|
Company: Soapy Joe's Car Wash, Santee, CA
Nomination Submitted by: Soapy Joe's Car Wash
Company Description: Soapy Joe’s is a locally owned family business with multiple car wash locations serving San Diego County. Soapy Joe’s prides itself in its commitment to the community and environment, using advanced water reclamation, earning the International Carwash Association's WaterSavers® designation. Soapy Joe’s provides quality service, customer satisfaction, and eco-friendly technology at a great value.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Community Engagement
 Nomination Title: Propose at Soapy Joe's
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated PR campaign or program, or written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
February 2, 2021
- Optional: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 80 words used.
Hero Image
Campaign creative: hero image, winning couple, couple w/soapy, couple w/soapy and check
Video submissions - Proposals of all participating couples
Social Posts and schedule
Blog post: We included a check-in with the couples who got married at one of our locations in 2020
Wedding invitation from participating Propose at Soapy Joe's couple and the resulting custom air fresheners that were produced to match their wedding theme. This is the only individually customized air freshener in the company's history.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
Soapy Joe’s car wash famously claims to love our wash club members, and our 2021 “Propose at Soapy Joe’s” promotion is proof positive that our customers love us right back. The sophomore Valentine’s Day effort, following the company’s inaugural 2020 Tunnel of Love wedding that married 10 couples at the car wash, connected with the community, who one year into the pandemic, had endured enough delay and disruption to their wedding plans. In a pandemic-friendly spin on the wedding theme, we invited couples to propose in any Soapy Joe’s car wash tunnel, video it, and post with the chance to win $10,000 and wedding rings supplied by a local luxury jeweler. The campaign kicked off on Valentine’s Day 2021 and captured the imagination of our community to spread love during a difficult time. COVID-19 had derailed many wedding plans and many more delayed engagement. But nothing should stand in the way of love, so Soapy Joe’s invited lovebirds to ‘drive-thru on their way to I-do’. Our objectives for this campaign were to drive engagement on social media, acquire new social followers, and stimulate user generated content, all while creating a safe promotion that respected social distancing and masking requirements. With these in mind, we set out to create another memorable experience and earn our spot as the community’s most beloved car wash. Showing us they were ready to get on with love and life, and have some “good, clean, fun”, couples responded en masse; fans voted by the thousands.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
Our strategy for “Propose at Soapy Joe’s” was to combine two key components: member love and our previous success with social media voting campaigns. To generate awareness and participation, we leveraged our internal database, social channels, influencers and on-site point-of-purchase (POP) materials. PR outreach, emails, posts, and POP directed users to a web page with contest rules, partner information and entry forms. The winners were selected by the public on social media via voting. Engaging with multiple local lifestyle influencers extended our reach, and allowed for organic dialogue with relevant audiences in San Diego. In addition to the proposal contest, we presented a limited edition Soapy Joe’s air freshener, which our community actively collects, and offered free wash upgrades to members on Valentine’s Day. To participate, we asked the community to take videos of their marriage proposal in our car wash tunnel, submit the video, and share it on social, tagging our company’s Instagram account. Each video was required to be filmed in the participant’s car while in the car wash tunnel, with one of our company’s air fresheners clearly visible. The winning couple was decided by social media vote and took home $10,000 and two wedding rings. The Soapy Joe’s team was overjoyed to receive an invitation to the May, 2022 wedding of a participating couple, and RSVP'd with an offer of the Soapy mascot to be the couple’s “something blue”, as well as produced custom air fresheners bearing the couple’s names & matching their wedding invitation theme.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of 2020. Even if your initiative started before 2020, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2020 only (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
The campaign was successful across all metrics, and most critically, was well received from our membership base. Ultimately 10 couples shared qualifying proposal videos on social media and submitted to our contest. A few non-qualifying videos captured our hearts as well, such as a man faux-proposing to his loyal puppy companion. Other notable entries represented inclusion of the LGBTQ community, an in-car ring scavenger hunt, and a recommitment proposal that drew a snappy, “I’m eating my Popeye’s sandwich!” reply from an unsuspecting wife. (Seizing the opportunity, our team reshared and tagged @popeyes, for additional reach to their audience of 440K.) After voting closed, 3,215 unique voters cast 6,528 votes and decided the winning couple: Vivian and Ronnie! YouTube views topped 4,300 and influencer reach topped a quarter-million unique followers. The campaign garnered 21 media hits across digital, TV and radio platforms, including two hits outside our local market. Members receiving free wash upgrades numbered 34,874 with hundreds of thousands scoring the LTO “love” theme air freshener. Through Propose at Soapy Joe’s, we have created solid relationships, as well as contributed to increased brand awareness, as demonstrated by Soapy Joe’s 12-point gain in awareness from 2019 to 2021 and market-leader position with 10-times the awareness of our next closest competitor. With the buzz that our campaign generated, we can confidently say we achieved the program objectives during a challenging pandemic year that gave the community an extra bit of love when it needed it the most.
| Attachments/Videos/Links: |
|---|
|
