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Case History:
When the economy takes a significant downturn, people and
companies begin to tighten their belts, cut out the fat, and
keep a closer eye on every dollar. This puts nonprofit
organizations, which are already functioning on minimal
budgets and relying on the community’s generosity, in an
interesting and often difficult situation.
Understanding the challenges posed by the “great recession
of 2009,” the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) –
New Jersey Metro Chapter decided to reassess their outward
facing marketing efforts to ensure that they were getting
maximum return for the least amount of money possible. The
result: A strategic decision to eliminate paid advertising,
and simultaneously turn up the heat on public relations
efforts.
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Charged with the task of “blanketing the state with
media coverage,” R&J Public Relations dove
heart-first into the community, leaving no stone
unturned. Bombarded with ongoing updates
highlighting the peril that many non-profits would
face as a result of less ‘giving’ from regular
donors, the NJ Metro Chapter braced themselves for
the unknown as they headed into their most important
2009 fundraising event season. R&J set out as well,
with a strategic and aggressive media relations
plan.
In support of the 2009 Walk MS and Bike MS “Coast
the Coast,” NJ Metro Chapter’s two largest
fundraising events of the year, R&J began targeting
online, print and broadcast media, encompassing the
NJ Metro Chapter’s coverage area of 14 counties in
northern and central New Jersey. With Walk MS set
for April 19th, and Bike MS “Coast the
Coast” set for May 16th & 17th,
R&J had approximately three months to generate a
state-wide awareness and interest in the NJ Metro
events.
Planning to utilize National MS Awareness week,
March 2-8, 2009, as a media launch pad, R&J prepared
local and statewide media lists and began
distributing event announcements and general press
releases throughout the month of February. R&J also
worked in conjunction with the NJ Metro Chapter to
identify feature walkers and cyclists who have
participated in previous years’ Walk/Bike MS, and
have great stories to share. R&J interviewed these
individual feature persons and generated dozens of
localized pitches that could be used to precisely
target local publications.
Our task was made more difficult by the media
reality of the New Jersey market. Sandwiched in
between the country’s largest media market in New
York, and its fourth largest in Philadelphia, New
Jersey presents a string of challenges to any
organization that seeks statewide media coverage.
Our strategy was to go “hyper-local,” concentrating
on achieving superior coverage in virtually all
important New Jersey-centric media.
On March 2, 2009 the first combined feature story
ran in the Courier News and Home News
Tribune (Central Jersey), highlighting
participants from both Walk MS and Bike MS. From
that point, and continuing on through March, local
feature stories ran in multiple print publications
from North Jersey to South Jersey, including the
Princeton Packet, Trenton Times, Roxbury Register,
Recorder Newspapers, Sunday Star-Ledger,
News Record, Citizen Gazette, Patriot, The
Bergen Record, and Hunterdon Review.
These print stories were joined by their online
counterparts, including NJ.com, MyCentralJersey.com,
RecorderNewspapers.com, GMNews.com and NJMonthly.com.
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Continuing on through April and May, R&J created
town-specific announcements for the 15 different Walk MS
locations, and the various Bike MS rest stops. Additional
publications, including the Hamilton Post, Asbury Park
Press, Woodbridge Sentinel, Somerset Reporter,
Bayonne Now, Jersey Journal, NJ Herald, Sparta Independent
and more generated continuous coverage up until the dates of
both events.
Amidst a plethora of print and online media coverage, the
message of Walk MS and Bike MS also traveled through the
airwaves via a number of morning and afternoon-drive radio
shows on New Jersey 101.5, WNNJ-AM, WCTC-AM, WOBM and
others. Additionally, News12 New Jersey featured Bike MS
on-site in both a live and a prerecorded feature.
Local media attended both events, and received R&J-prepared
media kits from R&J staff members who were strategically
stationed around the state. Day-of and post-event media
coverage was substantial.
Working with feature editors, reporters and producers, from
both new and existing relationships, R&J secured a total of
82 feature media placements with Ad Value Equivalency (AVE)
of over $1.45 million, and a Publicity Value in excess of
$4.36 million. An additional 76 print and online calendar
placements were also secured.
But AVEs and Publicity numbers only begin to quantify the
success of the public relations efforts; the real proof was
in the fundraising results. Bike MS “Coast the Coast” 2009
raised over $1 million, the first time ever this event
topped that mark. Even more impressive, the 2009 Walk MS
raised an impressive total of $2.6 million – an increase of
$400,000 over the previous record.
Given the economic barriers, and statistical data predicting
a dismal future for the 2009 fundraising event season, R&J
Public Relations’ efforts were impressive, assisting the New
Jersey Metro Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society in not simply maintaining its fundraising results,
but in substantially increasing them. In a time where most
non-profits considered merely “hanging in there” a
triumphant success, the NJ Metro Chapter achieved results
that would be considered admirable for any company, during
any economic period.
Even more impressive, the New Jersey Metro Chapter of the
National Multiple Sclerosis Society was able to achieve
these increases while actually cutting its overall marketing
budget from the previous year – a strong endorsement for the
power of public relations to “move the needle” for any
organization.
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