Company: DFW International Airport
Agency: Burson-Marsteller
Timeframe: 2004-present
When Johnnie comes marching home again, he'll arrive on a 747 and the good people at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport will greet him with a private lounge, game room,
waiting area for family and other diverse amenities.
Since 2004 the airport has extended such hospitality to soldiers passing through. As one of only two transfer points for Rest and Recuperation (R&R) flights during time of
war, DFW is appropriately positioned to support such a "Welcome Home a Hero" program.
The DFW public affairs office has teamed up with Burson-Marsteller to drive media attention to the program, in an especially close collaboration between client and agency.
"The public affairs department at the airport is a very sophisticated and media-driven organization," says James Florez, a director at Burson-Marsteller in Dallas. "They get
it. [Dallas/Fort Worth Vice President of Public Affairs Ken Capps] gets it, and so it really is a full partnership."
Agency executive John Shelton works as dedicated liaison to the airport staff, working hand in hand with public affairs on a daily basis to track military flights and events.
"He is the person who serves as our point person to make sure we are leveraging every new opportunity that comes out of there," Florez says. When the airport invites military
brass or hosts celebrity appearances in conjunction with Welcome Home, Shelton is the one who develops the initial pitch and begins working the national media.
In addition to the daily contact, agency and client have a weekly story meeting to talk about events and likely pitches, while the agency processes the client's input at a
quarterly "big idea" brainstorm session, which generates possible storylines. Four agency staffers support the campaign.
Feeding the machine is a goodwill program that generates a steady stream of newsworthy events. The sergeant major of the United States Army came to visit the facility. The
Radio City Rockettes invited themselves in to perform at Christmastime - all this in support of the troops.
That military tie takes a potentially local story ("airport reaches out") and lifts it to the national stage.
"As the nation continues to deal with the controversy in the Middle East, it's important that people at home remember there are individuals coming home who have experienced
very stressful times," Florez says. It's an approach the media appreciates: Not pro-war, just pro-people.
Here's a typical national hit and why it worked:
Not long ago, the public relations team wrote up a piece on a volunteer who has greeted every military plane since the program started. The story had three crucial factors. It
had a timely hook, as the woman reached a milestone number of flights. It was tied to an individual, a face people could relate to. And it had an emotional core, in this case a
person's passion to serve.
Timeliness, a personal connection and genuine feeling - "The stories that are successful are uniformly the ones that have all of those," Florez says. "You have to have all of
those elements to make a national news story."
Interestingly, the close relationship between agency and client also has allowed the PR team to go beyond the Welcome Home program, using its national expertise to help its
counterparts within the airport develop local stories as national pieces.
At present, for example, an energy company is drilling for natural gas on the airport property. At the same time the airport has welcomed a boom of commercial development meant
to make the property not just a place of runways and gates, but rather a kind of city within itself. Burson-Marsteller has helped to spin these local developments into stories
with national appeal.
As such stories evolve, the PR will sew the seeds of national interest across a range of potential media. A typical round might include USAToday, public radio outlets,
lifestyle publications and, increasingly, blogs focused on current events. Given the diverse nature of the modern military, pitches also go out regularly to Hispanic, African
American and Asian American publications.
Still, going national is not always easy. Florez would love to pitch more stories of individual soldiers, "but that's a little bit problematic since we don't know until the
very end who is going to be on that plane," he says. One notable exception: The 500,000th person to enter the gates is due soon. The PR team has already identified the individual
and is lining up biographical information and family interviews in anticipation of what should be a national news event.
Such opportunities don't come around often, but that works out since the PR is careful not to flood the market with what could be a ceaseless flow of news about soldiers on
leave. "We're not trotting out this story every week. There is not an R&R story coming out of DFW every day," Florez says. "We look for the milestone kind of events that are
worthy of attracting attention."
From the airport's perspective, coverage of Welcome Home helps establish a higher community stature for the facility, lifting it above the role of a mere travel hub. "Our
'Welcome Home a Hero' program is one of the most important community projects our airport has done in its 31 year history," says Ken Capps. "It puts a face on our facility and
shows how people truly care about people."
The media's response has been generous, with 99 print articles, 120 online stories and 437 network feature stories. Affiliates picking up the story include UPI, NBC News, FOX
News Channel, CNN, the New York Times and others.
In addition to all the traditional communications outreach efforts, including press releases and media pitches, the level of personal involvement underlies the success of the
program. Florez and others follow the war daily in an attempt to gain insight into the lives of the soldiers who one day, with luck, will pass through DFW on their way back
home.
"It's hard to build a story about appreciation and sacrifice if you don't really know what that sacrifice is," Florez says.
CONTACTS:
James Florez, [email protected]; Ken Capps, [email protected]
Hate The War, Not The Warriors
Here are just a few reasons why you should want your next campaign to highlight military personnel:
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Americans from every background and every demographic group come together to show support for the men and women of the armed forces.
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Members of the media appreciate the sacrifices of those in uniform. The media continue to recognize the value of this evergreen story.
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Sure, this type of program requires an immense combination of logistics, security and endless details. But it's also a perfect catalyst to unite the entire public affairs
team - agency and client.
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Think PR is hard? Spend some time with those who wear the uniform. Find out about their lives. You'll like your job that much better.
- Everyone will take a bite: Business media, bloggers, features writers, the military media, the neighborhood weekly and especially the evening news. The subject has near-
universal appeal.