ENVIRONMENT FOR LIFE
Information support for the “Environment for Life: Apartment and City” Forum in the interests of DOM.RF
BACKGROUND
The main goal of DOM.RF, a universal institution for the housing sector development, is to provide Russian citizens with affordable and comfortable accommodation. DOM.RF pays great attention to the development of the mortgage market and housing rental, as well as to the creation of comfortable urban environment. In cooperation with Strelka consulting company, DOM.RF is implementing a special program that involves an integrated approach to landscaping and territory improving. According to the program, local citizens should take an active part in transformation of their hometowns: anyone can contribute by improving their favorite places and routes or developing public spaces. This approach will help cities to become truly beautiful, comfortable and safe.
Creation of an attractive urban environment is a global trend. Despite the fact that all changes are made for the benefit of local residents, the latter perceive landscaping in a negative way and rail at the authorities. Repair works and excavated roads cause difficulties for the movement and parking of cars, as well as general public discontent. This is eagerly covered by the media and discussed by common people in the social media, especially residents of large cities.
In order to attract popular attention to the topic of urban improvement and facilitate constructive discussion of emerging issues, DOM.RF organizes an annual forum “Sreda dlya Zhizni” (“Environment for Life”). It is a platform for the dialogue between all interested parties: citizens, experts, developers, construction companies, government officials, architects and designers. In 2017, the topic of the forum was formulated as “Apartment and City”. Organizers prepared a broad business and cultural program. Within the framework of the forum, round tables and discussions of the future of Russian urban studies and housing policies were held along with open lectures on urban entrepreneurship. The “City Weekend” Festival became part of the forum. Its program included “City Picnic” food festival, film screenings and tours around Saratov.
CROS MISSION
The CROS team had the goal of improving the citizens’ attitude towards activities of DOM.RF in the field of urban environment development, putting the dialogue of the civil society, developers and authorities on a constructive track, and creating a positive informational background around the forum.
We had to:
- explain to the general audience provisions of the program for the development of comfortable urban environment;
- provide media support for the forum and secure publication of positive materials in the federal and regional media;
- secure constructive discussion and permanent presence of DOM.RF representatives and urban experts in the social media, dedicated to the landscaping and improvement works.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE
Within two months, the CROS team developed and successfully implemented an integrated communication campaign for the forum.
The campaign included:
- Creation of a special website of the forum. We were in charge of the content development and technical support for the SredadlyaZhizni.RF website, as well as online registration of participants and video broadcasting of the key events of the forum.
- Publicity of the event. In order to draw attention to the program, a largescale publicity campaign became part of preparations for the forum: a press conference was organized at Rossiya Segodnya International News Agency, information partners were engaged, special projects were developed with the leading business media (special inserts in the Kommersant and Izvestia newspapers, a special section on the TASS website).
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Organization of campaigns in the federal and regional media. During the forum, the CROS PR team worked as an external press office of the event, organizing press scrums and briefings, making exclusive interviews with the key speakers, drafting and distributing news releases. In total, over 160 journalists from Moscow, Saratov and other regions of Russia took part in the forum.
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Promotion in the social media and blogs. Our digital services team created and managed the official account of the event on Facebook*, monitored and developed the most resonant topics of the forum in other social media, held a flash mob #саратовдляжизни (Saratov for life). The event was covered by popular bloggers with a large number of federal and local subscribers.
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Use of new technologies. Heads'made created for the forum a special Telegram account (bot) @sredaforumbot that informed participants about the program and all the key events. The bot’s functions included online alerts and a programmed event guide.
RESULTS
The forum was attended by over 55 000 people. All the media spoke about the event, and it was even mentioned in the highly rated evening show “Vecherniy Urgant” on Channel One.
Key indicators:
- total reach of 40 mln people;
- over 3 000 media publications, including over 30 broadcasts on the federal TV and radio channels;
- 33 500 unique visitors on the website;
- 640 people watched the live broadcast of the forum online;
- the audience engagement rate (ERday) of the official Facebook* account on the forum days was 75.2%;
- users made 8 500 posts with the hashtag #саратовдляжизни (Saratov for life), the campaign's reach on the social media exceeded 247 000 users;
- bloggers made over 400 posts with the total coverage exceeding 1.2 mln people.
*Product of Meta Platforms Inc., a recognized extremist organization in Russia.