Margot Pantalone
Publications Editor

Patricia Clark
Publications Editor

Misty Anderson
Computer Information Specialist

Charles Denney
Associate Communications Specialist
University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture

Background

Agricultural communicators at the University of Tennessee's Institute of Agriculture began preparing for a special event last summer: the birth of a calf that had been cloned using a technique that differs radically from then-current cloning techniques.

While there was no certainty that the pregnancy would come to term or that the calf would even survive birth much less be healthy, it was clear that plans for an information campaign were needed. The breakthrough in biotechnology presented distinct challenges as well as an opportunity for partnership between the communicators and scientists brought together by the research development.

Scientists normally communicate news of research breakthroughs through publication in refereed journals. The University of Utah's experience in 1989 with cold fusion taught everyone a lasting lesson about the value of the respected if slow path of scientific peer-reviewed communication. However to the communications staff at the University of Tennessee as they considered their circumstances in August 2000, the university's animal cloning research appeared to have dynamics that warranted special consideration. The University of Tennessee animal scientists were apparently neck-and-neck with their counterparts in a neighboring state to achieve a successful birth using the new cloning technique, which had been developed independently and roughly at the same time at each institution. Whoever achieved a live birth first and communicated about it would get the prestige and rewards of success. Whoever got there second .... Well, media and others could scarcely be expected to care about that.

And, more than ever, reputation mattered. The University of Tennessee is engaged in an aggressive campaign to attract greater research funding and create a climate, within a budget-strapped state, that elevates its status to a nationally ranked top tier research institution. Positive and widespread attention about research accomplishments by talented faculty serves that goal and also aids in encouraging talented faculty to remain at the university despite continued budget woes. Thus the university's new administration was eager to see the achievement in animal cloning widely touted.

Another motivation for quick communication had to do with the science itself: The researchers' technique held tremendous promise as a method genetics researchers everywhere could use. The new technique offered scientists a less complicated and potentially unpatentable alternative to the standard method used in existing animal cloning work. That patented process requires researchers using it to pay royalties to a research consortium in Great Britain, which was involved with the creation of Dolly, the cloned sheep.

Taken as a whole these dynamics suggested the need for a publicity campaign focused on immediacy and targeted to multiple audiences: members of the research community for awareness of the cloning technique's methods and success; university alumni, scientific organizations, legislators, and others tied to the university's funding levels; and more generally to media outlets, trade publications, and the public to convey news of a positive and important achievement by university scientists.

And it all depended on the birth and survival of a healthy calf. On August 23, 2000, the calf arrived successfully and in good condition. Everyone was elated. The communications staff soon learned three facts: (1) the calf's greatest periods of risk of death were immediately following birth and around her sixth day of life; (2) the university president wanted to debut the calf at a statewide research gathering, which was scheduled on the calf's sixth day of life, and to have media at the event; and (3) word was spreading fast of the calf's birth despite efforts to keep a blanket of silence over the project. Staff members communications campaign hit high gear.

Method

Preparation for the marketing campaign actually began months before the calf's birth when a communications specialist learned of promising work being done in animal cloning by a team of animal scientists at the institute. The staff member met and interviewed the researchers, as well as associated research deans and other animal science specialists with the institute. She began collecting background material about the work, its context in animal science and related, broader, issues in biotechnology. The relationship she cultivated with the researchers served everyone well, as she was kept apprised of research achievements and setbacks as the two scientists worked toward their goal of achieving a successful live birth.

By early summer, 2000, developments looked promising and, increasingly, it looked like a successful live birth might be achieved. The staff member began routinely sharing status reports on the pregnant cows with others in the communications unit, ensuring people were informed and starting to consider the work that might lie ahead.

As the projected date of the calf's birth approached, a team of print and electronic media specialists took actions in several directions. In meetings they discussed strategies and potential pitfalls of a media campaign announcing the calf's birth. Questions were expected from the media about why the university was engaged in cloning research and whether public money should be used for such work. Concerns were expressed about the abilities of the researchers to work effectively with media: each of the lead scientists is young and had never worked with media on simple stories, much less on potentially explosive ones. Worry was also voiced about the repercussions if a calf was born with deformities. If media were to discover a calf with evident physical abnormalities and if such an animal were photographed, all sorts of negative publicity could erupt.

It became clear that not only was a publicity campaign needed, an educational one was also in order: one that informed the public of the merits and foreseen benefits of animal cloning work and also communicated to important agricultural stakeholders how they and their operations could be expected to benefit. Secondly, it was understood that great care would need to be exercised in precisely what was communicated, when it was communicated, and to whom.

A four-prong campaign emerged in the days leading up to the calf's birth. Print specialists met repeatedly with the scientists to collect information that was organized into backgrounder releases, question-and-answer FAQs, and media alerts. These materials were developed in close collaboration with scientists and shared for review and clearance with top research and academic leaders at the institution. Fact checking also was undertaken. The researchers believed that the calf to be born was to be the first-ever Jersey calf cloned from an adult somatic cell. However they hadn't vigorously researched the issue because the cloning technique was their focus, more so than the breed of cattle in which it occurred. With cold fusion clear in their minds, the print staff worked closely with library scientists to ensure that all relevant data banks were consulted. In the end a vague and difficult-to-confirm reference published in a Japanese-language journal prompted the team to modify the claim and assert that the calf would be the first Jersey successfully cloned in the US from an adult somatic cell.

How to convey the significance of the birth proved to be something of a marketing and public relations challenge. Other calves had been born through adult somatic cell cloning, although none were Jerseys. Other Jerseys had been cloned, but not through the adult somatic cell process. The Tennessee calf, who was named Millennium, "Millie" for short, was the first Jersey to be born through adult somatic cell cloning. That became our marketing message, and it was one that required careful wording in written communication and in interactions with the media.

As the print and marketing specialists wrestled with these issues, electronic specialists began compiling B roll video footage of cows used in the cloning work and other visuals that television organizations could build a segment around. Duplicate tapes containing the footage were prepared to hand to media, and a video release was prepared for Ag Day and other non-local media. Despite the fact that the researchers were now working around the clock to monitor the pregnant cow's condition and guard her health, time was made to allow the media specialists to conduct some quick on-camera media training. Print and electronic media specialists quizzed the researchers on camera, asking questions that were expected to be asked by the media. Some of this footage also became part of the B roll and video news release package.

Viewing the Web as a valuable auxiliary resource, print and web specialists developed a Web site of information that drew upon the written material that had been amassed and linked to relevant departments, biographies, and research information. Visuals and other data, such as the dairy production record of the cow that provided the somatic cell for the calf, were also woven into the site, which was purposefully kept off the Web, including local servers, until the morning of the calf's public debut. (URL: http://web.utk.edu/~taescomm/utclone.html)

The fourth prong of the effort focused on coordinating the event at which the calf would be unveiled. This consisted of working with the university president's event planning staff and the team coordinating a statewide research meeting. It also involved laying out plans to invite the media to the research meeting/news conference event, whose focus on Millie couldn't be announced until morning of the event, a Monday. This was out of concern that the calf might die or that media would storm the university over the weekend in an attempt to gain access to the calf or to the research team, which at that time was intent on monitoring the health of the calf and its birth mother.

The plan that emerged was to use the news conference in a two-step strategy of media relations: first, to invite local affiliates of large media organizations to the event, and second, to work with them to ensure that local stations communicated news of the calf and cloning success up to their parent organizations. Top priority targets for this were the local bureau of the Associated Press, the local Scripps-Howard newspaper, and television news departments with ties to CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS. Secondary targets consisted of print and electronic reporters who had served the Institute well in the past when asked to provide coverage. The campaign formally began with a simple media alert that announced the Institute was having a news conference to debut a Jersey calf clone; and many outlets used the announcement as a news itself.

While achieving a successful debut for the calf at the news conference -- and, God willing, having the calf healthy and happy in front of the gathering -- was the immediate focus, preparation was also underway to directly communicate news of the cloning success to agricultural organizations, cloning research organizations, and important national agricultural media immediately on the heels of the news conference. Lists were compiled of Web site URLs, telephone and fax numbers of these organizations. A news release directed readers to the Web site for additional data and downloadable print-quality images.

Results

While the media and communications campaign was a by-the-seat-of-the-pants effort that synthesized the ideas and experience of a diverse set of communications specialists, the team was surprised to learn after the fact that they had executed a perfect textbook example of a publicity campaign. In the book, Targeting the Message: A Receiver-centered Process for Public Relations Writing (Longman, 1996), William Thompson advocates a 10-step communications process called a "persuasion platform." His model is useful in organizing and presenting the results of the University of Tennessee's cloning campaign:

Step One: Isolate the Institutional Problem
To the communications team, the idea foremost in their work was to communicate news of the cloning achievement and to do it in a way that avoided pitfalls and focused on positives. From the start, however, the greater institutional goals were prominent in the plan, i.e., to position the university and agricultural institute as a leader in research and also to communicate a cloning breakthrough that had significance for reducing the cost of cloning and advancing cloning research programs. These aims were evident from the start, and they directed the campaign's goals and methods.

Step Two: Determine a Campaign Objective
Ours was to achieve widespread publicity quickly so that the University of Tennessee received scientific credit for the cloning technique and increased financial support from funders.

Step Three: Describe the Target Audience
Derived from the institutional problem, the target audiences were the scientific community and key university stakeholders, including grant-making agencies. Secondary targets were the mass media and the general public (in Tennessee, especially the beef and dairy producers).

Step Four: Predict the Persuasion Sequence
Thompson uses a persuasion model that says people make decisions or react to information based on the importance they attach to their decision (high or low consequence) and whether the decision satisfies an emotional or rational need. Understanding how audiences might react to the news of the cloning research helped us shape our messages. For scientists and grant-making agencies involved in cloning research, the news was of high consequence, requiring facts to appeal to the audience's rational needs. However, pieces for the mass media and general public (audiences for whom the cloning had much lower consequence) emphasized the calf's warm-and-fuzzy appeal, followed by facts to back the scientific claims.

Step Five: Define the Persuaders
What were the most persuasive messages? For scientists and funders, it was that UT had the expertise to create a new cloning technique that would benefit the agricultural community and general public. A secondary persuader was to de-commercialize cloning research, breaking the patent lock-hold on the process, thus making this type of research more affordable and open to the research community. For the mass media and public, a primary persuader was that cloning could produce a viable offspring (that happened to be cute). Within Tennessee, the team wanted to inform dairy operators, of course, but also persuade beef operators of the potential cross-over benefit of this research to them in a state with a dwindling number of dairies but a strong and widely dispersed beef industry.

Step Six: Develop the Creative Strategy
The team relied strongly on a model described as tossing a stone into a pond, with rippling communications effects. By working in partnership with local affiliates, the team was able to multiply the impact of the local campaign. The resulting waves brought quick coverage by USA Today, ABC News (including Paul Harvey), CNN, the BBC, and a host of other national and international media. The Web content, which was available to a worldwide audience 24/7, greatly aided in information dissemination and seemingly in intensifying interest in the development. The URL was shared in news stories, and email messages received from site visitors indicated a wide range of individuals, including many members of the general public, were using the site to access information.

Communication products included a schematic of the cloning process, to make the concept clearer and to communicate with specificity to researchers how the breakthrough was achieved. Recognizing the agricultural community's interest, the team also furnished dairy records of the donor cow (the calf's genetic twin and a record milk-producer) at the Web site.

Step Seven: Select the Media
For maximum effect, the team used a variety of media (from low-wattage radio stations to large media organizations and the Web) to distribute the story. Picture postcards, with "Cow Tales" (TM) candy attached, were also created. Risks associated with communicating a scientific breakthrough in a channel other than a scientific journal were recognized and actions were taken to substantiate claims of uniqueness of the clone to help minimize risks.

Step Eight: Determine the Timetable
Work began on the project approximately six months before Millie was born, which allowed team members to learn about the cloning process and counsel the researchers in how to work with the media. Once Millie was born and her health seemed secure, the team decided to push for immediate publicity to best serve institutional goals. The publicity and marketing efforts continued intensely for three months beyond the calf's birth, with staff members helping local and international media create their own features on the research. Marketing efforts continue, at a lower level, today: the Millie Web site is regularly updated, and the calf herself will put in an appearance at a two-day series of dairy events for the public in April 2001.

Step Nine: Calculate the Budget
As usually happens with in-house projects, the team did not take the time to calculate costs, since it had a general operating budget and did not anticipate major expenses. Costs were fairly low scale in comparison to the excellent international visibility achieved through the campaign. The only costs in addition to routine supplies and staff hours were for photography, promotional postcards, and candy. In comparison the gains in recruitment, morale, and reputation would seem quite large. Putting dollar figures on such gains, as always, is elusive. A better measure resides in how much additional research funding has been pulled in by the efforts. Funding is said to be forthcoming. However figures have not yet been released.

Step Ten: Determine the Evaluation Process
Funding and reputation are the main measures. As noted above, funding impacts appear to be developing but are not yet measurable. Reputation, without a doubt, has been enhanced by the research and cloning communication campaign with impacts occurring across all target audiences.

Known media placements include three international news syndicates; 17 national news and research outlets; 22 regional and local news and feature outlets; and 21 farm media outlets. While the numbers may appear small, many of these outlets either directly reached target audiences (such as BioResearch Online and the National Dairy Cattle Database) and/or also reached widespread audiences, such as users of the Canadian and British Jersey Cow Associations' Web sites. News carried by highly distributed media, among them the Associated Press, MSNBC, CNN, and USA Today went to multiple markets, meaning expected usage and placements of the story far exceeded the team's record keeping and documentation abilities.

Further, prominent images of the calf and stories of its arrival continued in the months following its birth, with the calf gracing the cover of the university's alumni magazine, the national dairy publication, Jersey Journal, and Tennessee Farmer magazine. Word of mouth reports were also useful. Rural farmers attending Institute of Agriculture field days told of taping newspaper images of Millie on their refrigerators and spoke of their pride in the development. University trustees and potential funding agencies have commented upon the research success and its importance. In many ways, these remarks were more valuable than some of the newspaper clippings because they provided evidence that the team's communication messages had indeed reached their targets.

Conclusions

While overall the communications team is delighted with the outcome of the Millie cloning campaign, staff members learned some lessons the hard way. Because the experiences may be useful as cautionary points to other communicators, they are summarized here:

1) Investigate and substantiate assertions or ask to see the evidence.
In the weeks leading up to the calf's expected birth, the communications team discovered to their horror that the researchers were operating under the assumption that the calf was to be a "world's first" without having conducted a vigorous investigation to substantiate the claim. The communications staff researched the issue and discovered information that modified the claim to "nation's first." More time would have allowed the one reference that was discovered to be more fully investigated and could, possibly, have allowed the claim "world's first" to be used. Communicators in similar situations are strongly advised to ask to see evidence of similar claims or to investigate and substantiate them on their own. Failing to do so invites high-profile disaster.

2) Remember that media Web sites are immediate and operate with 24/7 news cycles.
The team member who delivered the cloning media kit to the local newspaper ( a seasoned former writer at the paper ) naïvely thought the paper's print and Web operations were separate. They were not. News of the cloning was splashed across the paper's Web site hours ahead of the official release of the information, which violated the embargo and scooped the Associated Press, which had been working within the rules. The mistake created hurt feelings and strained relations that were difficult to overcome.

3) Capitalize on all markets.
The University of Tennessee has several internal vehicles for disseminating news. Because the producers and editors of these vehicles are valued colleagues, team members clued them in early about the upcoming event and provided them with news packets. The result is that the cloning research was prominently featured on the university's main Web page and communicated in electronic distributions sent to researchers and to influential supporters of the university: two primary targets of the campaign.

Two events followed quickly on the heels of the calf's news conference: the Institute of Agriculture's annual gathering of alumni, and the university's homecoming football event. The postcard the team created, with a piece of Cow Tale (TM) candy attached, was distributed to the hundreds of visitors to Ag Day. And the Institute's vice president personally handed out the postcards and candy to VIPs gathered in the football stadium's sky boxes on the game day.

4) If a Web site is created, figure out who is going to maintain it.
The team enthusiastically created a Web site with the unstated assumption that the researchers and their assistants would take it over once it was created. The Web site content promised frequent updates. With few exceptions those updates have not occurred, and information on Millie's development and other useful content has not been readily communicated. Clearer channels of communication and plans for long-life communications tools needs to be considered at the outset of such campaigns.

5) Have access to detailed Web server statistics.
The team Web site resided on a shared server that offered only scant server statistics about site traffic and usage. To overcome those limitations, the Web specialists added a discreet commercial service called Site Meter (TM) (http://www.sitemeter.com) to the Web pages. It proved invaluable in conveying numbers of hits and the geographic dispersion of site visitors. It also enabled the team to see, and document, that target research universities, grant-making agencies, and research and investment organizations were accessing the information.

6) Anticipate auxiliary campaigns because everybody likes a success.
Millie the clone Jersey calf proved to have broad appeal. Media continued to call for more information for weeks following the news event. Similarly the promotional postcards that were printed to celebrate Millie's birth were in high demand for student recruitment efforts, for handouts at field days, and for other uses. A second run had to be ordered, which increased costs. In retrospect, it would have been better and more cost-effective to anticipate future publicity opportunities and to order a more generous number of the cards from the start.

7) Make clear who retains control of what creative properties.
Upon Millie's arrival, the team contracted with the university's Photographic Services department to take color photographs of the calf. These were intended for print and Web use and also for sharing with the media. Millie's success prompted the department to decide the materials needed to be preserved for archival and university-wide sharing purposes. This made it difficult for the staff to obtain negatives and get scans done with the immediacy that the media demanded. A commercial photographer was hired to create additional images to aid such work.

8) As always, be prepared for surprises.
Being in the Bible Belt, we worried that news of cloning animals might be negatively received by religious fundamentalists. As it happened Jerry Falwell, former leader of the Moral Majority, was in town the week of Millie's debut. Television news teams sensed an opportunity. However Falwell's remarks were surprisingly supportive. Along the same lines, PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was in the news concerning a separate research program conducted at the Institute. Reporters pursuing that story were present at the news conference, and there was concern the story they were pursuing could disrupt the event or its goals. However the concerns proved largely unfounded, although they made for some tense moments.

9) Celebrate success.
The team has carefully documented all known media placements and maintains a master (not-to leave-the-office) notebook along with four loaner copies. Millie postcards are in hand, at the ready for use by the communications team as well as for impromptu needs by researchers and administrators for recruitment and dissemination. The unit continues to enjoy positive comments and visibility from its success in communicating the story.

REFERENCE

Thompson, William. (1996). Targeting the Message: A Receiver-centered Process for Public Relations Writing. White Plains, NY: Longman.