Protect Our Neighborhoods

Summary

Novitas Communications worked with Protect our Neighborhoods, a nonprofit coalition of community members and local officials, to combat the spread of illegal gambling arcades across the state of Colorado. Our team combined social media marketing and a statewide media tour to change the public narrative and draw attention to the dangers of unregulated illegal gambling. With Novitas’ help, Protect our Neighborhoods supported the successful passage of House Bill 1234 which gave cities and counties the tools they needed to shut down illegal gambling establishments.

Challenge

Like many states, Colorado has strict rules surrounding casino gaming — the state only permits gambling in three mountain towns and any expansion into a new area must be put to a vote. Despite these laws, numerous illegal gambling arcades began opening up across the state, claiming that their services didn’t meet the narrow definition of gambling in the Colorado Constitution.

State and local officials struggled to outlaw these arcades because outdated language in the Colorado Constitution created judicial roadblocks and made enforcement of the law difficult, if not impossible. Meanwhile, police reported high call rates from areas where arcades were located and community members continued to reach out to their local officials with concerns about the legality of these businesses. Protect our Neighborhoods realized that this matter needed to be resolved quickly, both in the public conversation and at the State Capitol.

Solution

Novitas proposed conducting an awareness campaign in support of House Bill 1234, a bill that would close the legislative loopholes illegal gambling arcades were exploiting.

The campaign aimed to change the conversation around the illegal gambling arcades through a trifecta of social media activism, media outreach, and legislative support.

As part of the awareness campaign, Novitas built a coalition of allies to support House Bill 1234, a bill that would ensure consumer protections and enforce existing gaming laws, provide support for legislators willing to move the bill forward and champion its passage, and aggressively correct inaccurate or exaggerated messaging from those supporting illegal gambling arcades.

Novitas began by defining the issue, and developing messaging, press kits, one-pagers, and shareable social media graphics to inform and persuade audiences and recruit allies. This included informing the public about current Colorado law surrounding gaming and key definitions in the Colorado Constitution. Novitas also conducted media training sessions to prepare stakeholders, allies, and public officials to share their story with the media and during public hearings.

Media engagement throughout was a must. Novitas not only distributed press releases and media updates throughout the campaign, but actively pursued media interviews and editorial boards with extensive media pitching and outreach. Through a daily issue monitoring program, Novitas kept key stakeholders informed throughout the campaign, following the highs and lows of heated public debates or legislative milestones. Novitas also identified opportunities to aggressively insert our messaging and experts and correct misinformation in the public conversation.

Protect our Neighborhoods and other supporters of House Bill 1234 faced fierce opposition on social media from a coalition of gambling arcade owners and other activists. Novitas built social media accounts for Protect our Neighborhoods from the ground-up and fought back with key facts, infographics, and ad campaigns during key legislative hearings. Through social media engagement, Protect our Neighborhoods informed thousands of Coloradans every day about illegal gambling and the unregulated nature of arcades entering their communities.

Results

In three short months, Protect our Neighborhoods became a powerful and vocal supporter of House Bill 1234 and shepherded the bill through the legislative process in partnership with lobbyists until its successful passage at the end of the legislative session.

Throughout the short, aggressive three-month campaign, media coverage surrounding House Bill 1234 garnered a total of 88 media mentions, a reach of 155.73M, and a total publicity value of $191,000.