With more than 500 financial education events hosted throughout Chicagoland during the first week of April, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Money Smart Week provides a wealth of knowledge to consumers; however, filling those classrooms is a constant challenge as the program continues to grow. Money Smart Week is a collaboration with nearly 200 partners throughout the area to provide programming, resources, etc. In addition to the challenge of increasing attendance at Money Smart Week events, our team was charged with executing public relations and social media campaigns to further increase awareness of Money Smart Week as it enters its 10^th year in Chicago.

Our first challenge was to keep hundreds of stakeholders abreast of our media outreach efforts and manage their work to publicize the many events hosted throughout the city. An FTP site was established that housed media materials, a master media outreach list with assignments, and other important materials pertaining to Money Smart Week.

We secured a team of actors through our partnership with All Terrain to portray Money Smart Week mascot, Ben Franklin, who took to the streets and train cars of Chicago with the sole purpose of distributing Money Smart Week calendars and telling passersby all about the week’s events. The team of “Bens” passed out nearly 20,000 calendars in a week’s time.

Through a wide range of efforts to reach Chicagoland media to spread the word, in addition to aiding in crafting posts for social networks, the Snackbox team increased and managed the flow of information to the general public. Creativity played a big part in our outreach and included a dozen or so children between the ages of eight and 12 dressed as “Mini Bens” who appeared on major TV networks promoting Money Smart Week.

An incredible 650 placements were secured in the weeks leading up to Money Smart Week. Key placements to date include: Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, NBC, ABC and FOX.