REICH COMMUNICATIONS

What We Do: Engaging Young People in Creating Safety Messaging

The National Road Safety Foundation, my client, has been creating materials to talk to young people about safe driving behavior for more than 55 years.  It began with literature and a film about drinking and driving, and it evolved into videos, supported by Powerpoints, literature and lesson plans covering topics ranging from speed and aggressive driving to drowsy driving and, more recently, distracted driving.

The programs are solid and they’ve been used in thousands of classrooms nationwide, as well as in presentations in communities by police, healthcare people and young people themselves through groups like SADD.

For many years, the programs were conceived by us, a group of adults working with our filmmaker.  Except for young people we used as actors, there was little if any youth involvement in developing programs that were aimed primarily at teens.  

That began to change several years ago when we were thinking of creating a video about distracted driving.  We knew what the message should be – don’t talk on the phone or text while driving – but we weren’t sure how to frame the message so it would connect with young people.  Should we focus on gloom & doom – the tragic results of a distracted driving crash?  Should we tell real-life stories?  What about things like music or humor? (Yes, humor, even for a serious subject.)

We pulled together a focus group and spoke with teens to see what kept them awake and interested, what motivated them hear and listen to our message, what bored them and what turned them off totally.  Our video “Generation tXt” proved popular and it’s still in use.

We then took it to the next step, to engage young people in actually creating the messaging and the videos.  We’ve been doing a series of contests where we invite teens to submit a script, storyboards or a written treatment describing a 30-second video (a TV public service announcement) on various safe driving issues and our producer works with them to film the public service message. 

Sometimes we also go directly to schools to work with students to create videos.  Earlier this year, we wanted to do another student-driven video, and I pushed to go to my alma mater, Mount Vernon High School.  We met with the TV Production teacher, Steven Galazzo, and he was excited to give his kids a chance to work with us  and our Emmy Award-winning director Alan Weiss, who produces the nationally-syndicated weekly show “Teen Kids News.”

After a couple of meetings with the class, a theme was selected and a script developed.  The idea was to talk about drinking and driving and the importance of not giving in to peer pressure.  Kids were selected to act in the piece, and other students served as extras, a student director and videographer.

I spent last Thursday at Mount Vernon High School, watching some great kids as they rehearsed and then did take after take until we got the footage we needed.  After a full day, the kids cheered when the student director, Stephan Johnson, a senior who conceived the spot with fellow seniors Jayda Pickett and Jannah Sharpe, called out “It’s a wrap!”                                                                                      

The video will be edited down to a 30-second spot that will air on 160 TV stations on “Teen Kids News” and also on other stations around the country when we distribute it for broadcast.     

When the piece is ready for air, I’ll post it here. 

I’m happy I was able to bring a this project to my old school and I hope the young people involved learned something while having fun.   

 

 

   at right, from The Journal News

When PR and Marketing Converge ... Cause-Related Marketing

 

PR and marketing converge in a tactic known as cause-related marketing.  A marketer ties its marketing efforts to a cause -- a charity, a social cause, a cultural organization or even a social movement.

Sometimes, the logic for a tie between marketer and cause is tenuous at best.  And every so often the tie is so perfect that it borders on brilliant.

I'm fortunate that early in my career I was involved in a cause-related program that made perfect sense.  In the late 1970s when I ran PR for hosiery pioneer L'eggs, we developed a tie-in with women's running, just as it was becoming "acceptable" for women to exercise and sweat.  A series of 10K women-only races in ten cities led to the L'eggs Mini Marathon in Central Park. With several thousand women participating in what was then the largest women's sporting event anywhere, it solidified the relationship between many women and what became the best-selling hosiery brand.

Yesterday, another cause-related related marketing campaign launched, with a brilliantly logical connection.

Wyndham Hotels, the world's largest hotel company, announced #JourneySafe, a new program from its Super8 hotel brand, to educate people about something that claims as many as 5,000 lives a year in the U.S. alone -- drowsy driving.

It's so logical for this company, which has thousands of clean and safe places where a fatigued driver can stop and get some sleep.  But after talking with some Wyndham execs, it's clear that this effort is also a highly personal one, which be makes the connection even more genuine.  Like about a third of all drivers, some Wyndham execs have experienced drowsy driving to the point of actually dozing behind the wheel.  So they know first-hand how scary and sobering it can be, not to mention how dangerous.

The #JourneySafe campaign will build awareness of dangers of drowsy driving, with signs to recognize fatigue and tips on how drivers can avoid driving drowsy.  A key part of the campaign is a cute video that uses dashboard dolls to warn drivers.

It’s good business when marketing and an important cause combine.  

And the winner is... ABC

 

Big events like the Super Bowl, the Grammy’s and the Oscars traditionally were must-watch TV, pulling in giant audiences for the nationwide live broadcasts.  But for the last several years, these events have not been a guarantee for a huge audience, which has been troubling for both the network carrying the event and for the advertisers spending in the millions per 30-second spot. 

The Academy Awards last Sunday proved to be a winner – not only for Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody and Roma, but for ABC as well.

The ratings were up by 11.5 percent over last year’s Oscars telecast, drawing in 29.6 viewers.  And the event was profitable for ABC, which sold out all its available time in the telecast.  The network earned about $120 million during the program, with 30-second spots going for more than $2.8 million.

For comparison, the Grammy’s brought in about $95 million for CBS.  Approximately 30 million tuned in for the broadcast.  Super Bowl, which was the least-watched Super Bowl in ten years, still drew a super audience of 98.2 million – dwarfing the Grammy’s and Oscars combined.  Ad revenues for CBS were down five percent from a year ago, but still came to a hefty total of more than $385 million. The typical spot cost between $4.6 and $5.2 million.  

Pfft… a bundle, gone in 30 seconds.

What We Do: New Jersey Home Show

The New Jersey Home Show opens today and runs through Sunday, featuring more than 200 exhibitors showing lots of ideas and products for home remodeling and decorating.  It's at the New Jersey Convention Center in Edison, less than an hour's drive from Manhattan.

We're doing PR for the New Jersey Home Show and in addition to lots of exposure in area papers and online sites, we had a busy morning of TV for one of the show's featured speakers, designer Laurie Smith of the popular TLC series "Trading Spaces."

Laurie did live spots on the hot streaming channel Cheddar News and then on WNBC-TV's "New York Live."

She'll be doing sessions at the Home Show Friday and Saturday, giving tips for decorating on a budget, and take questions from the audience.  Click here for more info.  And click here to see the spot from "New York Live."

                               above: interview at Cheddar

above:  NBC4 New York Live with hosts

Jacque Reid (l) and Sara Gore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

at Cheddar: David, Laurie Smith and Eric Udler, organizer of the New Jersey Home Show

Super Bowl = Super Ad Showcase

 

CBS says ads for Super Bowl LIII are more than 90 percent sold out, with just over two weeks to go.  And title sponsorships have been sold for each hour of pre-game and post-game shows.

Marketers are shelling out more than $5.2 million for a 30-second spot.

CBS expects the extravaganza in Atlanta to bring in $500 million, topping the $414 million that NBC earned for last year's Super Bowl.

Understandably, CBS will milk the event for all they can get.  Starting at 11:30 a.m. eastern, with seven hours of pre-game shows.  They'll be covering the game with 115 cameras, including four with live augmented reality graphics.  CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus says the broadcast "will look as innovative as any broadcast in history."

For many people, Super Bowl is as much about the ads as it's about the football.  Top advertisers this year are automotive, beer and beverage, movie studios and technology companies.  Returningf advertisers include Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, Doritos, Avocados from Mexico (even with tariffs), and WeatherTech.

 

 

Going to Pot

TV news this morning showed long lines of people in the rain as they waited for the first legal recreational marijuana shops to open in Massachusetts, the latest state to make recreational pot legal.  It's the first state east of the Mississippi that's gone legal, although several more are expected to follow in the coming years.

As a child of the '60s, I sometimes wonder why it's taken so long.  Back in the day, it seemed like the majority of young people smoked pot.  Many of us thought as our generation became adults and took the reigns of power in business and in politics, pot would eventually become legal.  We knew it wouldn't be overnight, but nearly 50 years?

In grad school, I wrote a paper on how the big tobacco companies would market pot once it became legal, and I recall some research that showed Big Tobacco already had taken copyrights on brand names like Acapulco Gold.  Back then, experts were saying pot would be legal in about ten years.

Two years ago, while in Seattle on business, I walked past a pot store.  Curious, I went inside, expecting to walk into a dark and smoky den.  Instead, it was brightly lit with beautiful displays and counter and after counter of cannabis products and related paraphernalia.  The saleswoman, nicely dressed, could tell I was overwhelmed and asked what kind of high I was looking for.

What kind of high?  Huh?

She explained there were products that would relax me, make me feel wide awake, give me the munchies and lots of other types of effects.  I bought a chocolate bar that was supposed to make me feel mellow.  I ate it and... nothing.

But that shopping experience was a far cry from the days when your retailer was a friend of a friend, and you never knew what to expect when you took a toke.

Adweek recently devoted an entire issue to what it called "Flower Power."  The cannabis industry is expected to grow to some $200 billion.  I'm not sure if R.J. Reynolds or whatever else remains of the big tobacco companies have any holdings in cannabis companies, but Constellation Brands, which has Corona and Modello among the beer brands it imports, recently offered $4 billion to buy Canopy Growth, a Canadian cannabis producer that is the world's largest, producing mainly medical marijuana at this point. Clearly, Constellation sees some real potential in the marketplace. 

I did some publicity about two years ago for a guy who wrote a book called Pot Luck that explained and extolled the benefits of medical marijuana.  It was a good read and did a good job explaining how herbal alternatives including cannabis often -- but not always -- offered relief or cures where traditional medicine didn't.

As someone who works in the traffic safety field, I am also seeing evidence of more crashes in states where pot has become legal.  Unlike when you're drunk, you can be high and still manage -- or think you're managing -- to drive safely.  But reaction time is slowed and if something happens quickly on the road, a high driver -- an impaired driver -- may have a problem.

So I think that, along with legalization, should come a public education campaign to make drivers aware of the dangers of driving while high.  We've done it for alcohol over he years, so why not help people understand the risks of driving while high.  It can help those who want to indulge do it safely, without putting everyone else on the road at risk.

 

 

What We Do: Vision Zero Cites Conference

 

Some 350 leading traffic safety experts, advocates, elected officials and members of the public from across the nation and around the world are meeting at Columbia University’s Lerner Hall today, Nov. 7, to share best practices for preventing traffic deaths and injuries.  It's the fourth Vision Zero Cities conference, presented by Transportation Alternatives. 

 

I'm proud to say I've been invited to be part of a panel, talking about ways to get young people involved in traffic safety messaging.  I'll be talking about our work for The National Road Safety Foundation, which sponsors several contests that encourage young people to create messages about teen driving issues like distracted driving, impaired driving, speeding and drowsy driving.  We'll explain how we've developed partnerships with youth advocacy groups, schools and media to get kids involved in the important work of saving lives on our roads.

 

Vision Zero is a multi-national traffic safety project that aims to achieve a highway system with no fatalities or serious injuries.  It started in Sweden 20 years ago and is now in dozens of American cities including New York.

Trick or Treat

 

Americans will spend $9 billion on Halloween this year, says the National Retail Federation.

The group’s annual Halloween spending survey found 70 percent of us will celebrate, whether partying, attending parades or hayrides, trick-or-treating or just staying be at home handing out candies and goodies to goblins who come to the front door.

For kids, the favorite costumes will again be princesses for girls and super-heroes for boys.  Adults who dress up will favor witches, vampires, zombies and, of course, sexy nurses.  Even pets get in the act, with bumble bees, hot dogs and pumpkins expected to be the most popular doggie outfits.

The average store-bought costume runs about $45, the National Retail Federation says.

When I was a trick-or-treater, back in medievel times, most kids made their costumes -- usually helped by their moms.  I remember going as a ghost (in an old bed sheet), a hobo (in dirty tattered clothes and smudged makeup on my face), a witch (with a mop head for hair and a homemade cone hat).  The only store-bought item might have been a mask.

 

                                                             My grandpup Martin in costume

One year I went as a robot.  I had rescued a big cardboard carton, maybe from a refrigerator, and Mom  helped me cut out holes for my arms and head.  Dials and gauges were made from tin foil and my face was covered with silver-colored makeup.  It was pretty impressive.

But as I tried to get through the front door, I got stuck.  Although we had been able to squeeze the carton through when it was empty, once I was in it with my arms sticking out, it was too wide. 

It definitely hampered my candy collecting, but it was a Halloween I still remember.

It should be interesting to see how many, if any, homemade costumes I see in my doorway tonight.

 

A cautionary note: NHTSA says kids are twice as likely to get hit by a car on Halloween, so drive carefully and stay alert.

 

 

Shorter is Better - For TV Ads

Shorter TV ads get more viewer attention than longer ones.  That's what research recently reported by Television News Daily says.

Ten-second ads get about ten percent more attention than 30-second spots, and 20 percent more than 60-second ads.

This doesn't seem like earth-shaking news.  To me, it sort of stands to reason.  A shorter ad is less of an intrusion. 

The challenge, though, for a shorter ad is you have less time to draw and hold the viewer's attention, and less time to get across a convincing marketing message.  Shorter ads might be used in combination with the more traditional 30s or 60s, which have the time to get across the marketing pitch, while the short 10-second spots can serve to keep the brand name out there and possibly remind viewers of the longer ads that have the full marketing info.

We've been seeing short ads -- some even less than 10 seconds -- on the internet for years as pre-roll for online content.  But for those online ads to be seen, marketers need to hook the viewer in the first few seconds so he or she will want to keep watching, rather than click on "Skip Ad."  That's where real creativity comes in... or not.

 

Ads We Like and Those We Hate

 

My wife is participating in a focus group and as a prep question she was asked to list some ads she likes and some she doesn't like. 

We talked about it and we both agreed we love the "Dog Tested" campaign Subaru is running, showing dogs in various situations.  I could watch those ads over and over and, in fact, I've stopped the fast-forward on our DVR so I could watch one of those ads for perhaps the 20th time.

The other question was: what ads do we hate?

Two insurance ads topped out list.  Aflac, for the annoying Aflac duck.  At least they don't use Gilbert Gotfried's grating voice any more, but the voice is still annoying. 

The other ads are the seemingly non-stop pitches from Geico.  Some are funny the first time and maybe even the second time.  But Geico, which is by far TV's biggest advertiser, has them running all the time and everywhere, it seems.  So we hate them because of overexposure.

Now to the key question... Would I buy a Subaru because of the ads, and would I not buy coverage from Geico or Aflac for the same reason?  Hard to say, since many other factors would be in play.  For a car, it would be things like price range, style and comfort, reputation.  For insurance, it would be price and reputation -- reputation not based on the ads but on word-of-mouth regarding how they respond when you have a claim.  But, all other things being equal, I would avoid a company whose ads I hate.  I've done it before with banks.