Winner: Havas PR - Ford Warriors in Pink: Fighting Breast Cancer with the Power of Digital Storytelling
Many companies raise money to fight breast cancer, but Ford is one of the few that does it through the power of digital storytelling. In 2012 and 2013, Ford’s “Bang the Drum” documentary (found at fordcares.com, the website for the company’s Warriors in Pink breast cancer marketing effort, and on YouTube) upped that ante by shedding light on the true effects of breast cancer through personal stories of warriors who have fought the fight and come out survivors.
As agency of record for Warriors in Pink, Havas, too, tells those courageous stories, emphasizing the warrior journey—no beginning, middle or end—to targeted digital and social audiences (among others). By doing so, @havaspr has secured groundbreaking partnerships and placements and helped Ford raise a lot of money for the cause.
In all its efforts, Havas wrapped the product story tightly in the Ford name, which inspires American pride and loyalty. In 2012, Havas also had the added bonus of promoting the heavily branded “Bang the Drum: Living Out Loud in the Face of Breast Cancer” documentary, which features Ford’s 11 Models of Courage, survivors who model Warriors in Pink products.
Havas used “Bang the Drum,” which was showcased at events through October 2012 (Breast Cancer Awareness Month) and lives online, plus Model of Courage video portraits online to broaden Ford’s reach across the digital space. Beyond posting the digital content and personal stories on fordcares.com, Havas’ primary outreach was across various social platforms—from Ford’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter platforms to blogs to traditional media (which, of course, put much of their print content online).
Every action Havas undertook was done with this in mind: securing placement of Warriors in Pink products and raising more money for the cause. Ultimately, Havas got more than twice the amount of record-breaking coverage it did for Warriors in Pink in October 2011 (already the most successful year), garnering more than 161 million total impressions for its October 2012 push, including 112 million online impressions and 165,000 social impressions.
Honorable Mentions:
- Cone Communications - Unstoppable Happiness: Northwestern Mutual’s Fight Against Childhood Cancer
- Kaiser Permanente - Weight of the Nation
- Lippe Taylor and Elizabeth Arden - Revolutionizing Social Good: #PinItToGiveit
- Weber Shandwick - Right To Play Canada and the Level the Field Campaign
- Telemundo Local - Vive, Ama, y Lucha! (Live, love, and fight)