Underwriters LaboratoriesGift of Safety: Thanksgiving Cooking Safety Program Results Report

December 10, 2009

Prepared by: GolinHarris

Thanksgiving Cooking Safety: Program Objectives

• Raise awareness of UL as the cooking safety resource for families, specifically the safety-devoted mom.

• Build an online community of consumers that visit www.UL.com/consumers for their cooking safety information.

• Position the UL Mark as the trusted safety certification mark.

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Thanksgiving Cooking Safety: Program Strategies

• Leverage the Thanksgiving timeframe to encourage moms to implement safety into all of their holiday traditions, especially when cooking the Thanksgiving meal.

• Incorporate a creative angle into a traditional story to persuade cooks, regardless of their cooking style, to follow UL’s cooking safety tips to protect themselves and their families.

• Share overwhelming cooking and fire-related statistics to help parents understand the importance of implementing safety into their family’s everyday routines.

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Thanksgiving Cooking Safety: Program Results

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National Wires Print Online Blogs Television

•Associated Press print and online story was picked up by 48 online and print outlets

•United Press International ran two unique cooking safety stories

•The Associated Press article was picked up in 12 print outlets

•Chicago Tribune article

•The State (Chicago Tribune article pick-up)

•Capital Gazette Newspapers

•The Associated Press article was picked up on 37 Web sites

•Twenty six additional Web sites ran UL’s Thanksgiving cooking safety story

•Seven cooking blogs

•Two mom blogs

•Eight safety-focused blogs

•Eighteen general blogs

•Five news blogs

•Eight local ABC and CBS news affiliates around the country ran UL’s turkey fryer B-roll 13 times before and during the Thanksgiving holiday

Results to Date: 38.5 million impressions from 127 placements UL’s most successful initiative to date

Thanksgiving Cooking Safety: National Syndicates

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The Associated Press (AP) used UL’s “cooking safety style” angle for two stories. One was a print story, while the other was online. To date, the AP story has been picked up by 11 print outlets and 37 online outlets, reaching approximately 32.5 million consumers with UL’s cooking safety messages.

“’We want the dinner to come off well,’ says John Drengenberg, the consumer safety director at the Northbrook-based Underwriters Laboratories, a product safety testing organization.”

“’Thanksgiving kitchens can be filled with inexperienced, busy or distracted chefs,’ Drengenberg says, ‘which can spell disaster.’”

Thanksgiving Cooking Safety: National Syndicates Cont’d.

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United Press International (UPI) ran two unique UL-centric cooking safety stories on its Web site, UPI.com. The first article focused on the dangers of Thanksgiving cooking fires, including UL’s tips on how consumers can help ensure their safety while cooking. The second article focused on the importance of using fire extinguishers, and encouraged consumers to use UL’s P-A-S-S tips. Together, the articles helped reach 2.6 million consumers with UL’s cooking safety messages.

“Officials at Underwriters Laboratories say most fires in the kitchen occur because food is left cooking unattended. If you must leave the kitchen briefly, carry an oven mitt with you as a reminder that something is cooking.”

“John Drengenberg, director of Consumer Safety at Underwriters Laboratories, says to make sure the fire extinguisher is rated for grease fires and electrical fires and read the directions carefully.”

Thanksgiving Cooking Safety: The Chicago Tribune

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Judy Hevrdejs, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, interviewed John Drengenberg about the safe cooking practices consumers should follow during the holidays, especially on Thanksgiving. The article ran on Nov. 22 and was picked up by two additional print and online outlets, reaching more than 500,000 consumers with UL’s Thanksgiving cooking safety tips.

“’Unattended cooking is the main cause of cooking fires, and cooking fires are the leading cause of home fires,’" says John Drengenberg, consumer safety director at Underwriters Laboratories, the product safety testers.”

“A few more Do’s and Don’ts from UL: Do keep a flame-resistant oven mitt and lid handy. If a small fire starts in the pan, put on the mitt then smother flames by carefully sliding the lid over the pan.”

Thanksgiving Cooking Safety: Mom-Focused Web Sites

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Since most moms often double as “head chef” during Thanksgiving, we reached out to mom-focused Web sites. As a result, we secured articles on two influential mom-focused Web sites: SheKnows.com and MomsLikeMe.com. Each site helped us reach more than two million consumers with UL’s cooking safety tips.

“Regardless of cooking style – be it a multi-tasking master, first-time chef or ambitious culinary artist – UL’s simple cooking safety tips can help keep families safe in the kitchen.”

“Thanksgiving is a day to visit with family and friends and feast on great food. Follow these helpful Thanksgiving dinner safety tips from UL and enjoy a fire- and smoke-free holiday.”

Thanksgiving Cooking Safety: Mom and Cooking Bloggers

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In addition to our traditional mom blogger research , we reached out to cooking, safety-focused, news and general bloggers. Not surprisingly, the bloggers were very receptive to UL’s safety information, and excited to post UL’s tips. As a result of our outreach, 41 cooking, mom, safety-focused, news and general blogs posted UL’s Thanksgiving cooking safety tips on their blogs before and during the Thanksgiving holiday.

“The people at Underwriters Laboratories have the coolest jobs. They get to break things, start fires and make things blow up, all in the name of safety.”

“UL is the ‘gold standard’ of safety, and when I was offered UL’s full list of Thanksgiving safety tips, I jumped at the chance!”

“Whether you’re a top chef or an amateur cook, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has simple safety tips that will help keep families safe in the kitchen.”

Thanksgiving Cooking Safety: Conclusions and Key Learnings

• Incorporating a new ingredient – safety – into reporters’ and bloggers’ traditional story recipe proved successful, especially with cooking beat reporters and cooking bloggers.

• Providing print and online media with UL’s safety information in tip-form helps secure placements, as the tip format allows media to easily share the information with their readers.

• Developing a story with useful safety tips and a visual element – in this case cooking fires – helps secure a broader range of media coverage. For this initiative, it helped secure the Associated Press online and print pieces.

• Cooking bloggers were just as receptive to UL’s safety information as mom bloggers. Therefore, we should continue to expand our outreach to various genres of bloggers.

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