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Lunenburg 250
The Grand Family Reunion
Preliminary Communications Plan
Prepared 13 April 2001
Betty Dobson
Introduction
First of all, it’s important to understand what it will take
to bring our event to the public’s attention. There are four key elements,
which can be described in the following way:
Imagine a circus is coming to town.
Posters start appearing on trees and lampposts. That’s
ADVERTISING.
The circus arrives in town and they march the elephant down
the middle of the main street. That’s PROMOTION.
The elephant breaks into the mayor’s garden and eats his
prize rosebushes. That’s PUBLICITY.
You get the mayor to smile about the incident. That’s PUBLIC
RELATIONS!
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Strategy
There are four steps involved in the Communications Planning
process. These will be described, in thumbnail fashion, in the rest of this
strategy. They are:
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Research
As part of the development of this phase of the project, the standard
journalistic questions come to mind:
 | Who are we trying to reach?
| What are we offering them?
| When are we going to reach them?
| Where are we going to target our messages?
| Why are we undertaking the exercise?
| How do we use communications techniques reach our
goals? |
| | | | |
Who are we trying to reach?
The primary target audiences include descendants of Lunenburg's First
Families, persons with an interest in local history, academics, visitors to the
area, and people living and working in the Lunenburg area.
What are we offering them?
We’re offering an X-day long festival celebrating our Lunenburg roots, with
a wide variety of activities geared for people of different ages and interests.
When are we going to reach them?
The communications strategy will kick into place as soon as the date for the
actual event is set.
Where are we going to target our messages?
This involves compiling a major database of local, national, and
international media, historic associations, and genealogical societies, and
implementing a comprehensive communications strategy to publicise the event.
Why are we undertaking the exercise?
To celebrate the founding of Lunenburg in 1753...a celebration, the core of
which is a genealogy of the region.
How do we use communications techniques reach our goals?
This involves a variety of methods - regular news releases, contact with
media, arranging interviews with key members of the organisational team prior to
the event and during it, an advertising strategy, developing a logo, display
booth, and other communications tools.
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Planning
Communications is a planned activity. In the case of Lunenburg 250,
communications activities need to be divided into three areas.
| Pre Event - this period begins immediately and runs up until the beginning
of Lunenburg 250.
| During the Event - making sure that there is lots of interest from the
local media and coverage during the event.
| Post-Event - thanking people for support, releasing attendance figures,
and discussing the legacy of Lunenburg 250. |
| |
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Pre-Event Execution
The timeline for pre-event publicity is as follows:
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Date
|
Activity
|
|
May 2001
|
Development of a Corporate Identity for Lunenburg 250. Use Bryan
Keddy's logo to establish a consistent look that communicates the event
on a variety of communications vehicles: letterheads, business cards,
brochures, signage, printed folders, T-shirts, lapel pins, displays,
etc.
|
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May-June 2001
|
Initial release announcing the dates of Lunenburg 250.
|
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June 2001
|
Contact German Embassy, German Consulate in Halifax, and
German-Canadian Association of Nova Scotia to promote interest in our
event. Also explore potential involvement of Halifax's German Heritage
Language School.
|
|
Summer 2001
|
News conference to officially unveil the logo and kick-off the
countdown to Lunenburg 250. If we have been able to enlist someone as
our patron, it would be appropriate to have him/her there to officially
unveil the logo.
|
|
Fall 2001
|
Development of brochures, fliers (one idea might be a card that can
be quickly and easily printed that is an invitation to Lunenburg 250
that people can slip into their Christmas cards), and other preliminary
communications materials.
|
|
Ongoing
|
Develop a series of communications vehicles targeted primarily
towards local media to generate interest. This could take the form of
backgrounders and stories about the First Families. These should only be
about a page or two pages in length.
|
|
Ongoing
|
Periodic news releases and public service announcements about the
progress of plans, the types of activities that are being organised,
calls for volunteers, announcement of prominent guests/guest speakers,
etc. Our target market is the regional media, with some information
going to national and international media (dependent on the subject
matter of the release).
|
|
Ongoing
|
Updates to identified periodicals - I’ve begun to compile a list of
genealogical publications for a mailing list.
|
|
Ongoing
|
Identify key media to enlist in publicising our cause. These include:
| Duane Lowe (Global)
| Sandra Devlin (syndicated columnist)
| Elizabeth Barkley-Lapointe (Genealogy Canada Online)
| Rick Roberts (Global Genealogy Conferences & Workshops &
The Global Gazette)
| Family Tree Magazine
| Costas Halavrasos (CBC Radio)
| Peter Duffy (The Chronicle-Herald)
| Terry Punch (genealogical columnist on Maritime Noon)
| Eastman’s On-line Genealogy Newsletter
| Community Vision (the publication of the Association of Community
Business Development Corporations)
| Nova Scotia Heritage Trust newsletter
| editors of local genealogical newsletters, etc. |
| | | | | | | | | | |
I have a German contact working on a media list for the region of
origin of the First Families so we can target that market.
|
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Spring/Summer 2002
|
Advance publicity geared towards visitors to the Lunenburg area as an
invitation to come back and join the fun in the year 2003.
|
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Fall 2002
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Place Lunenburg 250 information in provincial tourism publications
for 2003 guides.
|
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Fall 2002
|
Friendly reminder via news release or some other vehicle, in time for
people to include the Lunenburg 250 info on their Christmas cards.
|
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Ongoing
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Investigate ways to spread the news, such as examining available
funding from government agencies (particularly for promotional materials
and other marketing assistance).
|
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Spring 2003
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Final media push announcing final arrangements for Lunenburg 250.
|
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Spring 2003
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Preparation of press kits for distribution to local and provincial
media.
|
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Spring/early Summer 2003
|
Final news conference to announce the line-up of events, logistical
information, registration figures (if really positive), special guests,
etc.
|
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Execution During the Event
The success of the coverage we receive during the event hinges a good deal on
the preparation we have given the media in the period before. Members of the
media are continually filing away interesting titbits that come their way and
will use and re-use that material or return to that source on more than one
occasion.
I would recommend organising daily media alerts during the Grand Reunion -
basically a one- to two-page "Here’s What’s Happening at Lunenburg
250", with appropriate contact numbers, information on photo opportunities,
brief bios of guest speakers, etc., that can be distributed the evening before.
Newsroom staff gather every morning, generally around 10 a.m., to determine the
line-up for the day’s major news broadcasts or the next day’s newspaper,
then assignments are handed out. Therefore, having the day’s line-up in front
of them every morning will make the assignment editor’s job easier! A small
"Here’s What’s Happening at Lunenburg 250" insert in Halifax and
Lunenburg area newspapers would be helpful.
It would be terrific if we can get live coverage with broadcasters doing
their shows right at the event. Programs such as ATV’s Breakfast Television
and Live at Five do live remotes during the summer time, so they should be
approached. The other major broadcasters very rarely do remotes, however there
is no harm in approaching them to see if they might be interested, or at least
assign one journalist to cover the event.
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Post Event
The idea, once the event is over, is not to fold our tents and quietly slip
away. It’s essential that we, as a committee, do some post-event evaluation
and as part of that, provide details about the success of the event to the local
community. That involves releasing available details on:
| Number of attendees
| Number of rooms that had been filled
| Economic spin-off to the area
| Legacy projects as a result of Lunenburg 250 |
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Conclusion
This is a preliminary roadmap for your consideration. As the event evolves,
this document will evolve as more and more avenues for communicating and
promoting this event appear.
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