Case Study: United Nations Alliance of Civilisations
Introduction
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) is an initiative of the UN Secretary-General which aims to improve understanding and cooperative relations among nations and peoples across cultures and religions, and to help counter the forces that fuel polarization and extremism.
The Alliance is an initiative of both the Turkish and Spanish governments, and was established in 2005, under the auspices of the United Nations.
The AoC is supported by a Group of Friends – a community of over 85 member countries and international organizations and bodies.
Programme Objectives
The United Nations Alliance of Civilisations’ campaign objectives were as follows:
- Media management and positioning for smaller Muslim minority clients
- To develop a network of Muslim opinion-formers and media professionals
- Provide this network with on-going media support to foster inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue
PR Strategy and Tactics
The campaign entailed two separate projects, both sought to embolden a network of Muslim thought-leaders and professionals, whilst also providing support in order to engage with various communities and societies.
Media positioning for smaller ethnic and minority clients is an important tool that creates inter-cultural harmony and diversity in societies. Unitas Communications leveraged this strategy by selecting four separate clients from a minority and Muslim background, and working closely with them to devise a media strategy that would enable the client to achieve media impressions across various national media platforms. In addition to liaising with clients to assist the process of media positioning, Unitas Communications consulted them on in-house media management and opportunities to develop their media strategy to maximise its effect.
Aside from working with individual clients, Unitas Communications devised a strategy to foster a sense of unity and collaboration amongst a network of like minded thought leaders and opinion formers within the Muslim world. Through daily media monitoring of concerns affecting Muslim countries and populations, Unitas was able to foster a strong network of individuals interested in keeping a brest with issues surfacing on a daily basis.
A daily digest of key stories was distributed amongst the network, Unitas further highlighted the concerns and news developments affecting Muslim and ethnic groups across the world, by setting a separate agenda to mainstream news, which is often imbued with high levels of Islamphobia.
A list of Talking Points for the network were also established in order to provide, succinct factual information and counter positions to the negative media portrayal of Muslims (the Fort Hood massacre, the French headscarf ban, the Swiss minarets ban and in response to UK MP David Davies’ comments about immigrant communities importing ‘barbaric and medieval’ views).
Campaign Results
Over 150 media impressions for over 20 Muslim organisations and individuals across the country were successfully achieved. The campaign encompassed myriad media channels, including: BBC, Channel 4, Sky News, Al Jazeera English, The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Mail, The Evening Standard and The Metro. In addition to successful media positioning, a long term media engagement plan was devised for each client, providing advice establishing an internal crisis management protocol and on media messaging.
The daily media monitoring was another success of the campaign, and Unitas Communications grew the network to include over 300 Muslim thought-leaders and professionals in various fields. The various news sources used in the daily digest include The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Guardian, The Times, Al Jazeera English, The Daily Mail, The Evening Standard, The Metro and The Sun. This service is still being offered by Unitas Communications who wish to join the network and become a part of a growing body of voices that are eager to counter media master narratives.
Evaluation & Next Step
In partnership with the UNAOC, Unitas Communications was responsible for delivering three important objectives; media positioning, formation of a powerful network of thought-leaders and the facilitation of its growth to promote inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.
The campaign focussed on two core deliverables: Working with clients to establish media positioning across various national media platforms and providing a daily media monitoring service to assist the creation of a network of thought leaders and opinion formers with a shared goal.
At the end of the campaign, Unitas Communications achieved over 150 media impressions across the most influential news stories around the country as well as continued to provide the daily media monitoring service.
Following the success of the UNAOC campaign, Unitas Communications has continued to work in partnership with the UNAOC on various other projects including hosting ‘Building an Inclusive Society: A Conversation between Roger Cohen and Tariq Ramadan.’ This event took place at St. Ethelburga’s Church in London on December 20, 2010.