WebN’R: Internal TV Ad Launch – 2008 Social Marketing Program
Internal Communications Program
Thursday, October 16, 2008, 2 p.m., ET

BUSINESS CASE

In 2004, the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia launched a social marketing campaign to change people’s attitudes toward workplace safety. Since then, advertising components have focused on raising awareness about workplace injuries and the toll they take on the province. The 2008 WCB advertising campaign encouraged people to leap into action and do something about injuries before they happened.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Prior to the TV ads going public in March, internal launch events were held to ensure WCB employees understood the campaign messages and were engaged in the WCB’s new direction towards behavioural change.

OBJECTIVES

Learn how employees were engaged in the social marketing campaign, inspiring them to feel ownership. To promote this campaign, the WCB also needed:

• to communicate the rationale behind the campaign’s new direction, encouraging staff to apply the “do something” campaign message in their daily work routines
• to provide employees with the information required to speak knowledgeably about the WCB campaign with customers, family and neighbours
• to create advance buzz, enticing staff to attend the internal ad viewings

RESULT

In an on-line survey given to staff subsequent to the educational event, results showed 93 per cent of respondents said they would use the information provided in the session to spread the word about the new campaign. Learn the percentage of employees leaving the event that felt prepared to talk knowledgably about the TV ads and their messages, and those inspired to prevent injuries in their own work environments.

BIO: Julie Trites, Communications Advisor, Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia

After graduating with a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of King’s College in Halifax, N.S., Julie returned to her hometown of Saint John, N.B. to work as a reporter for CBC Radio. It was during her time at CBC that she was introduced to public relations and decided to take her career in a slightly different direction – one that would lead her back to Halifax.

Julie got her start in PR as an account co-ordinator at Extreme Group, a Halifax-based communications and advertising agency. From the fast-paced agency world she moved to the not-for-profit sector as a communications officer for Halifax Public Libraries where she focused on media relations and issues management for the 14 branches that make up the library system.

In her current position as communications advisor with the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia, Julie plays a key role in internal communications and media relations.