• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 10, 2020

Viamedia got a grassroots movement underway this week with the launch of #ChangeStartsRightHere, a new initiative to foster positive conversations in local communities about the need for change to end racism.

The independent local TV ad management company is encouraging local business owners, minorities and law enforcement to create their own 15- or 30-second on-camera spots about how they work together in their communities, and to upload the videos to Viamedia’s custom portal.

“We have a unique opportunity in the cable industry because we serve the local marketing,” said Viamedia CEO and President Mark Lieberman. “It’s more difficult to do that in other platforms.”

Lieberman is working to get other networks across the country in cities where Viamedia does not reach. “We’re prepared to send it to another cable company,” he said.

Since the PSA launched Monday, it has run more than 3,000 times across Viamedia’s network of more than 1.3 million households, Lieberman said.

“By the end of the week this number could grow between 15,000 and 20,000 times,” he said.

It also asks viewers in more than 75 markets across 34 states to join the conversation and contribute to it. The approved messages will run as local PSAs across cable TV channels in their local community — all free of charge.

Ringing cash registers typically tell brands when traditional advertisers' campaigns are working, but this is different. It is more of a challenge to determine performance for these types of PSAs.

“Hopefully if we get enough ads running, one thing we thought of doing is to engage with law enforcement or a local African-American minority leader to track how the conversations is going,” he said. “if they’re comfortable, maybe they will post another ad or give a testimonial. The most important ROI is when people join the conversation.”

Social justice advocates, corporate diversity experts and investors say that companies also need to focus on equity in their own ranks, especially in hiring and promoting minority workers. “We’ve never had an initiative where we actively wanted to hire -- we’ve always lived on the basis of meritocracy," Lieberman said.