CANCER COUNCIL
DAFFODIL DAY
2014
Executive Summary
In the practise of public relations, tactics are used to achieve the goals of the client, organization, or campaign. There are many types of objectives employed from the use of experiential marketing to media campaigns to social media campaigns. Some tactics have a short life cycle where others are ongoing. What makes a tactic is the planning and research used to decide the best plan of action and the evaluation.
The most important part of any tactic is the verification of its success during the evaluation period. Being able to justify the success of the tactic gives the client their ROI.
Using the RACE formula (Research, Action, Communication, and Evaluation) to define the public relations process would describe the implementation of tactics in the communication period. Tactics are the communications that public relations professionals use to persuade and reach their objectives in order to peruse the goal of their clients.
The Cancer Council of Australia uses many strategic tactics in order to achieve their communication goals of raising awareness and persuading people to donate. The Cancer Council of Australia created Daffodil Day to further many of the charity’s goals. The creation of Daffodil Day is a tactic employed by the Cancer Council of Australia. The event (Daffodil Day) is charitable subsidiary of the Cancer Council of Australia with its own set of objectives and tactics.
This paper will examine some of the tactics used by Daffodil Day. The event used both verbal and written tactics in order to achieve their objectives and the objectives of their parent charity.
The Role and Purpose of Tactics
The definition of Public Relations is the act of communication to build a client or organizations image. Public Relations is a slow process of shifting impressions, attitudes and opinions of a variety of publics. Successful public relations practitioners build relationships based on transparent communication and respect. The tactics used by public relations practitioners are only a small part of their work. Primary and secondary research of the client, organization and the targeted audiences along with evaluation research is the greater part of the responsibilities of public relations (Wilcox, 2006).
The role of public relations tactics is to communicate in order to raise awareness, acceptance and to cause action. The tactics used are the visible part of an extensive communications plan built on a solid foundation of research (Johnson, Zawawi, 2009, p. 238-267). The tactics are carefully constructed based on the organization’s needs and their optimal targeted audience. The final invisible stage of any public relations campaign is the evaluation period. RACE is the acronym used to describe the process public relations professionals use to create a campaign plan.
Research, Action Planning, Communication and Evaluation.
During the communication period, tactics are employed to reach the campaign objectives. Those objectives will have a goal of raising awareness, acceptance or to initiate action from the targeted audience. Smart public relations practitioners use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) objectives. The role of tactics are to achieve the set objectives in the timeframe the objective allows. Tactics are satisfied when during the evaluation they have met or exceeded their objectives (Wilcox, 2006).
Susan Fry had the incredible opportunity to sit down with the grandfather of public relations himself, Edward Barneys and shares the insight she gained during the interview. Barneys headed the legendary Ivory soap campaign in 1920. Proctor and Gamble noticed that children hated soap and wanted to change their image. Barneys implemented a sculpture contest to make soap carving fun. In the first year, alone 21 million children entered the contest. The result was a significant rise in soap sales and a new image for soap in the minds of children (Fry, 1991).
Those same principals used by Barneys are being used in public relations tactics today. The identification of the needs of an organization furthered by the identification of the underlying attitudes and beliefs of the targeted audience are used to create strategic tactics that raise awareness, acceptance or trigger action. As suggested by Grunig, & Hunt in the book titled Public Relations techniques the key to creating motivating tactics is to understand what triggers the audience. The use of emotional triggers in public relations tactics is used to shift the audience’s attitude from being inactive to being passive. That shift in the emotional state of the audience is key to the success of a campaign (Grunig, & Hunt,1994). Wilcox later drew upon the theories offered by Grunig & Hunt in his book Public Relations and Media Techniques. Wilcox added to the theories of Grunig & Hunt suggesting that tactics and strategies need to reflect the audience’s level of interest.
PRSA’s Bronze Anvil Awards honour the most outstanding public relations tactics implemented. The Coca-Cola Company won awards for their online video tactics. With less than three weeks to prepare, plan and develop a video to present at the World Economic Forum the only thing that could add to the crunch was the holiday season. The team worked tirelessly to create a video that would reach their goals. The group had three objects. Firstly, establish the company’s concept of sustainable communities. Secondly, inform viewers of Coco-Cola's contributions supporting communities around the globe. Thirdly, give viewers an optimistic feeling about public-private partnerships bringing change. The short video was able to achieve all objectives even with such a tight deadline and small budget (Battenberg, et. al., 2007, pp. 28).
What does this mean for public relations tactics? Short videos can communicate a great deal of information and infuse the message with emotion. Daffodil Day followed in this same practise with their use of YouTube videos to not only inform their audience but to also create an emotional appeal. All three organizations (Proctor and Gamble, Coca-Cola Company, and Daffodil Day) used audience research to strategize their tactics in order to inflict the greatest ripple of change. In all three campaigns only the tactics are visible to the public the research, objectives and evaluation are the invisible foundation that drives the campaigns success.
Written Tactics
http://daffodilday.com.au/
Verbal Tactics
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