Anniston Army Depot:
Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Campaign

Objective:
Panorama Public Relations was chosen to develop a communications campaign that centered upon empowering a specific and targeted public with knowledge and understanding of what to do in the event of a chemical emergency. An interactive, multifaceted campaign was developed to communicate those important messages and also to create deep-reaching communications channels by targeting important influencers of critical decisions in the various communities the campaign served.

Plan:
Panorama recommended a focused and clear public communications campaign, in tandem with a multi-tiered mass-media effort, as the most effective way to approach a challenge of this magnitude.

Strategies:
Public opinion first was gauged to determine the level of understanding of the important issues and to determine population sectors that were the most concerned and felt least informed prior to the public relations campaign launch.

Based on this knowledge, Panorama developed a plan to go into those communities to reach the individuals with these important messages and agendas. For these communications to be of greatest impact, Panorama recommended forming partnerships with the business community, special-interest groups, community organizations and educational institutions that could help best target the communications to certain population segments.

Citizen safety was the central focus of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Campaign. Out of the total population, key stakeholders were identified as the most likely individuals/groups/organizations to openly receive the campaign message, act on its recommendations and influence others to act. Through the efforts of the campaign, a consistent message of "community" was conveyed throughout.

Providing information in a timely and professional manner to the media played a significant role in this campaign because it was vitally important for the media to be properly advised and to understand what the public needed to know. The campaign timeline called for regular and systematic reports to the media though press conferences, releases, media alerts and advisories.

Storyboards and print campaign material explaining "what to do in the unlikely event of a chemical emergency" were presented to the media at the initial press conference to officially launch the public awareness campaign.

Media reports and community feedback were summarized through content analysis of print and broadcast media and through communication tools used by business, civic and community organizations.

Results:
The goal of the five-month communications campaign centered upon empowering residents in the primary and secondary target zones of the Anniston Army Depot with knowledge and understanding of what to do in the unlikely event of a chemical emergency. A final survey measuring the effectiveness of the overall campaign was administered to gauge the increased understanding of this emergency process and showed overwhelmingly positive results.

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