Memphis Branch NAACP News Conference Regarding the Death of Darrius Stewart

by The Carter Malone Group LLC | Aug 3, 2016

Memphis Branch NAACP News Conference Regarding the Death of Darrius Stewart

Research

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in 1909 and is the oldest civil and human rights organization in the United States. The Memphis Branch NAACP was formed in 1917 and has been on the forefront of fighting for the rights of minorities since the organization was formed. The murder of Darrius Stewart by former Memphis Police Officer Connor Schilling was another opportunity for the NAACP to express concerns over the murders of African-American men in this country. Based on a survey by The Guardian, more than 1,200 young African-American men were killed by police officers in 2015 in this country. With the murders of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice and others, the African-American community and those supportive of more transparency in criminal justice reform are becoming more vocal in demanding solutions to these murders.

Darrius Stewart was in the car with friends when Officer Schilling pulled the car over because a headlight was out. Stewart was in the back seat. The officer asked all passengers for their identification. Schilling checked for warrants and found a warrant on Stewart and asked him to exit the car. The 19 year old and the officer scuffled and Stewart was shot by officer Schilling. He died at a local hospital. Stewart’s parents said that the warrants were a case of mistaken identity.

Planning

CMG was contacted by the Executive Director of the Memphis Branch NAACP Madeleine Taylor on July 21, 2015 and was asked to schedule a new conference for the next morning at 9 a.m. Account Supervisor Dawn Carter created a media opportunity and distributed it to the media and made follow-up phone calls. Memphis Branch NAACP President Keith Norman created talking points for the news conference and invited Executive Committee members to participant in the event.

Execution

The news conference was held on Wednesday, July 22, 2015 at First Baptist Broad Church. Ten Memphis Branch NAACP Executive Committee members attended the news conference. President Norman opened the news conference with his remarks with a razor focus on local and national sentiment around the murder of African-American men. He asked for a full investigation into the murder of Stewart and asked that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) handle this case and other questionable murders by law enforcement. President Norman also asked the Memphis City Council to reinstate the Police Civilian Review Board for added transparency.

The following media outlets covered and reported on the news conference: The Commercial Appeal, The Memphis Flyer, The Memphis Daily News, WMC -TV Channel 5, WREG-TV Channel 3, WHBQ-TV Channel 13 and WANT-TV Channel 30.

Evaluation

The news conference had a chain reaction. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn held a news conference a few days later reinforcing TBI’s commitment to investigating questionable police related murders and the case of Darrius Stewart.

Media impressions – 559,219.

Relevant files and coverage examples

Darrius Stewart killing media opp 7 22 15

Darrius Stewart News Conference Remarks

Memphis Comedy Festival

by The Carter Malone Group LLC | Aug 3, 2016

Memphis Comedy Festival 

Research

As the Memphis Comedy Festival approached its fifth year, expectations were high. The festival had shown significant growth and the 2015 festival featured sold-out shows and increased awareness.

MCF is run by independent comedians and comedy show promoters in Memphis, Each organizer had their own, often-different ideas as to what was likely, affordable, and effective with regard to promotions for the festival.

The Carter Malone Group conducted individual interviews with the five organizers of the festival (one of whom worked with CMG on the account) and held a collective focus group in which the organizers shared their goals for the festival, effectiveness of past efforts, and types of audiences they were looking to reach.

CMG learned that past festivals and independent shows had gotten the most traction from organic buzz and word of mouth and because previous year’s festivals has quite a good reputation, word of mouth was likely to again be positive once initiated.

To continue capitalizing on this word of mouth, festival organizers spoke of the strength of the festival’s 2015 logo designed by HolterMonster, and the desire to keep an updated version for 2016.

The competitive landscape of the weekend was also researched and taken into account. Using available calendars like the I Love Memphis blog and the organizers’ knowledge of upcoming events, CMG created a clear view of the immediate competitive landscape facing potential audience members for the festival weekend.

The biggest competitive challenges came from the multiple “festival” events running around the time of MCF (18 different “festivals” scheduled within 3 weeks of MCF), and a high-profile comedy show that weekend featuring Martin Lawrence.

Planning 

Goals in this promotion were:

• Generate widespread awareness among Memphians aged 22 – 45 for buzz and word-of-mouth interest to work with festival’s good reputation
• Differentiate the Memphis Comedy Festival from both other festivals and the other comedy event.

Comparing the plan and the research yielded a three-part strategy for positioning the festival. The festival had to be seen as BIG, LEGITIMATE, and FUN.

The amount of events and comedians, including a few national headliners, could not individually compete with a name like Martin Lawrence, but pooled together, showing a massive scope of both events and participants, would increase the visibility of the festival as an important part of spring in Memphis.

MCF was relatively young in comparison to larger comedy festivals and most acts were relatively unknown among the larger populace. The festival needed to be positioned as legitimate in order to be seen as an important citywide happening.

Comedic promotions, press, and appearances needed to infuse the concept of fun and funny things in order to reflect the goofball nature of the festival and its organizers.

Because the festival was operating on a limited budget, paid promotions would be extremely limited, and the festival would need to rely on press and organic promotions to reach the organizer’s desired numbers.

Execution

The current MCF mark looked like a vibrant marquee that was both illustrious and just a bit imperfect, an apt representation of this festival. It was slightly adapted for 2016 use.

The logo and branding was then applied to our three promotional goals in various forms.

To showcase the largess of the event, an 11×17 poster featuring the festival logo, all 44 comedian names and every one of the more than 30 sponsors was designed and printed. This design mirrored music festivals, which fill promotional materials to showcase the scale of the event. Showcasing the numerous sponsors also communicated community involvement of the event, The poster was converted into a one-page advertisement, purchased and run in the Memphis Flyer the week of the festival, and a handbill with a schedule was handed out at festival events to encourage audiences to attend multiple shows.

For press coverage, traditional, respected sources like daily print, television and radio would lent an legitimacy to the festival while newer, more nimble avenues like Facebook and local blogs fueled a word-of-mouth advantage. Through effective use of an engaging press release, appropriate pitches and personal contacts, MCF was able to secure significant coverage that included:

• Four appearances on Local Memphis Live ABC 24
• Cover story in Memphis Flyer and two blog posts
• Feature story by John Beifuss in the Commercial Appeal
• Feature story in the Daily Helmsman
• Mention in Grizz Girls spotlight as part of the Memphis Grizzlies’ game programs
• Three-page story feature in Click Magazine (DeSoto County)
• Featured extensively on I Love Memphis blog
• Feature article on The Grind Memphis blog
• Featured “festival” on Choose 901 blog “festivals” post
• Featured in Creative Memphis Podcast during March
• Paid radio spots on 98.1 and 103.5.

Paid radio ads were produced and cut to sound like national comedy promos, featuring clips from festival hosts and headliners. A one-minute video that featured various performers signing a “Memphis Comedy Fest” theme song while still in their various cities was shown on ABC 24 during local Memphis Live on the Friday of the festival.

Evaluation

From the organizer’s data, the 2016 Memphis Comedy Festival was not only the largest festival to date, but also the most well-attended. Attendance met the high numbers of 2015, and improved them by slightly more than 10%.

The most effective placements appeared to be the Memphis Flyer cover story, which was almost completely unavailable within a few days of its release, and the four morning television appearances the week of the festival.

Media outlets running information on the festival had good experiences with the festival coordinators and the Carter Malone Group, and most indicated they would likely cover the festival again in 2017.

Example media placement

YouTube Promotional Video using song by HEELS (Josh McLane & Brennan Whalen)

Flyer and full-page advertisement

MCF Press Release

Media Reach

A few pictures from the successful festival – photography by Lee Otts.