Friday, May 13, 2011

Media and grassroots advocacy


In our class on International and non-profit management at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, a few weeks ago, we discussed the case of Greenpeace and its efforts to stop the dumping of used batteries in Argentina. Greenpeace’s efforts to creatively manage media to send out messages about global warming, climate change and environment conservation are legendary.

It is interesting to note that the group garnered enough media support and sufficient grassroots mobilization to ensure that there would be a new National Law on Management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment.

This is a classic case of use of traditional media, social media as well as the internet to pressure the companies in question to get the results that Greenpeace wanted. One must remember that limited budgets, need for on the feet and smart thinking is what differentiates work for grass roots organizations from large corporate or even the government. Strategic communications, in my experience, takes on a whole new meaning. It can be akin to guerilla warfare in many ways.
I believe media and especially strategic media communications (Social media, Public Relations included) can help grass root organizations in the following five ways:
1. Help build credibility
2. Cheap and ( at times) free publicity which is essential for a grass roots organization, which may not have big marketing budgets
3. Build stakeholder confidence
4. Keep the issue(s) alive and energize the staff
5. Create an ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders involved and ensure that there is adequate feedback
My most successful campaign working at Ogilvy Public Relations, India was for our client Apollo Hospitals, the largest healthcare services provider in India. I ideated several campaigns during my stint there (between the years 2007-08), one of which one two global awards for its social marketing (Clio and Abby). I was able to bring in several grassroots organizations, including a local theatre group to put up a film festival on international women’s day to get focus on women’s health issues.
Additionally, during my work at Centre for Civil Society, a think-tank based in New Delhi in 2003, we used media rather effectively to ensure that our ideas were spread and the advocacy work received the kind of ink-space that we felt would guarantee some action in the areas we were advocating for. I believe that the work that we did for our Education campaign is significant in terms of media usage. The School choice campaign has had a very significant impact and the state governments in North India have adopted various measures that we advocated.
The work for both these organizations involved building credibility for the causes – that is healthcare issues and education for all – involving local organizations and people. We also partnered with local celebrities in giving joint press statements during certain important events as well as helping spread the right messages about critical healthcare and other issues.
The tools that we relied mostly were very cost-effective – including media relations, partnerships with other organizations etc. keeping our costs low. One such example I can think of is organizing a free Asthma screening camp for the local traffic police of Bangalore city by Apollo Hospitals. This idea originated from our end and was championed by the Hospital, as it made sense for them to do it as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.
Both the CCS and Apollo Hospital cases involved building greater confidence in the stake-holders and also greater involvement of all parties involved. We also managed to create an ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders involved and ensure that there is adequate feedback

Media, as we have come to accept, has assumed a dominant role in our lives; and there is enough proof to say that this will only continue to grow in the years and decades to come.

The Arab revolutions, which are ongoing as of today, are an example of grass-roots organizations, which came together, organized and spread information about demonstrations and overthrew decades old dictatorships. Social media in particular have been very effective in these revolutions.

All in all, one cannot deny that media and activism are coming together like never before in this generation –which is empowered with Facebook, Twitter and other social media. While there is enormous potential to use this to educate, engage and build stakeholder value, there is also the danger of not using it at all or at worst ignoring these tools. It is the choices that we, as communications professionals make, that will determine the success of our organizations.