Blast PR – PopeIsHope and #GoodIsWinning Case Study

Situation: The fanfare was fever pitch even before Francis’ Popemobile touched the tarmac. His first trip to the United States already had a different feel. has been called a new kind of pope – one that may still use fax machines to communicate with his inner circle, but one that also recognizes the need for strong social engagement on a variety of platforms. Global Catholic news site Aleteia.org decided to capitalize on that and engaged Sports Media Challenge (SMC) to develop a digital initiative around his visit that would connect with millennials before, during and after his trip. Blast PR was then engaged to manage all public relations efforts with our partners.

Strategy: Blast PR’s strategic collaboration with Aleteia and SMC for the campaign resulted in one of the most successful integrated social PR campaigns of all time and included:

• The creation of a Digital Street Team to cover Pope Francis’ visits to , Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. that would encourage their peers to share the #GoodIsWinning hashtag and, coincidentally, message of the trip, regardless of personal religious beliefs • Pope emoji that were available for download and use on iOS and Android phones from Swyft Media, and • A “Pope Is Hope” Social Listening Center housed in a Philadelphia homeless shelter from which all of these activities would be coordinated as Pope Francis made his way through the U.S. • Targeted media, influencer and blogger outreach to introduce the campaign to everyone, from night time talk show producers and hosts to niche journalists and millennial bloggers that their peers turn to more than anyone else

Pope Francis was here to reach a vast audience in order to discuss and reflect on some of the most base level responsibilities human beings have. Blast PR facilitated one important component of that — millennial engagement — to convey those messages through digital and traditional channels.

Tactics: Blast PR served as a conduit between the media and the PopeIsHope/#GoodisWinning initiative developed by Charlotte, NC-based Sports Media Challenge and Aleteia, a global Catholic digital media company. Momentum was built through the three main aspects of the initiative:

• Create the Digital Street Team: Announce the contest for millennials to become part of Aleteia's 60-person strong “PopeisHope” Digital Street Team, targeting the media within the most enthusiastic of the three cities Pope Francis was to visit – Philadelphia – for news about its formation. Follow up with coverage of the winners, especially in major media markets like New York City with Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pope-francis-us-visit-citizen- journalists_55d2996ae4b055a6dab14093) and WNYW/FOX 5 (http://www.fox5ny.com/news/21715385-story) • Launch the Popemoji: Activate Pope Francis’ broader millennial fan base with an exclusive in Mashable (http://mashable.com/2015/09/10/pope-emoji- app/#KaH19oAoVsqC) as Pope Francis makes his way to Cuba and before he lands on United States soil, getting ahead of other major technology companies and generating thousands of views, shares, and references of the original piece; and a second bite at the apple as others follow suit and the pope emoji are mentioned again … and again. • Transition To On-The-Ground: Announce the opening of the Social Listening Center in Philadelphia that would provide Aleteia with a greater understanding of how to engage millennials, working with Tracx, who powered the team’s analyses of the social media chatter for stories in Fortune (http://fortune.com/2015/09/15/pope-francis-social-media/)

Results: The pope’s visit was a resounding success (http://nimbledivision.com/clients/tracx/100215/) due in large part to the partnerships between Aleteia, Sports Media Challenge, and Blast PR as well as Swyft Media and Tracx. Blast’s engagement of key media outlets helped build momentum leading up to the release of the Popemoji keyboard, which had 90,000 downloads and led to more than a million impressions of PopeIsHope/#GoodisWinning on social media. It also resulted in enormously positive and coveted media attention.

Select Coverage:

• CBS Nightly News - Millennials Connect with Pope Francis on Social Media • Mashable - Holy emoji: Pope Francis has his own GIF keyboard app • Huffington Post - Catholic Site Enlists Millennials During Pope Francis' Trip To The U.S. • Fortune - Inside the Pope's social media plan to win over millennials • Adweek - The Pope Now Has His Own Set of Emojis, Just in Time for His First U.S. Visit Holy GIF • NY1 - App Wrap: ‘Joke With The Pope,’ ‘Popemoji’

Media Coverage of Blast’s Role on the Campaign

• The Texas Standard - Principal Lana McGilvray spoke with The Texas Standard, KUT 90.5, about Blast's support of the Pope's # goodiswinning campaign with Aleteia and Sports Media Challenge • Austin Business Journal - PR firm's Pope memes helped the spread pontiff's message • Daily Dot - The push to humanize the pope via custom emoji