As part of its annual Platinum & Agency Elite Awards program celebrating the best and brightest in communications, PR News handpicks a group of campaigns that will likely be remembered in years to come for their ingenuity, strategic messaging and measurable communications outcomes. These campaigns make up PR News’ Platinum Hall of Fame, and this year's winners will be officially inducted at PR News' Platinum & Agency Elite Awards luncheon Sept. 21 in New York City.
One of this year's Hall of Fame inductees, the DoSomething.org website, was selected by PR News' panel of judges as leading the pack in clear and achievable calls to action. Website visitors have the option to get involved on a variety of causes using a simple dropdown that filters by time commitment and type of cause. Each campaign page features DoSomething’s sleek and easy-to-use design, allowing campaign leaders’ work to be showcased to the fullest.
PR News spoke to DoSomething.org's CMO Carrie Bloxson about her organization's Hall of Fame win, and what makes DoSomething.org's website such a standout.
PR News: What’s your favorite element of the DoSomething.org website?
Carrie Bloxson: Our custom voter registration pages are one of our biggest initiatives right now. We have registered a ton of first-time voters through this new functionality. Beyond that, we have a number of campaign pages that not only bring awareness to social issues for young people, but show them how they can take action. It's not just, "Look at this photo," or, "We care about climate change." Instead, it's "What can we do about climate change?" It's highlighting what a young person can do to take action. It's really about empowering young people to transform their communities.
PR News: Who came up with the bold visuals and easy-to-use interface for your website?
CB: Our creative director oversees the look and feel of our website and digital platforms. We are constantly iterating on it, trying to be reflective of the culture and the tone of young people across the country. Our brand is innovative, actionable and inspiring, so we try to use colors that reflect that.
PR News: What's your approach to SEO?
CB: SEO is a huge priority for us. We work cross-functionally in the organization to make sure we're optimized both on the back end and in our messaging strategy in the content we produce—and in terms of usability best practices.
PR News: How do you shine a spotlight on campaign leaders in your website content?
CB: [The website] is an opportunity to highlight photos of the young people leading our initiatives. Many of them are interns or employees. We make sure we’re being as authentic as we can in showcasing DoSomething's culture and core values.
What organizational goals has the DoSomething.org website helped you meet?
CB: Voter registration is one of our big initiatives for 2018 and beyond into 2020. More broadly speaking, our goal is to keep our members engaged and inspired to take action long-term. Young people have the power and passion to transform their communities. We help them get it done.
On the website, we have a number of campaigns running, including information about safe driving, gun violence, mental health and discrimination. We switch out our campaigns about every month, reflective of what's going on in current events.
As young people are reading about an issue in the news, we're saying, "You know that issue you saw about climate change or discrimination? Here's what you can do about it." So our website really shows how you can take action based on issues that you are passionate about.
Hear from Carrie and the rest of the Platinum Hall of Fame inductees in person at PR News' Platinum & Agency Elite Awards Sept. 21 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. ESPN's Hannah Storm will be hosting.