Client:
EDGE (Economic Development Generating Excellence) is Oklahoma’s state-funded research endowment fund. Its mission is to bolster the state’s long-term economic growth by investing the earnings from the EDGE endowment in the state’s knowledge infrastructure.

EDGE actively supports research that leads to new advances in science, business and industry.
 
Goals, Actions and Outcomes:
As part of an overall communications effort to create awareness for the adoption of Oklahoma’s Innovation and Technology Plan, Anglin Public Relations was retained by the EDGE Policy Board to creatively communicate how poorly Oklahoma is ranked in the areas of innovation and technology, why our state’s economy will eventually decline as the global technology-focused marketplace rewards more future-focused states and why it’s critically important to embrace an innovation and technology future.
 
The audience for this effort was legislators, key business leaders, people in the science and technology industry, innovation and technology reporters, and other interested publics.
 
Anglin created the metaphor of a flat tire to help illustrate Oklahoma’s current stature in today’s global innovation and technology economy; Oklahoma’s economy is like a car that has a nail in one of its tires. An inexpensive tire gauge accompanied the brochure when it was delivered to legislators, media representatives and key stakeholders.
 
Tactics utilized for the creation and development of the “Flat Tire” brochure included in-depth interviews with the plan’s creator, Dr. Paul G. Risser, audits of other states who have adopted similar “innovation and technology” initiatives, and collaboration on the graphic design process with S-Design. Anglin provided recommendation on distribution, as well as an integrated approach to interacting with legislators, key reporters, business leaders and EDGE fund applicants and recipients.
 
This brochure and related outreach effort helped generate endorsement via three op-eds; it was distributed to all state representatives and senators and helped create 15 face-to-face meetings between Dr. Risser and key legislative leadership, helping make the issue of “innovation and technology” an important legislative discussion point.