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: The Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial Groundbreaking
- 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:
June 1st, 2022
- 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 111 words used.
The media campaign surrounding the groundbreaking was a complete success, achieving all the Association's goals well beyond their expectations. The full media report is attached, and highlights of the media coverage include:
- Over 1,000 print and broadcast clips (this number includes repeated stories from syndicated media services such as AP, Nextstar, Gray TV, etc.)
- Articles that reached readers in every state, 10 countries, 4 continents.
- Over 2.5 billion potential readers/viewers worldwide based on above coverage.
- Coverage in top outlets, including Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Independent, ABC News, Fox News and CNBC.
- Military outlets covering the memorial to date have included Military.com, Stars and Stripes, Connecting Vets.
- 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 241 words used.
Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield, in the early 1990s, was the United States’ first major foreign conflict following the end of the Cold War. The Gulf War was a quick and resounding success for the U.S. military. Unfortunately for the men and women who served, memories of the first Gulf War faded from the general public by the time the 21st Century rolled around.
The National Desert Storm Memorial Association (the Association) has raised funds for the past decade to construct the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield War Memorial (the Memorial). In early 2022, the Association raised the required funds needed and was able to conduct a formal groundbreaking at the future Memorial location near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Association brought in Susan Davis International (SDI) to secure top-tier media coverage across the country and around the world, while developing compelling messaging and story angles to engage reporters. Additionally, SDI supported the Association in securing VIPs, drafting remarks, and aiding in the run of show for the groundbreaking ceremony in July 2022.
SDI’s media strategy focused on building up a groundswell of media coverage leading up to the event, which would be covered nationally and internationally. Understanding the difficulty of the current news media landscape, SDI built a strategy that began with targeted, local media pitching for Association board members and concluded with broad pitching to major news outlets for day of coverage.
- 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 249 words used.
The Association contracted SDI in June 2022, giving us just more than one month to plan and run an abbreviated media campaign leading up to the events. For the six weeks before the groundbreaking, SDI dove into the personal stories and histories of the Association’s spokespersons to learn more about special pitching angles and targeted their hometowns and home states.
Unlike other national memorials with boards comprised of top leaders and executives from the corporate world, the Association’s board is made up exclusively of men and women who served in the rank and file during the Gulf War. These men and women persevered against all odds to reach the point of groundbreaking and SDI pitched that angle to regional and military-focused media, which resulted in a wave of print and TV stories in local markets such as Texas, Indiana, and North Carolina.
In tandem with the local media outreach, SDI kept in constant contact with national outlets to keep them updated on speaker announcements and get them interested in covering the event. These updates included the addition of high-profile speakers, which SDI helped secure, including Gulf War veterans retired Brigadier General Rhonda L. Cornum and Admiral Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The 35 countries involved in the Gulf War's U.N. coalition opened an opportunity for SDI to pitch international media, especially with Kuwait's status as the Memorial’s most important donor. SDI created media lists for Europe, especially those with Washington, D.C. correspondents.
- 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 2021. Even if your initiative started before 2021, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2021 only (up to 250 words):
Total 219 words used.
SDI’s first step was researching and developing media lists for the Association spokespersons, including local, regional and special interest print, digital and broadcast media outlets. SDI pitched the spokespersons individually based on their unique experiences and locations which resulted in a great deal of coverage, such as the architect Randy Schumacher’s interview with his hometown NPR affiliate Indianapolis Public Radio and Association CEO & President Scott Stumps’ interview with WTRC-FM.
In the lead-up to the event, SDI created local and regional media lists with a particular focus on top-tier publications such as the Washington Post and the Associated Press. SDI drafted and released media advisories and press releases on the groundbreaking, with a spotlight on the high-profile speakers attending. SDI worked one-on-one with key media organizations representatives to ensure day-of coverage, especially with D.C. bureaus of syndicated media such as Gray TV, Nexstar, and Sinclair, which shared coverage with its 100s of local TV stations nationwide.
National news coverage of the groundbreaking was complicated by timing, as President Biden was traveling to the Middle East that same week and that diverted media resources in Washington, D.C. Despite that potential issue, SDI leveraged its relationships and storytelling to secure on-site coverage from several national outlets including ABC News, Fox News, the Associated Press, Washington Post, and Kuwait TV.
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