CHALLENGE
Since 2019, Omnicom PR Group (OPRG) has been a partner of Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent). Tent is an international organization mobilizing the global business community to improve the lives and livelihoods of more than 30 million refugees who have been forcibly displaced from their home countries. Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and with more and more refugees displaced for longer periods of time, businesses have an increasingly critical role to play in helping refugees integrate economically in their new host communities. Therefore, on April 8 2022, Tent organized the second Dutch Business Summit on Refugees, where companies made new and expanded commitments to integrate refugees in the Netherlands and Europe, building upon commitments made during the first Summit in 2019.
In the run-up to the Summit, OPRG partnered with Tent to further increase visibility of the Tent brand in the Netherlands among key audiences (businesses, HR, public, NGOs); to raise awareness about the Dutch business community’s leadership in hiring and integrating refugees; to inspire more large Dutch companies to become interested in supporting refugees and joining the Tent Partnership; and finally, to position Tent as thought leader in private sector-led solutions to solve the global refugee crisis.
APPROACH
Strategic considerations
The campaign aimed to generate broad coverage in the right target audiences, whilst ensuring that different perspectives (from Tent, partner companies and refugee employees) were covered. Furthermore, although the results of the commitments made in 2019 should receive attention, the focus of 2022 had to be on the new and expanded commitments of existing and new partnering companies. Lastly, it was important to not only focus on the needs of Ukrainian refugees, but to highlight the needs of all refugees.
Media activities
OPRG worked with Tent on various media activities, including writing and distributing a press release and securing interviews for spokespeople of Tent, partnering companies and refugee employees. In preparation of the interviews, OPRG created media briefings and Q&A documents and conducted a media training with spokespeople from Tent. Social media assets were created for LinkedIn and Twitter to amplify the message.
RESULTS
The strategic approach resulted in a large amount of interviews with Tent, partner companies and refugee employees and high-quality publications in top tier daily and business media in the Netherlands (i.e. FD, BNR, Nu.nl, RTL Z), including 3 live TV broadcasts and 1 leading radio show.
As a result of strategic pitching, different perspectives were covered. Five interviews with partner companies illustrated which commitments companies can make regarding refugees’ economic integration, the steps they need to take and which obstacles they might need to overcome. Five interviews with spokespeople from Tent raised awareness of the organization’s background and thought leadership in private sector-led solutions to solve the global refugee crisis. Finally, two interviews with refugee employees highlighted the importance of refugees’ economic integration through personal experiences, which could inspire more companies to become interested in joining the Tent partnership.
All in all, awareness for the Dutch business community’s leadership in hiring and integrating refugees was raised among 25 million people in total, with all publications having a positive tone of voice towards Tent Partnership for Refugees, the partner companies and refugee employees. The careful preparation ensured that key messages got across in the coverage.
