Matt Whitticase, media and communications manager, Lucy Faithfull Foundation Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk

1. Lucy Faithfull Foundation
The only UK-wide charity dedicated solely to
tackling child sexual abuse
Using regional media to run
targeted PR campaigns
Matt Whitticase
December 2016

2. Working to Protect Children
The campaign
Campaign aim: to tackle the viewing and
sharing of sexual images of children online in
the UK

3. Working to Protect Children
The audience
Young males aged 18-30 (offenders or
potential offenders)

4. Working to Protect Children
Four films that communicated
our campaign messages
https://www.youtube.com/user/stopitnowukireland

5. Working to Protect Children
Call to action for our target audience
Call the Stop it Now!
Helpline for advice
and information on
how to stop.

6. Working to Protect Children
Visit the ‘Get Help’ website

7. Working to Protect Children
Channels used to reach target
audience

8. Working to Protect Children
Why did we use regional
media?
It’s not all cake sales and cats stuck in trees…

9. Working to Protect Children
Examples of recent coverage

10. Working to Protect Children

11. Working to Protect Children
Developing our local news
angle
The power of relevant statistics:
• How many people called our Helpline to get help
over 12 months from a county/region (from people seeking
help to stop looking at child abuse images).
• Equivalent data from same region/county for the
preceding 12 month period – to show trends
• How many people visited our self-help website
from cities in the relevant region (Google
Analytics)

12. Working to Protect Children
Data at the click of a mouse
Google Analytics

13. Working to Protect Children
Press Release

14. Working to Protect Children
Tips for maximising coverage
• Send out your press release two days in advance of coverage
under embargo.
• This will ensure better sell-in for broadcasters who will have
time to pre-record interviews with spokespeople. These can
then be clipped for the early morning bulletins on coverage
day.
• Make sure your spokespeople are available for pre-recorded
interviews during the embargo period, and for live interviews
on the day of coverage.
• Send out your press release as early as you can in the morning
– many BBC regional teams have editorial meetings soon after
9am to start planning the next day’s agenda – putting your
release in front of them just before these meetings can be
really helpful in securing coverage.

15. Working to Protect Children
What does coverage sound like?
An interview with BBC Cumbria

16. Working to Protect Children
Does it work?
19 separate press releases since October 2015 have:
• Generated over 140 separate pieces of coverage in
UK print, online and broadcast media.
• Our last two press releases alone secured interviews
on BBC Merseyside, BBC Cumbria, BBC Lancashire,
BBC Sheffield, BBC Yorkshire Radio and many other
radio stations and print outlets.
• Total reach* for sell-ins of our last two regional
press releases is 14,101,024. Source: Gorkana media
database, figures audited by ABC.

17. Working to Protect Children
Does it work?
Independent evaluation of the overall
campaign
showed that media and online coverage
drove 57% of calls made to our helpline
from non-arrested people seeking help
to stop
looking at sexual images of children

18. Working to Protect Children
Conclusion
• Regional media coverage is comparatively easier
to gain than national media coverage.
• It’s time efficient, too. You can tell the same
story to multiple regions, just adapting your
story according to local data/details.
• In an ever more crowded media space, smart
use of UK regional media helps keep your
campaign/charity/brand in the public eye.

19. Working to Protect Children
Thank you
Matt Whitticase
Media and Communications Manager
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation
mwhitticase@lucyfaithfull.org.uk

20. Visit the CharityComms website
to view slides from past events,
see what events we have
coming up and to check out
what else we do:
www.charitycomms.org.uk

21. 8 December 2016
London
#charityPR
Behind the headlines:
getting your charity’s
story into the news