[Ohio-talk] Fw: Public Relations Plan for coin launch and conference call information

Sat Mar 7 00:38:25 UTC 2009

Read on but we must move fast if we are going to try and do something ok?

JW

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Freeh, Jessica 
To: Alpidio Rolon ; Amy Buresh ; Anil Lewis ; Art Schreiber ; Beth Rival ; Bob Kresmer ; Carl Jacobsen ; Cathy Jackson ; Charlene Smyth ; Christine G. Hall ; Daniel Burke ; David Ticchi ; Don Galloway ; Donna Wood ; Elsie Lamp ; Franklin Shiner ; Fred Schroeder ; Fred Wurtzel ; Gary Ray ; Gary Wunder ; J.W. Smith ; James Antonacci ; Jennelle Bichler ; Jennifer Dunnam ; Jerree Harris ; Joe Ruffalo ; John Batron ; John Fritz ; Joyce Scanlan ; Kathy Davis ; Ken Rollman ; Kevan Worley ; Marie Johnson ; Mary Willows ; Melissa Riccobono ; Michael Barber ; Michael Freeman ; Michael Seay ; Minnie Walker ; Minnie Walker ; Nani Fife ; Pam Allen ; Parnell Diggs ; Patti Chang ; Richard Bennett ; Richard Gaffney ; Ron Brown ; Ron Gardner ; Sam Gleese ; Scott LaBarre ; Selena Sundling-Crawford ; Steven Priddle ; Terri Rupp ; Tommy Craig 
Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 2:27 PM
Subject: Public Relations Plan for coin launch and conference call information

Dear State Presidents and Coordinators:

Below is the public relations plan for the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar launch and corresponding Braille Readers are Leaders campaign. 

Background: As you all know, the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver dollar will be unveiled at the NFB Jernigan Institute on March 26.  Our goal is to have one hundred corresponding events on a local level throughout the country.  The exact plans for the local events are at your discretion.  Some affiliates have planned events at bookstores or at their local US Mint offices.  The Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar launch is a great opportunity to get articles about yourself or your event in your local media.  

What to Pitch: If you are having a corresponding coin launch/Braille literacy event, you will want to pitch that to the media and tie it into the national campaign. If you do not have the ability to plan an event to attract the media's attention, you can still get our message out to your local media.  Use your own (or a local member's) story about Braille--whether it is positive or negative--to pitch a local-interest story about the importance of Braille literacy.  For instance, if you received proper Braille instruction as a child and now are successful in your chosen field, that is a story of the power of Braille literacy that can be pitched to your local media.  On the flip side, if you did not receive Braille instruction and subsequently had a hard time getting a job, that is also a story that demonstrates the importance of Braille literacy and should be pitched to your media contacts.  

The "perfect story" would be a local story about one of our members that then ties into the national trend of children or adults not being taught Braille in the United States and mentions the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver dollar.  These stories would also feature a quote from Dr. Maurer.  We will distribute quotes in a subsequent email.  

A groundbreaking report on the national crisis in Braille literacy will be unveiled at the NFB Jernigan Institute on March 26 which you may want to tease to your local media contacts, but we want the unveiling of the report to be dramatic, so we cannot release the report until March 26. If you are doing pitching after that date, we can make the report available to you to share with your local contacts.

When to Pitch: If you are going to be pitching a story relating to an event, you should begin pitching to print media one week prior to the event. For TV and radio, you should begin pitching two days in advance. If you are going to pitch a story about yourself and your own experiences with Braille literacy, you can start pitching immediately. 

Messaging: Attached you will find a document which outlines all of the key messages we are trying to get across to the media.  Please review and familiarize yourself with the messages BEFORE you begin pitching to and speaking with media.

Also, every affiliate should be working to obtain a proclamation from your Governor on this topic.  A draft proclamation was distributed earlier this week.

We will have a conference call on Tuesday, March 10, at 8:00 p.m. EST to discuss this plan and other important topics related to the coin launch, so please plan to be on the call.  The toll-free phone number for the conference call is 1-888-205-5513, and the passcode is 413146.  

This is the first of several media bulletins so keep watching your e-mail.  

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