2009 PR People Awards: Digital Communications Leader of the Year

Anne Carelli, Digital Communications Manager, Coca-Cola Co.

For many large companies, the major restructuring of a Web site is a risky endeavor booby-trapped with pitfalls, budgetary concerns and lapses in inter-company communication. Enter Anne Carelli, who in leading the recent overhaul of Coca-Cola’s external Web site, conquered the pervading wisdom that restructuring is littered with implacable obstacles. Fluidly merging the input of a variety of internal departments and workgroups, including content, legal and marketing, Carelli homed in on a consistent thematic structure that would best greet visitors to the refurbished site.

The idea behind the restructuring is to offer users a true experience. For instance, visitors can upload their own Coca-Cola images via a Flickr feed, watch videos, partake in blog conversations and connect with Coca-Cola on social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

Gathering Data

To ensure her vision met all parties’ expectations, Carelli engaged with monitoring agencies to assess site traffic and review competitors’ best practice areas. Consumer user sessions further supplied an evaluation of the usability and design of the site, which she could then begin to reformat in the areas of content, naming structure and overall design.

Connecting Community

In making her vision a reality, Carelli had to draw on years of communications experience to gracefully adopt the needs of consumers, internal groups and external shareholders, not to mention the passel of international teams in need of guidance. Through all the meetings, research and consumer surveys, the site launched in 2009 on time, on budget and with widespread approval, achieving fruition for a large-scale redesign that has a flavor all its own. ■

Honorable Mentions

Firmly guiding his organization’s digital policies, Bell turned an informal digital and social media structure into an official practice, increasing new staff members by 15%. He also launched a digital media training program called Digital Influence to ensure that staff were literate in this new environment, and spearheaded the Voices of the Olympic Games, an ambitious blogging campaign involving Olympic athletes, for client Lenovo.

Houston inspires the team members of the innovative Waggener Edstrom Studio D, an in-house digital group charged with creating integrated digital engagement strategies. In cultivating new business and providing outstanding digital collaboration in areas like social media, search and digital storytelling and branding, revenue derived from digital projects increased 100% in a recent year-to-year period.

Working on General Motor’s centennial in 2008, Perry helped usher in coverage of the company’s breakthrough technology and commitment to green design and innovation, doing so through the Web site GMnext.com, blogs, video-sharing platforms and other new sites. The effort delivered nearly 1 billion media impressions over nine months, as well as more than 5 million views of GMnext.com-produced content.

December 7, 2009