BLACKOUT

Submitted to: Monica Giesbrecht

Submitted by:Integrated Campaign Group Three
March 24, 2011
160 Princess St.
Winnipeg,
MB R3B 1K9

March 24, 2011

Monica Giesbrecht c/o Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects

131 Callum Crescent
Winnipeg, MB
R2G 2C7

Dear Monica Giesbrecht:

Please find attached our integrated marketing strategy for the Manitoba Association
of Landscape Architects (MALA).

Our strategy is designed to increase awareness of landscape architecture and its

societal benefits, all the while stimulating publicity and establishing a community of
Manitobans interested in the profession which MALA can capitalize on in the future.

The proposed strategy will run from May to September 2011, focusing on an
extensive outdoor campaign that involves a city-wide transit and radio contest, as
well as an outdoor poster treatment. This will spark curiosity, positive buzz, and
general awareness among our target audiences: up-and-coming and established
professionals. They will be encouraged to act on this awareness and interest through
an integrated social media strategy that spans across Facebook, Twitter, and
YouTube.

Using this combination of traditional and social media, our cohesive, comprehensive
strategy will reach our audiences everywhere they go, and everywhere they are –
from on the street, to on the Internet. It will not only generate awareness, but also
create an informed community of Manitobans supportive of MALA and the landscape
architecture profession, which will ultimately prove beneficial for future projects.

Thank you for considering our proposal, and please do not hesitate to contact us for
further discussion of how our strategy will best promote landscape architecture in
Manitoba.

Sincerely,

Berea Henderson Eman Agpalza Maeghan Heinrichs John Rymon

Rachel Hesketh Kiley Dyck Heather Olynick Jasmine Tara
CONTENTS
5 PURPOSE STATEMENT

7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

8 SITUATION ANALYSIS

11 CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES

12 TARGET AUDIENCE

13 CREATIVE STRATEGY

19 PR STRATEGY

21 TIMELINE

22 BUDGET

23 EVALUATION
PURPOSE
STATEMENT
The purpose of this integrated marketing strategy is to increase
awareness of landscape architecture and its societal benefits in a
way that will establish a community of Manitobans interested in the
profession which can be used by MALA for support in the future.

5
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
This integrated marketing strategy is designed to
increase awareness of landscape architecture and
its societal benefits among Manitobans by building
an online community which will see them continue
to support MALA and the landscape architecture
profession long after the strategy is complete.
Our strategy will run from May to September 2011.
It will target up-and-coming young professionals aged
25-35 as the primary audience because they are future
decision makers and have grassroots interests and large
social networks. Older, established professionals will
be targeted as a secondary audience for their influence,
connections, and experience.
The campaign is based on the concept of absence. We
don’t often realise how our lives are impacted, or made
easier, by certain elements until those elements are taken
away, or “blacked out” (hence the campaign’s name).
Our campaign will challenge Winnipeggers to realise
how different their everyday world would be without
the work of landscape architects, and how integral this
profession is to the functionality and sustainability of
our communities.
The strategy’s primary focus is an extensive outdoor
campaign and contest centered around a black
Winnipeg Transit bus called the Blackout Bus. When
Winnipeggers see the bus stop in front of an example of
landscape architecture – in effect, “blacking it out” – they
will be encouraged to ‘enter to win’ by taking a picture
of it and submitting it to the MALA Facebook page.
Local radio stations will host similar contests during the
first three weeks of its run to heighten awareness of the
campaign. Posters around the city will also add support.
The outdoor campaign will be closely integrated with
a social media strategy to invite people to act on their
awareness and interest by joining the online MALA
community. Facebook will mark the progress of the
Blackout Bus Contest, post information about landscape
architecture projects, and encourage larger discussions
about people’s experience with landscape architecture.
Twitter will document the bus’ location and tweet news
headlines relevant to landscape architecture such as
property development and city planning. YouTube will
also be an important medium to promote
campaign videos.
The entire strategy will be thoroughly evaluated by
determining the number of media hits, impressions,
and their content; counting bus passengers, contest
submissions, and information requests; and monitoring
online/social media hits and discussion. This will give
both quantitative and qualitative results about the
effectiveness of the strategy.
7
 SITUATION
ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
Relevance: the work of landscape architects plays
important roles in the lives of many people. These roles
range from transportation and recreation, to landscaping
backyards and large neighbourhoods.
Scale: landscape architects create everything from the
simple (e.g. patios) to the extravagant (e.g. community
planning).
Mobilized: have their own association (MALA) and are
motivated and committed to making their profession more
recognized and established (working toward getting The
Business Names Registration Act).
Environmentally Conscious: a lot of projects done by
landscape architects are concerned with sustainability and
environmental responsibility, which are some of today’s hot
button issues.
WEAKNESSES
Recognition: landscape architecture is not well known as a
profession, despite the fact that their work is so ingrained in
people’s lives. Their projects are often confused with other
professions like architecture, interior design,
and landscaping.
Engagement: up until this point, very little has been done
to engage the target audience with landscape architects,
MALA, or their work.
OPPORTUNITIES
Season: summer and fall campaigns can build off/partner
with outdoor events, festivals, and tourism. Also, this is the
8
time when a lot of projects done by landscape architects
(e.g. parks, gardens, patios) look their best.
Partnership potential: because a lot of projects done by
landscape architects are concerned with sustainability and
environmental responsibility, local environmental groups
may be interested in partnering with
MALA for a campaign.
Social media: the popularity of social media has made
it easy for organizations to connect with their audiences.
Great potential for positive buzz, free publicity, and
increased audience participation.
Small town behaviour: Winnipeg is a small city, so news
of events, contests, and free stuff spreads quickly via word of
mouth and social media.
THREATS
Season: summer and fall campaigns can run into problems
with poor weather (too hot, humid, cold, rainy, etc.) and
many people are on vacation, so they can’t be relied upon to
have predictable schedules as opposed to
other times of the year.
Winnipeg hate: some of the work of landscape architects
(e.g. bus routes, urban community development) are
strongly criticized by Winnipeggers.
Social media: the popularity of social media makes it
difficult to develop a strategy that will stand out amidst
other campaigns. There is also the potential for negative
buzz to spread rapidly.
 CAMPAIGN
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of our campaign is to generate awareness of the benefits
of landscape architecture over the course of summer and fall 2011. To do this
we will aim to get:
• 500 followers on Twitter
• 1,000 friends on Facebook
• 1,000 hits on video (promotional commercial on how contest works)
• 10,000 unique views on mala.net/blackout
• 250 different pictures submitted for the Blackout Bus Contest
• 50 call-ins for the Blackout Contest
• five positive traditional media/blog hits (Breakfast Television, CTV
Winnipeg, HOT 103, Winnipeg Free Press, The Winnipeg Sun)
• increase awareness of landscape architects and MALA by
60 per cent among Winnipeggers

10
TARGET
AUDIENCE
PRIMARY
Male and female up-and-coming professionals
aged 25-35. Live and work in urban, downtown
areas. Frequently use parks and river walks for
exercise. Take public transportation or try to drive
fuel-efficient cars. Live in condos, apartments, or
older renovated homes. Ride bikes in the summer
and in general try to live active lifestyles. Decision
makers. Very social. Own smartphones and are
well versed in social media. They have an active
Facebook and Twitter account and frequently visit
YouTube to watch videos and upload videos. They
are interested in grassroots campaigns and events
that involve public interaction and
word-of-mouth advertising.
Why they are important:
Future decision makers: Young and up-and-coming
professionals will be making decisions in and for
the future regarding landscape design, community
growth, and urban development. Generating interest
and educating them about landscape architecture
now will ensure they consider the profession in
their future projects.
Grassroots interest: Perhaps due to their use of
social and other non-traditional media, this group
tends to be interested in grassroots movements
that involve public interaction and word-of-mouth
advertising.
Networks/online consumption: They have large
social groups which can be accessed through them
and are constantly connected to various online
communities which can extend our reach to other
audiences through their networks.
SECONDARY
Male and female established professionals aged
40-55. Live in the suburbs and drive to work in
the downtown area. Go away on weekends to
the cabin, and frequent national parks. Play golf
and other light recreational sports. Carpool, and/
or drive newer, medium-sized cars. Married,
double-income. Higher income bracket, $75,000-
$125,000. Take family vacations once or twice a
year. Use a BlackBerry - likely a company phone.
Has a Facebook account to connect with family but
probably no Twitter account. Read the newspaper
daily. Watch the evening news.
Why they are important:
Influence/connections: Established professionals
have a strong influence on the next generation of
decision makers, either as parents, role models, or
by holding prominent positions in companies. Now
is the time to show them the effects of landscape
architecture – to put the profession front and centre
in their minds so they can lead by example.
Experience: Being an established professional,
they may have already experienced the benefits of
landscape architecture in projects they have done
without realizing it. Helping them understand who
was behind that work may increase their chances of
hiring a landscape architect.
11
 CREATIVE
STRATEGY
RATIONALE
Landscape architecture is often taken for granted.
Many people in our society do not realize that some
of the everyday elements they encounter – from bus
routes to playgrounds, sports fields to golf courses
– are created by landscape architects. In order to
stress the importance of landscape architecture to
our target audiences, our campaign will focus on the
idea of absence – encouraging our audiences to look
at their everyday world and envision what it would
be like without the work of landscape architects. By
highlighting the elements Manitoba wouldn’t have
if it weren’t for landscape architects, our campaign
emphasizes how vital landscape architecture is to
the progress, functionality and sustainability of our
community. To convey this message to our audiences,
our campaign is titled “Blackout”.
BLACKOUT
To illustrate how life would be different if landscape
architecture was absent, our campaign will take
well known and everyday examples of landscape
architecture around Winnipeg and Manitoba and show
them “blacked out”.
THE BLACKOUT BUS
Our primary creative tool is the Blackout Bus. To
generate buzz around the city, we will completely
wrap a transit bus in black, leaving it blank, except
for the Blackout, Twitter and Facebook logos, and
the web address of the campaign website: mala.net/
blackout. The Blackout Bus will stand out and be easily
recognizable around Winnipeg, because it’s the only
bus in the city that will be completely black. It will be a
12
fully functional transit bus with a black exterior.
Winnipeg Transit carries 20 per cent of people
traveling to and from work in Winnipeg, a total of
130,000 passengers, which is a significant part of
the population. According to PATTISON Outdoor
Advertising, Transit advertising reaches 25 per cent of
the Winnipeg population every day of the campaign.
This means we can reach our target audiences within
a week, and over the four month campaign we will
be seen. This may be a best case scenario and include
repeated visits but it is an important statistic to
consider. Transit is also an environmentally responsible
transportation choice and in line with the philosophy
of MALA.
* See page 24-27 for potential routes the Blackout Bus
will run.
Inside the Bus: When Winnipeggers take the
Blackout Bus, they will see the bus’ interior
advertisements. All of the interior advertisements
will feature Winnipeg attractions that are examples of
landscape architecture. The ads will use black type on a
white background with a colour photo
of the attraction.
Outdoor Treatments: The advertisements found inside
the Blackout Bus may also be used in bus shelters
and other relevant locations such as The Forks, The
University of Winnipeg cycling hub and Assiniboine
Park. These posters will reference attractions in the area
the poster is placed in. Posters advertising the Blackout
Bus Contest will also be posted city-wide.
*See the total budget for media buy and timelines.
 Did  you  know  Winnipeg’s  Skatepark  
located  at  The  Forks,  is  rated  one  
of  the  best  in  the  world?  

No  landscape  architects  means  

No  world-­class  skateparks.

www.mala.net/blackout

Did you know the Oodena Celebration

Circle at The Plaza at The Forks pays
homage to the 6000 years of Aboriginal
peoples in the area?

No landscape architects means

No Oodena Celebration Circle.

www.mala.net/blackout

Did  you  know  the  sculpture  garden  

located  at  Winnipeg’s  Assiniboine  Park  
is  home  to  over  300  sculptures  by  
Ukrainian  Canadian  artist  Leo  Mol?  

No  landscape  architects  means  

No  Leo  Mol  Sculpture  Garden.

www.mala.net/blackout

14
FIND THE

BLACKOUT
BUS
TO WIN
for contest details visit us online at
mala.net/blackout
and follow us on

15
 RADIO SPOT
Client: Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects
Title: What's Missing
1 x :30

Male 1: Hey dude, Jeff and I are heading to the…

SFX: Bleep

Male 1: to get our skate on.

Male 2: Sweet, where are we going again?

Male 1: You know, the…

SFX: Bleep

Male2: The what?

Male 1: Dude, the…

SFX: Bleep

Male 1: at The Forks. You know the one. It’s world class.

Male 2: Man, I just don’t get it.

Male 1: Oh…

SFX: Bleep

Male 1: dude.

ANNCR: If you want to find out what’s missing go to mala.net/blackout for

details.
 
 
 
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 PUBLIC
RELATIONS
STRATEGY
The main component of the public relations strategy is to
produce a contest surrounding the Blackout Bus, which
will be supported by social media and traditional media
hits. It will run for the months of May-September 2011.
THE BLACKOUT BUS CONTEST
As the bus moves around Winnipeg, people will be
encouraged to take a picture of the bus in front of some
form of landscape architecture, in other words, “blacking
it out”. Then, they can post the photo to Facebook
and tag MALA for a chance to win prizes related to
landscape architecture. Every month we will give away
two Parks Canada Discovery Passes, and two monthly
Winnipeg Transit EcoPasses. A grand prize of $1,000
will also be awarded at the end of the campaign.
Using Facebook in this way will get people linking to
and mentioning MALA in their own wall posts, instead
of restricting it to the MALA Facebook page. As such,
it will generate awareness of MALA and landscape
architecture not only among contestants,
but also their friends.
18
The location of the bus will be tweeted hourly through
Twitter, and every time the bus’ route changes, a map will
be posted on Twitter and Facebook so people not taking
the bus will be aware of where it will be.
THE BLACKOUT CONTEST
To heighten awareness about the Blackout Bus, we will
partner with local radio stations 92 CITI FM and 102.3
Clear FM to run a contest during the first four weeks
of the Blackout Bus’ run. The contest will play a clue
about landscape architecture, e.g. “Winnipeg’s ________,
located at The Forks, is rated one of the best in the world.”
(Answer: The Skateable Sculpture Plaza, or ‘skatepark’)
Listeners will be encouraged to phone in with their
answer to the clue to win family passes to
FortWhyte Alive.
MALA.NET/BLACKOUT
This will be a small page on mala.net devoted to the
campaign. It will briefly explain the contest, what
landscape architecture is (in terms easier to understand
than those on the website) and include photos of
prominent landmarks around Manitoba created by
landscape architects. While Facebook and other social
media sites will be the main tools for the contest, we
feel it is important to have some association with
the campaign on the MALA website to further
communicate that the two are connected.
YouTube VIDEO & ACCOUNT
A video will be produced to promote and educate people
on how the Blackout Bus Contest works. The video will
show the Blackout Bus stopping in front of examples
of landscape architecture while a person takes out their
smartphone and snaps a picture of the bus – “blacking
out” this well known structure, which was designed
by a landscape architect. It will end with links to the
Facebook and Twitter accounts, and mala.net/blackout
website for more information. The video will be uploaded
to YouTube, mala.net/blackout and the contest itself
strongly promoted on Facebook. The YouTube account
will also host short, informal, informational videos of
landscape architects shown on the site of one of their
projects explaining how they came up with the idea, and
its intended impact on the target audiences. These videos
will take advantage of the fact that our target audiences
will be visiting YouTube to watch the Blackout Bus
Contest video, and will take the opportunity to further
educate them on landscape architecture.
Twitter & Facebook ACCOUNTS
These will be the primary tools used to communicate
the contest to our target audiences. As Twitter is more
suitable to minute-by-minute messages, it will be used
to post or retweet short messages about where the bus
is located, and what types of landscape architecture it
passes. Unrelated to the contest, Twitter can also be used
to tweet any news headlines about topics relevant to
landscape architecture such as property, development, or
city planning. These topics have the potential to spark
discussions among MALA followers.
Facebook is more suited to documenting events, lengthy
discussions, and providing detailed information about
an organization. As such, Facebook will be used to mark
the progress of the contest, by highlighting submissions
and posting information about the type of landscape
architecture that the bus has visited/passed. Facebook
can also be used to encourage bigger discussions, such
as asking people to talk about their experiences with
landscape architecture, and how they think it could be
used to better the province or their lifestyles. News about
MALA and landscape architecture will also be cross-
posted to other organizations we have partnered with for
our contests: Winnipeg Transit, The Forks, FortWhyte
Alive, and Parks Canada.
BLOGS
To further increase the awareness of the campaign, we
will ask local bloggers to mention the contest and post
a link to the Facebook/Twitter/MALA website on
their site. While it is likely that on-the-street sightings
and the widespread promotion of the campaign on
Facebook and Twitter will generate some mentions in
the blogosphere, our public relations strategy will include
direct pitches to blogs our target audiences may follow
such as Winnipeg Love Hate, ChrisD.ca and
Progressive Winnipeg.
RADIO & TELEVISION
Traditional media like radio and television will also
be used to reach portions of our target audiences who
may not constantly be engaging with social media –
particularly our secondary audience. These company
CEOs, small to large business owners, and upper to
upper-middle-class individuals are still more likely to be
reached through traditional media. The campaign will be
pitched to local radio station morning show personalities
on HOT 103, 99.9 BOB FM, and CBC Radio, as well as
local TV station shows like Citytv’s Breakfast Television.
These appearances will not only discuss the campaign,
but landscape architects and their impact on
our lives in general.
19
 TIMELINE
DATE ACTION
March 27 Pre-campaign evaluation
March 27 Social media accounts and web page created,
launched
March 28 - April 1 Superbus wrap designed, sent for production
April 4 - 11 Blackout Bus Contest video produced
April 11 - 18 Advertising designed, printed
April 25 Posters put up, video launched
May 1 Blackout Bus Contest launched
May 1 - 29 Blackout Contest launched
May 16 - 23 Media pitches sent out
July 2 Mid-campaign evaluation
October 1 Post-campaign evaluation
20
 BUDGET
ITEM ESTIMATED COST START & END DATE
Transit Superbus wrap $11,500 May 1 - September 30
Transit interior horizontal print ads Included in Superbus May 1 - September 30
Transit interior vertical print ads Included in Superbus May 1 - September 30
Outdoor poster treatments $150 April 25 - September 30
Radio advertising $600
Video productions $1,000
Grand prize $1,000
Parks Canada Discovery Pass (2x5 $1,364
months)
Winnipeg Transit EcoPasses (2x5 $754.50
months)
FortWhyte Alive family passes (4) $380.00
Upgrade to MALA website (Blackout $100
campaign page
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube accounts
Pitches/promotions
TOTAL $17,497.50

21
 EVALUATION
TRADITIONAL MEDIA & BLOGS PLACEMENT/
IMPRESSIONS/CONTENT
Local media outlets in Winnipeg and Manitoba will
be monitored daily to calculate the number of print or
broadcast mentions of the Blackout Bus Contest, MALA,
or the campaign in general. This will give us an idea of
whether we achieved our objective of five positive media
hits, and how many people were exposed to and made
aware of the message. The types of media used will also be
noted so we can determine the extent to which our target
audiences were reached.
Beyond quantitative data, however, we will also record
qualitative data: the type of content mentioned in media
placements. This will tell us how much focus and awareness
was given to landscape architecture and the benefits it
brings to our communities.
ONLINE/SOCIAL MEDIA HITS & DISCUSSION
To get tangible results of how much interest was
generated by the campaign, we will analyze the following
communication tools for the following types of hits. Note
that these will be evaluated at the beginning, middle,
and end of the campaign to get a better idea of how/why
awareness shifted and what tools worked most effectively:
Facebook: number of “Likes” to the MALA Facebook
page, number of wall comments.
Twitter: number of followers gained over the campaign
period, number of retweets of MALA tweets.
YouTube: number of video ‘Likes/Dislikes’, number of
times video was ‘shared’, number of video views (note: this
number of total views does not reflect unique views with
unique IP addresses but instead, the total number of times
the video was played).
mala.net/blackout: total number of page clicks, total
number of unique site visits. If MALA does not have the
tools to do this, we can sign up for a free account with
Google Analytics to get the information we require to
assess the website.
22
Monitoring discussion online – YouTube comments,
Twitter tweets, Facebook wall comments – will also provide
more qualitative information about the type of awareness
that was generated.
Participation/requests Measuring the number of
submissions in the Blackout Bus Contest, as well as how
many people rode the bus and participated in the Blackout
Contest will indicate whether the campaign was successful
in creating awareness and interest in landscape architecture.
If the daily average of unique rides on a Winnipeg Transit
bus is 120 people then we can multiply that by the number
of days the campaign ran. This is the number of people that
were also exposed to the interior ads in the bus. Individuals
who take the same route home can be said to be double
exposed to the campaign and will not be counted toward
the unique hits.
The online contact form located on the MALA website will
also be used to see if anyone requested more information
about landscape architects during the campaign period. This
will indicate whether or not the campaign built positive
interest towards landscape architects.
The contact form is also a good tool to use when
responding to inquiries. In addition to answering queries,
we can ask the sender questions about how and where
were they informed about landscape architects. Free online
surveys can also be used to gauge the awareness level of the
public towards landscape architects before, during, and after
the campaign.
BUDGET & TIMELINE
At the end of the campaign, the team will evaluate
if spending stayed within budget, and if the timeline
was followed, noting areas in the campaign that can be
improved for future reference. A post-mortem report will
also be generated for the executive team to review the
campaign’s effectiveness.
OVERALL EVALUATION
After evaluating the campaign’s various tactics, the team
will determine if the project’s objectives were met. Did we
achieve:
500 followers on Twitter?
1,000 likes on our Facebook page?
1,000 views on our YouTube promotional video?
10,000 unique hits on mala.net/blackout?
250 different photo submissions for the
Blackout Bus Contest?
50 call-ins for the Blackout Contest?
five traditional media/blog hits?

These were the original objectives put in place to

determine the success of the campaign. Evaluation is a
careful process that will be implemented at the beginning,
middle, and end of the campaign so adjustments can be
made to ensure the campaign’s success.

23
 Potential
bus routes
Option A:

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