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Campaign
VNN
Before the event, Ogilvy PR media experts briefed public officials and public information officers about VNN to help assure participation and facilitate public information coordination across participants. Ogilvy PR also helped top officials hone their media and risk communication skills in preparation for the full-scale exercise.

During the exercise, Ogilvy PR staffed its network with a team of nearly 60 writers, producers, studio crewmembers, anchors, field reporters, and exercise coordination specialists who provided 31 hours of live TV broadcast for TOPOFF 2.

VNN coverage included live reports from across the country and interviews with both government officials and outside experts. The VNN team took painstaking measures to create as real a media experience as possible for all participants. They solicited, booked, and interviewed 45 actual public officials, physicians, first responders, and many others the media would call upon during an actual crisis, including such dignitaries as Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Julie Gerberding.

The team produced stories and sent satellite feeds to the White House, U.S. Capitol, and emergency responders nationwide. As each crisis progressed,

Ogilvy PR worked with public information officers and officials to provide them the opportunity to access VNN to communicate vital safety messages.

"Real World Media"

In addition to creating and staffing VNN, Ogilvy PR:

Results
Due to the sensitive nature of the TOPOFF 2 exercise, most results and evaluation are classified. However, the VNN concept was executed flawlessly. And for the first time ever, the network and media training enabled public officials to receive and practice communication skills in a replicated "laboratory" before, during and after a major national disaster simulation. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and other top officials applauded VNN and Ogilvy PR for providing a realistic and challenging training vehicle for the exercise. Media and VIP events also went well. More than 100 distinct media outlets attended the TOPOFF 2 press conference on May 12, 2003. Media coverage of the exercise also resulted in broad national and international coverage, with in-depth coverage of the exercise and its participants, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's new role within the federal government. It was the top national news story on the first day of the exercise.

This unique media element in a national full-scale exercise served to enhance the Nation's terrorism response capabilities across all levels of government, particularly in effective media and public communications during the nation's greatest times of need.