Driving Turnout for DELL - Grassroots Outreach

"You both just plain rock. Great work. If we do work in
the area again, yours will be first number we call!"

-Barry French, director of public affairs, DELL

When DELL added Portland, Oregon to their 2003 Computer Recycling Tour, they expected local residents would help them reach their overall goal of collecting 100 tons of computer equipment in 15 stops across the country. Thanks to grassroots outreach by grassrootsPR, DELL collected 142 tons of computer equipment from the 800 or so cars that pulled through parking lot 5 of the Portland Community College campus on April 19.

Working remotely with DELL, GCI and EnviroMedia, grassrootsPR was an integral part of the team that blew away all projections. Specifically, grassrootsPR contacted more than 100 Oregon-based businesses and organizations, asking them to spread the word via paycheck inserts, email lists, newsletters, church bulletins and flyers. In addition, grassrootsPR lined up local and state-wide VIPs to give statements, make appearances and participate in media opportunities. Working with contacts cultivated over the past several years, grassrootsPR generated more than 15,000 email messages before the event, saturating the grassroots media in Portland.

Thanks to grassrootsPR's outreach efforts, 50 volunteers worked feverishly to fill six tractor trailers with everything from I-Macs to old portable computers. At the end of the 15-city tour, Portland ranked second for one-day recycling events, collecting nearly double the amount of computer equipment as the third-place city.

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