SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 22, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ID Comms, the global media management consultancy, has announced a global partnership with Population Media Center (PMC), a non-governmental organization that uses mass media to promote the health and rights of women and girls and protect the environment.
ID Comms will provide marketing advice, training and brand introductions for PMC, dedicating over 40-days of employee time for the first year of the initiatives.
The partnership will bring together ID Comms' expertise, connections and understanding of the media landscape with PMC's skill at creating compelling entertainment that inspires behavioural change.
Elements of the partnership include:
- Helping PMC find new sources of funding from major global advertisers;
- Advising PMC on digital marketing techniques;
- Providing local media landscape intelligence in the markets where PMC seeks content distribution partners; and
- Media research and analysis to evaluate media partnership opportunities.
- PMC creates TV and radio shows, serialized dramas, that embed positive role models into prime time entertainment to drive behavioural and societal change. The goal of the partnership is to help PMC, which was founded in 1998, reach more people around the world.
"We are very excited to be working with Population Media Center, which is making a real difference in the lives of women and girls in some of the most hard-to-reach communities across the globe," said Tom Denford, Co-Founder of ID Comms. "The way PMC tackles these behavioural issues through media exposure is really easy for us to get excited about. The team at ID Comms are trusted advisors to some of the world's leading brands, helping them compete in a fast changing media landscape. We are therefore hugely excited to be supporting PMC's incredible work, applying the same knowledge and skills to drive real change in the world through media. "
For example, PMC's radio series Ruwan Dare ("Midnight Rain") in Nigeria ran for two years and encouraged listeners to use their local health clinics. More than two-thirds of new health clinic clients reported that they sought services because of the show. Ruwan Dare listeners were 1.7 times more likely than non-listeners to say "yes" when asked if "couples should share responsibility for making decisions about family size." In Nigeria, as in many places, this represents a huge societal shift. Women are seen as inferior, and often the number of children in a family is determined solely by the husband.
"We are delighted to be working with the team at ID Comms to help us analyse new markets and connect with more of the world's major brands," said Bill Ryerson, Founder and President of Population Media Center.
PMC's efforts span the globe, continually targeting underserved audiences. The East Los High TV Series in the United States, broadcast via Hulu, resulted in almost 30,000 people using the Planned Parenthood widgets on eastloshigh.com in the first month of broadcast. Via this widget they were able to determine their risk for sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy, and 76% of viewers who accessed resources on East Los High's website also shared those resources with friends.
"There is no more cost-effective use of charitable dollars than in preventing unplanned and unwanted births and reducing birth rates worldwide through information and empowerment," said Ryerson. "The work of PMC is helping empower women and girls and prevent the needless suffering of millions of people. ID Comms is helping us expand this work. With their help, we're going to reach more people, which is desperately needed."
About ID Comms
ID Comms is a strategic media consulting company, founded in 2009, providing independent, expert consulting to leading global brands. ID Comms consultants work closely with marketing teams to design and implement change to improve media performance. The company has advised on over $20bn of marketing investment and works with leading brands across most categories.
ID Comms is headquartered in the UK and has regional hub offices in London, New York, Singapore, and Dubai to service multi-national clients including L'Oreal, adidas, Mars Inc, ABInBev, IKEA, Johnson &Jonhson, Virgin Atlantic and Eurostar.
About Population Media Center
Population Media Center is a nonprofit leader in entertainment-education dedicated to women's rights and empowerment, population stabilization, and the environment. For the past two decades, PMC's entertainment programming has promoted social and cultural change and has helped 500 million people in more than 50 countries.
A photo accompanying this release is available at:
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41484
For ID Comms: Tom Denford, Co-Founder, ID Comms www.idcomms.com tom@idcomms.com For PMC: Missie Thurston, Director of Marketing and Communications www.populationmedia.org mthurston@populationmedia.org
