Objectives

Maker of the nation's no. 1-selling organic bread, Dave's Killer Bread (DKB) is known for its super-seeded nutrition and rock-n-roll attitude, epitomized by its logo with its founder Dave Dahl, guitar in hand. But Dave mastered more than chords and baking to earn that logo, serving 15 years in prison before he returned to the family bakery and developed the recipes that became Dave's Killer Bread. Throughout its meteoric growth, DKB has quietly continued the Dahl family legacy, giving job opportunities to people with criminal backgrounds (about 1 in 3 of the more than 300 employee-partners at the company's Oregon bakery have a criminal background). In 2015, it was time to take Dave's legacy beyond the bakery walls.

No longer satisfying with the power of second chances simply at the organizational level, DKB wanted to change the national narrative about people with backgrounds on the job and set the stage for the work of its new Foundation (announced in August 2015) to recruit other businesses to become Second Chance Employers.

Maxwell PR+Engagement partnered with DKB on an integrated campaign the 2015 objectives:

Objectives

• Normalize the term Second Chance Employment with inclusion in national consumer and business media stories
• Build awareness and demonstrate consumer support through social media content and advertising
• Lay groundwork for successful launch of the Dave's Killer Bread Foundation, building awareness for the organization and its programs

Strategy and Execution

• Strategy: Build structure to expand Second Chance Employment beyond bakery walls
  • Implementation:
    • Establish Dave's Killer Bread Foundation
    • Sponsor Second Chance Summit and boost attendance
• Strategy: Build content to bring DKB employees' true, inspirational stories of triumph and redemption to life to deepen consumer's connection to the brand and prepared them to hear more about how the company was taking a stand on the issue of recidivism. Use DKB's platform to combat stigma against people with criminal backgrounds.
  • Implementation:
    • Secondchanceproject.com photography/storytelling
  • Hold meetings with employees that fit the criteria of a criminal background to identify which stories were a good fit to share and which employees were open to sharing their experiences and had compelling stories that would resonate with consumers, as Dave's story had done.
  • Conduct in-depth interviews with selected employee partners and craft their stories into a succinct statement about second chances
  • Collaborate with photographer Ben Moon on portraits to accompany the stories
  • Art direct development of secondchanceproject.com website
  • Second Chances video in partnerships with Micro-Documentaries to bridge Dave's founder story with the second chance experiences of three current DKB employees
• Strategy: Year-long media relations to highlight key milestone's in the company's Second Chance Employment advocacy and weave Second Chance Employment into product launches and new market outreach
  • Implementation:
    • Integrate DKB's Second Chance Employment practices in product launch and seasonal product pitches
    • Execute targeted media relations supporting the launch of the Dave's Killer Bread Foundation and the Second Chance Summit

• Strategy: Social media content creation, community management and advertising to change the narrative about people with criminal backgrounds and establish a consumer cause of implementing Second Chance Employment
  • Implementation:
    
    • Established Second Chances content catalyst, one of seven regular content topics for DKB's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram platforms
    • Executed social media advertising highlighting brand's Second Chance Employment commitment when entering new markets
    • Create Pledge to Support Second Chances to collect consumer sentiment regarding Second Chance Employment

Results

Results in 2015 showed quantitative and qualitative evidence of growing awareness about Second Chance Employment and customer support for the practice. Results included:

• Result: Doubled participation in the Second Chance Summit from 2014 to 2015
• Result: Media relations highlights in 2015 included stories in USAToday.com, NPR's Marketplace, Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal
• Result: Second Chance Facebook content 2105 average virality of 4.1%, nearly double the 2.3% national average for a pages of this size
• Result: Second Chance video garnered 5,273 video views on Facebook and 5,891 views on YouTube for a total of 11,164 views
• Result: Anecdotally, social media serves as a platform for encouraging those with backgrounds connected to fans to stay engaged:
  • Comments on posts about Second Chance Employment included many fans simply tagging friends, suggesting the content offered hope to individuals with criminal backgrounds
  • Strong positive affirmation of Second Chance practice by fans. Comments included:
    • "Best bread ever made....now I am proud to eat it." − Leea Templeton
    • "If people who are given second chances make bread this good what else could they accomplish. #Makeamazinghappen" – Lee Ellison
    • "I love your bread I don't eat any other kind. And my dad work for a competitor for 35 years. I think your company is doing a great thing with giving second chances. Everybody deserves a second chance." –Chelli Sheets

Media