By Nicole Sutton, Account Supervisor

All in a day’s work.

On a recent sunny summer morning, I found myself at Six Flags Great America & Hurricane Harbor in Gurnee, Ill. passing out Pert Plus and shower poufs. My plan? To shower hundreds of people - simultaneously - to mark a new product launch and break some world records.

Sound strange? Maybe it is, but that’s the beauty of it.

This year, Pert Plus (you know, your favorite 2-in-1 shampoo plus conditioner) introduced a line of products specially formulated for guys. We sought to celebrate the launch of Pert Plus for Men with a creative event that would 1) grab media attention, 2) create online buzz and 3) drive product trial and awareness. The event had to be consistent with Pert Plus’ brand messages and highlight Pert Plus for Men products.

The result? The original 2-in-1 attempted a “2-in-1″ world record - that is, two World Records at one time. On July 9, Pert Plus attempted to claim the record for the “World’s Largest Shower” and “The Most People Showering Simultaneously.”

That morning, 146 people gathered within a 4,000 square-foot shower to suds up using Pert Plus for Men 3-in-1 (shampoo plus conditioner plus body wash) in exchange for T-shirts, towels, beach balls, coupons, free tickets to the amusement park and the chance to make history. Check out this video to see for yourself. 

The event itself was a success, but did it move the needle?

Through an integrated media relations and social media effort, we achieved the following results:

1)    Earned story placements in national media outlets, including CBSNews.com, USA Today’s Pop Candy Blog, and MSNBC.com; and secured coverage on all of Chicago’s TV news stations as well as the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and a variety of other newspapers, blogs and Web sites

2)    Created online buzz by using social networking sites to promote the event, broadcast live during the event and share videos and images post-event. In addition to the Pert Plus Facebook, Twitter, Twitpics and YouTube pages, we also reached out to other online groups and leveraged relationships with event partners to spur the conversation.

3)    Drove awareness and trial via grassroots efforts through pre-event outreach to recruit participants, communication from event partners and creating a positive brand and product experience at the event.

How’s that for some good, clean fun that had some great, big results?