Winner: Vollmer Public Relations & Travelocity
Campaign: Travelocity's "Be a Hero--Go Zero"
Travel companies may not seem like an obvious place to start if you want to reduce your carbon footprint--or vapor trail, as the case may be. But, thanks to a program begun
in 2006 by VOLLMER Public Relations and Travelocity, in partnership with The Conservation Fund, travelers can now fly the friendly skies without forfeiting their "carbon
neutral" lifestyle.
The initiative--dubbed "Be A Hero--Go Zero"--had a few goals: Promote environmental consciousness among Travelocity employees and customers by giving visitors to the online
travel agent's site the opportunity to purchase carbon offsets--actions that pay for emissions reduction--when they book travel arrangements. This is where The Conservation
Fund comes in; the money used to purchase the carbon offsets is donated to the organization, which then plants
Preparing for Take-Off
Vollmer helped spread the word of the partnership's cause-oriented mission through an aggressive integrated communications campaign based on four components: launch events, a
viral animation campaign, an event surrounding the planting of the first Go Zero trees and a national media relations campaign.
The kick-off event took place on September 6, 2006. Members of the team, with the help of the famous Travelocity-branded Roaming Gnome, distributed more than 2,000 tree
seedlings near mass transit stations in Dallas, New York and San Francisco. Then there was the innovative viral animation element, in which Eco-Bunny characters explained the
program and provided a link for viewers to instantly purchase a carbon offset. To completely integrate the characters into the social media world, the team built an Eco-Bunny
MySpace page.