Winner: Bristol-Meyers Squibb – Turning the HIV Fight into a Movement
n 2011, Bristol-Myers Squibb teamed up with the Alvin Ailey dance company to create a performance piece to showcase the stories of those impacted by HIV.
The “Fight HIV Your Way contest” generated 1,300 entrants who submitted a photo and essay describing their own fight against HIV. Using multimedia and English/Spanish press materials whenever possible, Bristol-Myers Squibb promoted the contest around national HIV awareness days, Ailey’s milestones and via spokespeople like Sheryl Lee Ralph, HIV activist and original Broadway Dream Girl. Ten first-place winners were selected and their stories served as the inspiration for the Alvin Ailey dance troupe’s performance, “Home”.
The performance debuted at the Alvin Ailey Theater on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2011, and toured 25 cities across the U.S. in 2012. A targeted media campaign generated 90 million impressions including placements in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Time magazine. —RD
Honorable Mentions:
The Mosaic Company – Home Runs for Food: Mosiac donated $500 to Feeding America Tampa Bay (FATB) for every home run hit by the Tampa Bay Rays during 2010-2011. Nearly 400 home runs later, Mosaic contributed almost $200,000, or 790,000 meals.
The Clorox Company – Power a Bright Future: Clorox engaged moms, teachers and administrators for an initiative that gives schools an opportunity to win grants to help fund programs. Clorox awarded five grants to help schools, generating almost 75 million media impressions along the way.
Cooney/Waters Group – Voices of Meningitis: Urging Moms to Vaccinate their Preteens and Teens: To raise awareness of the importance of meningitis vaccination among adolescents, Cooney/ Waters Group engaged media, school nurses and parents (via Facebook), resulting in 1,100 media placements and 720,000 educational materials fulfilled.
Esurance – The Trevor Project: To support the Trevor Project—an organization providing suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth—Esurance donated $10 on behalf of everyone who“liked”Esurance’s Facebook page. Celebrity supporters like Perez Hilton helped raise $50,000 in just two weeks.
Exponent PR – Caribou Coffee Brews Hope for a Cure: Each October, Caribou offers Amy’s Blend to honor one of its employees who lost a battle with breast cancer, with proceeds to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The program was expanded to include Amy’s Garden, which united Caribou fans in honoring people they know who have been affected by breast cancer.
Hunter Public Relations – Drops of Good: The Maxwell House Community Project: To enable Maxwell House consumers to give back to their communities, Modern Family star Julie Bowen served as spokesperson for the project, which featured a national media day and a contest in which 10 community centers were selected to receive a $50,000 renovation.
MSLGROUP Americas – Pepto-Bismol Throws a Feast for All: Pepto-Bismol partnered with Feeding America to donate 2 million Thanksgiving meals to the hungry. Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet served as spokesperson for the campaign, which donated meals on behalf of every fan that“liked”a picture of Stonestreet’s turkey on Facebook.
Porter Novelli Melbourne and Alzheimer’s Australia – Fight Dementia: When the Australian government terminated a dementia initiative from its 2011 budget, Alzheimer Australia created a five-year Dementia Action Plan to raise $500 million over five years to address the disease. The campaign included a Facebook campaign and the creation of a“BrainyApp”to raise awareness for the cause.
Samsung Electronics America with Weber Shandwick – Solve for Tomorrow: The video contest encouraged public school teachers and students to submit videos to show how science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) can help the environment. Online voters selected 12 schools to receive $70,000 in technology, and five grand prize winners received $100,000.
Tide with DeVries Public Relations – Tide Loads of Hope Spreads to Help Haiti: Tide’s documentary film, focusing on LOH’s mobile laundry service after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, garnered coverage from The New York Times, Associated Press, the Today show and other outlets, totaling over 388 million impressions.