2013 Digital PR Awards: Most Engaged Brand

Winner: Catalyst, an IMG Consulting Company - DICK’S Sporting Goods

On behalf of DICK'S Sporting Goods, Catalyst set out to motivate, inform and equip the “true athlete”; it also sought to protect and enhance the online reputation of DICK'S Sporting Goods.

Catalyst created a consistent brand voice on social by doing a deep dive on consumer insights and conducting a series of creative exercises with senior leaders at DICK'S. From this process, they developed a brand guidelines document for use by the social media team; developed a real-time social media newsroom with staff passionate and knowledgeable about sports; conducted daily social media analytical research to understand what content true athletes really engage with; used real-time analytics to make content optimizations; activated relevant seasonal campaigns to generate brand awareness in meaningful and relevant ways; and revised the customer service process at DICK'S to be "social media friendly" by ensuring a response occurs within 24-48 hours of a social media post.

For Back-To-School/Hell Week, DICK'S launched a social media content series that showcased the preseason experience of Cass Tech in Massachusetts. The Hell Week video series generated over 1.57 million views and was a key turning point for DICK'S on YouTube, allowing the brand to attain category leadership for channel views and begin to develop a regularly-sustained subscriber base. Also, through Jersey Report, a website that ranked NFL players by how well their jerseys were selling at DICK'S, the campaign generated over 15 million social media impressions and regular postings by professional athletes and notable sports media during the NFL season

DICK'S exceeded all 2012 goals for reach, growth, engagement and chatter on social media channels, adding 1.4 million fans/followers, experiencing 327% community growth. On Facebook, DICK'S increased community engagement from 2% to over 9% by publishing relevant content in a resonant brand voice. DICK'S consistently led Share of Voice among the competitive set, moving from 30% - 45% share during the year. This was done by participating in the real-time sports conversation, engaging professional athletes and social media influencers, and publishing relevant seasonal content.

Honorable Mentions:

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan - "An Apple a Day" in a Digital World: Michigan Blues Build Healthy Relationships with Consumers Through AHealthierMichigan.org
• Cone Communications - Reinventing the Oil Change - Jiffy Lube International
• Hunter Public Relations - Golden Crisp's Sugar Bear Sweetens Pop Culture
• Makovsky - MediScripts