Using the AAOS Public Service Advertisements in Your Community

The Public Service Announcement (PSA) campaign materials provide an ongoing opportunity to tell the orthopaedic story at the national, state and local levels. Each year, the Academy’s Public Relations Department develops a highly successful, comprehensive, multimedia awareness program aimed at the general public and distributes this campaign through more than These ads are sent to 1,300 television/cable, 3,200 radio and 2,500 print (newspaper/magazine) outlets nationwide, and distributed to airports across the country.

Television PSAs are sent to the public service directors of major networks, local stations and television cable systems. The print PSAs, in English and Spanish, and in a variety of sizes, are made available to major magazines, trade publications and newspapers in your area, and also distributed as airport advertising display ads. Radio PSAs are sent to national networks and local radio news outlets.

The Academy does not pay to place these messages on TV or radio or in print advertising media: the time/space is provided at no charge to 501(c)(3) organizations. By taking advantage of this, the Academy generates approximately $5 million in advertising value from each campaign.

The PSA campaign messages are consistently reinforced through the ongoing efforts of the Public Relations Department, which proactively pursues editorial placements in the media, and provides expert spokespersons. Featured topics span the scope of orthopaedic practice, including injury prevention, the latest research and techniques and general musculoskeletal health and wellness for adults and children.

Your involvement at the local level is encouraged and will contribute to this program's success. Many resources are available for use in promoting your practice in your community, including posters and postcards, in English and Spanish, of the ads featured in the PSA campaign, a public relations and media relations training tool kit, and the opportunity for state societies to add their society tagline to the TV PSA! And, you can monitor the news outlets that are receiving the campaign to ensure that those in your community, who should receive them, are. And if they are not, you can work at the local level to personally contact the outlets and provide the materials to your contacts.

How to Monitor:

The Academy provides a way for you to monitor the distribution and play of the PSAs in your state. An instructional video can be viewed by going to our distributor’s Web site, www.plowsharegroup.com. Under PSA Distribution, in the top menu, click on FertileData Video Tour. This 3-minute video will take you through the various reports, charts and graphs available.

For a look at the PSAs aired in your state, go to www.fertiledata.com. Select Log in from the menu. The user name is AAOS (all uppercase) and the password is media results (all lowercase, two words). Click on Log in. This will take you to the AAOS campaign home page. Click on Proceed to Campaigns. “Joints Don’t Jump” is our current campaign, so click on Tracking Report. This will bring you to the Summary page of airings.

To view airings for radio or TV, select the Media Type in the box at the top of the page. You may also select a set of dates. Leave the dates blank if you want to see all airings to date. Once you select your Media Type, click on Go. On the Tracking Report page, you may select your State in the Filter Options section. Once you select your state, click on Go.

When reviewing the tracking report for your state, if you notice that a media outlet has not utilized the public service materials, send them a personal note encouraging their use.

Distribution Lists:

To see if the public service announcement materials were distributed to media outlets in your state, click Distribution Report on the “Joints Don’t Jump” home page (located right above Tracking Report.) Select your State from the menu in the top left portion of the page and click on Go. You will be able to click through the report to a particular city. If you would like to see just television stations, radio stations or magazines, select the Media Type and click Go.

If you do not see a particular media outlet, please send contact information for the outlet to Kayee Dooley, public relations coordinator, by email at dooley@aaos.org.

You may find the following suggestions helpful as you implement this year’s public service advertising program.

Television Public Service Announcements

All of the Academy’s state orthopaedic societies have included their names as a tagline on our television public service announcements. The Academy distributes the public service announcements to major television stations and cable systems throughout the U.S. You can access our distributor’s Web site to see which television and cable stations receive the public service announcement. A letter has been sent to public service directors at these stations by the Academy, along with the public service TV spots, to encourage on air use. It helps if you contact or write a personal note to the public service directors of TV stations in your area: to remind them the public service announcements have been sent, and to encourage their use.

Radio Public Service Advertisements

A recorded CD and a live announcer script is included in the radio packet sent to national and local radio networks. To review which radio stations in your area received the public service announcements, follow the instructions in the Distribution Lists section above. You also can contact or write a personal note to your local radio station public service directors: to remind them the PSAs have been sent, and encourage their use.

Print Public Service Announcements

Print public service announcements are sent to national and local newspapers, magazines and trade publications. If you are interested in reviewing the print PSA distribution list, follow the instructions in the Distribution Lists section above. You can also contact or write a personal note to the public service directors of your local newspapers -- to remind them the PSAs have been sent, and to encourage their use.

You can also request copies of the CDs and distribute to media that do not appear on the general distribution list, such as community newspapers and other publications like newsletters, employee bulletins or local civic group publications. These are effective reminders of our orthopaedic messages and help reinforce the national program.

Most publications grant unused space to print public service announcements as a community service at no cost.

Posters and Postcards

Each year, the campaign features different posters and postcards, in English and Spanish, that focus on key campaign themes in the Academy’s public service announcement program. The posters and postcards are intended for use throughout the year and for many years to come. As the Academy develops new programs, they will tie in with these materials and extend our current messages.

Suggestions on how to use the posters and postcards:

• Begin with your own office or hospital. Frame the posters and hang them in your patient reception and examination rooms.
• Use them in combination with the Community Orthopaedics Awareness Program (COAP – password protected), as invitations to your public education presentations, or distribute at your speaking engagements with appropriate health tips printed on the back.
• Ask your local schools, merchants, health clubs, senior community centers or day care centers to display the posters.
• Send the postcards or posters along with a personal note to your state legislators or local officials to educate them about issues relating to orthopaedics.
• Use the posters and postcards as giveaway items at health fairs and other community events.

These community outreach materials are available at no charge, by contacting the AAOS Public Relations Department by phone, 847-384-4036 or email, publicrelations@aaos.org.

Our public service announcement campaign provides a tremendous opportunity to increase public knowledge of the specialty of orthopaedics. These public service announcements support the goals of the Bone and Joint Decade initiative, and can be used to reinforce positive orthopaedic messages in your community.

View and download our brochure full of FREE resources; Enhancing the Image of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Promoting your practice and your profession through public relations. For questions or more information, contact the Public Relations department by phone, 847-384-4036 or email, publicrelations@aaos.org.

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Media

• 2009 Annual Meeting Online Press Kit
• Media Resources