PR Plan Case: ASPCA

1. PR Plan Case: ASPCA Holly Anderson Deanna Fallon Jeffrey Plank

2. Situation • The ASPCA depends on community support that is given through local SPCA locations. • Problem: Pet overpopulation, low adoption rates and donations, and expenses are factors that prevent the ASPCA from providing effective means to prevent the cruelty of animals. • Driving citizen engagement and activism will help combat this social, cultural, and environmental issue. • Research has shown that creating community awareness will increase the ASPCA’s ability to provide necessary services for the wellbeing of animals.

3. Objectives • The ultimate goal of the public relations plan is to increase community awareness of the ASPCA organizational activities. • By doing so, the plan will generate funds and increase both adoption rates and donations.

4. Target Audience • Portions of the public relations campaign will be directly assigned to visibility of both the community audience and the corporate audience. • The community audience is the main focus of the campaign as this is the largest audience which can help support the organization’s efforts. • The corporate audience is essential to future financial support of the programs and resources and all efforts of the campaign will feature this aspect to the community audience.

5. Target Audience (contd.) • Community audience: That which involves any number of members that reside in a specific locality. Characteristics this audience might share include government as well as cultural and historical heritage. This audience is not limited, but for our purposes, it will most commonly include small segments of the national population. • Corporate audience: That which involves small, medium, and large companies throughout the nation. These companies have a particular interest in associating with the ASPCA in order to create mutual success for themselves and the ASPCA.

6. Strategy • Objectives will be achieved through several strategies. • www.aspcapro.com will be utilized to provide the target audience members with the tools needed to spread the word about the organization and to generate funding for the organization’s mission. • Three events will take place to create buzz about the goals of the ASPCA.

7. Strategy (contd.) • Events Welcome Home: An animal adoption event in which ASPCA volunteers will be available to walk attendees through the process of adoption. ASPCA KIDS: A children’s event that will allow children (with guardians) to bring their family dog or cat along and learn all about pet care. Donation Days: this event will utilize social media outlets to collect as many donations as possible.

8. Strategy (contd.) • The plan will utilize social media outlets Facebook and Twitter by creating “blasts” or short, informational updates to these communities of followers.

9. Tactics • The ASPCA manages a rather large Internet presence and can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/aspca, as well as Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/ASPCA. These are in addition to the home website of the ASPCA By maintaining this online presence, the ASPCA is effectively employing a tactic that keeps their name in the public’s mind while at the same time providing potential donor’s with multiple ways to donate to the organization

10. Tactics (contd.) • The PR plan will include the use of commercials that utilize the images of abused and neglected animals. This tactic will provoke an emotional response from the audience. This is proven to aid in the effort to generate donations

11. Calendar The duration of our campaign is three months. Within each month, we have planned two events. We will utilize varying days of the week in order to accommodate varying schedules of attendees. We will have three different events that will rotate; meaning each of the three events will occur twice.

12. Calendar (contd.) Our calendar of events is as follows: • Friday, January 6, 2012: Welcome Home • Wednesday, January 18, 2012: ASPCA KIDS • Thursday, February 9, 2012: Donation Days • Tuesday, February 21, 2012: Welcome Home • Friday, March 2, 2012: ASPCA KIDS • Saturday, March 17, 2012: Donation Days

13. Budget • We have obtained discounted national television and radio placements, supported by our business sponsorships. Therefore net costs will be in the neighborhood of $11,500 through nationaltvspots.com, a service that provides radio and television advertising at wholesale cost. We will be utilizing two of the rate cards available.

14. Budget (contd.) • Rate card #8: Local Broadcast Network (ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX/CW) –Direct Response in major DMAs (Demographic Areas) of our choosing. Fifty-30 second spots at $128 each. • Rate card #16: Local Radio-Top DMA area of choice. Fifty-30 second spots at $102 each.

15. Budget (contd.) Additional event labor is provided by volunteer forces. Additional costs associated with support of the volunteers are as follows: • Welcome Home: Five volunteers with lunch provided by ASPCA: $87.90 for both events. • ASPCA KIDS: Five Volunteers and one expert director with lunch provided by ASPCA: $105.48 for both events. • Donation Days will require no volunteers as monies will be collected through websites.

16. Research • ASPCA (2011). ASPCA.org Retrieved Nov. 30, 2011 from http://www.aspca.org/About-Us.aspx • About the ASPCA. (2011). ASPCA.org Retrieved Nov. 30, 2011 from http://www.aspca.org/about-us/about-the-aspca.aspx • ASPCA Blog. (2011). MySpace.com Retrieved Nov. 30, 2011 from http://www.myspace.com/officialaspca/blog • ASPCA Policy and Position Statements. (2011). ASPCA.org Retrieved Nov. 30, 2011 • from http://www.aspca.org/about-us/policy-positions/ • History of the ASPCA (2011). How was the ASPCA started? History of ASPCA. Animal Planet. Retrieved Nov. 30, 2011 from http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/animalprecinct/history.html

17. Thank You • We appreciate your time and consideration • We will be happy to provide answers to any questions you may have.

18. How Can You Help Animals? The question we get asked the most is how kids like you can help animals… Join us for a day of education and fun with your pet. To learn how you can help animals. An expert will tell you all about taking care of your dog or cat. You will learn about grooming, feeding, exercising, and more! January 18, 2012 6:30 pm Westerville Community Center Free of Charge Parent/Guardian Must Attend ASPCA