One of the most useful benefits of membership in National Broadcasting Association for Community Affairs (NBACA) is the opportunity to stay abreast of new developments of broadcasting and public service advertising. There are several ways NBACA accomplishes this goal including informal networking, the annual conference, and ad hoc reports that are distributed to NBACA members.

One such report sent to all members recently was titled "Corporate Sponsored Media Campaigns - New Opportunities for Public Health." Whether you are a broadcaster or non-profit representative, you will find this report interesting, because it illustrates the dramatic changes taking place in the world of public service advertising.

In the past, public service advertising meant distributing a PSA to a station and, assuming the public service director believed in the issue, the PSA ran on a rotational basis until it was pulled. Now, it is much more complicated and there are even different kinds of sponsored campaigns, depending upon whether they were initiated by the station, the sponsor, the network with which the station is affiliated, or by the community partner. There are several things most of these campaigns have in common, however:

• Resources - usually advertising or production dollars - are made available to the cooperating station, the community partner, or both, to run messages in the public interest.
• The sponsoring organization is linked with a cause or issue they believe in and one that extends their paid marketing strategy in a new environment.
• The non-profit organization obtains placement of its message that is far better than it normally would get via a PSA venue, both in terms of when message airs and the frequency of exposure.

Produced by Harvard's Center for Health Communication, the corporate sponsorship study is an excellent primer for those organizations which want to know more about an increasing communications technique. The authors conducted a telephone survey designed to elicit current programming practices at 134 of NBACA member stations across the country.

It is no surprise that broadcasters - particularly general managers - were quick to embrace corporate sponsorships because they convert the community affairs department into a revenue-producing function. In fact, the Harvard study indicated that 88 percent of the stations would help non-profits find local sponsors, if they were provided with pre-packaged campaigns that could be customized by stations for their local community.

Larger stations with greater resources will even help non-profits produce many of the elements for a successful corporate sponsorship effort, and some have been highlighted at recent NBACA conferences in "show and tell" workshops.

While limited space doesn't allow a comprehensive analysis of the Harvard study here, one of the most effective examples of corporate sponsorships was outlined in the study. It was also presented by Susan Islam, Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations for the American Cancer Society (ACS) at an NBACA national conference.

This outstanding community affairs project was called "Aware: A Program to Fight Breast Cancer." It was jointly sponsored by WHDH-TV in Boston, in partnership with the Massachusetts Division of the ACS, CVS Pharmacies, and Mobile Diagnostics, a mobile mammography unit.

To get the program started, WHDH was contacted by ACS, which sought to generate publicity and funds for the mobile diagnostics unit so it could continue operating. ACS and WHDH then jointly approached CVS's advertising agency to be an on-air corporate sponsor, because CVS was cultivating an image as "your neighborhood pharmacy." With all the partners agreeing to participate, the station created a package of on-air components including: two prime time specials on breast cancer; a multipart news series; segments on the station's regularly scheduled pubic affairs programs; promotional spots; and PSAs that were broadcast four times per day with tips on early detection. The PSAs credited CVS as a sponsor of the program and were followed by a regular 30-second paid product ad for CVS.

An important part of the campaign was community outreach, which further extended the on-air messages. Two informational brochures on breast cancer were developed and distributed at CVS pharmacies throughout the state. Community forums breast cancer were held, the station's on-air personalities hosted a variety of ACS events such as walk-a-thons, and the CVS name and logo were displayed on the Mobile Diagnostics van as it traveled through various communities.

Again space limitations do not allow a full summary of this particular corporate sponsorship which had many other dimensions, including a two-hour prime-time special on breast cancer, a documentary, and ultimately national syndication of the program.

Conceptually, all parties who join this type of corporate sponsorship program benefit, and unquestionably we will see more of these creative partnerships. The question does come to mind, however, what will happen to the organizations that cannot venture into corporate sponsorships for one reason or another? What about organizations like the military services which may be precluded by Congressional edict or DOD policy from seeking corporate sponsorships. . . how about the Internal Revenue Service and the Savings Bonds Division of the U.S. Treasury.. how will they continue to get their message out to the public?

Who can and cannot undertake corporate sponsorships, the form they take, which stations within the marketplace get the support, how to creatively structure various cooperative projects, and a myriad of other considerations are all up for discussion in future NBACA workshops, the national conference and in informal discussion groups.