Challenge//

Drive Cost-Efficient Brand Exposure in a New Market for a Grand Opening Promotion

Solution//

The Fidelitas PR Team has worked with Big R on multiple store openings. When Big R opened in McHenry, Illinois, Fidelitas put turned the grand opening into an event that the media couldn’t ignore- even in a sleepy suburb of Chicago that rarely garners market-wide coverage. Fidelitas helped Big R partner with local vendors, including food trucks and a dog obedience school, while bringing in large attractions like an on-site fishing demo to draw crowds.

Fidelitas didn’t just stop with earned media, however- Fidelitas coordinated a full-scale paid-media blitz, aggressively negotiating rates as much as 60% below rate card value. Fidelitas crafted and ran local TV spots, sent direct mail campaigns leveraging the USPS’ Every Door Direct Mail tool to hit target households at a lower cost, and ran text-to-win radio contests in addition to a set of billboards on the main highway leading in and out of McHenry. Fidelitas took Big R’s messaging for McHenry to digital channels, too, setting up a unique landing page for the location teasing what was to come and promoting it across Facebook, Instagram, and AdWords.

Fidelitas took great care to understand the local McHenry market- McHenry may be close to Chicago, but this sleepy suburban village isn’t a market that can be run on autopilot from the DMA level. The end-result was one of the best grand opening weekends in Big R’s 50+ year company history.