Campaign: Rural Transportation for Persons with Disabilities
Winner: Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) had to come up with enough funding to expand its Persons with Disabilities Rural Transportation program for PA
residents. An audit by the Department of the Auditor General had enabled PennDOT to discount fares for disabled residents in 35 rural counties, but mobility-challenged
people in 30 other counties still needed assistance.
The Auditor's office set out to raise awareness using statewide media coverage to influence state legislators to approve additional funding for the Persons with
Disabilities program in the 2007-08 state budget. But to do this, the team would have to find ways to reach the media on a budget of only $1,000. A two-pronged media
approach started by generating buzz in the state capital to force urban outlets with Harrisburg bureaus to report on the issue, then pitched influential media outlets
serving rural markets.
Assertive lobbying persuaded a well-known columnist to write about the issue, garnering coverage at a critical moment. Xpedite Systems communications service and PR
Newswire then helped push the message to various regions statewide, and invitations to the press conference went out to disability advocacy groups and persons with
disabilities.
And while the program achieved all of its publicity goals, it hit a far more important target: Senate Bill No. 1175 approved $3.4 million to expand the shared ride
transit program to eight additional counties and to cut costs in counties that already had the program.
Honorable Mentions
To help the Christopher Reeve Foundation support paralysis research through its Superman Tags, the MWW Group leveraged opportunities with key influencers, including Dana
Reeve, and helped the Foundation sell more than 50,000 of the tags, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.
Voce Communications reached out to persuade professional women to support young urban girls to become social change makers and innovators with its "Forum for Social
Change" campaign. The campaign focused on generating online awareness and developing a strategy to boost the annual GFC summit. The San Jose summit brought 1,200 girls
together to discuss issues and gather information for their 2006 social change projects.
STEP-UP places 16- to 21-year-olds in summer jobs with local Minneapolis employers. To correct the problem of low brand awareness, it teamed up with Weber Shandwick and
launched a campaign to generate awareness with just $10,000. The PR team engaged influential leaders at a Leadership Circle Breakfast and coordinated a kick-off day. In
the end, STEP-UP's employer base increased by 59%.