Cookerly Cleans Up With Litter. It Costs You.

Overview

Litter. It Costs You is a comprehensive and unified fight against litter in Georgia. State agencies, local governments and volunteer organizations came together at the request of Governor Sonny Perdue to lead the charge in a coordinated statewide program of education, eradication and enforcement, encouraging personal responsibility and action to eliminate litter.

Objectives

Cookerly Public Relations was charged with creating and executing a communications program to create the brand for the anti-litter program, launch and build awareness of the campaign, and inspire Georgians to take action to eliminate litter.

Strategy and Tactics

Cookerly Public Relations designed a program focused on grassroots community outreach, creative collateral development and media relations. The Governor’s Litter Summit served as the official kick-off of the campaign to the partner affiliates, law enforcement and the media. A proactive, statewide media outreach strategy provided the platform for all media relations. Grassroots tactics included editorial board meetings, one-on-one interviews, email teasers, press releases and targeted pitches. To ensure consistent messaging, the agency designed a toolkit of Web accessible materials. All materials contained the core message points, look and feel of the campaign, and were designed to easily incorporate/complement affiliate information.

Including children in the development and expansion of the campaign was necessary to support the intended longevity of the campaign. The mascot program, featuring Buster, the Brown Trasher, complemented with classroom and community activities, and added value to the campaign brand experience.

Results

With almost 200 earned media placements in the first six months, Litter. It Costs You raised the visibility of the litter program beyond any previous levels seen in the state. The launch was covered by the Associated Press, Morris News Service and in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Requests for collateral materials were immediate. Demand was so high for the print ads that a separate FTP site was constructed to handle the load. The FTP site averaged 108 visits per month, with 88 per cent of all visitors returning to the site for more information.

Buster, the Brown Trasher, is a huge hit with the public. A contest to name Buster energized children across the state and more than 7,000 contest entries were received. The naming announcement at the State Capitol garnered same day coverage on three of the four local network TV stations, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and a story in the Macon Telegraph the day after the announcement. Since his introduction, Buster has appeared in the Festival of Trees parade, the Peach Bowl parade, schools and festivals.

The Litter. It Costs You campaign was awarded the 2007 Phoenix Award for best Public Service Campaign by the Public Relations Society of America, Georgia Chapter.