[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 793

[Garry D Krischock]

 1 1501: The media are the messengers 

 
Fri May 2, 2008 6:41 am (PDT) 
The media are the messengers
by Wayne Hearn 

Minnesota Rotarian Jo Gluck Bailey says 2007 was kind to the Rotary 
clubs of Mankato and North Mankato, with each club recruiting 15 new 
members. That's no small feat in this day and age, but it didn't 
happen by accident.

>From April through July, Bailey coordinated a public relations 
campaign for the clubs, which together had received a US$5,000 Public 
Relations Grant from Rotary International. Using public service 
advertising materials produced by Rotary and localized with new 
content, the clubs ran a series of radio and television spots that 
generated "well over $10,000 in exposure for Rotary in our shared 
market," Bailey says.

The ads directed viewers and listeners to a Web site that offered 
more information about both Mankato Rotary clubs. Bailey credits the 
campaign as a major factor in recruiting the 30 new club members. "We 
were the envy of the rest of the service clubs in town," she says.

The Mankato experience illustrates the sea change in Rotary's 
approach to public relations and a shift from a tradition in which 
Rotarians tended to avoid the limelight, content to let their 
humanitarian work speak for itself. But now, Rotary clubs realize 
that for a volunteer service organization to survive and thrive in 
the modern era, one marked by ever-increasing demands on free time, 
they cannot afford the luxury of modesty. "For much of Rotary's first 
100 years, our approach to public relations can be summed up by three 
words: effective but silent," says Iowa newspaper publisher William 
F. Tubbs, North America coordinator for RI's Public Image Resource 
Group (PIRG), the international panel charged with helping clubs and 
districts reach out to the media and the general public. "Our slogan 
for the next 100 years needs to be `Effective as ever, but silent no 
more.'"

The least expensive route to publicity, of course, is to give the 
media something they can use: news about humanitarian projects that 
make a difference, such as when local Rotarians build a playground or 
travel to a developing country to immunize children against polio. 
But the reality of the highly competitive news business is that 
breaking stories - often of the negative or sensational variety - 
usually trump everything else, including the good news Rotary offers. 
The key, then, is to be proactive and generate a solid, focused plan 
for media outreach and public relations, which is exactly what Rotary 
is doing.

Empowered by the new RI Strategic Plan, which identifies the 
enhancement of Rotary's public image as a top priority, Rotary 
leadership is encouraging clubs and districts to implement public 
relations efforts more than ever. Just as important, Rotary is 
providing the tools to do it. Two key resources are Rotary's Humanity 
in Motion public image campaign, a series of professionally produced 
public service announcements (PSAs) suitable for print, broadcast, 
and outdoor media, and RI Public Relations Grants, an RI Board-
approved pilot program that provides funds to help implement 
grassroots public relations projects, stressing use of the Humanity 
in Motion materials.

"Considerable planning and resources have been devoted to Humanity in 
Motion, which provides splendid images and content to promote 
Rotary," says PIRG General Coordinator Bob Aitken, managing editor of 
the regional magazine Rotary Down Under. "But no reasonable public 
relations campaign is possible without adequate funding," he 
adds. "Hence, the RI PR grants, which are intended to encourage clubs 
and districts to allocate some of their own funds to public 
relations. Membership will grow if we follow a simple PR formula: 
budget, plan, and promote."

Tubbs concurs and poses this challenge to the businessmen and women 
of Rotary: "Name five successful businesses that don't advertise."

Rotary clubs and districts worldwide are embracing this message, 
combining their own resources with PR grants, while leveraging 
considerable in-kind donations from vendors and media. After a modest 
start in 2005-06, when about 300 clubs applied for PR grants, more 
than 3,200 clubs applied the next year. The total funding reached 
$2.1 million. These funds, when combined with the required club 
contributions and in-kind donations, yielded the equivalent of $6 
million in PR outreach.

This year, the grants were switched to districts, and half of them - 
273 districts spanning 78 countries - applied. The RI Board adopted 
the change to keep the immensely popular program manageable and to 
foster more collaboration and coordination between clubs and 
districts on PR efforts.

Though the data is anecdotal, many local Rotary leaders have reported 
increases in membership activities, from inquiries to new recruits, 
coinciding with the outreach. In District 5100, 20 clubs in Oregon 
and Washington teamed up on a $3,000 grant for a multimedia campaign 
that saw Humanity in Motion PSAs carried by the regional edition of 
Ladies Home Journal and local TV stations KPTV and KPDX and their 
respective Web sites from January to April 2007. The PR grant was 
matched by $12,000 from the district and participating clubs.

Project coordinator Judy McMorine, also the district membership 
chair, says free placements and other in-kind donations from the 
media and the local ad agency that managed the campaign pro bono 
raised the total value to a whopping $60,500. "The project was a 
great success," she says. "While the public image campaign was in 
full swing, hits to the district Web site tripled. The district 
reported a membership net gain of about 7 percent, reversing a five-
year loss trend. Over and over, we heard positive comments from 
Rotarians and non-Rotarians alike."

In New Zealand, six districts received a US$3,000 PR grant for a 
national billboard campaign using the Humanity in Motion messages on 
peace, polio eradication, and literacy. The districts sweetened the 
pot by about $2,500, and in the first half of 2007, six billboards 
were erected along high-traffic roads in the main cities, including 
Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Free placements by the vendor 
added thousands of dollars to the value of the campaign, says project 
coordinator Daron Curtiss, PR chair for District 9920.

"The rationale of the billboard program was not only to promote the 
three themes but to further our drive in New Zealand to raise 
awareness of the core Rotary International brand," Curtiss 
says. "From the feedback we have had from both Rotarians and members 
of the public, we have certainly achieved that."

Rob Crabtree, chair of New Zealand's multidistrict PR task force, 
adds that calls to a toll-free number "surged dramatically" once 
billboards including the number went up.

Here's how other Rotary clubs successfully used PR grants:

Rotary Club of Libertador Recoleta, Argentina: Billboards at the 
city's busiest train and transit stations promoted Rotary's effort to 
conserve water, another Humanity in Motion message. The vendor also 
donated space valued at US$31,000. 
Rotary Club of Mangalore, India: An estimated 20 million people saw a 
PSA on polio eradication, displayed on billboards at five entry 
points to the city for six months. The ads were localized with club 
contact information. 
Rotary Club of Kyoto-Fushimi, Japan: Signs promoting Rotary peace 
programs were displayed on the lower rear windows of 1,000 taxicabs 
in Kyoto for two months. 
Rotary Club of Hallstahammar, Sweden: A three-month campaign promoted 
the club's 50th anniversary. The project included an exhibit of the 
club's history and its humanitarian work, displayed in the local 
library; Rotary posters placed in banks, tourists bureaus, medical 
centers, and public office buildings; ads in the local newspaper; and 
the creation of an anniversary magazine. 
Rotary Club of Kabarole, Uganda: A newspaper and radio campaign about 
Rotary is credited with increasing membership from 13 to 22 members. 
These success stories, says Aitken, underscore a basic truth that all 
Rotarians must recognize: Public image and membership growth and 
retention are interconnected. "The prominence of the public relations 
component in our new strategic plan represents a significant shift in 
organizational thinking and should send a clear message to Rotary 
clubs and districts," he says. "Successful people want to be involved 
with successful organizations, and a focused public relations 
campaign will create such an image for Rotary."

Source: The Rotarian
Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary


 
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