In early 1998, amid debate on how to allocate a projected $1 trillion budget surplus while Congress sat on transportation and school reconstruction funding bills, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) yearned to assert itself as a leading resource for civil engineering-related legislation. Ten years since the last report of its kind done by a presidential commission, the non-partisan, Washington, DC-based society representing 120,000 civil engineers worldwide issued the formidable Report Card of America's Infrastructure.
Its timing could not be better. "We saw our opportunity and seized it," says Natalie Webster, ASCE media relations manager and project manager.
With the goals of "raising the stature of civil engineers in the public policy arena and helping to support increased funding for infrastructure," Webster says, she and the manager of legislative affairs, with assistance from the four-person public relations staff, took two months to compile existing state-by-state government records. A panel of five civil engineering experts then granted letter grades in each of 10 categories from airports to solid waste based on their condition, performance, capacity and funding compared with the public need.
The ASCE calculated that combating the average grade of "D" the nation received - from a failing "F" for schools to a high of "C" for mass transit - would require at least $1.3 trillion in capital investment over the next five years. The bad news "certainly got us noticed," Webster says.
Webster wrote the talking points and arranged media training through Susan Peterson Productions, Inc. for the report card spokespersons, ASCE president and executive director. U.S. Representative Tom Petri (R-WI) joined them at the press conference held March 5 at the National Press Club in Washington to speak on behalf of the transportation funding bill that had been debated since the fall of 1997.
"We tried to get as much coverage anywhere and everywhere we could," Webster says. Before the press conference, ASCE sent advisories to the Washington bureaus for the top 100 newspaper markets and industry trade press. An advertisement aimed at Congress appeared in a special infrastructure policy-briefing issue of Roll Call. The report card and other materials were posted on the society's newly-launched website (http://www.asce.com) and released nationally on US Newswire. ASCE followed up with calls to key reporters, offering statistics and engineering contacts to localize the story.
The conference received full coverage by C-SPAN, "which helped bring us into all Congressional offices," Webster says. In addition to stories on CNN, NBC radio and other major media, articles surfaced in Knight Ridder newspapers, The Christian Science Monitor, Congressional Quarterly, American City & County and USA Today.
With such attention, ASCE decided to arrange a television tour through Medialink for executive director Jim Davis. Davis was interviewed live via satellite on the May 1 morning news of 14 stations in the top 20 media markets with B-roll footage of deteriorating infrastructure displayed behind him. He also made an in-studio appearance on KNBC New York, which has the largest audience of any network station in the country.
Of the total $28,000 campaign cost, $22,000 went to the television tour. "We did the rest ourselves," Webster says. Other expenses included: approximately $2,000 for the press conference room rental, 1,500 report card reproductions and mailing/wire service; $2,500 for the Roll Call ad; and $1,500 for media training.
Much momentum came free of charge when President Bill Clinton used the report card as a platform for school modernization at an address at the Rachel Carson School in Chicago on April 8.
"It was a nice surprise," says Webster. "The President certainly spurred a lot of coverage, propelling the report to the national news." The speech aired on Good Morning America, CNN, and ABC and CBS affiliates in New York, Chicago, Denver, and other cities across the country.
The report card is now cited regularly in congressional floor statements, committee meetings and in op-eds on transportation and school reconstruction. Since March, some 100 publications have referenced the results. Webster believes the coverage, as monitored by Burrell's, escalates as November elections near and campaigning officials mention the Report Card.
"Representing the society's first strong and very public stance on infrastructure issues, the report card brought ASCE to a new level of involvement and influence in the public policy arena," Davis says. The long-awaited $217.9 billion transportation bill passed within a month of the press conference. (Natalie Webster, Jim Davis, ASCE, 202/789-2200)
ASCE
Founded: 1852
Annual PR budget: $600,000, including staff of four.
ASCE represents more than 120,000 civil engineers worldwide A not-for-profit, 501 (c)(3) organization.
Steps to organizing a PR campaign for the release of a study:
- Identify object, audience, and message to create framework for whole program.
- Determine media targets to reach intended audience.
- Figure out how to present story, highlighting what is most newsworthy.
- Develop USA Today-style graphic presentations that illustrate the news at a glance. Have photos or B-roll tell story with visual picture.
- If there was a poll, provide media with verbatim questions asked.
- Make data real. Humanize story with a specific case study, spokesperson.
- Find an interesting place to make announcement. Stage it well.Think visuals. For example, release study of infrastructure under deteriorating bridge.
Source: Kathleen Mccullough, Account Manager, Stanton Communications, Washington, DC, 202/223-4933