Our Work and Case Studies

Case Study

9/11 Day

Challenge

The 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance was originally conceived in early 2002 by David Paine, at that time a public relations executive and Roth PR client, who had grown up in New York City. Later that year, David was joined by his friend Jay Winuk to form the nonprofit group One Day’s Pay now known as MyGoodDeed. Jay’s younger brother Glenn J. Winuk, an attorney at Holland & Knight LLP, and a volunteer firefighter affiliated with the Jericho Fire Department, had been killed in the line of duty while participating in the rescue efforts when the World Trade Center South Tower collapsed. The challenge from a public relations perspective was generating media interest in a very crowded news environment to amplify the message across the country to the millions of Americans about how to honor those lost with positive action and volunteerism.

Strategy

For months after the attacks, the media was covering the horrific, tragic story of 9/11 and all those lost. We offered uplifting stories that still focused on the victims but allowed the media to cover the story from a positive angle. Roth PR identified and interviewed family members of 9/11 victims from the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Flight 93 securing quotes and stories about their lost loved ones and why they would prefer that others pay tribute by doing something to help someone else. We offered an exclusive to NBC’s “Today” with the two 9/11 Day founders. We invited media to cover activities by volunteers that were happening largely on a grassroots level across the nation.

Results

In just a few short years, 9/11 Day was receiving global media coverage and millions around the world began organizing their own service events. In 2009, President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Act, which officially recognized September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Today, 9/11 Day continues to engage over 30 million Americans annually in various forms of charitable service, including volunteering, donations to charities, and simple good deeds. This initiative exists as a permanent and positive tribute to those killed and injured in the 9/11 attacks.

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Case Study

Living DNA

Challenge

Living DNA was launched in 2017, at the height of the consumer genetic genealogy products boom, when two established brand names were dominating media coverage. Living DNA co-founders and social entrepreneurs, David Nicholson and Hannah Morden Nicholson, had a mission to show humanity that we are all made up of all of us, and to dissolve the concept of race using DNA. They also wanted to increase awareness and the customer base for Living DNA outside of the UK, where the company was based.

Strategy

Roth PR knew its way around the consumer tech and genealogy DNA space having represented Ancestry.com for 10 years, taking the company from a start-up to a global powerhouse. Roth PR undertook a discovery process to learn how to differentiate Living DNA from the competition. By focusing on Living DNA’s precision in identifying customers’ ancestral home countries, as well as their integrity and promise not to sell or share DNA or data with third parties, Roth PR helped them hone their brand and message. Roth PR partnered with them on promoting multiple innovations and expansions the company rolled out.

Results

Soon, the start-up began to be included among the Top 5 consumer DNA brands in the media, receiving rave reviews from Popular Science, PCMag, ZDNet, CNN, Mashable and more. The increasing coverage resulted in the U.S. becoming Living DNA’s top market.

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Case Study

Feminist Majority

Challenge

In 2019, Feminist Majority asked Alan Rosenblatt to help them register and turn out women voters in 27 target Virginia State Delegate and Senate districts, with a special focus on women students from a dozen university campuses within or adjacent to several of those districts. Their goal was to flip both chambers blue, enabling Virginia to become the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

Strategy

Alan and his team joined an already developed field operation to organize these campuses in mid-September with a geo-fenced digital ad campaign targeting women under the age of 25 on a dozen university campuses across the state and a program to digitally and socially organize women voters in all 27 districts by matching email and social media data to the voter file.

Results

Following their work to help flip the Virginia State Legislature blue, Feminist Majority returned to expand the scope and scale of the 2019 program for 2020, targeting about 120 universities across key Senate race and ballot initiative states. Once again, the work Alan and his team did on this campaign helped Democratic and pro-equality campaigns win key elections in 2020.