Campaign: Blitz Jay Leno Day
Winner: Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber
Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber executives wanted to celebrate the 3-0 season start of the Cincinnati Bengals in the fall of 2005 - a record that was, for the time,
unusually in favor of winning - while energizing the "Bold Fusion" annual young professionals summit. The hook of the initiative would be a spin on Jay Leno's decade-long
tirade against the team's less-than-enviable record. Thus, "Blitz Jay Leno Day" was born.
The Chamber committed a 400-call phone blitz to the Tonight Show's switchboard to tease Leno about the Bengal's new charge to victory. Then, Cincinnati Mayor Charlie
Luken delivered a taped proclamation, deeming the day of the young professionals summit "Blitz Jay Leno Day." That digital file, along with images of a Bengals jersey with
the number zero and a nameplate reading "Leno Jokes," landed in the inboxes of Tonight Show staff the day before "Blitz Day," at which point Leno decided to personally
deliver a phoned-in monologue to the summit with a theme: how his tough love turned around the Bengals' losing streak. The PR team got to work writing a witty release to
whet the media's appetite for Leno's upcoming call, which, in the end, it did: The 7-minute phone conversation scored millions of radio impressions nationwide.
Honorable Mentions
Arizona State University's Herberger College of Fine Arts needed to attract coverage of its "Super Heroics" exhibition of fiber art professor Mark Newport. The targeted
press release capitalized on pop culture while presenting Newport's take on the accepted views of masculinity. raising the profile of Newport's work and drawing more
students to the college's programs.
To showcase another side of Philadelphia - its thriving vintage shopping side - Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) staffers set out to write a
press release that captured the unique shopping opportunities based on a 3-day itinerary. The team rounded out the initiative with a press trip that took media
representatives out for a shopping spin, and the positive coverage and increased visibility paid off accordingly.