How
to Implement a Community-Based Designated Driver Program
Program Planning
Operations
Partnerships
Program Marketing
Evaluation
Tips
for Specific Groups
Community
Organizations
Employers
Educators/College
Groups
Criminal Justice
Medical
and Health Care Community
Hospitality
Industry and Retailers
Armed Forces
Publicity
and Promotion
Working with
the Media
Calendar of
Year Round Ideas
Media Q&A
Resources
Partners and
Resources
Publications
WHAT TO EXPECT
Initiating partnerships
with the media gives you an opportunity to provide reporters with the facts.
Once you have sent out your materials, contacted your local media outlets,
and participated in interviews, there are some results you should reasonably
expect to see. These include:
- Stories publicizing
your efforts.
- Stories highlighting
the impaired driving problem in the nation and your community, as well as
organizations (like yours) working to solve the problem.
- Educational stories
highlighting alternatives to impaired driving.
- Reporters utilizing
you as a community expert in future impaired driving stories.
- Sponsorships by media organizations of community You Drink & Drive. You Lose. campaign events and activities.
WHAT IF THE STORY IS NEGATIVE?
Remember that there are two sides to every issue and some editors/producers might take a negative view of your efforts. There are times when a negative quote or story may appear about your coalition or its activities. You shouldn't let this discourage you from conducting activities in the future, or to continue promoting your efforts through the media. If you respond to a negative story, here are some basic rules:
- Don't insult the writer
or publication.
- Be positive in your
tone.
- Correct wrong information
clearly and concisely.
- Use facts not emotions.
MEDIA EVENT IDEAS
To encourage media coverage, it is important to make your promotion or event unique and compelling. The following ideas effectively demonstrate the severity of the impaired driving problem in a creative manner to gain media interest:
- Placing a pair of
empty shoes on the state capital steps for every victim of an impaired driving
crash in the past 12 months.
- Create life-size posters
from pictures of those who died from impaired driving on the previous years
holiday.
- Place state flags
in the ground corresponding with the number of impaired driving fatalities
over the past 12 months.
- Obtain a car that
was damaged in an impaired driving crash and place it at the event site.
- Hold a news conference
in a hospital emergency room.
- Stage a mock sobriety
checkpoint at the media event.
- Invite victims of
impaired driving, law enforcement officers, and public officials to speak.
- Use local or national statistics.
