Transforming Newark’s Central Ward: Launching The Club House & Garnering 900 Million Media Impressions

The Newark Housing Authority (NHA) partnered with Rosica Communications, a top media relations agency, to lead the strategic communications efforts for the grand opening of The Club House, a community center designed to help revitalize Newark’s Central Ward. 

Rosica developed and executed a comprehensive PR strategy to maximize visibility for the event and highlight the positive transformation underway in the community. We developed a creative, media-focused event, secured attendance from local and state dignitaries, boxing legends, and community influencers, and coordinated an extensive media relations campaign targeting national, regional, and local outlets. 

As part of the event, to secure award-winning media coverage, Rosica developed several dynamic media opportunities. The first was the grand opening visual. Rather than a traditional ribbon-cutting, we rented a manlift and had Mayor Booker and The City of Newark Housing Authority’s executive Director, Keith Kinard, break a bottle of sparkling grape juice (rather than champagne) on the building’s façade, 20-feet in the air, to “launch” the new venture. While this is done in the shipping industry when launching a new vessel, it is not at all common for grand openings. This is where Rosica shines; we develop thought-provoking, creative, media-genic, visuals that go against type. 

The next visual we developed, which helped us attract such editors and producers as sports, community, and features, was strategically utilizing the boxing ring. We had local kids from Newark’s Central Ward and Mayor Booker get on the “canvas” for a photo op. The image pictured above, and similar ones, ran in hundreds of media outlets. We also secured interviews with boxing greats about the importance of athletics, which can help build self-esteem and a sense of community. We then conducted tours of the facility, which offers classes in dance and computer science, and provides tutoring for kids after school. All of our messaging was effectively communicated and we exceeded our media goals by 140%. 

Our efforts produced extraordinary results: Rosica secured more than 900 million media impressions across top-tier platforms. Coverage highlights included syndicated national stories through the Associated Press (appearing in more than 650 newspapers), two placements in The New York Times, features in the New York Daily News, NJ.com, The Star-Ledger, Philadelphia Daily News, and philly.com. 

Television coverage included major outlets including CNN, WNBC-TV (NBC 4), WNYW (FOX 5), WPIX (CW 11), WWOR (My9 NJ), News 12 New Jersey, and PBS stations (WNJN, WNET, WNJS). Plus, secured radio coverage on North Jersey Radio Network, WCBS-AM, WABC-AM, WBGO-FM, and WGHT-AM. Online media amplified the story with unique placements on than 200 digital news websites.