Lights, Camera, Action

By Sandy Williams

Government employees face a variety of challenges when creating public-awareness campaigns, including numerous levels of accountability, small budgets and cumbersome rules and regulations. It's the passion behind the issues that drives those employees to overcome the many obstacles and limitations they face. And ultimately, it's the strategies and techniques employed that lead to success — no matter how large or small.

Vision 20/20, National Strategies for Fire Loss Prevention, brings hope that prevention one day will take its place alongside other programs, especially in terms of funding and staffing resources. While Vision 20/20 is structure-fire oriented, any positive outcomes will also benefit wildland-fire prevention. In the meantime, a small successes in Washington state may provide some inspiration.

Have you ever had an idea but no means to carry it out? I had envisioned a video and companion brochure on fuels reduction for use by prevention educators when reaching out to wildland-urban interface homeowners. But creating a video was something beyond comprehension and I had no money and no idea of how to project the costs.

Why video? My research indicated that would be a logical direction. The strategy basically was implementing social marketing techniques. Prevention practitioners are well aware of such techniques and the need to capture audience attention at an emotional level. As commercial marketers have demonstrated, people do not like to be sold to — they like to buy. The use of television provided the ability to reach large segments of the target audience with little personal involvement.

Downloading the shows onto DVD provided another tool for prevention practitioners working with smaller audiences where there is higher personal involvement. The DVD also allows for key messages to be delivered multiple ways, by many people, and multiple times.

Partnering is the fastest and most beneficial way to overcome a lack of know-how. Through these connections, I was able to not only secure an estimated project cost, but also refine the project in my mind. I learned about the need for a storyboard, potential production companies, timelines and the like.

Being successful in securing funding for projects from both the private and public sectors takes an understanding of your market. Before seeking funding, write a business plan, which should include a forecast and how it relates to potential sponsors. Remember, money is the glue that holds the blocks together. Typically several sources of funding are needed, especially when you are looking to have the show aired on television. Many companies set aside a budget to sponsor public service messages and events.

A business plan incorporates the forecast. Forecasting is an art, not a science. Sophisticated business-plan writers like to say that the one sure thing about a prediction is that it will be wrong. Still, the forecast is valuable as a guide for making decisions; the better informed the forecaster, the closer to actual events the forecast will be. Having just completed my eighth film project, I can't stress this aspect enough. Without reliable numbers and partners dedicated to the success of the project, there will be problems. These situations can cause unnecessary frustration, possibly leading to unwanted revisions in the project.

Companies often are bombarded with requests for funds. However, many companies will identify the types of projects they invest in. Find companies that have a good correlation to your work. Even better, target companies within your community whose employees are part of the target audience. Companies want to be seen as supporting their employees as well as those members of the public who buy their products.

You have 30 seconds to capture interest in your project. If you don't know someone personally at the company, put your initial request in writing. Just in case you raise the readers' interest, include materials such as a storyboard and television network station profile.

The most important thing you must realize is why a company would invest in your project. Unless you can show prior work, they are investing in a belief that you can actually deliver everything you claim. Be confident and patient.

Partners are not always about the money. Partners can be within your organization — the face in the pub-ed video or the person who provides funding. In an effective partnership, each partner's weaknesses are compensated by another's strengths. Being open to ideas and last-minute changes can mean the difference between a mediocre and really good end product.

My eight shows have aired on television, each reaching over three million households across five states and two Canadian provinces. Over 1,000 of the shows in DVD format have been shared both internationally as well as across the United States. Sharing these resources opens doors and the willingness to share ideas within our own wildfire prevention community.

While some shows are better than others, I am pleased with the outcome of each one based on the results from the performance measurements. Without performance measures, film is just a fun outreach tool.

Accountability is the name of the game, especially when working for a governmental institution that is publically funded. Demonstrating behavioral changes from media campaigns can be quite difficult. It takes time, persistence, and dedication. Creating and implementing tools for measuring performance does not have to be daunting. In fact, when you have no staff or finances, you just do your best. I have used everything from tear-off surveys, online surveys and third-party telephone surveys. The telephone surveys were negotiated with the television station as part of the airing agreement. While this avenue narrowed what I was able to do — a limited number of questions and closed-ended questions, a pre and post survey of 500 Washington state residents — it was better than doing nothing.

As social marketers will attest, behavior doesn't change overnight. Measuring performance helps to indicate if success is within reach — making the challenges of social marketing worth the effort.

Finding the right partners not only opened doors to funding and knowledge, it enabled each of my projects to happen within a limited time frame.

Sandy Williams is the wildfire prevention education program manager at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. She is also on the Wildfire editorial advisory board.

Copies of the Washington Department of Natural Resources' latest DVD on debris burning are available. U.S. residents can contact Sandy Williams at sandy.williams@dnr.wa.gov.

International residents can request a copy through the International Association of Wildland Fire, Attn: Bill Ranieri, execdir@iawfonline.org.