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Visualize a Winning PR Campaign: Using Design as Part of Your Strategy January 2007 To get your message heard, first make sure it gets seen. You may have the smartest strategy. The backing of powerful players. The conviction that truth is on your side. But today’s media landscape can engulf your campaign in a tsunami of information from print, interactive and broadcast channels. Whether the goal of your public relations campaign is to encourage people to attend an event, change their minds about a given issue, or try out a new service, design can help you achieve it. It’s been said that writing is thinking. That the very act of putting pen to paper helps clarify and focus our thoughts. If that’s true, and I believe it is, then design is the act of directing thought. Design isn’t simply an embellishment or pretty detail. Good design integrally weaves itself throughout a website, a newsletter, a billboard. It subtly – or not so subtly – editorializes the content. Design has an opinion. It provides structure and hierarchy of information. It tells you this event is fun even though the cause is serious. Copy doesn’t need to tell you this is a “must-attend” event. The design does. Case in point. For a first-time aviation-festival event targeted at the community’s who’s who, we created the invitation as a grommeted, multi-page, spinning propeller that arrived in a 18”x4.5” screaming-red envelope. One look at that in your mailbox and you knew you better RSVP quickly because tickets were sure to go fast. And they did. It was sold out. Design also says who you are and what you’re all about. For example, to emphasize the Kansas Health Foundation’s renewed focus on early-childhood development, we didn’t just say the Foundation believes the years from birth to age three are critical for future success. Design said it for us. We abandoned the Foundation’s traditional annual report format and for the past three years have created its annual report in novel forms – first as a child’s book, then flashcards and, most recently, a flipbook. The simple message comes through. It says that by engaging the mind of a child, we can have a lifelong impact, creating connections in the rapidly developing brain that essentially helps “build from birth.” For instance, brightly colored, original illustrations of anthropomorphic animals encourage interaction. Cards don’t simply ask you to sing, talk, play, rhyme, read, love, tell stories and draw. The back of each communicates why the activity is important, offers suggestions to get you going and provides research-oriented points and references to further motivate action. The easy-to-navigate website goes even farther – letting you click on resource links, hear the tunes you create, download illustrations to color, paint an elephant and more. Child-development organizations, county health departments and pediatrician offices statewide have requested additional materials, saying they can’t keep them in stock. “Pro bono” or “low budget” are often synonymous for “PR campaign.” The lower or more nonexistent a budget, the more critical design becomes. It has to work extra hard because there aren’t massive media dollars to get your TV spot or print ad high-frequency flights. For the Kansas State Fair, our team was tasked with attracting a new, younger audience while still appealing to regular fairgoers. We gave a nostalgic, retro look to the fair’s PR campaign, emphasizing the overall zaniness of the event. The quirky “It’s a Wild Ride, Baby!” campaign appeals to a wide-range of audiences while making you think the fair’s so square, it’s hip. Colorfully illustrated barnyard animals interact with rides, tying the brand to the fair’s agrarian roots while taking you places words can’t. A sheep sports a Ferris-wheel tiara on a poster that says, “It’ll Mess With Your Head.” A pig blasts off in a rocket ship on a “Wild. Weird. Wonderful.” billboard. A mallet-wielding chicken struts as she tests her strength on the “Cowboys, Cotton Candy and Tough Chicks.” TV spot. All convey an attitude of energy and fun that traditional photography and video couldn’t capture. Design can also be key for PR campaigns with more life-changing goals. For the Kansas Children’s Service League, we needed to increase the number of foster and adoptive parents for the state’s abandoned, abused, neglected and orphaned children. We developed a unique brand identity and bold campaign for this 110-year-old organization. The identity – a simple red ball – communicates childhood innocence and joy. It also affords endless promotional applications (stress balls, beach balls, Frisbees). For the kick-off press conferences (held throughout the state), we had 791 big red balls filling the room, signifying the number of Kansas kids needing a mom and dad. Powerful? You bet. Motivational? Absolutely. Foster and adoptive parent recruitment jumped 62%, with the greatest growth just after the campaign broke. Donations increased by $30,000. Volunteerism rose, particularly in the Foster Grandparents program. Calls to the League’s hotline reached a record high. Web visits went from hundreds of visits a week to an average of more than 2,000. SRS, which contracts with the League for its services, communicated approval of the new campaign and materials directly to the League’s CEO. When developing your next PR campaign, don’t slight one of the most crucial elements: thought-provoking, thought-molding design. One image can be worth a thousand press releases. Tips To Integrate Design Into Your Next PR Campaign
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