Englert 1

Ethan Englert
Dr. Gael Cooper
PRL 365.NO1
21 April 2014
Best Practices-Media Relations
A best practice can be described as a methodology or approach that almost always
delivers improved performance within a company. When a company defines their best practice,
they need to make sure their best practice can be clearly defined and measurable. It is not
uncommon for best practices to be comparable between companies. With common best practices
between companies, this means that a companys performance measures have been well
established. When a new best practice emerges within a company, it can be quickly identified as
an actual best practice or if it should be overlooked. When dealing with media relations, there
are three out of five common best practices that can be applied to that of a media relations
campaign: Rolling Forecast/Continuous Planning, Value Planning, and Balanced Scorecard
(What).
Rolling Forecast/Continuous Planning
The concept of a rolling forecast or continuous planning can be based on the premise that
a media relations campaign should constantly be planned and not just have an initial plan in
action (What). Energizer in partnership with Safe Kids Worldwide showed a great concept of
rolling forecast in their Battery Controlled campaign. When the campaign launched in
September, 2014, Energizer along with Safe Kids Worldwide released an article in USA Today
that directed readers to their website at TheBatteryControlled.com to help spread awareness of
the dangers of button batteries in smaller electronics that are more commonly being found in

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todays households. There was information on their website that directed readers to satellite
media tours in the month of October. Throughout the duration of their campaign, Safe Kids
Worldwide provided consistent community outreach in all their local chapters to spread
awareness of the dangers of button batteries in the months of December through May. To make
sure the information would stick with their consumers, there was a second awareness video that
was launched in July (Energizer).
Another great example of Rolling Forecast can be found in Old Spices campaign
Dikembe Mutombos 4 Weeks to Save the World. Old Spice teamed up with their Public
Relations team and video game designers to develop and interactive online video game that had
different levels to save the world upon its impending doom that was to come on December 21,
2012. To keep consumers interested in the video game, Old Spice and their team unleashed a
new level each week that players would have to beat in order to advance to the next level. By
planning and unleashing a new level each week that featured current things that were happening
in the world at that time (i.e. the Gangnam Style dance) Old Spice was able to keep their
consumers interested in the game while keeping their well-known cool factor of their products
(Old Spice).
Value Planning
Value Planning is a unique approach to any Public Relations campaign. Value Planning
is when a Public Relations team looks at an entire processfrom the strategy of the campaign to
its executionas a single system to drive improved results within a company. Value Planning
has been named the meat and potatoes approach to better planning for a campaign (What).
Again, Old Spice shows great Value Planning when they were designing the online video game.
The premise of the video game was based on the Mayan prophecy that the world was going to

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end on December 12, 2012. Old Spice and their public relations team identified some potential
cultural sensitivities that might be involved with designing a video game that was based on the
ancient Mayan prophecy. In order to make sure no ones feathers were ruffled with the idea of
this video game, Old Spice contacted their global agency partners to assess the Public Relations
risks that could arise with unleashing a Mayan-themed video game. Old Spice also drafted a
watch-outs document that was based on Old Spices existing guidelines. By assessing the
campaign as a whole (recognizing the potential problems and how to further execute the levels in
the video game) they were able to unleash a successful campaign (Old Spice).
Balanced Scorecard
The Balanced Scorecard is designed to get Public Relations managers to think beyond the
financial grounds of their company (What). Along with Rolling Forecast, The Battery
Controlled campaign also showed a Balanced Scorecard by trying to raise awareness of the
dangers of these small button batteries. Before launching the Battery Controlled Campaign,
Energizer noticed children six and under were at the greatest risk for ingesting these small button
batteries found in electronics. In order to have an emotional impact on parents in their campaign,
Energizer included the true story of Emmett Rauch, a young boy who swallowed a button battery
and has experienced the devastating side effects, in a full page article in USA Today. The results
of this campaign greatly shifted parental attitudes towards electronics and button battery
ingestion. The campaign also provided safety tips to parents in order to prevent their young
children from accidentally swallowing a button battery (Energizer).
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also showed a great example of a Balanced Scorecard
in their Earth Hour campaign. The Earth Hour campaign was a creative, non-traditional
communications campaign. The WWF administered a survey and noticed that 73 percent of

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those surveyed had an interest in current environmental issues. The WWF wanted to reach as
many American citizens as they could in order to take a stand against global warming and
climate change. Specific objectives in their campaign that showed a Balanced Scorecard were to
encourage involvement with the Earth Hour campaign across each level of society, to increase
the World Wildlife Funds visibility on their stance of the issue of climate change and global
warming, and to have a significant and measurable participation in the key flagship cities across
America (Hayes, pg. 65).
I believe another best practice that is a part of any media relations campaign is for a
company to know their target audience and how to appropriately reach them. Targeting the right
audience to promote a product can greatly boost a products sales for a company and establish a
concrete brand for their company. Sometimes, a company with an already existing audience can
reach out to other audiences when implementing their campaign and setting it into motion. For
example, Old Spices campaign does a great job of reaching their target audience. Their existing
target audience is males ages 18-24. With this audience identified, males in this age group are
normally very interested in playing video games. With incorporating the video game into their
campaign, they were also able to reach another audience: video game enthusiasts. Video game
enthusiasts, who were male, might have been influenced to start purchasing Old Spices products
who followed with the levels of Dikembe Mutombos 4 Weeks to Save the World. Also,
Dikembe Mutombo was also a basketball Hall-of-Fame inductee, and by incorporating Mutombo
into their video game, they were able to attract sports enthusiasts as well. Being able to reach
these other audiences outside their already existing audience helped Old Spice maximize their
media impressions made on consumers (Old Spice).

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Energizer and Safe Kids Worldwide also did a great job at identifying their target
audience in their Battery Controlled campaign. Energizer recognized that children ages six
and under were at the greatest risk for ingesting button batteries in home electronics. The
Battery Controlled campaign then targeted parents along with grandparents and any caregivers of
children in this age group. Parents often keep up with the news with circulated newspapers, and
by adding an article about the campaign in the Associated Press and USA Today, that was a great
strategy with directing parents to their website and other forms of media to be informed on the
dangers of button batteries. Fleishman-Hillards database of parents also revealed that parents
are most aware of the dangers they can physically see, such as fire or electrocution. Knowing
this about their target audience helped Energizer with planning their campaign with how to
address the dangers of button batteries and how parents and/or caregivers can be aware of these
dangerous objects. Energizer and Fleishman-Hillard also identified a secondary target audience
as health professionals, health and safety advocates, and parenting groups. Focus groups
conducted with these groups of professionals indicated the importance of a demonstration of the
pervasiveness of these electronics and the growing trend in the accidental ingestion of the
batteries (Energizer).
I believe another best practice that should be implemented with all companies is
recognizing what is important within a community. A campaign will be ineffective if the public
does not have an interest in the companys message or are uninterested in what the company is
trying to achieve. Hampton Hotels Save-A-Landmark Refurbishment at the National Civil
Rights Museum does just that; finds something the community takes an interest in and turned it
into a widely successful media relations campaign. Prior to the release of Hampton Hotels
campaign, they released a survey to over 1,000 participants. The results they found were

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astonishing, showing that nine out of ten Americans believe it was important to maintain the
United States roadside landmarks. The survey also showed that 83 percent of Americans felt
they had an unsaid responsibility to help preserve these historic landmarks.
In preparation for Hampton Hotels Landmark Legends campaign, another survey was
distributed which showed that Americans believed that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the most
notable and legendary figure in all of American History. With these facts being known,
Hampton Hotels launched a campaign to refurbish the National Civil Rights Museum. It had a
connection with King, a captivating national story, a need for a remodel, and there were local
Hampton Hotels nearby to attain enough volunteers for the remodeling project. The results were
phenomenal. Pinpointing something that was so important to Americans and a place that was in
need of a remodel helped this campaign be very successful. Hampton Hotels was the first hotel
chain to be awarded the Preserve America presidential award by the Bush Administration.
The city of Memphis also prepared for the 40th anniversary of Dr. Kings passing, and more than
100 volunteers put forth an estimated 1,000 volunteer hours on different restoration projects all
over the museums property (Hayes, pages 75-76).
In conclusion, best practices are something that should be implemented with every
company in their public relations department. In an area where reputation is everything, it is
important to always be honest with your publics and practice the best behaviors when promoting
a campaign or product. Having a certain best practices standard to work with can immensely
help a company build a strong, positive and ongoing reputation that the publics will recognize for
many years. A best practice does not only include an ethical code of behavior, but it also entails
a public relations firm to be thorough in their research and the work they are performing.
Leaving any small detail out of any campaign can cause a difficult situation for the company that

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could be even more difficult to get out of. Best practices are not just something to talk about,
they are something that should be practiced on a consistent, daily basis by all public relations
practitioners.

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References
Energizer. (2013). Battery Controlled-Protecting Kids from a Hidden Danger. Retrieved from
Public Relations Society of America:
http://www.prsa.org/SearchResults/Download/6BW1305A10/0/Battery_Controlled_Protecting_Kids_from_a_Hidden_D
Hayes, D. C., Hendrix, J. A., & Kumar, P. D. (2013). Public Relations Cases. Boston:
Wadsworth.
Old Spice. (2013). Old Spice and Dikembe Mutombo Save the World in 4 1/2 Weeks with RealTime Digital Video Game. Retrieved from Public Relations Society of America:
http://www.prsa.org/SearchResults/Download/6BW1304A12/0/Old_Spice_and_Dikembe_Mutombo_Save_the_World_in_4
What exactly is a best practice? (2004). Business Credit, 106(1), 39-46. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/230154943?accountid=14752