When it involves informing the general public in regards to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ public works, nothing is simpler, it seems, than highlighting the knowledge with lovely large cats.
In 2023, Oregon’s Portland District of the Corps of Engineers launched a free, downloadable calendar that confirmed locks, jetties, dams and different infrastructure punctuated with photoshopped home cats. To everybody’s shock, it was downloaded greater than half one million occasions.
“I understand that within the realm of web virality, ‘tons of of 1000’s’ appears sort of small. But it is all relative,” Chris Gaylord, the Portland District’s public affairs specialist, informed Military.com. “For us, that is sufficient to be thought of viral — particularly whenever you lump it in with the information protection and social media engagement the calendar obtained.”
The 2023 effort was so profitable that Gaylord was “just about assured” to make a 2024 calendar. The new calendar might be launched to the general public on Oct. 30, 2023, by way of the homepage of the Portland District Corps of Engineers web site — and this yr, there will even be a companion canine calendar.
“Tracking the entire dialogue [and] engagement in regards to the 2023 cat calendar, a lot of of us requested a couple of canine calendar or really useful we make one,” Gaylord stated. “Adding dogs to the combination, in my thoughts, could be an effective way to create one thing particular for almost everybody.”
The Army Corps of Engineers’ mission is vitally essential to American infrastructure and protection. It manages flood management programs, builds and operates locks and dams, surveys 244 navigable river miles and retains these rivers and ports navigable, all whereas building amenities for each department of the army. The Portland District has been working on this capability since 1871, and right now it makes billions of {dollars} in business transport doable.
Gaylord is the creator of the unique calendar and manages the district’s social media outreach. He created the primary cat calendar in January 2023 by utilizing photographs from a Facebook put up throughout 2021’s National Cat Day. Not solely did the put up generate a big quantity of engagement, however Gaylord discovered it was a great way to get the message out in regards to the Corps’ many missions and tasks.
“The philosophy that drives our social media is that humor is a gateway to a message,” he stated. “If you do not discover a technique to pull folks in, then you are going to fade away into all of the white noise. Simple as that, in my thoughts. Humor and levity by way of jokes, puns, memes, tendencies, popular culture references, and so on., is an efficient technique to deliver folks in and even to show them one thing within the course of.”
“People love cats. Giant cats interacting with authorities infrastructure? Even higher,” he added. “It’s a supply technique for data. It will get us some consciousness and publicity, however in a means that does not really feel too overpowering and that does not take without any consideration the eye of our public audiences. We additionally need of us to know that we’re not just a few faceless paperwork. And what higher means to do this than by placing a large cat’s face on the entrance of an official calendar?”
The new calendars will not be solely full of lovable cats and dogs on Corps of Engineers infrastructure tasks, they’re the precise companion animals of the individuals who work for the Army throughout the nation. It’s enjoyable, but in addition a congratulatory nod to the individuals who make all these enhancements doable.
“The factor is, we do a ton of actually essential work for the folks of the Pacific Northwest and past,” Gaylord says. “We’re one of many Corps’ largest and most diversified civil works districts. The work we do is important and, to us, additionally thrilling. But even so, it would not all the time grip the common person within the social media sphere. We need to discover a technique to give data a bit glow-up. These calendars are a primary instance of precisely how we do this.”
— Blake Stilwell could be reached at [email protected]. He can be discovered on Facebook, X or on LinkedIn.
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