Mike Lake, Chair U.S. Public Affairs Practice and Southwest Region for Burson-Marsteller complimented the classroom by stating, "SMU students rise to the top", as he began his presentation on communication strategies. This was my third time to attend one of Lake's presentations and he never disappoints me. He offered insightful information regarding communication techniques for a recent campaign, the iPoker Legalization Strategy.
"Ten million people play online poker a day," said Lake. Most of the revenue goes to off shore accounts because it is illegal in the United States. The purpose of the campaign is to, "keep revenue in the United States," said Lake. This presents a very controversial issue considering online gaming is illegal, however Lake introduced the strategies to facilitate this campaign.
Lake covered the messaging approach, specific targets, credible voices and the most intriguing method to date, the Evidence-Based Approach. "We like to approach the client with something credible, it takes the guesswork out of the approach," said Lake. Burson-Marstellar found that survey methodology was the best for this particular campaign, therefore they used online surveys to generate the evidence in statistics. "The direct information is statistically valid for the presentation," said Lake.
The research concluded that 75 percent of elites were unfamiliar with online gaming. One-third of the people have no idea where the money goes, this signifies that there is a huge gap in knowledge. People may engage in online poker, however, they have no idea as to where the money ended up. "Getting the message and facts out there can shape public opinion," said Lake.
The Evidence-Based Approach is a fairly new concept in public relations, however, it has see great success. This challenges the future of PR firms because access to research teams and software might contribute to client recruitment. People like facts and people like numbers, it is how humans operate. Tangible evidence is something anyone can hold on to and understand. The new Evidence-Based Approach is revolutionary for the world of public relations.
