Media Strategy:

The campaign engaged across all possible platforms in terms of broadcast and print media and extensively used social media with its own facebook and twitter accounts. It was intensive with engagement happening on a constant basis – and it significantly intensified once the momentum was underway in the Oireachtas with the announcement that the Government would review the laws on prostitution.

When the campaign membership was growing beyond frontline service providers working in the area, shared messaging became essential. Working with media experts, and using the knowledge base of the established core group, all partners were invited to contribute to what the central messaging of the campaign would be. This led to a small number of key points and asks, stemming from the singular goal of legislative change, which could be used by any partner no matter their background or area of work. Despite varying commitment, this still allowed for a consistent approach across all platforms.

One of the media strategies used, in order to maintain momentum, was where the Immigrant Council of Ireland used its internal communications resources to place op-eds on prostitution in provincial newspapers across Ireland. The focus was links to organised crime together with the frontline experience of organisations within the campaign. Through a systematic approach every county was covered, with the articles often followed up by local radio interviews. These served a number of purposes: to increase public awareness of the harm of prostitution and drive people to the action page on the website, to bring it to the attention of politicians in their constituencies and to attract new regional partners.

The cyclical nature of the campaign was also a key strength for its growth and success. Personal stories from the core partners generated media interest, which grew public involvement. This gave the campaign credibility and increased awareness of our goals with stakeholders, leading to increased membership. This fed the campaign’s knowledge-base, leading in turn to more media attention. Each point in this cycle provided an opportunity for political engagement: media content, public engagement and partner contacts all lead to awareness on the part of politicians at a local level.

Almost without exception every press release landed on target – with the topics varying from the coalition growing, to international moves towards similar laws in other jurisdictions and/or new data from the front-line services such as Immigrant Council or Ruhama or any new research in the area.

Media releases – key themes 2016 – 2014:

General:

Legislative progress:

 

Organised Crime:

 

Interagency work:

 

International monitoring/progress:

 

EU funded Projects/transnational work:

 

Men:

 

Children:

 

Political Engagement:

 

Partners:

 

Survivors’’ voices/case-studies:

Media strategies

Jerry O’Connor –
Former political strategist to the campaign