Challenge
Becoming Independent (BI) is a Santa Rosa-based social impact organization serving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. BI hired LCI to illuminate BI’s person-centered philosophy for people with disabilities and further promote its successes. In the process, LCI made a dream come true for two sports-minded BI participants – and garnered key media placements to support BI’s mission.
Strategy and Tactics
BI’s Mauricio (who is autistic) and Austin (who has Down Syndrome) turned their passion for sports into a morning YouTube show, “Bay Area Sports This Morning,” which was filmed and uploaded to BI’s own YouTube channel. To help realize their dream of covering a major sports team, LCI partnered with the Golden State Warriors professional basketball team to:
- Have this duo be “sports reporters for a day,” securing game credentials for Mauricio and Austin to cover the Warriors as official journalists
- Conduct a behind-the-scenes tour of the Warrior’s new Chase Center and dine in the media dining room with fellow sports reporters
- Sit courtside for the pre-game shootaround
- Attend the pre-game media briefing with Coach Steve Kerr and ask questions
- Cover the game for their sports show
- Promote the story to two pre-selected media outlets
Results
Due to limited media access, BI and LCI targeted two key media outlets to cover the story: the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat (Sonoma County’s largest newspaper, most important to BI’s donor base) and KPIX-TV, the CBS affiliate in San Francisco. The result? Front page coverage in the paper (click here) and a 4-minute segment on Channel 5 – as well as two new sportscasters for life. We also won the PRSA San Francisco Diversity and Inclusion Award for this Campaign.