Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?At Po’ Melvin’s, a small, independent restaurant and local landmark in Irving, Texas, the most requested side dish is owner Mel LeMane’s famous black-eyed peas. This hearty dish launched the LeMane family into the restaurant business thirty years ago by winning “Best in Show” at The State Fair of Texas. But these peas aren’t merely delicious – per Southern tradition, they are also thought to bring good fortune in the New Year when consumed on January 1. Knowing that everyone in the community could use a generous helping of better luck in 2021 after a less than fortuitous 2020, Visit Irving and its PR agency of record asked Mel if he would provide free black-eyed peas for the public on New Year’s Day. Mel jumped at the chance to give back to the community that had helped support his small family business through the pandemic, so he got to work cooking up gallon after gallon of the lucky legumes, and on New Year’s Day, distributed them from a contactless drive-through set up outside his restaurant. The agency promoted the giveaway through extensive advance outreach to local Dallas-Fort Worth area media. Our goals were to generate media coverage of this uplifting story in key local outlets, drive traffic to the event, give away as many black-eyed peas as possible, and garner positive attention for the hard hit restaurant industry in Irving

Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns. (for example, click through rates or ad equivalency)The agency crafted press releases, media advisories, and individual pitches announcing the giveaway and arranged for Mel to deliver black-eyed peas both to select media in advance as well as to media working at TV stations on New Year’s Day. We also provided Mel’s recipe for those who wished to cook up their own good luck at home. As a result of this outreach, we secured a Dallas Morning News feature story, a segment on NBC 5’s “Texas Today” talk show where the peas were displayed in a giant “black-eyed pea” shaped serving bowl that belonged to Mel’s father, the original “Po’ Melvin,” and a dozen local TV news segments. As a result, more than 2,000 cars lined up along Irving’s Belt Line Road to claim their peas on January 1. NBC 5 anchor Deborah Ferguson, who had interviewed Mel the day prior to the giveaway, even took time to come to the restaurant, join the drive-through line, and pick up her own peas. Even though she was off duty that day, she documented the experience for NBC 5 viewers, adding to the already extensive positive coverage. The PR value for all the coverage generated was $279,000.

Budget: Please include total budget vs. total actual cost. How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?The food and packaging were donated by Po’ Melvin’s, so there were no hard costs associated with this event, just approximately 30 hours of agency time which are covered by the monthly retainer. Total percentage of time based on agency’s retainer/ monthly hourly fee was less than $1,000. Visit Irving is unable to track any revenue directly related to this media coverage but based on the PR value accrued of more than $279,000 vs. the investment of less than $1,000 worth of agency monthly fee and no hard costs, the ROI for the project was $279:1 ($279 to $1).

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Entry TitleThe Luckiest Legume: The Great New Year’s Day Black Eyed Pea Giveaway

DivisionPublic Relations - SPECIAL EVENT

CategoryPublic Relations