By Kain WJ White | Special to Independent Newsmedia
In the three and a half years Communications Supervisor Kim Powell has been at Maricopa County Animal Care and Control, she has worked to help find homes for animal rescues and improve the marketing of the shelters.
“I bring dogs to TV stations to help them get adopted. I help promote our adoption events; I also handle signage in the shelters, oversee all of our marketing, our public relations, press releases, TV appearances and social media too,” Powell said.
When Powell first stepped into her role, she said a lot of the marketing was sad and, “a little depressing,” which may have deterred community members.
Powell said that she thinks, “a lot of people want to get involved in animal shelters,” but the fear of it being sad or hard on them makes them hesitate.
“You don’t want to see it because it makes you sad and you keep scrolling because you say, ‘oh my heart can’t handle this right now’,” Powell said. “We don’t want people to keep scrolling.”
With this in mind, one of the first marketing changes Powell has made in her time has been to shift focus to more “positive” messaging.
“There’s so many good things that happen here every day and we want to highlight those things too,” Powell said.
This change got more people involved with volunteering and fostering as well as netting more followers who know where to go when they are in the market to adopt according to Powell.
Her aim has been for the community to, “see the dog that needs to be adopted,” Powell said.
The shift in more positive marketing and messaging has shown results as the Maricopa County adoption rate has not only increased since but is now higher than the national average, according to Powell.
Another factor has been the focus on building a loyal social media following as well as programs like “Bark Ranger,” a partnership between the Maricopa County Parks Department and Animal Care and Control where rescues are brought to the parks for events.
“It’s a benefit to us both,” Powell said. “We want younger people to enjoy the county parks and younger people to adopt dogs too.”
Who is adopting
The Mesa Maricopa County Animal Care and Control site is at 1920 S. Lewis. Adoption services are available 11 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. Intakes and other services hours are noon-6 p.m. daily, it states at maricopa.gov/220/Locations-Hours.
While specific demographic data isn’t available, Powell said, adopters are typically in their 40s and 50s.
“That’s been another thing for our marketing that we wanted to shift,” Powell said, “we want people in their 30s and 40s to come and adopt.”
Powell said a lot of folks might be busier or be going somewhere else to adopt so she believes their marketing should aim for a younger crowd instead of the typical one that, “has always advocated for shelters.”
Rescues showcased
Outside of adoption events and programs like Bark Ranger, Powell tries her best to showcase the rescues in, “a funny or happy way,” she said.
Social Media Communications Officer May Phan has worked with Powell for two and a half years to help her change the marketing and messaging of the shelter.
“She’s been my boss ever since I started working here,” Phan said. “She is extremely competent. She knows what she’s doing, she knows how to get people here.”
Phan sees their work as advocacy for a demographic without a voice.
“They can’t speak for themselves, so they need someone to speak for them,” Phan said.
Powell said that because of their efforts and the following they’ve built, it’s also easier to reach people for dogs in greater need.
“We say, ‘Hhey, this dog is really struggling in the shelter’,” Powell said. “Because we have built that following, people stick around and they respond well to it.”
Kate Davis-Hill is another member of the communications team and has been working with Powell for two and a half years.
In working with her, Davis-Hill says she has really learned about “the mechanisms within the county” and seen firsthand how much Powell does in her role.
“It’s been interesting to see not just what she does in communications for our agency, but how she works on the larger scale with the rest of the county department,” Davis-Hill said.
Powell’s background includes a decade as a TV news reporter and while she said that was a dream of hers since childhood, she always knew that if she could get out of news she, “would want to help animals in some way.”
“Of course, that seemed like a far-fetched dream,” Powell said.
That dream became reality though when the previous PIO in her role reached out and recommended the job to her.
“That kind of changed everything,” Powell said. “I remember going for a run that evening thinking of all these ideas of how I could help animals and what I could do to improve the shelter and the marketing.”
Powell said her excitement over the job made it clear it was the perfect fit for her. While she started out alone, she did eventually start building her team with others like Phan and Hill-Davis.
For Phan, being part of the communications team has been a dream come true.
“I used to work in news actually and I was looking for a change in career, and I was drawn to animal care control,” Phan said. “I love the idea, just like working with animals and getting to make a really positive difference.”
“We all work really well together,” Hill-Davis said. “I think that really helps us quite a bit, everybody’s very multifaceted and can do multiple things very well and I think that really helps serve our community.”
Powell said the job isn’t always easy, especially when it comes to the summer and overcapacity due to fewer adoptions.
“These dogs are coming in, and you do feel a little helpless because you see every single one of these kennels are full,” Powell said. “People are on vacation or it’s just not the right time.”
In some cases, kennels have to be doubled up because of lack of space, according to Powell.
“You can get in that mindset of, ‘what else can I do?’ and it’s a mental game for a second,” Powell said.
Overcapacity isn’t the only hurdle to overcome in their work, according to Powell, Phan and Hill-Davis.
“Sometimes it’s hard,” Hill-Davis said. “Our favorite dogs, sometimes they develop a medical condition that makes them need to get urgently out of the shelter.”
When it comes to handling this mental game, Hill-Davis said what she’s learned working with power is ultimately, “the truth of all animal welfare is that all we can do is try our best to get as many dogs adopted as we can.”
Powell said another issue to overcome is the misinformation about the shelter and what they do.
“There’s a lot of misinformation about us online, and people get very passionate and emotional when it comes to animals,” Powell said. “There’s a lot of rumors that are not true like saying that we don’t care about the animals, but we very much do.”
“We get criticism and hate all the time.” Phan said.
In her time with Powell, she said that she has worked to “take all the critiques with an open mind,” and adjust her strategy accordingly.
Some of this criticism and hate comes from the misinformation online, particularly as it pertains to euthanasia.
“I’ll start all this by saying we have a 94% save rate, which is fantastic.” Powell said.
While euthanasia does happen, the shelter does not euthanize for space, according to Powell.
In fact, when a dog is staying a bit longer, that is where Powell and her team step in.
“We feature it on social media, we bring it to TV stations, we try to get it some more exposure,” Powell said.
She and her team have also found that something as small as shifting the location of the rescue can help as well, whether that’s in the same building, transporting it to the east shelter or even reaching out to their foster database to try and find a home.
“There’s all sorts of avenues we go to if a dog is struggling to get adopted,” Powell said.
Ultimately, what Powell has done and wants to continue to do with her team is, “get people through the door,” with their changes to messaging, marketing and communication.
White is a student journalist at the Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
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