WRAL Fights Hunger With Marketing Blitz

North Carolina has an invisible hunger problem.

But WRAL and Radio One Raleigh are hoping to change that by creating awareness about the issue and raising funds for community hunger relief. WRAL is Capitol Broadcasting’s CBS affiliate while Radio One Raleigh is the leading regional urban music specialist.

“This is about using the power of the media for good,” says Steven Hammel, WRAL’s general manager.

All this week, WRAL and Radio One Raleigh stations will illustrate the problem of hunger in the state, and feature stories about programs to solve the root causes of hunger.

““When we first started brainstorming a community project together in 2013, I had no idea we had this kind of hunger problem,” says Gary Weiss, Radio One Raleigh’s general manager, “it’s completely unacceptable.”

This is the second year these two media companies have partnered to create HungerFreeNC, a coalition of media companies and local nonprofits to focus on the root causes of hunger.

“This isn’t a food drive,” says Shelly Leslie, WRAL’s creative director; “our movement is about educating people on the root cause of hunger and funding solutions.”

“We’re looking for a solution and we found six organizations working on that. Their visions are bigger than their budgets. That’s where the power of the media comes in.”

Starting at 6 a.m. today and going straight through until 8 p.m., WRAL and its radio partners will conduct the second annual MEDIAthon, a daylong fundraiser to fund the innovative programs of the HungerFreeNC coalition.

To create awareness about the problem and the fundraiser, WRAL unleashed a marketing blitz that includes TV, radio, social and the Web.

“Phase one of the marketing campaign started two weeks out,” says Leslie. “This week, we turned our promotional focus to the MEDIAthon.”

WRAL’s parent company, Capitol Broadcasting, also owns the minor league baseball team, Durham Bulls. So the station created a special spot that will air only on the video screens at the games.

“We want to see if we can get a swell on social media that we can track back to that promotion at the Bulls games,” says Leslie. “Should be interesting!”

As I’ve said, when you want to get involved in the community, go big. WRAL goes extra large.