Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change
Project: Roth PR was retained to develop and execute the announcement of an unprecedented statement against President George W. Bush’s foreign policy by a group of bipartisan senior statesmen, diplomats and military commanders at a time when both parties were not speaking out publicly against the Iraq War. Twenty of the group’s members, located around the world, were scheduled to make a public joint statement in Washington, D.C., at the National Press Club on Wednesday, June 17, 2004. The plan was to place an exclusive advance story with a major national print outlet to help create a “buzz,” then hold the official statement for the conference.
Challenge: The week prior to our announcement, former President Ronald Reagan died, leading to wall-to-wall media coverage of his life and the funeral for the entire week. It became almost impossible to reach any major national print political reporter based in Washington, D.C.
Solutions: We offered the story to influential Los Angeles Times political columnist Ron Brownstein to break two days before the conference, but we held back the official statement to have something to offer the rest of the media at the press conference. At the same time, we continued to pursue The Washington Post editors and reporters who, after the Reagan funeral coverage was over, expressed interest in an exclusive advance story as well.
Results: We juggled the needs of both newspapers and received the above-the-fold front-page story in that Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, as well as a story the same day in the main section of The Washington Post. The coverage created a buzz and resulted in an overflow crowd at the press conference by all major outlets, generating international media coverage including ABC’s “Nightline,” CNN, Associated Press, USA Today, the BBC, Fox News, NPR, PBS’ “Newshour” and more.
Coverage:
Los Angeles Times “Retired Officials Say Bush Must Go”
The Washington Post “Group Seeks Change In Security Policy”
USA Today “Retired officials say Bush has made U.S. isolated, distrusted”