Virginia's Department of Health is being accused by two state television stations of trying to secure more bang for its advertising buck with guaranteed news coverage of its abstinence campaign. Marketing officials blasted the campaign for insinuating that its advertising business hinged on guaranteed news coverage.
The $1.5 million five-year "Not Me, Not Now" effort that launched this month, recently selected media partners in six markets throughout the state to promote the public health issue. Because of these allegations, the campaign's extensive news coverage will be compromised, at least initially, says Karen Gulbranson, PR director for Cahoon & Cross, the state health department's advertising agency.
WDBJ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Va., and WWBT-TV, the NBC affiliate in Richmond, Va., told the Washington Post last week that they were placed in the unethical position of being asked to deliver a "cash for coverage" deal.
Neither of these stations was awarded the $30,000 advertising contract in their markets.
And when WWBT-TV asked the Chesapeake, Va.-based advertising agency why it did not get the contract, the alleged response, according to Gulbranson, was "WSET-TV [the ABC affiliate in nearby Lynchburg] had promised an overwhelming amount of news coverage."
Ironically, this situation contrasts with our headlining cover story on editorial barriers to PR coverage for healthcare organizations.
Value-Added Request Blurs Line
When stations were asked at the end of February to bid on the $30,000 advertising contract, they were also asked to submit proposals for $60,000 in value-added promotions for a total package worth $90,000. Kelly Zuber, WDBJ's public affairs director, says because of the significant value-added component she was asked to sit in on the sales negotiations - a rarity. The additional station support could include PSAs, contests, Web-based promotions and news coverage when appropriate.
"At the end of our presentation [in March], we were asked to put a dollar amount on the news coverage we could give the campaign," says Zuber. "As soon as news was mentioned, I said No! We have a reputation!" WDBJ's 6:00 p.m. news cast is no. 1 in the market.
But the ad agency denies these allegations in a press release responding to the Washington Post article. It contends that an up-front news commitment was never a requirement and that WDBJ's assessment "appears to be nothing more than sour grapes" because they lost the market's bidding war.
And as for the stations that won the advertising contracts, Gulbranson says they will devote news coverage to the campaign as the news departments deem appropriate. In addition to WRIC-TV and WSET-TV, the campaign's other statewide media partners are WVEC-TV in Norfolk, WVIR-TV in Charlottesville, WHSV-TV in Harrisonburg and WCYB-TV in Bristol. (Cahoon & Cross, Karen Gulbranson, 757/420-6944; WDBJ-TV, Kelly Zuber, 540/344-7000)