Scottish Government Communications

Clare Smith Head of PR

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Interim head of marketing

PR industry is at a crossroads

“Spin is dead. PR must step up and lead; open up and start talking about the issues that can really transform the

world.”Robert Phillips

Fight the right fight

No

Items 255

Mentions 255

Positive Mentions 247

Negative Mentions 8

Total PR Value £568,104

Circulation 42,736,408

Opportunities to See 60,717,218

Headlines 255

Photographs 97

Dashboard approach reports

Coverage by Topic

41%

6%

53%

CashBack

NKBL

ASB

Tracked Tone of Coverage

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Month

No

of

arti

cles

Negative

Positive

Organ Donation 2011/12 Objectives

Drive registrations and increase the number of Scots on the ODR. Communicate the call to action to ‘Join the NHS Organ Donor

Register now’. Generate extensive media coverage to ensure PR makes a

disproportionate contribution to overall results.

Strategy and tactics Appeal to people’s common sense. Communicate that you are more likely to need an organ

transplant than you are to become a donor. Heighten the sense of urgency encouraging people to sign up now Target over 35s in order to increase the number of donors

available in the near future.

What we did Worked with News colleagues and the Health

Secretary Nicola Sturgeon launched the campaign in October at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

Case studies – humanise the story Stakeholders

The Sun Tuesday 13th December, the front page screamed out

“Save a Life for Cole.” Cole Gibson was an amazing boy who was tragically killed in a car crash the month before. From the age of seven, he’d carried a donor card. Just two years later he was dead but his organs saved four people.

On day two, celebrities such as John Barrowman and Lorraine Kelly were urging Scots to give the gift of life this Christmas.

With a minimum of a double page feature per day, we furnished the paper with stories of eight brave recipients who told how organ donation saved their lives, together with the shared heartache and joy of four families who had lost children.

Outputs Truly integrated pan-campaign from the start PR far outstripped other disciplines in terms of

performance and cost-effectiveness: Generated two thirds of all text responses

across the three month campaign Delivered two and half times more text

responses than TV advertising, field marketing and direct mail combined

At £13.90, PR generated text responses were nearly 1000% cheaper than TV (£131.31)

Outputs Scottish Sun delivered at zero cost, produced

350% more text responses than a national TV advertising campaign achieved over three weeks. On this basis it would take 11 weeks advertising to achieve the same result

Our focus on ‘traditional’ media ensured we captured the over 35 audience

Outcomes – October – December 2011 PR = 1541 text enquiries, 73% conversion rate = 1125 validated new

registrations on the ODR Across all disciplines, 2246 text responses were generated with a 65%

conversion rate. This was compared to 786 over the same October-December period in 2010.

In addition PR generated a further 500 plus registrations via the phone and campaign website

Scotland now has 39.1% of the population on the ODR, breaking through the two million registrations mark, compared to 30% across the whole of the UK.

With extensive media coverage fuelling a PR value in excess of £795,000, our campaign delivered an extremely healthy return of 1:37.

Budget - £21,500 Text LIFE to 61611 to register with your mobile phone –

www.organdonationscotland.org