radio Networks and local TV placements in New York, Los Angeles Minneapolis, Chicago, Sacramento, San Diego and Tampa. The dispenser was also selected as a recipient of a GOOD Design Award by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design.

This PR campaign - not for a new product, but for its plastic holder --features a direct mail piece, an anniversary...

Further, the design of the little plastic dispenser was submitted to prestigious art design contests! (See the attached photo of this mind-boggling invention.)
So, public relations no longer simply means maintaining a positive relationship with the public. It now involves a concerted effort to reach the most likely consumers' sensibilities through any practical means available to compete for a portion of the dollars we earn. Whether its best method is appealing to our senses of sympathy, joy, confidence, art or fear depends on the product and the company, but it is clear that we are being manipulated by the public relations departments of every major business every single day in a thousand different ways.

Works Cited

Ayto, John Dictionary of word Origins, Arcade Publishing, New York: 1990.

Bitpipe.com, "Definition of Public Relations" bitpipe.com

Hunter Public Relations, "Case Studies http://www.hunterpr.com/CaseStudies/CSContour.htm

PRSA, prsa.com

Switzer, Janet Instant Income, McGraw-Hill, New York: 2007.