The Royal British Legion captured the nation’s imagination on Armistice
Day, helped enormously by the expertise of director of public affairs
Charles Lewis, says Phillip Dewhurst, corporate affairs director of
Railtrack
Speaking at the IPR editor’s lunch on 12 November, Charles Moore
admitted that, in hindsight, he would probably not, as he had that
morning, run a five column page one photograph of elderly customers at a
supermarket checkout doing nothing.
But, along with an estimated two thirds of Britain’s population, he had
been swept along by the collective mood of remembrance that marked the
reinstatement of the two minutes silence on Armistice Day, 11 November.
Like Michael Heseltine, who shut up in mid-flow at the CBI conference;
like business leaders, local authorities, school children and the
Premiership footballers who stopped training for two minutes - Moore was
seduced by what the Today programme described as a ‘gentle campaign’ of
persuasion.
In today’s competitive climate, charities need a professional edge to
survive. The Royal British Legion found theirs in a veteran of many a
corporate PR battle, Charles Lewis, who joined as public affairs
director earlier this year. Putting his years of PR experience at ICI,
Tesco, RTZ and British Steel into practice, Lewis trawled his contacts
book to build support for the campaign. Railtrack had supported the
pilot 1995 campaign, and I was one of the first to receive a call from
Lewis.
Having won the early support of other key blue chip companies, the
Legion’s in-house team built a ground swell of support armed with
research showing that 93 per cent of adults and 96 per cent of 15 to 24
year olds backed a return to the Armistice Day silence.
The campaign visibly stepped up a gear in June. The launch of ‘Pause to
Remember’, the British Legion’s racing yacht and BA’s decision to
emblazon the campaign theme and poppy motif on one of its aircraft
attracted coverage on the Today programme. John Major, Tony Blair and
Paddy Ashdown pledged support and a schools helpline received 400 calls
following a mailing to head teachers.
The results of October’s intensive media relations campaign, carried out
with support from Biss Lancaster, were there for all to see in the
blanket coverage of the event. For a relatively modest pounds 40,000,
the British Legion succeeded in catapulting itself to the forefront of
public awareness.
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