Getting the Most Out of PSAs
Make the media your target with an all-out campaign

IT’S a horrible dream. And every PR practitioner who works for a non-profit has it every night of his/her life.

Scene one: The office of a radio station as the mail arrives. The program director separates the "real" mail from the stuff sent by non-profit groups. He sends the desired stuff to the mailroom. Then he puts the non-profit envelopes on a green x-ray plate and dons a welder’s mask. With a bolt of penetrating light, he views the news releases, public service announcements (PSAs) to be read on the air, as well as items about recycling, church suppers, hobby nights, choir practices, local theatre productions and dance performances.

He grimaces. "Not a dime’s worth of advertising in any of ‘em. What do those beggars think this is – a charity?"

Scene two: The program director summons a coven of colleagues direct from the bar scene in Star Wars. They talk in honks and beeps and finally put a torch to the non-profit stuff. They laugh like demons as 5,000 hours of hard work goes up in a belch of smoke.

That recurring nightmare is a malady that PR people have suffered with since PSAs began. But now, there’s hope.

Kentucky Ballet Theatre (KBT) has found a cure.

It’s disarmingly simple. KBT sends out PSA scripts just as everybody does, but before the station can start a fire, the dance group hits ‘em with a direct marketing campaign to urge the use of the spots. The critical factor is timing.

Here’s the flow-chart on how it’s done.

Day one: Mail scripts (30 second spots to be read by staff announcers).

Day two: Mail post cards that urge the stations to help culture flourish in Kentucky by reading the PSAs on the air. (The post cards are hand addressed to the program directors by name.)

Day three: Dancers with the youngest and perkiest voices make personal phone calls to the radio moguls and with all the sparkle and sweetness they can muster, they ask, cajole and even beg them to run the spots.

Day four: Sweeten the pot with another post card. This one offers small batches of freebie tickets to the stations that air all the PSAs. (The tickets can be used in station promotions to advertisers.)

By the time it’s over, they’ve used every major direct marketing technique going: mail, telemarketing, promotion, and even a premium.

In short, Kentucky Ballet Theatre has raised the use of PSAs to a new level. On the way, they’ve raised themselves as well. The group used to be known as the Ballet Theatre of Lexington, but they’ll now operate with state-wide stature, giving performances all over Kentucky.

The key player in this new campaign is Rebecca Ratliff, who does triple duty as a dancer in the company’s productions, a dance teacher in the ballet school they operate, and as the director of public relations. Under Ratliff’s tutelage, KBT has found a way to address those borderline prospects who might think that ballet is OK, but who haven’t yet found the inspiration to make the leap between just thinking about it and actually buying a ticket.

The group’s new campaign banner, "Make The Leap," addresses all their publics. The fence-sitters, prospective students for the school, and even people who’ve considered becoming contributors, but haven’t yet put the check in the mail.

"Make The Leap" speaks their language – and it does it with all the grace, charm, and athleticism you’d expect.

Dennis Altmanis an advertising consultant and a UK Professor of Advertising and Public Relations

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