This public relations campaign aims to increase visibility and profits for Designated Drivers, a company committed to ending drunk driving. The campaign has three objectives targeting different service areas: 1) Increase rides in the DTC area by 33% using ads, brochures, and valet parking. 2) Increase referral calls in downtown Denver by 33% through industry events, brochures for staff, and volunteering as bar staff. 3) Increase recognition in North Denver by 33% through discount nights, news releases, and promotional item giveaways. Tactics focus on personal interactions rather than printed materials to keep costs low, with a total budget of $879,000 focusing on labor, design, printing, and promotional events.
4. Brochure – We will be placing our informational brochure in businesses around the area. Our target distribution is bars and restaurants. We have established that fewer restaurants and bars will be able to support this distribution so we will also distribute our brochure to liquor stores, food marts, and grocery stores. It is our intention that exposure in establishments where liquor is sold will increase calls for service.
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6. Brochure and easy access information card – Just as we have a general information brochure, we will create a staff specific brochure. The brochure will contain information about our service, how restaurant and bar staff can reduce their liability and the priority call in number when one of their customer’s needs to be picked up. Information cards will be brief and contain all our pertinent contact information in an easy to read format. Distribution of these materials will be through meetings with the general managers at establishments throughout the area. The brochure can be kept where staff congregates before or after the night. The information cards will be created so that they can be posted in areas where the staff will need them the most, by a phone or at the door. Having our contact information easily accessible will make it easier for the staff to remember to call us first.
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8. News release regarding first special event – In order to attract potential customers, we will send a news release to local papers for the area in addition to the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post. While the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post will reach areas outside our target market, they will reach a wider variety of our target market. In addition, there are potential customers who may not live in the North Denver area, but may patronize an establishment in that area. The news release will give information about where our first events will be held.
9. Special event – Liquor companies will often send servers to bars and restaurants and give out free shots of their liquor and other promotional items such as pins, lanyards, stickers, etc. We will do a similar event but instead of offering free shots of liquor, we will offer free bottles of water. Along with the water, we will hand out buttons with our logo and stickers with our number to call. Putting these promotional items together with personal interaction should help increase our visibility. Evaluation: In order to evaluate this objective, we will run a brief survey before the campaign begins to determine which car service residents recognize and then compare it to the same survey run at the end of the campaign. <br />Budget<br />Most of the budget for this plan revolves around labor costs. Most of the tactics included are personal interactions with staff and customers instead of through printed materials. This strategy has helped keep costs down. We have contracted with a graphic design firm who offered lump sum pricing per design and a printing company who has done the same. Special events will be held on the site of the restaurants or bars so additional facility fees will not be required. Following are details of the budget:<br />Labor$750,000 Ad Design$10,000 Brochure Design$15,000 Button design$7,500 Sticker design$6,000 Ad placement fees$50,000 Brochure Printing$13,300 Info Card printing$2,500 Speaker fees$1,000 Button printing/mfg$4,700 Sticker printing$3,000 Cost to cover bar tabs$10,000 Bottled Water$2,000 Display stands for general info brochures$4,000 TOTAL Costs$879,000 <br />