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Audience

The target audience for the Apollo 13 guest editorial included federal, state, and local officials; media representatives; and the general public. ACEC research had found that while most people could identify roads, airports, water treatment plants, and other things designed by engineers, few knew much about the profession itself. Many frequently associated engineers with characters from television series (e.g., Scotty in Star Trek) and train operators. (In fact, previous ACEC information campaigns had sought to address this built around the theme, "Not All Engineers Drive Trains.") These perceptions were found to be shared by many media professionals outside the science, engineering, and construction fields. The challenge, then, was to effectively communicate the contributions and viewpoints of this relatively small, yet invaluable profession to the general public in a media market that is literally bombarded every day with information and requests for attention.

Goals and Objectives

In the summer of 1995, then-ACEC President Richard Weingardt, P.E., authorized a program to develop, write, and place articles in the general media would raise the profile of engineers and their contributions to the public good. Targeting general interest periodicals, newspapers, and other publications, the articles would convey the following themes:

• Engineers, and consulting engineers in particular, have made immeasurable contributions to our quality of life. Efficient transportation networks, clean water, and reliable building systems are but a few examples of their work.
• Engineers are responsible for solving many of the problems that face our society. The are also relied upon to restore critical infrastructure systems in times of crisis. Through their efforts, people and property are protected from further harm, and the process of rebuilding can quickly begin.
• Engineers are talented visionaries and problem-solvers who bring a wealth of training, experience, and innovative thinking to their jobs. They not only maintain the existing built environment, but continually develop and apply technologies that will make the world an even better place for future generations.

As a secondary goal, the articles would help increase the visibility of ACEC's president as a leader of the profession. This would provide the organization with a respected, well-known voice in its efforts to increase awareness of issues that affect engineers, and further enhance the professions image as problem solvers and innovative thinkers.

Description

The start of the program coincided with the release of Apollo 13, a major motion picture that stressed the role engineers played in saving the lives of three astronauts in 1970. The widespread popularity of the film and its positive portrayal of engineers appeared to be a ideal theme around which to develop such an article. As the movie was already a timely topic for leading newspaper columnists, we believed that a guest editorial by-lined by a leader of the engineering profession would be an appropriate way to convey ACEC's message to the public.

As this was the organization's first attempt to place such a piece, the goals were modest. We felt that the timeliness of the topic and the availability of potential outlets would make a guest editorial an ideal means by which to make an immediate breakthrough with the media. However, we also recognized that our effort would be competing with a host of other topics generated by syndicated columnists, public officials, and other organizations. It was decided to base the project's short-term success on media interest in publishing the piece. While there were no standards established for measuring the long-term goal of increased public awareness and appreciation of the engineering profession, we felt that a positive response to the Apollo 13 guest editorial would establish a springboard for future media opportunities.

As development of the editorial began, we realized that a self-generated piece aimed at newspaper's op-ed pages would likely generate more interest if it was linked with a current topic related to the engineering profession. The most appropriate connection was the nation's infrastructure crisis. Deteriorating roads bridges, dams, and other problems with an aging built environment had been cited elsewhere in the media as disasters waiting to happen. There were also several common themes between the Apollo 13 incident and the infrastructure crisis:

• Engineers as contributors. The movie Apollo 13 reminded us of the accomplishments of the space program, the can-do attitude of engineering professionals associated with the program, and how previous successes had made space travel seem routine. In designing infrastructure systems, engineers plan for current needs as well as future utility with as little impact on publics daily use as possible. Many people can hardly imagine life without interstate highways or pure tap water, yet have little understanding of how these systems are designed and function.
• Engineers as problem solvers. NASA engineers and consultants used their talents and innovative ideas to avert catastrophe and bring the three astronauts home safely. On earth, public- and private-sector engineers regularly protect the public in times of disaster (e.g., Hurricane Andrew, the Midwest floods, the Kobe earthquake). They also have the skills and ideas to help resolve the infrastructure crisis, and are eager to join federal and state leaders in finding ways to apply the needed resources.
• Engineers as visionaries. Just as NASA engineers designed vehicles and computer systems that made space flight possible, today's consulting engineers are using their talents to build intelligent highways, create energy-efficient building systems, and restore the quality of the environment to serve the needs of future generations.

While infrastructure renewal had been an important national issue for several years, ACEC had a limited window of time in which to place the piece before interest in the movie waned. We first approached several major newspapers with national distributions (e.g., the Washington Post, New York Times, and USA Today). Editors responded that while the piece raised several important issues, they either had no room at that time, or had already published Apollo 13-related editorials.

Our next option was to solicit the interest of national news services, including the Washington bureau of Knight Ridder News Service, which eagerly accepted the Apollo 13 guest editorial and distributed it to over 200 subscriber papers nationwide. Because of the extensive reach of Knight-Ridder's network, we decided not to solicit any other media outlets.

Results

The Apollo 13 guest editorial appeared in several newspapers across the country over the next several weeks, usually with no edits. Many of ACECs state organization leaders reported positive comments from colleagues from within and outside the industry. The piece also served as a springboard for ACEC's lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill. The organization's public awareness campaign has also flourished since "Apollo 13," having generated interest from several publications for articles on engineers and their work.

The Apollo 13 guest editorial was conceived, researched, written, and marketed by Jim Parsons, freelance writer, under contract to ACEC. Sally Thompson, ACECs Director of Communications, supervised the project, provided support resources, and integrated the resulting published piece into ACEC's overall public awareness strategy.

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