RNC’s Latest PR Campaign Takes

'Human Touch' ApproachWhen the Republican National Committee hired a PR firm several weeks ago to conduct a far-reaching grassroots campaign, it reinforced one of the easily forgotten tenets of PR: public affairs is not about broad swipes - it's about miniature strokes.

The committee hired Creative Response Concepts, Alexandria, Va., to step up its PR for the Republican Congress's proposed tax bill which will be voted on this month. CRC is the same organization RNC turned to to tout its "Contract with America."

The RNC is using CRC to implement grassroots programs throughout the United States. The foundation of its new PR plan will be talk-show radio - but not the route it's typically taken: getting play on syndicated programs like the G. Gordon Liddy or Ollie North shows. Instead, its efforts will be seeking out programs aired in regional markets. In fact, last week RNC Press Secretary Mary Crawford was a featured guest on WIVN, a La Crosse, Wis. radio station targeting the mere 51,000 people who live in this rural pocket.

Leif Noren, chairman of CRC, said that among the public relations CRC oversees for its clients, 70 percent of it is public affairs. Among CRC's clients are the Christian Coalition.