As PR News gears up for its 2011 Platinum PR Awards, which celebrate the top communications initiatives of the past year, we thought we’d take a moment to check in on one of last year’s winners, Southwest Airlines. In 2010, the innovative company took home the Wow Award for its Southwest Porch at New York City’s Bryant Park.
The Wow Award recognizes a truly original communications initiative, and the Southwest Porch was certainly that. Southwest Airlines had collaborated with Bryant Park to create an “outdoor living room” that would introduce New Yorkers to Southwest’s then-new service out of LaGuardia Airport. Whitney Eichinger, Southwest’s senior manager of communications, updated us on recent events at the Southwest Porch.
“Our fabulous food partner, ‘wichcraft, created a fresh new menu for the porch and they added in a weekly cookout,” Eichinger tells PR News. “We tested it out this week, and from the looks of the line, the hamburgers and pork belly sandwiches are going to be very popular. We’ll also have live music each week at the porch and we’ve updated the furniture and our uniforms.”
Eichinger is also enthusiastic about a new monthly speaker series due to start May 24 at the porch. These free breakfast seminars for businesspeople will be sponsored by Fast Company magazine.
If you think your PR campaign belongs in the spotlight, be sure to enter in the 2011 Platinum PR Awards program. The May 13 entry deadline is fast approaching.