The Campaign

Raising public interest in nuclear security in a positive way is a tall order when talking about the 126,500 nuclear weapons that could be made from the alarmingly large amounts of highly enriched uranium and plutonium scattered around the world. Attended by 53 heads of state and four international organizations, the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit was the largest ever global event called to discuss international cooperation against nuclear terrorism. A major challenge was in conveying a mass of complicated information to an indifferent general public. The event was positioned as a “peace summit” and a theme song performed by a Korean pop star was released to boost interest. The “Peace Song” was aired via various channels from October onwards, and visual content was spread across PESO – Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned – channels to help form a social consensus and raise public awareness. In addition, citizens were engaged in on and offline promotions, while celebrities were appointed as PR ambassadors to give the summit a friendly face. A successful hosting saw the March 26-27 summit attended by some 3,700 journalists from all over the world, who praised the event for being media friendly and produced coverage that was 90 percent positive in tone.

The Brief

Against a backdrop of disinterest among the general public, campaign objectives were to: - Boost relevance of the event’s aims at grassroots level and give the summit a positive public voice that would resonate with all generations. - Provide high level understanding, with a clear and concise agenda. - Coordinate the needs of media from all over the world to maximize positive coverage. - Expand engagement from local public to the entire world via foreign media.

Results

An integrated communications model spread creative content across all PESO channels, which involved some 4,000 downloads of the “Peace Song”, along with a music video featuring ordinary citizens. A total of 20,286 stories were carried by Korean newspapers between October 2011 and end of March 2012, while the three days of the summit generated 2,350 news stories in foreign press titles. Some 90 percent of coverage was positive in tone and carried detailed messaging about nuclear security and summit aims. In addition, a total of 884 local and foreign media titles ran feature articles, interviews and items arising from a media roundtable event, while 60 e-reporters shared 6,890 posts via SNS. Public participation across Korean society was highly successful in making the summit relevant, involving about 80,000 members of the general public. And a contest to find the official logo and slogan for the summit attracted more than 2,500 entries.

Execution

The “Peace Song” was star content for all public engagement – aired via channels including a radio co-operative, café franchises, the airport and an online sound source site. Appointment of celebrities as PR ambassadors – one of whom sang the “Peace Song” – gave the event a familiar face. And online viral citizen participation programs included making a music video, as well as photo, UCC singalong and office worker band competitions. Some 750 volunteers of all ages were recruited from the general public to act as e-reporters, media liaison officers, delegate liaison officers and onsite assistants. One-message delivery across integrated PESO channels included: • Paid media – on and offline advertising and advertorials • Earned media – newspapers/magazines, TV and radio, plus government channels. • Shared media – personal volunteer activities including dissemination of self-written content via SNS and live reporting of on and offline events. • Owned media – the official NSS website was utilized as a central content and information hub.

The Situation

The Seoul event was organized to evaluate achievements and reinforce implementation of the “work plan” produced by the first Nuclear Security Summit, held in Washington in 2010. While the Fukushima disaster in Japan turned many against the idea of nuclear power, a large proportion of the general public remained indifferent to nuclear terrorism, which is a sobering threat to global security. An added challenge to raising interest and support from the public was that Korea’s political situation, global economic crisis and familiarity with hosting global events made the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit look like “just another conference”.

The Strategy

A PESO approach integrated and sewed key messages into the public consciousness, while the official “Peace Song” was put to work as a “one source, multiple use” theme to engage all ages and position the event as a “Peace Summit”. This labeling was easier to remember and created a positive, friendly image more likely to generate public interest and understanding. Volunteers drawn from the general public engaged their fellow citizens as unofficial spokespeople, as they performed their roles in managing the summit. A contest was organized months before the event to produce the summit’s official logo and slogan, while university students were engaged by staging a mock nuclear summit in October, with another to follow later. Visual imagery made easier reading of a heavy-going and complex agenda, with statistics, photos, videos, movie clips, soap operas and cartoons used to convey messages that could be absorbed by people of all ages.