CASE STUDIES

Raised 8 million dollars for Noahʼs Wish during Hurricane Katrina

In August 2005, Patricia Jones watched TV coverage of Hurricane Katrina gathering strength as it headed directly towards the Gulf Coast. Knowing the suffering of animals would be unbearable; she tracked down the former director of United Animal Nations, a nonprofit that rescued animals in disasters. Patricia had profiled the individual for NBC News a year prior. The former director of UAN had just formed a nonprofit called Noahʼs Wish and was planning to head to the Gulf coast with a team of volunteers and $1,000 in the fledgling groupʼs bank account.

Two days before Katrina made landfall, Patricia booked the founder of Noahʼs Wish on a live satellite interview on CNN to discuss preparations for rescue operations in Louisiana. That was the beginning of what would become an unprecedented animal rescue effort. For the next three months, Patricia worked single-handedly around the clock to book Noahʼs Wish staff for media interviews.

Media results included:

• Noahʼs Wish was featured on at least 22 major broadcast network programs, including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX and MSNBC

• At least 230 articles in national daily newspapers with readership exceeding 30 million

• At least 120 articles in weekly newspapers reached in excess of 930,000 readers

• Articles appeared in at least 30 major magazines to reach 2.5 million or more readers

Noahʼs Wish was mentioned in more than 443 articles on major websites

Patricia hired and directed photographers and videographers to document the work of animal rescuers based in Slidell, Louisiana. She appealed to the owners of a press release distribution service and secured free press release distribution for the nonprofit. She fielded calls from desperate pet owners seeking lost animals, assisted with logistics to transport donations and worked with corporations and individuals on disaster relief fundraisers.

In the course of three months, Patriciaʼs media relations coverage raised $8 million in donations for the nonprofit, which had no established direct mail list, major donors or corporate funders.

The Willets Point Industry and Reality Association

P Jones Communications was retained by the Willets Point Industry & Realty Association (WPIRA) an association of 10 land/business owners that were threatened with losing their companies and property through the use of New York Cityʼs eminent domain policy. The city sought to condemn Willets Point in Queens and evict the siteʼs businesses in order to deliver the choice piece of real estate to the hands of private developers.

It was evident from the onset that the WPIRA had little chance of winning the eminent domain battle against the City of New York. Patricia Jones was retained to put pressure on NYC Mayor Bloomberg and the NYC Council with the ultimate goal of providing the landowners with leverage to negotiate financially lucrative deals when selling their property to the city.

Patricia successfully implemented an aggressive, integrated communications campaign that resulted in victory for the WPIRA:

• Provided strategic communications counsel, drafted message points

• Spearheaded production of video presentations for New York City Council meetings

• Created and produced ad series placed in daily newspapers resulting in opportunities for WPIRAʼs government relations firm to set meetings with key lawmakers

• Organized rallies and press conferences resulting in widespread print, radio, online and TV coverage