CASE STUDIES

EARTH University & EARTH University Foundation, 2004

Task: Raise national awareness of Atlanta-based foundation for sustainable agribusiness school in Costa Rica.

Strategy & Tactics: A three person team assembled by Above The Fold researched and developed comprehensive targeted media campaign and related materials. The team persuaded PBS TV series “Visionaries” to send a film crew to Costa Rica. A 30-minute documentary about EARTH University is set to air nationally in 2005. Above The Fold was instrumental in helping raise $75,000 in sponsorships for the film project. The team designed and developed the low-cast, high-impact packaging and informational booklet for a DVD of the PBS documentary for use as a fundraising and marketing tool. As of this writing, key major media coverage earned for the foundation and the university includes major articles or mentions in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Green@Work, USA TODAY, Utne magazine, Wall Street Journal, etc.

Results: Foundation support has doubled during period of Above The Fold media awareness campaign.

Atlanta Bicycle Campaign’s 2003 Bike There Day

Task: Leverage very limited resources to raise awareness for annual cycling event and promote cycling safety and commuting issues on a region-wide basis.

Strategy & Tactics: Above The Fold worked closely with Atlanta Bicycle Campaign staff and vendors to craft a powerful media and sponsor-supported promotional campaign around Bike There Day, with a focus on bicycle amenities and challenges in specific communities. Campaign included targeted pitches to editors and writers
at monthly and weekly publications throughout the metro area.

Results: In addition to several other placements, the Atlanta Journal Constitution ran a series of articles during the week leading up to the event, with each one showcasing the positive experiences of recreational and commuter cyclists in five metro counties. The one-day coverage surpassed all media coverage for the previous year, significantly raising the profile of the organization and its regional goals.

Cumberland CID/ 2002 and 2003 Commuter Club Challenge campaigns

Task: Devise a strategy to encourage a significant portion of the employees working in the Cumberland office market to try a new commute mode, while raising awareness of commute options and the work of Commuter Club, a local Transportation Management Association.

Strategy & Tactics: Coordinated all aspects of the 2002 and 2003 Commuter Club Challenge Campaigns and related incentive programs designed to give suburban commuters “an offer they couldn’t refuse” to get them
to try to leave their cars at home. All promotional details, including print materials, a media campaign and more than $15,000 in prize donations were leveraged at every stage of the campaign to encourage participation by employers, office managers and individual commuters. The marketing team worked closely with local employers over a three month period to coordinate fun, effective public outreach events at dozens of worksites in the office market. A Grand Finale event at the Cobb Galleria earned additional media coverage for the TMA.

Results: In 2002, nearly 2,000 commuters used new alternative transportation modes during a single week.
By the following year, participation rose to nearly 3,000. Forty employers and property managers participated
in the event, double the goal set for employer support. 95% of those that pledged followed through on their commitments an average of two to three times during Challenge Week. The campaign also received nearly 2,500,000 positive media impressions over a 12-week period both years. This included several major print features with photos and editorial columns crediting individual businesses and properties for their participation and quoting TMA staff, boardmembers and area property managers.

2001 TMA Summit of the Association for Commuter Transportation

Task: Increase attendance at the 2001 Summit of North American Transportation Management Associations and raise awareness of the work of the national Association for Commuter Transportation and the host TMAs
in the metro Atlanta area.

Strategy & Tactics: Working for the first time as an independent consultant, Edward McNally positioned
the 2001 TMA Summit with local and national media as an international gathering of “traffic fighters”. After successfully pitching the editors of the Atlanta Journal Constitution HORIZON section, the opening day
of the 2001 Summit earned front page, “above the fold” coverage in the AJC including an extensive HORIZON article on the work and programs of the region’s local TMAs. The 2001 TMA Summit also received major coverage in the Atlanta Business Chronicle and local TV and radio news as well as national coverage on CNN and ABC Radio News. Mr. McNally arranged for Dan Burden, a keynote speaker of the conference to be profiled in TIME magazine as a national environmental innovator in the June 18, 2001 issue.

Results: The 2000 TMA Summit exceeded all attendance goals, effectively selling out by opening day; an unprecedented success for a meeting of low-profile TDM specialists. Atlanta’s TMAs received their first
comprehensive media coverage since they were first established in the late 1990s, resulting in the newly
formed Atlanta TMA Network having more regional influence to lobby for increased funding for, and participation in, alternative transportation for all TMA areas.

Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce 2000 Regional Clean Water Initiative
(executed as Communications Manager of the Metro Chamber’s Community Development office.)

Task: Develop a public relations strategy supporting efforts and goals of the Regional Clean Water Task Force

Strategy & Tactics: Position the meetings and the final report of the 2000 Regional Clean Water Initiative
as a the best possible “pragmatic consensus approach” to begin resolving the region’s near and long term water quality issues. Concise, carefully-worded releases were developed summarizing the key issues under discussion at each of the meetings of the Clean Water Task Force. A series of editorial board meetings and one-on-one conversations were held with specific writers and editors at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Georgia Trend and local TV news departments and select newsdailies across the state. Large display ads were developed for the Atlanta Journal Constitution to summarize the impending water crisis and “sell” the economic and quality of life benefits of adopting a regional approach to water quality issues. A series of community outreach events were developed and presented in connection with the release of the Task Force Report

Results: Over 25 million media impressions, including several major editorials, about the work of the Task Force and their published recommendations. Widespread popular support for establishing a regional Water Quality District to help coordinate and manage water quality issues for the larger metropolitan region.