Newsroom 

Government agencies are increasingly making online tactics part of their outreach to various audiences.

When the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) had to announce the design change of the $5 note last fall, it decided to inform its very broad target audience - retailers, financial institutions, foreign governments, the media, and the general public - through an entirely online process. Unveiling the note online certainly saved money, officials say, but it also had the benefit of both novelty, as well as inclusiveness, allowing just about anyone in the world interested in the new note to log on and check it out.

"For the $5 note, we were looking for a fresh approach - something not so traditional as a physical unveiling of a design with a press conference that reporters would go to," says Dawn Haley, chief of the external relations office at BEP. "So we were trying to create some buzz and awareness by doing a digital launch. [Overall] our goal is for a smooth transition, for people to see that the new note is coming and say, 'Hey, the new five's here. Have you seen it?'"

With advice and assistance from Burson-Marsteller, the BEP's virtual launch featured a section of the BEP's www.moneyfactory.gov Web site created especially for the launch, but left "dark" in the 24 hours ahead of the unveiling. A clock counted down the seconds until the virtual press conference, which featured officials introducing and explaining the new note and its features.

Reaching the audience

Judging by the attendance of the press conference, the unveiling was a success, with hundreds of media outlets from the US and around the world either participating in the press conference or simply logging on to the site to download digital b-roll or other materials available for use in stories. A number of representatives of foreign financial institutions, as well as many amateur enthusiasts of currency, also participated in the conference through "listen only" mode.

Apart from the actual unveiling, BEP's online communications strategy going forward includes monitoring the "blogosphere" to follow whether the actual introduction of the note into circulation goes smoothly - such as when people try to use the notes in vending machines or metropolitan transit systems. So far, it has.

Haley also says that the lessons learned from the digital introduction of the $5 note will be applied to the BEP's introduction of the new $100 bill, at a date still to be determined. That note is used more extensively around the world and its new design is likely to generate a greater amount of attention from international audiences than the new $5 note.

US government agencies perhaps unfairly get a bad rap for their supposed bureaucracy and resistance to change. But in the realm of communications, many agencies are eagerly embracing podcasts, interactive presentations, blogs, and other forms of digital outreach as cost-effective and influential means of communicating with the public, media, businesses, and rest of the world.