Winner: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures – Disney's The Muppets Global Publicity
To relaunch the Muppets franchise and position Disney’s The Muppets as a worldwide theatrical event evoking nostalgia among Muppets enthusiasts and introducing a new generation of fans, the Disney PR team set out for global“Muppet domination.”They portrayed them as contemporary icons that parody real-life events, while positioning the film as the family movie-going event of the holidays. The Muppets stand apart from their animated /CG competition—they can appear “live” as “themselves.”
Thus, the Muppets themselves were deployed in interviews and appearances in the U.S. and beyond. Special photo shoots, family activities, placement of“spoof”trailers and posters and images highlighted the irreverent comedy of the Muppets. A fashion campaign led to a six-page spread in InStyle with name-brand fashion houses designing for Miss Piggy. —Bill Miltenberg
Honorable Mentions:
Bacardi Limited – Celebrating 150 Years of Bringing People Together: For its 150th anniversary on Feb. 4, 2011, Bacardi reached all of its 6,000 employees with an Anniversary Hub, a destination on the ONE Bacardi intranet featuring 2,000 documents and assets such as timelines, videos, imagery, key messages, contests and infographics.
Bayer AG – Global Introduction of the LIFE Corporate Values at Bayer: When Bayer introduced its LIFE values—leadership, integrity, flexibility and efficiency—in January 2011, it reached out to all of its 110,000 employees through presentations and workshops and the LIFE toolbox: a resource for managers to present the LIFE values to their teams, including PowerPoint slides, video messages from leadership and a personal LIFE card.
Financial Times – Launch of FT Mobile Web App: To tout Financial Times as the first major news publisher to launch a mobile app using HTML5 technology, the PR team offered industry analyst pre-briefings ahead of the app launch to ensure informed, third-party testimonials, offered and secured an exclusive interview with Reuters and hosted reporter/blogger briefings in New York and London.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts – Announcing an Authentic Experience for Chinese Travelers: To tap into the Chinese tourist market, Hilton’s Huanying (“welcome”in Chinese) campaign featured a North American launch in San Francisco, followed by a Chinese tour that included additional launch events and face-to-face meetings with influential travel agencies, the media, agents, clients and local dignitaries.
IEEE with Weber Shandwick – Raising IEEE’s Profile from São Paolo to Shanghai: IEEE’s visibility as a global voice in expanding public understanding of how engineering, computing and technology benefit humanity was raised through the association’s advocacy-based Public Visibility Initiative, resulting in strong increases in media coverage across Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and the U.S.
Weber Shandwick – Mobil 1 Car Swap: To communicate the performance and technology benefits of the Mobil 1 brand synthetic motor oil, Weber Shandwick brought NASCAR champ Tony Stewart and Formula 1 champ Lewis Hamilton together to race in each other’s cars. Media outreach generated 1,300 print, broadcast and online stories in 35 countries.