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GIRL SCOUTS OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
The
Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts (GSEM) serves more than 40,000 girls
in 178 communities across Eastern Massachusetts with the mission to build
girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place.
GSEM was formed in 2008 with a merger of the state’s three
Eastern Girl
Scouts Councils and Ruth N. Bramson was appointed as its first Chief Executive
Officer. Though they are a legacy organization, the Girl Scouts wanted to
reach out to their key audiences to let them know that the new Council had
even more to offer today’s girls, that the programming was fresh and
engaging, and that it helped prepare the girls for brighter futures.
SM& began work with GSEM in the summer of 2008 with the signature Discovery™ process. The team interviewed key media within the GSEM footprint to gather information for a strong communications campaign and build relationships on behalf of the organization. From these interviews, SM& developed a messaging hierarchy to be used for future media outreach and engaged a number of reporters and editors in learning about the new Council and why the Girl Scouts are so much more than just cookies.
The Discovery process was a launch pad to position the organization in new company through executive visibility and media relations around key events like the Sept. 27 membership drive and the Annual Leading Women Awards. In preparation for the GSEM membership drive, SM& designed a multifaceted media plan to secure coverage of Girl Scout community events through a variety of methods, attacking the challenge from all sides. This resulted in day–of coverage, editorials and a column in daily papers, and subsequent articles on Girl Scout activities in each of the areas. The Leading Women Awards were no less successful with pre-event and day of coverage from outlets including The Boston Globe and Color Magazine, and post-event coverage in daily and community newspapers.
Throughout the fall and winter of 2008, continued executive visibility resulted in a number of media hits that included appearances on NECN’s “Good Morning Live” and WBZ radio as well as op-eds that ran in a combined 30 outlets. Additional media outreach around daily GSEM activities connected the new Council and their CEO to their target audiences with everything from Girl Scouts photo releases to a segment on “Sunday with Liz Walker” about the Girl Scouting Beyond Bars Program.
