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Company: Susan Davis International
Company Description: For more than three decades, we’ve been helping clients solve problems, solidify reputations, create events, manage crises and communicate with key audiences. We do this by listening, advising, strategizing, creating and delivering. Clients stay with us, return to us and recommend us, because we earn their respect and trust. Here are seven things you should know about SDI:
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Events & Observances
 Nomination Title: World War I Centennial Commission First Colors Ceremony
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated PR campaign or program, or written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
March 15, 2021
- Optional: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 154 words used.
Highlights of the media report showcasing SDI’s successful media campaign include:
- Over 500 print stories which appeared in in all 50 states, 10 countries and 5 continents
- Over 600 broadcast stories across the U.S., including CNN, Fox, NBC, CBS and WJLA (DC’s ABC affiliate) who covered the ceremony live.
- Top outlets in which coverage appeared include Associated Press, CNN, Fox News, PBS News Hour, Fox News Sunday, ABC News, and Washington Post. The Guardian and the New York Times published articles the morning of the live event
- Over 1 billion potential readers/viewers worldwide based on above coverage.
- Military outlets covering First Colors and the memorial to date have included Military.com, Stars and Stripes, Military Families Magazine, Connecting Vets and American Legion Online
- Memorial Day coverage after the soft opening including stories in various local media markets highlighting the new World War I Memorial and the American History TV segment on C-SPAN 3.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 199 words used.
On March 15, 2021, Susan Davis International (SDI) was asked by the World War I Centennial Commission (the Commission) to create national and international awareness around the National World War I Memorial’s soft opening. The assignment provided only a month’s lead time which required SDI to rapidly develop the strategic plan for building awareness and recognition of the first raising of the American flag over the new memorial.
SDI was also asked to raise interest and awareness of the memorial by promoting a livestream of the April 16 event, which would have limited guest and media attendance because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The Commission decided to create a pre-produced broadcast program alongside a small live broadcast component to create a compelling, live-streamed event.
The objective for securing regional, national, and international interest and awareness was to encourage recognition and visitation of the newest memorial in the nation’s capital city following the soft public opening. Because the last surviving veteran of a war that ended over one hundred years ago died in 2011, SDI recognized a distinct need to build awareness and connectivity with this “forgotten war” of the 20th century, in order to create interest in the memorial itself.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 247 words used.
SDI reviewed historical media coverage of the memorial’s groundbreaking and other major milestone announcements to compile major media targets with a predetermined interest in the memorial and the war it commemorates. SDI also researched the foreign nations involved in WWI that continue to participate in commemorative activities to better draw international attention.
SDI’s media strategy was designed to seek broad media coverage to encourage viewing of the broadcast, promote interest in the memorial and encourage a desire to visit. SDI capitalized on the personal stories that would connect the audience to the importance of WWI. The Commission's breadth of members and stakeholders located around the country, each with a unique role and expertise, created a rich pool of compelling interview subjects for different target audiences resulting in 16 interviews.
SDI provided information to Congressional press offices to help build nationwide interest, encourage exploration of family tree linkages to WWI veterans. This proved vital as WWI, though less well known than WWII, remains an integral piece of history with worldwide ramifications and connecting new audiences to the war the memorial honors was critical to generate interest in the memorial. A second element of the strategy was utilizing affinity organizations to propagate messaging around the memorial's opening. There were many organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Red Cross, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the American Legion, amongst many, who were key in spreading awareness through outreach to their membership and coverage on their various communications platforms.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of 2020. Even if your initiative started before 2020, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2020 only (up to 250 words):
Total 249 words used.
SDI offered tours as an alternative to covering the mostly pre-recorded ceremony. Other tactics included providing media targets with spokesperson pitches, press releases and photo kits in the weeks leading up to the ceremony to make remote coverage workable. SDI also collaborated with the Commission’s social media team to maximize their outreach.
We worked with the Commission to ensure that a group of media would be allowed onsite to capture the ceremony’s live elements, including the flag raising, “Taps” played on famed WWI officer General Pershing’s bugle and the spectacular flyover by a WWI legacy unit which made the event the talk of DC. SDI staffed media check-in, ensuring compliance with covid requirements, escorted media around the memorial and ensured that camera crews remained still to avoid close proximity to VIPs, also spaced according to COVID-19 protocols.
SDI achieved all the Commission goals, including high visibility coverage from top-tier publications on both the livestream and memorial and reaching a range of audiences from every state and multiple countries. SDI worked with Gray TV on a preview story for the memorial that they distributed to their affiliates, which reach 25.4% of U.S. television households. Armed Forces Network, which reaches all military installations and ships, covered the event which ensured significant reach to military audiences, and C-SPAN ran a story that reached substantial U.S. audiences. SDI’s campaign helped boost memorial visitorship to more than 350,000 since its opening, despite COVID-19 restrictions continuing to affect travel and tourism.
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