Public Relations Awards

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.

The 2013 American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A., feature a wide selection of categories to recognize the achievements of PR professionals and we thought it would be helpful if we highlighted five additional awards categories that should be of interest to PR individuals. (March 27 is the entry deadline for the 2013 ABAs. If you haven't yet done so, you can request your entry kit here.)

In addition to submitting entries specifically labeled as PR awards, there are several communications awards categories including:

1. Annual Report Awards Categories
   These categories recognize excellence in annual reports, brochures, marketing and sales kits, house organs (corporate magazines), and other publications issued since January 1, 2012.
2. App Awards Categories
   These categories recognize excellence in apps for handheld and tablet devices, and for PCs, issued or updated since January 1, 2012.
3. Live Event Awards Categories
   These categories recognize excellence in live events staged since January 1, 2012.
4. Video Awards Categories
   These categories recognize excellence in videos produced for a business- or work-related purpose that were first released or otherwise made public since January 1, 2012.
5. Website Awards Categories
   These categories recognize excellence in web sites and blogs. There is no eligibility timeframe for these categories - it doesn't matter when the site or blog was first published.

Leave us a comment and let us know which categories your organization will be submiting entries to in the 2013 ABAs.

Marketing 24/7, Inc., of Birmingham, Alabama, USA, received 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. (Entries for the 2013 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives and the organizations they run, will open in May. Request an entry kit for the 2013 awards and it will be emailed to you when entries open.) Here Marketing 24/7, Inc's CEO, Ruwena Healy, shares her tips for winning Stevie Awards.

What are your top tips for winning business awards in the Stevie Awards?
The opportunity to be recognized as a Stevie Awards-winner has me thinking about the importance of pursing these kinds of business awards and honors. What does it take to always push yourself to be an award winner in your business? Obviously, it takes a great deal more than just applying for them.

For years, I have employed a variety of good business practices that have helped my company succeed:

1. Keep focused on what’s to come in your business.
   Look forward at least 12 months and have a plan for each of those months and what you want to have accomplished two years from now.
2. Always execute work with perfection.
3. Deliver “creative” results for clients or customers.
   Don’t do only what is expected. Focus on the unexpected, what’s unique and how you can make that happen in a successful way.
4. Give your work 110 percent always and then some.
   100 percent or less doesn’t make one an award winner.
5. Discover the awards process from the inside out.
   Becoming a judge for a variety of awards opportunities helps you learn more about the process and exactly what is expected from winners.
6. Benchmark your business against people who are winning awards.
   Get familiar with the winners’ circle and observe what they do. Why did they win? What are they doing differently? Use business award winners as the companies to benchmark your staff and customer processes.

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
A recent article on FastCompany.com focused on why good writing is essential for business. In this age of social media driven communication, we all strive to deliver strong messages in 140 characters or less. But the true art of writing can get left behind. Good business requires good communication. I think it is crucial that we continue to stress the importance of proper pros to the young professionals coming up behind us.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
If I had to choose another profession, I would want to be a physician. As I’ve aged, I realized the importance of health and our family’s health.  If I were a doctor, I would know more about the basics of good medical care and be in a better position to help family and friends when important health issues arise.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
I have always been driven to achieve perfection. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t quite as driven. But I like being successful at whatever I set my sights on. This allows me to maintain my focus and hit the ground running every day.

About Ruwena Healy:
Ruwena Healy is the CEO of Marketing 24/7, Inc., a full-service marketing firm that specializes in developing marketing plans and executing the details of them. Founded seven years ago, Marketing 24/7, Inc. has become one of Birmingham’s Top 10 PR firms. Healy and Marketing 24/7 are the recipients of numerous national and international awards for excellence including most recently the Gold Stevie Award in the 2012 Stevie Awards for Women In Business.  Earlier in 2012, Healy was honored with the Bronze Stevie Award for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Low Budget in The American Business Awards and named 1^st runner up in the Birmingham Business Journal’s Social Madness competition.

Healy maintains a blog at www.mastermarketing247.com and has authored numerous published articles that have appeared in PR News’ 2011 Crisis Management Guidebook, Birmingham Business Journal, The Birmingham News, Alabama Business News and al.com.  Healy is a sought after speaker and trainer covering topics on marketing, branding, social media and public relations.

About Marketing 24/7:
Marketing 24/7, Inc. celebrated its 7^th anniversary in 2012 of providing professionals with marketing and business development solutions. CEO Ruwena Healy founded the firm with the mission of providing high-level marketing and business development consulting; marketing plan development and execution; and strategic planning services to companies, entrepreneurs and professionals.  Marketing 24/7 offers unique expertise in personal branding and company branding as well as improving marketing and business development effectiveness for the purpose of increasing revenues. Marketing 24/7 has a diverse client base and is currently ranked as Birmingham’s 11^th largest PR firm. For more information, visit www.marketing247.net.

There are 21 PR awards categories in The 2013 American Business Awards, the top business awards competition in the U.S.A., to help you highlight your PR successes. (Friday, November 16, is the first early-bird entry deadline for the 2013 ABAs, request your entry kit here  and you'll receive it right away.)

The public relations awards categories for Communications or PR Campaign/Program of the Year include:

• Community Relations
  Campaigns/programs that aim to improve relations with communities in which the sponsoring organization has an interest, need or opportunity.
• Crisis Communications
  Campaigns/programs undertaken to deal with an unplanned event and requiring immediate response.
• Events & Observances
  Campaigns/programs that generate awareness of or document commemorations, observances, openings, celebrations, and other types of events.
• Global Issues
  Campaigns/programs that demonstrate effective global communications implemented in at least two countries, one of which must be the United States.
• Internal Communications
  Campaigns/programs undertaken to inform or educate an internal audience, such as employees or members.
• Investor Relations
  Campaigns/programs undertaken to communicate information to a company's investors and the investment community and/or to manage the company's relationship with investors.
• Issues Management
  Campaigns/programs undertaken to deal with issues that could extraordinarily affect ongoing business strategy.
• Low Budget (under $10,000)
  Campaigns/programs that cost no more than $10,000 to plan and implement.
• Marketing – Business to Business
  Campaigns/programs designed to introduce new products or promote existing products or services to a business audience.
• Marketing – Consumer Products
  Campaigns/programs designed to introduce new products or promote existing products to a consumer audience.
• Marketing – Consumer Services
  Campaigns/programs designed to introduce new services or promote existing services to a consumer audience.
• Multicultural
  Campaigns/programs specifically targeted to a cultural group.
• Reputation/Brand Management
  Campaigns/programs designed to enhance, promote or improve the reputation of an organization with its publics or key elements of its publics.
• Public Affairs
  Campaigns/programs specifically designed to influence public policy and/or affect legislation, regulations, political activities or candidacies.
• Public Service
  Campaigns/programs that advance public understanding of societal issues, problems or concerns.
• Social Media Focused
  Campaigns/programs designed to be implemented primarily through online social media. 

There are a number of other communications awards categories including:

• Public Relations Agency of the Year
• Communications Department of the Year
• Communications Team of the Year
• Communications, Investor Relations, or PR Executive of the Year
• Communications Professional of the Year(for non-executive communications, PR, and IR professionals)

Looking for more ways to showcase your organization's PR triumphs? There are a number of other ABA categories that should be of interest to communications professionals, including many of the corporate literature awards, annual report awards, website awards, video awards, and live event awards categories.

The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA, received the Stevie® Award for Best Communications or PR Campaign of the Year–Community Relations in the PR awards and communications awards categories of the 2011 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's premier awards for women executives, entrepreneurs, and the organizations they run. (The final entry deadline for the 2012 Stevie Awards for Women in Business is quickly approaching on September 28; request your entry kit today.) Here we look at how the university enhanced its brand through a Centennial Celebration.

As the ninth president of The University of Southern Mississippi, Dr. Martha Saunders saw its 2010 centennial anniversary as an ideal opportunity to enhance its brand, reinforce relationships with key publics, and celebrate a rich past while turning the focus to its future.

With an overall goal of increased engagement among target audiences through “telling our story,” the university employed integrated strategies successfully to create awareness of its strengths, raise its national profile, and increase private giving, alumni membership, and enrollment.

Despite the tough economic climate, the Centennial campaign rallied the spirit of the university community and positioned the Southern Miss brand for the next level of national prominence.

Dr. Saunders attended the 2011 Stevie Awards for Women in Business awards dinner in New York last November, and commented:  “I was thrilled to win the Stevie Award, primarily because it put me in the company of some pretty amazing women.  The awards ceremony was first-rate.   I met people from all over the world who had flown in for the event.  It was, in a word, humbling. Universities aren't often considered for business awards, so this was a great validation of the hard work of my talented staff.”

Objectives
Dr. Saunders and her team identified the following measurable objectives for the campaign:

1. Create awareness of the history and rich traditions of the university among target audience members by December 2010 as measured by pre-and post-Centennial surveys.

2. Increase national media coverage of the university by 20% as of December 2010.

3. Increase website traffic by 20% by December 2010.

4. Increase membership in the Alumni Association to 20,000 by December 2010.

5. Generate donations of $1,000,000 for the Centennial Scholarship by December 2010.

6. Increase freshman enrollment by 6% from fall 2007 to fall 2010.

An overall budget of $477,000 came from university support ($312,000), corporate sponsorships ($135,000) and the Southern Miss Alumni Association ($30,000).

Execution
Campaign tactics included the development of a visual brand, a logo, and a website. Other campaign initiatives included:

1. Special Events
   Numerous special events were organized, including “Renée Fleming—The Voice of the Century,” a concert with the Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra.  Other events included Founders’ Day/Centennial Celebration Day; The Big Event (a community service day); the Centennial Commencement Celebration; the Centennial Arts Gala; Affinity Group Reunions; a Centennial Homecoming; and a Centennial Lecture featuring Madeleine Albright.
   
   Additional events included a Centennial Exhibit in the city library; a Centennial Museum in the university library; the 100 Alumni Museum of Art Exhibit; a Centennial Sculpture Celebration; and the Centennial Gateway (a brick-and-mortar giving opportunity).  Further initiatives included a Centennial Scholarship Endowment Fund and an Alumni Centennial Membership Campaign.
   
   Publications included The Talon (the alumni magazine) Centennial edition; Centennial Drawl, a handbook of the university’s history and traditions; and a Centennial history book, authored by a noteworthy historian.
   
   

2. Advertising:
   The Centennial Gold Ad Campaign included Black and Gold banners on campuses; Black and Gold banners along city highways; advertising in targeted national publications; billboard campaigns in selected cities; “The Southern Miss Story” presidential tour; and the “I Belong” Campaign.
   
   

3. Promotional Items:
   These included Centennial Birthday Cards, a Centennial Coke bottle; Centennial pins, stickers, and medallions (for 2010 graduates); coloring books; and cups/can holders.

Exceeding Expectations
The program exceeded all objectives: Awareness of the university’s history and rich traditions showed positive change in all categories over pre-Centennial benchmarks. National media coverage increased more than 800% (from 13 national hits in 2007-8 to 122 in 2009-10). Website traffic increased 107% by December 2010. Alumni Association membership grew to 21,088 (1,088 more than the 20,000 goal). Centennial Scholarship donations totaled $3.9 million in December of 2010 ($2.9 million more than the $1 million goal). Freshmen enrollment increased by 14%, exceeding the goal of 6%.

About Dr. Martha Saunders:
Dr. Martha D. Saunders served as the ninth president of The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, from 2007 to 2012.  She was the first woman to hold that position.  She continues to serve the university as Distinguished Professor of Communication and Founding Co-Director of the Evelyn Gandy Center for Women in Leadership. Her philosophy of education follows three simple guiding principles: know your students; connect them to bigger things; and set a good example.

Dr. Saunders' experience in the field of communication has led to numerous publications on crisis communication and public relations, widely anthologized published speeches, and national awards.

About The University of Southern Mississippi:
Founded in 1910, The University of Southern Mississippi is a comprehensive doctoral and research-driven university with a proud history and an eye on the future. In just 100 years, Southern Miss has grown from a small teachers' college into a premier research university with a national reputation for excellence in both academics and athletics.  For more information go to: http://www.usm.edu.

The entry deadline for the 2012 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business is quickly approaching on August 29 and we thought it would be helpful for communications professionals if we highlighted the many PR awards categories available. (Don't fret if you can't make the entry deadline, entries for the 2012 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's premier business awards for women executives, entrepreneurs, and the organizations they run,  can still be submitted through the final entry deadline of September 28 with a late fee of $35.00; request your entry kit today.)

Our PR award categories for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year which recognize excellence in public relations, press relations, and publicity programs by or for women since July 1, 2011 include:

1. Community Relations: campaigns/programs that aim to improve relations with communities in which the sponsoring organization has an interest, need or opportunity.
2. Crisis Communications: campaigns/programs undertaken to deal with an unplanned event and requiring immediate response.
3. Global Issues: campaigns/programs that demonstrate effective global communications implemented in at least two countries.
4. Internal Communications: campaigns/programs undertaken to inform or educate an internal audience, such as employees or members.
5. Issues Management: campaigns/programs undertaken to deal with issues that could extraordinarily affect ongoing business strategy.
6. Low Budget (under $10,000/€7000): campaigns/programs that cost no more than $10,000/€7000 to plan and implement.
7. Marketing – Business to Business: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new products or promote existing products or services to a business audience.
8. Marketing – Consumer Products: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new products or promote existing products to a consumer audience.
9. Marketing – Consumer Services: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new services or promote existing services to a consumer audience.
10. Multicultural: campaigns/programs specifically targeted to a cultural group.
11. Reputation/Brand Management: campaigns/programs designed to enhance, promote or improve the reputation of an organization with its publics or key elements of its publics.
12. Public Affairs: campaigns/programs specifically designed to influence public policy and/or affect legislation, regulations, political activities or candidacies.
13. Public Service: campaigns/programs that advance public understanding of societal issues, problems or concerns.

Entries in these categories require an essay of up to 500 words describing the nominated campaign: its genesis, development, planning, commission, and performance to date, a biography of the leader of the team that developed the campaign (up to 100 words), and optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges.

Other website awards, blog awards, app awards, and video awards that may be of interest include:

• Website of the Year: Recognizing excellence in web sites created and maintained by or for women. There is no eligibility period requirement for this category - it doesn't matter when the site was first published.
• Blog of the Year: Recognizing excellence in individual or company blogs created by or for women. There is no eligibility period requirement for this category - it doesn't matter when the blog was first published.
• Smartphone or Tablet App of the Year: Recognizing excellence in smartphone and tablet apps produced by or for women. There is no eligibility period requirement for this category - it doesn't matter when the app was first published.
• Video of the Year: Recognizing excellence in videos produced by or for women since July 1, 2011.

These categories only require an essay of up to 100 words describing the nominated work: its purpose and results to date, the nominated work itself, which you should upload to our server via the new uploading tool on our online entry form, and optionally, you can provide creative and production credits for the work, such as writers, creative directors, and programmers.

Not sure where to begin? All communications awards entries are submitted directly online through your account. You can begin by registering here.

DiGennaro Communications (DGC) of New York, New York, USA won a Stevie® Award for Best Overall Company of the Year/Service Businesses with up to 100 Employees - Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations in the company awards categories of the 2011 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. (The early-bird deadline for the 2012 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's premier awards for women executives, entrepreneurs, and the organizations they run, is July 25. Request your entry kit today.) Here we asked DGC founder, Samantha DiGennaro, why PR is so important for business.

Why is PR such an important business tool?

1. PR is a powerful tool that helps build enterprise value.
   Enterprise value can ultimately help a company to be bought or sold.
2. PR creates pride of place among both clients and employees.
   Winning organizations attract the best of everything and everyone.

Do you have a favorite app or blog?
My favorite blog is www.thehitboard.com … because it’s written by the best and brightest in the communications industry—DGC!

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
“Snooki Pregnant!” The amount of coverage that this story has received is a terrible commentary on the state of our society, our values, and of journalism in general.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
I’d be an art therapist working with children of abuse in the inner city.                  

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?
Honesty, integrity, an individual voice, self-expression, critical thinking, intelligence, and fearlessness.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
Duty, loyalty, and the desire to provide the best service to my team, to our clients, to our partners, and to society.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business offer several business awards categories including PR awards and marketing awards. See all communications awards.

About Samantha DiGennaro:
Samantha DiGennaro launched DiGennaro Communications (DGC) in January 2006. Since then, she has built DGC into a highly reputable business-to-business public relations agency that boasts a roster of clients ranging from global media companies to full-service advertising agencies to digital and design outfits.  

Before launching DGC, Samantha built and oversaw the New York, North American, and Global Communications teams at J. Walter Thompson, the world's first ad agency. During her tenure, Sam helped reposition JWT as a more nimble creative agency. Prior to JWT, Samantha was public relations manager at DMB&B.

About DiGennaro Communications:
DiGennaro Communications is a leading full-service strategic communications company specializing in the marketing, media, entertainment, and business sectors. Its clients include premiere global and boutique companies such as GroupM, David & Goliath, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Mr Youth, Organic, and Live Nation. In 2011 DGC was named one of the top five most entrepreneurial companies in New York City by the New York Enterprise Report, was a finalist in the HR category of the New York Enterprise Small Business Awards, and was listed on the Inc. 500|5000 list.