The Challenge

Milwaukee Firefighters were facing deep cuts from the Mayor and the City Common Council. These cuts would have eliminated three dozen firefighting positions and put public safety at risk. The Milwaukee Professional Firefighters’ Association asked Designcor to help them “put out the fire.”

The Solution

Designcor created a multi-faceted campaign to educate the public and community leaders on the risks associated with a reduction in city firefighter personnel. We designed a very timely direct mail, newspaper and television advertising campaign along with a Frontline Analysis booklet that presented the real world facts these changes would have on the community. This booklet compiled statistics from various studies on the direct correlation between firefighting positions, response time and public safety. In the end, the campaign painted a picture that clearly demonstrated how budget cuts aimed at the frontline firefighters would negatively impact the community.

The Results

The Common Council was overwhelmed with calls and correspondences from the public. With a better understanding of the effects their cuts would have, they immediately backed off on their plan to eliminate these firefighting positions.