Our Results
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Using Social Media to Engage the Mental Health Community
Challenge
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Vulnerable Populations Portfolio in partnership with Ashoka's Changemakers, launched a competition entitled "Rethinking Mental Health: Improving Community Wellbeing." The goals of the engagement were:
- To explore and identify exciting, provocative ideas that challenge the status quo and remove the barriers that prevent people from getting the mental health care they need.
- To coalesce and engage a community of people who are committed to improving the access to and removing the stigma associated with mental health care.
- Create excitement about the competition; drive traffic to the competition website; and increase participation in the competition through nominations, entries, and discussions.
Action:
Wainger Group and its strategic partner Tuvel Communications developed a strategy to connect the Foundation and this competition to the publishers and social media pundits who are the most passionate about the issue and whom others respect and listen to.
Wainger Group/Tuvel's campaign:
- Conducted extensive research to identify an initial list of 300 influencers including mental health experts, family and patient groups, social workers, law enforcement personnel, advocacy groups and health care providers.
- Crafted compelling messaging.
- Built relationships with target audience groups by listening to the conversation and responding with information in a timely fashion.
- Reaching out to influencers with a customizable e-mail message developed specifically for this campaign that was easy to pass on to others
- Allowed blogger contacts to first write about the competition, then visit the website, and finally enter the competition themselves; this became a two-pronged strategy by creating an opportunity for those who wrote about the topic or the competition became participants in it as well.
- Employed a strategy of asking bloggers and other social networkers for referrals to others who might have been interested in the topic.
- Ignited a viral campaign where word spread organically to Twitter and other social networks such as Facebook.
Results
Initial research by Wainger Group/Tuvel produced a list 300 of appropriate social media influencers. This list grew to 350 bloggers, social networkers, Twitter contacts, e-mail list publishers, and web forum owners.
The campaign to engage these 350 contacts:
- Produced 72 links and references to the mental health-competition.
- Garnished a 20.5% response rate - a gratifying double the initial projection of 10% (an ambitious goal to begin with, since a typical direct response rate is 0.5%). Results include those contacts who took action or posted, wrote about, and passed along information about the competition.
- Positively impacted RWJF's ranking in search engines.
- Produced market research and identified sector issues simmering below the surface, which is information that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation can use for future work. Several leading mental health groups approached the foundation to explore alliances in this issue.
- Began to build deep relationships within the mental-health community on behalf of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
- Positively affected overall competition traffic, nominations, discussions, and entries. Indeed, many of those responding said they were visiting, nominating, or entering the competition because of the campaign.
CB Richard Ellis
Strategy/Management Public Relations/Collaboration
Challenge:
Wainger Group (WG) was retained in 2002 by Insignia/ESG (later acquired by CB Richard Ellis) to provide media relations services to its four Mid-Atlantic offices. The company had little media visibility in the region and only one person internally who was responsible for communications and marketing. The company was looking for a strategic communications partner to provide media and public relations services and to build a communications program.
Action:
WG developed messaging around which to build media relations strategies. Shortly after WG was retained, the Insigna/ESG was acquired by CB Richard Ellis. WG developed internal communications programs to support the integration of the two companies. Externally, WG worked with CB Richard Ellis to to promote its brand and its work in the Greater Washington, DC region. A few years later, CB Richard Ellis acquired Trammell Crow Company and WG provided support to the management team during this merger. Currently, WG collaborates closely with the company's international media relations team based in New York. WG regularly coaches and counsels senior management on how to speak effectively to the media, improve presentation skills and manage unavoidable crises that arise.
Achievement:
As a result of WG's efforts, the Mid-Atlantic Communications Office has a strong communications program that has led to steady and positive media coverage of the firm, its people and its activities in Baltimore Sun, Washington Business Journal, The Washington Post, Washington Business Journal and other local outlets, as well as NPR, the BBC and key national real estate and business trades.
CB Richard Ellis and its team are regularly called upon as sources by the media, and its quarterly research reports are widely used by reporters in the Mid-Atlantic. With the acquisition of Trammell Crow, the company now has more than 800 people in the region and multiple service and product lines that need to be promoted and coordinated. A few years ago, Liz Wainger was asked to speak at the company's World Conference, which was attended by the firm's global communications staff and consultants, to present a case study on how WG had created a successful public relations program for the Mid-Atlantic region.
NPower Greater DC Region
Challenge
NPower Greater DC Region retained Wainger Group to help re-introduce the organization to the Washington, DC region with the specific goal of attracting clients and funders. Previously known as Technology Works For Good, NPower's reputation was mixed among funders and clients, and a new management team was seeking to rebuild the organization.
Action:
WG took the organization through a messaging process to help define the organization's value proposition, identify the audiences it needed to engage, and to create compelling messages that would communicate the overall brand to those audiences. These audiences included the following key funders: AOL and Microsoft, Npower staff, Board members, and current clients.
Achievement:
With the branding and messaging completed, WG developed a communications plan to help the organization engage its core audiences in its work. The strategy included "beefing-up" the web site, creating a more proactive outreach using email newsletters, engaging in face-to-face meetings with key influencers in the funding and business communities, and improving media relations and advertising. In less than two years, NPower increased its client base, engaged new funders and increased the support of its existing funders, and has implemented an ongoing communications effort to strengthen its relationships and forge new ones.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Using Social Media to Engage the Mental Health Community
Challenge
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Vulnerable Populations Portfolio in partnership with Ashoka's Changemakers, launched a competition entitled "Rethinking Mental Health: Improving Community Wellbeing." The goals of the engagement were:
- To explore and identify exciting, provocative ideas that challenge the status quo and remove the barriers that prevent people from getting the mental health care they need.
- To coalesce and engage a community of people who are committed to improving the access to and removing the stigma associated with mental health care.
- Create excitement about the competition; drive traffic to the competition website; and increase participation in the competition through nominations, entries, and discussions.
Action:
Wainger Group and its strategic partner Tuvel Communications developed a strategy to connect the Foundation and this competition to the publishers and social media pundits who are the most passionate about the issue and whom others respect and listen to.
Wainger Group/Tuvel's campaign:
- Conducted extensive research to identify an initial list of 300 influencers including mental health experts, family and patient groups, social workers, law enforcement personnel, advocacy groups and health care providers.
- Crafted compelling messaging.
- Built relationships with target audience groups by listening to the conversation and responding with information in a timely fashion.
- Reaching out to influencers with a customizable e-mail message developed specifically for this campaign that was easy to pass on to others
- Allowed blogger contacts to first write about the competition, then visit the website, and finally enter the competition themselves; this became a two-pronged strategy by creating an opportunity for those who wrote about the topic or the competition became participants in it as well.
- Employed a strategy of asking bloggers and other social networkers for referrals to others who might have been interested in the topic.
- Ignited a viral campaign where word spread organically to Twitter and other social networks such as Facebook.
Results
Initial research by Wainger Group/Tuvel produced a list 300 of appropriate social media influencers. This list grew to 350 bloggers, social networkers, Twitter contacts, e-mail list publishers, and web forum owners.
The campaign to engage these 350 contacts:
- Produced 72 links and references to the mental health-competition.
- Garnished a 20.5% response rate - a gratifying double the initial projection of 10% (an ambitious goal to begin with, since a typical direct response rate is 0.5%). Results include those contacts who took action or posted, wrote about, and passed along information about the competition.
- Positively impacted RWJF's ranking in search engines.
- Produced market research and identified sector issues simmering below the surface, which is information that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation can use for future work. Several leading mental health groups approached the foundation to explore alliances in this issue.
- Began to build deep relationships within the mental-health community on behalf of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
- Positively affected overall competition traffic, nominations, discussions, and entries. Indeed, many of those responding said they were visiting, nominating, or entering the competition because of the campaign.
CB Richard Ellis
Strategy/Management Public Relations/Collaboration
Challenge:
Wainger Group (WG) was retained in 2002 by Insignia/ESG (later acquired by CB Richard Ellis) to provide media relations services to its four Mid-Atlantic offices. The company had little media visibility in the region and only one person internally who was responsible for communications and marketing. The company was looking for a strategic communications partner to provide media and public relations services and to build a communications program.
Action:
WG developed messaging around which to build media relations strategies. Shortly after WG was retained, the Insigna/ESG was acquired by CB Richard Ellis. WG developed internal communications programs to support the integration of the two companies. Externally, WG worked with CB Richard Ellis to to promote its brand and its work in the Greater Washington, DC region. A few years later, CB Richard Ellis acquired Trammell Crow Company and WG provided support to the management team during this merger. Currently, WG collaborates closely with the company's international media relations team based in New York. WG regularly coaches and counsels senior management on how to speak effectively to the media, improve presentation skills and manage unavoidable crises that arise.
Achievement:
As a result of WG's efforts, the Mid-Atlantic Communications Office has a strong communications program that has led to steady and positive media coverage of the firm, its people and its activities in Baltimore Sun, Washington Business Journal, The Washington Post, Washington Business Journal and other local outlets, as well as NPR, the BBC and key national real estate and business trades.
CB Richard Ellis and its team are regularly called upon as sources by the media, and its quarterly research reports are widely used by reporters in the Mid-Atlantic. With the acquisition of Trammell Crow, the company now has more than 800 people in the region and multiple service and product lines that need to be promoted and coordinated. A few years ago, Liz Wainger was asked to speak at the company's World Conference, which was attended by the firm's global communications staff and consultants, to present a case study on how WG had created a successful public relations program for the Mid-Atlantic region.
NPower Greater DC Region
Challenge
NPower Greater DC Region retained Wainger Group to help re-introduce the organization to the Washington, DC region with the specific goal of attracting clients and funders. Previously known as Technology Works For Good, NPower's reputation was mixed among funders and clients, and a new management team was seeking to rebuild the organization.
Action:
WG took the organization through a messaging process to help define the organization's value proposition, identify the audiences it needed to engage, and to create compelling messages that would communicate the overall brand to those audiences. These audiences included the following key funders: AOL and Microsoft, Npower staff, Board members, and current clients.
Achievement:
With the branding and messaging completed, WG developed a communications plan to help the organization engage its core audiences in its work. The strategy included "beefing-up" the web site, creating a more proactive outreach using email newsletters, engaging in face-to-face meetings with key influencers in the funding and business communities, and improving media relations and advertising. In less than two years, NPower increased its client base, engaged new funders and increased the support of its existing funders, and has implemented an ongoing communications effort to strengthen its relationships and forge new ones.
301-340-6831 liz@waingergroup.com Login