It’s October! Engage in the Walk Over October Campaign!

4th October 2014

Did you know that something as simple as walking is associated with a number of health benefits?

Well, walking helps to reduce the risks of

• Heart disease by 30 to 50%;

• Type 2 diabetes by 30%; and

• Breast and colon cancer by 20%.

The list of benefits is an enormous one but it seems that most of us take walking or exercising for granted – me included.

You can describe me as a couch potato actually – the idea of spending the weekend with a pizza in hand and watching the latest episode of ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ is what I would describe as nirvana. Even when I’m at my Devahasdin, I have the habit of lazing in the outdoor porch whilst having lunch, basking in the rays of the sun and enjoying the start of summer.

I guess my Account Director noticed that I pretty much lead a sedentary lifestyle for she tasked me to draft a media release for ‘Walk Over October’. Firstly, I had no clue what the campaign was about and secondly how ‘fitting’ for a couch potato like me to write a media release about exercising and walking!

So what is the ‘Walk Over October’ (WOO) campaign you might ask? WOO is a month-long campaign that runs during the month of October and is organized by the Heart Foundation in conjunction with Healthier Workplace Western Australia (HWWA). The aim of the campaign is to encourage membes of the public to ditch private transportation and engage in walking activities that boasts a multitude of health and environmental benefits.

I was tasked to draft a media release for WOO’s campaign – Lace up for Lunch.

The ‘Lace up for Lunch’ initiative encourages workers to break the habit of eating lunch at their desks and aims to encourage a short walk during their lunch hour. Having lunch at the desks contributes to sedentary behavior, which is a main contributor of cardiovascular diseases.

I can say, there is indeed a large difference in writing a media release for a school assignment against writing an actual one that is to be disseminated to the Western Australian media. Extensive research is much needed with the correct factual data and relevant quotes as well as the language and tone has to be appropriate – proofreading is a must!

So the quest for building up the media release began. It’s not as simple as it seems! I firstly had to identify the angle of the story – which was that of Human Interest as it’s a health topic that pertains to individuals. I also had to look at my intended media placement strategy. Where do I intend to place the article – community or state newspapers? How am I going to pitch the story to garner coverage?

What we have learnt in Curtin was indeed beneficial due to the fact that it armed me with the necessary experience for me to build a media placement strategy and I was confident in looking at how I could pitch these articles to the press. So it’s really a case of putting all that I have learnt into synergy and using the tools that I have learnt to assist me in what is required of me. I am pleased to announce that as of writing – 3 media outlets have agreed to cover the story!

So a closing thought for this article is that when drafting a media release to pitch to the media – always associate it with a strategy where you have to look at the right research being done, the right content and the right outlet for dissemination. I hope these tips do help!

Nicholas Cross