Getting Ready with the
Georgia Emergency Management Agency

Overview

Ready Georgia is a statewide campaign designed to educate and empower Georgians to prepare for and respond to natural disasters, pandemic outbreaks, potential terrorist attacks and other large-scale emergencies. The campaign is a project of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) and provides a local dimension to Ready America, a broader national campaign.

Objectives

Cookerly Public Relations was charged with creating and executing a communications program for a statewide emergency preparedness campaign, to build awareness and inspire Georgians to be prepared.

Strategy and Tactics

Cookerly Public Relations designed a marketing plan including traditional and social media relations, creative collateral development, advertising/public service announcements (PSAs), and an interactive website. Tactical elements include:

• Research – At the start of the campaign, Cookerly leveraged and reviewed existing/secondary research available at the national and other local levels through the Ready campaign. We created and conducted a statewide phone survey to set baseline awareness of emergency preparedness as well as test three Georgia taglines. This research is repeated annually to gauge success and refine tactics.
• Campaign Theme – The national Ready campaign had a lot of professional and effective messages and materials behind it. To leverage current branding, we decided to build on the existing national campaign, minimizing confusion in the target audiences.
• Media Relations – Prior to the campaign’s launch, Cookerly created a print and online press kit. The agency also reached out to meteorologists. Since so many of Georgia’s disasters are weather-related and research has shown that most people watch the news primarily to get the weather, this is a key media audience for engagement. Tactics included a media teaser specifically for meteorologists timed to celebrate “Meteorologist Day.” Cookerly creates camera-ready articles about emergency preparedness throughout the year to engage community papers, and secured blog posts and op/ed pieces on behalf of GEMA’s director to position the campaign as Georgia’s “voice of leadership.” Social media includes engaging the public on Facebook, attracting 5,000 page views in the first eight months. Adding sight, sound and motion, the agency developed and markets multiple Web-based videos to reach its various audiences.
• Events and Promotions – The launch of the Ready Georgia campaign was held at the state capitol and led by the Governor to tie in with the Severe Weather Awareness Week proclamation signing. Children and “Rex,” the Ready Kids mascot participated also. We secured corporate sponsorship from The Home Depot, including in-store Ready displays, Ready checklists and to provide in-kind donations including Ready kits. The Home Depot and Ready Georgia also collaborated on several events including a Ready kit scavenger hunt at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for local schoolchildren. Annually, the Home Depot Kids’ Saturday Workshops focus on National Preparedness Month each September. To further engage Georgia’s kids, Cookerly created a statewide 5th grade art and essay contest that drew almost 1,000 entries.
• Speaking Engagements – The agency developed a presentation for use in speaking to neighborhood associations, women’s groups, business associations and other groups to get the word out and engage communities in the program. In addition to providing these tools in the online toolkit, we annually secure dozens of engagements on behalf of the campaign. We created an online toolkit for use by community leaders and emergency management agency directors so that they can carry the campaign in their areas.
• Advertising – A paid advertising campaign was developed to reach further into target audiences during the important September timeframe. We supplimented advertising efforts by placing localized PSAs created by The Ad Council on behalf of the national campaign.
• Website Development – Cookerly created and launched www.ready.ga.gov to connect GEMA’s leadership to the national campaign and provide local resources. The site attracts users with features such as a customizable checklist and plan as well as interactive kids’ games. The site has been so well received by Georgians that during the spring of 2009, the number of monthly total unique visitors increased by 70 percent as a result of a promotion.

Results

Eighteen months into Cookerly’s media relations efforts, the agency had secured nearly 600 media placements, including mention in every major newspaper across the state and on broadcasts in nearly every Georgia market. Coverage included the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Savannah Morning News, Macon Telegraph, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Augusta Chronicle, FOX 5, CBS 46, NBC 41 and more, resulting in more than 74 million media impressions.

Follow up research one year post launch showed that households aware of Ready Georgia were twice as prepared than those who are not.