USA Swimming Foundation
Influencer & Media Relations Campaign Engaged Hispanic Community in National Water Safety Tour
Project Snapshot
Challenge
Minority youth are more likely to drown than Caucasian kids, but it’s preventable
Solution
Conducted targeted blogger outreach, developed compelling articles and collateral, and managed media relations
Results
Secured 1,366 media placements, reaching an audience of 39 million; achieved 640,000 social media impressions
Challenge
The USA Swimming Foundation charged GFM with garnering media coverage and generating social media engagement about a six-city water safety tour, with the ultimate goal of educating parents and children on the importance of water safety.
Solution
GFM launched the initiative with a satellite media tour over Memorial Day weekend to coincide with the summer opening of community pools. Simultaneously, GFM conducted targeted outreach to national and Hispanic mom blogs, asking for help in promoting the importance of teaching children how to swim. GFM also developed an article titled, “A safe summer starts with proper water safety for children” that was distributed in both English and Spanish through a national news service.
The six-city Make a Splash tour kick-off, swim clinics and ConocoPhillips involvement were announced through a national press release and further supported through the development and distribution of extensive collateral, such as key messages, fact sheets, local media advisories and press releases. GFM tapped a partner agency that specialized in minority public relations to conduct National and local minority media outreach. GFM was onsite in all six cities to arrange and manage print/broadcast interviews and photo shoots.
All efforts were supplemented with extensive social media activity, which involved posting updates and photos and engaging with the public through Facebook and Twitter.
Results
The campaign exceeded the goals set forth by both ConocoPhillips and USA Swimming. GFM secured 1,366 media placements through national and local media outlets, including Café Mom, St. Louis Dispatch, WTVJ NBC Orlando and KRQE CBS/FOX Albuquerque, reaching an audience of more than 39 million, surpassing the goal of 30 million.
Social media impressions topped 640,000 and included a 77 percent increase in fans on the Make a Splash Facebook page and more than 300 tweets featuring #makeasplash. More than 98 percent of the articles mentioned ConocoPhillips, surpassing the sponsor’s goal of 80 percent.