Live from New York: It's CKI!

Tactics for getting the word out about Circle K run the gamut from handing out fliers to yelling through a megaphone.

But Circle K’ers from Pennsylvania and New York might take top prize for publicity stunts—not to mention dedication and commitment—for a recent trip to New York City.

No, they weren’t in the city for a service project. They didn’t travel there for a fundraiser, either. Nope. Fourteen Pennsylvania Circle K’ers met up with one New York Circle K’er in the Big Apple for one reason only—to get on television and yell about Circle K and Kiwanis.

It worked.

“We were in line at 3:30 a.m. to get into The Today Show crowd,” says Kady Snyder, Pennsylvania District governor. “We made friends with a cameraman, and he told us the key spot to stand to get on TV. Apparently it worked—we got on TV six times! Five of those times were just shots of us going crazy, yelling, and dancing, but one was when Al Roker interviewed one of us and asked all about Circle K. People in the audience were funny because they were calling their families at home telling them to look for them in the crowd. They said ‘Just look for the big, red mob of Circle K’ers … yeah, it’s a service group sponsored by Kiwanis.’ So everyone was gabbing about CKI!”

The Circle K’ers used signs and a banner to grab more attention.

“Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, and Al Roker signed our Everyday Heroes banner,” Kady says. “As I travel across the district, it’s my goal to get every club’s signature on the banner. So now we have a square on the banner with The Today Show celebs’ signatures. We also had signs that said things like ‘PA Circle K,’ ‘Live to serve,’ ‘Hi Kiwanis,’ and ‘We go Circle K-razy for The Today Show.’

After the show finished taping, the group hit the streets for a little sightseeing. It was then that they started to get an idea of how well their TV appearance worked.

“We were walking down the street and at least 15 people were like, ‘Oh my gosh, Circle K! We just saw you on TV!’ A man with a headset came running up to us and asked if we would be in the crowd of the ‘Mike & Juliet Morning Show.’ So we stood in the crowd of this show and went crazy for a while. Then the producer of the show came out and asked what Circle K was, and asked for our contact information. They’d like to have us at the show sometime! We might be on TV again!

“While our numbers weren’t huge, we were definitely effective,” Kady says.

After dinner in the city, the Circle K’ers found themselves drawn once again to what they do best—helping others.

“We were in the city to promote Circle K,” Kady says, “but we did end up giving leftovers from dinner to some homeless people we saw on the street. I guess you can’t keep Circle K’ers from doing service!”