Camp grabs the attention of national news - Public Awareness Project Update

Camp is catching the attention of the nation's major news outlets! Since spring the ACA National Office has worked with NBC News, ABC News and CBS News to provide information on camps across the country.

Edie Klein, past president of ACA, promoted the camp experience on NBC's "Today Show" in April. NBC News with Tom Brokaw carried a segment in late June on the variety of programs available in today's camps. The latter segment was taped at Camp Wyman in St. Louis, and featured an interview with director Dave Hilliard, along with a variety of video footage from other ACA camps. At press time, "CBS This Morning" was working on a feature about camp programs for seniors, ABC's "Prime Time" had contacted ACA seeking information on unique specialty programs and NBC's "Now" magazine program was working on a feature highlighting camp programs that teach communication skills.

In addition, a "camp care package" was mailed to the "Today Show"'s Willard Scott along with an invitation to televise a weather segment from a camp in the Washington, D.C. area, and the Fox Network has been supplied with information o ACA and the camp industry.

National publications have also caught "camp fever." American Girl Magazine, Parenting Magazine, Family Life Magazine, Country Living Magazine, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are among national publications which include camp feature stories during the summer.

ACA News Bureau

A national ACA News Bureau -- another key element of ACA's public awareness campaign -- is doing even more to bring the value of camp to the public's attention. The news bureau began in June with a news release promoting the mont as "Back to Camp" time. The information was sent to more than 2,000 key media outlets across the country, including major newspapers, business and trade publications and radio and television networks.

Press kits heralding our theme -- "Camp Gives Kids A World of Good" -- and containing the release and other pertinent camp information were prepared for media in 22 cities targeted as major markets for the awareness campaign. These cities were selected on the basis of total population, number of camps in the state, and their rank as media centers across the country.

While the public awareness campaign will service media throughout the country, special emphasis will be placed on obtaining news coverage in the major markets including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and St. Louis. Also selected as major media markets were Columbus, Ohio; Richmond, Virginia; Baltimore; Seattle; Denver; Charlotte, North Carolina; Hartford; Minneapolis; Milwaukee and Indianapolis.

Targeted cities have also received releases on how to pack for camp, how to dea with homesickness, families who go to camp, favorite camp recipes and the intergenerational aspects of camp. The Fleishman-Hillard public relations firm followed the mailings with calls to media in each city to encourage use of the stories and to offer local camp spokespersons.

Campaign Theme

Camera-ready art of the campaign theme, "Camp Gives Kids A World of Good," has been prepared in logo form for inclusion on ACA-produced stationery, literature and promotion pieces. Logo sheets containing the theme in various sizes are being mailed to camp owners and camp directors for use in local printed pieces. Nationally, the logo design is being used on stationery, press releases, media kits and T-shirts used for promotion purposes.

The ACA Public Awareness Committee is also working with conference and educatio committees to have the "Camp Gives Kids A World of Good" message incorporated into workshops via speakers and promotional activities. Tentatively, this message has been approved as the theme for the 1996 national conference in San Diego.

Public Awareness Committee

With the work of the Visionary Task Force completed, ACA President Connie Coutellier has appointed a standing Public Awareness Committee that includes An Woods, chair; Chuck Ackenbom; Bill Cole; Katie Heidrich; Dave Hilliard; Al Sigoloff; Morry Stein; Henry Thomas; and Joe Kruger, ex officio. This committee will meet for the first time at the end of September to discuss its primary responsibilities: long-range objectives of the awareness campaign and its continued funding. Ruth Lister and Shirley Boltz are the national staff assisting this new committee.

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