AISI Launches PR Campaign for Steel

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) is embarking on an integrated communications campaign that has the goal of “targeting Washington DC policymakers with the objective of closing the gap between outdated perceptions of the industry and the reality of today’s globally competitive North American steel industry.”

The campaign was spurred by research commissioned by the AISI to find out what policymakers and Americans thought of the steel industry. According to the group, that research revealed that “even well-educated, not-so-average Washingtonians had a pretty dismal view of steel.”

The subsequent campaign, called “The New Steel,” features advertisements highlighting different aspects of the industry, including: its use of computer technology, its contribution to the U.S. economy and military, job creation and its environmental efforts.

One print ad, carrying the headline “The Clean Little Secret,” declares that “more steel is recycled each year than all other materials combined.”

Text in ad points out that “three-fourths of all American steel ends up recycled into new products,” and claims that the American steel industry has “already reduced emissions to levels well below Kyoto standards.

Also as part of the campaign, Capitol Hill staff members will be invited to take a steel industry perceptions quiz at the AISI’s Web site, www.steel.org.