Winner: Timberland and Cone Communications – Timberland’s 2011 Arbor Day Campaign
With its logo a tree, what better way for eco-conscious Timberland to address environmental issues than through Arbor Day. In 2011, the company and PR agency Cone looked to strengthen its legacy of engaging consumers to plant trees—something it’s done since 2009. Research of competitors showed few Arbor Day brand tie-ins, and the holiday had been mostly forgotten by consumers. This gave Cone and Timberland the opportunity to capitalize on Arbor Day. “We used humor, quirky stats and social media elements to get consumers interested in helping support the brand’s reforestation commitments,” says Marc Berliner, VP of brand marketing at Cone.
Cone created a “Person on the Street” video that asked consumers about their knowledge of Arbor Day, favorite tree memories and other quirky tree-related questions. An online personality quiz called “Hortiscope” helped consumers identify their tree personalities and share the results via Facebook. Twitter posts supported the effort throughout the week of Arbor Day. —SVC
Honorable Mentions:
Entergy Corporation—Entergy’s Second Harvest Social Media Campaign: A series of concerts with local and national musical acts drove donations to Second Harvest, resulting in $25,000 that provided nearly 100,000 meals for people in need.
Jimmy Dean and MWW Group—Jimmy Dean Launches Initiative at BlogHer ‘11: A Jimmy Dean booth at a female influencer event lured attendees to take a pledge to fight hunger. More than 1,100 pledges raised $30,000 toward Jimmy Dean’s $150,000 commitment to the No Kid Hungry campaign.
Toys “R” Us Inc.—“Be a Hero for Autism” Fundraising Campaign to Benefit Autism Speaks: A dedicated microsite that featured images of kids with autism dressed as superheroes helped power an in-store fundraising campaign that took in more than $3 million for autism research and awareness in the U.S. and Canada.