Winner: Ronald W. Wong, Imprenta Communications Group
In 2007, San Francisco became the first major American city to pass a ban on single-use plastic bags. Today, plastic bag bans are in place in over 140 cities and municipalities throughout California. While many jurisdictions in the state have banned plastic bags, the issue is far from settled. Organizing and educating diverse California communities offers a significant opportunity for environmentalists to bring a growing demographic into the conversation. Ronald Wong led a comprehensive campaign targeted at California’s diverse communities that included research, message development, creative development, digital engagement through social media and a multilingual website.
Ronald Wong spearheaded outreach to Asian Pacific American and Latino community organizations, key stakeholders, decision makers and local officials primarily in Los Angeles and the South Bay. This also included media outreach to a variety of highly targeted outlets statewide. The center of the campaign was a multilingual website conceptualized and implemented by Wong and a Facebook campaign to compliment the site and provide culturally relevant content to engage Asian Pacific American and Latino audiences. The campaign’s website saw more than 42,000 hits with 65 percent of visitors viewing the site in a language other than English, while the Facebook page saw over 6,000 likes and reached an estimated audience of upwards of 300,000 users. Media outreach won another 42.7 million impressions for Wong's efforts.