Meeting Attendees

         
Background and Objectives

The meeting began with a background discussion to bring non-Board Meeting attendees up to speed, and to establish a consensus of what we want to achieve. In sum, the group agreed that:

We want to get to a point where the words “private” and “water” are not linked in a negative way in the minds of the general public. We want to neutralize the general public so that elected officials can propose privatization without fear of a “knee-jerk” negative backlash by the public. We wanted to do more than just reassure the public that their water is safe, but rather communicate that public health is at the heart of the private water community. And, at the end of the day, we want tangible results in the form of research, development of materials, and targeted print ad placements, all on a limited budget of, for purposes of this discussion, say about $200,000-$250,000.

Limited Options

The task assigned to Jay Neel at the previous Board Meeting was to develop a proposal for a “test market” that included conducting a poll, launching an intense ad campaign in a limited geographic area, and polling again to quantify the campaign’s effectiveness. However, Jay Neel determined that with WIC’s limited resources, it would be difficult to formulate a campaign that will have a measurable impact unless that campaign was conducted in a very tight geographic area (one city or county) during a very short timeframe (3-4 weeks). The Committee agreed that investing the entire amount in one city for a brief period of time was not practical. Other options were to use the funding for market research, or use the money to develop prototype ads, videos or other materials to have “on the shelf” that member companies could use at their own expense.

Elements We Liked…

The Committee liked the idea of doing research, liked the idea of developing materials, and discussed the possibility of getting other organizations such as the NAWC, AWWA or Urban Water Council to join in funding the campaign. However, the committee also felt it was important to initiate the advertising campaign on its own, before inviting other organizations to join in, to demonstrate our seriousness in going forward with the campaign, to establish the tone and message of the campaign, and to be able to put something tangible in front of them to graphically demonstrate the power of the printed page.

The Plan

Based on the above discussion, the Committee, with the expert guidance of our media consultants, enthusiastically agreed to propose the following plan to the WIC Board of Directors:

Phase I – Polling Research

To learn the public’s concerns, test messages for effectiveness, identify which audiences respond to which messages, test whatever water industry image might currently exist, find out what is the best way to present ourselves, find out what messages move people to thinking more positively about the industry, find out what messages work most effectively to counter negative messages others may say about the industry, identify which subsection of the population is the most appropriate target and how they respond to different message formulations, etc. Basically, the poll will gather hard evidence that will allow us to develop materials with the right message that we know will move the right audience that matters to public officials. It allows us to know that we are spending our limited dollars in the best possible way: a very focused message aimed at a specific target audience, with proof that the messages will strike a chord and evoke a particular response.

Phase II – Develop Materials

Based on poll results, prepare materials designed to communicate specific messages to specific audiences. Messages/materials could be scaled to talk about issues on a range of levels, starting with the broadest possible common message that other general w/ww groups would be willing to participate in, to very industry-specific messages if WIC ends up going it alone.

Phase III – Focus Groups

Test the materials for greater assurance of their effectiveness. Conduct a limited number of focus groups to gather qualitative data to complement the quantitative data from the poll to show which messages work and which do not, and with which audiences in which format. Hold focus groups in particular geographic areas and/or with particular demographics based on what the poll indicated would be the best target market. Test messages, text, images, method of delivery, etc. Revise materials accordingly.

Phase IV – Lay Down Our Marker

Run a targeted flight of advertising that looks like it is aimed at the general public, but is actually placed in publications that will reach the various trade groups that we want to invite to participate in a jointly funded advertising effort. Time the ads to coincide with these groups’ major national conferences to help generate a “buzz” within the industry. This one flight of ads will demonstrate that we are serious about moving on this with or without them, allows them to see the visual impact in print (ads will be placed in prominent locations within the publications for maximum visibility), will establish our reputation, and we can back it up with quantitative data from the poll demonstrating that this campaign will be effective.

This plan is designed such that if, at any point WIC should decided not to move forward with the next phase of the project, it would still have something tangible that is useful to the organization and the industry as a whole – polling data, materials, focus group results, actual ads in print. The idea is that at each step with have something valuable, and each piece builds on the previous piece to give us something greater than the sum of the parts.

As a corollary to this media plan, there are public relations opportunities for WIC that can be conducted at two stages: (1) after the poll, and/or (2) after the initial run of ads.

Issuing selected results of the poll can serve many purposes – it could generate news stories about public opinions about private water, which gives us the opportunity to deliver our message about quality and value; it establishes WIC as a significant organization doing valuable research on the topic; and it is a way to tantalize other companies or industry groups by letting them know we hold valuable insight into the industry that they do not, and it would behoove them to join us.

We can promote the entire ad campaign and hope to get a news story about the effort. Trade publications would likely pick up the story, but it is not unheard-of for more mainstream press to tune in as well, which gives the ads themselves extra placement mileage by appearing in publications (in news stories) other than those in which we purchased ad space.