Anil Gosai, Deena Ghodrati, Sebastian Maynard, Shannon Lehberg, Tasha Bain,

Final Communications Plan (Due Friday, December 22)

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

Situation Analysis 5

Goal 9

Objectives 11

Key Messages 15

Tactics 15

Evaluation 21

Budget 23

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Executive Summary

The Calgary Stampede, founded in 1912, is a not-for-profit community organization

that celebrates “western heritage, cultures and community spirit” over a 10-day event that is

held each July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. With over 2300 volunteers and more than one

million visitors, the Stampede is known as “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.”

In 2010, the Calgary Stampede endured significant backlash from animal welfare

advocates, the media and attendees after the death of six horses during the event. Over the

years, the Stampede has criticism for the questionable treatment and care of the animals, and

the most recent crisis resulted in significant reputation loss.

Given the criticism faced, it is important to conduct research specific to the internal

structure and communications of the organization as well as the external environments and

factors associated directly and indirectly with the Stampede. Following the research, the

findings will be able to guide the Stampede to potential course of actions and appropriate

solutions on how to mediate and overcome the significant reputation loss.

A detailed situation analysis has assisted in identifying the strengths, weaknesses

potential opportunities and threats of the Stampede. While we will go into further detail

throughout our report, some notable strengths to highlight are that the Stampede is

economically beneficial to the community and the province. The event is also supported by

the local Humane Society, who are on site during the event and make sure that animals are

treated properly. In terms of weaknesses, the Stampede does continue to have a number of

events that are not safe for animals. However, the Stampede has the opportunity to turn

around their reputation, and implement new regulations and procedures to ensure that future

injury or death’s of animals do not occur again. They can work closer with animal activists to

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change attitudes about the treatment of animals, and bring attention to positive changes that

are being made. A threat to this event is the possible closure of the Stampede, given that

similar events across the world are being shut-down or discontinued. Foreign governments

are getting involved with the objective of a changing regulations for animal treatment. The

2010 Stampede had a lot of negative attention that could be detrimental to the future of the

event if changes are not made.

Furthermore, the following pages will detail our strategic communications plan,

including both the reactive and proactive objectives, timeline and tactics of our plan. Lastly,

we will provide a fully detailed evaluation and budget for the strategic communication plan,

including the costs of all the campaigns and media related events.

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Situation Analysis

Background

The Calgary Stampede is a 10-day event that is held anually every July in Calgary,

Alberta. The Stampede is billed as “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth,” and attracts more

than one million visitors yearly. The Stampede features different exhibits such as parades, the

chuckwagon championship, western art exhibits, First Nations exhibits, an agricultural

showcase, a musical festival, city-wide festivities as well as other forms of entertainment.

While the Stampede is seen to be of cultural and economic importance to the city of

Calgary, it has recently been faced with allegations of animal cruelty and using animals as

entertainment for the purpose of monetary gain. Accusations only intensified with the death

of six horses during the 2010 Calgary Stampede. Ultimately, because of the issues the

Calgary Stampede faces in terms of animal welfare, the Stampede is at risk of detrimentally

damaging their reputation, revenue and audience.

Strengths

The Calgary Stampede is culturally significant to the city of Calgary as well as the

province of Alberta. The Stampede represents the distinct western heritage that Calgary is

known for. It has become an important facet to the community as Calgarians and visitors

embrace the western spirit that the Stampede represents, through attire and celebrations. The

significance of the Stampede is exemplified as it has become a symbol and representation of

the city. The city is known as “Stampede City” and their CFL team is called the Calgary

Stampeders.

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 The Stampede proves to be economically beneficial to the city of Calgary. The

Stampede’s economic impact includes $345 million, with $300 million being spent within

Calgary supporting local businesses. In addition to the city of Calgary, the Stampede is an

economical opportunity for many that take part in events, as winners of the various

competitions can receive up to $1.6 million in prizes.

While the Stampede faces many allegations for the abuse of animal welfare, the event

has support in the form of the Calgary Humane Society, in order to assist in the caring for

animals. The Calgary Humane Society is available at every event to ensure the health of

animals is maintained.

Weaknesses

The Calgary Stampede faces questions of animal welfare after the death of six horses

during the 2010 event. The Stampede consists of dangerous activities such as chuckwagon

races, calf-roping and steer-wrestling events, which are known to cause harm and stress to

animals. It can be interpreted that the monetary rewards for competitions are putting pressure

on the competitors to win at the expense of their animal’s health. The injuries and deaths of

animals at the Stampede has also resulted in a damaged reputation for the Stampede, as there

is a notable reputation degradation from 2009 to 2010.

Opportunities

The Stampede has the opportunity to make use of additional regulations to ensure the

safety of animals. The rodeo is seen to be a sport, much like hockey, baseball, football and

basketball. Just as with those sports, there is the opportunity for increased regulations, or a

change of rules, to maintain safety. The activities at the Stampede could therefore be treated

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like a sport. Professional sporting leagues, such as the NBA, consists of a Board of Governors

constantly analyzing their sport to see if changes are to be made to ensure safety while still

maintaining their entertainment value as a sport. The Board of Governors working with the

NBA votes on proposed changes, where if the vote is of majority, the change is effective

immediately. The Stampede can implement a similar Board of Governors to consistently

regulate different activities to ensure safety to the animals.

The Stampede can place a greater emphasis on proactive approaches to safety. The

Calgary Stampede should always be analyzing potential threats to the safety of their animals

in anticipation of injury. In June 2010, the Calgary Stampede announced it is assembling a

group of four experts in order to advise them on efforts for continuous improvement. The

injuries and deaths of horses sustained at the 2010 Calgary Stampede brings into question

whether four is enough and if the power they hold is able to make a positive change to safety.

The group of experts may be more effective upkeeping the safety of animals if they are

autonomous and independent from the Calgary Stampede while also having a final rule.

There is the opportunity for the Stampede to work alongside animal welfare advocates

to collaborate on more acceptable standards of animal treatment. Currently the Stampede

works alongside the Calgary Humane Society and has support from the Canadian

Professional Rodeo Association. There is an opportunity to collaborate with additional animal

welfare organizations, especially given the magnitude of the Stampede, as well as the number

of organizations that are currently opposing the Stampede. The communication to external

audiences of the Stampede working closely with animal welfare groups is important with

regards to shifting the negative animal abuse narrative to a positive one.

Threats

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 Animal welfare advocates, such as Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals (Alberta SPCA), Calgary Animal Rights Effort, the Vancouver Humane Society and

People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) oppose the Stampede for the use of animals

for entertainment and cruel events, such as calf-roping, steer-wrestling and chuckwagon

racing.

Other rodeos in Canada, such as the Cloverdale Rodeo in 2007, have started banning

specific activities ​such as calf- and team-roping and steer wrestling in order to maintain the

safety of their animals. This may put negative attention on the Calgary Stampede as the

Stampede can be perceived as maintaining a stagnating entertainment model that promotes

animal abuse, while other stampedes are taking action towards the maintenance of positive

animal health.

Foreign Governments are putting pressure on the Canadian Government to reconsider the

rodeo. In 2010, 92 members of U.K parliament signed an Early Day Motion asking Canada to

stop the rodeo. Foreign Governments are now seen to be taking action against the rodeo.

League Against Cruel Sports, Britain’s oldest and most respected animal-welfare charities,

called for the end of calf-roping, getting the support of over 50 British MP’s. The British

Government is also pressuring travel agencies to stop their tourism packages to the Stampede.

The final media analysis of social and traditional media showed that the 2010 Stampede

had an overall negative outcome for the Stampede’s reputation. The 2010 social media

sentiment showed a nine per cent increase in negative sentiment online. The 2010 traditional

media sentiment showed an increase of 19 per cent negative sentiment in traditional media

sources.

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Goal

The ultimate goal for the Calgary Stampede is to foster and maintain a positive reputation for

the yearly event.

Publics

Calgary Stampede Stakeholders:

● Stampede volunteers

● Board of directors

● Global tourists

● Travel Alberta and Tourism Calgary

● Attendees

● Professional riders

Rodeo Associations:

● Canadian Professional Rodeo Association

● Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA)

● The Canadian Pro Rodeo Association (CPRA)

● National Finals Rodeo (NFR)

● The Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR)

● Professional Bull Riders (PBR)

Animal Welfare Groups:

● Calgary Humane Society

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 ● The Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)

● The Calgary Animal Rights Effort

● The Vancouver Humane Society

● The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

● Animal Rights Advocates

● Humane Society of Canada

● The League Against Cruel Sports

● Britain, United States, Australia and New Zealand SPCA’s

● Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada

Sponsors:

● Bell Canada

● General Motors of Canada Limited

● Labatt Brewing Co.

● TransAlta Corporation

● Enmax

● +400 sponsor organizations

Media:

● News outlets such as: ​CBC, Globe and Mail​, ​National Post​, ​Calgary Herald, Global

News Calgary, CTV Calgary News

● Blogs

● Social Media (Canadian females aged 21-35)

● Television

● Radio

Government:

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 ● Canadian High Commission

● Prime Minister

● Premier of Alberta

● Mayor of Calgary

● Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports

● Members of Parliament

Objective One

Increase awareness to target publics of the Calgary Stampede - visitors, animal welfare

advocates, media - that animal welfare and safety is a priority and a mandate of the

organization. Furthermore, this also requires that the target publics have the knowledge and

understanding that the organization works alongside animal welfare advocates to ensure that

they are held accountable and receive the proper guidance and assistance throughout the

process of working with animals.

While some of the target publics are aware that the Calgary Stampede has taken strides to

prioritize animal welfare, it is essential that this becomes a key message of the company. Our

objective is also to illustrate to the public that the Calgary Stampede is held accountable both

internally (within the organization) and externally (working alongside with advocacy groups)

when it comes to animal welfare, to ensure neutrality and non-bias. Ensuring that our

objective is measurable, we aim to increase awareness of our target publics by 40 per cent

within the first six months. This will be measured by increased engagement, subscribers and

website hits on all our social media platforms and the Calgary Stampede website. We will use

analytics to determine whether or not our posts pertaining to animal welfare have increased

hits or engagement.

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Strategies

● Increase awareness that the Stampede has partnerships with the Calgary Humane

Society and the Alberta SPCA.

● Bring into light that these partnerships are significant to the Calgary Stampede and

that events pertaining to animals are consulted with the advocacy groups.

● Build a new partnership with the Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada.

● Build awareness that the Animal Care Advisory Panel is formed within the

organization to ensure responsible, ethical and proper treatment of animals involved

in the Calgary Stampede.

Objective Two

Restore a positive reputation of the Calgary Stampede to visitors, media and animal rights

groups. Our aim is to address the negatives elements of the Stampede and outweigh them by

highlighting the positive ones.

We will measure this objective in having an overall approval rating of 75 per cent

collectively and within each target group - visitors, media, government and animal welfare

advocate groups - within the first 12 months.

Strategies

● Acknowledge and apologize on behalf of the organization for past failures in regards

to the deaths of event animals at a press conference. This includes the deaths of the

six horses in 2010.

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 ● Utilize social media campaigns on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to assert and

remind target publics of the benefits the Calgary Stampede has on the economy and

the community. The Stampede:

● Creates jobs.

● Brings the community and people from all over Canada together.

● Celebrates culture and the historic significance of the event.

● Engage with audience via social media and respond to questions, comments and

queries or concerns.

● Reach out to creible influencers who have attended the Stampede in the past, to

promote and share their positive experiences and invite these influencers to the next

Stampede.

Objective Three

Review the crisis management plan, and implement four new procedures within the first three

months. This will help improve the Stampedes image and reputation incase a crisis occurs in

the future, and it will ensure that the organization is equipped to handle the situation properly.

The target audience for this objective is the Calgary Stampede stakeholders. This includes

volunteers, employees and the Board of Directors.

Strategies:

● Update crisis management plan and implement it prior to the 2011 Stampede.

● Review the updated plan with all important Calgary Stampede stakeholders.

● Ensure plan is up to date with current regulations and policies.

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Objective Four

Increase the number of attendees, national and international, at the Calgary Stampede by 10

per cent for 2011 (within the first 12 months). After the unfortunate events at the 2010

Stampede, we need to ensure that the event maintains its popularity and audience base. By

working towards increasing our numbers we are being proactive about any backlash that

might have occured. The target audience for this objective is stakeholders, especially

attendees and future attendees.

Strategies:

● Create positive media attention through new social media campaigns, these will

attract a younger audience.

● Increase awareness about the event through tourism campaigns. Work together with

Alberta tourism, this will attract families as well as an older demographic.

● Publicise the new and old relationships with the animal rights groups. This will ensure

that tourists and locals are no longer concerned about the lack of animal safety.

● Increase new attractions, performances, and food vendors that will attract new groups

of people.

● Bring more attention to the fact that it is the “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth,” and

not just a rodeo.

Key Messages

● The Calgary Stampede is a part of Alberta’s heritage and it has helped put the

province on the map.

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 ● The Calgary Stampede provides a great economic boost to Calgary as well as the

province of Alberta.

● Animal welfare is a top priority for the Calgary Stampede, and organizers are

dedicated to working with advocacy groups to continue to improve animal care and

conditions.

● The Calgary Stampede is an opportunity for the community to come together, as it is

organized in large part by volunteers and civic leaders. They also continue to partner

with First Nations communities from the area to promote and educate visitors about

First Nations culture.

● The Calgary Stampede is much more than just a rodeo, as it also features art exhibits,

musical performances, amusement rides and agricultural competitions.

Tactics

Objective One ​Tactics

● Televised and online campaign for the Calgary Humane Society with an emphasised

sponsorship from the Calgary Stampede to generate donations for organization.

○ Create and run campaign 11 to eight months before Stampede.

○ Will be completed by marketing and public relations teams.

● Televised and online campaign for the Alberta SPCA with an emphasised sponsorship

from the Calgary Stampede to generate donations for organization.

○ Create and run campaign six to three months before Stampede.

○ Tactic will be completed by marketing and public relations teams.

● Create specific positions with the Calgary Stampede other than the panel that require

the knowledge from the Humane Society, SPCA and Animal Welfare Foundation.

○ Seven months before.

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 ○ Tactic will be completed by human resources.

● Host a job fair for the Calgary Stampede exclusively for employees/members of the

Humane Society, SPCA and Animal Welfare Foundation.

○ Six months before.

○ Tactic will be completed by human resources, marketing and social media

teams to advertise positions and fair.

● Have Calgary Stampede staff attend animal rights seminars as a part of staff training

○ Three months before.

Objective Two Tactics

● Release a written statement with a formal apology and condolences for the death of

the horses.

○ Nine months before.

○ Tactic will be completed by public relations team.

● Host a press conference to coincide with the written statement, and have a verbal

formal apology from President and chairman of the Calgary Stampede board Dr.

David Chalack.

○ Nine months before.

○ Tactic will be completed by public relations team.

● Five per cent of ticket sales will go to the Humane Society, SPCA and Animal

Welfare Foundation.

○ A statement will be released before ticket sales. Another statement will be

released after the Stampede has finished, stating how much has been donated

to these organizations.

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 ○ Will be conducted by public relations team and sales office.

● Invite the following influencers:

1) Justin Trudeau - as a semi-regular attendee of the Calgary Stampede, Trudeau is a

credible and significant individual that can share the positive experiences and benefits

of the event.

2) Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Attended the event in 2011

3) Garth Brooks. 2012 Stampede performer.

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Objective Three Tactics:

● Implement new proactive and reactive plan for event

○ Create nine months before Stampede.

○ Tactic will be completed by public relations team and human resources.

● Create procedures for boycotts of the Stampede

○ Create nine months before Stampede

○ Tactic will be completed by public relations team and human resources

● Conduct a case study on similar large scale Canadian events, specifically researching

their crisis management plans and compare to Calgary Stampede.

○ Create nine months before Stampede

○ Tactic will be completed by public relations team and human resources

● Send out survey to last years staff regarding their knowledge of the crisis management

procedures and analyze how well staff know what to do in the event of an emergency.

○ 10 to nine months before Stampede.

○ Tactic will be completed by public relations team and human resources.

● Examine staff training procedures.

○ 10 to nine months before Stampede.

○ Tactic will be completed by human resources.

● Hire an outside human resources firm that specializes in staff training.

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 ○ Nine months before Stampede.

○ Tactic will be completed by human resources.

● Make all staff sign a non-disclosure agreement, social media policies and conduct

police background checks.

○ Four months prior to Stampede.

○ Tactic will be completed by legal and human resources.

● Run through mock crisis plan execution trainings.

○ Two months prior to Stampede.

○ Tactic will be completed by human resources.

Objective Four Tactics

● Promote event internationally within sports stores flyers (example: Sport Chek,

Cabela’s)

○ To be completed six-two months prior to Stampede.

○ Tactic will be completed by marketing team.

● Host a social media contest; winner receives a weekend pass and stay for two.

○ Contest will start four months before and winner will be chosen three months

before Stampede.

○ Will be conducted by social media team.

● Offer early bird pricing of tickets to draw in more attendees early on.

○ 12 to 11 months before Stampede, 500 early bird tickets will be available to

buy.

○ This will be advertised through marketing and handled through ticket sales.

● Tiered ticket prices.

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 ○ Nine months before tickets will increase from early bird price, seven months

before tickets will increase again, five months before they will increase for the

final time and from then on will have a set price.

○ This will be advertised through marketing and handled through ticket sales.

● Discounts on 10-day ticket purchases.

○ 10-day ticket purchases will be a discounted rate at any point leading up to and

during the Stampede (on-going).

○ This will be advertised through marketing and handled through ticket sales.

● Attendance and performance of celebrities.

○ Reveal of celebrities attending and performing will be six months before the

event.

○ This will be advertised through marketing and social media teams.

● 10 per cent off discount for attendees that attended last year, 15 per cent off if they

attended the past two years in a row.

○ This promotion will be available as a discounted rate leading up to and during

the Stampede (on-going).

● Offer family rate ticketing, two adults and two children

○ This promotion will be available as a discounted rate leading up to and during

the Stampede (on-going).

○ This will be advertised through marketing and handled through ticket sales.

● Release an “after movie” from last years Stampede and share across all social media

channels.

○ Create 10 months before and share nine months before Stampede.

○ Tactic will be completed by marketing and social media teams.

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 ● Release YouTube video with clips from last years attendees doing customer

testimonials about their favourite part of the Stampede and share across all social

media channels.

○ Create seven months before and share six months before Stampede.

○ Tactic will be completed by marketing and social media teams

Evaluation

The main measure of success for us will be if the Calgary Stampede is able to meet our

overall goal of ​fostering a positive reputation for the yearly event. ​We will be able to assess this

through evaluation of the four previously mentioned objectives.

● Are all target publics aware that the Calgary Stampede prioritizes welfare and works

with animal rights organizations?

○ Overall, we hope to increase awareness by 40 per cent within the first sixth

months.

○ This will be measured by increased engagement, subscribers and hits on social

media platforms and website.

○ Analytics will be used to determine success.

● Were we able to restore a positive reputation of the Stampede with visitors, media and

animal rights groups?

○ Our goal is to increase our overall approval rating to 75 per cent in the first 12

months.

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 ○ Monitoring the reputation of the Stampede will be an ongoing task throughout

the planning process, and we will use mentions on social media, ticket sales

and articles in the news as way to gauge peoples opinions.

● Did we implement four new procedures for crisis management?

○ The objective is to have these procedures in place nine months before the

Stampede.

○ This will initially require research as we intend to look at other large scale

events, survey past employees and volunteers and examine current training

procedures.

■ These tasks will need to be completed in the first three months of the

year.

● Did we increase the number of attendees by 10 per cent?

○ Ultimately, this will be determined once the Stampede is complete. We will

need to have concrete numbers for ticket sales and attendance before

determining whether this objective was met.

○ Throughout the 12 months leading up to the Stampede we will be able to to

assess whether our social media contest, early bird tickets, discounts and

family rates have led to an increase in sales compared to similar time periods

in previous years.

Due to the fact that a few of our objectives are year long and cannot be adequately assessed

until after the Stampede is over, our final evaluation will be presented in the weeks following

the Calgary Stampede. We will likely require a bit of time to gather final numbers and data

on ticket sales, coverage on social media and in the news, whether the Stampede was able to

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avoid any crisis and the overall reception that the Stampede received. We are confident that

our timeline allows us to monitor our objectives throughout the planning of the Stampede and

determine whether any adjustments need to be made, but it won’t be until after everything is

said and done that we will get a full sense of how everything turned out.

Budget

Item Cost Total

Calgary Humane $21,000 ($7000 per

Society campaign month for three
months)

SPCA campaign $21,000 ($7000 per

month for three
months)

Job fair $1000

Two SPCA and $40,000 (two salaries

Humane Society at $20,000)
employees

Staff training $20,000

Press release $350

Press conference $1500???

Donation to SPCA and TBD

Humane Society

Celebrity influencers $200,000

Case study $5000

Marketing $35,000

Social media $25,000

Contingency fee

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