The winners and honorable mentions in this year's PR news Platinum PR awards issue exemplify the most innovative approaches to redefining traditional PR with anything-but- traditional strategies. From a marketing communications effort that united a country over the search for the stars of a 1950s TV commercial to an event that landed a flock of pink flamingos around the windy city, the following winner confirms that the PR profession has indeed stepped out from the shadows to take a front-and-center role in delivering business results to their own organizations, and to their clients. Below is the winner of the 2008 PR News Platinum PR award for public service announcement.
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Feed the Pig
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) was determined to teach young adults the importance of controlling their finances. Partnering with Ad Council, the AICPA sponsored the "Feed the Pig" campaign--the basis of a national financial literacy PSA that targeted Americans ages 25-34 and used a childhood icon--a piggy bank--as its icon.
Piggybacking Off the Pig
In Addition to the PSAs, the campaign team created a web site, http://www.feedthepig.org, where visitors can find the information and tools needed to make positive changes in their finances. Other resources used to support the campaign were an e-mail comprised of weekly savings tips, a podcast series featuring a young CPA providing guidance on financial issues, biweekly text messages sent to subscribers reminding them to save some of their paycheck and a feed the pig brochure available for pdf download.
Feast, Not Famine
Total media impressions of the Feed the Pig campaign topped 500 million; the microsite generated more than 1.2 million visits in its first year. According to a 2007 Ad Council survey of members of the target audience who have seen or heard the Feed the Pig PSA, 37% respondents said saving for their future is more important than buying the things they want now, compared to only 20% of those who had not heard AICPA's message.