CAMPAIGN TYPE: Media Relations
TIMEFRAME: November 2001 - ongoing
In 2001, the Home Safety Council (HSC) approached PR agency Brand Resources Group (Atlanta) to help get the media interested in bumps, bruises, scrapes and
shattered skulls.
The injuries are the main attraction of the Great Safety Adventure, a 1,200-sq.-ft. traveling home-safety exhibit that visits schools and public venues around the country,
teaching students and their families about the potential hazards in their homes. However, there was a slight problem in getting the campaign off of the ground.
"Home safety is one of these issues that people will say is important to them, but when you try to get a reporter to cover home safety, it is really tough to get him to the
forefront," says Jane Barwis, president of Brand Resources Group. "There isn't that pressing demand to cover it right then and there."
Nevertheless, Brand Resources reps have been able to generate media interest through focusing their efforts on intensive research. In 2001 and again in 2004, the HSC worked
with the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to study home-safety issues state by state, including the number of accidents and deaths due to home injuries, fires,
falls and poisonings.
"We take that state-by-state stuff and put it at the forefront of all our press materials and all our pitches," says Shannon McDaniel, an account director at Brand Resources
Group. "You can see it in the actual articles and broadcast coverage, and you hear it on the phone with a reporter. It really peaks their interest."
However, the research does not come ready-made. While the research crew cranks out the numbers, it's up to PR to provide translation.
"They start with very much the scientific side of it, and then they come to us once they know what the general body of information will look like," Barwis says. "Then we have
to work really closely with the researchers before we start using anything for public use, because it is so easy to misstate something. We spend a lot of time trying to translate
the results once we get them: Can we say this? Can we say that?"
At the same time, PR reps track the media. They want to know who has covered the safety exhibit in the past and what angles those reporters previously pursued. With
persistence, this has led to solid media hits. For example, when the exhibit returned to Los Angeles recently, the PR team got back in touch with two producers from "Good Day
L.A.," who jumped at the chance to revisit the story. They eventually ran a package highlighting the HFC's efforts.
Still, a return visit doesn't guarantee coverage. "You have to enter every market as if it is the first time you have been there," Barwis says. "You don't know what they
remember, and you don't know what was going on in the market last time versus what is going on this time."
To keep the juices flowing, Sarah Miles, HFC's director of education/outreach, works with Brand Resources Group reps to constantly update the exhibit's content.
"We change our messages each year to make them lively, even though they may be saying the exact same thing," she says. This year, for instance, the program includes new data
on children's slips and falls. Miles adds, "Everybody knows it is the same story, but it provides the freshness that the editors and reporters are looking for."
Again, it helps to have a detailed record of previous hits, so the exhibit breaks down the information in several categories: kitchen injuries, bathroom falls and backyard
mishaps. This way, "if someone has covered the story in a very holistic way, we can go back and talk to them about going in-depth on a particular hazard," Barwis says.
By keeping it local, the agency has been able to stay on top of what's been a national effort. "People own their markets," Barwis says. "It's not just spread out all over the
place. When you own a market, you can see the holistic results, and what the coverage was like the last time we were in that market." PRN
The upshot of all the nuts-and-bolts work is a pile of media rewards. In 2003, the exhibit visited 25 markets and drew 120,000 visitors, facilitated, in part, by 378 clips.
In the first and second quarters of 2004, the exhibit increased media impressions by 30% compared with the same period in 2003.
Miles believes the PR campaign's success has been driven by what she calls the purity of the mission. "The media find it refreshing," she says. "We are not trying to sell
something, we are not trying to promote a brand, and we are not trying to do anything other than teach the kids."
Contacts: Jane Barwis, 678.996.2021, [email protected]; Shannon McDaniel, 678.996.2003, [email protected]; Sarah Miles, 336.658.5495, [email protected]