When a program involves as many people both at the local and national level as the Smart Spot Dance initiative, it’s imperative that each group delivers the same message to be effective, says Mike Rosen, managing director for Clifford/Bratskeir Public Relations.
“Message preparation is a key to success,” he says. “When you have company spokespersons from PepsiCo, third-party spokespersons including our celebrity talent, our registered dieticians, our partners from the National Urban League and YMCA, you want to make sure everyone is speaking with one voice and delivering the same message. It’s not hard to generate publicity when you have a very compelling event and the participation of relevant celebrities. But the goal isn’t just to generate media coverage; it’s to make a meaningful impact and make an impression on our target, so we needed to make sure that they delivered these key SSD messages that we had developed so that it made a difference.”
Lynn Markley, communications VP of PepsiCo echoes this sentiment. “I think that’s what a lot of companies miss,” she says. “They’ll just do the events, but they won’t focus on the messaging. I think it took us three weeks to get the messaging down. It all had to flow because we had the national partners, the talent, the dieticians and the company spokespersons. For them to all complement each other, it was important everyone was comfortable with the message.”
Contacts: Mike Rosen, [email protected], Lynn Markley, [email protected]