Media Matters
By Amy Brierly

Just about everyone wants to see their name in print–or hear it on television or radio.  And with good reason.  What’s covered in the media–whether it’s print, broadcast or online-matters. It matters for a number of reasons.  In one sense, it means the outside world is paying attention to what matters to you.  Your definition of “what matters” might be the work your organization is doing. It could be an issue facing your particular industry. It could be your ideas or opinions on an emerging trend.  

Media coverage also is important because it can lead others to take action.  A rave review of a newly completed project can mean new customers for an architect or a contractor.  Media scrutiny can alter the outcome of a debate about, for example, regulatory action that will impact your industry.  Media attention also can spark public dialogue about the structures that make up our environment. 

Media attention is a powerful tool.  A cohesive media-relations strategy can help you use media to your advantage. Yet too many organizations give short shrift to their media relations efforts. The communications staff is multitasking just like everyone else. If the organization is a professional association, the communications staff probably is managing a number of ongoing initiatives.  They’re developing tools to recruit and retain members. They’re handling member communications–things like newsletters and Web-site content. And they’re promoting programs and events.  If the organization is a for-profit company, the communications staff most likely is involved in everything from writing staff bios to overseeing proposal development.  Day to day demands often push media relations efforts to the wayside. Unfortunately, this can mean missed opportunities for an organization. 

If you suspect your organization is missing out on these kinds of opportunities, it’s time to rethink how your media relations initiatives are being handled.  If you’ve assigned a staff person to the task, perhaps it’s time to sit down together and discuss what can be shifted onto someone else’s plate so that time is freed up expressly for media relations.  Another solution is to contract with an outside public relations (PR) firm or freelance specialist. An outside PR firm can provide extra staffing on an “as-needed” basis.  This is the kind of partnership our PR agency, Creative Consortium Ltd., Chicago, has formed with the Chicago chapter of The American Institute of Architects (AIA Chicago).  The partnership helps AIA Chicago achieve greater visibility in a cost-effective and targeted way.  Here’s how it works.

While the communications staff person at AIA Chicago is focused primarily on member communications, Creative Consortium steps in periodically to manage external promotion of AIA events and programs.  In big and small ways, this builds visibility and makes things happen for AIA Chicago and its members.  As the AIA Chicago communications specialist is writing and editing the spring newsletters, for example, Creative Consortium’s media specialists are busy promoting the chapter’s annual series of public seminars on “Working With an Architect.”  During the fall, when the AIA Chicago staff is engrossed in the planning of its major design awards event, our agency is contacting reporters to give them a heads up about that year’s winning projects.  And when the national conference was headed to Chicago last year for the first time in more than a decade, it was time to shine the spotlight once again.  Sure, architecture would be in the news, especially with Chicago’s Millennium Park about to be unveiled. But what about the rest of Chicago’s architecture and its architectural community?  The occasion of the AIA national conference in the city that’s widely recognized as the birthplace of modern architecture was an opportunity if ever there was one.  But how to capitalize on this in a way that would interest the average Chicagoan? 

Our solution was to conduct a survey of AIA Chicago members.  The survey polled local architects for answers to questions like, “What’s the best new building in Chicago in the last 10 years?” and “What is Chicago’s most overlooked architectural treasure?”  In all, 338 architects shared their views.  We compiled those results and wrote a media teaser, which was distributed to Chicago newsrooms just prior to the opening of the national convention.  The results were incredible.  Radio, television and print stories brought the opinions of AIA Chicago members to the masses. 

The survey was a simple solution, but one that demonstrates the value of making a modest investment in media relations. The stories about the survey helped to shine the spotlight on local architects and on Chicago itself.  At the same time, they helped support AIA on a national level by letting the public know that the national conference was in town.  Television stations sent camera crews onto the streets to shoot exteriors of the winning places and spaces, leading to positive exposure for clients as well.  One station invited a prominent local architect into the studio for a live interview.  AIA Chicago’s chapter president was quoted in a newspaper story. 

When an organization like AIA Chicago recognizes the importance of getting its message to the public, it benefits not just the organization itself, but the entire profession.  That impetus can come from a staff person, but it can just as easily come from a member architect who has decided to get involved with the local chapter.  The AIA Chicago staff and member architects who made the time to help with the survey saw that it paid off not just for the chapter but for the industry and for their own companies.  If you’re an AIA member who wants to see the same kind of results in your own city, maybe now’s the time to get involved with your local AIA chapter. 

Amy Brierly is a client manager for Creative Consortium Ltd., Chicago. She can be reached at (312) 595-0670 or amyb@creativeconsortiumpr.com.