2009 Platinum PR Awards: PSA—Population Services International & Weber Shandwick

World Water Day Video Series

To leverage World Water Day on March 22, 2009, Weber Shandwick was tasked by client Population Services International to build awareness of the problems of safe drinking water in the U.S.

Weber Shandwick forged a partnership with GOOD Inc., which led to the development of an online video series about water-related diseases. Linking the videos to iconic moments in film and TV (such as Psycho and Cool Hand Luke) the goal of the series was to capture attention so people would want to learn more about the issue of water-related diseases. Release of the videos on sites such as YouTube, Facebook and MTVThink was staggered throughout the weekend leading up to World Water Day.

The “iconic moments” video series resulted in over 1 million total views the first 10 days of the launch. The promotion led to strong blog coverage and the placement of an op-ed piece, authored by PSI president and CEO Karl Hofmann, on Huffington Post. ■

Honorable Mentions:

Porter Novelli NY & Shire Plus: Adult ADHD Is Real—In order to raise awareness of ADHD in adults, Porter Novelli and Shire Plus launched the “Adult ADHD is Real” PSA campaign with Howie Mandel as spokesperson, reaching millions of Americans via TV, radio and print.

Intrepid Agency & UDOT Group: Litter Hurts—Intrepid Agency and UDOT Group developed the Litter Hurts campaign, which included an interactive Web site and outdoor PSAs. As a result, debris-related accidents on Utah highways have declined by 22%.

Alembic Health Communications & National Meningitis Association: Making Meningitis Matter—To reverse a low meningitis vaccination rate among teens, the team created the “Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime” PSA, which highlighted the affect the disease had on a diverse group of peoples’ lives.

Porter Novelli & fdic—In September 2008, the FDIC and Porter Novelli launched myFDICinsurance.gov, as well as accompanying PSAs. When spokesperson Suze Orman appeared on CNN’s Larry King Live and NBC’s Today Show, the site drew 58,000 users in one day.

AHIMA: Personal Health Record Consumer Education Campaign—The AHIMA launched a PSA campaign to raise awareness about creating and maintaining personal health records (PHR), promoting myPHR.com and driving an 88% increase in traffic.

October 26, 2009