May 2008 PR Perspective

PR Perspective
Social Cause Communication: Building Public Will

by Lindsay J. Keller of Metropolitan Group

Public will building is a communication approach that builds public support for social change by integrating grassroots outreach methods with traditional mass media tools. It’s a process that connects an issue to existing, closely held values of individuals and groups. It’s also about creating a long-term attitudinal shift that results in committing to act in order to create change in systems. Most social marketing campaigns are designed to affect public opinion and result in quick, short-term attitudinal adjustments rather than create long-term organizational or social change, which is ineffective for systemic change. Twenty years ago, natural and organic foods were available only in small health food stores. Today, they are available at every supermarket in the country. People smoked in their offices, on public transportation and in other public places. Today we’d be surprised at the sight of someone lighting up in any of those places.

Simply put, public will building:

Connects people to an issue through their existing, closely held values, rather than trying to change people’s values;
Results in long-term attitudinal shifts that are manifested in individuals taking new or different actions that collectively create change; and
Is achieved when a sufficient number of community members and thought leaders have galvanized around an issue to form a new or different set of fundamental community expectations.

The Public Will Framework follows five phases:

PHASE 1: Framing and defining the issue or problem
PHASE 2: Building awareness about problems or needs
PHASE 3: Becoming knowledgeable/transmitting information about where and how the problem can be impacted or changed
PHASE 4: Creating a personal conviction that change needs to occur
PHASE 5: Evaluating while reinforcing

A CASE STUDY

Building public will for high-quality pre-k in DC
I’ll put this framework into play by sharing a case study of a Metropolitan Group (MG) client: Pre-K for All DC. Pre-K for All DC is a nonpartisan public education and advocacy effort launched in June 2006, working to ensure that high-quality pre-kindergarten is accessible, available and guaranteed to all three- and four-year olds in Washington, DC. The campaign is supported and sustained by parents, business and community leaders, the philanthropic community and education reform advocates alike. When MG was retained in July 2007, the campaign had two major goals:

To ensure that all three- and four-year-old children in D.C. can enroll in a high-quality pre-k education program; and
To secure the passage of legislation to fund a high-quality pre-k education system.

Shaping public will on any issue requires a multi-dimensional approach to changing attitudes and impacting behavior. Our approach followed the framework to build public support for the passage of legislation that would fund a high-quality pre-k education system in DC.

PHASE 1: Framing and defining the issue or problem
Background on pre-k in DC
All good strategy starts with research, and Pre-K for All DC shared with MG existing research on the academic, economic and social impacts of high-quality pre-k. It had gathered research to define “quality,” and to assess existing pre-k programs in the city and found that few, if any, met the standards of quality. We were also provided reams of research indicating that students who receive high-quality pre-k are more skilled at reading and math, less likely to be placed in special education or be held back a grade, and more likely to graduate from high school. And, according to Pre-K for All DC’s September 2006 cost/benefit analysis, when children are more successful in school and in life, DC residents will save money.

Media coverage helps define positioning
A media scan of coverage from the first half of 2007 confirmed what most people living in DC already knew: the public schools were failing children. Additionally, we saw that the ambitious DC Public Schools Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, had been given mayoral authority to make radical changes in the K-12 school system and that, in general, media coverage of her work was favorable. Our research informed the positioning for the case we would build: that high-quality pre-k for all three- and four-year-olds in the District is a vital addition to the Chancellor’s plan to reform schools and an investment in our children’s future.

PHASE 2: Building awareness about problems or needs
Many voices, one messageWe recommended harnessing the voice of the collective engaged in the educational reform movement in Washington so that there were standard Pre-K for All DC campaign messages that resonated with target audiences. In other words, we wanted and needed to have many voices, but one message. We built a strong message framework so that each champion/advocate saw their own agenda advanced by their support. We framed the Pre-K for All DC messages in the context of Washington’s existing K-12 educational reform discussions that were taking place in the media and the public arena, so that the campaign goals were aligned with educational reform in the city. We created a sense of urgency and opportunity in our positioning. Not seizing this important educational reform moment was seen as a cost, rather than a benefit so as to motivate the public to act and effect change by supporting Washington, DC, District Council Chair Vincent Gray’s legislation. The legislation was an important milestone of the campaign that we worked towards.

Tying in to the current conversation
We also understood that many in the traditional child care community—home care/child care providers who have provided pre-k services for years—considered Pre-K for All DC a competitor to their own work. Others considered it an education initiative that was a distraction from DC Mayor Fenty’s education reform agenda. To combat this thinking, we framed Pre-K as an entry point for high-quality child education, and we highlighted our partnerships with the child care community in order to gain additional support and add their voice to the movement. We built on the education reform movement that was already capturing headlines and the public’s attention by raising local awareness of Chairman Gray’s legislation, and connecting with D.C. voters through broadened communication vehicles such as elevated media relations and direct outreach with key influencers. We also scheduled one-on-one meetings with council members to ultimately guarantee the passage and unanimous support of the legislation.

PHASE 3: Becoming knowledgeable/transmitting information about where and how the problem can be impacted or changed
Media outreach
MG created a media kit–which included frequently asked questions, a legislation primer, spokesperson biographies and a news release about the legislation. We developed customized pitches to targeted reporters and secured a dozen interviews with members of the media. A bylined article by the campaign co-chairs was sent to community newspapers. We led media training for key spokespersons to help them effectively deliver “the story” and advance support for high quality pre-k in the District. MG drafted and submitted op-eds that were published by the Washington Informer and The Northwest Current. We secured editorial board meetings with the Washington Informer, Washington Examiner and Washington Post, to make a case for favorable, on-message editorials that would influence City Council members. Positive editorials appeared in the Washington Informer and The Washington Post; however the Washington Examiner declined to agree with our position. In response, we drafted a letter-to-the-editor refuting its misleading position. Unfortunately, the publication chose not to publish the letter. MG scripted an audio news release for urban radio audiences and included a strong call to action for voters to support the legislation by encouraging their Council members to co-sign it. We worked with a vendor to place it on local radio stations, and it ran on two top urban radio channels reaching more than two million listeners December 13 -19, just after the legislation was introduced.

PHASE 4: Creating a personal conviction that change needs to occur
Collateral brings it homeMG created Pre-K for All DC’s campaign backgrounder as well as issue briefs about the academic returns of high quality pre-k, its economic impact, the long-term financing of the legislation and how the legislation dove-tailed with current education reform efforts in Washington. We prepared a direct mail supplement that was mailed to 130,000 households in DC, focusing on Wards 1, 5, 7 and 8 - those with the most need for high-quality pre-k. The direct mail piece urged residents to hold their Council members accountable to education and to support the legislation. We focused on immediate action and framed the messages that helped build a stronger base of support with individuals and created a deeper sense of conviction that high-quality pre-k was the necessary starting point for a child’s education. To bring the campaign to life, and into conversations, we created campaign buttons in English and in Spanish to reach Latino residents and designed T-shirts for volunteers and supporters to wear to legislative hearings and other convenings to show united support.

Community partnerships are vital
In addition to securing traditional partnerships with early child care providers, we worked with non-traditional community-based organizations, particularly the Latino and African American-focused organizations, to discuss the needs of children in those communities who do not have access to or knowledge of pre-k services. As a result of our outreach, organizations, including the New Family Childcare Association, the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Fund, asked for a briefing on the issue. In addition, the Federal City Council reached out to the city’s top employers and business organizations to co-sign a letter of support for the legislation. More than 30 CEOs signed on as did the Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade. The letter was submitted to City Council Chairman Gray with copies to the Council.

PHASE 5: Evaluating while reinforcing
Evaluation
MG set measurable objectives including a favorable editorial in The Washington Post, six million media impressions and unanimous support for the legislation. Our evaluation showed that we were successful: The Washington Post published a supportive editorial; and we secured targeted media placements, totaling more than 10 million impressions to increase our audiences’ awareness of the issue.

Ultimate results
DC City Council Chairman Vincent Gray introduced the legislation on Tuesday, December 11, 2007, and it passed with a unanimous vote on May 6, 2008. This historic legislation calls for the improvement of every existing pre-k classroom in the District and expands pre-k availability to ensure every three- and four-year-old has access to high-quality pre-k. Passing this legislation now makes the District of Columbia one of the first places in the nation to take such visionary action in support of children, and brings Pre-K For All DC one step closer to its goal.

Lindsay Keller joined Metropolitan Group, a full service social change agency, in 2006, where, as Communication Director, she plays an integral role in the development and execution of branding, marketing and communication strategies. She previously worked for several national public relations agencies, most recently Manning Selvage & Lee and Levick Strategic Communications. Prior to Levick, she was a communications coordinator for the American Society of Civil Engineers, where she worked on media efforts for the ASCE/WTC report on the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. She currently serves as membership chair for Washington Women in Public Relations and volunteers with Safe Shores—the DC Children’s Advocacy Center. She can be contacted at lkeller@metgroup.com

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