Agency: Newlink Communications
Timeframe: 2006
The International Organiza-tion for Migration (IOM) saw an urgent need for a new mechanism to protect citizens of Latin countries who were tempted to take a non-traditional route
to find a better life. Low-income, often illiterate people across Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Central America were being lured in alarming numbers by offers of jobs in the U.S.
as farm workers or maids, only to be targeted as easy victims. Because immigration-related crimes and human trafficking and smuggling often go unreported and therefore fly below the
general public's radar, not much attention was being paid to the problem.
When the IOM contacted Newlink Communications for a proposal, Newlink CEO Sergio Roitberg developed a campaign that would focus on this uneducated segment of the population. The
IOM "loved the idea," says Roitberg, and the program was developed to run in 2006.
Because of the illiteracy rates of the intended audience and the media that were used to reach them, Roitberg tried some unconventional outreach tactics. "They needed something
very new, something different, something fascinating that would be effective and produce good results," he says, "not just PowerPoint. We used video news releases and public service
announcements with dramatic content, and we also created a series of comic books."
The comic-strip approach, similar to Japan's anime, was revolutionary in 2005, when it was still a new concept. Where earlier campaigns had used serious artwork, Roitberg conveyed
a serious subject with a comic-strip twist. The campaign portrayed actual victims of violent crime against illegal émigrés from Latin countries. "One character was a maid who was
brutally victimized in a tragic way," says Roitberg. "She was on her way to the U.S. to seek knew opportunites. She believed in a lot of false promises and she spent three to four
months in bars, in horrible situations."
While she was able to go home, many are not so fortunate. When their journeys to the U.S. result in tragic crimes, some don't return to their countries "because they feel publicly
embarrassed and defeated," Roitberg says. The point of the video releases, public service announcements and comic series was to prevent more people from attempting the same tragic
trip.
Street Cred
The video news releases, one of which can be viewed at http://66.10.10.34/clients/oim/traficoeng.wmv, are gripping tales of genuine people whose
lives were torn apart by these crimes. The numbers they cite are accurate, and the testimony is genuine. And because Newlink has credibility in Latin American countries as well as in
the U.S., television stations with Latino audiences believed what the communications firm had to say. To get the message across, Newlink timed its efforts to coincide with such events
as the Day of Human Rights (December 10) and the Day of Non-Violence Against Women (November 25). Relying heavily on audio-visual means to convey the information, Newlink succeeded in
reaching much of its intended audience, by television and radio. A Web site also housed a central database where information and press materials could be tapped by institutions
looking for resources to help educate potential victims.
"For potential victims, we wanted to sound an alarm so they would not fall prey to smugglers," Roitberg says. "To do that, we had to create a ripple effect, relying heavily on
electronic media outlets due to the illiteracy rates of our target audinece, since about 95% get their news from radio or television. For example, in the Dominican Republic, only 6%
of the people read newspapers. You have to be on television, or you're out. If you don't have the tools like we have, it's difficult to develop the story."
To reach people who were willing to add their voices, Newlink sent crews to many different countries seeking the testimony of actual victims. They interviewed former smugglers,
victims, representatives of the OIM, and compiled packages with different angles for the news. "Many of the victims were afraid," says Roitberg, "so we blurred their faces. We had to
do this in 20% of the interviews. They told very emotional stories - many cried on camera."
The effectiveness of the campaign revolves around the buy-in of the audience. On one side were potential victims. But on the other side were opinion leaders, the governments and
private sector in each country, as well as judges, nonprofit organizations, and humanitarian initiatives.
Roitberg recommends any PR pro who plans to get involved in a human rights campaign should study documents from a range of international entities. Newlink conducted research
focused on using documents from the U.S. State Department, the Pan-American Health Organization, the OIM, and nongovernmental organizations. "You need all the elements to define your
strategy," Roitberg says. "The key lesson we like to share with people is it's important to work with a well-articulated strategy that's coordinated with relevant governments. Also,
use the right tools. Before making a proposal ask yourself whether the tool or tactic is going to help people and achieve the goal. Is it effective? If you have a good answer, I think
you have to apply it."
The campaign, "Shining the light on human rights abuses and dangers of trafficked Latino immigrants," won a PR News Corporate Social Responsibility award in the human rights
communications category. And Newlink couldn't be more proud. Says Roitberg: "This award will encourage other agencies to incorporate social responsibility into their offerings. For
companies and governments, it is important to understand the program and the situation, not just work for the money, because you can get that in many ways. Maybe you can be the link
between a company and an organization and help people. It's important to realize that the agency can be a crucial link, the neural center of a program. If you find something
interesting, companies will be willing to work with you and fund the effort."
Newlink works with such international companies as Cisco, Oracle, Sony, Baccardi, DHL and Dewars, but Roitberg says, "This, for me, was a crucial effort. When I worked in
television, I was reaching the same audience as we targeted for this program. Now I help the same people through PR."
Contact:
Sergio Roitberg, [email protected], 305-401-5465, 786-522-0160
From Journalism To PR
Sergio Roitberg, CEO of Newlink Corp., launched the agency in 1998 with his wife and two computers. Now, the company has 100 employees. Roitberg's background was in journalism,
beginning in Buenos Aires. He moved to the U.S. in 1989 to "learn television," he says. Telemundo was only too happy to have him, as the network was exploding. He also worked as a
correspondent for CBS Telenoticias, and when that company was sold to a Mexican corporation, Roitberg jumped to CNN en Espanol as a correspondent in Miami. That's where he and his
wife launched Newlink.
As a journalist, he had seen his share of press releases, and decided a new take was called for. "We decided to work with video news releases to develop stories," he says. Newlink
began developing stories for clients about particular topics, as if Roitberg was still a CNN correspondent, sending the assembled packages by satellite to television stations for
free. "We were very successful when Newlink started with this," Roitberg says. "We tried to deliver what the industry was lacking...results. Attractive content that was packaged and
delivered with a journalistic point of view and is, what we call, ready-to-publish."
A video news release they can download for free would be more helpful for the stations, he reasoned. "The key to success is to develop the story; that works better than just
announcing something," he says. "The new era is about effective communications, in whatever form. The issue is information. People want to publish news or get noticed, so try to make
your message interesting for the target audience."
Managing Multicultural Media Relations
One of the biggest challenges of this campaign to prevent people from crossing the border illegally was also its most powerful element: the sensitive nature of any effort to
persuade real victims of trafficking and abuse to participate in ad videos and PSAs.
"We had to ensure we kept sensitivity in mind when we spoke to them," says Maria Pis-Dudot, senior vice president of public affairs at Newlink Communications. But the genuine human
dramas of the victims' testimonials also gave the campaign its strength. Because their plight was real, people were able to identify with the victims they portrayed. "Everyone in our
countries knows of someone who had to face this," adds Pis-Dudot.
To share that story was another major hurdle. Press materials were written and prepackaged in a way that was easy for the relevant media to understand and to use without having to
repackage it.
"We sent ready-to-print stories, with all the elements a feature story should have," Pis-Dudot says. For busy journalists, Newlink provided all the elements, with information
ranging from the protagonists to the agency trying to help and information on what to do, to make it easier for the press to cover it.
Says Pis-Dudot: "The media jumped on the bandwagon and made the campaign theirs." Television and radio stations broadcasted segments many times. Because the issue was close-to-
home, the campaign was as real to the media as it was to potential victims.
Yokasta Vasquez, an account executive at Newlink, notes that the challenges included finding people wiling to share their stories. "A lot of them didn't want to talk about what has
happened to them," she says. Another obstacle was many of the television stations were not sure if the video releases were syndicated materials they would have to pay for.
"We had to make it clear it was free for them and to help their community," says Vasquez. Once that sank in, "They were very happy, and they called again to get more materials. The
stations would repeat the story almost every day for a week."
Key elements of the media relations portion of the campaign included:
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Making sure the media knew it was a way to help others in their country;
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Providing pre-packaged materials;
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Reassuring the media that they would not have to pay for the materials;
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Taking the illiteracy of the target audience into account, and using radio and video to get the message out to people who needed it most, and who might fall prey themselves.
This meant a reliance on radio in areas where most people don't have television.
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Establishing relationships with other community leaders, including churches, which were important in disseminating the message. "I can't tell you how important that is," says
Pis-Dudot, "to use traditional and nontraditional media and leaders to get out the message."
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Targeting relevant dates to achieve maximum coverage. "We aggressively pushed this campaign during specific dates that had significance, such as Human Rights Day and the Day of
Non-violence Against Women," says Pis-Dudot. The media were already primed and looking for stories on topics that would dovetail with those themes.
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Keeping it real. One of the most powerful elements of the program was the genuine nature of the victims' tales. The stories rang true for many people in the affected countries
who might be preyed upon in turn.
Newlink Communications also has a secret weapon: its staff. The members of the Newlink team come from nearly every country in the Americas, which helped them see the issue through
the eyes of the people they wanted to reach. "The nuances from each of the cultures were powerful," says Pis-Dudot. "We all speak the same language, but little things make a
difference."
Vasquez notes that there are variations in stories from one country to the next, as well. A person from Central America does not face the same issues as one in the Dominican
Republic.
"They have their own stories," she says. "If I send a release from an illegal person who had problems in Mexico, [someone in the Dominican Republic] wouldn't identify with it. They
would have a totally different situation."
Contacts:
Maria Pis-Dudot, [email protected], 786-522-0161; Yokasta Vasquez, [email protected], 786-522-0172