ABSOLUTE
MARKETING
GROUP
absolutemg.com
222 Broadway N, Fargo
701-478-1111
UNDERSTAND
When Fargo-based Absolute
Marketing Group was awarded
a $150,000 contract to
serve as the North Dakota
Department of Transportation’s
public information coordinator
for the DOT’s Williston District
during the 2014 construction
season, the job description
was fairly clear: inform the
public about what’s going
on with road construction in
the area, get across safety
messages and remind
people to always play it
safe in construction zones.
They would partner with the
DOT’s own media and public
information department to
get across any important
information to the traveling
public in western North
Dakota.
Thanks in large part to
conditions created by the
oil boom, the DOT was
finding it difficult to relay
crucial traffic information
and obtain consistent media
coverage for their numerous
ongoing projects in the
area, frustrations that were
compounded by the fact
that they weren’t sure how
to go about disseminating
the information to the
demographic that needed
it most. Absolute Marketing
Advisor and project head
Wendy McCord explains:
“(The DOT) was having difficulty
reaching the audience that had
come up to work,” McCord
says. “So the oil workers,
construction workers – people
who weren’t from the area – a
lot of them just didn’t have any
loyalty to traditional media. A
lot of them were working a lot
of hours and then going back
home (out of state).”
MARKETING
Absolute Marketing Group
Marketing Advisor
Wendy McCord
These temporary residents
would often work for 10 days
at a time, go home for a week
and then come back, and, as
McCord alluded to, because
they didn’t have a permanent
connection to the area, weren’t
as likely to read the local paper
or listen to a local radio station.
“And then, there wasn’t a
website or any kind of a hub
of information,” McCord says.
“There wasn’t any real safety
messaging getting out there,
and so there were a lot of
unique problems to solve.”
just the city of Williston but
the whole district – for the
locals. But for the people who
had come up there to work
– transplanted oil company
managers, new companies – a
lot of that was, seriously a lot
of ad hoc research.”
McCord put in some good oldfashioned legwork and headed
out west herself. She’d show
up at convenience stores,
restaurants and other local
gathering places, and if she
suspected that someone was
from out of town, she’d strike
up a conversation with them
about the media they were
accessing and how they were
accessing it.
“It had to be very much what
you see,” McCord says,
“Because anything published
would’ve been way too
outdated.”
IDENTIFY
Even under ideal
circumstances, it can be hard
to connect your intended
audience with your product
or message, and especially
so when you have little to no
reliable data to work with.
“Normally, you can do research
about your demographics,”
McCord says. “Getting some
of that information from your
client, relying on some of your
past experience, looking at
what their goals are and who
their current customers are,
that kind of thing. But with this
particular campaign, none of
that applied.
“We could get some general
information about the
demographics of the city – not
It wasn’t all bad, though,
because, as McCord explains,
they had a built-in advantage.
“This audience was [ܙB