News Release
March 11, 2007“End the Heartache” campaign honored
Shocking billboards announcing “2,453 killed” combined with a plea to “End the Heartache” saved scores of pets from being euthanized last year in Pierce County and won high honors recently for JayRay and the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County. The campaign earned widespread media coverage when it was unveiled at a news conference last year.
The Puget Sound Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) recognized the “End the Heartache” campaign with a Totem Award at its gala Feb. 8 in Seattle. The campaign earned top honors for community relations programs among associations and not-for-profit organizations.
"We were reluctant at first to emphasize the sheer numbers of healthy, adoptable pets needlessly euthanized," said Marguerite Richmond, the Humane Society’s director of development. "But JayRay prompted us to spotlight this painful situation. This approach has helped us to build community support and achieve real progress toward eliminating the killing of adoptable pets."
“End the Heartache,” an integrated campaign involving media relations and advertising, sought to build community support for the Humane Society as the organization intensified its focus on solving the problem of severe pet overpopulation.
The Humane Society’s board of directors committed to becoming the state’s first “no-kill,” open-admission shelter by Dec. 31, 2008, meaning that it will accept every pet brought to its shelter, the largest in the state, and no longer euthanize healthy, adoptable pets. The only way to achieve this goal is by drastically reducing the number of unwanted pets in Pierce County.
JayRay’s research revealed that unless the community became aware of just how serious this problem of pet overpopulation really was, the problem could not be solved.
In addition to news conference materials with the “End the Heartache” theme and graphics, the campaign included an op-ed from the executive director published in The News Tribune and an extensive media relations effort. A two-phase billboard campaign began with the shocking numbers, which were replaced later with messages urging pet owners to “fix” the problem. Classified ads in the “pets wanted” section focused on the importance of spaying and neutering pets.
Since “End the Heartache” was launched, the Humane Society has experienced significant increases in donations, memberships and volunteers. More animals have been adopted or reunited with owners. Over the first nine months of 2006, fewer puppies and kittens entered the shelter and the number of adoptable dogs euthanized was reduced by half. No adoptable puppies were euthanized during the period.
The Humane Society is on track toward its goal of becoming a “no-kill,” open-admission shelter.