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TALKIN’ PR
AKC Communications department’s first Public Relations
Seminars were February 1 at The Golden Gate Kennel
Club show in San Francisco and March 15 at Casio Kennels in
Newtown, CT. The seminars, held in conjunction with The AKC Show Chairman’s
Seminars, focused on effective PR strategies and tools that clubs can
use to gain publicity for events. The next seminar is likely to be held in Houston, TX in July. Stay tuned for further details.
NATIONAL EVENT FOR CLUBS
Your AKC club will soon be receiving information about
AKC’s National Responsible Dog Ownership Day, which will be commemorated
for the first time on September 17, 2003, in recognition of the day
AKC was founded in 1884. In order to promote this day and the many AKC
programs that support responsible dog ownership, we plan to hold an event
here in New York City on the weekend before or after that date, with the
goal of highlighting the issue of Responsible Dog Ownership via outreach
to the public and media. It is our goal to make this a national event
but we need your participation to do so! We are inviting every one of
AKC’s 4,500 clubs to participate by holding an event in your community
to help spread the word about purebred dogs and responsible dog ownership.
AKC will provide PR guidance and basic AKC educational materials as well
as help promote your event. We hope that your club will support this new
national initiative. More information will be forwarded to your club secretary
and/or delegate very soon.
 AKC ON TV
Our TV commercials and print ads continue to run nationally.
Look for "Beyond" and "Superstars" on Lifetime and HGTV and the print
ads in O, The Oprah Winfrey Magazine, Redbook, Good Housekeeping
and Country Living. If you haven’t seen the TV spots yet visit
paste in http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=1544.
And -don’t forget - for clubs that wish to run TV
ads promoting their event - the Communications Department has created
a commercial entitled "Superstars" that your club can use after
simply adding information about your upcoming show’s name date and
location.
 TRAINING
TIME
Does your club hold training or other classes for the public?
In a joint effort with AKC Companion Events Department, we have created
a resource on www.akc.org that allows dog owners looking for classes to
search by state for AKC clubs offering classes. Contact information for
any club wishing to be listed is provided. Visit http://www.akc.org/dic/events/obedience/trainingclubs1.cfm
to see more about this new way to advertise your club’s
classes. If your club is not yet listed and would like to be, please email
Obedience@akc.org or call 919-233-9767.
Speaking of training classes, AKC’s Responsible Dog
Ownership public service announcement (PSA) emphasizing the importance
of training has been quite successful. To date, the television PSA has
run nearly 5,000 times, reaching over 10 million people nationwide. If
you haven’t seen the PSA, visit http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=1544.
We have also begun creating a new TV PSA about the importance of buying
a dog from a responsible breeder.
And, some other things on which our department is currently
working include:
- A revision of the AKC Care and Training video. The
video is offered upon registration with the AKC as part of the "AKC
Gold Package Registration" and is also sold separately to dog owners
looking for training information. This updated and enhanced version
will offer more information about AKC programs, events and clubs. We
expect it to be completed this summer.
- Publicizing AKC’s new consumer lifestyle magazine
for pet owners — AKC Family Dog. The magazine debuted with
the spring 2003 issue (a special Puppy edition). This quarterly magazine
appeals to pet owners by providing a broad range of columns, departments
and feature articles from a panel of nationally-recognized authorities,
veterinarians, and experts. Each issue will provide "how-to’s,"
news updates, and vital information to help owners learn about "all
the best" for their purebred pet.
- Writing and distributing a newspaper article reminding
potential dog owners that they should consider an adult purebred if
they are thinking about getting a dog. The article promotes AKC rescue
groups and refers readers to our web site. This story will appear in
hundreds of local community newspapers in the coming months — so
be on the lookout!
INNOVATIVE IDEAS:
- Congratulations to the Ingham County Kennel Club for
producing their own TV commercial to advertise their show. At the cost
of $2,100, the club produced the commercial and ran it the week proceeding
their show approximately 40 times. Ingham County KC noted that local
TV stations were very generous in giving them air-time because of their
non-profit status. Club delegate Dee Mattern said that running the ads
substantially increased their gate from years when they had not promoted
the show in this way.
 The
Augusta Kennel Club worked closely with a writer from their local city
magazine- Augusta Magazine. The glossy, color publication with
a circulation of 90,000 featured a 12-page cover story in its
February/March issue. The informative article provides readers with
information on researching the right breed, buying from a breeder, the
importance of training, purebred rescue groups, the AKC web site and
delivers many more important messages. Carol Cox, president of the club
was quoted throughout the article and delegate Sara Martin worked with
our Club Communications department to supply photos and other facts
for the story. Congratulations to the club for helping to initiate this
very positive and educational story!
As always, we want to share more of your great ideas with
this group, so please feel free to contact us so we can pass them along
in future issues of AKCommunicates! We look forward to hearing from you.
NOTE - Do NOT reply to this email as responses will not be received. Instead,
please contact us via email at Communications@akc.org.
Sincerely,
The AKC Communications Team
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