Dentyne Canada has launched a national public relations and social media campaign for Valentine’s Day, an initiative the gum brand has dubbed the Dentyne Great Kissing Debate.
The campaign launched yesterday and includes a Facebook application and street-level marketing, both of which are designed to engage consumers on the question of whether kissing in public is acceptable.
To vote, consumers must first visit the Dentyne Canada Facebook page and “like” the page. Visitors are then invited to register to receive a free pack of gum and choose either the “Public” or “Private” option in the kissing debate.
The Facebook component of the campaign also includes an application that measures what Dentyne calls the FDA–Facebook Display of Affection–rating between users and their friends. Consumers can choose a “Valentine” from among their Facebook friends and have the FDA application search through all photos and posts where the user and his or her Valentine have both been tagged.
“We’ve always prided ourselves on standing for fresh breath, and fresh breath helps lead to a great kiss,” said Pam Clarkson, senior brand manager for Dentyne Canada. “We think there’s a great debate with public versus private [kissing], so we just wanted to have a lot of fun with that.”
English and French versions of the Facebook page and application are both available, and the Montreal street teams will include English and French-speaking representatives.
The company will also send Dentyne Kiss Crew promotional teams onto the streets of Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto to offer product samples and collect votes. The company is also sending two real-life couples–Erin Bury and Kevin Oulds, and Nathalie Belanger and Charles Hayden-Dupras–to various Canadian media outlets to discuss public versus private kissing.
Strategic Objectives and Rocket XL, both of Toronto, handled public relations and social media responsibilities, respectively. Dentyne also commissioned an Angus Reid Public Opinion poll in which 77% of respondents approved of public kissing.
