Challenge
Winter campaign to encourage skiers and snowboarders to wear helmets.
The Community Against Preventable Injuries is a grassroots organization established to raise awareness, transform attitudes and behaviours, and ultimately drive down the number and severity of preventable injuries in B.C.
Contemporary was brought in to assist with the organization’s launch in June 2009, and also develop a media relations campaign to create awareness about individual preventable injuries throughout the summer.
Solution
We created media kit materials, developed messaging, booked interviews, and created targeted media lists for the launch. Contemporary also provided media training for the organization’s spokespeople.
After introducing The Community to British Columbians, our strategy focused on highlighting a different preventable injury each week to earn media coverage around the province. For the weekly media relations campaign, we did extensive research to find people who either suffered a preventable injury or is a surviving family member of someone whose death could have been prevented. Our goal was to provide the media with people who could tell compelling stories.
Along with pitching story ideas to the media, we also researched, wrote and distributed backgrounders and fact sheets. Contemporary also assisted in organizing guerilla marketing campaigns in Vancouver and Kelowna involving beach towels to raise awareness about drowning.
Results
The launch for The Community was a success. We coordinated interviews for spokesperson Dr. Ian Pike, including an appearance on Global TV. He was also a guest on radio talk shows, and interviewed by other broadcast media outlets and newspapers. On launch day, The Province newspaper ran a two-page spread with a firefighter sharing a sad story about someone who drowned, and he talked about how the tragedy was preventable.
Awareness for The Community continued to increase throughout the summer as we pitched stories about preventable injuries weekly. Contemporary focused on targeted media outlets around B.C. to get stories published or broadcast. The positive coverage we received during the summer led to a smaller media relations campaign being extended to the fall and winter.
From June 2009 to December 2009, more than 125 media stories were generated.
