National Hurricane Survival Initiative
Situation:
The 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons revealed coastal residents were not preparing early enough, if at all, for hurricane season. Evidence was clear that too many individuals, families, communities, schools and businesses did not have a hurricane plan in place and did not know what to do if disaster struck their area.
Strategy:
Ron Sachs Communications created a highly engaging and visible campaign to capture the attention of hurricane-prone residents, arm them with information, and propel them to action. Bringing together the National Hurricane Center, the National Emergency Management Association, the Salvation Army with corporate partners Plylox, Progress Energy, Travelers and BellSouth, the "National Hurricane Survival Initiative" brought life-saving information to millions of Americans in English and Spanish through a compelling 30-minute television program, an interactive Web site - www.hurricanesafety.org, a national poll of Americans knowledge and behaviors, and extensive earned media coverage throughout the region.
Outcome:
This year, the "National Hurricane Survival Initiative" has garnered nearly 200 million media impressions with news coverage in major dailies such as USA Today, The New York Times, The Miami-Herald, The Charlotte Observer and television news-stories appearing on CNN Headline News, Fox News National and MSNBC. Our Internet coverage is vast, with 120 million impressions. Our hurricane safety Web site, www.hurricanesafety.org, received 3.4 million Web hits last year, and 2.5 million hits already this year. Recently, a national story on the initiative spiked Web traffic to 40 hits per second.
