For most people, the release of the new movies "Rent" and "King Kong" offers the chance for a few hours' worth of fun and entertainment. But for a pair of small nonprofits,
these major Hollywood releases provide an extraordinary PR opportunity to get their respective messages out to wider audiences.
Paying Back "Rent"
On the surface, it would seem the National Marfan Foundation (NMF) has the ultimate uphill PR struggle: Most people never heard of Marfan syndrome, which is a
potentially fatal genetic connective tissue disorder affecting the skeleton, eyes, heart and blood vessels: it affects at least 200,000 Americans. Furthermore, the NMF is a
fairly small non-profit: Their annual budget is less than $3 million and the total staff numbers 20.
Yet since its founding in 1981, the NMF has been indefatigable in using PR to spread its message. While the focus has primarily been towards the medical trade media, the
organization scored several considerable consumer media hits: a 1998 segment on the Saturday edition of NBC's "Today" flooded the NMF phone banks with 7,000 calls, the
successful insertion of a Marfan syndrome plotline into a 2001 "ER" episode lead to 25 different TV news segments and a Jane Brody column in the New York Times, and the
Wall Street Journal included Marfan syndrome in its 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of health care issues.
If Marfan syndrome has not resonated with the general public, it could easily be due to the NMF's lack of a well-recognized spokesperson. "We don't have a celebrity,"
acknowledges Eileen Masciale, NMF's director of communications.
But what NMF does have, however, is a tragic story that evolved into a cogent PR lesson on identifying Marfan syndrome before it is too late. Jonathan Larson, the playwright
and composer who created the musical "Rent," died of an aortic dissection before the show's Broadway premiere in 1996. Larson was never aware he had this condition - it was only
diagnosed after he died. Following Larson's death, Masciale worked with the playwright's parents to ensure everyone who saw "Rent" on Broadway or in its touring companies were
educated on Marfan syndrome. Even the cast members were included in the PR mission.
"A group of us comes to conduct a meet-and-greet with the casts," explains Masciale. "Our Massachusetts chapter organized a benefit in Boston a year-and-a-half ago when the
touring company was in that city, and they raised $30,000."
With the film version of "Rent," which opens nationally on November 23, Masciale sees the greatest opportunity to spread the NMF PR message and make it stick. Masciale and the
NMF saw the need to establish important new partnerships to ensure the message got across. "We knew we couldn't go out on our own, doing what we do," she says.
NMF Chairman Joe Gagliano helped connect Masciale with the executives at Sony Pictures and Revolution Studios, the producers of the film. "Joe is an
entertainment lawyer and he knows the ropes in the business," says Masciale.
The result of this connection includes NMF receiving proceeds from "Rent"-related product merchandising. A PSA with Anthony Rapp, star of the Broadway and film versions of
"Rent," was also produced and has been guaranteed a place in the Special Features section of the "Rent" DVD, due in stores next spring.
Gagliano also connected NMF with Loews Cineplex, which enabled NMF to distribute handouts in its theaters, include a PSA slide in the pre-show program and run its PSA
with Anthony Rapp before the screenings (the latter, Masciale notes, was a paid placement). The PSA is also being distributed to television stations in conjunction with the
film's release.
Going Ape For "Kong"
The December 14 opening of "King Kong" is fueling the PR machinery for another non-profit group. But unlike the NMF example, the Chimpanzee Collaboratory is happily
jumping on the "King Kong" bandwagon without actually having direct involvement with the production.
The Chimpanzee Collaboratory is an alliance of animal rights and legal activists dedicated to eliminating the abuse of simians in motion pictures and television. In the past,
its PR target was primarily to the entertainment industry and its trade media. Yet the high level of enthusiasm surrounding the new "King Kong" (which uses CGI effects to bring
its oversized ape to life) emboldened the group to broaden its PR mission.
"The Chimpanzee Collaboratory came to us looking for PR help," says Mike Smith, account director with Fenton Communications, the San Francisco agency which previously
scored major PR points through its campaign on behalf of MoveOn.org and the Energy Future Coalition tied to last year's epic "The Day After Tomorrow." "'King Kong'
is a great example of not using real apes to make films."
The Fenton campaign, which is still being formulated as this article goes to press, will include a public letter to Dan Glickman, president of the Motion Picture Association
of America (MPAA), urging that films adapt a "no real apes" strategy to avoid the abuse of these animals during movie production. The letter, which will be signed by
scientists and celebrities, will be complemented with a viral e-mail campaign featuring an animated "King Kong"-inspired role-reversal sequence with a Hollywood executive as the
gigantic gorilla and a baby chimp in the Fay Wray part.
Unlike NMF, the Chimpanzee Collaboratory has a celebrity to serve as spokesperson: the world-famous anthropologist Jane Goodall. Even though Goodall's schedule puts her in
Asia when "King Kong" opens, Smith will still leverage her star power. "We are planning a telephone news conference from Asia in December," he says. "We're also planning to put
together a B-Roll of quotes and make that available to the media for use via satellite uplink."
Neither Universal Pictures nor anyone connected to "King Kong" itself is involved with this effort, yet Smith has not fielded any complaints. "They know we're doing
this campaign," he says. "My guess is that they know any promotion is a good promotion. And after all, we're praising 'King Kong.'"
Contacts: Eileen Masciale, 631.665.2163, [email protected]; Mike Smith, 415.901.0111, [email protected]