For more than a decade, Baltimore, Md. has been portrayed as a symbol of urban decay - particularly on TV shows such as "Homicide" and "The Corner" -- both use the locale as
the backdrop for seedy tales related to crime and drug culture. But the city has actually experienced a renaissance of sorts in recent years. When the Ravens won the AFC
championship and made it to the Super Bowl last January, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley saw an opportunity to plug his city's economic turnaround while his team reveled in the
national spotlight. The catch was, he had less than two weeks to get his message out before the big game ended and the media turned its fickle focus elsewhere.
On January 18, the mayor's office hired hometown firm Warschawski Public Relations (WPR) to orchestrate a media tour that would put Baltimore back on the map as an economic
player. Within three days, WPR had the mayor slated for a one-day marathon of interviews in New York (media capital and home of the opposing team, the New York Giants). The mayor
hopped on a plane, armed with a great analogy to feed reporters: Just as the Ravens had floundered for a few seasons before hitting their groove, so had Baltimore struggled, but
finally emerged from its slump: the city was having a great year.
The Whole Nine Yards
O'Malley headed into media interviews with his cheerleading routine in top form. At the time of the press tour, Baltimore was leading the nation in fighting violent crime,
having realized a 33% drop in its homicide rate during the previous six months. The city also was leading the nation in escalating home values, with home resale prices up 24.8% in
the last reported quarter of 2000. The oft described "blue collar town" had converted more unused warehouse space into office space in 18 months' time than it had throughout the
entire previous decade. Tech companies, attracted by the city's low real estate prices and industrial flavor, were relocating in droves.
Although the campaign's time frame was tighter than a pair of football pants, the press tour focused exclusively on top national media with hopes of engineering some "trickle
down" coverage into regional outlets. Campaign organizers also hoped that O'Malley's charismatic banter would help plant seeds for future media interest in Baltimore.
O'Malley hit the streets of the Big Apple on January 22 and conducted 14 interviews in eight hours, starting with a round of TV stations (local affiliates and CNN "Headline
News") at New York's ESPN Zone. Later in the day, hizzoner headed to Times Square for a trash-talking session with Giants fans and other passers-by. Serious interviews with top-
tier business desks were peppered throughout the day.
As a follow-up, WPR shot b-roll footage and stock photos of the mayor at a Baltimore send-off rally for the Ravens, showcasing city buildings lit up in the team's signature
purple. O'Malley conducted additional in-person and phone interviews from his Baltimore digs - and later, via satellite remote, from Tampa on game day.
Final Score
In the week before the Super Bowl, O'Malley's press romp yielded 93 positive print placements, with an estimated reach of more than 7 million readers. He also scored 28
television hits in outlets such as NBC's "Today" show, Bloomberg News, CNBC, CNN, FOX Sports and every New York network affiliate. As a bonus, the tour garnered 29 online stories,
including bits in Kiplinger's Personal Finance and CNN Interactive. One Baltimore TV station even sent a crew to New York to follow the mayor's press tour bandwagon; another
rebroadcast the "Today" show segment in its entirety on the 11:00 newscast.
The fact that nearly all of the wire services picked up Baltimore's revitalization story resulted in more than 80 print pieces in other markets, including The Washington Post,
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Oregonian, and of course, The Baltimore Sun.
Most notably, the mayor's whirlwind tour had legs. One Bloomberg TV reporter who'd covered the mayor's initial tour of Gotham did a follow-up story on the landmark Marriott
Hotel in Baltimore one month after the Super Bowl. Similarly, a journalist with The New York Daily News followed up with a positive story drawing similarities between the
governing successes of O'Malley and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Oh, and the Ravens beat the pants off the Giants in the Super Bowl: 34-7.
(Mark Brousseau, VP, Warschawski PR, 410/318-8200; Office of the Mayor,
City of Baltimore, 410/396-1100)
St. Louis Says...
What sparked Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's interest in staging a PR blitz? A huddle with St. Louis officials - whose Rams had played in the previous year's Super Bowl -
during the 2001 AFC championships in Oakland, Calif. In an informal conversation during the game, O'Malley asked St. Louis city planners what they would have done differently if
they'd had the Super Bowl spotlight all over again. They said they would have exploited the Rams' Super Bowl showing to play up their city's economic revitalization (PRN, June 4).
Team Stats/The 10-day Case
Campaign Time Frame: January 18-28, 2001
Team members: Mark Brousseau, VP/account manager; David Warschawski,
president; Shana Harris, senior associate; Steve Kearney, director of research
and communications, mayor's office; Rick Binetti, office of communications,
mayor's office.
Budget: Pro bono (agency donated roughly 70 hours). "Our philosophy
is when the mayor of our hometown calls and asks for help, we're more than happy
to oblige. We have always made it a priority to demonstrate our commitment to
our community," says Brousseau.
Warschawski Clients: Medicine On Time,ebudgets.com, National Jewish
Outreach Program, adidas-Salomon, Wartsila, Solipsys .