Communications measurement from a municipal perspective

Paula Musto, Director of Communications for Miami Dade County in Florida, gave what was one of the best synopses of life as a government communicator and how it differs from the corporate and non-profit world. Difference between public sector and private sector, Musto said was that her biggest fear in private sector was having a press conference and no one shows up. That's clearly not a problem when you work in government. Where the mayor goes, the press follows and the bigger challenge  is keeping the name of your elected leader OUT of the media.

What was most interesting of course to us was the measurement of her results, because in essence its so simple. In government, Musto said, the leader is the brand. And the measure is reelection, because if your leader doesn't get reelected, you certainly won't have a job.

She has the priviledge/challenge to be working for Miami's new mayor, Carlos Alvarez, a Cuban American,former police chief, who, at the moment at least, enjoys approval ratings that George Bush  could only dream about -- Somewhere between  60 and 70% of Miamians approve of his performance.

But in order to keep those ratings high, you need to address the issues that you were elected on and in Miami, more than taxes, the environment, or health care, the number one voter concern is traffic.  The average commute is an hour. And the problem is not that citizens that don't follow the rules, but that they  they follow the rules of their own country -- a problem when 50% of the residents are born outside the US. 

Musto brainstormed with a variety of folks from public safety, state police etc. and realized that one of the biggest problems was the number of accidents and people's perception that it was illegal to move cars off the highway. The problem is that for every minute that a car blocks a lane, that causes 5 minutes of congestion. if it takes police an average of 20 minutes to respond to "fender bender" that's nearly two hours of additional congestion per fender bender. 

So started public education campaign called "move it, yes you can" using traditional PR, plus print, radio, public tv and outdoor and online. Her measures of success were four:

1. provide visibility for mayor on traffic issue
2. raise awareness among drivers of the need to move a disabled vehicle
3. modify behavior
4. reduce congestions

While metrics have yet to be gathered on most objectives, they did do a survey to test awareness levels. What was interesting was how the results of the measurement will impact future decisions. Musto said that she invested heavily in radio to get the message out, partly because radio is what reaches the greatest percentage of voters and because Miami lags the country in internet connections.

However, post-campaign awareness survey results painted a vastly different picture. Billboards and other signage had a far greater impact on awareness than radio. And in what we would call a "cost per awareness point" metric, radio was the big loser.

Here's how it worked: Billboards generated a 30% increase in awareness at a cost of $44,000, or a cost per point of awareness of $1466.66. Here's how the various tactics stacked up in terms of cost per point of awareness:

28% of respondents said that they had seen the message via other signage, ie busses, signs at toll booths etc. This generated awareness at a cost of $1487 per point of awareness.

18.3% of respondents saw the message on Public Access TV at a cost per point of awareness of $934.18.3

Only 11.8% of respondents remembered hearing the message on the radio at a cost per point of awareness of $6964

Clearly, the place to reach drivers is when they are in their cars -- stuck in traffic staring at billboards.

Comments

[Charlene]

Katie,
Thanks for this post, I found it interesting and valuable. It shows that getting the message to your audience where they frequent and in a manner where interuptions are low is important. Like you state sitting in traffic one is attracted to the billboard like a moth to the light. Keep them coming from Columbia. Travel safe.