Situation
Restore the Mississippi River Delta (MRD) works to secure a just, climate-resilient coast where people and nature thrive. As its region faces the crisis of land loss and climate change, MRD seeks to advance an equitable, safer and flourishing coast for Louisiana’s communities, ecosystems and economy. Composed of conservation, policy, science and outreach experts from Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and Pontchartrain Conservancy, MRD is located in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La.; Washington, D.C.; and around the United States.
Having partnered with Gambel Communications since 2018 to elevate the coalition’s work, MRD engaged Gambel for their goal to increase earned print media coverage in monthly publications.
Strategy
Research into potential media outlets that would meet MRD’s goal led Gambel to Country Roads Magazine. While many print publications have struggled to survive since the pandemic, Country Roads Magazine has published continuously since 1983. With more than 75,000 readers in South Louisiana and Southwest Mississippi, the publication is a vital guide to discovering the South’s unique culture. Its reach in the region is comprehensive, with more than 450 distribution points around the state, more delivery stops and a longer press run that any other monthly in its delivery area.
Gambel identified five feature story ideas that would be a fit for Country Roads’ readers – National Audubon Society’s bird habitat conservation efforts, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana’s (CRCL) reef development and oyster recycling program, ghost swamps, Pontchartrain Conservancy’s New Canal Lighthouse and the importance of protecting the bounty of our coast.
Over the course of several months, Gambel and Country Roads Magazine’s coordinated a photographer to visit one of National Audubon Society’s bird habitat restoration sites, attend an oyster reef deployment volunteer trip with CRCL, visited the New Canal Lighthouse for a private tour and connected the magazine with an MRD photography partner to gain access to images of ghost swamps across South Louisiana.
Results
As a direct result of Gambel’s feature story pitches, Country Roads Magazine published four feature stories in the magazine’s print and web versions, including the cover story in June’s Our Natural World issue. National Audubon Society’s bird habitat restoration efforts were featured in a four-page feature story in the June issue, Ponchartrain Conservancy’s New Canal Lighthouse in a two-page feature in August and a six-page photo essay on ghost swamps in October. The CRCL reef development and oyster recycling program will be published in the November issue.
