Winner: Discovery Communications – Discover Your Impact Day
The stated goal was to “discover your impact,” and what an impact it was. In celebration of its 25th anniversary in June 2010, Discovery Communications embarked on a global day of volunteerism. At the helm of this initiative was the corporate communications department, which led the strategic endeavor across 40 offices in five continents. The result was 140 unique volunteer projects, from the painting of murals at a local school to the replanting of a mangrove forest. Blog activity, photo and video content and real-time sharing on Twitter and Flickr played a huge role in the success of the campaign. As the initiative got under way, each Impact Day site had a dedicated photographer/videographer to capture the work of Discovery employees. More than 2,000 photos, 300 tweets and a capsule of the day’s event via blog provided a conclusive answer to the question of what kind of impact Discovery’s employees can make in their communities.
Honorable Mentions:
The Clorox Company with Ketchum Public Relations – Clorox Helps Children's Health Fund Connect Kids to Care:
This program, through a $500,000 donation from Clorox, linked families across the country to help Children's Health Fund reach its goal of providing more than half a million health care visits to kids in need over two years. A Facebook page and Twitter account led to high engagement with online audiences, with the Facebook page getting 100 comments a month.
Hunter PR – Fruitables School Music Mash-Up:
To launch Apple & Eve's new juice blend Fruitables, Hunter PR created the "Best School Music Mash-Up in America" contest, which was part of the Fruitables Seeding the Arts program supporting underfunded music and art programs. The winning school received $10,000, while Fruitables scored nearly 200 media placements.
Kaiser Permanente – Dispatches From Haiti Blog:
Kaiser Permanente's public relations team seized an opportunity to highlight the efforts of its doctors and nurses in Haiti with its Dispatches blog, which provided real-time reporting from the disaster area in a photo-rich setting. The blog was an unqualified success, both within and outside Kaiser Permanente—it received 37,000 page views in its first 12 days after launch, and 49,970 views to date, as of July 2010.
MS&L – Dawn Saves Wildlife:
To build Dawn's credibility in environmental efforts, MS&L developed a community-driven movement, "Everyday Wildlife Champions," which included an online donation site and dedicated Facebook fan page that provided spotlighted content about how to save wildlife. The Everyday Wildlife Champions Facebook page has generated 87,000 likes, 10,000 comments, 60,000 photo views and 3,000 wall posts since inception.
Peel District School Board – Micro-Websites in 40 Languages:
The Peel District School Board in Ontario updated its multilingual micro-websites to better address the needs of its diverse community. The revamped sites now encompass the top 40 languages spoken in the district. In the first six months since the micro-websites were launched, there were more than 4,353 visitors.