Local PR pros tout success of flood awareness campaign

A local group of public-relations pros says it succeeded in a campaign to remind the nation of the first anniversary of Cedar Rapids' June 2008 flood.

Cassie Willis, communications liaison for the city of Cedar Rapids, said the public-relations effort resulted in more than 65 news stories on television and in newspapers and magazines with a national or regional reach.

ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and ESPN all carried stories about what Willis and the public relations group called the “Cedar Rapids Flood Story.”

Willis said the campaign had $2,500 in expenses, which were paid with donations. In-kind services donated to the project would have cost another $18,150, she said.

In return, the effort estimates that the campaign has resulted in a $3 million to $4 million benefit to the community.

The campaign featured the mailing of media kits to the top 50 media outlets in the nation. The kits included reports, video clips and statistics about the city's flood and recovery as well as a snack of soy milk and oatmeal cookies.

The media kit was packaged in the stout cardboard tubes used by Quaker for its oatmeal along with the mention that Quaker Co. was quick to get its flood-damaged Cedar Rapids mill – the largest cereal mill in the world – back up and running.

Willis said the key message that the city wanted to convey was that Cedar Rapids endured billions of dollars in disaster damage but has garnered only millions in disaster relief.