Making the concept of saving for a rainy day sound fun to elementary students while convincing thousands of bankers from around the country that this was a worthwhile project (since children's accounts aren't big profit-makers), was where the ABA's PR had to rise to the occasion.
The first "National Teach Children to Save Day" (NTCSD) campaign this past April 17 relied solely on ABA PR (no advertising or direct mail) and motivated 2,000 bankers nationwide to teach 125,000 students (kindergarten through sixth grade) about the importance of saving money and starting savings accounts on the same day, according to Sonia Barbara, an ABA's PR manager.
April 17 was chosen because it could piggy back on two existing efforts, since April is National Savings Month and Mathematics Education Month. And April is also tax time, so consumer finances are top of mind.
The four-person staff working with a shoe-string budget of $35,000 over a year's time developed an extensive "add water and stir" banker resource kit that included:
- A sample letter introducing the educational program to schools.
- Posters publicizing the banks' participation.
- Presentation materials comprised of age-specific lesson plans, children's budget worksheets, tips on working with teachers and appropriate classroom messages.
- Personal savings statistics fact sheet explaining America's savings crisis.
- Fill-in-the blank news releases for local media and radio scripts for PSAs.
- Program evaluation survey.
In addition to these initiatives, the PR staff launched a satellite radio tour and hired an agency to produce and distribute a VNR. The price tag for all of this actually came in slightly under budget at $34,000.
Covering the Bases
The success of NTCSD hinged on considerable front-end and back-end PR.
On the front end, the ABA not only got the word out to local and national media outlets but also made several presentations at industry conferences and publicized the effort through trade newsletters, Web sites and free drop-in ads. In addition to getting 2,000 bankers to make school presentations, the publicity goal was to get at least three of the top 25 newspapers to plug the day and at least one nationally syndicated personal finance columnist to write about the campaign.
The media coverage exceeded these expectations, generating ink in five top newspapers (like L.A. Times, Boston Globe and the Chicago Tribune); the VNR was picked up by 23 TV stations and the radio tour attracted 764 stations, according to Barbara.
On the back end, the PR staffers had to wear at least three hats: media relations, customer service and market research, according to Patti Boerger, an ABA PR manager. "We had to really manage priorities or we could have become overwhelmed." The pitch to bankers involved selling them on the campaign's perks: positive community goodwill and publicity and forging productive relationships with schools which could yield potential customers and important contacts. The media had to be convinced that the campaign wasn't profit-driven but educationally motivated.
But what remains a PR challenge is research and tracking. "Our response rate [from bankers] was 30 percent but we need to get more feedback. Next year, we might incorporate [survey] phone calls and request that bankers fax surveys back before their presentations," said Barbara.
Bragging Rights
Timing Is Everything
The timeline for the ABA's National Teach Children to Save Day took a little over a year to pull off. Here's the rundown:
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The success of NTCSD's first year proved that "everything can be done with PR if you know your market," said Barbara, referring to the campaign's absence of direct mail and paid advertising. Given the campaign's limited budget, it definitely worked. In addition to attracting banker support and generating impressive publicity, the PR efforts resulted in:
- Representatives from several state treasurer's offices calling to arrange for joint presentations with bankers;
- The state of Colorado's consideration of making the campaign NTSCD a state holiday; and
- The International Association of Business Communicators recognizing the NTSCD campaign with a 1997 Silver Inkwell award. (ABA Sonia Barbara; Patti Boerger 202/663-5469)