How to Prepare the Perfect Public Service Announcement for Summer

The perfect summer public service announcement is only a short plan away. Yes, plan. You can’t just throw a summer PSA together and hope for it to be successful. You need research. This much you may already know. You need to bring like-minded people together, which you also may know. Yet the one thing that seems to be missing from most PSA’s that end up failing is a solid and fail-safe plan. Here are the steps to take when you want your summer PSA to go off without a hitch.

Summer Public Service Announcement Ideas

A summer PSA should pertain to the season or it should pertain to an activity that people typically engage in during the summer. For example, a few days ago a news article discussed the fact that getting five sunburns before the age of twenty makes a person more susceptible to getting skin cancer. This could turn into a public service announcement where you hail the importance of using sunscreen while at the beach or while working in the yard. You could also discuss the importance of having people looking after you while swimming, so as to keep you safe from drowning.

Think of summer, summertime activities and any advice that you might give someone to keep them safe as the weather turns warmer. Write all of those ideas down and then get some people together to brainstorm the ideas you manage to come up with.

Gathering Like-Minded People Together

The best way to come up with viable public service announcement ideas is to get everyone in your organization together to vote on the best idea of the bunch. You already have a few ideas that you can use to brainstorm. Now ask those involved with your organization to choose the best one. Then decide how you can present it to your audience. Really have fun with it. This is your chance to throw out ideas, no matter how silly they might seem, so that you can begin to form the bare-bones of your overall summer PSA.

Forming an Outline

While everyone is throwing out ideas for the public service announcement, try to place them in order from beginning to middle to end. For example, if you are going to do a summer PSA about fireworks safety, obviously pertaining to the 4^th of July weekend, you might want to start out by discussing that fireworks are a fun part of the season, but they can also be quite dangerous. You might then want to discuss possible accidents that can occur, such as a person losing fingers or their entire hand if they don’t manage to back away quickly enough after lighting the fuse.

Of course, eventually you will want to transition into a discussion about your organization. You might say something like, “This message has been brought to you by First Baptist Church. Here’s wishing you a fun and safe 4^th of July weekend,” or something to that effect.

You don’t have to flesh out your idea at this point. You are merely coming up with the basic outline. Only after you have a beginning, middle and end should you attempt to fill in the blanks; which you should also get everyone’s help in doing.

Fill in the Blanks, Recite and Have Fun

Once your outline is formed, that’s the time when your summer PSA should be brought to life. Fill in the blanks and write the script out exactly as it will be read on the radio, on TV, on the Internet or however else you plan on presenting your public service announcement to your audience.

Most of all, try to have fun. A summer PSA can help your audience enjoy their summer season, which is the most enjoyable part of the year for most people. If you have fun making your public service announcement, you will succeed in presenting a positive message that is also fun to listen to, read or watch. That’s when you know that your PSA is a resounding success. The true test in determining the effectiveness of your announcement is in all the attention that your organization or brand receives. In the case of the church example above, if you get more attendees over the 4^th of July weekend, you’ll know that your PSA hit its mark; especially if all of your attendees show up with all of their fingers and hands intact.

That’s all it takes to create a summer PSA. Now all you have to do is come up with some ideas and start brainstorming. Your public service announcement is closer than ever to going live.

Image Source: Vancouver Film School on Flickr