Innovative thinking in design and publicity can come from successfully predicting trends and utilizing technologies that will produce cutting-edge designs as well as make doing your job easier and future processes more efficient over time. Successful predictions come partly from research of the current market and understanding your limitations. You can have a great idea, but is it in your budget? Will it last over time? Will it be user-friendly for staff and/or customers? There are many facts to consider as well as having a little luck doesn't hurt. The following are a look at some design and publicity solutions that were ahead of the times - and remain a foundation for what still exists today.

Global Communication Plans - Moral, Welfare and Recreation

From Static to Dynamic Website www.rotamwr.com
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• Previous static website required weekly updates by a web contractor of perishable content
• New dynamic website content was managed by the publicity/marketing department
• Functionality included news articles, banner ads, movie schedule, online surveys, and page creation
• 3 Phases of development to build application for event data to be inputted daily by managers
• Hierarchy of approval process for event submission with unique logins and user parameters

Result: Web developer's monthly fees were now used towards development of custom event planner functionalities to streamline internal communication and shared event information between regional businesses.

Navy Fitness Series Training CD
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• Previous method was paper training manuals which were costly and not easily accessible
• New Training CD had expandability to include unlimited fitness programs in one location
• Programs could now be interlinked to share and re-use information non-linearly
• Videos could be used for motivation and demonstrating proper technique

Result: CD's could cost effectively be updated and distributed Navy-wide from CNIC headquarters. Digital format lends content to many future possibilities including video demonstrations, fitness data tracking and online community sharing.

Moral, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Promotional Advertising DVD
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• Previous method was paper - marketing packets, color brochures and flyers printed in-house
• New DVD utilized already on-going efforts by the Naval Media Center and Rota Coastline Newspaper
• Video spots, news articles and slideshows illustrated community excitement/interest in programs
• Digital assets were initiated and gathered targeting pre-determined DVD content structure
  
• Partnership with other media in return for MWR promotional give-aways used minimal MWR staff

Result: DVD would be cost-efficient to produce in large quantities and not have be frequently updated. It would not only be used as a promotional DVD for incoming navy personnel, but as a presentation at command briefs and a training tool for new employees and prospective travelers.

E-Newsletters, E-mail Distribution Lists, On-line Survey Forms and Promotional Web Pages

• Previous method was emailing point of contacts in each command and organization on base
• New email blasts for MWR movies, surveys and news provided direct contact with repeat customers
• Fast turn-around time to rapidly disseminate important information/reminders to the community
• Divided large community into smaller interest groups that could share information
• Built customer rapport to make them feel connected to MWR and submit valuable program feedback

Result: In just 3 years of gathering emails from new personnel briefings, MWR events and registering on the my.mwr section of the website, over 1,000 emails were gathered and event attendance increased in all areas.

MWR On-line Self-Help Travel Portal

• Previous method was obtaining marketing material from travel agencies and city tourism websites
• New method provided valuable condensed information in one area gathered from a resource of prior US and Spanish community members stationed at the Naval Base
• Digital format can be easily updated through website CMS by any staff member and pages tracked through reporting tools for maximizing site usage

Result: Information is stored and reviewed to keep the content current, useful and applicable to the time. Since the portal provided links out to other official tourism website, little to no updating was necessary by the publicity department for dynamic content.

Shared Design File Library and Corporate Standards Website

• Previous method were backup CDs that were un-cataloged, no file name standardization, and created by a constant turnover of different staff
• New method was a shared server or website that contained all design files that are re-used yearly
• User-friendly directory structure accessed by computers and established standards for file formats

Result: Design and management time was saved from searching and finding old files or creating new ones. System encouraged team communication and file sharing. Designs could be quickly reviewed and re-used and modified for current activities.

Movie Theater Scheduler and Templates

• Previous method required an employee to manage incoming movies and created customer publicity
• New method passed workload from the Publicity Department to Theater Manager
• Eliminated communication errors between departments and gave maximum control to Theater
• Manager required no design layout experience, data was automatically formatted into an online flyer
• A MS Word template was used to format website information into an easily printed poster design

Result: This scheduler concept was used in Phase II of the MWR Event Planner tool and adapted by program managers for fitness, sports and youth to created monthly schedules and flyers for their own programs. Movie listings and downloadable flyer remains the most accesses feature of the rotamwr.com website.