Washington Area Communications Firm Reveals Role in Ukrainian Election

Washington Area Communications Firm Reveals Role in Ukrainian Election

Rock Creek Creative Assists Ukraine's Democratic Victory

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Two weeks after the historic presidential inauguration of Viktor Yushchenko in the Ukraine, an American marketing and communications firm has disclosed its role in aiding the Ukrainian democracy movement.

Rock Creek Creative (http://www.rockcreekcreative.com/), based in the Washington, D.C. area, helped develop the communications strategy, branding and de facto policy Web site of the Orange Revolution (http://www.ukraineineurope.com/). The site served as the primary public forum that enabled political dialogue in the chaotic 12 months prior to the election. The site became the virtual freedom plaza for the democracy movement.

Rock Creek Creative was also instrumental in promoting the "Ukraine in Europe and the World" conference held in Kiev in February 2004. This event focused Western media attention on the impending elections and provided a forum for international dignitaries to publicly debate what was at stake with Ukraine's relations to the West. Conference speakers included President-elect Yushchenko along with former Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright.

"Rock Creek Creative has not been willing to admit its role in promoting Ukrainian democracy until now," said Scott Johnson, the firm's principal. "While we have been involved in many international projects during our 19-year history, we have never before been so directly involved in a campaign that so strengthened democracy in a country.

"We were honored to have played a role. Ukraine needed the debate, the conference and something like the Orange Revolution. The Ukrainian people were the real winners here," Johnson added.

Prior to the Web site's launch in December 2003, most Ukrainians were unaware of the strength of their numbers or of the degree of Western support for their cause. The site, also brought international attention to the challenges and opportunities Ukrainians faced while attempting to realign their nation with the European Union and the NATO alliance.

"When Rock Creek Creative was first approached about this project, our initial thought was that it would be fairly simple," said the firm's Web strategist Paul K. Ward. "What we learned was that we had to create a Web site that would not only be secure from attack, but that would also not be seen as a vehicle for any U.S.-driven political message, which it was not. It was important that visitors, no matter how sophisticated, not discern any U.S. involvement just because the communication strategy came from Rock Creek Creative."

Added Johnson: "We took pains to ensure that our involvement with this cause did not become an issue for our client or the democracy movement. We also crafted messages that were credible and resonated with all our different audiences -- the Ukrainian leaders, the Ukrainian people, other European nations and the international press."

The Rock Creek Creative team featured the firm's President Margaret Johnson along with Scott Johnson, Paul K. Ward and Creative Director Christopher Lester. The team selected images and content that would be culturally significant to Ukrainians and that depicted the future of the country as full of opportunity and hope. The site featured images and pages that loaded quickly to accommodate Ukrainian and Eastern European visitors who largely use dial-up Internet connections.

"The Web site was hosted on specially-configured servers in Europe and all server software was licensed for use in the Czech Republic. It's hard enough to keep garden-variety hackers from penetrating security on the sites we build; imagine what it was like keeping the servers running in these circumstances," said Margaret Johnson.

About Rock Creek Creative

Based in Bethesda, Maryland, Rock Creek Creative (http://www.rockcreekcreative.com/) is a marketing, communications and branding firm that provides innovative outreach strategies for government, private sector and not-for-profit clients. Rock Creek Creative has led branding campaigns for NATO, the CIA, French defense and aerospace giant Thales and various agencies of the U.S. Government.

For more information:

Scott Johnson Alan Greilsamer
Rock Creek Creative Communications Resources, LLC(TM)
301-657-0800 703-760-7007
sjohnson@rockcreekcreative.comagreilsamer@communications-resources.com


Source: Rock Creek Creative

CONTACT: Scott Johnson of Rock Creek Creative, +1-301-657-0800,
sjohnson@rockcreekcreative.com; or Alan Greilsamer of Communications
Resources, LLC, +1-703-760-7007, agreilsamer@communications-resources.com, for
Rock Creek Creative

Web site: http://www.rockcreekcreative.com/
http://www.ukraineineurope.com/


-------
Profile: intent