Winner: Latham & Watkins for Recruiting Flash Drive
Every year, tens of thousands of qualified candidates graduate from law schools with high grade point averages and an appetite for 80-hour workweeks. Given the extreme
competition among the companies that recruit these fresh-faced lawyers - especially for top-tier law firms - litigation powerhouse Latham & Watkins had to come up with a sink-
or-swim strategy. It developed a recruiting brochure that could be delivered to candidates in a useful, unique way.
Print brochures draw yawns from even the most over-caffeinated law school grads. Recruitment research conducted by the firm revealed an oversaturated market of print
brochures, most of which were indistinguishable from one firm to the next in the eyes of job candidates.
To make its "brochures" stand out, the communications team decided to turn to a more innovative, practical delivery vehicle: USB flash drives.
The small, attractive drives not only served as a valuable branding tool for the firm, but they were also enduring pieces of technology that could be re-purposed by the
students for their own use down the road.
This nontraditional approach gave Latham & Watkins executives a double "bang" for their $90,000 buck - a budget that was in line with the previous years' spending on
traditional paper brochures and production.
Not only did the flash drive attract top candidates, but it also served as a cost-effective way to keep marketing materials up-to-date. With each new recruiting season, the
team could add timely, relevant marketing materials to the drives instead of incurring the cost of reprints.
But perhaps the greatest benefit went to the law students - who were happy not to get just one more promotional pen or business card to add to the pile of forgotten recruitment
freebies.
Honorable Mentions
Harvest of the Month: Growing Healthy Students: Hill & Knowlton Getting kids to eat their vegetables is no easy task, until you use the power of PR. Last September, Hill
& Knowlton sent more than 600 tool kits - made up of newsletters, menu slicks and press release templates - to 39 low-resource school districts throughout California. In an
online survey conducted among administrators, 96 percent said they would recommend the program to colleagues and other educators.
Miracle on 51st Street Campaign Folder: Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation & Effectiveness Through Communication Elementary Institute of Science The Elementary
Institute of Science launched a publication, "Miracle on 51st Street," to educate potential donors about the history of EIS, its accomplishments, goals and future programs. The
campaign involved a booklet, three inserts and a remit envelope. In addition to raising awareness for EIS, it also raised $396,000.
Terrorism and Other Public Health Emergencies: A Reference Guide for Media: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and the American Institutes for Research developed the reference guide "Terrorism and Other Public Health Emergencies: A
Reference Guide for Media." The publication's goal was to provide accurate information on a range of terrorist threats, from biological agents to food safety and security. By
making the guide attractive and useful to its target audience, more than 20,000 copies were distributed. One testimonial demonstrated the guide's usefulness when the media had to
cover a ricin scare on a college campus.