Coverage on WYTV Channel 33 shows BP’s Curtis Thomas handing over the meat at the Salvation Army in Warren.

In the corporate goodwill arena, buying an animal at a county fair 4-H auction goes back a few years.

But in July, BP America added a different and productive dimension to the old stand-by. After winning two prize animals at the Trumbull County Fair, the oil and gas giant turned around and donated the meat to two local soup kitchens in an effort that generated considerable local publicity.

“This way, we were able to support three good causes – the 4-H program, the Salvation Army soup kitchen and the St. Vincent de Paul soup kitchen,” said Curtis Thomas, BP’s director of public affairs in Ohio.

BP, working with Pecchia Communications, didn’t squander any resources to publicize its winning bids at the fair. Those purchases were among dozens, all published in a list in the Tribune Chronicle.

Instead, the effort zeroed in on the soup kitchen donations. A local processor packaged up the meat in sections that met the needs of the two charities, and donation events were set up at times convenient to charity officials and local media.

“That’s where the news value resided,” said Jim Houck, senior consultant at Pecchia Communications. “There was a long list of organizations buying steers, pigs and lambs, as there is every year, at every fair. But it’s rare to see a buyer haul a vehicle full of ready-to-cook meat to an inner-city soup kitchen, and our media contacts recognized that.”

Visual appeal

BP and Pecchia Comm arranged for the more than 600 pounds of meat to be packaged into more than 40 bags of bright BP green. The news coverage showed BP’s Thomas and the Salvation Army volunteers lugging the green bags from a vehicle onto a cart and carried interviews with Thomas and Salvation Army Captain Misty Coffelt.

BP is exploring the possibility of drilling for oil and gas in the Utica Shale and plans to drill test wells in early 2013. The company has sent bonus checks to hundreds of Trumbull County landowners after signing leases last Spring.

“Beyond our day-to-day business, we want to make it clear that we’re also here to help our neighbors,” said Thomas. “Publicity about donations like these is important to getting that message across.

“Community engagement is a priority for BP here in northeastern Ohio and everywhere we do business.”

Good advice

Houck offered a few pointers to organizations pursuing news coverage of their good deeds:

• Do something different. Differentiate your media pitch from others. Everyone presents an oversized check, for example. How can you take yours to the next level? Consider making an executive available to address other goings-on at the company while she’s there to present the check.
• What’s the visual? Think beyond the traditional “grip and grin” photo. Consider an action shot that tells the story. Make the photo more personal.
• Timing. Coordinate your event with something timely and relevant. And be first. Have a good answer to the question “Why now?” Localize a national story that’s in the headlines, or tie your event to months or weeks of significance (like “Diabetes Month” or “Bring Your Pet to Work Week.”)
• Follow-up. Don’t think just about the day of event, but make it easy for media who can’t attend at that particular hour to still cover the story through pictures and follow-up contacts.

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