In early the '90s, the cable TV industry came under scrutiny as parents and legislators began to dissect TV violence and demand protection for children. The National Cable Television Association (NCTA), which represents 85 percent of cable TV providers, knew that it needed to find a broad-stroke campaign to position the industry as concerned and caring - a difficult feat in an increasingly skeptical society.
Enter the Family and Community Critical Viewing Project - a prototypical PR plan that gave NCTA direct access to the publics it needed to reach: parents and teachers. The program is as grassroots savvy as it is business tactical: cable and Parent Teacher Association leaders nationwide are trained on how to teach critical viewing - what's been coined media literacy - in workshops held for parents, educators and organizations in school districts across the U.S.
The idea is to school parents, teachers and community leaders about how they can mentor families on how to watch TV in an informed way. But it's really a way for the cable TV industry to turn the tables and show parents that they are the front-line protectors for their children - a message that's gotten legs through the TV coverage (CNBC, The Family Channel & Lifetime Television) the program's spawned and regional and national forums, such as the Kentucky Education Technology Conference and State Teachers' Conference and the White House Conference on Media Literacy.
PR execs at other associations would be wise to pay attention to what the cable TV industry has done because the campaign's primary benefits are twofold: by having cable companies host these workshops in the municipalities where they operate, the PR's that's generated is tremendous (albeit, almost immeasurable) and by involving individual PTA chapters, the association is able to partner with a non-controversial and All-American organization.
At the association level, three PR execs/reps are charged with spearheading the project and acting as national spokespeople and coordinators.
Campaign Schools PTAs
Since the program's inception in October 1994, more than 2,500 PTA and cable leaders have been trained and more than 600 workshops for more than 20,000 parents, educators and community liaisons have been held, according to Torie Clarke, VP of public affairs for NCTA, Washington, D.C. Clarke wouldn't reveal the exact budget for the cause but estimated it costs several hundred thousand dollars a year (including the time spent by cable companies) to execute. Out of that amount, the association pays for the training that is provided by media literacy consultants.
NCTA is constantly breathing life into the program. For example, it's now featuring celebrity and mom Rosie O'Donnell on a video, "Taking Charge of Your TV." The video is a tutorial on responsible TV viewing that's available through an 800 number. Clarke said that since the video premiered at a February press conference featuring another famous mom, Hillary Clinton, more than 100,000 videos have been requested.
NCTA has sent out more than 200,000 packages - essentially the materials to help individual systems host workshops (as well as detailed and background information on the project). The sessions touch on: setting rules for TV viewing and how to stick to those rules; recognizing the ways in which TV can be used to manipulate viewers; talking to children about violence on TV; and turning what people see on TV into positive and educational family discussions.
During the workshops, clips (including those with violence and nudity) are shown to parents and educators to show them how they can exert influence and teach their children about smart - and age-appropriate - TV watching.
A Hometown Approach
For Daniels Cablevision Inc., a Carlsbad, Calif.-based provider serving 58,000 homes, the Family and Community Critical Viewing Project has been a grassroots godsend: its government relations manager, Phil Urbina, is using the program to show the communities it serves a friendly face.
In the past two-and-a-half years, Urbina's headed workshops at elementary and middle schools in the Carlsbad area. The settings have varied from quaint community centers to meeting places for the local PTA - elements that add that indigenous flavor (an approach that can't be duplicated by lobbying members of Congress).
Urbina says it's generated local press for the cable company in papers such as the San Diego Union Tribune, the North County Times and the Fallbrook Enterprise, all of which have become mouthpieces for the worth of the program.
"I'm not sure but if I had to attach a value to this I guess it's worth more than $100,000 in good PR," Urbina says. "This program positions us as a good corporate citizen."
Likewise, Jeanette Weis, the former Arizona PTA president who's now chairing a committee charged with promoting the workshops in that state, agrees that the power of the PR campaign has been its jurisdictional impact.
In that vein, the local PTA has partnered with Cox Cable and will be kicking off its new initiatives in the middle of October at Esperenza Middle School (in Deer Valley, Calif.). "The merit of this program is that parents have to gain the skills to discern what's good for children to watch because you can't screen out everything," Weis says. "And that's significant."
(NCTA, 202/775-3629; Jeanette Weis, 602/931-0205; Daniels Cablevision, 619/438-7741)
How NCTA campaign has captured the essence of effective public affairs:
- By molding events for the communities in which they occur;
- Allowing projects to be stroked according to audience needs (one cable government relations manager hosted a workshop for mothers who were court-ordered to attend the class as part of their recovery from drug addiction);
- Creating a program with a much longer life line than most traditional PR campaigns.