Effective Information Campaigns That Meet the Needs of Diverse Audiences

A Paper Presented to the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists
Agricultural Communications Section
Lexington, KY
January 2000

Edith A. Chenault
Communications Specialist

Penny Banks
Communications Specialist

Lynette James
Communications Specialist

Mary Porter
Communications Specialist
Texas A&M University

Background


Fire ants and water are hot topics in Texas, as well as across the South. It seems as though we always have too many fire ants and not enough water.

The State Legislature in the mid-1990s gave Texas universities and agencies a mandate -- do something about both problems. This was to be accomplished through research and education of the general public about red imported fire ants and water conservation.

When a land-grant university is given the occasion to get information to the public, it can either be a tremendous opportunity for name recognition or a thorny problem, especially in a state as big as Texas.

This paper will discuss the communication challenges and opportunities of public information campaigns that are created for diverse audiences with individual needs. It will address the strategies we used and an evaluation of our efforts.

Method

In 1996 -- after Ag. Communications helped devise a communications plan to educate legislators and the general public about a state Fire Ant Plan and the involved funding -- the Legislature appropriated $2.5 million a year for a six-year effort.

We had the money -- now we developed specific strategies to implement the plan.. The Extension Service had never fully engaged in a coordinated, statewide communications effort before. Gov. George Bush was tapped to proclaim Sept. 14-20 as Fire Ant Awareness Week to help coordinate the effort. The next year -- with a legislative resolution -- the second week of September was declared Fire Ant Awareness Week. This resolution helped to legitimize what we were doing.

A communications task force -- with representatives from Texas A&M, Texas Tech University and the University of Texas, as well as from the Texas Department of Agriculture and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department -- was set up and anything we did was "elec tronically approved." (We used e-mail a lot.) Then, we decided to have fun and create material that would catch the public's eye. Because Texans love football, we decided to associate fire ant control with fall and the football season. Research has shown if neighborhoods treat for fire ants at the same time using environmentally safe baits, ants won't travel from yard to yard, and that if people also broadcast baits between late August and October, then the baits will kill the ants over the winter and result in fewer ants in the spring. Our campaign slogan: TACKLE FIRE ANTS IN THE FALL FOR FEWER ANTS IN THE SPRING. We came up with cartoon fire ants wearing helmets and looking "tackled." Everything emphasized the team (neighborhood) approach to treating fire ants. All of our materials contain the tackled ants.

We decided to capitalize on the county Extension agent network to disseminate and localize materials for their own use. Since we didn't h ave a budget to buy ad space, we suggested ways how agents could "team up" with their local retailers and media to get the educational message out. We created pocket folders with, "We're all on the same team when tackling fire ants" slogan to distribute the materials to county agents. The agents also used the materials and folders to approach local businesses for support.

During the first campaign, the county agent packet included ready-made and fill-in-the-blank news releases, recorded versions of the radio PSA, fact sheets, Q&A sheets, versions of the camera-ready art, artwork for possible billboards, and an expert list for media contacts.

To a certain extent, we tailor-made packets during the second campaign. We included the above items in packets that went all over the state (even though fire ants are not found throughout the state, we wanted agents to have that information available), and we added different news releases, and print versions of the PSAs. Agents asked for and received Spanish versions of the fact sheets, camera ready art and radio news briefs for their Latino radio stations. Additionally, one new item that was popular was a simple 4x8 postcard that touted the fire ant Web site at http://fireants.tamu.edu. County agents found these easy to hand out at educational meetings, and many asked for additional copies. Each of the packets had a sheet that gave suggestions on how to use the material, but as will be explained later, some of the agents were very creative.

We tailor-made packets for those agents in areas that had fire ants and mid-size television stations. These stations are typically those that run our video news releases as is, and we included a television PSA and b-roll in the packet for these county agents. These agents received a little more assistance in how to use these materials from the communications specialist assigned to that area.

In the second year, we abandoned the billboard art that had been a part of the first year's campaign. We found we couldn't -- with donated space -- count on getting prime locations for the billboard. However, Mary Porter, communications specialist in Dallas, and Mike Merchant, Extension entomologist, tailor-made a campaign for that area that included signs on buses and posters in shopping malls with a metro toll-free telephone number that served North and Central Texas.

For the water conservation campaign, we tried those things that worked best in the fire ant campaign. First a name -- Blue Gold -- was chosen because of water's value to Texas. News releases and fact sheets were included in the county agents' packets. A radio PSA -- featuring Junior Brown singing "Water Patrol" and provided by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission -- was included. The packet contained news releases, fact sheets, contact sheets, ideas on how to use the material, bumper stickers that featured the "Water Smart" logo and a list of resource materials and experts.


Results

Due to the lack of time before the first campaign for both fire ants and water, we were not able to do a pre-survey. However, we have and are still evaluating the results of the campaigns.

Our measurements of success of the fire ant campaign have been:

  • During the 1998 campaign, we held a September news conference to kick off the campaign. During Fire Ant Awareness Week, "hits" to the fire ant Web site increased from 2,000 a month to 100,000 a month. Forty Extension agents who responded to our survey said they worked with organizations to place the educational inserts into paychecks, electric bills and bank statements. Feed stores, floral shops and lawn and garden centers distributed the educational flyers. Dallas water bills (that went to more than 150,000 households) included an insert on the Two-Step method promoted in the campaign.

  • In 1998, county agents appeared on cable television meetings with their county commissioners, still others made presentations at home improvement stores and to Master Gardener classes. Still others used the artwork for paycheck "stuffers." Estimated contacts in Houston alone was more than 3 million people. The fire ant agent for the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area had an estimated 2 million contacts. In San Antonio, estimated contacts were about 250,000 people, and in Austin estimated contacts were more than 650,000.

  • In 1998 and 1999, we disseminated about 30 print releases statewide, 13 radio stories to 147 outlets (reaching more than 200 English and Spanish-language stations), six video releases to 51 television outlets, and several articles for magazines, including The Cattleman and Texas Association of Nurserymen's newsletter. We responded to media inquires from as far away as Japan and Brazil.

  • As a result of the mall posters and bus signs in 1999, the Dallas and Tarrant counties Extension offices received an average of 50 calls each pe r day during Fire Ant Awareness Week in 1999. Additionally, 93 calls were received at the toll-free metro number, with 52 requesting mailed information.

  • We created a postcard that not only went to the county agents, but also was distributed to more than 700 public and research libraries in Texas and to regional and national magazines and news organization.

  • Homeowner associations in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and school districts such as Mansfield organized neighborhood "bait days" that garnered television coverage.

  • Every major Texas newspaper in fire ant-quarantined areas published one or more articles based on the news releases; overall more than 500 articles were published in connnection with the 1998 and 1999 campaign.

  • Educational information through the mass media has complemented the county fire ant agents' demonstrations, many of which have resulted in neighborhoods seeing fewer fire ants than in previous years. For instanc e, one subdivision in Austin reported significant results -- only two fire ant mounds were found when the neighborhood was surveyed in the spring of 1999. Native fire ants were alive and well, another plus for the program.

  • The overall communication effort helped to show legislators and the public how to manage fire ants as well as see the rapid progress we are making in collaborative fire ant research, helping the project receive $5 million in state funding for the next biennium.

  • The communications team has received numerous local, regional and national awards for its communications efforts.

  • Both the fire ant and water campaigns increased Ag. Communications' visibility and value to the A&M administration.

    With the Blue Gold water campaign:

  • Counties that participated stretched from the High Plains to the Rio Grande Valley, with most being in Central Texas.

  • The water PSA played at least 147 times on 21 radio station s across Texas. Many stations ran it several times a day and continued to do so throughout the summer.

  • More than 70 newspaper columns and 27 columns from the Extension Service ran in at least 60 newspapers, with a combined circulation of more than 350,000 readers. The majority were weekly newspapers. Additionally, in Bexar County, where there is a constant need for water information, the Extension Service has been the source of more than 26 news articles and 14 columns in 1999.

    Again, we feel part of the success of the campaigns came about because Ag. Communications provided the material and gave basic instruction to the county agents. Part of that success came about because faculty who specialize in water conservation and entomology provided additional training to them. However, much of the credit has to go to the creativity and assertiveness of the agents themselves. Some of their ideas included:

  • The McLennan County Extension agent conduc ted a water audit as part of the Sports Athletic Field Education (SAFE) program and invited the local media. That event resulted in a full-page story in the Waco Tribune Herald and a news story on KCEN-TV newscast.

  • In Lamb County, the county agent teamed up with a local radio station for a call-in contest, in which people could win circus tickets if they could correctly answer a question about wise water use. One-hundred tickets, valued at $10 each, were paid for and given out by the station.

    Agents who participated in both campaigns said the fact sheets by Ag. Communications were the most helpful items.