Parentline Plus
Campaign message: "Parenting is a damn difficult job. Parentline volunteers deal with calls from parents with problems ranging from the mundane to the heartbreaking".
Number of people involved: 2 (Press officers)
Launched: On-going
PR work: In June 2007, Parentline Plus sent out a number of press releases about a recent evaluation of their services; each release was tailored for a different media outlet.
The Guardian picked up on their press release; over a long period Parentline Plus have built a good relationship with the Guardian. The paper was interested in the charity but did not want to run a story on the evaluation alone. Instead, the Wednesday Society section ran a double page profile of their CEO Dorit Braun OBE and two months later the Guardian ran a feature about Parentline's volunteers on the front page of the Saturday Family section.
The article was about the support volunteers provide to worried parents on Parentline. Parentline Plus made sure that the volunteers featured in the article were happy to be observed by the journalist and that there was a press officer present. Parentline Plus also allowed the journalist to talk to people who had used their service.
Case studies: Angela Holland (Head of Media at Parentline Plus) said, “it was of course a very difficult decision to let a journalist into the office and to allow them to listen to the volunteers advising parents. But we really liked the journalist Emma Cook; she understood parenting issues and was very sympathetic. We really had no qualms in introducing her to everyone. We did of course ensure the anonymity of the callers by allowing the journalist only to listen to the volunteer advisors and not the callers. We made sure the Guardian was very aware of this issue and they were very understanding and willing to work around this."
In the article the journalist Emma Cook wrote, "Parentline Plus takes the issue of confidentiality seriously and doesn't want to offer me case studies of conversations that could identify the caller, or even ask callers if they'd mind taking part - an impressive dedication to caller anonymity."
Outside agencies involved: none
Results: The charity were pleased with the article and felt that it had helped increase public (and parents') awareness of their organisation. One month after the article had been published, there had been no significant increase in the number of volunteer enquiries. They hope the article will add strength to their next volunteer recruitment drives. On average the charity generates 120 pieces of media coverage (regional and national media) per month.
Contact: Angela Holland www.parentlineplus.org.uk
