2002 STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT: In The Spotlight

In the past 10 months, the pest management industry has generated significantly more publicity than in previous years. Why? In part because pest issues are more "top of mind" — for example, West Nile virus, Lyme disease and bed bugs have garnered headlines across the country. (Case in point: an Internet search on Google.com found more than 315,000 hits about West Nile virus.) Another reason is because the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA), in conjunction with the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), has aggressively promoted the industry to a variety of new news sources — and been successful.

NATIONWIDE NEWS. As most in the industry know by now, due to the PPMA’s public relations campaign, Bobby Jenkins, president of the National Pest Management Association, appeared on NBC’s "Today Show" in a special segment titled, "Pests and Children’s Asthma" on June 28. In the five-minute segment, Jenkins showed a homeowner conducive pest conditions inside and outside of a house and explained what can be done to prevent pest problems through exclusion, baiting and other IPM practices. The Today Show is watched by more than 7 million viewers.

"We scored big time with this one. One of the industry’s goals was to move into the public health arena. This is one positive step in that direction," said Cindy Mannes, PPMA executive director and director of public affairs for the National Pest Management Association (NPMA). "It’s the home run that the pest management industry has been looking for. In five minutes, the segment helped satisfy multiple PPMA goals by increasing consumer awareness of the value of professional pest management services and protecting the reputation of our industry."

But in addition to the Today Show appearance, PPMA has helped organize many other media events in 2002. Consumer advocate David Horowitz hosted Jenkins in a spot on his top-rated national consumer advocate radio show, with 100 syndicated affiliates, titled "Fight Back with David Horowitz." The spot, which ran July 28, featured Jenkins answering consumers’ toughest pest management questions and telling the industry’s side of the story.

In addition to generating positive publicity about the pest management industry, PPMA monitors print and broadcast media outlets for the following:

• Pest control-related article topics

• Articles that have positively featured pest management professionals as credible sources in their communities

• Extension educators and other journalists who write about pests and pest control

From January to August 2002, there were about 550 pest control-related article topics covered, including articles on the following topics: Lyme disease/ticks (147), rats/rodents (69), termites (63), and miscellaneous or general pest management articles (241).

According to PPMA, by far, Lyme disease and ticks most frequently appeared in the news, with the majority of articles discussing the rising incidence or Lyme disease, and providing tips on how to remove ticks.

The number of articles about West Nile virus and mosquitoes is also significant and eventually may exceed the number of articles about Lyme disease in 2002, PPMA predicted. n

Editor’s note: PCT would like to thank the Professional Pest Management Alliance for the background data that was featured in this story.