NonProfit PR Awards: Nonprofit PR Team Of Year

Campaign: Go Red for Women and Edelman Team

Winner: American Heart Association & Edelman

In Go Red for Women campaign’s six-year lifespan, the visibility of the women’s heart health movement in the U.S. has been magnified tenfold. But in 2008, though heart disease awareness rates were at an all-time high, only one in five women surveyed viewed heart disease as a personal health threat. This meant that for a significant number of women, heart disease is not recognized as the number one killer it is for that core constituency.

To rectify this deadly disconnect, the team developed, tested and launched the “Our Hearts, Our Choice” messaging platform as an evolution of the Go Red campaign. Celebrity spokespersons with personal connections to heart disease such as Andie MacDowell and Jennie Garth were retained to motivate women to make heart-heathy choices in their lives. Other tactics employed to drive the campaigns’ goals were the creation of a documentary, Choose to Live, about making heart-healthy choices; engaging bloggers to recruit women to joining the movement; and positioning the campaign hub, GoRedForWomen.org, as a resource for heart-healthy information.

According to the AHA, 65% of women are now aware of heart disease as the number one killer of women, as a result of the campaign. By September 2009, the campaign had earned more than 790 million media impressions. Choose to Live aired on MSNBC on Sept. 13 and is in syndication in local NBC stations across the country. Currently, it is expected to generate more than 2 million impressions by year’s end. Also, the GoRedForWomen.org site has received 55,000 more unique visitors per month, year over year.

Honorable Mentions:

Cleveland Clinic—The Cleveland Clinic has been instrumental in studying the trends in the news pertaining to healthcare reform. The agency has worked closely with local and national media, and president & CEO Dr. Toby Cosgrove has appeared on C-SPAN, CNBC and PBS as well as other various news stations, speaking on the issue of healthcare reform.

Shell Point Retirement Community—With just 10 employees, the Shell Point Retirement’s PR team has helped the community become one of the most widely recognized brands in the Southwest Florida market through a daily 30-minute program, a monthly magazine and advertising campaigns.

November 9, 2009