Public Relations

To pre-empt McDonalds' plans for an Earth Month tree seedling giveaway in the Baltimore-Washington Area, Hardee's called upon The Snyder Group to develop a tree giveaway promotion to that would overshadow McDonalds'. This eleventh our request allowed us only three weeks to develop and implement the plan. McDonald's had been planning their promotion for months.

Using contacts on the governor's office and the Maryland legislature, John Snyder secured Hardee's as the exclusive sponsor of Maryland's Tree-Mendous Program, an effort to plant one million trees during the month of April. Hardee's provided 300,000 pine seedlings to the state, distributing 100,000 through their restaurants. The remainder were distributed throughout the state at organized community plantings.

Within days, The Snyder Group produced full color displays and informational literature which was distributed to 193 Hardee's in Maryland, transforming them into official information centers for the Tree-Mendous Program. A major press conference and event was held in state capital, Annapolis, MD, which involved the govenor, president of the senate and the speaker of the house. Hardee's employees delivered pine seedlings to each of the Maryland legislator's office.

On-air tree giveaways were arranged with numerous radio stations. Public service announcements about the program were aired radio and television. The press conference, organized tree plantings and other activities received radio, television and in the newspapers.

The results? One million trees were planted and Hardee's received 21,252,452 publicity impressions. This overshadowed McDonald's which received 515,485 publicity impressions. Mission accomplished! The project was awarded the Best in Maryland Award by the Public Relations Society of America, and the Award of Excellence from the International Association of Business Communicators.