2009 Platinum PR Awards: Video Program—Academy for Educational Development

Why Flu Matters: Personal Stories From Families Affected by Flu

To motivate parents to vaccinate their children against the flu, the Academy for Educational Development, in collaboration with Families Fighting Flu (a nonprofit comprised of parents who have lost a child to the flu), created a video documentary, “Why Flu Matters: Personal Stories From Families Affected by Flu.” The documentary features portraits of parents who have lost their children as a result of contracting the flu.

Targeted audiences for the video program were new media outlets, consumer health Web sites, parent/family publications and health providers. The video would be posted on YouTube, CDC’s Web site and partner sites in hopes of it spreading virally. The video, directed by Emmy Award-winning director Mustapha Khan and Tommy Walker, debuted on Sept. 23, 2008, on YouTube.

Since its launch, the video has been seen more than 26,800 times on YouTube. It was also distributed through the North American Precis Syndicate, reaching an estimated 151 million people. ■

Honorable Mentions:

CRT/tanaka: Vibrant Rioja Documentary: Traditions & Innovations at the Frontiers of Flavor—The agency created an educational documentary series and companies Web site in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. The multimedia program allowed viewers to experience the wines of Spain’s Rioja region through interviews with winemakers and virtual tours of the vineyards.

General Electric Company: You Are Extraordinary—The campaign raised GE’s profile as an organization that welcomes military veterans through a high-energy video featuring GE employees with military experience and a complementary Web site. Page views increased to more than 10,000 a week after the video’s launch.

Microsoft & Waggener Edstrom Worldwide: Putting Transparency into Practice with “Ask the Gu”—The program connected at-home viewers with Microsoft’s Scott Guthrie during the MIX09, the Web design and development conference, through a live online video chat in which viewers could submit their questions via Twitter.

Pleon & Siemens: Values: We Say It, We Mean It—The video program visibly demonstrated Siemens’ values—responsibility, excellence, innovation—to employees after a massive public corruption investigation rattled the company, filming staffers from six countries who acted out those values in real-life contexts.

October 26, 2009