A letter from the joint chairman of the NAB Aug. 21 to FCC commissioner Kevin Martin outlined the education campaign the association is undertaking to educate the public about the DTV transition, including meetings with key members of the press, a paid media and marketing campaign, PSAs and NAB-produced video packages with B-roll of towers, converter boxes and interviews to help TV stations assemble stories about the changeover.
The letter from Jack Sanders of the NAB acknowledged the serious lack of awareness among the general public regarding the DTV transition. “More than 60 percent of Americans surveyed are completely unaware that the transition is taking place,” the letter said.
The association has launched a major effort to educate the public about the transition, which includes a variety of tactics to reach out to the media for coverage of the issue, the letter said.
The campaign includes:
- Meetings with journalists from large cities to educate them about the transition;
- Putting together reporter briefings in all 50 states;
- Paid media and marketing targeting transportation, newspapers and point-of-purchase distribution channels for a consumer guide;
- Public service announcements;
- Story ideas and copy for TV stations to use in their newscasts;
- DTV transition video packages with B-roll of towers, converter boxes and interviews to be distributed to TV stations;
- Graphic elements for local stations and state broadcast associations to use in producing their own spots;
- Donut spots produced so local talent can be inserted in the middle of the message;
- Short DTV educational programming for air on commercial and public TV stations;
- Text crawls;
- Non-English language spots.
According to the letter, the association has launched a grassroots effort to raise public awareness. This aspect of the effort includes the Congressional DTV toolkit as well as the DTV Roadshow.
For more information, visit www.nab.org.
