White River Alliance Seeks to Raise Awareness of Programming that Improves and Protects Indiana’s Waterways
Earned Media • Paid Digital
THE WHITE RIVER ALLIANCE
The White River Alliance exists to improve and protect water resources in central Indiana. The Alliance is made up of diverse interests and organizations that work together to steward the river and its sixteen-county watershed. The collective programming of the Alliance works to raise broad awareness of water issues, provide training and resources to varied audiences, and advance regional water planning efforts. The Alliance’s programs include the Indiana Water Summit, the national Clear Choices Clean Water program, which encourages residents to take individual action to improve water quality and increase water conservation, and several other local and regional public engagement and professional training programs.
BACKGROUND
By creating positive change through projects and educational initiatives that improve the White River Watershed for all users, the White River Alliance serves as the premier resource for regional water quality.
The White River Alliance is an innovator in the environmental space due to their ability to create unique events that further their mission to improve the White River and educate the public
Bohlsen’s efforts to bring Alliance programs to a broader audience by strategically placing our programs and spokespeople with relevant and impactful media voices has greatly improved our name recognition and reputation as a subject matter expert in the community.
Jill Hoffmann
Executive Director of White River Alliance
DRIVING AWARENESS THROUGH EARNED AND PAID TACTICS ENCOURAGES THE PUBLIC TO GET INVOLVED IN WHITE RIVER ALLIANCE EVENTS
In the summer of 2021, White River Alliance engaged with us to raise awareness for two of their main events: Free Paddle Days and the Indiana Water Summit. Free Paddle Days encourages people to engage with the White River by spending a day on the water, and the Indiana Water Summit is an annual forum that examines issues and interests that face our state’s water supply. White River Alliance was also introducing a new initiative in partnership with the White River Vision Plan called the White River Art Canoes, where 10 art canoes painted by local artists were placed around Indianapolis’ waterways.
Bohlsen Group was tasked with generating media coverage for all three events and with driving traffic to the event pages through paid digital ads. We highlighted the White River Art Canoes as part of our digital ad campaign for Free Paddle Days. Adding this new angle to the promotion of Free Paddle Days helped boost interest in the event, and we even had to end the campaign early due to event sellout. The ads were effective and cost efficient, surpassing industry benchmarks. The Water Summit digital ad campaign was also successful in meeting industry benchmarks for both click through rate and cost per click.
The earned media campaign surrounding these events ran from July to August. Bohlsen Group pitched local and regional media, and coverage of all events was secured in several priority publications for the White River Alliance during this short timeframe. Coupling the earned media and paid digital media tactics together generated successful results for all events through raising targeted awareness.
Results
Garnered 36 published placements within several of White River Alliance’s priority publications and a few national publications including The Indianapolis Star, WRTV, WISH- TV, FOX59, WFYI, NewsBreak and many more
Generated nearly 39 million potential impressions around the White River Alliance initiatives
The Free Paddle Days campaign surpassed industry benchmarks by producing an above average click through rate of 3.88%, and a highly efficient cost per click at $0.16 per click
The Water Summit campaign ran at the Facebook industry benchmark click through rate of 0.90% and another efficient cost per click of $0.61