NonProfit PR Awards: Member Communications

Campaign: Anesthesiologists: Physicians Providing the Lifeline to Modern Medicine

Winner: The American Society of Anesthesiology & FD

Seeking to rebrand itself as representing physicians who make 21st century medicine possible with improved safety and advances, the American Society of Anesthesiology hired FD to create its “Lifeline” campaign. The objectives were to mobilize American Society of Anesthesiology members via internal communications and direct outreach to key influencers.

Leveraging a digital and media strategy that would increase the visibility of anesthesiologists and give them an active voice online, the campaign made its specialized custom site, www.lifelinetomodernmedicine.com, its hub. The member mobilization portion of the campaign focused on educating anesthesiologists about the goals of the campaign, encouraging them to push these messages forward with tools such as letters and webcasts.

A Lifeline Campaign Advisory Council was formed to engage members and get them to provide feedback on the campaign’s progress. A Twitter account and a blog were also created to encourage member engagement and drive the campaign’s goals.

To date, this campaign has met its goals with overwhelming success. Over 1,000 anesthesiologists have pledged their support for it. The media outreach led to a full-length story in U.S. News & World Report; FD also receive hits in such outlets as Forbes, Chicago Tribune, Modern Medicine, Health News Digest and Health.

Honorable Mentions:

AICPA: The CPA Letter Daily—AICPA created a free, interactive newsletter, which helps professionals to stay on top of developments in accounting and currently reaches more than 116,000 subscribers.

Amy Sutnick Plotch Communications/People Tech Connections: Marketing CASASTART—The nonprofit created a fun, interactive modular training program that enables many sites to be trained simultaneously, and alleviates the cost of staff travel.

Institute of Food Technologies: IFT Live Electronic Show Daily—IFT launched an interactive, electronic version of its Annual Meeting’s Show Daily, “IFT Live,” which has a longer shelf life than its print publication. IFT Live featured 92 articles, nine video segments and numerous event images, and reduced IFT’s printing and production costs.

Thoughts, Words & Images PR: Texas Woman’s University Certificate Booklets—Dr. Paula Ann Hughes, director of the School of Business at Texas Woman’s University, created the vision for three 14-page booklets which act as educational tools and “calling cards,” to show the kinds of knowledge building opportunities available through the school.

November 9, 2009