Introduction of Campaign

The Spot Abuse Project is a campaign that aims to lower the increasing percentage of domestic violence. The campaign was launched on the 1st of May, 2014 by a nonprofit ad agency in the U.S called Serve Marketing. Serve Marketing partnered with Wisconsin Humane Society, Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, Milwaukee Police Department and Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission to combat domestic violence.

Serve Marketing kicked off their powerful public service campaign using social media, billboards, television ads and radio ads. The billboard ads from this public service campaign shows images of pets that have been abused along with young children next to the pets with chilling headlines. The PSAs from the TV and radio ads also reinforce the fact that viewers have the power to stop both animal and domestic abuse with just one phone call. The idea behind the campaign is to encourage more people to report animal abuse as soon as they suspect it as it could help individuals who might be suffering from domestic abuse.

The effort is based on research that has been done by the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (APA). The APA has found that 76% of individuals who are involved in animal abuse also abuse a member of their family. Since animal abuse is generally considered as an easier act to report than domestic abuse, if the campaign can succeed at convincing more people to dial 911 when they suspect an animal abuse case, there will be a higher chance for the law enforcement to uncover other possible forms of abuse such as domestic abuse.

The reason why the campaign was launched was due to the spike in domestic violence in the year 2012 combined with the fact that almost 70% of all forms of abuse cases are not reported each year. Furthermore, 25 to 40% of abuse victims do not leave their abusive homes out of concern for the well-being of their pets. These high percentages are causing a major concern and it is obvious that a new approach is needed to break the cycle of abuse.

Stages of Planning

Research
The first stage of planning in any campaign is research. This stage can be split into several smaller sections. These sections involve analyzing the issue or the situation at hand, an analysis of the organization carrying out the campaign, as well as an in-depth analysis of the publics.

For this campaign, Serve Marketing started with the analysis of the issue. The issue was the percentage of domestic abuse in Milwaukee which had a staggering increase of 48% in 2012. Serve Marketing also done some research and found that 76% of animal abusers also abuse a member of their family. Besides that, further research findings from National Coalition of Domestic Abuse and American Humane Society state that 70% of all abuse cases go unreported every year and also 25 to 40% of abuse victims stay in abusive homes out of concern for their pets’ safety.

Since Server Marketing is a non-profit organization, a funding of $100,000 is required to sustain the Spot Abuse public service campaign. The funds obtained will be imperative to maintain the effective level of reach for the campaign in Milwaukee. The donation collected will fund the advertisements on various forms of media such as television, radio, social network as well as outdoor media like billboards.

When it comes to identifying the publics, the publics identified are the people of Milwaukee ranging from teenagers to adults. These individuals are the ones who are aware of domestic abuse as an issue in society and they are the ones who can take action and help resolve this issue.

Planning
In the planning stage, goals and objectives are set, action and response strategies are formulated, and an effective communication method is designed. This is the second step in the process model of public relations.

Setting goals and objectives focus on the ultimate position in which Serve Marketing is trying to achieve with their campaign. In this case, objective of the campaign is to create a new national model to reduce the percentage of domestic violence in cities across the United States. The secondary objective of the campaign is to raise awareness of the link between animal abuse and domestic abuse. If the public are more aware of the link between animal abuse and domestic abuse, there is a higher chance they will take action whenever they spot animal abuse.

One of the strategies used in this campaign is alliances and coalition. For the campaign, several organizations such as Wisconsin Humane Society, Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission, Sojourner Family Peace Center and Milwaukee Police Department joined together for the common purpose of reducing domestic abuse. Combining organizations such as Wisconsin Humane Society and Sojourner Family Peace Center can strengthen influence towards achieving the objectives.

In terms of communication strategy, Serve Marketing used newsworthy information in their campaign. For instance, the issue, which is animal and domestic abuse, has significance. 76% of animal abusers abuse a family member as well. This high percentage creates a huge significance. Besides that, this campaign also has proximity to the key publics, who are the teenagers and adults of Milwaukee. The campaign is piloted in Milwaukee and focuses mainly on the residents of Milwaukee.

The message that the ads from the Spot Abuse campaign sends out invokes responses based on negative emotions such as guilt. Looking at the billboard ads, it gives off the impression that if one does not report the sighting of an animal abuse, there is a 76% chance that a child would be next on the receiving end of the abuser. With the graphic image of the abused dog in the billboard ad, it makes the public and audience feel uneasy when they see it.

Action
The third stage of planning is action. In this stage, communication tactics must be selected. Communication tactics are the elements that can be seen by people. For example, billboards, websites and television ads to name a few. As technology advances, more and more communication tactics will emerge. Among the newer communication tactics include social media and websites.

The Spot Abuse campaign employs a few different communication tactics. One of them is news media. News media are communication vehicles which have a purpose of delivering newsworthy information to the audience. The various forms of news media are print news media which can range from magazines to newspapers as well as broadcast news media such as radio.

Another communication tactic that was used is out-of-home advertising. This form of communication tactic focuses on opportunities to make the campaign message reach people in a more subtle manner as compared to news media. The Spot Abuse campaign has a few of these out-of-home advertisements scattered over Milwaukee in the form of billboard ads. This form of advertising has a few advantages over other forms of advertising such as print and electronic advertising. One advantage it has is that it has a 24/7 exposure to a wide group of people from many demographics and psychographics. Depending on the location of the billboard, the number of people exposed to a billboard ad varies. Despite being more expensive than other forms of advertising, strategically placed billboard ads can easily help a campaign achieve its goals and objectives.

The campaign also used television commercials. Television commercials fall under electronic media advertising. There are two ways how advertising messages for television commercials can be placed. The first way is through network placement. This placement places the advertisement from a certain campaign on all channels or stations that are affiliated with the selected network. The other way is through spot advertising. Spot advertising places a campaign’s advertisements on individual local stations. Serve Marketing chose the latter which was spot advertising. Initially the television ads were just placed on local stations in Milwaukee. Eventually, more stations found out about the campaign and started to feature the television ads on their stations to raise awareness.

Budgeting is an important step that is required to make sure the objectives of a campaign is achievable. A budget involves more than just money. One element that should be considered is personnel. The element of personnel helps determine how many people and how much time is required in order to achieve the expected results of the campaign. In the Spot Abuse campaign, the estimated time for the campaign to be a success is one year. One very important element in budgeting is media costs. This covers the purchasing of time and space for advertisements from the airing of the television and radio ads to putting up the billboard ads around the city. The total budget needed for the Spot Abuse campaign is $100,000.

Evaluation
This stage of the planning process deals with the outcomes of the campaign, enabling the determination of the degree to which the objectives of the campaign have been met. The evaluation of the Spot Abuse website proves that it is quite an effective communication tactic. It is easy to navigate through the website. The interface and design is simple and straight forward. The website is able to convey the key messages intended by the campaign. Besides that, the website allows interactivity with the audience through their social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter.

Moving on to the awareness evaluation, this form of evaluation focuses on the message content by taking into consideration the number of people exposed to the message and how memorable is the message. In terms of the message content, it is effective in raising awareness due to the graphic images used throughout the campaign. The television ad shows a beat up dog with its owner who has a bruise on her face. The series of billboard ads on the other hand all feature a dog that has been abused with a child next to the dog with the words “He’s/She’s Next”. It is effective as the message is shocking in a sense that graphic images are not something that is seen frequently. Paired with the tone of the ad, it manages to garner the attention of road users who pass by the billboards.

In the evaluation of the acceptance for the campaign, it focuses on the audience feedback. The audiences have responded well to this campaign. In social media, the efforts from Spot Abuse have been shared repeatedly by Facebook and Twitter users. Many have expressed their approval towards the campaign and have left comments of encouragement on the respective social media platforms.

The campaign has been effective in terms of achieving its action objective. The objective which is to raise awareness of the link between animal abuse and domestic abuse can be seen through a method of evaluation called direct observation. Observing how this campaign is slowly expanding as the months go by is one example. Furthermore, the campaign has been featured on electronic media such as various television and radio stations. Not only that, even online magazines have written articles about the campaign. Another good example is how the campaign’s message reached the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) a few months after it launched. In the month of September 2014, the CEO of the Humane Society of the United States said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation will start to track animal cruelty cases the same way they track other crimes.

Application of PR Theories

The theory that can be applied to this campaign is second-level agenda setting. It derives from agenda setting. The agenda setting theory has two different levels; the first level is that media does not tell the audience what to think, but rather what to think about. Basically, agenda setting implies that if the media frequently and repeatedly brings up one same issue, the audience will remember it better. The second-level agenda setting on the other hand focuses on how media moulds our perceptions towards certain issues.

Framing and second-level agenda setting share similar characteristics. However, they are not equivalent concepts. For second-level agenda setting, instead of repeated coverage of an issue, it relies more on how the media sets the tone of the issue and how the audiences perceive it. Depending on what tone is used to cover an issue, not only can the media help the audience determine how important an issue is, the media can also shape how the audience will feel about the issue.

For example, the tone of the advertisements for Spot Abuse campaign is fear, guilt and sympathy. All the ads from the campaign feature a pet that has been beat up and along with each pet, their owners. From the billboard ads it can be seen that the kids placed next to their abused pets look scared. The television ad shows a woman with a bruise on her face at the vet with her pet dog which has also been abused. The ad shows the dog whimpering and the woman in a shaken state.

The execution of the advertisements makes the audience uncomfortable whenever they see them. Firstly, it is due to the graphic images that are being used such as pets with bloodied bandages and bruise marks all over. The graphic images of the pets paired with the image of a child in fear makes the audiences sympathize on both the child and the pet. The text at the end of every billboard which says “He’s/She’s Next” invokes the emotion of guilt if the audiences do not dial 911 when they suspect an animal abuse case.

It is clear that the Serve Marketing team has applied the second-level agenda setting theory to successfully manipulate the tone of the campaign ads to shape the perception of the audience towards the link between animal abuse and domestic abuse.

SWOT Analysis

Strength
The strength of this campaign is that it is not an ordinary PSA campaign. It is different from most PSA campaigns in a sense that it has an unconventional way of getting the message to the audience. Besides that, the campaign uses many forms of media to raise awareness of the campaign. The fact that Serve Marketing has managed to collaborate with so many other organizations such as the Milwaukee Police Department and Wisconsin Humane Society gives the campaign great credibility. Lastly, the ads from the campaign are successful in delivering the message and invoking the right emotions among the audience. It makes the audience want to take action and resolve the issue.

Weakness
The main weakness of this campaign is that the reach of the campaign is not very wide as it is being piloted in Milwaukee only. However, over time, the campaign can slowly expand. Another weakness of the Spot Abuse campaign is that since it was launched by Serve Marketing, which is a non-profit agency, it relies heavily on the donations from the public.

Opportunities
One of the opportunities that is seen as a favorable situation for the campaign is the statistical evidence from the research by Association of Prosecuting Attorneys that found that 76% of animal abusers also abuse a member of their family. Another opportunity is the recent spike of domestic violence by 48% in the year 2012. Combined with the fact that almost 70% of all abuse cases go unreported, the timing could not be better to launch the campaign. The launching of this campaign encourages witnesses and victims of abuse to come forward and report their cases.

Threats
Most PSA campaigns do not have competitors do not have competitors. The same can be said for this campaign. The major threat that can be faced by this campaign is the lack of donations to continue funding the ads and efforts from the campaign.

Recommendations

As of now, the campaign only targets the people of Milwaukee. The campaign can be expanded much further into other cities to the whole nation of America. By expanding the campaign, more people will be exposed to it. Therefore, more awareness can be raised. Serve Marketing should also consider taking the campaign to a global level. The reason being domestic abuse is not just an issue that takes place in certain countries. It is an issue that is ongoing and it happens everywhere in the world.

Conclusions

The initial plan of the campaign was to run at bus shelters around Milwaukee. However, Milwaukee’s County Transit System found that the ads were “too vulgar”. The executive director of Serve Marketing however believed that people are not going to change their behaviors if the campaign used images of warm and fuzzy pets. The initial plan of using bus stations was scrapped and now, by utilizing various communication vehicles, the campaign has ads on the billboards, television stations and radio stations in Milwaukee.

Taking a risk and going down the unconventional path has proven to be fruitful for the campaign. Despite making audiences uncomfortable when they see the ads, the effectiveness of the ads in invoking the emotions of the audience makes up for the graphic images that are used. In conclusion, the Spot Abuse campaign has been executed and received well by the audiences. Nonetheless, there is no perfect campaign. There are still areas of weakness and certain threats that can be rectified. At the end of the day, it is most important that the objectives of increasing awareness of the link between animal and domestic are met. The Spot Abuse campaign certainly has met the objectives.