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When the White House succeeded in inserting language privatizing air
traffic control into a Congressional conference report in 2003, The
Glover Park Group helped The National Air Traffic Controllers Association
(NATCA) respond with the award-winning “I FLY SAFE Campaign.”
A cohesive earned and paid media, grassroots and lobbying strategy
was developed to put pressure on both Democrats and Republicans to
reverse the White House’s proposals.
The Glover Park Group took advantage of the typically slow month
of August and executed more than two dozen anti-privatization press
conferences across the country. At the same time, we worked with
the D.C. media elite and received supportive coverage in major national
dailies. NATCA also issued a steady drumbeat of press statements
commenting not only on statements from members of Congress and the
Administration. In addition to the aggressive earned media campaign,
NATCA ran TV, radio and print ads that ran in D.C. and in targeted
districts with a 1-866- I-FLY-SAFE number that put tens of thousands
of callers directly in contact with their members of Congress.
The result: NATCA changed the debate, forcing the U.S. House to
take the highly unusual move of sending back a conference report
- and making the White House promise that it would issue a one-year
moratorium on privatization. The campaign won three Pollie Awards
from the American Association of Political Consultants, and two
Telly Awards for outstanding commercials.
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