Rubin Communications is proud to work with Wheelabrator Portsmouth, a waste-to-energy facility that provides steam to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and disposes of solid waste in a way that is environmentally safe and decreases reliance on fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
The Big Project
From that environmental consciousness, the Annual Wheelabrator Symposium for Environnment and Education was born. The program allows eighth graders from across the country to develop solutions to local environmental challenges over the course of the school year.
The schools then meet in Florida for a three-day symposium where students present their projects and solutions to a panel of educators, politicians and local community volunteers. In Portsmouth, the participating middle school is W.E. Waters Middle. The project: raise oysters, engage the local community and teach them about the importance of the oyster species in our rivers and bay.
Our Task at RCG
How do we turn an eighth grade class project into a news story that also promotes the trash plant?
1. Make it LOCAL — After our contact at Wheelabrator sent initial information and press release templates, we crafted a news release with a focus on our students and what they’re doing right here in our river.
2. Create a media event — As part of the project, the students gave 1,000 oysters to three families who live on the water in Portsmouth. They visited the homes of all three families, instructed them on how to properly care for their oysters and explained the oysters’ impact on the environment. With 3,000 oysters and floats in hand (great visuals for the media), the students rode from house to house to put the floats in the water and get the families set up. THAT is a media event.
3. Accommodate the media — We knew this story would interest the local TV stations, but we also had to be strategic about who to invite from The Virginian Pilot, the main daily newspaper. The fact that our school and all three families are in Portsmouth made it easy, and a reporter from the Portsmouth Currents jumped on the story.
Read the coverage from the Portsmouth Currents.
We also took into account that we planned the event for a Saturday morning, a time when TV stations are short-staffed and breaking news wins. We knew Joe Flanagan, a reporter at WVEC (ABC affiliate), always needs a Saturday morning story. We also gave the stations the option to come at 9, 10 or 11 am and visit any of the three homes.
Watch WVEC’s coverage from the event here.
4. Take good photos and video — A reporter will not always cover your story. That’s why our firm makes sure to take photos and send them to print and broadcast outlets immediately afterwards. Again, meet the press more than halfway.
5. Craft the message — In all the excitement of the day, it’s easy to forget the real reason we want coverage of this class of 8th graders raising oysters — it all goes back to Wheelabrator. We worked with reporters to include interviews from our local Wheelabrator representative and positioned the Wheelabrator name at the front of our pitches. The more exposure for the client, the more successful the event.
6. Go the distance on social media — Viewers of WTKR (CBS affiliate) and WVEC weren’t the only people who saw the story. We made sure to share the link on Facebook, Twitter and even wrote a Facebook post for the City of Portsmouth for its own page. Tagging, liking and sharing make content go even further.
View the WTKR story here.
7. Say thanks — Always thank a reporter for help on the story. On social media, send a tweet “thanks” to the reporter too. A little goes a long way!
