PR Campaign Key to Morgan’s Wonderland Opening Success

Earlier this month, the long-awaited grand opening ceremony for Morgan’s Wonderland was carried live on Ustream It was the capstone of a year-long awareness campaign for the nations’ first theme park designed with accessibility and special needs in mind.

The park is the brainchild of San Antonio philanthropist and former builder Gordon Hartman and named for his special needs daughter Morgan. The park is a non-profit operation, so a large opening campaign so typical to theme parks was not an option, according to Bob McCullough, APR, Communications Director for Morgan’s Wonderland.

“One of the biggest challenges is communicating exactly what it is. It’s a theme park, but it’s not a theme park in certain respects,” says McCullough. “We don’t have tickets, we have reservations. There are no coupons, no promotions. Instead, because many families dealing with special needs are faced with economic challenges, we offer free admission to special-needs guests and $5 admission to those who come with them. Therefore, you have to approach things a lot differently.”

Approaching things differently was the hallmark of the park’s pre-opening campaign too. According to McCullough, the team at the Gordon Hartman Family foundation embraced social media very early, integrating a Facebook and Twitter presence with the park’s Web site. Reaching out to local social media groups like the Social Media Club of San Antonio and BMPR (Business, Media and Public Relations) was part of that plan.

Traditional media relations were important, too, says McCullough. First and foremost, educating and informing the local media was a key part of the plan. The park’s soft opening on March 3 featured great local coverage. “Then we started getting calls from Alaska and New York and everywhere in between because and the local stations kindly shared their stories with the networks” says McCullough. “We also received a tremendous boost March 8 when ‘ABC World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer’ aired a lengthy feature story.”

In the month after the soft opening of Morgan’s Wonderland, San Antonio’s ABC affiliate KSAT TV aired a 30-minute special on the park, which led to additional coverage by “Good Morning America” two days before the grand opening. The San Antonio Express-News produced a special insert about the park that was distributed April 4.

The grand opening on Saturday, April 10, featured former San Antonio Spur David Robinson and actress Eva Longoria Parker among the celebrities. McCullough estimates that more than 10,000 attended the opening. “Even though people had to wait a little to get in the park, there were millions of smiles. It was a great evening and the weather cooperated, too. Everything went beyond our expectations.”

But the public relations campaign is not yet over. McCullough is a veteran of the theme park business. While Public Relations Director at SeaWorld San Antonio, he and his team earned a Silver Anvil for the Grand Opening Campaign for that parks’ opening activities in 1988. So he knows the exciting challenges of telling the bigger story of Morgan’s Wonderland over the coming months.

“There are lots of different story angles,” says McCullough. “This is a special-needs story, a tourism story, a high-tech story, an architecture story, a design story. It lends itself to so many different story angles.”

As well, the $32.5 million dollar park is still in the process of raising funds to pay for the build-out. McCullough will also be involved in familiarization tours with community groups to spur them on to help contribute to the capital and operating costs.
Since grand opening, the park has received media inquiries from around the U.S. and overseas.

“This has been a truly heartwarming project,” says McCullough. “We’ll keep trying to spread the word and hope we will be discovered by Oprah and many others regionally, nationally and internationally.” In the meantime, the park has been discovered by families across the USA who have been waiting for a place like Morgan’s Wonderland.

Photo of the Hartman family at the opening of Morgan's Wonderland. Courtesy r.c. french photography, copyright 2010, All rights reserved.

America's Companies are NOT Hiding Social Media Efforts

In her “What’s Next blog,” BL Ochman calls out America’s top companies for hiding their social media efforts. She even lists the top ten, the chief criteria being whether or not social media places like Facebook and Twitter were listed on the company’s homepage.

She suggests three reasons why these companies aren’t engaged, although none of the companies seem to have contributed to the story. Ochman’s top three reasons were: fear, lack of internal cooperation and legal pressure.

As a public relations practitioner who has spent most of my career in corporate communications, I would like to suggest an alternate viewpoint.

First, the fact that social media is not present on the homepage of each company, in and of itself, is no reason to categorize companies as “hiding.” If, like many large companies, they are using a stakeholder model of communications, their efforts might be considered niche to a stakeholder(s) who would not necessarily be reached by the corporate homepage.

One example of this is on the landing page of the new Chevrolet Volt, which includes links to Facebook and Twitter, a Community link and numerous blog posts about the 2011 product from General Motors. It’s targeted to the audience and it’s front and center for that product.

Are America’s top companies really afraid of social media? I doubt it. What they are afraid of is failing at social media, and most large companies know that the stakes are high. Ochman cites lack of cooperation between internal channels as a cause for the top ten not engaging , but I would venture a guess that integration is a tough issue for organizations. What should you integrate? Who should be responsible for the integration? Is it part of everyone’s job? Should marketing own it? How about the Communications department? There are human resource issues as well.

Large issues are at stake here: education about social media and ethical principles of using it across diverse employee and customer populations. This takes time for larger companies to populate and includes educating legal teams too. Companies are certainly on a journey which will lead to empowerment in social media --- it’s hard work for companies and it doesn’t happen overnight.

I would not categorize America’s top companies as hiding. Rather, I would say they are struggling with ownership, integration, education and empowerment issues. Let’s give them more time to get it right. Perhaps it would lead to permanent, sustainable change.

Is Your PR Plan Helping Grow Your Brand?

Every element of your business elevates or devalues your brand. This was the message from Ed Howie, President of Brand True, who spoke last week at the PRSA San Antonio chapter monthly luncheon. He had a refreshing viewpoint with great relevance for public relations practitioners, based on his work with many consumer brands.


His hypothesis is worth considering. Are we elevating or devaluing our brand? In the heat of the moment, do you consider how a particular tactic in your plan may elevate brand perception or detract from it? It’s natural that proactive plans should elevate brand perception, but what about when we manage issues or a crisis? These are also chances to elevate brand perception, but more often than not, we are trying to neutralize or eliminate misconceptions. Missed opportunity?

The second thesis by Howie made me reconsider traditional marketing thinking. He suggests that, while developing methods to deliver your message, you should start with Who as the first question. Who do you want to reach? Most of us start with What and then figure out Who the What is intended for, right? Howie’s words are very germane because What implies traditional product marketing strategies, while Who implies the conversational nature of social media marketing.

The takeaway from Howie’s presentation? The importance of creating and maintaining emotional connections. Here’s what he had to say:

“Emotional connection is often times an underleveraged element in the equation of building a powerful connection. This truth applies to public relations, customer relations, and employee relations. Often times we get so caught up in the facts or the tasks that we forget to identify ways to connect emotionally. However, emotional connections and cues are often the things that break through the clutter of bombarding messages and information. Genuine passion and emotion can be a game-changer…and a clutter-breaker. Just remember, you have to manage it as earnestly as you do the facts. Because if not real, contrived emotional connections can do more harm than good.”

How have you created an emotional connection with your last project? With whom did you create the connection? Maybe it’s time to get out your plan, and start thinking about Who you want to make emotional connections with today.

I REALLY Want to Take the Census

By Katie Hornstrom

I’ve been looking forward to filling out my 2010 Census since January. I count it as my civic duty and I want to represent my community, even if it’s just on sheet of paper. However, I’m finding a very large disconnect between the information being promoted at a national level and what is being communicated locally.

We have been bombarded with messages from the U.S. Census Bureau about the importance of the census through the news media, radio spots, billboards, print ads. The Census Bureau has a fantastic website with some great widgets you can download. The director writes a blog, there are interactive forms and tons of wonderfully produced materials like videos from real people.

With all that I’m sad to report, as of Census Day, I have yet to even receive my Census form.

Throughout my experiences with the 2010 Census process, I am constantly reminded of one crucial aspect of our business: if your front line staff, your people on the ground, aren’t communicating correct information then all of your efforts, and your clients money, are wasted. It doesn’t matter how much you spend on advertising, website, promotions, news stories, radio spots, etc. if the nuts and bolts information gets lost.

I have been incredibly disappointed with the entire Census process, particularly communications, as I’ve experienced it.

For example, several weeks ago the Express-News ran a story about how the Census was having a hard time filling jobs.

Yet, several friends and I applied for a part-time Census jobs in February, assured the job training would be available during non-work hours only to be called mid-March on a Wednesday informing us the training was scheduled the following Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. How much of our wasted taxpayer dollars could have been saved on at least four applications with just a little correct information? How many others were in the same situation?

My current dilemma is just trying to get a straight answer about where to get the form that never made it to my house (census forms aren’t delivered to p.o. boxes). I’ve checked online, I’ve called different offices, I’ve gotten five different answers from four different people (one woman I spoke with was just guessing and suggesting places for me to go).

I’m someone who wants to fill out my form! Can you imagine the response of somebody who is ambivalent? What if this were your organization? I certainly wouldn’t buy a product if I couldn’t find out where it’s sold!

Texas was recently singled out by Census director Robert Groves chastising us as one of the lagging states in returning their Census forms.

I take exception to his position. While I understand there are some people who just haven’t bothered, many of us might not have been properly reached. While I obviously can’t speak for the whole state, I would like to inform Mr. Groves that numerous citizens here in rural south Texas have yet to even receive their forms and are having a hard time just finding out correct information from his bureau. If you notice, the two biggest lagging states are Texas and Alaska, both with large rural populations. Maybe we’re not the problem, but how we’re being reached is.

This experience is a big reminder to me, to all of us, that maybe instead of chastising or bemoaning our target audience, we look internally to see how we could be doing better a better job getting correct information out through our fellow employees who work directly with our consumers. We can shout all day, but if our front line staff isn’t shouting the same messages, then nobody gets heard. And Mr. Groves, I’m still waiting to answer those 10 questions.

Katie Hornstrom is PRSA San Antonio's Byline Editor and Communications Representative for Medina Valley Electric Co-operative.

Changing the Game: Move Your Social Media Plan from Conservative to Advocacy

Despite the proliferation of social media tools, evangelists and thousands of column inches on why you should, how you should and what you should be doing in social media, there is still a prevailing group who haven’t jumped in. How can this be? Aren’t all public relations practitioners advocating the latest and greatest in their organizations?

The answer is probably yes, followed by a long sigh. If you have been unsuccessful or are meeting resistance in moving social media off the “to do list” and into the daily fabric of your organization, you are not alone. And you probably need encouragement and tools to help you along your way.

One great resource for public relations practitioners is Ike Pigott, Communications Strategist for Alabama Power. Ike was in exactly the same spot more than a year ago and devised a great approach for taking a conservative corporate culture and moving into a social media advocacy role.
Using an analogy that follows the Pacman game (surely you remember the Pacman game!), Ike’s Pacman Paradigm…and social media for that matter….are likened to game theory. First you need to know the lay of the land – the boundaries and rules and objectives. Next you need to know where you stand – know your map, know the enemy, know the escape routes.

Ike’s presentation at the recent Ragan Coca-Cola Conference opened avenues for many PR practitioners. He offered five qualities that a social media advocate needs to make change happen in their organization. You must be patient, analytical, creative, mentoring and nimble. (if you spell out the first letter, it spells Pacman!).

Here is Ike’s best piece of advice about making change.

“One of the biggest barriers to communicating these tools is language,” Pigott said in a recent interview. “Much of what people do in social media is emergent, and not easy to describe. That’s why the networks have such silly-sounding names, and that gets in the way of being taken seriously.”

There are lots of emerging examples of what not to do when starting social media strategies in your organization. Pigott takes an example from Hollywood.

“You don’t want to end up like Tim Robbins’ character in The Hudsucker Proxy – running around with a goofy smile and a picture of a circle, and shouting ‘It’s for kids!’ When the time is right, you need to approach others with a solution to a problem, a better way to reach their existing goals. Once they feel like there’s a tangible result from which they could benefit, you’ll have their attention long enough to explain just what that circle really is.”

If you’d like to connect with Ike, he’d be happy to share his journey. You can connect with Ike on e-mail at: IPIGOTT@southernco.com , on Twitter or on his blog.

Centuries of Coping with Information Overload

Major advancements in technology have many of us worried about information overload, the decline of literacy skills and even damage to brain development. In the acclaimed movie, “Doubt,” Sister Aloysius Beauvier admonishes students for using ball point pens, claiming students were becoming lazy.


Slate recently published an article by Vaughan Bell pointing us to earlier days when similar worries were prevalent. He goes as far back as Socrates, who said that putting pen to paper would "create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories."
The invention of the printing press brought about worries of the psychological strain that would be caused by the production of so many books. In the 18th Century, when newspapers entered the scene, people worried about social isolation. Later, a few warned about the mental health risks of a schoolwork. And the list goes on.

In an interview with On the Media about his article, Bell says, “And one of my favorites is from the British paper The Daily Mail, which is famous for its bad science headlines: ‘How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer.’”

Whenever there’s been a societal technological advancement, people worried about it. They told themselves it’s too much and that, this time, it’s worse than before.

In a blog post about Bell’s article, David McRaney summarizes, “There has always been more to take in mentally than we could spend our time digesting.”

Clay Shirky says it’s not a problem of too much information, it’s a problem of filter failure. We have to adapt our filters to the new world. Each generation has to learn how to cope with its new advancement.

Ironically, we have gone and created a whole “information age” for ourselves. We want to know what we want to know when we want to know it. And we often turn to technology to give us the answers. The good news is that we can turn to technology to filter out the information we don’t want. And at times, we can even turn it off altogether

Regardless, we will learn to cope just as those before us did.

And then it’ll all change again.

from "My Two Cents," PRSA Byline March 2010