Media Relations & Marcom
Winner: Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide for "A Fashionable Red Alert Warns Women of the Heart Truth"
Annual Campaign Budget: $750,000
Campaign Team: Sarah Temple, Senior VP, Ogilvy PR; Sally McDonough, VP, Ogilvy; Beth Ruoff, Executive VP, Ogilvy
For years, the pink ribbon has been a powerful symbol in the fight against breast cancer, raising awareness among women throughout the world about the often fatal disease. The
reality, however, is that heart disease -- not breast cancer -- is the No. 1 killer of women. One in three women dies of heart disease, eight times more than breast cancer;
there's also the widespread belief that only men suffer from heart disease.
The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and Ogilvy Pubic Relations Worldwide are changing those perceptions through "The Heart Truth," a fully integrated
marketing/PR and public service campaign designed as a wake-up call to women nationwide about heart disease. The campaign has helped to change the conversation using a Red Dress
symbol, paired with the tagline: "Heart Disease Doesn't Care What You Wear -- It's the #1 Killer of Women." (Focus groups conducted for the campaign showed that women forge strong
emotional ties with a Red Dress.) Like the pink ribbon for breast cancer, organizers are hoping that the Red Dress will turn into an icon for awareness about women and heart
disease.
"We're re-framing an issue that's been around for years," says Sarah Temple, VP, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. "There's still a very long way to go; less than half of
women know that heart disease is the No. 1 Killer...But the [Red Dress] is making huge strides to increase awareness."
Indeed, a survey conducted by the American Heart Association in 2000 found that only 34% of women spontaneously listed heart disease as women's leading cause of death, a figure
that jumped to 46% in 2003, less than one year after The Heart Truth launch.
The campaign has helped to galvanize awareness using an industry (fashion) intrinsically tied to its target audiences (women ages 40-60, when risk increases and, secondly women
ages 18-39). Nineteen top fashion designers -- from Vera Wang to Donna Karan -- contributed red dresses while acclaimed jewelry designer Angela Cumming created a Red Dress pin to
launch the symbol. Women and heart disease was the chosen cause for Fashion Week during American Heart Month in February 2003 (a partnership valued at around $4 million).
The PR effort also secured as a champion for the cause First Lady Laura Bush, who kicked off the campaign with appearances on all the network morning shows on Valentine's Day
2003. Immediately following Fashion Week, the PR team secured nationwide coverage in Newsweek, Parade, Woman's Day, USA Today and cover stories in Cardiology, Prevention and Time.
Glamour, which has pledged a monthly column and several national promotions during a three-year partnership with the campaign, ran a 15-page cover story in October, 2003,
featuring Shania Twain in, natch, a red dress. (The Heart Truth also has partnerships with a bevy of corporate heavyweights, including Johnson & Johnson, Revlon and Wal-Mart.)
"These [media] outlets want their readers to know that these misconceptions exist about women's heart disease vis-a-vis breast cancer," Temple says.
Although the campaign takes full advantage of Fashion Week each February, women's heart disease is, as Temple puts it, not a "once-a-month disease," and the campaign has worked
hard to sustain the momentum. A Heart Truth campaign press event at The White House featured President and Mrs. Bush announcing the first annual National Wear Red Day (February 6,
2004) while more than 60 local Heart Truth events (e.g. health fairs, power breakfasts, red dress fashion shows) have been held by a variety of community groups (General
Federation of Women's Clubs, WomenHeart and the YWCA, to name just a few).
The campaign has also reached out to women with the distribution of a 100-page Health Heart Handbook for Women and a Speaker's Kit (with a 10-minute PowerPoint presentation),
while national Public Service Announcements in print and on radio and TV have helped to keep awareness top of mind.
Crisis Management
Winner: Duke University Medical Center and Health System News Office for Transplant Mismatch at Duke University Medical Center
Campaign Budget: $60,000
Key Executive: Jeffrey Molter, Dir., Duke University Medical Center's News Office
On Feb. 7, 2003, 17-year-old Jessica Santillan received a heart-lung transplant at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. By the end of her surgery an unthinkable
mistake had happened: the transplanted organs were the wrong blood type. At first, the young girl's family chose not to go public. A week later, however, Jessica's family alerted
local media about the mistake, sparking a public firestorm. Suddenly, the glare of both the national and international media was cast on Duke University Medical Center. Hundreds
of daily inquiries poured into the Medical Center's news office, with dozens of satellite trucks parked around-the-clock in front of the hospital. Despite a second transplant,
Jessica's conditioned deteriorated and on Feb. 22, 2003, she died.
Her death raised several questions, primarily how could this happen at a hospital consistently ranked as one of the best in the country? It was up to Duke Medical Center's
communication teams to repair the center's reputation in the local community, nation and the general medical community.
Job One was to fully admit to the mistake and in the same breath educate people on the steps that would be taken throughout the entire transplant system to ensure that such a
tragedy would not happen again, says Jeffrey Molter, director, Duke University Medical Center's New Office.
Working closely with federal and state investigators, Molter's key message was that the hospital would take pains to enhance "redundancies" -- or patient protocols -- that are
designed to verify that a transplant is the right match. "You have to give them a response for the short-term and long-term because with a story like this, reporters are
definitely going to come back to you in six months to ask what you've been doing to improve the system," he says, adding that all of the information related to the case was posted
on the center's Web site.
To further undo the damage, Duke actively engaged in exclusive stories with "60 Minutes" and U.S. News & World Report, providing both outlets with all significant
participants in the tragic case. "We thought ["60 Minutes"] would do a fair job and would cover the story from a rational - rather than emotional -- standpoint," Molter says. The
piece, titled "Anatomy of a Mistake," praised Duke for "admitting what few hospitals ever admit: it had made a mistake, a tragic mistake."
The 7,600-word article in annual USN&WR's "America's Best Hospitals" issue (Duke was rated No. 6), meanwhile, concluded that "one mistake didn't kill [Santillan] - the
organ donor system was fatally flawed." The piece added that despite the tragedy Duke "remains one of the nation's most highly regarded hospitals."
Media Relations
Winner: Weber Shandwick Worldwide for "Turning the Lights Back On: Sempra Energy Re-Ignites Its Brand and a Darkened Industry"
Campaign Budget: $240,000
Campaign Team: Jennifer Risi, of the Corporate and Executive Positioning team, in NYC with support from Andrew Bard
It was a classic case of guilty by association.
Two years after the Enron debacle, a black cloud was still hovering over the entire energy sector, perhaps no more so than San Diego-based energy services company Sempra
Energy. The company was getting serious heat in its own backyard, which was still digging out from the wreckage caused by California's three-year-old energy crisis. Things got so
bad for Sempra that, at one point, customers started burning their bills outside the company's corporate headquarters.
When you consider such a high level of anger -- combined with general public resentment -- it's easy to see why most energy companies ran for cover and avoided the media
altogether amid the industry meltdown. Not Sempra, thank you very much.
With prodding from Weber Shandwick's Corporate & Executive Positioning practice, Sempra embarked on a PR campaign to redefine a tarnished energy sector and, in the process,
transform the company into a leading voice of the industry.
Going up against such a strong tide of public resentment, however, required a powerful message. (In proprietary research conducted by Weber, the energy sector finished dead
last - with a negative 8 score -- when its public image was ranked among 24 other industries.) "We tried to explained [to reporters] that Sempra was very different from Enron and
that the industry should not be painted with the same broad brush," says Jennifer Risi, Senior VP and Management Supervisor at Weber's Corporate & Executive Positioning
practice. In attempting to redefine an industry as complicated as energy, "You're not going to influence every single person. You need to influence the influencers, who can impact
the public."
Weber engaged Sempra CEO Steve Baum to get out in front of business reporters to tell Sempra's story, but if the conversation smacked of anything too self-serving the
opportunity would be lost. "He talked about how the industry is being re-defined and we positioned him as a leader in the field," Risi adds. "Using a CEO to carry a message is
important, but he or she needs to focus on strategy and how the company is making a difference in the market." Another key element: having Baum participate in an energy panel at
the National Press Club.
By stepping up to the plate (in an empty stadium), Sempra was able to change the conversation about the energy industry post-Enron. Favorable stories on Sempra ran in
Investor's Business Daily and PBS' "Nightly Business Report," while a BusinessWeek piece proclaimed that Sempra "figured out how to prosper while its rivals floundered." What's
more, Sempra's stock is now around $36, up from the $25 range in the summer of 2001, when Enron started to implode.
Media Event
Winner: Haberman & Associates and Fitzgerald Brunetti Productions for "The Volvo for Life Awards"
Campaign Budget: $200,000
Campaign Team: Eric Davis, Acct. Mgr., Haberman Assoc.; Soren Johansson, PR Mgr., Volvo Cars of North America
It was a star-studded event in New York City's Times Square, drawing a small army of reporters, or, to be more precise, 250 of the nation's top media outlets. But this wasn't
an opening night gala for the latest celebrity-soaked show on Broadway. Rather, the spotlight on this particular evening was on the stories of everyday people doing extraordinary
things within their hometowns nationwide.
The Volvo for Life Awards, which were held April 7, 2004, has morphed into an annual affair for the automotive maker. (Plans for the '05 event started just a day or so after
the last media truck rolled away from the '04 ceremony.)
The awards are the centerpiece of a PR initiative designed to communicate Volvo's brand values of safety, quality of life and environment through the inspiring stories of
unsung heroes.
Through a multi-faceted campaign people were called (starting in September '03) to nominate local members of their towns and cities who are communicating said values by
example, like 8-year-old Alex Scott, from Philadelphia, who sells lemonade to raise money for a local cancer center. In addition to a Web site set up for the awards, information
packets were distributed to Volvo retailers nationwide with an overview of the program and non-commercial brochures encouraging visitors to nominate heroes.
The 2004 campaign received 3,014 hero nominations, more than 10 times Volvo's estimate. While a celebrity panel, including homerun king Hank Aaron, former New York Knick great
and Senator Bill Bradley and Caroline Kennedy judged all of the nominations, Volvo pitched local and regional media on some of the "heroes" and their causes.
Profiles ran in several dailies such as the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the New York Daily News. "These are the kind of stories that the media haven't heard before," says Eric
Davis, account manager at Haberman & Associates.
The 2004 event was a PR dream. It generated more than 700 newspaper, radio and TV stories, from outlets as large as CBS News and as small as the Stratton (CO) Spotlight. Items
also ran on such national outlets as "60 Minutes," "CBS Early Show," CNN, ESPN and NBC's "Today." The top three heroes were honored at the ceremony, which was hosted by Jim
Belushi ("Life According to Jim") and featured music from Toots & the Maytals and Joss Stone.
Immediately after the ceremony, Volvo distributed press materials publicizing the winner, a New York woman who gave up a successful career to create an after-school program for
troubled teens that has had a 100% graduate rate.
"We try to touch people's hearts" with the awards initiative, says Soren Johansson, PR manager at Volvo Cars of North America. "Some of the big, tough guys (shooting the
awards) had to put their cameras down because they were crying."
Community Relations
Winner: Ketchum for "Home Depot Project Homefront"
Campaign Budget: $40,000 professional services, $2 million operating expenses
Campaign Team: David B. Sandor, Home Depot Dir. of PR; Pat Chandler, Home Depot Sr. Manager, Community Relations; Hilary McKean, Ketchum SVP; Patricia Johnson, CEO/Pres.,
Rebuilding Together
Maybe a mega-hardware store can't help with homeland security, but at least it can help to secure people's homes. That's the thinking behind "Project Homefront," an effort to
honor the 1,800 employees of The Home Depot who were deployed to the war in Iraq.
"We wanted to honor their service and also other servicemen and women in a way that really reflected our company and our brand," explains David Sandor, PR director of Home
Depot.
Launched in early 2003, the program offered to help spouses and families of military men and women to complete repairs on their homes while their loved ones were serving
overseas.
The retail chain committed one million volunteer hours to the project, carried out in conjunction with Rebuilding Together, a volunteer organization that usually devotes its
efforts to preserving and revitalizing low-income houses and communities.
"They really had the core competency in terms of identifying the people who were at greatest need and then marshalling the resources they would need," Sandor says.
The Home Depot worked with Ketchum in Atlanta to develop the concept for this community relations effort, which was based on various pieces of market research. An audit, for
instance, showed that only a few competitors were boasting of similar support-the-troops efforts while a review of national studies indicated that consumers and media wanted to
see businesses express patriotic support for the troops.
Yet there can be challenges with such do-good efforts: that is, the possibility of media seeing this as a self-serving. Sandor says that issue was avoided because of the
company's long track record of community service. "Twenty-five years of people doing credible, real things in their communities builds up in people's minds over time. So when we
do these things on a national scale, we are differentiated in people's minds from these other companies who may do it just as a publicity stunt."
The PR team helped spread the word via http://www.ProjectHomefront.com, in-store signage and a national media relations effort. Internal communications included a paycheck
stuffer, as well as a segment on an internal television program, HDTV.
The chain opted to measure success in terms of homes repaired and media impact. By both measures, the campaign succeeded. By spring 2004 some 1,200 homes had been repaired,
with 51 TV stories, 75 newspaper articles and several national radio stories.
Financial/Investor Relations
Winner: DFW International Airport for DFW Intl Airport Bond Sale
Campaign Budget: $2,500
Campaign Team: Jeff Fegan, CEO-DFW; Kevin Cox, COO-DFW and Ken Capps, Director of Public Affairs
When Ken Capps started to publicize Dallas/Fort Worth Airport's pending sale of $1.46 billion bonds in early 2003 (to finish the airport's massive expansion plan by 2005), the
reaction from media reps was direct.
"They said, 'Are you guys crazy?'" recalls Capps, director of Public Affairs at DFW. The skepticism among the press corps was understandable considering the timing. In early
2003, the SARS epidemic was spooking travelers both at home and abroad from getting on airplanes, the U.S. economy was still reeling from the Sept. 11 attacks and, perhaps most
ominously for the bond sale, American Airlines, DFW's biggest tenant owning more than 70% of the traffic, was teetering on bankruptcy.
Yet despite severe obstacles, Capps's message was clear: the expansion of DFW, including a new International Terminal, was key to the area's long-term economic growth and could
not be sidetracked by short-term events.
What's more, because interest rates were at an all-time low at the time, DFW was able to craft the bond sale in a way that would save its airline tenants $1 billion in interest
costs for the 30-year lifetime of the bonds.
Capps brought out the company's key players to get the message to the media, including CEO Jeff Fegan and COO Kevin Cox. "This was something that was more about sound bites,"
Capps says. "When you're talking to the Bond Buyer about a sale, [reporters] are going to ask detailed questions, so we had people who can give them informed, educated answers. It
was critical to the credibility of the campaign." Messrs. Fegan and Cox also sat down with columnists from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, resulting in a favorable editorial
titled, "The Right Step," that supported the airport's decision to go ahead with the bond sale.
Another important element was communicating to the 23 million Texas residents "that not a single penny of their taxes would pay" for the expansion, Capps adds.
The two-pronged messaging (to both Main Street and Wall Street) worked. The airport, which ended up having six times more buyers than bonds were available, easily sold $1.46 in
bonds, thus completing financing for the airport's $2.6 billion Capital Development Program.
The airport was showered with positive coverage in the days immediately following the bond sale, including items from Reuters.com, CBSMarketWatch.com and the Dallas Morning
News. That wasn't exactly an accident.
Right after the sale was finished Capps assembled DFW's chief executives, members of the media and financial analysts to take part in a conference call. "Within 15 minutes of
the sale we had everyone talking about what it all means."
Employee Relations
Winner: Cox Communications Arizona for Wheel of Fortune Campaign
Campaign Budget: $15,000
Campaign Team: Joe Ricciardi, Comms Mgr; Holly Dean,
Sr. Comms Specialist
We are here to make money. A simple concept, but people forget. When they are busy answering the phones and opening the mail and installing miles of cable, the big picture can
slip away. Cable TV and teleco Cox Communications Arizona faced just such a problem among its 2,500 employees last year, and turned to its internal PR shop to put things back on
track.
"We really had to make sure that employees could understand what the goals were and how they could contribute to achieving them," says Communications Manager Joe Ricciardi. The
firm measures business success by benchmarks like "Revenue Generating Units," (RGUs) and "Operating Cash Flow"(OCF). But a direct appeal to boost the RGUs and OCFs would not be
appropriate. "We have a lot of front-line people, customer service reps and field technicians who maybe had never been exposed to these kinds of terms before," Ricciardi
notes.
Solution: The Wheel of Fortune, a visual aid (see above right) tying daily tasks directly to business goals. It also created a company-wide bonus program for the achievement of
business goals, as marked by progress on the wheel. At the center of the wheel stand the key business goals (read: making money) while the spokes represent the various means
toward that end.
Rather that dump this stuff directly on the front-liners, PR execs passed it on to some 250 leadership-level employees, who, in turn, sold the program to their teams. This made
sense for several reasons, not least among them that leaders are most closely tied to the daily work of their employees. Furthermore, Ricciardi says, "employees trust
communication coming from their leaders more than anyone else."
Senior managers were given information kits, posters, table settings, mugs, and other materials to help plug the program. The items helped PR to keep a handle on the program's
substance once the effort had passed from their office into the field. "We provided them with materials each month to share at team meetings, so in a sense we controlled the
content," Ricciari says. "But we could not control how they localized it."
Bottom line: The company exceeded its RGU target and blew past its cash flow projections. Can they thank the wheel? With 80% employee awareness of the program, PR leaders say
it surely has helped to drive success.
Cause-Related Marketing
Winner: Patrice Tanaka & Company, Inc. for Liz Claiborne Inc. 2003 Women's Work Program
Budget: Under $500,000
Campaign Team: Maria Kalligeros, Pres./Co-Founder, PT&Co.; Stephanie Kannel, Mmgt. Supervisor, PT&C.; Jane Randel, VP, Corp. Comms., Liz Claiborne Inc.
Keeping a cause-related marketing campaign fresh and relevant is a real challenge, particularly one that dates back to the first Bush administration. In 2003, Patrice Tanaka
& Company (PT & Co.) partnered with Liz Claiborne Inc. (LCI) to breathe some fresh air into the firm's Women's Work Program, designed to raise awareness about domestic
violence.
"For over 13 years we've employed many tactics and addressed different audiences about how to end domestic abuse," says Maria Kalligeros, president and co-founder of PT&C,
noting that the agency's efforts have helped to make people equate Liz Claiborne with caring about women. "It's gratifying to see a company stick with cause marketing for so long.
It's a long-term strategy that has built the company's reputation and has helped the community."
In 2003, LCI and PT & Co., teamed up with Marie Claire and Polaroid for a national bus tour and film festival to get the message out. The "No More Tour" fest visited NYC,
D.C., Atlanta, Austin, and L.A. Screenings of the winning films in the "Stop the Violence" student contest were held at colleges nationwide.
Whereas the 2003 program homed in on college campuses, the new thrust is geared towards men. "This year we worked on the Founding Fathers campaign to get men involved in the
issue," says Jane Randel, LCI's VP of corporate communications.
Discussing domestic violence is seldom pleasant and for some people it can be quite painful. "This is an uncomfortable issue for people, and it's hard to get media coverage
that gets to the prevention angle," Randal adds, noting that connecting with such media outlets as iVillage and the Lifetime Network was a key part of the campaign. "AIDS had the
same battle. You have to get past awareness and into prevention."
Pro Bono
Winner: Weber Shandwick for Central Park Sesquicentennial
Campaign Budget: Less than $5,000
Key Executives: Rene Mack, President, Travel & Lifestyle, Weber Shandwick; Valerie Edmonds, SAE, Travel & Lifestyle; Nancy Nichols Rabstejnek, SVP, External Affairs;
Wendy Clark, Acct Dir., Travel & Lifestyle; Anna Stancioff, SAE, Travel & Lifestyle
There are some things you take for granted in Manhattan: Corner hot dog vendors, jostling crowds, sumptuous meals...and a gazillion sterling acres of grass and woods and paths
right smack in the center of the island. Yet few people knew that 2003 was Central Park's 150th anniversary. Fewer still knew that 85% of the park's operations are paid for by the
privately-funded Central Park Conservancy.
This created a two-fold challenge for Weber Shandwick, which took on a pro bono effort aimed at promoting the sesquicentennial. First, the PR team needed to drive
participation in a planned mid-July "birthday party" for the park. At the same time, the campaign aimed to generate awareness of the Conservancy to lay the groundwork for future
fundraising efforts.
However, the campaign was hampered by a lack of resources. "There were things we literally Xeroxed," says Valerie Edmonds, a senior account executive at Weber Shandwick. "But
we designed what we felt were the best stories, and it really made me a believer in the value of having a good story."
The PR team pitched a wide array of stories to several publications, including New York, the New York Times and Time Out New York. Stories ranged from birthday-cake designs to
tree adoption programs. Local pitches focused on hard news, and the recent funding shortfalls while national angles promoted the park for its architectural grandeur and rich
history. "We took a core story, varied the angles as much as possible, and then always led them back to the Conservancy for the commentary," Edmonds says.
The PR team scored solid press coverage, thanks in large measure to travel editors' desire to move beyond the traditional destinations.
Media coverage reached an estimated 230 million readers, along with 2 million radio listeners and millions of TV viewers. For the July birthday party, the target attendance of
90,000 swelled to a quarter-million. The Conservancy reached nearly every publication on its target list, thus raising awareness and building a solid base of future volunteers and
contributors.
PSA
Winner: Volkswagen of America, Inc./Marx Layne Marketing & Public Relations for Fasten Your Seat Belt...Go Far!
Campaign Budget: $400,000
Each year 5,000 teenagers are killed in auto accidents - the leading cause of death among this age group. The stat is made worse by the fact that two-thirds of those killed
aren't wearing their seat belts. As Volkswagen America would find out through proprietary research, the number one reason why many teens don't wear seatbelts is because it's
considered "uncool."
The research paved the way for a PSA sponsored by Volkswagen and Scholastic Marketing Efforts. "Fasten Your Seat Belt...Go Far" was created last year to help teens buckle up
and save lives. At the core of the program is the understanding that teens are more likely to listen to their peers than their parents.
"Madison Avenue ads telling kids to buckle up usually don't do very well," says Tony Fouladpour, press relations manager for Volkswagen. "We needed a campaign that would have
teens communicating that seatbelts are cool."
Volkswagen, Marx Layne Marketing and Scholastic launched a national contest for teens to create TV PSAs to spread the message about buckling up. Around 12,000 educational
kits - providing teachers with tools to teach students about using safety belts, public speaking, creativity and persuasive writing -- were distributed to high schools in the top
nine markets. Says Fouladpour: "With these ads we didn't care whether the ads sold VWs or not. The only criteria was that they be effective" in promoting the use of seat
belts.
Volkswagen received about 300 PSA submissions from students (while 45% of the schools that were sent kits adopted the safety curriculum). The three finalists' creators were
flown to New York City, where the ads were aired on MTV's "TRL" on Sept. 8, 2003. MTV viewers were then asked to vote online for the most compelling PSA at MTV.com and VW.com.
The winning PSA was broadcast on the Oct. 3 "TRL." (It shows four friends cruising in a car. One by one, they disappear, replaced by a seat belt.)
To spread the message even more directly, Volkswagen has distributed the educational kits to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as well as teenage safety
organizations nationwide. Volkswagen was so pleased with the results of the first contest that a second one is underway for 2005; the campaign formula will stay the same. "With
teenagers, you can't preach," Fouladpour says. "You have to give them the issue and let them explain why it's important."
Event Marketing
Winner: Neiman Group for "Quit For Them -- New Year's Eve"
Campaign Budget: $50,000
Campaign Team: Tim Reeves, Neiman Partner/President; Kim Allen, VP; Heather Morgan, AE; Creative team: Rudy Banny, Partner/Chief Creative Officer Buffy McCoy Kelly, Partner/VP
and Creative Dir.; Kevin Best, Acct. Sup.; Bella Guarnera, AE
For many, New Year's Eve represents a time to make a fresh start, so it's a good vehicle for a PR effort aimed at changing behaviors. Take the "Quit for Them" anti-smoking
campaign staged by the Neiman Group on behalf of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Health.
The time: New Year's Eve. The place: First Night Philadelphia, a popular event for families. The tactic: Get in your face. Specifically, PR strike teams spread out through the
crowd and approached adults who were smoking in front of their kids. Want to quit? Do it for your kids. Here, sign this card pledging to stop smoking. Now.
Some 500 people signed the cards on New Year's Eve while more than 15,000 people accepted information about quitting. And in the three weeks following New Year's, more than
2,000 people visited the associated "Quit Today" Web site. The First Night events at Philadelphia's Penns Landing seemed a natural locale to launch the campaign, says Neiman VP
Kimberly Allen. "We were there at the ice skating rink, and it was very family oriented, and yet people are smoking in front of their kids."
The PR team went on to target other family events, such as the Indy 225 at Nazareth Speedway, sponsored by Marlboro. With support from the venue, the anti-smoking effort set up
shop just 100 feet away from the cigarette maker's tent, "so there was Marlboro handing out cigarettes, and people would turn a corner to see a sign that said, 'Keep the tar on
the track, not your lungs,' " Allen recalls.
The PR team gave out coloring books and other child-friendly anti-smoking literature. "We knew they would have a kids' corner focused on family, and so we offered to give out
things for the kids.
[The venue's operators] loved the idea, they loved the positive messaging."
Then came Mother's Day, and a partnership with FTD to create the "Quit for Me" Mother's Day bouquet. The PSA included a child saying that she hoped her mom would quit smoking.
The child pleas: "Please mommy. Quit for me." These people play hardball - and it works. That effort sold 150 bunches of flowers. "Emotion sells," Allen says. "It really shows
that in any campaign, it's that emotional core that will move behavior."
Global PR
Winner: Burson-Marsteller for "Introducing the New Color of Money"
Campaign Budget: $33 million
Campaign Team: Jim Lake, Global Acct. Leader and MD, Public Affairs; Mary Crawford, Project Mgr. and Director, Public Affairs; Christine DiBartolo, Acct. Mgr. and Public
Affairs Mgr.; Penny Kozakos, Team Leader, Media Outreach and Media Mgr.; Jill Nolton, Team Leader, Stakeholder and Senior Associate, Public Affairs; Erin Byrne, Team Leader,
Interactive Program and Materials Development and MD, Interactive
Talk about hitting the right note.
Starting in 2003 Burson-Marsteller took on a global PR project on behalf of the U.S. government to get consumers familiar with newly redesigned U.S. currency and increase
recognition of the new security features. Underlying the entire campaign is the message that U.S. currency is as strong ever.
It's the kind of global campaign that has myriad elements, but with offices worldwide Burson had a distinct head start. Its global offices printed support materials in 24
languages while on-scene representatives have been able to screen the PR effort to account for cultural appropriateness.
"Our people on the ground are culturally sensitive to their markets, so we would channel everything through them for clearance," says Jim Lake, managing director of the public
affairs practice at Burson-Marsteller. "We would work on a press release with the Bureau [of Engraving and Printing] and then channel it around to all the local offices and make
changes before we finally sent it out."
The messaging also took some finessing. On the one hand, the campaign was supposed to emphasize security measures in the new money, "but we didn't want to use counterfeiting as
a scare tactic, because we didn't want to undermine confidence in the dollar," Lake says. To that end, the messaging sold the security measures as a way in which the U.S. was
keeping ahead of the counterfeiters.
Other tactics included media outreach, which scored hits on network and cable news programs and in major dailies. U.S. embassies were given detailed resource kits to support
their education efforts, while brochures, posters, training videos and other media were developed to support the campaign worldwide.
Success was measured largely by awareness polls. In the months following the introduction of the redesigned cash, 82% of Americans were aware of the changes and 85% could
identify the new features in the notes. In Ecuador, 86% of those surveyed were aware of the new notes, while in Russia awareness stood at 68%, even though just 5% of those
surveyed had handled the new notes.
Web Site
Winner: Edelman for Lower Manhattan Public Information Campaign
Campaign Budget: $1.3 million in 2003
Campaign Team: Russell Dubner, Edelman, GM/Corporate & Public Affairs; Jeanette Brown, Acct. Supervisor, Corp. & Public Affairs; Kate Ferguson, SAE, Corp. & Public
Affairs; Taryn Brucia, AE, Corp. & Public Affairs
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, lower Manhattan was in chaos. Residents were bewildered while commerce came to a virtual halt. That's when the City of New York
brought in Edelman to sort things out and help get residents access to clear and accurate information about post-9/11 relief efforts.
"We met with dozens of agencies, companies, nonprofits and NGOs" to gauge their priorities and see what they could offer, says Edelman SVP Justin Blake. Edelman created http://www.LowerManhattan.info, with content generated by a writing team that posted updates (daily at first; now once every two weeks). A
newsletter carries the same information.
The content is presented as a mix of news and human-interest pieces, and includes a bevy of interactive features, such as an interactive history, slide shows and animation of
rebuilding projects.
To promote the Web site the PR team created a brand, "Information to Build On," and plastered its logo outdoors at transit hubs, targeting high-traffic locations in diverse
neighborhoods. Search engine optimization ensures a high Google ranking, while media outreach efforts have resulted in mentions in the New York Times and USA Today, among other
major media outlets.
The site boasts more than 138 million hits since the site launch. In September 2002 alone the site drew 1,994 unique visitors; a year later that number jumped to more than
99,000 visitors in a single month. The numbers continue to climb, with the site registering its biggest number of hits ever in September 2004. "When news is happening, people know
to come to us," Blake says.
Application of Research & Measurement
Winner: Cohn & Wolfe for Hilton Hotels & Resorts Personal Performance Study
Campaign Budget: $250,000
Campaign Team: Jeanne Datz, Dir. of Comms., Hilton Hotels Corp.; Jeremy Baka, Cohn & Wolfe Sr. VP/Chief Creative Officer; Megan Johnson, CW SAE; Allison Schwartz, CW AE
For business travelers after a long day, a comfy bed and satellite TV are nice. But time seldom stops for road warriors who need the latest business gadgets to help travelers
stay on top of performance.
That's what PR firm Cohn & Wolfe set out to discover for Hilton Hotels Corp. in 2003 with a study meant to break down the factors impacting road warriors' performance. To
conduct the study, CW commissioned Dr. Mark Rosekind, the former director of NASA's Fatigue Countermeasures Program. He proceeded to track a group of volunteers who agreed to have
recorded their patterns of sleep, diet, exercise and other factors both at home and on the road.
The PR effort started with a Web-based survey to members of Hilton's preferred-guest program. Travelers were offered program points for answering 58 questions related to
personal performance. In 11 summer days in 2003 a total of 3,486 respondents completed the survey - 2,000 more than anticipated.
But the research drilled down deeper. A group of 25 volunteers agreed to log their own behaviors in real time from July 9, 2003 to Sept. 3, 2003. This real-time measurement was
meant to yield a more accurate reading than other after-the-fact questionnaires. "When you answer a survey about what your habits and moods are, when you are at home and thinking
about traveling, it is very different from answering those questions when you are running through an airport or getting ready for a meeting in your hotel room," says Jeremy Baka,
Senior VP and Chief Creative Officer at Cohn & Wolfe.
The studies showed that people perform best when they exercise regularly. With this news in hand, the CW went to the media, developing an exclusive feature with the New York
Times and landing stories with Reuters and Scripps Howard News Service.
"Hilton's underlying goal of this whole thing was to fulfill its internal mantra: Helping each guest to be their best. It said, 'You are going to get more than just a good
night's sleep,'" Baka says. "It said, 'We have ways to help you to do your business better' -- and a half-page story in the New York Times really helps to deliver that
message."
E-mail Communications
Winner: Diageo for The Main Ingredient Live & The Holiday Countdown
Campaign Budget: $50,000
Campaign Team: Jeannine Dowling, VP of Corporate Comms and External Affairs, Jessica McPhee, Mgr. of Corporate Comms; Tammy Thompson, External Affairs Coordinator
The effort to unify Diageo can be likened to a jigsaw puzzle. A broad-based consumer brands company with food and drinks at its core, the company was formed just five years ago
through the merger of GrandMet and Guinness. The newly formed corporate entity was then split into four business units with employees spread across the U.S.
"You had different people, different locations, new products and a new management team, so we needed to unite everyone into a single culture across the country," said Jeannine
Dowling, VP of Corporate Communications and External Affairs.
While the PR team employed numerous tactics toward this end, the key element was a single electronic newsletter that replaced disparate publications produced ad hoc by various
departments. By contrast, "The Main Ingredient" pulls together information from throughout the organization to present a unified view of the company's activities.
To make the newsletter happen, however, the PR team had to overcome objections and some tough challenges. Each executive in the mix wanted a separate communications vehicle for
his or her own brand or business line. PR knew the hard truth: With two dozen newsletters afloat, no one read any of them. "So we had to make a case to executives and ensure that
each of them could still get their communications out to their teams while also building this unified corporate culture," Dowling says.
With everyone on board, the PR team shifted efforts toward design, focusing especially on ease-of-use issues. "We created a great delivery system" in an HTML format, Dowling
says. "It's not a PDF, so you don't have to launch it. We also keep it to a certain length so that it does not bog down everyone's machines out in the field. You have to make it
short and to the point. If you clog up people's e-mail, they won't read it."
These days, they do read it, with more than three-quarters of employees saying they are satisfied or very satisfied with the newsletter's navigation, content and overall value.
Looking ahead, the PR team hopes to augment the newsletter with a successful holiday-themed publication, the "Holiday Countdown." The publication was published 42 times in as many
days during last year's holiday season - sparking a warm-and-fuzzy reception throughout the organization.
Product Launch
Winner: Padilla Speer Beardsley Inc. for "A Match Made in Heaven," Berry Burst Cheerios Launch
Campaign Budget: $650,000
Campaign Team: Greg Zimprich, Sr. PR Mgr., Big G Cereals; Tom Jollie, SVP, Padilla Speer Beardsley; Elizabeth Hanlin, Dir., Padilla Speer Beardsley
Getting people juiced about an old breakfast favorite isn't easy. But in 2003, Padilla Speer Beardsley helped General Mills introduce one of the most successful product
rollouts in the food giant's history. Berry Burst Cheerios was supported by a comprehensive PR campaign with a special ingredient: 1970s heartthrob David Cassidy.
"After evaluating our assets as a team, we determined that integrating with the advertising campaign that featured David Cassidy's hit "I Think I Love You" would be the proper
direction," says Greg Zimprich, senior PR manager, Big G Cereals. "That key decision helped create a platform from which all of our creative thinking flowed."
The new variety --Strawberry and Triple Berry -- Berry Burst Cheerios became the sixth best-selling cereal on the market and drove General Mills' growth. "Generating hundreds
of millions of consumer impressions is great, but you know you're making an impact when those impressions translate into actual product sales that have a direct impact on the
company's profits," Zimprich adds.
The firm's winning strategy combined PR, advertising, promotion and sales activities. It created varied news angles to reach different media outlets and audiences and developed
creative events to generate interest.
The kickoff was at the Florida Strawberry Festival, where organizers announced a song contest and got consumers involved. "Thousands of people got a chance to sample the
cereal," says Elizabeth Hanlin, Director, Padilla Speer Beardsley. She adds that the outreach focused on the "Duet with David" contest, playing off of the buzz created by
"American Idol." A six-city mall tour followed, culminating with the contest finals and a national media event at the Mall of America that generated attention even though coverage
of the war in Iraq was making light news a scarcity.
Overcoming media coverage of the war, and penetrating an already crowded product category (with more than 300 plus choices) is a PR coup that just can't be ignored. "When the
CEO singles your program out at the annual meeting, that's when you know PR is working," Zimprich says.
Multicultural
Winner: French/West/Vaughan for Honda "Battle of the Bands" PR Campaign
Campaign Budget: $35,000
Campaign Team: J. Mark Riggs, French/West/Vaughan Grp Acct. Dir.; Derek Webber, Dir. of Operations/Promotions, Urban Sports & Entertainment Group; Micah Fuller,
VP/Marketing, Urban Sports & Entertainment Group; Barbara Ponce, Mgr., Emerging Markets, American Honda Motor Co.; Gina Cadres, Acct. Mgr., Muse Cordero Chen Partners
In producing the Honda Battle of Bands Tour and Invitations Showcase, auto manufacturer Honda gave PR firm French/West/Vaughan a clear signal: This was to be a community
relations play, pure and simple. "It's not about moving metal for them," says Group Account Director J. Mark Riggs. "It's about building relationships and extending itself into
that community as a partner."
The community constitutes the national, regional and Atlanta-area African American population, which is especially represented by Historically Black Colleges and Universities
(HBCUs). The plan was to inaugurate an annual musical competition to encourage fan interaction and forge a new sense of community.
Along with producer Urban Sports & Entertainment Group, the PR team crafted a plan that would tell the "tour story" of bands that were selected and follow them through the
January finals. To link the effort to the Honda name, the selection process included online fan voting (http://www.HondaBattleof-theBands.com) while the PR teams also positioned a Honda representative as an expert on the history
of HCBUs.
To promote the event, the PR team collected potential stories from campus PR directors and band directors, sent blast e-mails to students and alumni promoting the tour, and
reached out to local media with press releases and phone follow-up efforts. Student activities directors created posters and other promotional materials to distribute and alumni
directors got out newsletters and other materials.
Driving the campaign has been a client willing to take the long-term view. Honda recognized from the start that it would take time for the campaign to build momentum, and that
the first year's effort probably would fill only about 25,000 seats in the Georgia Dome. By the second year, however, the event sold out, with more than 60,000 attendees.
Indeed, Riggs says the client's long-term view has made a huge difference in the campaign's overall success. "They really see the big picture," he says. "That first year they
said, 'This is a test, really. Let's put it in place and next year we can take what we have learned and make the changes we need to make.' "
Analyst Relations
Winner: Telcordia Technologies for "Elements of Change - Reinventing Telcordia"
Campaign Budget: $100,000
Campaign Team: Janet Roberts, VP/Corporate Comms; Krista Wald, PR Dir.; Sharon Oddy, Mgr., Analyst Relations; Alice Woychik, Dir., Event Planning; Linda Guarducci, Project
Mgr.
In an industry driven by new-and-fast, Telcordia Technologies was seen as old-and-slow. The telecom company's historic roots in the Bell system had long been a boon, a pedigree
that assured respect and drew clientele. But with a global population with a small number of end-users looking to buy from lean, nimble and responsive vendors, Telcordia was
forced to buff up its image.
Beginning in mid-2003, the company's media relations execs went to work on a program of intensive outreach, contacting industry analysts and journalists with a narrative that
described how the company was renewing itself from within in order to adapt to the new environment.
As a privately held company, Telcordia doesn't get much attention from the financial community. But its clients are among the biggest international corporations, and the PR
team made a point of reminding financial reporters that Telcordia's crucial supply-chain position could have a profound impact on the operations of these bigger, publicly held
organizations.
The effort was kicked off with consecutive launch events in London and then New York City in mid-September. During the events the PR team made sure that when Telcordia's top
executives took the podium they were flanked by such top-notch partners and customers as British Telecom Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young and IBM.
The company followed up the initial launches with another round of analyst and press meetings in April. "It was critical to come back with this, because otherwise the analysts
might see the prior launch as just being marketing fluff," Oddy says. "It was after those April meetings that the analysts started to see that we had really embraced a new way of
doing business."
The team measured results in media hits and event attendance. On the latter score, 85 key constituents attended the initial launch events, and another 160 people watched a
related Webcast. Stories ran in Forbes, TelephonyOnline.com, Wireless Review and other key business media outlets.
Lessons learned? "Face time is critically important," Oddy says. "After all the conference calls and Webinars, we got a lot of feedback from the analysts [who attended the
launch events] saying they wished we would do this kind of thing more often."
Annual Report
Winner: American Association of Professional Landmen for the AAPL Annual Report & Calendar
Campaign Budget: $30,000
Campaign Team: Lé Ann P. Callihan, Dir., Publications; Sandy Beddow, Branch Smith Printing; Mike Conley, 2002 AAPL President
Images of the Kentucky countryside and exquisite equines combined to create a unique and eye-catching backdrop for the American Association of Professional Landmen's 2003
Annual Report and calendar. The unique format, featuring stunning visuals, was the synthesis of a president's vision and a publication manager's ingenuity.
"We have a volunteer president each year. The Annual Report highlights the president's personality and the accomplishments of the association," says Lé Ann P. Callihan,
director of publications. In 2002, for example, the president, Mike Conley, wanted to give members a calendar as well an annual report, but the costs were prohibitive. "Since we
are an association, we have to watch our pennies."
Hoping to fulfill Conley's request -- and use the group's limited resources to provide members with the biggest bang for their bucks -- Callihan decided to produce a
combination Annual Report/wall calendar. "It served as our association report card and also became a great marketing tool," she says. "We were able to include upcoming events,
historical facts about the association and industry, and provide members with two services for the price of one."
The one major obstacle to production was coming up with a design that would make the calendar stand out, yet not disclose financial information to anyone glancing at the wall.
The solution? A spiral-bound, flip format. What's more, beautiful photographs taken by nationally acclaimed photographer Doug Prather helped the literature project a positive
image. "Our people are oil and gas professionals and sometimes they get a bad rap. But they are stewards of the environment and the calendar helped promote that image," Callihan
says. "Every time you look at it you see a picture of a healthy environment and you think of AAPL."
So, will AAPL members get another artistic Annual Report? It's quite possible. "We want to highlight landmen across America and include photos of slices of American life, like
festivals, courthouses, rodeos, and antique car shows," Callihan says. "We may do a calendar again, or we may switch it around. We always try to do something different and
fresh."
Internal Publication
Winner: WellPoint Health Networks Inc. for WellPoint - The Source
Campaign Budget: $200,000; $1.50 per newsletter
Campaign Team: Linda Hubbard Lalande, Mgr., Corporate Comms
Facing a flurry of challenges ranging from failed mergers to an increasingly diverse audience, WellPoint's primary communications vehicle The Source has managed to serve its
employees well. It even accomplished something that is near impossible: it put a human face on the insurance industry. "Our company is based on caring for people," says Linda
Hubbard Lalande, Manager of Corporate Communications.
The bimonthly is the flagship publication for more than 20,000 employees working in more than 100 WellPoint offices nationwide. "We convey our strategy, vision, and values and
take our corporate policies and formal mission and tie them to the people," Lalande says. "We have to give visibility and a voice to people in different areas who have different
personalities and regional flavors, while providing cohesiveness. I want everyone from the guys in the mailroom to the executives to pick it up and say, 'Oh, that's interesting.'"
The tumultuous nature of the insurance industry - and changes within the organization -- makes it even more crucial to reach everyone involved. In the past 15 years, WellPoint
has grown from a company with 3,500 employees serving California to a national company with 20,000 employees throughout the U.S.
Employees are satisfied with the publication: feedback indicates that most people read all if not most of the newsletter.
It's hard to say what the future holds for the company and the publication, what with the recent merger deal being disputed in court. "We're in a special situation right now,
which is a huge communications challenge," Lalande says, noting that producing a quarterly version with weekly e-mail updates is one plan that's being discussed.
External Publication
Winner: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for "Saving Lives Millions at a Time"
Campaign Budget: $200,000
Campaign Team: Thea Glidden, Dir., Comms and Public Affairs; Robert Ollinger, Sr. Art Dir.; Brian Simpson, Editor
"Saving Lives Millions at a Time," a book produced by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, accomplished much more than just publicizing the school's new name.
In fact, the book generated far more publicity than the school ever expected.
"We never intended it to be sold. It was just supposed to be a gift to our high-end donors," says Thea Glidden, the school's director of communications and public affairs. "But
people wanted to buy it, so it became a for-profit venture."
The coffee table book, which is targeted toward the educated lay reader, was the third step in a name re-branding campaign. With kudos from folks like New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, Microsoft's Bill Gates, Sr. , and U.S. Sens. Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski, the project also increased the school's visibility among influential people.
While well worth the effort -- the book helped the school's 2003 $40 million fundraising campaign - there were many challenges to executing the project. For starters, it was
the first book produced by the school's Public Affairs department and the vast amount of research, fact checking, and proofreading that had to be done was daunting.
But the hard work paid off. To capitalize on the publication's success, and make the most of its resources, the school re-purposed its content and put it on its Web site. It
also created a magazine based upon the book. "We also have posters and cards of the illustrations that we send to high-end donors," Glidden says, adding that another book may be
in the pipeline. It could end up being the gift that keeps giving.
Press Release
Winner: Cone LLC and Jiffy Lube International for "Jiffy Lube: Degreasing a Masculine Brand"
Campaign Team: Cindi Landers, Jiffy Lube International; at Cone, LLC: Bill Fleishman, Paul Breton, Randy Kambic, Matt Paine and Jenna Sizemore
Campaign Budget: Approximately $30,000
The stats jumped out at Jiffy Lube International: 34% of American women helped to take care of their cars in 2003, up from 27% in 1994, while women comprised more than 65% of
the customer base for fast-lube services. But Jiffy Lube had historically ignored women. The company knew it couldn't afford to let women, well, pass it by anymore. So,
communications execs at Jiffy Lube (and its PR firm Cone LLC) sought to reverse the trend, using media relations to position the company as a resource for car safety information
for female drivers.
Since research showed that female-focused media outlets rarely, if ever, cover automotive issues, Jiffy Lube would have to craft a compelling message to entice reporters to
cover the safety campaign. Cindi Landers, director of brand communication at Jiffy Lube, had a hook. She knew a fair number of women give birth in their cars -- or drove
themselves to the hospital while in labor. She commissioned an omnibus study in the U.S. and Canada to find out just how many women.
Turns out one out of 300 U.S. women and 55 in Canada reported giving birth in a vehicle. And 15% of mothers reportedly drove themselves to a hospital or clinic to give birth.
The stats underscored the contents of Jiffy Lube's press release, which was distributed to the top 50 markets on Mother's Day.
"For some moms, the days of playing chauffeur to the kids start really early...sometimes even at birth," reads the release, which also includes advice from birthing expert
Henci Goer to expectant mothers concerned about giving birth in a car. "We're not selling anything in the release," says Bill Fleishman, EVP of Cone's consumer marketing group,
"but providing information, solutions and recommendations."
By crafting the release as if it were a news item Jiffy Lube's message generated 107 million media impressions and ad equivalency around $300,000. These were predominately from
non-automotive publications and medical journals.
"We offered credible information on an important issue that a lot of women may not have thought about," Landers says, "and a lot of different magazines saw the value."
Public Affairs
Winner: Stanton Communications, Inc. for "Winning Public Support for a Flying Train"
Campaign Budget: Less than $150,000
Campaign Team: Amy Calhoun, MD in Stanton's Washington, D.C., office; Lecia Stewart, VP, High Speed Rail for Bombardier Transportation; Sandra Buckler, Mgr., Strategic
Initiatives for Bombardier, High Speed Rail; Deborah Radman, MD, Stanton Comms; Eliza Sullivan, Acct. Mgr, Stanton Comms.
It takes a grounded PR campaign to sell a "flying" train.
JetTrain, the world's first and only non-electric, high-speed rail locomotive powered by a jet engine, runs at 150 miles an hour and equals air travel times for flights under
four hours. In October 2003, the train's manufacturer, Bombardier Transportation, thought it had the ticket to put the train into operation. In the 2000 general election Florida
had approved a $2 billion funding of a high-speed rail project, and Bombardier was now in contention with one other bidder for the contract.
But in the intervening three years, Florida turned sour on high-speed trains. Key public figures, including the governor and state legislators, reversed course, telling
Floridians that high-speed rail would bankrupt the state. Equally troubling, Bombardier was well below the media radar, and awareness of its JetTrain technology was virtually non-
existent.
Bombardier's PR firm, Stanton Communications of D.C., quickly came aboard to get the company back on track. The strategy: build understanding and acceptance of JetTrain by
taking it straight to the people. "We needed to let people know that this was a real transportation option and not some futuristic pie-in-the-sky," says Amy Calhoun, managing
director in Stanton's D.C. office. "We let the politicians debate the issue while we communicate the benefits of the locomotive to consumers."
Stanton took the actual locomotive to Florida's proposed rail hubs of Miami, Orlando and Tampa. Each stop included an interactive experience for local citizens and a media
program. Hundreds of thousands of Florida residents either toured the train or spoke to the chief engineer. "There were lines all day, every day," Calhoun says, referring to the
week-long media tour. "We addressed concerns about noise and how, through JetTrain technology, the train would be more cost-effective for the state."
PR reps at Stanton conducted one-on-one outreach to key members of the press before, during and after each stop and released media advisories and photos of the JetTrain
featuring Floridians. The team also orchestrated public tours and VIP briefings and receptions at each stop. (Reporters were given private tours of the train as well as B-roll of
the locomotive in motion.) In just one week, the campaign generated 35 TV stories, 11 print articles and eight radio interviews. Media mentions of JetTrain tripled from the first
quarter '03. The multi-faceted campaign added up to victory for the client. Less than two weeks after the final reception for the JetTrain in Miami, Bombardier got the nod for the
$2 billion project.
Platinum PR Awards: The Honorable Mentions
Annual Report: National Beer Wholesalers Association, NBWA Annual Report; Stantec, Inc. 2003 Annual Report; Application of Research & Measurement: Text 100 for Xerox Office
Group: Color Works!; Context Analytics, Redirecting Media Outreach in Regulatory Approval Coverage of Genentech's Xolair; Cause-Related Marketing: Cone, Inc., Yoplait Champions;
Canon U.S.A., Canon4Kids; Mindshare Interactive Campaigns Debt AIDS Trade Africa-http://www.data.org; Parade Publications, The Great American
Bake Sale; Community Relations: Cohn & Wolfe, Doubletree, "Teaching Kids to CARE" Program; American Kennel Club, AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Day; Crisis Management:
McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited, McDonald's Canada and BSE Crisis; Kentucky Utilities Company, Surviving the Ice Storm of 2003; Perry Communications Group, California
Recall Debate; Employee Relations: First Data Corporation, First Data Ensures Employees Are "First To Know"; The Boeing Co., Syncom Celebrates 40 Years; Nedbank Retail Banking, a
division of Nedbank Limited, The Retail Sisonke Journey; Event Marketing: Axiom Marketing Communications for Musicland, Sam Goody Hosts the First "Bad Gift Boycott"; Flowers
Communications Group, Miller Urban Entrepreneurs Series; Jack Morton Worldwide, Microsoft Tablet PC Airport Demo Program; External Publication: Patrice Tanaka & Company, Inc.,
Liz Claiborne Inc. 2003 Women's Work Program "No More Tour" Fact Sheet/Poster; Bell Mobility, Business on the Go; Financial/Investor Relations: Coyne PR, Medco Health Celebrates
Independence Day August 20th; Financial Dynamics, Tractor Supply Company: Defining and Harvesting a Niche; Global PR: The Hoffman Agency, "Connecting iPass Around the World"; UPS,
Edelman, "Out of the Box: Unwrapping the New UPS"; Weber Shandwick, Operation Wildfire: Introducing the World to Hitachi GST; Internal Publication: ArvinMeritor, Compass Employee
Newsletter; Stantec Consulting, Inform-A Newsletter for Stantec Employees; Ruder Finn, Inc., Filling the Gap: How a Magazine Connects and Educates a Far-Flung Work Force;
Marketing Communications: MWW Group, McDonald's Real Life Choices; Pavone, Gazebo Room-"Stop the Marination!"; GCI Group, Holiday Inn Towel Amnesty Day; Media Event: Ogilvy Public
Relations, A Fashionable Red Alert Warns Women of the Heart Truth; Diageo, Iraq Humanitarian Airlift; Ruder Finn, Inc., Imodium to the Rescue: Urban Relief Debuts in New York
City; Media Relations: Cohn & Wolfe, Taco Bell Taco Poll; Duke University Medical Center and Health System News Office, "Transplant Mismatch at Duke University Medical
Center"; VISA USA and Creative Response Concepts, Visa USA's Identity Theft Initiative 2003; Multicultural Campaign: Burson-Marsteller, Astra/Zeneca and Burson-Marsteller Declare
la Guerra a la Migrana! "Declare War on Migraines")-A Militant Approach to Pain; Flowers Communications Group, "The Magic of Homeownership" Launch; The San Jose Group, "El Cerdo
es Bueno"; Press Release: PR Newswire/MultiVu, MultiVu's Video News Release Launch of Rite Aid's Diabetes Program; Pro Bono: The Leslie Agency, "The Really Good, Really Big,
Really Cheap Book Sale"; Product Launch: Ketchum, The Home Depot Encourages Women to Do-It-Herself; J-Spin Communications, Clean Capture Launch in Japan; ESPN, Inc., ESPN HD; Cohn
& Wolfe, Long John Silver's Giant Shrimp; Public Affairs: MWW Group, "The Doctor Is In"; Solomon McCown & Co., Inc., Energy Bucks: Bucking the Cold; The PBN Company, CITAC
STF: Fighting Section 201 Steel Tariffs; PSA: Weber Shandwick, "Speak Up. Speak Out." American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, "Keep an Eye on Your Ears"; Fletcher Martin
Ewing with Georgia Cancer Coalition and the Georgia Department of Human Resources Cancer Control Section, "Oh Harold" Public Service Announcement; Web Site: Weber Shandwick, Web
Innovation @Cisco; Ruder Finn, Talk IBS: Hearing the Patient, Healing the Patient; TMG Public Relations with Citi Cards, In the Midst of a Roller Coaster Economy, Citi Offers "Use
Credit Wisely" Solution