|
Case Study 2 - From Rethink
Disability to Optua by James Powell
 Optua is one of
Suffolk’s largest
charities and has been
providing services and
opportunities for people
with disabilities in
Suffolk for 25 years.
Prior to our name change
in 2005, the
organisation had been
known as Rethink
Disability since 1996.
The change in name
followed confusion
between ourselves and
the mental health
charity National
Schizophrenia
Fellowship, which had
adopted Rethink as its
new working name.
Many people in Suffolk
had been referring to
our organisation as
‘Rethink’ for many years
and clients, utility
companies, the media and
funders were getting the
two charities confused.
So we began the process of
changing our name. We considered
many different options, some of
which were acronyms, some had
the word ‘ability’ or ‘equality’
in the title, and some were
completely new and fresh.
We
wanted to get away from using
the word ‘disability’ or
‘disabled’ and use the renaming
to give ourselves a whole new
image whilst keeping the same
principles that have helped us
to grow and improve as an
organisation over the past 25
years.
The name also had to be one
which would enable us to find a
suitable domain name for a new
website and which would not
clash with any other
organisations in terms of
copyright etc.
 Eventually we chose the
name ‘Optua’.
Optua is derived from
the Latin for ‘Be Your
Best’. We felt this was
an appropriate motto for
an organisation which
aims to give disabled
people the opportunities
to be able to be their
best and lead full and
active lives.
It also did not have any
‘baggage’ connected to it and
gave us the chance to re-launch
ourselves with a fresh and
bright new image.
Publicising The Name Change
The task was then to make sure
as many people as possible knew
about our name change. We had to
target a mixed audience
including people who use our
services, people we work in
partnership with (i.e. local
councils and health services),
other charities and the general
public.
We had a new logo designed for
our new stationery and
literature, and put together a
new information booklet about
the organisation.
We planned several launch events
to tell people about the new
name, one for staff and
volunteers, one for partners and
organisations we work with and a
public PR launch to try and
attract some publicity for the
name change.
For the public launch we wanted
to do something that would
attract the interest of the
local media by setting up a good
photo opportunity to launch the
new name. We also wanted to
ensure this was relevant to the
work of the organisation and to
involve the disabled people we
work with.
 Photo Opportunities
We set up two events –
the first was a helium
balloon release at
Thomas Wolsey School, a
special school in
Ipswich that we have
close links with.
All the pupils were
given one of our old
Rethink Disability
balloons and released
them into the air in
front of one of our new
banners to symbolise us
letting go of our old
name.
We had a freelance photographer
take photographs of the event
which also involved our chairman
Linda Hoggarth and local Radio
Broadcaster Rachel Sloane who
had recently agreed to be one of
our patrons.
On the same day we organised
another photo opportunity, this
time at the Royal Hospital
School in Holbrook, where we
already had an event taking
place. This was our annual
Minilympics event – a day of fun
sporting events for people with
learning disabilities from all
over Suffolk. After the main
events we arranged for everyone
taking part in the day (around
200 people) to form a very large
version of the word Optua which
we then photographed and filmed
from a height.
A press release was issued prior
to the launch, followed by
reminder emails and phone calls
the days before.
How Much Publicity We
Actually Got
The events gave us a very good
basis to get some coverage for
the name change and we had
articles in the East Anglian
Daily Times, Evening Star,
Suffolk Advertiser, Bury Free
Press and several local
newsletters across the county.
It was also covered by Radio
Suffolk and SGRfm. The next week
the East Anglian also ran a
large double page feature on the
name change which we had been
working on with them beforehand.
We were disappointed not to get
any coverage on Anglia TV as we
took them footage from the
launch on the same day and were
very hopeful of seeing something
on the Evening News.
Unfortunately a freak hailstorm
the same day meant that the
piece on our renaming was taken
out of the schedule.
Following the public launch we
also launched our new website
www.optua.org.uk
and our previous domain
name was redirected to it so
that anyone trying to find us on
the internet would be directed
to the new site.
We have also worked on keeping
our profile in the media since
the launch to raise awareness of
what we do and to keep the new
name in people’s minds as much
as possible.
On the whole, our launch and
related events was a success and
it helped to give us a platform
to take the organisation and its
new name forward.
It is difficult to reach
everyone with a public launch as
everyone gets their information
from different sources and an
article in a parish newsletter
can be just as important as a
double page spread in the East
Anglian if it’s read by the
people you want to reach. One
parish council donated some
money to us after reading about
our re-launch and what we do.
Lessons Learnt
Some people are still only just
hearing about our new name and
are asking for someone from
Optua to give a talk about what
we do. As well as people who may
not realise we’ve changed our
name, there are a good number of
people who had not heard of us
before who now do thanks to
recent publicity.
Another lesson learnt from the
launch is that a good photo is
very important when trying to
publicise or launch something.
Having someone taking photos who
knows what they are doing is
very useful, and if you have
your own photos then you can
send them to the press even if
they can’t attend. It’s worth
remembering that our launch
photos were useful, not just in
the initial press coverage, but
also on our website, in
newsletters and were even used
on our next Christmas card!
Events like this also need to be
planned well in advance to make
sure that everything and
everyone is in place. Our launch
events were being planned for
months and there were still
things that could have gone
smoother. It’s good to check
other people’s diaries to see
whether your event clashes with
anything important. We did this
as far as possible, but one of
our official launch events
clashed with the announcement of
the Olympics coming to London.
Luckily it wasn’t a day we were
doing anything which would have
attracted publicity anyway.
It’s useful to make good links
with the media and keep them
informed even if you haven’t got
any major events in the
pipeline. Some of the best
coverage you can get is
feature-type stories which are
often very positive and these
can often come out of general
conversations with journalists.
If you are a charity, think
about getting the people you are
working for or with involved in
any PR where possible. The media
are always interested in their
story and these are the people
that we’re doing it all for! |
