Each fall, PR News benchmarks excellence in PR, marketing and communications campaigns with its annual Platinum PR Awards luncheon. At the luncheon, award winners are recognized for outstanding contributions to the communications and marketing landscape, from video campaigns to social media initiatives to media events and more.
With the 2017 Platinum PR Awards entry deadline around the corner on May 5, it's an ideal time to take a look back at one of 2016's Platinum awardees, Michelin, and examine how their campaign is having a lasting impact in the communications world and beyond.
Did your brand launch an outstanding communications or marketing campaign in the last year? Enter by May 5 to be considered for a 2017 Platinum PR award. View a full list of last year's award winners and finalists on the 2016 Platinum PR winners site.
Michelin's winning campaign in the Cause-Related Marketing category, "Beyond the Driving Test: Michelin Puts Air in Teens' Tire Awareness," sought to close a knowledge gap around tire safety in order to address the major issue of car crashes (the leading cause of teen deaths in the U.S.). To close this knowledge gap and better align Michelin with tire safety, Michelin targeted teens directly through social media marketing, an influencer video campaign and a website that serves as an ongoing resource hub for tire safety education. Michelin also lobbied state officials and agencies to get tire safety information included in driving test curricula nationwide.
"Beyond the Driving Test" succeeded on every count: Its teen influencer videos saw millions of views on YouTube and more than doubled social media impressions over Michelin's similar efforts in years previous. But the campaign was more than just a viral success and brand alignment win. Since its launch, Michelin's tire safety campaign has seen 41 states commit to incorporating tire safety information into drivers' ed curricula, and Michelin aims for all 50 states to include tire safety best practices in their driver's ed curricula by the year 2020.
Michelin's campaign was also inducted into PR News' CSR Hall of Fame in March 2017.