Czech Statistical Office“Czech Census: Making it Count”Public opinion research/measurement, strategy development, media relations, event planning, crisis preparedness, spokesperson services, media training, internal communications

CASE STUDY “Ewing PR’s education of the public had a direct and significant impact on the great success of this Census.“

Stanislav Drápal, Vice President, Czech Statistical Office

In 2009, the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) needed communications in order to change the perception of the upcoming 2011 Czech national census. The challenge was not small – the previous 2001 census had been plagued by problems and widespread mistrust… making the resulting data almost useless.

THE CHALLENGE

Our first insight came from understanding why the previous census had gone so terribly wrong: it came down to one question that hadn’t been addressed for all Czechs: “What’s in it for me?”

Strategically, this drove every aspect of our work for the 2011 Census.

INSIGHT

INTEGRATION: we began by aligning with advertising and marketing suppliers to ensure we all spoke with a unified voice.

A dedicated, senior Ewing-trained spokesperson was placed within the CSU to provide 24/7 media relations support, lead message development and crisis readiness. This was an 18-month engagement, proof that the CSU was taking communications in 2011 seriously.

THE SOLUTION

THE SOLUTION

Then began a full-scale country-wide campaign, which reached out to all segments and regions of Czech society. In partnership with key minority stakeholder groups, we explored how the census would – for example - allocate firefighters in underserviced areas; for transportation planning; and for deciding where schools, highways, and hospitals would be needed in the future. Our goal was to answer the “What will the Census do for Me?” question.

As census day arrived, we completed a massive media blitz, focusing on thekey theme: “what will the Census do for me?” We also developed a full post-census communications strategy and trained local representatives to conducttheir own local media relations for on-going outreach and validation that thecensus was worthy.

To ensure consistency, we paired external communications with a sophisticated internal communications program including

educational videos and a regular newsletter in order to educate regional officials and commissioners, supporting a ‘zero

complaints’ goal for public interaction.

THE SOLUTION

THE RESULTS

97.5% of Czechs participated in the 2011 census

In the 15 months before the census, almost 3100 exclusive articles were generated, of which 65% were in regional press; in March 2011 (month of census), almost 2700 articles/reports

Of the total 5800 articles, only 14% of those articles were negative and over 80% of the articles used topics and materials created by Ewing PR

AWARDS

Effie Awards 2011

7th Annual Czech Award for Public Relations in

the category Corporate Communication (2nd

place)