OUTA

OUTA, or the "Organization Undoing Tax Abuse", is a Civil Action entity that started in 2012 under the name of the "Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance". The organization was initially formed when it challenged the South African Government's decision to subject an electronic tolling upgrade to the country's busiest freeway network. OUTA has since developed into a more efficient entity with its own internal litigation capacity, researchers, investigators and other skilled professionals. The internal growth has enabled OUTA to move beyond the e-Toll issue, as the team sets out to challenge and expose inefficiencies, maladministration and corruption in other areas of state taxation policy making and state managed expenditure.

Challenge

Manual Methods and their Pitfalls

As a civil rights organization focused on current issues, OUTA needed to remain informed of relevant press releases and current, up to the minute news. In the past, their only means of addressing this requirement was through manual research and monitoring, as well as the services of an external media agency. This approach, however, didn't provide OUTA with access to real-time insights, and was both highly labor intensive and financially taxing. Another challenge the company faced was negotiating the task of issuing multiple press releases on assorted topics without flooding journalists.

"With Meltwater, not only has our media reach has grown substantially, but the response time to current news and media statements from institutions we are challenging has improved tremendously."

Rob Hutchinson

Solution

Real-Time Insights + Targeted Press Releases

After partnering with Meltwater, OUTA were able to measure the reach and impact of their press releases by harnessing the power of the platform's real-time analytics. As a result, OUTA's reaction time to breaking news and opposing statements improved dramatically - giving them the pace of mind that whether it be industry news or company mentions, they have their finger on the pulse.

With Meltwater's Influencer Contact Manager (ICM), OUTA's proactive communications strategy has also gone from strength to strength. OUTA now have the ability to identify and target specific journalists interested in the topic of a given press release - maximizing message resonance and amplifying overall PR generation.

Summary

Meltwater Helps OUTA To

Target relevant journalists

"Using Meltwater's Influencer Contact Management system, we've been able to channel our communications through journalists who are actually interested in that specific content. This has resulted in a dramatic improvement in our brand reach. Our social media channels have also seen significant growth as a consequence of the greater exposure."

Improve response time

"Instant notifications mean that we're always in the know when it comes to opposing statements or company mentions. As a result, we're able respond swiftly and with the knowledge that we've got a comprehensive understanding of the situation."

Measure impact of PR

"The fact that we're now able to accurately measure the traction of each of our press releases has meant that we can make more evidence informed organizational decisions."

— Rob Hutchinson

Screenshot of the Meltwater media contact database

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