Results:

The results of the "surround sound" tactics were very successful - They were able to switch over 600,000 people through the Go Direct call center alone -  that's just one of over 450 partnership organizations and hundreds of banks, financial institutions, credit unions that were able to do so. That is $480,000 or almost a half million dollars saved in paper costs in a single year.

Print Media included Dear Abby, The Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Tribune. They were able to reach an audience of over 250 million people, and broadcast on tv and radio in english and spanish. The total time the ads were on television amounted to 19 days over the year, or 456 hours. That's more than an hour a day of GoDirect advertising.

FDIC, United Way, IRS, local and state government all worked together to ensure the success of Go Direct!

There were 1.8 million brochures distributed, 28,000 posters, 44,000 table tents, and 42,000 "Ask Me About Go Direct" buttons pinned on.

There have been 18 million hits on the GoDirect websites in english and spanish.

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Overview:

Of everyone who receives Social Security benefits, about 80% utilize Direct Deposit. The remaining 20% costs the government 120 million dollars per year in issuing paper checks. Because baby boomers were expected to add to the rolls of SS, it was important to begin a program to make direct deposit more visible and better-used.

The audience in this was diverse and diffuse, including hard-to-reach and sometimes difficult to persuade disabled, elderly, and low-income individuals.

Weber-Shandwick and the US Department of Treasury formulated a plan of "surround-sound" PR, utilizing governmental connections at all levels, and trusted individuals and sources. They used media at all levels to create a trust between the people carrying their message and their audience. Parnerships with social, service, and community organizations gives the impression of friends' and local recommendations, while national and regional organizations also equip with the neccessary tools to help people switch.

They also created multicultural campaigns to consistently carry forward the message in multiple mediums and languages. This along with community ambassadors was meant to lend the campaign credibility and assuage fear and doubt.

Ultimately the true measure of this campaign is judged by how many people converted to direct deposit as a result of it, and in that regard, it was very successful, saving the US Department of Treasury almost a half-million dollars in one year alone.