SOLVE IT goes on Red Alert!

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Client:		Solve It
PR Team:		Red Alert Media
Campaign:		Three national conferences to discuss Volatile Solvent Abuse
Timescale:		2003, 2004, 2005

Solve It is a Kettering based charity, set up by chief executive Barbara Skinner, a year after her son died from inhaling volatile substances. Barbara has since dedicated her life to raising awareness to the dangers of sniffing glues, spray from aerosol cans, and other substances, such as nail varnish. In 2003, Solve It resolved to build a national network, and spread their message far and wide across the UK. But media interest has always been sparse, so they asked Red Alert Media to help them raise interest to coincide with their first national conference. It was so successful, that we did it all over again in Bradford and London.

Objectives

To raise awareness of the dangers of volatile substance abuse as far and wide as possible.

Strategy and plan

Red Alert Media's Peter Jones gathered together Barbara Skinner, Solve It's marketing director Steve Lambert, and a number of volunteers - all of them former addicts, and some of them ex-prisoners, whose drug habits and eventual incarceration all started with solvent abuse.

He interviewed all of them individually and put together a comprehensive Press Pack a month before the conference, on November 13, 2003, and then followed up with phone calls, e-mails and letters to generate interest.

Initially the local media in Northamptonshire did feature items ahead of the conference, but the ambition was national coverage, and that was the challenge. There was no money for advertising, marketing or gimmicks - it was all down to finding the right angles and selling the story!

Measurement and evaluation

The outcome of lots of hard work and selling was coverage beyond all hope and expectation. Radio 5 Live discussed solvent abuse on the Friday before the conference, and that week there were preview features and items in the local newspapers. But on the day itself, the issue of solvent abuse suddenly attracted star billing. GMTV interviewed Barbara and then discussed solvent abuse with Dr Hillary Jones. Barbara and one of her volunteers were featured on Radio 5 Live's breakfast show, with clips then sent out to BBC local radio stations throughout the country.

Indeed, the Solve It conference was the second item in Radio 5's news headlines, and featured in bulletins on Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4. Barbara was also interviewed on Good Morning Scotland, and Radio Northampton were live from her home during their breakfast programme.

Throughout the day, Barbara, Steve Lambert and former prisoner turned Solve It volunteer Chris Toone were interviewed by Independent Radio News (IRN), and featured on independent stations across the country.

An item ran all through the day on BBC News 24, it was the lead item on Newsround, it featured on Radio 1's Newsbeat, regional TV did live interviews at lunchtime and in their early evening programmes, BBC Online did a report on the conference and the issues it raised, and there was also a feature on the Newsround website. Apart from on the day coverage, Red Alert Media also generated follow up stories, so the conference continued to feature in the media days after.

We did it all over again the following year, this time focussing on the North of England, with the Solve It team taking the conference to Bradford. Once again we achieved great coverage from the local media round and about Yorkshire, and the North of England, including broadcast coverage to preview the conference, and on the day, and prominent feature items on the subject in local newspapers. In 2005 the conference went to London, where we were able to secure a visit from a Government Minister to help attract interest not just locally in London, but of the national written media.

Results

Said Barbara Skinner: "That first conference was a fantastic success, and the Red Alert Media team had much to do with that. Suddenly it seemed that everyone has heard about Solve It, and talking about the very serious issues were are trying to make the public aware of.

We then took a multitude of calls from people all over the country, that either heard about us on the radio, saw the items on TV or read about us. It was phenomenal, and it happened after the Bradford and London conferences too. Hopefully it has helped us save many young lives by the awareness we achieved for the conferences."

www.solveitonline.co.uk

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