Public Relations Awards

Duffey Communications of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, earned the Gold Stevie® Award for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year in the PR awards categories of the 2012 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's premier business awards for women executives, entrepreneurs, and the organizations they run. (Wednesday, July 24, is the early-bird entry deadline for the 10th annual awards. Request an entry kit here and it will be emailed to you right away.)

Child sex trafficking is a rampant problem worldwide, and Atlanta, Georgia, ranks among the FBI’s top 14 U.S. cities for criminal pimping activity. A Future. Not A Past. (AFNAP)­ was launched in Georgia in 2007 to stop the domestic prostitution of adolescent girls. Stevie Award winner Duffey Communications has played a major role in shining a light on this problem.

Overcoming Public Apathy
Duffey Communications worked with a coalition, including the Juvenile Justice Fund (now youthSpark), to develop the campaign’s name, brand, and strategy – and rollout the initiative statewide.  The challenge over the time was to overcome public apathy, because most people at that point ignored the issue or believed it only existed in other countries. 

This challenge was met when Keisha Head, a survivor of domestic child sex trafficking, volunteered in 2011 to serve as AFNAP’s spokesperson. Keisha agreed to tell her story on behalf of AFNAP to elevate public awareness about child sex trafficking within the United States.

Difficulty Revisiting the Past
Although she was by then 31 years old, Keisha still found it difficult to revisit her past on a public stage. To provide her with the confidence and the necessary tools to tell her story, Duffey helped Keisha prepare for interviews through media training and developed a full-length feature story. This feature highlighted Keisha’s struggles as a runaway, a victim of child sex trafficking, a madam, a prisoner, and—finally—the voice for those like her who are exploited as children.

The spokesperson campaign was officially launched in July 2011, using media relations to develop public consciousness about the horrors surrounding domestic child sex trafficking. Duffey’s measurable objective was to secure 30 million media impressions, including one national media spotlight over a one-year period.

Performance to Date
Ultimately, the initiative was a huge success, receiving over 66,021,000 media impressions (more than double the goal), including an Associated Press interview in July 2011, a rare Atlanta Journal spotlight piece in September 2011, and a national Fox News story in January 2012.

In September 2011, Keisha was approached to be the voice of a campaign launched by the nation’s leading anti-trafficking organization—Polaris Project—to encourage Congress to reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. (The Act was passed and signed by President Obama on March 7, 2013.)

In October 2011, the Office of the Fulton County District Attorney recognized Keisha Head at its 14th Annual “Voice for Victims” Awards Ceremony, held yearly to pay tribute to those who go above and beyond on behalf of victims. She was also selected to speak at The United States Attorney’s Office Human Trafficking Summit, held at Georgia State University in August 2011.

Keisha was one of eight “survivors” invited to participate in the 2012 Trafficking In Persons Symposium held in Salt Lake City in April 2012. Later that year, she was an interview subject in Atlanta’s PBA30 TV’s “How To Stop The Candy Shop” documentary, which focused on child sex trafficking. PBA30 was awarded a 2012 Southeast Regional Emmy Award for this documentary.  You can view this documentary at: http://video.pba.org/video/1771774072.

An Inspiration to Others
Despite the many lows of her past, Keisha Head used her story to change the lives of other girls like her and to raise awareness among law-enforcement officials, community ambassadors, and the general public about the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

“Through AFNAP, I was able to tell my story, a story which I hope will continue to help girls facing the same situations I did, and a story that puts a face on child prostitution to those who are working to stop this crime,” said Keisha in a press release. “These girls are your daughters, sisters, and friends. They are faces, not labels—and they are crying out for help.”

On being presented with the Gold Stevie for Best Public Service PR Campaign in November 2012, Sherri Fallin, CEO and president of Duffey, commented: “It’s important for us as an agency to support those who are willing to put themselves on the line to address tough social issues.  This is what brings about change—both in attitude and policy.  There are so many brave individuals and organizations working to put an end to child sex trafficking—and this award added voice to that cause.”

About Sherri Fallin Simmons:
Sherri Fallin Simmons’ experience in public relations, public affairs, and marketing has catapulted Atlanta’s Duffey Communications to success since she became company president and CEO in 2005. While keeping to the agency’s award-winning tradition of excellence–and bringing home more than 600 PR and marketing accolades in the past eight years—Sherri has led Duffey to develop highly visible social responsibility campaigns for issues such as water conservation, domestic child prostitution, and child-on-child sexual bullying. She has instilled her passion for social change into the agency’s business model and its staff through the creation and execution of engaging, effective public service initiatives.

About Duffey Communications, Inc.
Duffey Communications is a leading public relations and public affairs firm, and is one of the oldest independently owned, full-service agencies in the Southeast. Public relations industry media have ranked Duffey Communications as one of the nation’s 12 HOT Creative Firms, Top Strategic Counseling Firms, and Top New Media Pioneers, and Forbes magazine named it a Best of the Web company. For more information, visit www.duffey.com.

Kevin Read, Managing Director of Bell Pottinger Business & Brand in London, U.K., will Chair the Corporate Communications Awards and PR Awards Final Judging Committee in The 2013 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition. (Judging for the 2013 IBAs is now underway and we invite you to apply to be a preliminary-round judge. If you qualify, you will be able to judge over the Internet at your convenience.) Here we talked with Kevin about his thoughts on the world of international communications.

As managing director of an international public relations company, what advice do you have for corporations on how PR can solve international communications challenges?
One of the great strengths of PR consultants, especially those involved with international work, is that they can simplify the way that global corporations seek to express themselves. Equally, they are past masters of finding solutions that will illustrate the core points of a business’s products and services.

Many corporations—even significant global brands—need PR consultants to help them distil and deliver crucial messages to their target audience. Highly experienced PR professional are culturally sensitive to the ways in which a message needs to be delivered.  They are acutely aware of the modern need to balance the emotional with the rational, and the visual with the verbal.

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
I have been fascinated by the recent business news about the appointment of a Canadian as the new Governor of the Bank of England, one of the most traditional and conservative positions in the world. The media—with a little help from the Chancellor of the Exchequer—chose to portray Mark Carney both as the best man in the world for the job and as a new broom for a dusty old institution that has maybe felt too comfortable behind its giant stone walls. As Mr. Carney settles in to the job, it will be fascinating to measure any gains from improved communications with the outside world against the risks of market reactions to more regular interaction.

Do you have a favorite app that you use for business purposes?
One of the great pleasures of working on international PR campaigns is not only visiting many fascinating and vibrant cities but also having the opportunity to sample the cuisine of different cultures. The free and highly reliable OpenTable app has on many occasions—and usually at the last minute—provided me with fantastic recommendations and allowed a very smooth and easy booking process; and the ability to flick back from time to time to see where you last ate in a particular city is a great plus for the next time you visit.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
Most of my career in public relations has focused on trying to resolve urgent yet complex communications challenges in different fields.  I’ve frequently had to spend long hours studying a wide range of different topics in order to get up to speed as an expert in each of these fields. I would therefore very much enjoy the opportunity to work within academia where perhaps I could instead focus on just one issue and spend time looking into it in greater depth.  I would like to make a tiny contribution to the world’s total knowledge of one particular subject.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
There are two things about public relations which I still thoroughly enjoy: the first is coming into the office in the morning and a having a brand new brief land on my desk in an area about which I know very little, then spending the rest of the day trying to unravel the intricacies of something totally new; the second is that I still relish the process of pitching—the ideas, the structure, the performance, and, of course, winning … although it does on rare occasions involve losing.

About Kevin Read:
Kevin is a former political speechwriter and management lecturer. His main focus is on resolving complex, international communications problems, shaping fresh, modern strategies, and implementing integrated solutions that are typically spearheaded by PR.

He has more than 15 years’ senior consultancy experience and specializes in strategic planning and providing senior level business counsel. He has worked extensively for leading global brands (HSBC, British Gas, Unilever), a wide array of industry bodies (nuclear, food, telecommunications, cosmetics, beverages), government departments, NGOs, and professional services firms. 

About Bell Pottinger Private:
Bell Pottinger Private is an international, full-service communications business. The company has business experience in 60 countries, advising world leaders in politics and business, supporting communications executives in every industrial and commercial sector, and managing reputations and brands in every communications medium.  For more information go to www.bell-pottinger.co.uk.

The final extended entry deadline for the 21st annual IPRA Golden World Awards, the top international public relations awards competition, is 4 June. No additional late penalties or fees will be charged in association with the deadline extension.

The IPRA Golden World Awards for Excellence offer world-wide recognition and acclaim to world-class public relations programmes. The 2013 competition, conducted by the International Public Relations Association, is open to local, regional, national or international public relations programmes carried out or completed in 2012/2013.

To begin your submission process, you should:

1. Request an entry kit.
The entry kit will have all of the information you need regarding entry preparation and submission.

2. Review the 2013 categories.
The number of categories in the GWA has doubled this year, as now there are separate categories for Agency and for Inhouse entries. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include: Community Relations, Corporate Communications, Crisis Management, Digital Media Relations, Event Management, Internal Communications, Launch of a New Product, PR on a Shoestring, Publications, Social Media for PR, and Technology, among others. For a full list of categories, visit the GWA website at www.ipra.org/gwa.

3. Submit your entries.
To submit your entries, review the entry kit and website for complete instructions on how to choose your categories and prepare your entries. When you are ready to submit your entries, begin here.

Entries submitted to the Golden World Awards competition will be judged by an international panel of senior practitioners. In considering entries, the judges may grant one, several or no awards in each category.

The 2013 GWA are managed on behalf of IPRA by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes the world’s premier business awards programs including The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards.  Questions about IPRA’s Golden World Awards may be directed to GWA@thestevies.com.

Don't hesitate to contact us with your questions about how to participate in the 2013 edition of IPRA's Golden World Awards for Excellence.

Monday, 20 May is the final entry deadline for the 21st annual IPRA Golden World Awards, the top international public relations awards competition. Request the entry kit here and you will receive it right away.

The IPRA Golden World Awards for Excellence offer world-wide recognition and acclaim to world-class public relations programmes. The 2013 competition, conducted by the International Public Relations Association, is open to local, regional, national or international public relations programmes carried out or completed in 2012/2013.

Entries submitted to the Golden World Awards competition will be judged by an international panel of senior practitioners. In considering entries, the judges may grant one, several or no awards in each category.

The number of categories in the GWA has doubled this year, as now there are separate categories for Agency and for Inhouse entries. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include:

• Community Relations
  For community relations campaigns not conducted by government / local authorities.
• Corporate Communications
  For excellence in enhancing a company’s overall reputation through corporate communications.
• Crisis Management
  Example of excellent communications management during a crisis.
• Digital Media Relations
  For the successful use of digital media relations in a PR campaign.
• Event Management
  For the planning and delivery of a successful event with a public relations dimension.
• Internal Communications
  For a creative internal communications campaign that engaged and informed personnel.
• Launch of a New Product
  For well-planned PR activities around the launch of a product.
• PR on a Shoestring 
  For an imaginative PR campaign done on a small budget.
• Publications
  For PR publications such as newsletters or magazines that showed excellence and imagination in communicating with stakeholders. This can be in a print or electronic format.
• Social Media for PR
  For excellence in the use of social media as a public relations tool.
• Technology
  For the effective use of public relations in the technology sector, including business-to-business and consumer campaigns.

For a full list of categories, visit the GWA website at www.ipra.org/gwa.

To submit your entries, review the entry kit and website for complete instructions on how to choose your categories and prepare your entries. When you are ready to submit your entries, begin here.

The 2013 GWA are managed on behalf of IPRA by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes the world’s premier business awards programs including The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards.  Questions about IPRA’s Golden World Awards may be directed to GWA@thestevies.com.

Contact us with your questions about how to participate in the 2013 edition of IPRA's Golden World Awards for Excellence.

Today, 6 May, is the entry deadline for the 21st annual IPRA Golden World Awards, the top international public relations awards competition. You'll avoid the £50/entry late fee if you submit your entries before 10:00 am GMT tomorrow. Late entries will be accepted through 20 May with payment of the late fee.

Get Your Entry Kit Here.

The IPRA Golden World Awards for Excellence offer world-wide recognition and acclaim to world-class public relations programmes. The 2013 competition, conducted by the International Public Relations Association, is open to local, regional, national or international public relations programmes carried out or completed in 2012/2013.

The number of categories in the GWA has doubled this year, as now there are separate categories for Agency and for Inhouse entries. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include:

• Community Relations
  For community relations campaigns not conducted by government / local authorities.
• Corporate Communications
  For excellence in enhancing a company’s overall reputation through corporate communications.
• Crisis Management
  Example of excellent communications management during a crisis.
• Digital Media Relations
  For the successful use of digital media relations in a PR campaign.
• Event Management
  For the planning and delivery of a successful event with a public relations dimension.
• Internal Communications
  For a creative internal communications campaign that engaged and informed personnel.
• Launch of a New Product
  For well-planned PR activities around the launch of a product.
• PR on a Shoestring 
  For an imaginative PR campaign done on a small budget.
• Publications
  For PR publications such as newsletters or magazines that showed excellence and imagination in communicating with stakeholders. This can be in a print or electronic format.
• Social Media for PR
  For excellence in the use of social media as a public relations tool.
• Technology
  For the effective use of public relations in the technology sector, including business-to-business and consumer campaigns.

For a full list of categories, visit the GWA website at www.ipra.org/gwa.

Entries submitted to the Golden World Awards competition will be judged by an international panel of senior practitioners. In considering entries, the judges may grant one, several or no awards in each category. To submit your entries, review the entry kit and website for complete instructions on how to choose your categories and prepare your entries. When you are ready to submit your entries, begin here.

The 2013 GWA are managed on behalf of IPRA by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes the world’s premier business awards programs including The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards.  Questions about IPRA’s Golden World Awards may be directed to GWA@thestevies.com.

Contact us with your questions about how to participate in the 2013 edition of IPRA's Golden World Awards for Excellence.

The entry deadline for the 21st annual IPRA Golden World Awards, the top international public relations awards competition, is 6 May. If you haven't yet done so, you can get your entry kit here. (Late entries will be accepted through 20 May with payment of a £50/entry late fee.)

The IPRA Golden World Awards for Excellence offer world-wide recognition and acclaim to world-class public relations programmes. The 2013 competition, conducted by the International Public Relations Association, is open to local, regional, national or international public relations programmes carried out or completed in 2012/2013.

Entries submitted to the Golden World Awards competition will be judged by an international panel of senior practitioners. In considering entries, the judges may grant one, several or no awards in each category. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include:

• Community Relations
  For community relations campaigns not conducted by government / local authorities.
• Corporate Communications
  For excellence in enhancing a company’s overall reputation through corporate communications.
• Crisis Management
  Example of excellent communications management during a crisis.
• Digital Media Relations
  For the successful use of digital media relations in a PR campaign.
• Event Management
  For the planning and delivery of a successful event with a public relations dimension.
• Internal Communications
  For a creative internal communications campaign that engaged and informed personnel.
• Launch of a New Product
  For well-planned PR activities around the launch of a product.
• PR on a Shoestring 
  For an imaginative PR campaign done on a small budget.
• Publications
  For PR publications such as newsletters or magazines that showed excellence and imagination in communicating with stakeholders. This can be in a print or electronic format.
• Social Media for PR
  For excellence in the use of social media as a public relations tool.
• Technology
  For the effective use of public relations in the technology sector, including business-to-business and consumer campaigns.

For a full list of categories, visit the GWA website at www.ipra.org/gwa.

To submit your entries, review the entry kit and website for complete instructions on how to choose your categories and prepare your entries. When you are ready to submit your entries, begin here.

The 2013 GWA are managed on behalf of IPRA by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes the world’s premier business awards programs including The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards.  Questions about IPRA’s Golden World Awards may be directed to GWA@thestevies.com.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with your questions about how to participate in the 2013 edition of IPRA's Golden World Awards for Excellence.

Burson-Marsteller in Sydney, Australia received the Gold Stevie® Award for Best PR Campaign of the Year in Community Relations in the PR awards categories of The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition. (The entry deadline for the 2013 IBAs is 15 May. If you haven't yet done so, you can request your entry kit here.) Here we look at the surprising way a health message was communicated.

Seven million Australians are estimated to be at serious risk of lung disease, a growing health issue that causes 350,000 hospitalizations in that country annually. The Australian Lung Foundation (ALF) had been trying to educate the public about this problem since 1990, but had been finding it a major challenge.

In 2011, Burson-Marsteller (B-M) encouraged the ALF to try a completely different approach. The result was the “Show Us Your Lungs” campaign, which engaged more Australians, through more mediums, than any ALF campaign before it.

Background
After five years of working with the ALF, B-M wanted to re-invigorate the annual ALF campaign to encourage Australians to take action against the symptoms of lung disease, but felt that a fresh approach was needed to achieve the necessary cut-through in public attention.

The concept that B-M developed embodied a cheeky call to action—“Show Us Your Lungs!”—With a serious message that would resonate with all audiences, but especially health professionals, patient groups, and consumers.

To ensure support from campaign stakeholders, B-M presented the initial strategy and creative concepts to approximately 40 key medical opinion leaders and corporate funding bodies.  It was accepted with resounding applause.

The project was implemented and run between July – October, 2011.

Background Research
In order to highlight the risks to the public of ignoring their lungs, research was undertaken in the form of a survey into general consumer attitudes towards lung health.

Celebrity Stakeholders
High profile Australians were partnered with to communicate key campaign messages, including Australia’s best-known GP, Dr. John D’Arcy, TV vet Dr. Harry Cooper, and actor John Jarratt, star of the popular Australian show Wolf Creek.

Teaser Campaign
B-M directed a quirky teaser video and full-length community service announcement, featuring John Jarratt and a couple of “flashers” in trench coats, who “flashed” people on the street, only to reveal healthy and unhealthy lungs painted on their bodies. These videos spearheaded the digital element of the campaign and were hosted on the ALF YouTube channel.

Using the findings of the initial survey to communicate how many Australians are at risk of lung disease, B-M developed a multi-media news release, which included media materials, research findings, and visual and audio content from the spokespeople. In addition to celebrities, the spokespeople included lung-disease patients and leading medical experts.

Flashing in Public
A public “flashing” event was held to launch the campaign on October 10, 2011. Actors in trench coats “flashed” commuters, revealing their body-painted lungs. This event had the dual purpose of engaging directly with the public to deliver campaign messages, and providing media visuals to support the national and state-based media outreach.

Collateral Material
A range of promotional campaign material was produced that encouraged people to take the ALF’s lung health checklist, visit online resources, and/or seek medical advice.

Outcomes

1. The campaign reached nearly a quarter of all Australians with an estimated reach of 5.5 million. This included 540 pieces of coverage across television, radio, print, and online outlets, including over 3,600 views of the YouTube videos.
2. Traffic to the ALF website doubled during the campaign launch, and there was a huge spike in social media activity.
3. The ALF received feedback from health care providers that there was a significant increase in enquiries about lung health over the duration of the campaign.

About Burson Marsteller Sydney:
Burson-Marsteller Sydney is a leading public relations and public affairs firm that has provided strategic communication services to some of Australia's largest and most reputable companies since 1980.  The agency has the benefit of a global, resource-rich network, while retaining a local, flexible, and nimble offering in Australia, making it a partner of choice to both large and small businesses.

The early-bird entry deadline for the 21st annual IPRA Golden World Awards, the top international public relations awards competition, is 15 April. You'll save £50 per entry if you submit your nominations through that date.

If you haven't yet done so, you can get your entry kit here.

The IPRA Golden World Awards for Excellence offer world-wide recognition and acclaim to world-class public relations programmes. The 2013 competition, conducted by the International Public Relations Association, is open to local, regional, national or international public relations programmes carried out or completed in 2012/2013.

The GWAs has doubled the number of categories this year,  as now there are separate categories for Agency and for Inhouse entries. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include:

• Community Relations
  For community relations campaigns not conducted by government / local authorities.
• Corporate Communications
  For excellence in enhancing a company’s overall reputation through corporate communications.
• Crisis Management
  Example of excellent communications management during a crisis.
• Digital Media Relations
  For the successful use of digital media relations in a PR campaign.
• Event Management
  For the planning and delivery of a successful event with a public relations dimension.
• Internal Communications
  For a creative internal communications campaign that engaged and informed personnel.
• Launch of a New Product
  For well-planned PR activities around the launch of a product.
• PR on a Shoestring 
  For an imaginative PR campaign done on a small budget.
• Publications
  For PR publications such as newsletters or magazines that showed excellence and imagination in communicating with stakeholders. This can be in a print or electronic format.
• Social Media for PR
  For excellence in the use of social media as a public relations tool.
• Technology
  For the effective use of public relations in the technology sector, including business-to-business and consumer campaigns.

For a full list of categories, visit the GWA website.

GWA now features three entry deadlines:

• 15 April - the early-bird deadline, with a discounted fee of £250 per entry
• 6 May - final entry deadline, entry fee is £300 per entry
• 20 May - last day that late entries will be accepted with payment of £50/entry late fee

Entry details are available at www.ipra.org/gwa.

To submit your entries, review the entry kit and website for complete instructions on how to choose your categories and prepare your entries. When you are ready to submit your entries, begin here.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with your questions about how to participate in the 2013 edition of IPRA's Golden World Awards for Excellence.

Yulu Public Relations Inc. in Vancouver, Canada, received the Gold Stevie® Award for Best Public Service PR Campaign in the PR awards categories of The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition. (10 April is the early-bird entry deadline for the 2013 IBAs, take advantage of discounted entry fees for those entries submitted by 10 April, request your entry kit here. Interested in more PR categories? The Stevie Awards now manages the IPRA Golden World Awards, which will be accepting entries through 20 May.) Here we look at Yulu Communications award-winning work for the charity F*ck Cancer.

The communications awards winner, Yulu Public Relations Inc., was recognized by the IBAs for their media relations work with local charity F*ck Cancer’s international campaign titled “The Cancer Talk.”  On winning the award, Yulu’s co-founder Melissa Orozco commented: “When I lived in New York, PR agencies would battle tooth and nail for a Stevie award, so when we received the news that we had won gold, we were ecstatic.” She added: “Our work with F*ck Cancer has been extremely rewarding—and most of all, fun!”

Mission: To Start Talking
F*ck Cancer's objective is to put an end to late-stage cancer diagnosis by educating youth about early cancer detection. The ongoing mission has an ambitious, strong, and clear call-to-action: Empower Generation-Y (aka Millennials) to make a difference in fighting and educating people about cancer. The conversation begins at home with today's youth talking to their parents about early detection. Part of F*ck Cancer's mission through “The Cancer Talk” is to teach them how to get that conversation started.

Stigma
In mid-2011, F*ck Cancer recruited Yulu PR to assist in promoting the organization’s mission to eliminate the stigma and barrier experienced when millennials attempted to talk with their parents about checking regularly for cancer. F*ck Cancer had already spent two years building and executing engaging campaigns aimed at educating youth on ways to broach the subject of cancer with their parents, but the conversation was still an uncomfortable one. The mission with this campaign was to find a way to get the conversation started in a new, more effective way.

Pay It Forward
Inspired by an experience many of us have been through—that awkward "sex talk" our parents had with us growing up—F*ck Cancer launched a campaign called “The Cancer Talk." The message we should be sharing with today's youth is: "Your parents took the time to have the ‘sex talk’ with you because they love you and want to keep you safe. Now it's your turn to pay it forward and have the 'cancer talk' with them, because you love them and want to keep them safe.”

Celebrity Ambassadors
To execute this campaign, Yulu and F*ck Cancer collaboratively established relationships with influential media and celebrities and had them share the story of when their parents had the “sex talk” with them. Many of the campaign's ambassadors were selected specifically for their popularity and influence among millennials. The stories these celebrity ambassadors recorded were personal and funny, and each video ended with the star bringing the attention back to the main message: "Pay it forward and have the 'cancer talk' with your parents!" These celebrity “Cancer Talk” videos can be viewed here.

Sixteen celebrity endorsement videos were created for the campaign. The video featuring One Tree Hill's Sophia Bush spread to more than 54 million people in under three weeks thanks to the power of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Bush's celebrity fan site.

Massive Success
Yulu’s main role in this stage of the campaign was to share these celebrities’ videos with influential media. To capitalize on the massive success generated by the digital media campaign, Yulu facilitated a national media tour for F*ck Cancer's CEO Yael Cohen. Yulu secured interviews and coverage with leading media outlets including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, VOGUE, Forbes, ELLE, TeenVOGUE, Fitness Magazine, Fast Company, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, and many more.

From the top-ten media hits alone (out of approximately 400 traceable articles and videos, and not including Twitter and Facebook impressions), the campaign was viewed, read, and listened to by an audience of more than 49,564,141 people.

Since the campaign launched in the summer of 2011, Yael has been recognized by The Globe and Mail in Canada as one of twelve people changing philanthropy, alongside Bill Gates and Bono; and she has been listed on Fast Company's Top-100 Creative Business People, all thanks to the organization's unique approach to starting this vital conversation.

About Melissa Orozco:
Melissa Orozco is the principal and co-founder of Vancouver-based PR agency Yulu Public Relations Inc. She co-founded Yulu PR in 2011 after nearly a decade of PR experience, including a five-year stint working at top PR agencies in New York City. F*ck Cancer was Yulu's first client. The firm has since grown from one to eight employees. A natural storyteller, Melissa developed a knack for media relations early in her career, and has garnered coverage for her clients in most major publications and outlets including CNN, The New York Times, The TODAY Show, and VOGUE.

About Yulu Communicatons:
Yulu Public Relations Inc. is a full-service public relations and digital media agency that works with brands to cultivate their stories and share them in a meaningful way. Its clients range from non-profits to real estate and lifestyle brands that are being featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Self, The New York Times, The LA Times, on CNN, Anderson, CTV, CBC and Global.

About F*ck Cancer:
F*ck Cancer is a Vancouver-based charity that seeks to put an end to late-stage cancer diagnosis by educating Generation Y (AKA Millennials) about early cancer detection though creative, engaging campaigns. 90 per cent of cancers are curable if caught in stage one. F*ck Cancer’s mission is to share this message with today’s youth; creating a generation of early cancer detection ambassadors. For more information, go to http://cancertalk.letsfcancer.com/.

Blue Trumpet Group in Alameda, California, USA, won the Gold Stevie® Award for Best Communications Campaign of the Year - Reputation/Brand Management in the PR awards categories of The 2012 American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A. (The entry deadline for the 2013 ABAs is March 27, request your entry kit here and it will be emailed to you right away.) Here we look at how Blue Trumpet Group raised awareness about wireless power and emerging technology.

What is Wireless Power?
Fulton Innovation originally developed the concept of eCoupled™ wireless power in 1999 to solve a very real problem: safely providing power to a home-use water treatment system.  It was from there that Fulton realized that wireless power had incredible potential across a broad range of consumer electronic devices.  Convenience, reduction in cable-related warranty issues, and cable-free form factors became clear benefits.  It was evident to Fulton that a future of electronic products without power cords was not a dream, but a reality that could be brought to consumers quickly.

Fulton initially created prototypes of the innovative technology in mobile phones by retrofitting existing phones with eCoupled technology.  It used these demos to attract partners and prove that wireless power was indeed a viable technology.  In 2011, as a result of those prototypes, several of Fulton’s partners—Motorola, Samsung, LG, HTC, and Pantech—launched phones with eCoupled wireless power technology as built-in options.

Fulton’s drive to eliminating wires in the electronic industry is not limited to creating innovative technology.  Fulton’s leaders understood that mass consumer adoption of wireless power technology would only become a reality if there were industry standards.  As a result, Fulton became a founding member of the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), which now has over 130 member companies.  Fulton is a key technology contributor to the WPC’s Qi wireless power standard, which has been developed to make it easier for consumer and manufacturers to adopt the technology without having to worry about compatibility across brands. 

Blue Trumpet Group was tasked by Fulton Innovation to raise the awareness of wireless power as a viable option for devices that use traditional power cables. 

A PR Challenge
Wireless power is a relatively new concept and although Fulton provided a solution—their eCoupled technology—it was clear that for the concept to be widely accepted by consumers, the PR campaign would need to extend beyond Fulton’s technology, and raise awareness of the wireless power industry as a whole.

In addition, the agency was faced with a unique challenge: Fulton had no visible product. Instead, it created the wireless power technology that it then licensed to partners to embed inside their products. This meant that Blue Trumpet Group had to go beyond basic brand management and create a comprehensive campaign addressing consumer education, industry issues, and potential partner relations.

Blue Trumpet Group’s solution was a broad-ranging campaign including:

1. Whitepapers, explaining the technology
2. Speaking opportunities for the engineers to talk to manufacturers about the technical benefits of wireless power
3. Strategic media relations targeting key influential media
4. Trade Shows: a trade show program focused on demonstrating real-life prototypes culminating at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2012.
5. Videos: short, easy-to-share videos were used to tease the media before CES, and get consumers excited about new developments in wireless power.

Global Campaign
A series of whitepapers, aimed specifically at engineers, was published on leading technical websites to explain the technology and benefits in detail. Fulton executives and scientists were put on the road to speak at conferences and seminars globally, including South by Southwest (SXSW), CES, CTIA, International Wireless Power Summit, IDTechEx, and more. Over the course of a year, company spokespeople met with media from all over the globe, and distributed more than 400 electronic media kits of news, information, photos, and video. It was a relentless campaign that required meticulous attention to detail to keep the brand’s message consistent and relevant.

From CES alone, Blue Trumpet Group was instrumental in facilitating Fulton's appearance in more than 120 media articles, 30% of which included video. But more importantly, wireless power was recognized as a leading technology.

The Power of the Future
The analyst firm Demartek reported that wireless power might very well become the universal power delivery standard and stated: “Imagine the impact that this type of power distribution will have over the long term. I believe that this is like re-inventing electricity, or at least how it is delivered.”

Global Recognition:
The Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum recognized wireless power as a top 10 emerging technology for 2012; Wireless Power made the list of Mashable’s top 10 futuristic technologies that are in development now; and the BBC developed a feature story covering the future of the wireless power industry. 

By delivering messages around the benefits of wireless power—not simply the benefits of Fulton’s technology—Blue Trumpet Group was able to significantly raise the awareness of wireless power and build a recognizable brand with consumers and within the technology industry.

About Sharon Barclay:
Sharon Barclay is the Principal of Blue Trumpet Group and has two decades of public relations experience—both agency and in-house—across three continents.  Sharon specializes in technology, executive visibility, business-to-business, and consumer technologies.  Over the years, Sharon has worked for clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500s, including HP, Compaq, Computer Associates, Intel, Motorola, Samsung, Deloitte, Airvana, DriverSide, 1&1 Internet, Ziggs, NaviSite, Xircom, Blackhawk Network, and Fulton Innovation. Sharon's milstones include being a key member of the team that worked on the PR strategy and execution for the Compaq/HP merger, the largest IT merger in history and helping to launch the Pentium Pro microprocessor, the Pentium II chip, OverDrive processors, and MMX technology for Intel.

About Blue Trumpet Group:
Blue Trumpet Group is an independent corporate and executive visibility firm that brings large agency experience to clients. It specializes in tailored PR and marketing programs for companies and individuals in technology, consumer tech, and all areas supporting those sectors. For more information, go to www.bluetrumpetgroup.com.

About Fulton Innovation and eCoupled Technology:
A subsidiary of Alticor Corporation, Fulton Innovation is dedicated to commercializing new and innovative technologies that improve the way we live, work, and play.  Fulton is working with a wide range of industry-leading companies to integrate wireless power technology into infrastructure and electronic devices to enable consumers to live a truly wireless life. The engineers behind eCoupled have been developing, advancing, and perfecting the technology for over 14 years.  For additional information, please visit ecoupled.com.