Command of the Grill

At first glance this “Command of the Grill” event looks like just a charitable event, but it’s so much more. It’s a brilliant PR campaign for Weber grills (and a nice fund raiser for injured Marines). It’s brilliant because it does something good, and it’s constructed in a manner that makes it attractive to the news media.

Let me show you what I mean and how I found it.

I was reading the Deseret News today when I read this article: Salt Lake Marine to compete in N.Y. in ‘Command of Grill’ contest

- The word contest was my first clue.
- The idea that a local marine was participating in this national contest was clue No. 2. You always want to find a way to give a reporter a local angle.
- The third clue came when I visited commandofthegrill.com and saw a big Weber logo in the bottom left-hand corner of the website. (Seems like a no-brainer, but unless you look for it, you will never realize its there). The entire site is branded and focused on the contest.

Some may think it’s a marketing campaign, but it’s not. It’s designed to get publicity. HunterPR in New York City does this all the time with many of the food companies it represents. You have probably seen some of their work before with the Fireman chili cookoffs. (That’s a campaign for Tobasco sauce).

The premise of Command of the Grill is that Weber is releasing a cookbook of steak recipes made by marines. 100 percent of the proceeds go to U.S. Marines wounded or killed in the line of duty and their families. The results aren’t a surety, but the odds are good that they’ll get news coverage of this event (they already are), which I am sure will show marines cooking their steak recipes on none other than Weber grills. The Today show would love to cover something like this.