Division B - Printed Tools of Public Relations
Category 4 - Brochure - Four Color
CANE ISLAND POWER PARK BROCHURE
Kissimmee Utility Authority, Chris M. Gent, Rachael K. Gmerek
Golden Image Award
Research/Situation Analysis:
Every year more than 17,000 professionals from 76+ countries gather
together for the POWER-GEN International Conference. It is the largest
power generation conference on the planet and an opportunity for
exhibiting companies to display the latest products and technologies
while providing workshops covering the most important issues and trends
impacting the electric utility industry.
The POWER-GEN conference
in 2006 was located in Orlando, Fla., and Kissimmee Utility Authority
(KUA) was offered a unique opportunity by conference organizers to
provide technical tours of its state-of-the-art power plant to
interested conference attendees. This presented KUA with a tremendous
opportunity to showcase its $263 million generating plant, but it did
bring with it a significant challenge: an orientation brochure about
the power plant had to be developed for tour participants – from start
to finish – in just four weeks. We had our work cut out for us.
Objectives: We quickly identified five objectives
that we wanted to achieve with the brochure: (1) to develop a brochure
that provided public orientation of the power generation facility; (2)
to offer operating statistics as well as power plant historical data in
an easy-to-read format; (3) to create a map or illustration that would
serve as a helpful directional guide to the facility; (4) to complete
the brochure by the scheduled Nov. 27, 2006 technical tour; and (5) to
keep the cost of the brochures at $1.00 per brochure.
Implementation: In conjunction with the opening
of the Cane Island Power Park in 1995, KUA produced a two-color
brochure for public tours. The brochure was updated again in 2001 when
the generating plant was expanded. In the five years since the last
update the brochure had become outdated, both in appearance and in the
information contained within it. The old brochure, however, did serve
as a springboard for the new brochure.
We developed and issued three
Requests for Proposal (RFP): the first for graphic design services, the
second for illustration services and the third for printing. A
top-notch illustrator whom we had worked with previously had relocated
to Thailand from the United States, and we had lost touch with him.
Through a series of telephone calls and emails, we were able to locate
him. He agreed to help us with the brochure, and we provided him with
aerial photos and blueprints of the facility to assist with his
illustration. This posed additional challenges as the government of
Thailand restricts the file size of email attachments being transmitted
to and from the country. As a result, we had to send the
high-resolution photos in small pieces to the illustrator, and he would
reassemble them on his end like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Although
cumbersome at times, the end result was a detailed illustration that
would become the central point of reference in the brochure.
The
next two weeks were spent on copy development, design and layout, photo
shoots and selection of images. To help keep costs down, we secured the
photography services of one of our utility employees who is studying
photography at a local community college. In exchange for his volunteer
services, we agreed to include a photo credit inside the brochure so
that it could be used as part of his expanding photography portfolio.
Within three weeks all the elements came together and the completed brochure was sent to a local printer.
Evaluation:
The brochure was completed on time for the Nov. 27 tour. The brochure
provided tour participations with a fresh, visually appealing
orientation of the facility.
Based on oral and written feedback
received from both tour participants and power plant personnel, four of
our five objectives were met. We successfully produced a brochure that
provided public orientation of the power generation facility. The
brochure featured updated operating statistics and power plant
historical data in an easy-to-read format. The illustration served as
the central focus of the brochure.
Our fifth objective and the one
objective that we didn’t meet involved brochure cost. The brochures
were completed at a cost per piece of $1.26 – five percent over our
original budget. Some of the additional cost can be attributed to rush
charges for paper stock to meet our tight timeline. Our true cost
savings, however, will be achieved over time because we now have a
brochure template that can be easily updated by utility staff without
having to go back to our graphic designer for costly changes.
We
were also pleased to see several unexpected uses for the brochure.
Among them . . . in developing emergency exit plans for the power plant
buildings, the brochure provided management with a visual
representation of the exit routes. The brochure has also been used as a
helpful tool when planning perimeter security for public events and
tours.
In short, the brochure met a short-term need for the
POWER-GEN conference and has since become a long-term piece to educate
stakeholders, the public and others on the operation of our power
plant.
Budget: The budget breakdown is as follows:
graphic design services – $1,280; illustration services – $2,800;
printing – $2,231 for 5,000 copies. Total budget: $6,311 or $1.26 per
brochure. Total staff time: 8 hours.