| American Plastics Council Gets Safety Message to New England Audience
Situation: The American Plastics Council (APC) wanted to get the message across to New England youth and parents that plastic can help save lives and that it's "cool" to wear plastic safety equipment while playing sports. Solution: Winter sports were chosen as the theme for a safety campaign because the ski season was about to begin. The rising popularity of snowboarding lead us to choose Mount Snow, a popular ski resort in Vermont, as the site for our press event. NPR&M organized and promoted a press conference. Speakers included a physician from an area hospital to discuss accident/head injury statistics, ski safety personnel from Mount Snow, a local business owner who donated safety helmets to pass out, and APC representatives. The press conference was covered by various media including print and television. Results: The focus on ski safety was timely and visual. We had children at the press conference dress up in various sports gear while APC and other speakers pointed out the safety aspects of the equipment. We then headed out to the slopes to survey who was wearing helmets as we passed out free helmets to snowboarders and skiiers as TV cameras rolled. By showing other kids and older people wearing helmets (including 20-something snowboarders), we were able to show that it's "cool" to wear helmets while skiing or snowboarding and to also get across the "plastic helps save lives" message. Back |