Co-Winner: Ogilvy PR with National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute – The Heart Truth Red Dress Collection 2012
Leveraging The Heart Truth’s decade of progress in helping to raise awareness of the No. 1 killer of women—heart disease—the PR team at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute looked to invigorate one of its signature events: the Red Dress Collection fashion show .The Heart Truth would pull out all the stops to generate more buzz around the event than ever, seeking 15 celebrity women to serve as runway models and spokespeople at the 2012 show. On, Feb. 8, more than 1,200 people jammed a ballroom to see celebrities like Aisha Tyler, Chaka Khan, Gloria Estefan and Minka Kelly on the runway.
As a result, 250 media member and bloggers attended the show; media impressions totaled 1 billion and social media conversations included 26 million unique Twitter users and 9 million Facebook page impressions. —RD
Co-Winner: Waggener Edstrom Worldwide – Microsoft Office 365: Launching collaboration for everyone from the smallest businesses to the largest
An under-the-radar launch this wasn’t. In setting the campaign for Microsoft Office 365—the
company’s cloud-based productivity suite—the stakes were high, as the product’s success would have a big impact on the future of the $22 billion Office division.
So Waggener Edstrom devised a core set of guiding principles: be inspiring and approachable; be customer-centric; and be global Pre-launch, Waggener Edstrom fielded a perception audit of press, bloggers and analysts to gauge acceptance of Office 365, along with a press tour that would identify hot button issues.
Powerful storytelling enabled by ad campaigns, infographics, Facebook contests and customer videos drove the campaign. The effort resulted in thousands of sales leads for the product, 2,000 media hits worldwide and close to 51,000 tweets with a reach of 45 million throughout the campaign. —JH
Honorable Mentions:
Chandler Chicco Agency on behalf of Sanofi US – Get Back In Rhythm: CCA enlisted music icon and atrial fibrillation (AFib) patient Barry Manilow to raise awareness of the serious heart disease. A media kickoff, an AFib-themed Manilow concert and a Capitol Hill briefing resulted in 76 original media placements and 2.2 million Twitter impressions.
GolinHarris for Nintendo of America – Nintendo Drives Mario Kart 7 to a New Dimension: To drive interest in the latest edition of the 20 year-old franchise, life-size versions of two karts were created and displayed at the LA Auto Show, resulting 907 million media impressions, making 7 the fastest selling Mario Kart game of all time.
MSLGROUP Americas – Prilosec OTC & Larry The Cable Guy Coach Football Fans on “A Better Way to Tailgate”: To make Prilosec OTC stand out as a heartburn medicine, MSLGROUP engaged Larry The Cable Guy to judge an online tailgating contest. The effort connected 300,000 people via digital and live events, and over 1 billion total media impressions.
Red Agency – Foodbank Australia: Bridge the Hunger Divide: To combat hunger Down Under, the agency built a model of Sydney Harbor Bridge out of food. The bridge was seen by 54,000 people and Facebook activity reached 15,000+ fans.
Weber Shandwick – Mobil 1 Car Swap: Weber Shandwick brought together NASCAR champ Tony Stewart and Formula 1 champ Lewis Hamilton to race in each other’s cars to lift Mobil 1’s visibility. Strong media relations and social outreach resulted in 1,300 print, broadcast and online stories in 35 countries.
Powell Tate – Highlighting Weight Watchers as a Leader and Partner in Public Policy Conversations on Reversing the Obesity Epidemic: Powell Tate positioned Weight Watchers as a leading authority on obesity and weight-related diseases. A panel discussion featuring a strong lineup of experts drew coverage from the Washington Post, Roll Call, the Washington Times and other outlets.