This week's strategy: Know your audience. PR professionals sometimes lose sight of their true target, especially in the case of long-term, ongoing campaigns. When the 12-year-
old "Don't Mess with Texas" anti-litter campaign was awarded to Tuerff-Davis EnviroMedia, the PR team realized it needed to do some research to uncover the best direction for its
messaging. After groundbreaking research that analyzed more than 20,000 pieces of trash from Texas roadsides, the firm discovered that the campaign's target audience, pickup
truck-driving males between the ages of 18 and 34, was no longer responsible for the majority of Texas' litter. The campaign was targeting an off-base demographic. Tuerff-Davis
adjusted the campaign to hit both males and females under the age of 24, whose fast food trash lined the state's highways. Efforts targeted at this group have resulted in a 52
percent drop in litter since 1995, and Tuerff-Davis will take the campaign straight to the demographic it calls "Generation Litter" during the next four years.
This strategy comes from our PR NEWS Book of 100 Best Case Studies in PR, a compilation of top case studies in marketing communications, media relations, crisis communications
and more. To order your copy, call 888/707-5814.