2013 Digital Social Awards Hall of Fame by Bulldog Reporter

2013BUL L DOGDI GI T AL / SOCI ALPRAWARDS

Summar yoft he Wi nner soft he2013 Di gi t al / Soci alAwar ds F eat ur i ng: Gr andPr i z eWi nner Mar cusT homasL L Cf or “Kr y l on® Col or Mas t er ™ Chal l enge: 24Pr oj ect si n24Hour s ”

We thank this year’s team of Bulldog Awards journalist judges for their hard work, discriminating taste and commitment to promoting excellence in media relations and publicity. FINAL JUDGES

Chris Elliot, Travel Scribe, The New York Times

Tom Hallman, Pulitzer Prize Winning Reporter, The Oregonian

Maria Stainer, Assistant Managing Editor/Continuous News Desk, The Washington Times Sally Falkow, APR, Editor and Publisher, PRoactive Report, one of the first blogs online

PRELIMINARY JUDGES

Richard Carufel, Senior Editor, Bulldog Reporter’s Daily ‘Dog Steve Beale, Editor, Bulldog Reporter’s Inside Health Media Kristin Bender, Reporter, Oakland Tribune Paul Rosynsky, Reporter, Oakland Tribune

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For more information about the Bulldog Reporter Digital/Social Awards, including entry deadlines, fees and submission requirements, please go to www.bulldogreporter.com.

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On the Cover: Digital/Social Communications Campaign of the Year, Marcus Thomas LLC for their entry titled “Krylon® ColorMaster™ Challenge: 24 Projects in 24 Hours”

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL PR AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS

HALL OF FAME Summary of Winning Campaigns from the The 2012 Bulldog Reporter Digital/Social PR Awards for Excellence in Online Communications Winners of the 2013 Bulldog Digital/Social Awards for Excellence in Online Communications enter a pantheon of exemplary communications practitioners, and their campaigns are summarized in this edition of The Bulldog Awards Digital/Social PR Hall of Fame magazine.

Winners were chosen exclusively by working journalists from hundreds of entries representing the very best strategic and tactical prowess that PR/corporate communications has to offer. Campaigns were judged by a team of working journalists, who assessed them on the basis of their ability to achieve extraordinary visibility and influence opinion, as well as on their creativity, command of media and technology, and tenacity.

We now present to you, The 2013 Bulldog Reporter Digital/Social PR Award Winners

DIGITAL/SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR

GRAND PRIZE “Krylon® ColorMaster™ Challenge: 24 Projects in 24 Hours” Marcus Thomas LLC We’re facing a content crisis as more and more PR pros crank up the volume on content, only to find their material falling flat upon arrival. The Web is saturated with words, pictures and clips, and much of it goes unnoticed because PR teams aren’t taking the time and effort necessary to make content worthwhile. But there is a formula that can help you set your budget, map out your messaging and leverage social media to generate massive inbound marketing opportunities. Read on as this year’s Bulldog Awards Grand Prize winner demonstrates exactly how to allocate your resources to ensure you meet the content essentials. Consumers cite “interesting content” as a top-three reason they follow brands on social media—and 61% are more likely to buy from companies that create and share custom content online. It goes without saying that any product launch needs killer content and social surround to triumph. So, when spray paint manufacturer Krylon readied to unleash a new line, digital agency of record Marcus Thomas knew just what to do. If you can’t believe that social media marketing sells spray paint, you’re not alone. But it just goes to show that any brand can make an incredible impact with the right digital content marketing strategy. Find out how the “Krylon ColorMaster Challenge” blew consumers’ socks off with all-star content and garnered 190.5 million total impressions to prove it.

are truly passionate about, and they’re constantly looking for the tools and tips to help them complete the next project quickly, easily and correctly, the first time. So to demonstrate that Krylon ColorMaster is the can of spray paint they need to complete their projects, we decided we’d have to take on our own weekend project.” The Strategy: Focus on content showcasing the benefits of the product. With the weekend warriors in mind, Zent’s team developed the ultimate inspiration for numerous future projects. They would produce a live-streaming event in which one superstar DIYer demonstrated the brand’s signature features: a 360 ® Dial spray tip, longer recoat window, great colors and quicker dry times. To add some excitement, they would make the event a realitytelevision style challenge: Make 24 projects in 24 hours. “The projects were selected to highlight the unique features and benefits of the ColorMaster can, so the projects we showcased were really 24 product ads in disguise,” Zent explains. “The result is

The Challenge: Create custom content with a value proposition for consumers. The trick to viral content is an easily discernible WIFM—or a “What’s in it for me?” Every item you blog, tweet, pin or post should show viewers how they’ll directly benefit from it; meanwhile tie in your brand voice. The obvious first step is to find out what your targets’ interests and motivators are, so you can mark your content with WIFM every time. The PR pros at Marcus Thomas knew Krylon already had Expert community managers and production teams worked together to livestream the Krylon ColorMaster Challenge and capture footage for future use. a solid audience of at-home crafters, but they were looking to reach a wider swath with the new product line. a clear demonstration that just any can of spray paint will not do. Tapping in to the largely male DIY segment—those who spend Only our can has the power to complete these types of weekend weekends doing handiwork in the backyard—would trigger projects quickly and correctly.” significant spikes in sales. But what kinds of content would clearly offer give this group something helpful? How to budget: The new ratio. Before setting out, Marcus Thomas created a budget that was different from that of any other PR “We needed to demonstrate how the product features would campaign they’d ever executed. “We spent a much smaller portion benefit these ‘weekend warriors’ in the context of something they of the budget on working media and the majority of the budget on really cared about, and, for them, that is their projects,” says creating all of this content that we’d been discussing,” Zent notes. Amber R. Zent, vice president and social media strategist at “That represents a big shift in thinking. Normally, you’d carve out Marcus Thomas. “For this audience, their next project is what they

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

DIGITAL/SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR roughly 90 percent of your budget for working media and spend maybe 10 percent on creating the actual content. In this campaign, we spent about 30 percent of the budget in working media and 70 percent in creating the content.” How was the 70% spent on stellar content creation? Let’s break it down.

had high reach but also represented the diverse segments of DIY and craft audiences,” Zent explains. “To pique bloggers’ interest, we recognized their individual skills and how ColorMaster paints fit into their lifestyle. Each blogger was offered a unique experience, tailored to their skill set and comfort level.” In the end, the blogger brigade was made up of Shelley Smith of The House of Smiths, Jennifer Hadfield of Tatertots and Jello, Gail Wilson of My Repurposed Life and Mark Clement of MyFixitUpLife.Marcus Thomas then geared up for the event by sending Devlin off on a 23-city satellite media tour, executing 10 Twitter giveaway promotions and targeting ideal demographics through ad buys on networks such as Pandora and HGTV.com.

Pick the projects by culling keywords. Zent’s team carefully chose the 24 projects by using digital analytics and research tools. They used industry tools such as comScore to determine which projectrelated keywords and categories were common among crafters and DIYers. “We were able to drill down our extensive Put on a visual, interactive list of high-volume, highand social-media friendly interest project categories event. Challenge day arrived, with further keyword and the PR team was more research centered around than ready. A crew had been the ‘how-to’ projects that assembled to live-stream the best fit the Krylon event, and viewers could ColorMaster Challenge,” partake simply by going to she says. The keywords the microsite. “We primarily and projects that topped leveraged rich media the list included “How to expandable units for the make bean bag boards, live-stream, ” she offers. “DIY dog house,” “How to “Upon expansion, the viewer spray paint furniture,” could watch the event right “How to make pallet in the unit. Viewers didn’t tables,” “DIY mason jars” need to leave the site they and “DIY crate coffee Shelley Smith of "The House of Smiths" was part of the blogger brigade that were on to go to our table.” participated in the event and became Krylon brand advocates. microsite to view the In addition to using this Challenge. We brought it to research to develop a list of 24 projects, they also used the them, so they could engage on their terms.” keywords throughout the campaign to optimize all content related At the event, another camera was stationed to capture footage for to event, including project videos, a Krylon ColorMaster Challenge future use. microsite, how-to PDFs and social media posts (more on this Community manager must-haves. So that fans could truly feel a later). part of the event, a community manager monitored all Krylon’s Recruit a showstopper and his sidekick bloggers. Once the “24 social media accounts to respond to comments and offer behindin 24” concept was in place, it was time to add influential faces to the scenes tidbits—or “snackable” content. the campaign. The PR team chose Jeff Devlin, licensed contractor and host of DIY Network’s “I Hate My Bath,” to host the event and complete the 24 challenges on-air, one by one. Next, they scoured the Internet for DIY and craft bloggers who could help Devlin out at the event, contribute branded content along the way and build buzz among their existing readership. “It was extremely important for us to find bloggers who not only

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

● Establish consistency in terms of voice, style and tone for the

The “24 Projects in 24 Hours” community manager made sure to:

brand in the online space. “Even with such a large undertaking and time commitment, we never wanted to waver from that voice.” ● Post diverse content on multiple platforms. “We recognize our fans on Facebook may welcome content that differs from what our

DIGITAL/SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR use. “In addition to the live stream, we had a dedicated camera pulling shots to build the 24 how-to videos. It was very efficient to grab footage for these videos at the same time as we were •● Track copy, photos, videos, pre-produced assets and broadcasting the live event, but it required a great deal of hashtags. “As is the case with any live production, our community choreography. We also captured before-and-after still images of manager needed to be attentive during the entire broadcast.” each project, editing them on-set and uploading them to the ● Offer something extra. “The community manager not only sat microsite as projects were being completed.” with producers but also walked the set. This behind-the-scenes ● Leverage branded broadcasting. “We broadcasted this live look provided fans with another component of the Challenge. She event online. Often, when we talk about broadcasting, we talk spoke with the brand team and tweeted tips, beyond the advice about crafting our message in 30-second chunks and buying given on-camera by our host.” available media placements in similar size. Well, first off, we didn’t Crowd-source content during the festivities. The PR pros invited buy this DIYers to participate throughout the event by crowdmedia sourcing components of the Challenge. Firstly, they placement. asked viewers to vote on the color palettes for We created it. several projects. Anyone could choose among three And we palettes, and the winning palette was painted live actually during the event. Secondly, they integrated the created our Krylon Twitter feed with the microsite, which allowed own media those watching to participate in the event by asking placements questions that the host periodically answered live. within it. We The bloggers, too, wrote posts, tweeted, posted on had our own Facebook and shared photos on Instagram, helping commercial to extend reach. “Their followers responded with a breaks All campaign assets were tied together with the campaign's eyegreat deal of enthusiasm, checking out the projects throughout the ahead of time on the microsite and even opting in to catching visual theme. day where we receive a reminder message 24 hours before the live ran 30-second Krylon product creative that covered several event kicked off,” Zent says. “Some of them even ran out and products in the Krylon portfolio.” bought some Krylon so they could participate in the live challenge ● Bolster bloggers to the fullest. “Bloggers were an integral part along with them.” of the campaign, engaging not only their readers but our brand fans as well. Prior to the Challenge, bloggers were asked to post The Results: In 11 days, “Krylon ColorMaster Challenge” garners about their participation. Some were anxious. Others eager. But 190.5 million impressions. Marcus Thomas’s work scored once the clock started, our bloggers were naturals. During the live 673,000 minutes of video watched, with a 14-minute average event, there was a certain camaraderie among the bloggers. They viewing time. They also saw 17.9 million paid impressions, 6.3 encouraged each other. They pitched in on projects. They offered million social media impressions and 6,100 projects viewed. impromptu tips on-camera. They Instagrammed and tweeted. Our Thousands of project how-to’s have been downloaded, and the 26 bloggers did not sit for one minute during those 24 hours. They videos created for future use are frequently viewed on the brandwent above and beyond what was asked of them, because they owned YouTube channel. were genuinely excited about the projects they were tackling Marcus Thomas also displayed excellent media relations skills as alongside Jeff Devlin. They documented the Challenge online on they secured coverage on nationally syndicated TV programs, airing several platforms, amplifying brand messaging and communicating in more than 400 markets, including “The Daily Buzz” and their excitement for the Challenge.” “NewsWatch.” Additional news coverage can be seen in Crain’s ● Don’t forget paid media. “We had paid media placements for Cleveland Business, National Hardware Show, Industry Edge and all phases of the event, those leveraged during the live event being Marketing Daily. the most innovative and making the biggest contribution to the Secrets for Success: Read on as Zent offers content marketing success of this initiative.” best practices and explains why “Krylon ColorMaster Challenge” ● Overcome roadblocks to success: Rain. “It rained for two hours won the Grand Prize at the 2013 Bulldog Digital/Social PR during the second 12-hour stint. That threw a small wrench into Awards. things. But we pulled it off.” ● Take advantage of opportunities to create content for future followers on Twitter appreciate. To that end, our community manager tried to vary posts from platform to platform.”

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL IN AN ARTS/CULTURE/ENTERTAINMENT CAMPAIGN

GOLD “E3 2013 Next Gen Video Game Console Reveal” Entertainment Software Association The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the U.S. association exclusively dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish computer and video games for video game consoles, personal computers, and the Internet. ESA also runs and operates the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the world's premiere trade show for computer and video games and related products. At E3, ESA’s member companies, as well as video game developers and publishers from around the world, descend upon the Los Angeles Convention Center to display the upcoming year’s new video games and entertainment innovations. Since the show began in 1995, E3 has been a high point in media coverage for the video game industry. In recent years, the advent of social media changed how fans of the show and industry follow E3. ESA recognized this change and acknowledged that its social media properties surrounding the show were lacking. For E3 2013, held June 11 to June 14, ESA set out to not only increase engagement of the show’s growing audience through social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Vine, but also to develop a year-long strategy to turn the event into a social media powerhouse that could position E3’s and ESA’s social media accounts as must-follow and must-read sources of information. In order to establish E3 as a must-follow account on Facebook, Twitter, and Vine for video game players, journalists and industry professionals, ESA posted to E3’s social media accounts on a tri-weekly schedule months before the show, highlighting upcoming releases of products previously announced at E3 2012 and creating buzz around potential announcements fans might see at E3 2013. They also created original content to share across social media properties, including photos and graphics on Facebook and Twitter, and news and videos on E3Insider.com. ESA incorporated images, photographs, and screenshots from popular video games into posts across E3’s and ESAs’ social media properties, and engaged directly with video game players to find out what they most wanted to see at the show. During the show, ESA continued to engage fans by taking user requests, conducting polls, and offering discussion threads through E3’s social properties. In addition, ESA created special events on E3’s Twitter handle to engage fans throughout the show and provide unique perspectives. During company press conferences on June 10, the account live-tweeted new announcements and polled fans in real-time to see what they were most excited about. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Systems Engineer Bobak "The Mohawk Guy" Ferdowsi took over the E3 account for an hour on June 11. A lifelong gamer and popular Internet figure, he provided commentary show fans could only get from @E3Expo. On June 12, E3 followers were invited to choose which booths E3 would visit for a photo gallery that appeared on the E3 Facebook page. On the show’s final day, the E3 handle revisited some of the week’s most popular exhibits and shared a series of game-play videos with fans. Using E3’s social media accounts, ESA reached out to various companies, offline and through social media hashtagging, who were displaying their games on the floor to increase its reach and presence. Companies that helped broadcast E3’s social messaging through retweets and tagging included: Electronic Arts, EA’s Battlefield brand, Spike TV, SiriusXM Radio, Ubisoft, PlayStation, Bungie, Microsoft and Xbox brand pages, AMD, nVidia, Major League Gaming, NASA and the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, Disney Interactive Studios, and Twitter’s Vine service. ESA created and tracked show-specific hashtags to help monitor conversations surrounding E3. In the months leading up to E3, ESA’s social media routinely used these hashtags to raise their visibility and increase use among fans and journalists when talking about the show. As a result of the ESA’s social media strategies, E3 social media played a direct role in generating more than 49 billion media impressions during for the show. Cross-promotion and content-sharing before, during, and after E3 also drew a considerably larger audience to each of ESA’s social media accounts.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL IN AN ARTS/CULTURE/ENTERTAINMENT CAMPAIGN

S I LV E R “SummerSlam Goes Social” WWE SummerSlam is WWE’s biggest event of the summer. Fans from around the world came to Los Angeles for the opportunity to engage with the WWE Superstars and Divas at the ultimate fan celebration of the summer. Events include the SummerSlam Axxess, and a host of community outreach activities. As one of the most influential brands on social media, WWE has more than 190 million combined social media followers across 11 social media networks. The week leading up to the SummerSlam pay-per-view gives the brand an opportunity to launch new social and digital initiatives to give its fans access to new content wherever they want, whenever they want. As part of SummerSlam, WWE amped up its digital and social media initiatives, providing fans with 24/7 event coverage and exclusive content like never before. WWE launched an all new Social Hub on WWE.com, which included unique sections such as “Photo Universe,” which hosted up-to-the-minute photos of SummerSlam Week and showcased fans and photos from WWE Superstars and Divas; “Fan Activity,” which allowed users to exclusively select their social activity views; a “Featured Chats” section, which listed existing live chats and allowed fans to post information from their social network in real time; and “Superstar Buzz,” where fans could keep up-to-date with news on their favorite WWE Superstars and Divas. WWE live-streamed SummerSlam across Apple, Android and Windows 8 devices and Kindle Fire tablets, and the pay-per-view was also available on Xbox consoles and Samsung Smart TVs, inside “Xbox Live” and the Samsung “Smart Hub,” and, for the first time, on Sony PS3 as part of the Sony Entertainment Network. WWE hosted a live 60-minute SummerSlam Kickoff show on Sunday, August 18 starting at 7 p.m. ET. In addition to airing prior to the pay-per-view broadcast, the show was simulcast, free on YouTube, WWE.com, WWE app, Facebook and Yahoo!. The broadcast featured an in-arena panel and a backstage reporter as well as Kickoff Interactive, a live WWE Twitter ticker where fans could contact hosts via social media. This year, a wide-range of digitally savvy celebrities and athletes served as official SummerSlam Week social media ambassadors, tweeting from SummerSlam Axxess, Superstars for Hope party, Be a STAR anti-bullying rallies and at during the SummerSlam pay-perview. Celebrities include Pink, Piers Morgan, Kelly Osbourne, Zendaya Coleman, Anthony Anderson, Omar Epps, Corbin Bleu, Jenny McCarthy, Jon Secada, Katie Couric, Maria Menounos, David

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

Hasselhoff and Bret Michaels. WWE also utilized Google Glass at SummerSlam to give fans a unique look at what it’s like to be a WWE Superstar. The exclusive interactive tool was used by WWE Superstar The Miz, as he attended SummerSlam Axxess sessions and a host of other SummerSlam Week events. The Miz also snapped photos via the headgear and published them on WWE’s new Social Hub. WWE hosted and monitored an online “Hospitality Center” throughout SummerSlam Week and offered real-time support and answered all event-related fan questions that were sent via Twitter to the handle @SummerSlam. WWE provided information including arena maps, event schedules, weather alerts and up-to-date ticket information. In addition, for the first time ever, WWE’s “Pin it to Win it” contest on Pinterest allowed fans to re-pin photos from summerthemed pinboards to receive various prizes. WWE also hosted two “Hide and Tweet” contests in the Los Angeles area, and gave fans the opportunity to win pairs of tickets to the sold out SummerSlam pay-per-view event. Fans followed @SummerSlam and @WWE to find clues that revealed the whereabouts of the tickets. The results were impressive. WWE was the second-most searched term on Google 8/18 per Google Trends, and 664,064 social posts were about SummerSlam or related topics during the week. Posts generated 3.1 billion potential social impressions and came from more than 124,000 unique sources. The WWE Pinterest page grew by more than 30 percent. SummerSlam 2013 was up 28% year on year when compared against SummerSlam 2012 and was #1 on primetime cable and #1 combined cable and broadcast on August 18, 2013.

BRONZE “Digital Marketing Paves the Road to the 2013 NCAA® Men’s Final Four®" communications 21 When the city of Atlanta was selected to host the 75th celebration of the NCAA Men’s Final Four, the NCAA made it clear that the event needed to shine, not only in terms of attendance at the nationally broadcast basketball games but also in participation in the multiple local events that surround the weekend. Local resident attendance was a particular focus, given that only 10-15 percent of local residents typically participate in Final Four weekend because they cannot get tickets to the games. Specifically, the NCAA charged communications 21 (c21) with increasing attendance at all of the local events surrounding Final Four weekend.

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL IN AN ARTS/CULTURE/ENTERTAINMENT CAMPAIGN c21â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s integrated marketing plan focused on three major digital components: Website, email marketing and social media. They also used media relations, grassroots marketing, collateral development and distribution, speaking engagements and more. The website, final4atlanta.com, gave residents and visitors detailed information about weekend events, including directions and parking maps. Although some of this information was also available on the NCAA website, the information was buried and difficult to navigate. Final4Atlanta.com allowed people to find everything they needed to know about the weekend all in one place and provided a simple URL that could be promoted on collateral and through speaking engagements, media mentions and other marketing efforts.

25 volunteers, working in shifts of four to five people, encouraged visitors to follow on Twitter or like on Facebook for small giveaways, like T-shirts. The team also encouraged fans to download the mobile app, demonstrating the app to visitors first hand. The first Final Four local digital marketing strategy made the 2013 Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Final Four one for the record books with significant increases in attendance year on year. Their efforts resulted in 25,000 mobile app downloads, and Bracket Town ticket presales were 500 percent above the previous record. In addition, the digital campaign supported the media relations strategy that resulted in 136 media placements.

Through the website and other grassroots outreach efforts, c21 garnered contact information and launched an email marketing campaign to keep residents, ticket holders and volunteers up to date on weekend happenings. Residents and ticket holders received monthly updates with the latest event news, which increased in frequency to daily emails during the week of the event. In addition to weekend news, volunteers also received emails regarding shift assignments, parking, check-in information, FAQs and more. Social media efforts began with Midnight Madness, and as college football season wound down, c21 increased the frequency of Facebook and Twitter posts, previewing weekend events, promoting volunteer opportunities and celebrating the 75th Final Four. These channels also supplemented the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s media relations strategy, as they interacted with local media outlets and reporters via Facebook and Twitter, using the social platforms as another route for reporters to get their questions answered and obtain up-to-date information on events and scheduling. Contests and giveaways helped to drive interactions on the social media pages and allowed c21 to collect additional contact information for the email marketing campaign. Three weeks prior to Final Four weekend, c21 launched a weekly Twitter contest for a pair of tickets to Bracket Town, the ultimate fan festival. Twitter followers could either retweet or answer a question in order to enter the contest. During the weekend, c21 launched Final Four swag giveaway contests. Social media was vital during Final Four weekend as the primary method of communicating with residents and visitors. c21 set up a social media command center in the heart of the Final Four action. From there, all social media platforms were constantly monitored and updated from 7 a.m. until 1 a.m., and the command center team of four to six volunteers provided instant responses to fan questions and comments. Street teams supported the social media command center with photos and event details. Using phones and tablets donated by Final Four sponsor AT&T, the team took fan and event photos that they provided to the command center for real-time posting. These

62013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL IN A B2B TECHNOLOGY CAMPAIGN

GOLD “SAS & Teradata–Heroes of Analytics” French/West/Vaughan The Global Alliances division of SAS and Teradata Corporation (Teradata), a corporate partnership which concentrates on customers utilizing the services of both companies, sought to publicize customer success with high-performance and in-database analytics in order to increase customer loyalty and prospect new leads. With approximately 500 joint customers worldwide and the extraordinarily confidential nature of business intelligence, the companies needed a new strategy to convince customers to share their success via case studies. To achieve this, French/West/Vaughan (FWV) created a program that identified and highlighted industry-leading individuals, transforming these best-in-class envelope-pushers into “Analytics Heroes.” This revolutionary B2B strategy incentivized the heroes to push their individual business case studies through their internal PR structure from the inside. After a Hero was selected, FWV began each process with a thorough interview to form a real-world case study, focused on each customer’s business successes using SAS and Teradata high-performance and in-database analytics. FWV then used the real-world case study as the foundation for a fictionalized story set in the world of Datapolis, where each hero would battle chaos and confusion. The team used a Marvel Comics illustrator to create custom graphics. The stories and illustrations were then housed on the program website. Finally, each hero was presented with his or her own action figure at key industry events. The presentation of the hero at industry events, along with real-time sketches by the illustrator, helped to drive hundreds of attendees and prospective clients to the companies’ booths. FWV and SAS and Teradata also developed a phased rollout of heroes, beginning with the internal and external communications teams of both companies and expanding to industry influencers, analytics/IT press and finally outlets associated with the industry vertical of each hero. FWV utilized digital tools such as a parallax-scrolling website, social media, content marketing and email marketing to recruit and vet new heroes, publicize the program and directly engage industry influencers, all of which positioned SAS and Teradata as the industry advocacy group for the global analytics practitioner community. AnalyticsHeroes.com was developed in a parallax-scrolling format, which adds depth and movement to the visual story. Social sharing functionalities were fully integrated into the site. Meanwhile, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram accounts were created for heroes, and content was written in heroes’ voices for company blogs. An engaging HTML email campaign was used to push out the program news to subscribers, recruit new heroes update potential heroes on application status and facilitate promotion of new heroes. All in all, the program received 548 application submissions, exceeding their goal by 275 percent. The program included five case studies from eBay, the US government, InterContinental Hotels Group, Cardinal Health and Medibank, exceeding their goal by 166%.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

B E S T A R TBSE S&T EGNRT E ERNT ACI NA M EP N A ITGCNA M P A I G N

S I LV E R “Adobe: Metrics Not Myths” Adobe Well known for providing the tools creative professionals use, the Adobe brand is seen as the powerhouse when it comes to digital media and its Creative Cloud business. However, Adobe faced a big brand awareness hurdle as it moved into the burgeoning digital marketing space. An explosion of brands from startups to heavyweights was looking to gain mindshare and market share with acquisitions and new solution offerings flooding the market. The marketing segment as a whole was also facing its own awareness challenges as the impact of marketing is difficult to measure and prove. Given the issues surrounding market credibility, Adobe saw an opportunity to reposition itself around its new vision of enabling people to make and then measure the impact of creative work, while raising awareness and demand for its new offering, Adobe Marketing Cloud. Before diving in to the effort, Adobe tapped Edelman Berland to lead a study that revealed how the profession is undervalued, how marketers struggle to show the impact of their marketing investment and how marketers face an uphill perception. To effectively market to marketers and get the attention of business decision makers, Adobe wanted to showcase that a marketing impact could be measured. The objecives of “Metrics Not Myths” included debunking misconceptions about the state of online advertising, changing the conversation to give marketers credit and highlight how to do it with the Adobe Marketing Cloud at the center. Adobe partnered with its agencies Edelman and Goodby, Silverstein and Partners to put together a digital-first campaign involving social media, PR and advertising. Adobe identified some of the top myths about digital marketing that plague brands. Using irony, humor and a provocative point of view, Adobe kicked off content marketing efforts. The team hosted a live debate on Facebook featuring industry influencers, Twitter chats using #MetricsNotMyths, a video series, infographics and paid social media in concert with organic efforts. Adobe also executed its own “Ultimate Case Study.” Leveraging the Adobe Marketing Cloud, Adobe used the hub to share teal-time updates on the impact and lessons from the “Metrics Not Myths” campaign. The campaign catapulted the brand into the digital marketing category. Within the first three days, Adobe generated more than 2,200 social media mentions and drove 1.1 million views of the video series. By the end of the first week, Adobe garnered over 55 articles with leading outlets. Over the course of the campaign,

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

Adobe generated 96 million views of the video series, experienced a 45% increase in direct sales inquiries, exceeded its goal to drive site visits by 206% and saw increases for Adobe in the space on every brand-tracker category.

BRONZE “ITinvolve: Inherently Social, Unabashedly Transformative” e-Rainmaker Public Relations Now celebrating its 15th year in operation, e-Rainmaker Public Relations is a boutique high-tech public relations practice focused on catapulting high-growth, disruptive technology start-ups to greatness. The PR firm’s client, ITinvolve, has been a huge go-tomarket success story since its public launch in April 2012. The Houston-based company had to differentiate and transform using socially collaborative technologies it has architected, designed and matured as a new company. Stalwart technology companies are entrenched with software that is developed to become more ‘social’ while ITinvolve is built from the ground up to be simple, social and collaborative—a fundamental differentiator. However, competing for media attention required a savvy, strong online, digital presence, and e-Rainmaker Public Relations had no time to waste. To be successful and gain mindshare, ITinvolve had to generate immediate credibility, establish and grow a groundswell of customer adoption, and influence the influencers in IT operations management through innovative thought leadership. Ultimately, ITinvolve had to show a fundamental prowess in its successful use of social media platforms and technologies. The team established social media groundswell reach through a multitude of social media platforms and by leveraging “The Social IT Index” and effective use of infographics to summarize key findings. ITinvolve spearheaded the first-of-its-kind survey series spotlighting the research and adoption of Social IT. The survey gauged the views of nearly 400 IT professionals, managers, and executives. The survey findings showed increasing and active adoption of social IT technologies to help accelerate operational productivity. The Index gained industry-wide attention and was spotlighted in a CIO Insight article and online slideshow. ITinvolve will update the Index findings every six months and expand it to include IT professionals from around the world. On Twitter, the company has1,100+ active industry followers since April 2012 on @ITinvolve and @socialIT4all. @ITinvolve has experienced quarter-over-quarter Twitter surge. Since adding a

B E S T I N T EBGERSATT IAORNT SO F& PERN TAENRDT AI IRN M I NE N A TB CUASM I NPEASI SG NC A M P A I G N dedicated an e-Rainmaker associate to serve as social media manager in April 2013 for its corporate Twitter handle, it has seen a 537 percent increase in followers from April to August 2013, compared to the prior period. @SocialIT4all, a third-party persona dedicated to the discussion, information-sharing and promotion of Social IT concepts and technologies was launched in February 2013. ITinvolve took to the Twitter airwaves in a live evening Tweet Chat hosted by Jeff Ashcroft (@socialCMO) in January 2013, with featured guest, Matthew Selheimer, VP of Marketing, ITinvolve. The Tweet Chat generated 262 tweets, 1,984,453 potential impressions and reached an audience of 438,410 followers. The ITinvolve YouTube channel, coupled with a menu of videos housed on the ITinvolve website, have effectively illuminated ITinvolveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visual prowess and approach to simplified IT operations management. e-Rainmaker also proposed and implemented with ITinvolve the creation of a completely objective, non-commercial page on Wikipedia dedicated to explaining Social IT. Media coverage includes 28 stories, 20 news releases, four product releases and eight industry analyst reports syndicated. e-Rainmaker also saw 15 separate ITinvolve bylined blogs were published in leading industry publications and portals. In mid-2012, e-Rainmaker created and managed a weekly news aggregation page to drive the news cycle and establish yet another third-party education platform for all-things Social IT: The Social IT Intelligencer. Published weekly (for free) by news aggregation platform, Paper.li, the Intelligencer is another credible platform to extend the ITinvolve brand and educate the broader marketplace on Social IT concepts and technology. ITinvolve also hosted a podcast with prominent IT industry leader George Spalding, Executive Vice President, Pink Elephant, in late 2012. In addition, the PR pros promoted ITinvolve via conference Twitter hashtags and sponsored an HDI Conference mobile apps, which was accessed by hundreds of conference attendees, generated 924 page views to ITinvolve.com.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST BLOG FOR AN AGENCY/CONSULTANCY

GOLD “Whose Deal Is It Anyway?” Hellerman Baretz Communications Hellerman Baretz Communications (HBC) has made a pretty good name for itself servicing the needs of professional service firms and the nation’s most prominent law firms. In 2013, it earned two Bulldog Reporter’s Stars of PR Awards (Boutique Agency of the Year and Small Agency of the Year) for doing just that. It’s no surprise, then, that HBC’s “Sound Bites” blog has been building momentum as a go-to destination for legal marketers. In 2013, however, HBC substantially raised the profile of its blog with a feature that sparked great interest within the agency’s target audience—and reinforced an important message for the industry. For a couple of years, Hellerman Baretz Communications had been using its “Sound Bites” blog as an effective venue to distribute news about the agency (such as an announcement of the hire of a veteran Associated Press reporter); practical tips for law firm marketers (such as a piece on awards submissions); and fun content like HBC’s “Grading the Statement” feature (as in a piece analyzing the statement of the law firm that leaked news of J.K. Rowling’s pen name). In 2013, however, HBC wanted to get across a specific message with its blog—one that would require an inventive approach. If anyone could rise to the challenge, it would be HBC. The agency has conceived and designed many blogs for its law firm clients, including an employment-law blog called “That’s What She Said,” on which attorneys analyze legal issues raised by the antics of characters on NBC’s “The Office.” That blog now receives tens of thousands of readers weekly and has earned copious awards and attention for the Ford & Harrison attorneys behind it. The target audience for HBC’s blog is much smaller than Ford & Harrison’s, however, consisting primarily of the small community of senior marketing personnel at the most sophisticated law firms. And the message it wanted to get across was not the easiest to absorb. HBC knew it would need a feature that captured readers’ attention in the manner that “That’s What She Said” does, while also conveying nuanced thinking. The message that HBC wanted to convey had two parts: First, HBC wanted to reinforce the fact that many law firms’ growth strategies are dependent on lateral hiring (that is, hiring attorneys away from other law firms, who then bring their clients with them). Although lateral hiring is a widespread phenomenon in the legal industry, marketers have not typically been involved in the process. HBC believes that marketing departments (and the agencies they use, such as HBC) are underused in recruiting and retaining laterals, and thus would like to get marketers focused on promoting lateral hires. Second, HBC wanted to emphasize the value of analytics. Although underused, new analytical tools offer great promise to marketers at law firms and other professional service firms, who can use them for competitive intelligence, measuring results of their campaigns, and even providing objective proof of their value to their organizations’ leadership. With these goals in mind, HBC conceived the simple idea of a new regular feature on the blog “Whose Deal?” Every week, “Whose Deal?” analyzed one big lateral hire in the legal profession and declared a winner of the deal. HBC’s analysis made heavy use of analytical tools from Manzama, which allows users to determine the “share of voice” that a law firm or particular attorney has on legal issues relevant to their practice area. For instance, if a law firm with a small share of voice on environmental issues hired an attorney with a large share of voice on environmental issues, it may well be the winner. By contrast, if a group of attorneys with a small share of voice in their practice went to a new firm with a large share of voice, the laterals would come out on top. For 13 weeks, HBC ran the “Whose Deal?” feature on its blog. Each weekly installment included colorful graphs that compared the firms’ share of voice in pie-chart form; included a chart of their head-to-head mention rate in previous months, and, for context, showed the two firms’ share of voice in comparison to their peer firms in the market for legal services. Each installment also included brief descriptions of the lateral hire and an analysis of which party “won” the deal. HBC placed the installments on its blog, also linking to popular blog posts run by The American Lawyer in which the laterals appeared. Reaction was swift and positive within the legal community. “Whose Deal?” became a fun topic of discussion, and, more importantly, got marketers thinking strategically about their role in the lateral-hiring process. Through the series, HBC enhanced its relationship with Manzama, a potential partner with HBC in future communications efforts that utilize the power of analytics.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

B E S TBEST A R TBLOG S & E(COMPANY/ORGANIZATION) N T E R TA I N M E N T C A M PA I G N

GOLD Skanska USA Blog “Constructive Thinking” InkHouse Skanska USA, a division of a publicly traded Swedish company, is one of the leading development and construction companies in the country. InkHouse Media & Marketing was brought on by Skanska USA to build a social content program around their existing thought leadership platform, the “Five Zeros,” and bring them to life in a way that was both strategic and newsworthy. The “Five Zeros” spell out the goals Skanska establishes for the operations of their projects, as well as the company as a whole, regarding environmental responsibility, safety, ethics, quality and the use of sound financial practices to choose the right projects and deliver positive results. InkHouse had three major hurdles to overcome. The first was that Skanska USA had previously struggled to get their employees to contribute to their content program. The second major challenge was website integration. Since Skanska USA falls under Skanska’s global requirements, there was concern that Wordpress would not be able to be used for the blog. And third, many of Skanska’s employees and executives are engineers who may see the details but not the big picture when it comes to storytelling. In one month, InkHouse built and developed the Skanska USA blog, gave it a unique URL and a distinct name: “Constructive Thinking.” So there would never be a dip in posts, InkHouse also created a 6-month blog calendar around Skanska’s content and news and worked with authors and the internal U.S. communication team to approve all of the content well in advance. The blog went live on April 29th, 2013 and InkHouse supported Skanska USA’s social media program by drafting content for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. Every day, InkHouse worked with Skanska USA to get the approved content and post it to the blog and promote it through social channels. InkHouse seeded the blog RSS feed to content channels to increase traffic. InkHouse also posted relevant content to channels such as Reddit, where sub-reddits on construction, healthcare and sustainability proved powerful, and Quora. Over the course of the first four months, InkHouse went beyond text-based content to include video and Instagrams and a quarterly infographic. InkHouse also repurposed the presentation from a speaking engagement InkHouse secured for Skanska USA President Richard Cavallaro, and turned the audio file and a PowerPoint on Building Resilient Infrastructure into two blog posts and a SlideShare presentation. The team used its posts as pitches for bylines that could live on other platforms and secured placements on TreeHugger, Mother Nature Network, Visual.ly and Medical Office Today. The blog, in the very brief time it has been operational, has had a resounding impact on the brand, social media channels, Skanska’s thought leadership in the construction industry, website traffic and additional media opportunities, as well as individual relationship building for lead generation. From the launch date, the Skanska USA blog has had incredibly high page views, unique visitors and average time spent on page. All of these efforts provided a boost to Skanska USA’s social media channels, especially Twitter, which saw a 20 percent increase in four months.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST BLOG (COMPANY/ORGANIZATION)

S I LV E R “@C21 – At Home Matters Blog” Mullen In the spring of 2011, Century 21 Real Estate LLC tasked Mullen with launching its first-ever corporate blog. The brand wanted to publish more real-time content and find new and inventive ways to connect with 100,000 brokers and agents around the country. The blog, “Century 21 – At Home Matters,” launched in May 2011 and in the first year, the primary goal was exposure. The Mullen team published a minimum of three posts per week and the site was promoted in brand internal communications, across social media channels and at events, including the sponsorship of both BlogWorld New York and BlogWorld LA in 2011. But in 2012, the team shifted its strategic direction from just introducing the site to using blog posts as a vehicle to pitch mainstream media. The primary tactic was to create branded, exceptional content that would distinguish Century 21 from its competitors as well as from real estate aggregator giants. Beginning in May 2012, the Mullen team utilized “Century 21 – At Home Matters” as a megaphone for the brand’s flagship campaigns and sponsorships and to spotlight the exceptional achievements of its agents and brokers. The editorial calendar for Century includes a minimum of three posts per week, and these posts range from brand news, agent/broker spotlights, and industry news round-ups to live posts from events, conferences and tradeshows. The calendar is strategically arranged to promote the brand’s involvement in highprofile events like the Super Bowl, the Indy 500 and the Triple Crown and to feature Century 21 agents and brokers as they win awards, host events or make television appearances. Over the course of the last year, the Mullen team has interviewed subjects, researched topics, obtained quotes and/or shot photo and video for each published post. These multimedia-rich posts were then pitched to national media or local media (based on the topic) to garner interest in feature stories. They’ve found that the combination of expert quotes, in-depth interviews, photos, videos and links give reporters a more complete picture and allow them to write a detailed story with minimal back and forth. Stories like the CEO’s mountain climbing trip in support of Easter Seals help raise the profile of the brand, and Mullen’s support for the brokers and agents featured sets Century 21 Real Estate LLC apart from its competitors both locally and nationally. This method of pitching the media (blog post first, pitch to reporters second) has become so successful that the Mullen team now plans blog posts to coincide with the start of any major PR

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

effort. They then use that post in media outreach as a source of visual content and copy. They are turning traditional PR on its head by pitching magazine and television reporters with online content daily. In only the second year of its existence the “Century 21 – At Home Matters” blog has attracted over 75,000 unique monthly visitors. With an editorial calendar in place to support major brand events, sponsorship and agent/broker achievements, the Mullen team has been able to successfully use the “Century 21 – At Home Matters” blog to pitch top-tier business, trade and online outlets on behalf of Century 21. Blog content is given further visibility on Century 21’s Facebook page (142,000 fans) and Twitter account (54,000 followers), generating further traffic.

BRONZE “Kaiser Permanente Care Stories” Kaiser Permanente As Kaiser Permanente geared up for healthcare reform, the organization saw an opportunity to attract and gain new members. The PR pros at Kaiser Permanente sought to build understanding of what it’s like to receive care from the company by promoting rail members talking about their care experiences. They also wanted to provide consumer-facing health tips from Kaiser Permanente physicians and spotlight doctors, nurses and care teams because “they are a big part of what it means to receive care from Kaiser Permanente.” The “Kaiser Permanente Care Stories” blog is a collection of firstperson video narratives from Kaiser Permanente members talking about their own care in their own words, unscripted and uncompensated. Here is how it works: Members submit their own stories through the blog’s submission feature or via the patientstories@kp.org email address. In addition, some members write letters to Kaiser Permanente leaders expressing their gratitude and happiness with their care experiences. The Care Stories team then reaches out to these members to inquire about their interest in participating in a video. Member stories and physician videos are collected throughout the year and incorporated into the blog on an ongoing basis. Stories are filmed and edited by an internal Care Stories team. Each month, a video is added to the “Get to Know Us” sidebar on the homepage, which spotlights Kaiser Permanente physicians, nurses and care teams that are going the extra mile for members. The sidebar stories are refreshed on a monthly basis. An editorial calendar guides the blog content for each month, with an emphasis on priority health topics including colon cancer

B E S T C O M PA N Y P O S I T I O N I N G / B R A N D I N G prevention and treatment, breast cancer prevention and treatment, heart health, maternity care, childhood obesity prevention and healthy lifestyles. Kaiser Permanente issues a press release featuring three Care Stories tied by a common theme. The three stories are also featured throughout the month on Kaiser Permanente’s social media channels. In addition, Care Stories are regularly featured in “Partners in Health,” a digital newsletter that is sent to all Kaiser Permanente members with an email address. The “Care Stories” blog averages more than 5,000 visitors per month. As the blog has gained attention and traction, there has been an increase in members writing in to share their own stories. The Care Stories team follows up with these members to determine the feasibility of adapting their stories for video, and new Care Stories are created and added to the blog. Several Care Stories have also been picked up by local media.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST CRISIS RESPONSE

GOLD “Crisis Response to Hurricane Sandy” Con Edison Con Edison of New York is a regulated utility providing electric, gas and steam service to 9.3 million people in New York City and Westchester County. Maintaining reliability is crucial to all customers, which include major medical facilities, transportation systems, Wall Street financial institutions and major media headquarters. Superstorm Sandy was the largest Atlantic storm on record, spanning 800 miles in diameter. The storm pummeled Con Edison’s service area, causing over 1 million power outages, more than any other storm in the company’s history. Outages due to the severe weather and flooding started on October 29, 2012 and the company completed its massive restoration effort to all customers by November 12, 2012. Con Edison’s digital communication goal during was to maintain credibility while providing helpful information, educating New Yorkers, and responding to customer concerns and questions within the social and digital world. Con Edison’s crisis social media strategy was to proactively share much of the same information that was being distributed in company press releases. Using keywords and hashtags, information was directed to users as specifically as possible. The team also tried to respond to as many customer issues and complaints as possible. The customer call center was flooded with calls and social media was an easier avenue for some customers with quick questions. To execute the digital communication strategy for Superstorm Sandy, Con Edison used the corporate and mobile websites, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to disseminate information. Con Edison used the @ConEdison handle prior to, during and after the storm. Con Edison’s 6,500 follower base jumped to more than 22,750 between October 28th and November 5th. @ConEdison sent out more than 1,650 tweets, and press releases posted to the handle were retweeted 2,500 times. The majority of the tweets sent were modified messages from information company spokespeople were giving to news reporters. When restoration efforts began in lower Manhattan, the tweet referencing the update saw 778 retweets. Press releases and information about dry ice distribution were posted to the Facebook page and saw an increase of 380 “likes.” Public Affairs produced and posted 25 Superstorm Sandy-related videos to the Con Edison YouTube channel and saw more than 40,000 public views. These videos were embedded in press releases, tweeted and posted to Facebook. They focused on restoration progress, education on the damage caused from the storm, help received from other utilities and overall dedication of employees to restore customers. One of the most popular videos posted to the YouTube channel showed workers pumping out water in lower Manhattan. This video was posted to the company’s YouTube channel on October 30th, used as B-roll by media outlets and quickly attracted over 6,000 views. As part of the Superstorm Sandy outreach efforts, Con Edison kept its website updated with the latest and most accurate information. During the period of October 26th - November 12th, visits to the Con Edison website leaped. The company had more than 2,155,000 visits during the 18-day period, more than 118,000 visits on average, per day. Visits on a single day topped 300,000 on November 1st. Over 18% of the total visits (22,000 hits a day) were from mobile devices. On October 27th, in anticipation of the storm, Con Edison sent an email to 1.3 million customers with a video, tips about preparing for storms and reporting outages. The Con Edison public affairs office also organized a press conference and issued 48 press releases from October 26th to November 12th via email, wire and Twitter and Facebook.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST CRISIS RESPONSE

S I LV E R “Making a Difference for a Newtown Family” Havas PR North America When Havas PR North America (@havaspr) discovered on the day after the massacre in Newtown, Conn., that a former colleague is cousin to Alissa Parker, mother of slain 6-year-old Emilie, they offered their help pro bono. The family was overwhelmed not only by grief but also by an influx of requests from media worldwide. Plus, they were overwhelmed by two other groups: People wanting to help and hateful conspiracy theorists. The PR team needed to quickly save the Parkers from additional trouble or heartache and facilitate their natural tendency to be open and benevolent. Havas PR North America stepped in to this national tragedy and major international news story and used its power of influence and social media savvy to heal. The PR team initially based its work on crisis experience rather than a formal strategic-development process. They were strategic in the way they communicated to media, family and friends and the general public who craved information about the children and families. The first agency on the scene, Havas used all its resources, from design to in-house video editing to media relations, to manage the early part of the crisis swiftly. The PR pros began by focusing on the word “movement.” First was moving the family off the screen; Emilie’s father held a very moving press conference the day after the shooting, but he needed to turn his focus elsewhere. They then moved the family’s communications to statements and to the WordPress site they created, emilieparkerfund.com. @havaspr has managed all solicitations from and conversations with media from the start, designed and published the website for communication, helped promote a Facebook page started by family friends and shielded the Parkers from the Internet trolls who homed in on Emilie as a proof point for their warped theories.

and local branches of law enforcement to report the potential online threats. Havas PR’s opening and promoting of the social communications channels helped family and friends process the loss of Emilie. The Facebook page has 318,000 likes, and more than 1 million people saw the most popular post through sharing (it had more than 249,000 likes and 17,000 shares). The website has garnered more than 154,000 unique visitors (surging after 100-dayanniversary broadcasts) and more than 855 comments. Now that some time has passed, Havas PR’s plan involves developing ideas for how the Parkers can make a difference forever and turn the tragedy into Emilie’s legacy. The family has relied on the agency to arrange strategic positioning of the launch of the Emilie Parker Art Connection online.

BRONZE “McAfee DAT Crisis” LEWIS Pulse McAfee brought on LEWIS Pulse to manage their social media crisis program around a malfunctioning product upgrade that impacted over one million McAfee customers. For three weeks over the summer, LEWIS Pulse was on call 24/7 around the DAT crisis effort, conducting social monitoring and response from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. PT daily, producing reports four times daily. LEWIS Pulse developed core social messaging strategy for DAT (i.e., “canned” tweets) and guidance on where to direct different social inquiries (service page, FAQ, etc.). LEWIS Pulse social crisis management program provided constant monitoring and responses throughout the three weeks, including weekends and the Labor Day holiday. As part of the program, LEWIS Pulse also managed the global response effort, and collated entire social crisis reports four times daily, including Twitter updates, Facebook, forums, news pickup and overnight updates from APAC and UK teams.

Havas provided several family-issued statements to handpicked local and national outlets including NBC News and CNN, plus local media in Utah, where the family is from. They also arranged for Emilie’s aunt and uncle to give an interview to Piers Morgan on the one-month anniversary of the shooting and placed a lengthy interview with Alissa and Robbie with CBS at the 100-day anniversary for the network’s cross-platform special report. Although many of these interviews began on television, they live now online.

The internal McAfee Facebook team identified 761 DAT interactions via Facebook,

@havaspr scrupulously monitors all comments on emilieparkerfund.com, keeping an eye out for any potentially threatening, harassing or illegal posts, most of which are generated by conspiracy theorists. @havaspr contacted the FBI in Connecticut

providing response to all key inquiries. LEWIS Pulse monitored and responded to key forums (based on solution page traffic), including Windows 7 Forum, Dell Community and Microsoft Answers. The team also set up an effective crisis management model for social

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

LEWIS Pulse identified and addressed thousands of DAT inquiries via social media, from over nine countries and in six languages. Languages included English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German and French. The top countries were the United States and the United Kingdom.

BEST CRISIS RESPONSE media to reach the largest number of customers impacted over the shortest amount of time. The strategy included setting up keywordbased monitoring to track conversations around top products or hot buttons. They used SM monitoring feeds (Radian6, Sysomos), Web alerts (Google Alerts) and looked to influencers by monitoring top influencersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; social channels (Hootsuite and Sprout Social). Once they identified a potential issue through monitoring, they developed an internal routing process set up to deal with the flagged issue. For example: If a tweet is flagged that discusses a product issue, they determined who it should be sent to and the recommended response. LEWIS Pulse also developed messaging guidelines with McAfee for social media response. Within the first 30 minutes of the crisis LEWIS Pulse checked with the product team to verify the issue and sent an email to colleagues within the PR team and other business unit leads to explain the situation and come up with course of action. The PR pros then conducted outreach to top social influencers to let public know there was an issue and that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d respond with more details ASAP. Afterward, they began tracking sentiment of social media comments. Following the rapid response, LEWIS Pulse worked with McAfee to figure out how the company should apologize and where to direct customers to resolve the issue. The model LEWIS Pulse created around the DAT Crisis for customer response addressed various scenarios including a consumer support explanation plan, an enterprise support escalation plan and more.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

DIGITALLY/SOCIALLY B E S T A R T S & E N TENGAGED E R T A I N MBRAND E N T COF A MTHE P A IYEAR GN

GOLD “The Formula for Success: How Finn Partners Helped Engineer an Engaged Social Community for IEEE ” Finn Partners At the beginning of 2012, IEEE approached Finn Partners to help build its brand perception into a fresh organization that was ahead of the curve regarding technological advancements and in touch with the younger generation. Finn Partners set to work creating a social media program with an ultimate goal of building an online community that acted as the central meeting place for members, the industry and the general public for all things IEEE. Through extensive research, IEEE and Finn Partners identified six “hot topics” that would serve as the focus for its social media strategy: Consumer electronics, sustainability, IT/computing, robotics, education and intelligent transport and infrastructure. In addition to a strong traditional media campaign focused around the hot topics, Finn Partners selected several of the topics and created digital components to activate a core community for IEEE and help demonstrate IEEE’s expertise to the world. Finn Partners positioned IEEE as “the prediction organization,” generating content that focused on what was next instead of now. Finn partners created a number of initiatives that each built on the idea of talking about the technological innovations of tomorrow. In the “Green Your World” initiative, the PR pros showcased IEEE’s expertise around World Environmental Day. This initiative was a month-long push to get the engineering community to make pledges to take a number of steps to reduce their carbon footprint. IEEE’s Women in Engineering society is one of the most forward-thinking and innovative groups of engineers who promote women in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) field. Finn Partners worked with IEEE, Women in Engineering and four of the top female engineers to create an educational initiative that promoted discussion of women in STEM. They executed this campaign through livestreaming chats and expanding the reach of a dedicated Facebook page. IEEE also wanted to increase awareness around the benefits of supercomputers and how they are changing our lives for the better. To make this message more consumer-friendly, IEEE created a Civilization 2040 app that gave a futuristic timeline of what milestones supercomputing would help us achieve between now and 2040. They then asked the online community to make their own predictions about potential futuristic technologies. In addition, the organization wanted to make a big splash at CES 2013—but IEEE didn’t have a product to showcase. So, while every other organization was focused on technology of the very near future, the IEEE team focused on how that would affect tech of today. They built an interactive voting app that gave users a list of 20 gadgets and asked them which of the technologies would be in the “gadget graveyard” by the end of the year. The game was further augmented by a holographic Thomas Edison at the booth. The two components together were a complete showstopper at the event, helping to garner coverage of IEEE at CES. Over 12 months, the campaign saw numerous successes. In addition to stellar traditional media highlights, IEEE grew exponentially in its reach, engagement and followership across all of its online channels. From a strategic standpoint, IEEE shifted public opinion from thinking it was behind the times to a leader in innovative thinking.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

DIGITALLY/SOCIALLY B E S T A R T S & E N TENGAGED E R T A I N MBRAND E N T COF A MTHE P A IYEAR GN

S I LV E R “Euro-Pro Social Media (Shark and Ninja brands) ” Alpaytac Many consumers don’t follow or engage with housewares brands online outside of customer service requests. It follows that EuroPro, a leading housewares brand in the U.S., struggled to create and maintain an influential social media presence despite its outstanding products and positive customer reviews. To solve this problem, the company tasked Alpaytac with creating a loyal network of Shark Cleaning and Ninja Kitchen users that engage with the brands and connect with each other in a strong online community. The PR pros would do this by growing the Twitter and Facebook fanbase for both Shark and Ninja and creating Pinterest pages for Shark and Ninja to establish a presence on a new social media site and direct additional traffic to their websites. Alpaytac knew the best way to do this was by establishing reoccurring and engaging branded promotions and leveraging influencers in the blogger community. They would also launch compelling contests and sweepstakes to spark excitement among fans and reward them for following Shark and Ninja’s pages and provide relevant content to encourage interaction while turning fans into brand ambassadors. To top it off, the team would use analytics to guide the tone, frequency and direction of the campaign to ensure a high ROI.

The campaign continued as they cross-promoted bloggers’ social media posts to establish credibility and garner additional exposure for product reviews. They also leveraged attendance at exclusive blogger events to increase the brands’ following across multiple platforms by utilizing official hashtags and participating in related conversations in real time. On Pinterest, they posted new boards every two weeks to keep content fresh and leveraged seasons, holidays and national events to create timely boards. On Facebook, they included high-resolution images and videos and connected with key media/bloggers and featured links to brand coverage. Finally, on Twitter, the brand joined relevant conversations and hosted Twitter parties to spark fan engagement, promote new products and establish a sense of commodity among fans. To date, the Ninja Kitchen Facebook page has more than 50,000 fans and the Shark Cleaning Facebook has 17,847 fans. Likes on status updates generally range from 10 to 85 per post for Ninja Kitchen and five to 40 for Shark Cleaning. The majority of Ninja Kitchen’s status updates reach 3,000 to 16,000 fans organically while Shark Cleaning’s posts reach 600 to 4,000 fans. The Ninja Kitchen Twitter currently has more than 3,000 followers and the Shark Cleaning Twitter has almost 2,000 followers. The Ninja Kitchen Pinterest has 5,675 followers and the Shark Cleaning

To start, Alpaytac created biweekly content calendars that included posts offering tips and advice on cooking and cleaning, product features and company news. The team conducted extensive research and used analytics to identify the most effective days and times to post status updates to determine the optimal schedule for Facebook and Twitter. They then shared custom recipes, all of which were created using Ninja products, on Ninja’s social media pages. Fans were encouraged to choose a monthly “ingredient spotlight,” which was featured in each recipe shared during the month. The PR team hosted a “Pets with No Shame” contest on Shark’s social media pages. The contest encouraged fans to submit photos of their pets and the messes they made for a chance to win a Shark Sonic Duo. Alpaytac compiled monthly reports to analyze the type of posts (product spotlights, industry news, seasonal topics, recipes, etc.) in each content calendar and the corresponding engagement rates. After analyzing the success of each post, the team incorporated key findings in creating future calendars to capitalize on content and continually boost fan engagement.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR A FOOD/BEVERAGES/RESTAURANT CAMPAIGN

GOLD “Tetra Pak’s “Milk Unleashed” Educational Campaign Helps Moms Get Their Kids to Drink More Milk – Anytime, Anywhere ” Phelps Tetra Pak is a world leader in food processing and packaging and a global leader in dairy packaging. Around the world, shelf-safe milk is the most common way of drinking milk. However, in the United States and Canada, there is a lack of understanding around the concept and thus, low trial. To support its dairy customers’ long-term growth, Tetra Pak set its sights on changing the perception of shelf-safe milk in the U.S. and Canada and educating consumers on different and, in some cases, new opportunities for milk consumption. Phelps created an integrated social media campaign called “Milk Unleashed.” It targeted moms with children aged 2-11 who are motivated by convenience and concerned about providing their kids with good nutrition. Research shows that moms are typically the gatekeepers through which products enter their home. Moms in this target are highly active online and on social networks, so the team focused on creating compelling content and reaching them where they already are—mommy and parenting blogs, mom blog networks, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Motivators for U.S. milk consumers are convenience, portability without refrigeration, health benefits and that their children like it. Phelps researched and assessed the online behaviors of mom and found 3.9 million moms in the U.S. are active bloggers, 96% of moms value recommendations from mom blogs, 89% of mom bloggers have children aged 2-11 and 55% of young moms spend 3-10 hours/week reading parenting blogs. To educate moms about the convenience/benefits of shelf-safe milk and convert perceptions, Phelps developed “Milk Unleashed” to work as a unifying theme across all initiatives. Tactics included content creation, microsite development, original creative including monthly themes and tips (healthier school lunches, hot chocolate ideas) and homepage promotions, news items, images and downloadable activities. To create ongoing momentum, public relations and social media outreach focused on timely themes, such as back-to-school (Aug/Sept), Nutrition Month (March) and Dairy Month (June) and included mom and parenting blog outreach, press release distribution, daily Facebook and Twitter posts, Facebook contests and Twitter parties. The team also recruited product ambassadors and developed a cause marketing initiative. The campaign was tremendously successful, having surpassed the objectives and reaching millions of moms in the U.S. and Canada. They scored 718 blog and media placements and 20,789,927 estimate impressions for content outreach. More than 80 percent of mom bloggers shared their posts on Facebook and Twitter. In less than one year since its launch, the campaign has reached millions of moms. More importantly, the campaign has shifted the perception of shelf-safe milk in the U.S. and Canada from unfamiliar and “weird” to an easy, healthy way to get nutrition on the go and acceptance of new opportunities for milk consumption. While once reserved for at home activities, moms are now putting milk in their kids’ lunchboxes, taking it on picnics, to sporting events and on car trips. And, Tetra Pak has grown its dairy business, as more and more brands are offering shelf-safe milk.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL B E S T A R T S &FOR E NAT EFOOD/BEVERAGES/RESTAURANT R TA I N M E N T C A M PA I G N CAMPAIGN

S I LV E R Seattle’s Best Coffee “Black Friday Coffee Break” Zeno Group and Seattle’s Best Coffee In 2010, Starbucks-owned Seattle’s Best Coffee unveiled a bold strategy for reinvention of the 40-year old brand: Make premium coffee far more accessible and bring Seattle’s Best Coffee to places where premium coffee has not been available before. As an important part of that mission, Seattle’s Best Coffee developed a new packaged coffee offering, the Level System. The Level System uses numbers and colors to show the strength of each roast, creating a simplified approach to help consumers find the perfect coffee to fit their taste profiles. In 2012, following the success of the Level System launch, Seattle’s Best Coffee challenged Zeno Group to raise brand awareness and drive trial among a new consumer target, identified as the “Hopeful Striver.” Zeno and Seattle’s Best developed the “Black Friday Coffee Break” to focus on a segment of the target—retail workers—by offering free coffee to those working on Black Friday. The brand made a strategic decision to leverage Facebook as its primary earned, owned and paid marketing channels. Anyone working on Black Friday could log on to the Seattle’s Best Coffee Facebook page and claim a free sample of Levels coffee, which brews a 10cup pot. Zeno recognized that many members of the target audience—men and women aged 25-45, 40 percent multicultural and primarily Hispanic, working in service and second or part-time jobs with a household income of $35K-$65K—work in retail, especially during the holiday season. Based on this research, the team used a compelling call-to-action to create buzz and drive new fans to Facebook, created a video to amplify the message on other online channels, leveraged existing media interest in Black Friday to insert Seattle’s Best Coffee into the news cycle and drove people to Facebook Facebook served as the primary social media channel to support the “Black Friday Coffee Break.” The interactive Facebook application invited the millions of people working on Black Friday to have a complimentary cup of Seattle’s Best to help make the day a little better. Zeno and creative agency Pure Imagination created an animated video that would drive awareness of Seattle’s Best Coffee and send viewers to the Seattle’s Best Coffee Facebook page. The video demoed the consumer experience with the Facebook app and concisely explained the Black Friday program. Feed Company helped seed the video to drive more views on YouTube. The “Black Friday Coffee Break” video appeared as a

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

sidebar widget on popular webpages such as CNN, Fox Sports, and New York Post. Zeno also activated existing Seattle’s Best Coffee fans through a series of emails, and posted announcements/checkin offers on stores’ Yelp and Foursquare pages. Seattle’s Best Coffee and Zeno Group helped make Black Friday a little better for more than 100,000 people who had to work. The “Black Friday Coffee Break” program raised overall brand familiarity, grew community of advocates and promoters and built online communities. The brand’s Facebook page secured 96,000 new “likes” and more than 224,000 consumers visited the Facebook application. The PR pros also generated media coverage and online conversations garnering more than 125 million traditional and social media impressions in two weeks.

BRONZE “Milk’s Breakfast Blitz” MilkPEP and Weber Shandwick In 2012, the National Milk Mustache ‘got milk?’ Campaign changed its focus to an occasion-based approach, and the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) launched a large, multi-channel campaign, The Breakfast Project, designed to spotlight milk’s essential role in the breakfast at-home routine and help encourage increased consumption through compelling, cross-platform content. In a continuation of it, Weber Shandwick’s ‘got milk?’ campaign kicked off 2013 with a focus not only on breakfast, but on the important role of milk’s high-quality protein each morning, harnessing an event that captivates families across the nation—The Super Bowl. With an expanded audience in mind, the Milk Mustache Campaign used the Super Bowl as a platform to help drive the importance of milk’s protein at breakfast – one with a powerful, lasting impact that would reach families nationwide. To support this direction and harness the power of social media for milk, the Milk Mustache Campaign utilized a real-time content marketing strategy and social listening approach in an effort to make milk a part of the Super Bowl conversation already taking place across digital and social channels by listening and engaging with influencers and consumers. The PR pros used a combination of paid, earned and owned tactics to grow existing social communities and extend the reach of milk’s breakfast content digitally. In order to build excitement about Milk’s Super Bowl campaign, the Milk Mustache Campaign’s content hub (website) and social channels supported 30 days of Super Bowl content across all

B E S T G E N E R A L C O N S U M E R C A M PA I G N digital platforms. Included were two Milk Mustache ads, a Super Bowl commercial (featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), behindthe-scenes videos and photos from all three ads, infographics, recipes, social media content and nutritional information. Weber Shandwick leveraged existing communities and state-ofthe-art Milk Command Center for real-time engagements with milk advocates and football fans leading up to and on the day of the big game. Through social listening efforts, they successfully executed a breakfast delivery to Super Bowl contenders, the Baltimore Ravens and engaged with fans reacting to the commercial in real time. To further drive engagement, the team launched two Twitter activations prior to the game and joined Twitter’s #AdScrimmage Competition to vote for the best Super Bowl commercial. Milk placed second. They also partnered with Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) and Fuel Up to Play 60 (FUTP60), leveraged Milk Mustache celebrities and reached out to mominfluencer network The Motherhood as well as dad bloggers from Dad 2.0. In an effort to provide a new platform at retail for consumers to interact with and buy milk, the team created the Breakfast Blitz program. America’s Milk Processors provided $250,000 in grants to schools across the country to help give kids greater access to a healthy breakfast through the Breakfast Blitz program. With 440 million earned media impressions, the Super Bowl was the largest and most efficient MilkPEP launch program to date. 84% of media coverage included breakfast messaging. The Breakfast Blitz promotion had 274,000 visits to program website, resulting in 112,200 milk UPCs entered.

build brand awareness for Gevalia coffee and drive foot traffic to Safeway stores to purchase Gevalia coffee products. To achieve these objectives, Gevalia and G2 Worldwide brought in Clever Girls Collective, Inc., their social media marketing agency designed specifically to help brands promote products and messaging across social channels by engaging social media influencers. Clever Girls Collective recommended engaging influential bloggers in Gevalia’s target demographic to host “house parties.” These bloggers were to invite friends to their homes and serve Gevalia coffee, along with other treats, purchased from Safeway grocery stores. They were then to share their entire experience through social channels, in authentic and compelling ways. Because Clever Girls has a network of over 6,000 social influencers, Gevalia was able to quickly and easily identify the perfect party hostesses and set the project in motion. Once identified and selected, bloggers were given detailed instructions. Participating blogger hostesses invited friends to their home for “coffee parties,” served Gevalia coffee and Safeway goodies, and photographed the event, before, during and after. The bloggers then wrote a summary about the party and posted it to their blogs, along with the photos. Photos were cross-posted to Pinterest, and blog posts were amplified via Facebook and Twitter. Blog posts included the Gevalia “Make Friends” brand messaging and disclosed their brand affiliation. Overall, this approach offered an experiential brand campaign for 80 participants and their guests, authentic and compelling content for the participants’ readers, and visually stunning user-generated content for the client. The campaign resulted in a total of 4.5M social impressions from 80 house parties and blog posts, 80 Pinterest pins, 160 Tweets and 80 Facebook posts.

HONORABLE MENTION “Make Friends with Gevalia & Clever Girls” Gevalia (Kraft) Gevalia, a Premium Gourmet Coffee & Tea brand and division of Kraft Foods, launched the “Make Friends” PR campaign in early summer, 2013. The “Make Friends” campaign messaging centered on the idea that coffee brings people together—and Gevalia coffee, because it’s never bitter, is the perfect brand of coffee to share with friends. In addition, Gevalia has a partnership with Safeway stores. The “Make Friends” campaign aimed to build brand awareness for both the coffee and its availability at Safeway grocery stores. Gevalia’s PR team, G2 Worldwide, wanted to find a creative way to promote and amplify the “Make Friends” campaign messaging,

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR A BANKING/FINANCIAL SERVICES CAMPAIGN

GOLD “Future Proof Your Pension Fund” State Street The European pension industry is amid major regulatory and operational changes. In addition, State Street has a significant pension business in the US but lower visibility in the European pension arena. These dynamics prompted the company to implement an integrated, three-month campaign, “Future Proof Your Pension Fund.” The campaign was launched to stimulate cross-industry debate about the challenges facing pension funds, create awareness of State Street’s expertise and solutions for helping pension clients prepare for the future and support its sales team by creating multiple leads. Pension funds need strategic partners to overcome the regulatory and operational challenges they are facing today and to help position them for the future. The PR team used qualitative and quantitative research to establish the five key challenges for pension funds: Managing funding deficits, risk management, data transparency, operational efficiency and regulation. By using this research as the foundation of the campaign, they were able to show that they understand their clients’ challenges and have tailored solutions and expertise available to meet these needs. A highly coordinated social media effort was a key component of this multi-channel campaign. By engaging audiences via digital media and distribution partners, they captured data and generated qualified sales leads. The communications pros used Twitter and LinkedIn to drive traffic to the State Street website and the Clear Path site (the company’s partner in developing the report). State Street’s Twitter and LinkedIn calendar was coordinated with Clear Path’s. They also used a Vine video to drive webcast registrations—and were recognized by Twitter as the first B2B financial services company to use a Vine. The team then promoted its thought leadership paper via pension social networking groups, including Mallow Street. The social media launch included the numerous major activities. The pre-campaign consisted of first following, favoriting, liking, retweeting and sharing content from social media influencers on Twitter and LinkedIn. They then added target groups to a pensions list to monitor their activities and developed Vine, hashtag and tracking URLS, as well as Twitter and LinkedIn conversation calendars. State Street began its social campaign on Twitter and LinkedIin. The team shared the first pensions on a Vine and continued to share the Vine content a second time in one week. Throughout the campaign, they used social media to engage clients, prospects and media regarding research and solutions for the pension fund industry. They sought to increase event registrations for State Street’s webcast series, increase downloads of four thought leadership papers and increase four press releases promoting the pension campaign. Their strategic considerations were to make sure clients, prospects and targeted media groups were engaging with content. The campaign hit State Street’s target European audience while appealing to a global demographic. State Street’s Future Proof Your Pension Fund campaign established the company as an industry leader in social media. Twitter confirmed that it was the first financial services company to use a Vine. The team also scored retweets from Pension Matters, Scottish Widows, a prominent pension company and other notable figures. They budget of $1,000 for the Vine component was comparable to the cost of a banner ad, but the Vine campaign generated approximately 20,000 more impressions than a traditional banner ad. The campaign also boosted clicks on LinkedIn, the webcast, and traffic to www.statestreet.com.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL B E S T A R T S &FOR E N TAEBANKING/FINANCIAL R T A I N M E N T C A M P ASERVICES IGN CAMPAIGN

S I LV E R “AIG, Inc., Burson-Marsteller, Proof Integrated Communications and PSB, AIG's Global Launch of CyberEdge” Burson- Marsteller The re-branding project for CyberEdge, AIG’s cyber risk management solution, began in mid-2012 with a singular business objective: Help AIG grow its CyberEdge product aggressively in gross written premium by the end of 2013. To help ensure the company’s new brand positioning was successful with key decision makers at small, medium and large enterprises, Burson-Marsteller established an array of communications objectives: Position AIG as a leader in cyber security issues through a simplified and tested messaging platform; develop unique communications tools and opportunities for interaction with key stakeholders; and align CyberEdge rebranding with AIG’s new corporate identity launched in October 2012. While AIG had been the early leader among cyber security insurance providers since it established the market in the late 1990s, new market entrants had created a competitive landscape with little differentiation in brand perceptions. Product differentiation can be a difficult and treacherous territory, particularly when you consider the multitude of opinions about how to do it right. The road to successful product positioning is filled with organizations that have captured a fundamental secret: It’s not about what the company thinks. It’s about what the target audience thinks. In order to move the target audience from point A to point B, the PR team began by identifying where point A was. Research helped determine current perceptions of the brand and hone the right messages for the target audience. Simply having a research-based foundation was not enough. They created an educational and engaging campaign that is malleable enough to expand and morph into various formats and messages as needs dictate. Tactics included using an evidence-based approach for developing and validating new positioning and audiences most receptive to this. Burson-Marsteller’s sister company, PSB, executed research in three phases to inform the company’s re-branding. This involved in-depth interviews among key AIG team members, brokers and potential clients, a workshop with key internal stakeholders and a quantitative survey among 323 risk managers, IT decision makers, C-suite executives and insurance brokers in the U.S. and Canada. AIG and Burson-Marsteller created a toolkit, including a message cheat sheet, a broker sales playbook, a FAQ and five marketing

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

highlight sheets that reflected the new tone and messaging and that would be used for engagement with employees, brokers and clients. Burson-Marsteller’s sister company, Proof Integrated Communications, developed a mobile application, and this served as the cornerstone of the new sales tools. They also conducted three 4-hour interactive training sessions on new messaging, claims narratives and mobile application functionality for employees around the globe. The foundational work for the CyberEdge re-branding project culminated in engaging external audiences with the new messaging and launching the CyberEdge Mobile App for the iPad on Apple’s iTunes store. The morning began with a press release that announced key findings from the research and the release of the mobile application along with other new offerings from the company. During the day, media coverage included articles across the Dow Jones/News Corp. platform, including Dow Jones Newswire, Wall Street Journal online, All Things Digital, CIO Journal and Fox Business online, as well as a television interview on CNBC with AIG spokespeople sharing this information. Subsequent coverage of the survey appeared in all key insurance trade journals and other key financial outlets. In addition, a new Twitter handle, @AIG_CyberEdge, was launched and videos with the new CyberEdge messaging and information on how to use the mobile application debuted on AIG’s YouTube channel. Since launching, the new CyberEdge campaign has continued to yield great success. Overall, the extraordinary integrated communications efforts introduced internal and external audiences to the CyberEdge Mobile App and new messaging that resulted from the re- branding. Most importantly, the re-branding project is achieving the primary business growth objective, and CyberEdge growth is up nearly 30%, year over year, thus far.

BRONZE “Likes, tweets and...finances? How Fifth Third Bank used social media to build consumer relationships” Finn Partners As a financial institution, Fifth Third Bank understood the economic environment over the last few years demanded change. For the company, this meant developing innovative solutions for its customers, offering services that were straightforward and fairly priced, and leveraging its size to provide functional support while maintaining a local focus. But changing business strategies wasn’t

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL B E S T A R T S &FOR E N TAEBANKING/FINANCIAL R T A I N M E N T C A M P ASERVICES IGN CAMPAIGN enough, and the Bank understood building an online community was just as important in order to attract customers. In 2012, Fifth Third Bank saw tremendous growth with earnings continuing to rebound and returns approaching those associated with a normalized financial economy. To attract and retain customers, the financial industry as a whole began to realize the importance of social media, and Fifth Third Bank was ready to join. Fifth Third Bank approached Finn Partners to build an online presence more closely aligned with its growth and brand identity. The team created a social media strategy centered on customer engagement and utilized the Bank’s existing Facebook and Twitter channels as a tool to listen to, react to and engage with prospective and existing customers, as well as promote Fifth Third’s products and services. Based on preliminary research and key findings, Fifth Third Bank and Finn Partners sought to lay the framework for an integrated social media presence, define the Bank’s brand voice and increase integration among Bank products and services, encourage conversations among Fifth Third’s customer base, and build lasting relationships through engaging and relevant social content. The team also hoped to integrate social media insights into Bank policy and procedures and leverage the Bank’s community partnerships and sports sponsorships within the audience footprint.

the Bank’s Facebook page has now grown to more than 30,000 users, a 1,808-percent increase. This initial growth was essential, but Fifth Third Bank also needed to create lasting relationships with their online consumers. Today, the Bank’s Facebook content reaches an average of nearly 300,000 users daily. Content also generated engagement and creating dialogue: The average number of engaged users interacting with the Bank on Facebook has increased from 36 users to more than 6,000 today. While laying the groundwork, the team leveraged the Bank’s growing social channels to promote Fifth Third Bank products and services. Social content and ads for ongoing Bank initiatives have resulted in a total reach of 153,914,400 users to date. From Q1 to Q2, these efforts also contributed to an 8-percent increase in positive customer experiences shared on the Bank’s social platforms.

Stemming from Fifth Third’s recent successes, Finn Partners and the Bank focused on building a social media community more demonstrative of the Bank’s rising status in the financial industry. The team built an online brand persona that aligned with the Bank’s key strengths: Its reputation, quality financial products and services and strong community presence. Additionally, they monitored conversations to identify the voice of the customer. The team found highlighting the Bank’s community service efforts, geotargeting local events, sharing relevant financial tips and creating timely posts was the type of content that resonated with the Bank’s Facebook and Twitter audience the most. In addition to building an audience with ongoing monthly content, the team carried out ongoing social media campaigns throughout the year, promoting campaigns from the Bank’s new prepaid reloadable debit card to the Bank’s NASCAR and NFL sponsorships. Throughout the execution of these campaigns, Finn Partners and the Bank ensured the social media content and strategy addressed a number of potential roadblocks associated with the financial industry today. One way the team accomplished this was by identifying potential questions or concerns in advance and drafting approved Facebook and Twitter responses. First, to reach the Bank’s target audience, initial growth and increased consumer engagement was key. Over a 10-month period, Finn Partners helped Fifth Third Bank successfully grow their social media community. Boosting only 1,300 “Likes” in October 2012,

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

B E S T O N L I N E E M P L OY E E C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

GOLD “Unlocking Next Now: TrendsU” Havas PR North America TrendsU, which debuted in June 2012 when the company was known as Euro RSCG Worldwide, is a four-module e-learning program, developed and led by Marian Salzman, CEO of Havas PR North America (@havaspr) and one of the world’s leading trendspotters. The platform draws on the impact of trends in the media and among brands and consumer demography, and it offers concrete tools and lessons. It is an interactive learning experience that supports the global company’s mission of “Future First,” helps develop talent and embodies its “digital at the core” philosophy. TrendsU also promotes collaboration and engagement (which they would use as the main criterion to evaluate the campaign) among the 11,000 employees of the global Havas network. The overall goal as Havas PR planned this new initiative was to develop Havas Worldwide employees’ understanding of the role of tools, brands, demographics and leadership as they relate to trendspotting. Ultimately, this will lead to revenue generation. In today’s social and digital age, the competitive difference among agencies is talent and technology; the company’s new collaborative e-learning platform and the TrendsU program will help them deliver on both fronts. They developed the e-learning platform, which Havas will also use for other projects, because it allows students to learn as if in an actual classroom together, communicating with their professor and peers through a dynamic message feed, which lets them discuss relevant topics in real time. At TrendsU, leaders engage the students through active learning with tailored audiovisual e-lectures. After each course, students must finish homework assignments to unlock badges and move on to the next module. The completed assignments are visible to all participants, which encourages people to put out their best work and fosters an environment that inspires the cross-pollination and evolution of ideas. In addition, students share the trends they are spotting around the world on Pinterest boards so that everyone companywide can use them to build current, globally minded work for clients or for agency initiatives. The @havaspr trends team created four modules beginning with Trendspotting 101 and advancing from there. They wrote and designed a publication and corresponding presentation for each module, both available to Havas Worldwide employees over the company’s intranet and for download on iPad. Then, they publicized the program by email to the global network and through promotion in Havas’ daily news blast. Topics include “Introduction to the Art + Science of Identifying What’s Next,” “Brands + Media: Quick Case Studies,” “3Ms + 2Gs: Quick Case Studies” and “Personal Branding: Lessons from Leadership Trends.” From 93 offices worldwide, 723 students worked their way through the inaugural course, committing an average of three hours to the first module alone. Their homework became the basis of background research for “What’s Next? What to Expect in 2013,” @havaspr’s annual trends report and the debut title of @havaspr’s new publishing arm, 120M Books. (“What’s Next?” hit the top 1,000 Kindle books list within a few hours after launch; it was Nook’s book of the day on Dec. 31, 2012.) In addition, they are using some sightings as background for the “brainsnacks” they post on @havaspr’s homepage, us.havaspr.com. In addition, Marketing Daily wrote an original story about TrendsU’s launch, and the program got coverage on Huffington Post Education, DossierNet in Argentina, Bulldog Reporter and others. In addition, 1,103 outlets with 78.3 million total daily impressions picked up our release announcing TrendsU. PR Newswire told the team it was a “very successful release.”

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

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S I LV E R “Helping American Airlines People Connect, Communicate and Collaborate with New Jetnet” American Airlines with Weber Shandwick From Chapter 11 restructuring to merger rumors and negotiations, change has become almost expected for American Airline’s 70,000+ employees. Recognizing that communication is critical during times of change, the airline sought to improve its existing communications vehicles and introduce new ones. As part of their journey to modernize and become the new American, the company wanted not only to provide an improved travel experience for their customers, but also to bring a more transparent and authentic way of communicating with its people through a new tone of voice and new tools. Weber Shandwick would accomplish this by introducing a new social and engagement-driven internal platform—new Jetnet— to ultimately replace American’s long-standing, outdated intranet— classic Jetnet. They would also raise awareness of new Jetnet’s function so as to drive employees’ adoption of and engagement with the platform and its interactive content. A three-phase comprehensive communications campaign, entitled “Connect. Communicate. Collaborate.” was established to launch, educate and engage employees. Communications targeted all levels of employees and considered those in both office- and field-based environments. Additionally, new Jetnet was launched to help serve as the platform for unveiling the airline’s new look to employees. Upon announcement of American’s pending merger with US Airways, new Jetnet served as a critical communications tool for sharing important merger-related updates with employees and as a place where American’s people could come to ask merger-related questions. In the pre-launch phase, the team strategized the initial site taxonomy and introduced the first three sections (News, Travel and Resources); developed videos, articles and polls to pre-populate the site; organized an editorial calendar; developed the “Jetnet Playbook,” a best practices approach to managing content and conversation on the platform; trained content managers and experts on the functionality and objectives of the site; helped serve as the community managers for monitoring content; created presentations for calls with company leadership; distributed targeted leader emails; and designed and distributed collateral for employees across the globe. For the launch, Weber Shandwick designed and distributed a variety of communications materials announcing new Jetnet. These materials included collateral to be posted at company locations around the world, an HTML email sent to all American people

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

inviting them to login, an article in the daily email to all employees and departmental communications via the distribution of key messages and Q&A to managers. During the post-launch, the company launched their new brand visual identity, and new Jetnet was the primary tool used to communicate this change with the company’s global employees. The homepage was populated with a full-suite of detailed multimedia content about the new look. The PR team created and publicized the “Get Connected” sweepstakes to encourage people to visit new Jetnet, resulting in more than 10,500 views and 2,800 contest entries. They then launched the “News” section, which was coupled with the announcement of new uniforms. Finally, American and US Airways announced their plans to merge, and new Jetnet added a “Merger” space to support this news. Since its launch, Weber Shandwick and American have worked together to develop and execute a strategic “Jetnet Engagement Plan” to drive user adoption and guide model behavior. To date, 96 percent of possible users have logged in at least once, and of the registered users, 88 percent are considered “active.” Nearly 35,000 people logged on to new Jetnet within its first 14 days, and ongoing employee promotions content have driven more than 56,000 views on new Jetnet. The team has also executed 24 new Jetnet trainings with different workgroups/stations, presented at two leader staff meetings, and completed one-on-one trainings with 16 leaders.

BRONZE “Diageo North America’s Main Ingredient” Diageo North America The “Main Ingredient” (MI) is the online employee newsletter of Diageo North America (DNA), the U.S. and Canadian division of Diageo, plc, the world’s leading total beverage alcohol company. The newsletter is the most direct voice of Diageo North America to reach DNA employees and is a key driver of employee engagement and a critical means of transmitting the core values and drivers of its business. MI is intended to inform and energize North American employees of Diageo to ensure that they have the knowledge they need to fuel outstanding performance; understand business strategies, corporate values, key business drivers, and their roles in the execution of those strategies; build passion for the company and its products; and make transitions to new strategies, new ways of working and new directions for Diageo businesses. MI’s editorial strategy is to support the key strategies of Diageo

B E S T O N L I N E E M P L OY E E C O M M U N I C AT I O N S North America by organizing the publication’s content primarily according to the five drivers of the business: Brands, Innovation, Relationships & Reputation, Alcohol in Society and People, Culture, Values. The communications pros implement MI’s editorial strategy in each issue, which contains one to three stories drawn from around the business that fall within the driver categories. They regularly feature, in particular, news about the ways in which Diageo gives back to the communities in which employees live and work. For several years, according to the company’s annual Values Survey, giving back to its communities has been a key driver of employee engagement and pride in Diageo. MI features news about Diageo brand activations and marketing, product innovations, new company initiatives or changes to Diageo ways of working. They also transmit and amplify executives’ messages to their 3,000 employees in the United States and Canada. Regular editions of the Main Ingredient are published electronically biweekly and delivered as an email. The company also publishes occasional series and special editions as needed to give focused attention to announcements from leadership, major organizational change, business results, critical policies and timesensitive calls to action. For example, one edition features three articles on the ways in which Diageo gives back to its communities: First-responder reports on aid from Diageo North America and DNA employees to victims of Hurricane Isaac; efforts by The Century Council, which is funded, in part, by Diageo, to address binge drinking; and recognition of Diageo’s efforts to decrease its environmental impact and increase environmental sustainability. This issue also includes typical stories on brand activities; company initiatives such as compliance and manufacturing; and efforts to build a great workforce culture, such as the special events hosted by The Latin Connection Employee Resource Group to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. The DNA team uses key metrics of Diageo’s annual Values Survey, especially on employee engagement, as the measure of its success. In its most recent Values Survey, employee engagement was 85%, while engagement among employees in sales, marketing and corporate positions was 88%. Engagement among supply employees (those who work in jobs manufacturing our products) was 81%, one percentage point higher than the 2012 survey.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST ORGANIZATIONAL E-NEWSLETTER EXTERNAL

GOLD “Deveney Communiqué” Deveney Communication Deveney Communication’s “Communiqué” is not simply an email newsletter, but rather a love letter to the firm’s friends, colleagues and potential clients. The monthly communication piece is filled with strategy, successes and, in true Deveney style, sporadic sass. “Communiqué” was originally created as an engaging way to stay in touch with industry peers and current clients, but it also serves as a unique way for garnering potential new business opportunities. Links within each HTML email directs recipients to the newly updated Deveney Communication website which highlights its practice areas, client list, capabilities and accomplishments. Delivered at the conclusion of each fiscal quarter, “Communiqué” provides a recap of firm activities over the past few months, including successful campaigns, team accomplishments, awards, client wins and expanded service capabilities. Deveney’s location in New Orleans sets it apart culturally, and the content the team provides shows that its international and industry reach are strong. The dynamic content for each email is loosely governed by three constant themes that highlight the success of campaigns, growth in capabilities, DC employee successes, new trends and technology. Each quarter, based on recent work and current environment, Deveney compiles content that touches on the following three themes: Innovate, Influence and Inspire. These overall themes drive the content development of “Communiqué,” and this content influences the subject line. Content ranges from awards won by the firm and grand openings for clients to the successes of clients and Deveney’s work with partner firms such as Worldcom. The positioning of content to imagery is balanced to ensure readers are not overwhelmed by one or the other. Deveney surpassed its goals for the 3rd quarter issue in 2012, as well as 1st and 2nd quarter issues in 2013. “Communiqué” has maintained well over the industry standard email open rate of 21.7%, with a 51.5% open rate for May’s issue, a 42.2% for December’s issue and a 49.8% for July’s issue. It also has seen 67.7% click-through rates to the DC website and an unsubscribe rate at a remarkable 0.02%. “Communiqué” has also aided in expanding the firm’s contact database with new and updated contact information as well as showcased its HTML abilities.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

B BEST E S T ORGANIZATIONAL A R T S & E N T E RE-NEWSLETTER T A I N M E N T C AEXTERNAL M PA I G N

S I LV E R

BRONZE

“Monrovia ‘Plant Savvy’ Gardening E-Newsletter” Phelps

“Braden Fellman E-newsletter ” communications 21

Monrovia, a grower of quality garden plants, sells primarily through independent garden centers, based on the belief that its premium plants and more interesting varieties are best sold through the neighborhood garden shops. Monrovia focuses its marketing efforts on driving consumers to the independent garden centers. “Plant Savvy” is Monrovia’s monthly e-newsletter that provides gardening tips, design inspiration and practical ideas, and leading the charge on this effort is integrated marketing agency Phelps. The mission was to inspire gardeners to visit independent garden centers, to educate people about interesting and improved plant varieties, and to drive traffic to Monrovia’s website for further gardening content. The campaign targeted consumers—including gardening enthusiasts and homeowners—as well as horticulture educators, master gardeners and garden lecturers. Phelps also sought to reach landscape architects and designers who specify Monrovia plants, owners and buyers of independent garden centers, and garden journalists who get story ideas and tidbits for social media sharing from the “Plant Savvy” newsletter. Phelps created an annual editorial calendar based on consumer research, gardening trends, input from sales staff in the field and garden center customers. They also researched, wrote the copy, gathered images, enhanced for SEO and distributed content as an HTML with numerous links to Monrovia’s website for more details. What’s more, Phelps posted the current issue to the website and push content out in social media. Through the e-mail provider, Phelps monitors the analytics to determine open rate, pass-along and click-throughs. This helps them see what interested readers and how future content could be tailored to appeal to the target audience. Tracking click- throughs that searched for nearby garden centers allowed Phelps to contact those garden centers and report to the sales staff that customers may be headed their way. Monrovia 's “Plant Savvy” stands out against its competitors' more catalog-type newsletters with compelling editorial. Circulation growth is all organic, and the number of subscribers increased from an initial 2,200 to more than 36,000 subscribers in just four years. The open rate averages 35 percent, far above the industry average. The newsletter saw an 18% increase in subscribers, and gardening media and bloggers regularly repurpose content from “Plant Savvy.”

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

Braden Fellman Group, Ltd. is a property management company offering a variety of in-town apartments, lofts and commercial spaces throughout Atlanta. In order to retain current residents and engage with past and potential residents in a highly competitive rental market, Braden Fellman sought to develop a quarterly enewsletter that showcased the areas and events surrounding Braden Fellman properties, highlighted the company’s corporate responsibility programs and profiled tenants to build a stronger sense of community. The company tapped communications 21 (c21) to make this a reality. With the development of the e-newsletter, Braden Fellman wanted to increase overall online engagement by engaging the target audience and promoting the Braden Fellman Facebook page. Before each e-newsletter was delivered, c21 obtained an updated mailing list from Braden Fellman. The list was filtered to remove evicted tenants and those with missing or incorrect email addresses. The email list grew exponentially as c21 encouraged Braden Fellman to gather new email addresses of potential residents visiting properties. Since June 2012, the list has grown 70 percent. Part of the challenge facing Braden Fellman and c21 was to develop content that would be of interest and engaging to its target audiences. The PR pros recommended moving beyond the purely promotional messages used by competitors to better connect with current and future residents. c21 developed a “Resident Spotlight” section to showcase the unique and interesting residents living in Braden Fellman’s properties. Since its inception, residents ranging from street artists to musical producers have been featured in this section, and it continues to be a section with the highest number of clicks each month. Another feature of the e-newsletter is the promotion of social media contests that c21 runs on Braden Fellman’s Facebook page. By including this cross-promotion in each e-newsletter, the team drives traffic to the Facebook page and encourages recipients of the enewsletter to “like” the page and enter the contest each month. Contests range from pet photography to loft apartment design and décor contests, where entrants must submit artistic photos or designs to win a grand prize. Since the target audience is a youthful, artistic and community-focused group, c21 provides winners with gift cards to support local restaurants, attractions and retailers.

BEST ORGANIZATIONAL E-NEWSLETTER EXTERNAL Other sections of the e-newsletter include updates on the company’s properties, community news and a “Meet the Staff” section. The sidebar contains information and links to local events happening near the properties, such as concerts, festivals and art shows. The e-newsletters were wildly successful with an open-rate high of 38.3 percent and an average click- through rate of 11.26 percent. The Braden Fellman Facebook page sees a spike in interactions with each newsletter and remains fairly active following distribution.

HONORABLE MENTION

which includes a search function for all articles. Graphics are also crucial elements of the “National News” stories, and the college utilizes social media to bring extra attention to newsletter articles as every newsletter is now shared through Facebook and Twitter. This past year was a huge success for the communications department as The Floyd County Times and The News and Advance both picked up stories from the newsletter. In addition, legislators have written to students commending them for their accomplishments as highlighted in the newsletter. Overall, the “National News” is a useful and savvy communications tool for internal staff and external associates, current students and prospective students, graduates and media contacts and many other stakeholders.

“National News” American National University The “National News” is produced each week by the communications department of American National University and National College, which includes 31 campuses in six states and is dedicated to the educating of men and women for a full life and successful career. The “National News” provides to the opportunity to tell the staff, students and third-party contacts—including prospective students and community leaders—about how the organization changes lives through career training, excellent faculty and positive contributions to the local economy and workforce. Mission-related articles include student and graduate success stories, recognition of local businesses that employ students and graduates, career fairs, workshops and seminars and community events. Two versions of “National News” are produced each week. The main edition includes stories from all campuses, while a “Bluegrass Edition” includes stories from the six Kentucky campuses. Print copies are distributed to each campus location and by mail to government officials and key community contacts and number about 5,000 each week. Approximately 150,000 copies are delivered via email to students, faculty and staff, as well as prospective students, graduates, key constituents, media contacts and the general public. Stories are gathered from all 31 of the institution’s campuses, and the communications department holds weekly conference calls with a representative from each campus to alert them of what will appear in the upcoming issue. The newsletter began in 2005 and has evolved in recent years. It was previously a means of communication among campuses, but as the college has grown, so has the need for the publication to become an integral public relations tool. Current and back issues of the newsletter are available online via the organization’s website,

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST ONLINE NEWSROOM OF THE YEAR

GOLD “The Network: Cisco’s Online Newsroom” Cisco The Network is positioned as a premiere example of brand journalism in the form of a true online newsroom. Cisco aims to work with a team of seasoned industry journalists to deliver industry-leading content to a mass audience. In the summer of 2012, the team at Cisco behind The Network looked to make the content more engaging, share-worthy and viral. The team communicated this by launching a “Take, Share, Engage” campaign to encourage people to literally take the content from The Network and repurpose and repost it anywhere they saw fit—and all that was asked in return was for credit to be made back to Cisco in the post. This movement was to further amplify the message that information is meant to be shared, and Cisco is at the heart of that cooperative effort. In order to get users to share content, however, Cisco had to stay on top of trends and continue its efforts to post engaging pieces of content while remaining true to the brand’s corporate mission. The message behind The Network was, and continues to be, for the newsroom to remain the ultimate online destination for the latest technology news and Cisco insights. All content was produced and curated with media, influencers, analysts and investors in mind, and the multimedia-based site is set to appeal both to those seeking specific Cisco updates, and to readers looking for more general information on the technology industry and the growth of social media. Through a carefully curated content calendar, Cisco weaves in relevant topics and issues that keep The Network top-of-mind. In order to keep The Network fresh and exciting, the team rolled out a content calendar that would deliver more visual, shareable posts than in the past. This started with “My Networked Life: True Stories from the Connected World,” a documentary-style video series that highlighted young entrepreneurs from across the globe and their unique uses of technology. After the success of the MNL launch in July 2012, Cisco continued to push out infographics, themed content and videos that were all based on topics associated with data center, core networks, video, collaboration, cloud, mobility and Internet of Everything. Cisco has a unique program that includes seasoned, awardwinning, named journalists who have written about the technology and business industries professionally for years. They are independent writers and pitch stories to The Network, just as they would any other news publication. The pieces they contribute do not have to mention Cisco, but they do need to focus on topics and trends relevant to Cisco and its business. This approach is often referred to as brand journalism, though they like to think of it as good, solid storytelling. The team at Cisco also developed a Connections Counter in June 2013, a real-time widget that tracks the number of people, processes, data and things that are connected to the Internet. This widget, which lives on The Network, highlights The Internet of Everything and our global potential to be connected. This wide range of topics and content appealed to a broader audience than competing newsrooms, and Cisco continued to syndicate content from The Network through its various social channels on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and even Tumblr, creating a Tumblr page that is specific and unique to all Network-hosted content. Audiences continue to find content on The Network engaging and share-worthy, and the site accumulated more than 730K unique visitors between January and July in 2013, with a total of just more than 1 million overall site visitors during the specified time period. Of those visitors, 70% were new to The Network, indicating a growth in site visitors due to outreach efforts, amplification across social channels and media mentions, which gives a nod to the attractive nature of the site’s content.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST ONLINE NEWSROOM OF THE YEAR

S I LV E R “Re-Launch of NissanNews.com/InfinitiNews.com” Wieck Wieck is owned and operated by seasoned editors who know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of public relations initiatives. Founded in 1991 by United Press International veterans, Wieck leverages this solid news background to efficiently deliver mediafriendly text, photo, audio and video files. Today, the company continues to work hand in hand with leading news organizations, which provides its team with ongoing insight into the evolution of the modern newsroom and the changing needs of media professionals worldwide. Wieck has been providing media relations technology, strategy and solutions since the agency signed its first client, The New York Times, back in 1991. Thus, Wieck’s media relations and content syndication expertise was particularly valuable to Nissan Americas for this long-term project. Nissan Americas wanted to up their game in the online newsroom space. They selected Wieck to help them do just that. With the relaunch of NissanNews.com and InfinitiNews.com, Wieck brought all the latest in technologies together for a multi-market, multilanguage, hemisphere-wide news site with a goal of making the journalist's life much easier. Broader appeal, more modern design, larger audience and greater capacity were a few of the goals defined early in the project. Wieck deployed a custom version of its class-leading newsroom platform that included multi-market, multi-lingual access to media and marketing information throughout the Americas Region. With features like basket, broadcast-quality video downloads, social media integration/sharing and high-resolution photo downloads, the new platform delivers on the goal. Thousands of images, videos, specifications, special reports and news releases reside on the platform and are updated and added to by Wieck staff and Nissan Americas staff alike. Everything the journalists want is right there at their fingertips inside the intuitive interface. Starting development in early 2012 and launching the first version of the site in April 2012, the team has continuously improved on the site throughout 2013 with a front-page refresh in January and a complete all-market refresh finishing up in July of 2013. Traffic on the re-launched site has grown from just over 90,000 unique visitors per month one year ago to just over 450,000 visitors in the latest month.

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST DIGITAL/SOCIAL WORD OF MOUTH CAMPAIGN

GOLD “Clorox Cleans Up the ICK” The Clorox Company with Ketchum Clorox set out to celebrate the everyday “ick” parents face through a cross-brand campaign that created a new “language of mess” by parents, for parents. Targeting modern moms and dads, an extraordinary program by the PR pros at Ketchum brought humor and clean-up solutions to help parents see beyond the icky situations. To introduce this “language of mess” to consumers and highlight the brand’s Equity platform of five cleaning and laundry products, Clorox teamed up with Ick-sperts: Influential modern moms and dads with a strong online and social media presence who have been there and cleaned that, and aren’t afraid to face the ick head-on. The Ick-sperts helped develop and launch the Clorox Ick-tionary (www.icktionary.com), wiki-style dictionary that brings to life the icky situations parents and others face with new made-up terms to become the new language of mess. Once on the interactive website, consumers could engage with the Clorox Ick-tionary content at various levels—from liking and sharing, to commenting and even submitting their own. Visitors could also test their ick-spertise through an engaging matching game tied to incentives. To introduce the new language of mess and drive modern moms and dads to www.icktionary.com, the team harnessed the power of comedians, bloggers, TV personalities and more to reach targets online across social media platforms and other websites they visit regularly. The individuals were known as “Ick-sperts”: Celebrity comedian and mom, Carol Leifer, “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star and mom Kyle Richards and other relatable moms, popular dad bloggers Charlie and Andy from “How to Be a Dad,” and four graphic-type illustrators. The Clorox Ick-tionary officially launched in early April when Ick-sperts shared the new language of mess with their online followers via personal blog and social media posts, in accordance with traditional media strategies from April through June. The Ketchum team enlisted them to create their own words and share personal ick-speriences with their legions of followers. They also created a parent-relatable viral video highlighting the humor behind all the ick that comes along with “Back to School Night” and brought the Clorox Ick-tionary to life through an interactive mobile experience. The Ick-sperts continued to seed the new language of mess through blog and social media posts about the Clorox Ick- tionary throughout the two months following launch. The team worked with Social Moms blogger network and more than 50 mom bloggers and hosted a Twitter party with the superstar dad blogger. They also continued conducting media interviews with Carol Leifer and Kyle Richards. Consumers and media alike were ecstat-ick about the Clorox Ick-tionary. Within three months of launch, there were more than 977,385 www.icktionary.com page views, 40% of which were a direct result of online word of mouth from our Ick-sperts. Additionally, the team secured a total of 170 placements about the Clorox Ick-tionary, generating more than 49 million total media impressions to date.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST DIGITAL/SOCIAL WORD OF MOUTH CAMPAIGN

S I LV E R “Zeno Group breaks Brocade acquisition news through Twitter” Zeno Group Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) announced that it reached a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Vyatta in an all-cash transaction. Vyatta is based in Belmont, Calif. and is a networking industry innovator through its software-based network operating system that is highly relevant for multiple applications in server virtualization, software-defined networking (SDN) and private/public cloud computing platforms. No pre-briefings or information about this acquisition were shared with Brocade’s employees prior to announcement. PR efforts were minimal, and Brocade tapped Zeno Group to announce the acquisition news through social and word-of-mouth only. To do this, the team implemented a trans-media storytelling strategy to reach influential media in a non-traditional approach. They would break news through Twitter and lead media to owned properties to drive traffic to full messaging on a branded microsite, as well as field inquiries from social media and direct to PR contacts for approved messaging through briefings. Zeno Group developed the social media strategy surrounding the announcement of the acquisition, including cadence, context and proactive engagement. Zeno created a total of 76 tweets surrounding the Brocade Vyatta acquisition, with an average return of 31 inbound messages per outbound message on Twitter. Social efforts supported business objectives to amplify a press release, located only on owned properties and encourage the conversation about Brocade’s acquisition. Brocade created 12 posts on Facebook surrounding the Brocade Vyatta acquisition, with an average of 63 engaged users per post. There was an average virality of 3.09% for each post. Normal posts on Brocade’s Facebook page often have a virality of less than 1%. Brocade’s Vyatta acquisition announcement generated significant coverage across a range of influential local and national business publications, as well as a diverse collection of technology trade outlets. A total of 35 articles appeared in these publications, generating 17,647,072 impressions. In terms of tonality, 13 articles were positive and 22 were neutral. On the day of, social media activity was heavy with a total of 1,525 tweets, 829 retweets, and 54 new followers. A dozen Facebook posts reached 10,223 accounts. Less than 24 hours after that first hit the Twittersphere, there were over 5.2 million Twitter impressions. Brocade created 86 tweets during week one of the acquisition, resulting in 2,160 tweets and 998 retweets.

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR CAUSE/ADVOCACY/ CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

GOLD “Fighting Breast Cancer with the Power of Digital Storytelling” Havas PR North America Many companies raise money to fight breast cancer, but only Ford does it through the power of digital storytelling. In 2012 and 2013, Ford’s “Bang the Drum” documentary (found at fordcares.com, the website for the company’s Warriors in Pink breast cancer marketing effort, and on YouTube) upped that ante by shedding light on the true effects of breast cancer through personal stories of warriors who have fought the fight and come out survivors. As agency of record for Warriors in Pink, Havas PR North America (@havaspr), too, tells those courageous stories, emphasizing the warrior journey to digital and social audiences, among others. By doing so, Havas PR North America has secured groundbreaking partnerships and placements and helped Ford raise a lot of money for the cause. The team wrapped the product story tightly in the Ford name, which inspires American pride and loyalty, and the net proceeds differentiator. They also worked closely with Ford’s creative and strategic team to understand the importance that company executives, staff and families place on participation in the program. In 2012, @havaspr had the added bonus of promoting the heavily branded “Bang the Drum: Living Out Loud in the Face of Breast Cancer” documentary, which features Ford’s 11 Models of Courage, survivors who model Warriors in Pink products. @havaspr used “Bang the Drum,” which was showcased at events through October 2012 (Breast Cancer Awareness Month) and lives online, plus Model of Courage video portraits online to broaden reach across the digital space. Beyond posting the digital content and personal stories on fordcares.com, @havaspr’s primary outreach was across various social platforms—from Ford’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter platforms to blogs to traditional media. The team also traveled to Las Vegas with Model of Courage Tina Herold for Bloggy Boot Camp. Plus, @havaspr partnered with Sway in Real Life, which offers sponsorships of top blogging conferences and platforms that access thousands of social influencers. That let them promote Warriors in Pink and “Bang the Drum” through sponsored blog posts, Facebook posts and tweets, enlisting Sway to choose 50 bloggers with personal ties to breast cancer who posted about Warriors in Pink and linked to the film. In addition, the PR pros got a branded T-shirt to “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts, which she wore in a video about her fight against bone marrow disease on abcnews.com. The campaign got more than twice the amount of record-breaking coverage as the team had in 2011, garnering more than 161 million total impressions, including 112 million online impressions and 165,000 social impressions. From the association with Bloggy Boot Camp, they got more than 831,000 impressions, and from the Sway sponsorship the total from Facebook, Twitter and blogs was more than 666,000. Key messages were in all coverage. Thanks in part to @havaspr’s storytelling and expertise, Warriors in Pink has has raised more than $938,000 from people who read stories, saw “Bang the Drum” (which has 2.36 million impressions online, and counting), or got a tweet and then felt inspired to go to fordcares.com and buy Warriors in Pink products.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR CAUSE/ADVOCACY/ CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

S I LV E R “The Allstate Foundation and Zeno Group” Zeno Group Research compiled by The Allstate Foundation revealed that domestic violence affects one in four women in their lifetime and strikes 145 times each hour in the U.S. Although many associate domestic violence with physical abuse, economic and financial abuse happens just as frequently. Lacking financial knowledge and resources is cited as the number one indicator of whether a domestic violence victim will stay, leave, or return to an abusive relationship. Using this research, Zeno Group designed the program to reach the general public in a simple and creative way, giving them information and resources about domestic violence. The Purple Purse, The Allstate Foundation’s national symbol for domestic violence, launched in 2011 as a website, PurplePurse.com. In 2012, Zeno Group was charged with continuing the momentum by raising awareness for domestic violence and getting people to talk about this difficult subject. To achieve this objective, Zeno Group and the Foundation launched “Purple Purse: Pass It On” during Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. This simple call-to-action encouraged important conversations about the subject without hesitations or fear. Although the program was designed to reach the general public, the campaign’s primary audience was women of all demographics. Domestic violence is an issue that does not discriminate; it impacts all socioeconomic backgrounds, races, religions and ages. To target women, Zeno Group and the Foundation partnered with Social Moms, a highly influential online network with more than 30,000 members, to increase online conversation about Purple Purse throughout October. The group held a Twitter Party to spark conversations using #PurplePurse and created an editorial article about Purple Purse that was shared online. During Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, The Allstate Foundation set out to spread awareness and raise up to $175,000 for YWCA. Zeno Group and the Foundation produced 500 physical purple purses filled with domestic violence information and dispersed them across the country to key stakeholders including Allstate agents, employees, media and key domestic violence opinion leaders. Each person was encouraged to “pass it on” to others to spark life-changing conversations. For each purse pass registered at PurplePurse.com, a $10 donation was triggered to YWCA USA. Furthermore, a total of 14 local YWCA chapters were chosen to raise money directly for their organizations. Each local YWCA received 10 purses with a chance to raise up to $10,000. Additionally, the Foundation launched virtual purse

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

sharing on Facebook.com/PurplePurse, which included inspirational messages and statistics. Each time a virtual purse pass occurred, the Foundation donated $5 to YWCA USA. The Foundation also distributed signage, media toolkits and detailed instructional playbooks on how to “pass it on” in an effective and meaningful way. All materials were created and tailored for each group. Zeno and the Foundation launched the campaign with actress Rosario Dawson to raise awareness. Dawson is an active board member of V-Day, where she travels worldwide to stop violence against women, including domestic violence. To launch the program on Oct. 3, Dawson conducted a satellite media tour, filmed a PSA, taped an English and Spanish audio news release and performed in-person and phone interviews with top-tier media. The campaign garnered more than 1,550 placements and 155.8 million impressions, 33 percent above the goal. Dawson’s satellite media tour resulted in 19 interviews, ad Social Moms’ online conservations resulted in 41,114,863 impressions. The campaign wrapped with more than 37,000 total purse passes.

BRONZE “The PEDIGREE Feeding Project” Mars Petcare and Weber Shandwick More than four million dogs end up in shelters and breed rescues every year. Sadly, nearly half of those canines never find a place to call home. PEDIGREE Brand, the world's largest dog food brand, is committed to reversing that trend, starting by supporting the good work of shelters. With that in mind, the PEDIGREE Feeding Project was established, providing participating shelters with their dogs’ food needs, at absolutely no cost. The idea was two-fold: Not only would shelters be able to save tens of thousands of dollars that could go directly back to adoption programs, but the dogs would also receive a diet of consistent nutrition which would allow them look and feel their best as they waited for a home. The goal then was to inform and engage the public, and rally them to be the voice in choosing those communities where participating shelters would benefit from the PEDIGREE Feeding Project. To achieve this goal, PEDIGREE Brand enlisted Weber Shandwick to create a multi-platform communications campaign that enlisted traditional and social media, online influencers, corporate partners and word-of-mouth promotion to help spread the word and rally dog lovers everywhere. The team first laid the foundation for the national launch of the “Choose the Next Communities” initiative as part of the PEDIGREE

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR CAUSE/ADVOCACY/ CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Feeding Project, asking consumers nationwide to let their voices be heard on www.facebook.com/pedigree and help choose the next community PEDIGREE Brand should feed and support. They held two separate pre-launch activities for key media and influencers. This provided them with a unique opportunity to share information about the brand and offer an exclusive look at the brand’s new initiative, the PEDIGREE Feeding Project, and its celebrity partner, Miranda Lambert. These included a private “meet and greet” and press conference with Lambert for key national media and bloggers to announce the partnership and the new initiative and a behindthe-scenes PSA shoot. After generating pre-launch buzz among key media and influencers, Weber Shandwick launched the PEDIGREE Feeding Project “Choose the Next Communities” initiative at an event at the Americana at Brand in Los Angeles. The launch included an early morning SMT/RMT with Miranda Lambert, as well as a personal appearance on-site where Lambert debuted her PSA-style videos and completed interviews with national and LA-based media. To spotlight the furry friends who would ultimately benefit from the program, dogs from SPCALA were on-site playing and interacting with guests. Digital stations were set up throughout the event and guests were encouraged to nominate their community and spread the word to friends and family. Facebook followers were encouraged to share their favorite dog memories and adoption stories on the PEDIGREE Facebook Page. Facebook engagement was very strong, with thousands of consumers reposting Lambert and the brand’s posts encouraging people to enter the contest to nominate their city. Shelters from around the country also showed their support by consistently reposting the PEDIGREE Facebook page’s program updates. Additional launch activities included a Twitter party with popular mommy blogger MomTrends and blogger engagement with PEDIGREE Feeding Project Ambassadors. All in all, the exceptional effort allowed participating shelters to save nearly $500,000 on dog food costs, funds that were reallocated towards programs to promote dog adoption, and the brand provided more than 16,000 meals to dogs in participating shelters to date. The PR pros garnered 175.6MM earned media impressions and 25+MM overall social media impressions. What’s more, dollar sales across the total U.S. increased +12% vs. the previous quarter and delivered strong results with key retailers.

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR A CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY CAMPAIGN

GOLD “Olympus ‘Road to Whistler’” Mullen Olympus Imaging America Inc. challenged Mullen to use the power of integrated social media, direct on-location consumer engagement and media relations to activate its sponsorship of the renowned 2013 World Ski & Snowboard Festival in Whistler, British Columbia. With just three weeks to prepare, Mullen had a relatively short period of time to put together a 360-degree campaign. They are regularly outspent 10 to 1 by imaging giants like Nikon, so the budget was comparatively small. And they were only able to have three team members on the ground from Mullen, so the team had to do more with less. Olympus manufactures waterproof, crush-proof, freeze-proof and shockproof durable cameras, so naturally the PR pros wanted to spotlight the attributes of the company’s products in the ideal climate. Given that Olympus was on the cusp of announcing a new camera, Mullen also wanted to introduce it to a select group of media guests under nondisclosure agreement. What better location than glorious Whistler for a hands-on media relations event? Olympus is a highly social brand with consistently higher levels of engagement with fans on Facebook than competitor imaging brands. Before the festival kicked off, Mullen activated a “Road to Whistler” social sweepstakes on the Get Olympus Facebook Page via a customdesigned tab that gave two lucky people the opportunity to win a trip to the festival as guests. Then they chose the lucky winners and flew them to Canada to enjoy the festivities with brand-new cameras. During the event, the Mullen team wanted to reward attendees, so they staffed a booth on the mountain with a daily “Ticket to Win It” sweepstakes that also grew Olympus’s social following. Participants had to Like the Facebook Page and type a special code from one of the 10,000 postcard “lift tickets” in a specific tab on the Page to enter. Mullen distributed the cards throughout Whistler Village in hightraffic locations like bars, restaurants and stores. Each day, they held a drawing and captured the faces of happy winners of our new cameras for social sharing. Mullen entertained and educated media about the latest cameras, hosting journalists from eight top-tier media outlets. Convincing some of these contacts to make the long journey was challenging, but they coordinated all logistics to make the process painless for them. Mullen took them up the mountain to ride snowmobiles and try out the all-weather durability of the Olympus Tough and OM-D cameras. Beyond supporting product media relations, they worked with outlets to have them report on all that Olympus was doing at the festival as a sponsor. And they engaged with reporters via social media at all times. Throughout the festival, Mullen created incredible content (videos and stills captured with Olympus cameras) to share on multiple social platforms. Incredible content was created with Olympus cameras by participants in the 72-hour Filmmaker Showdown, a popular part of the festival that Olympus also sponsors. Twenty-two original films were created using Olympus cameras, and after the event, Mullen shared the winner’s video and making-of videos on social media. Mullen’s effort resulted in 35 media placements and over 8,500,000 total media impressions, coverage by reporter Don Lindich of McClatchy-Tribune. Social media scores include 42,673 new Facebook fans since launch and 2,224,783 people reached on Facebook with Whistler content.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR A CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY CAMPAIGN

S I LV E R “The Warner Sound Captured by Nikon” MWW Nikon constantly looks for innovative ways to celebrate consumers’ passion for photography and bring people together in a relevant way. This often includes creating memorable moments and encouraging consumers to capture and share their own. MWW created an integrated program during the 2013 SXSW Interactive, Film and Music Festival that included the title sponsorship of the Warner Music Group (WMG) SXSW Music residency. Through this strategic partnership, Nikon HD-SLR cameras were used to capture live performances that were live-streamed over the three-night activation. Fans were able to try Wi-Fi-enabled Nikon connected cameras and instantly share to their Facebook communities. The program hashtag #NikonWarnerSound was used throughout the event and on all materials and signage to promote the activation. Additionally, select artists used Nikon cameras to share experiences leading up to the show to engage and excite fans. Social promotion created widespread buzz, and #NikonWarnerSound became one of the top trending topics on Twitter all three nights and more than half a million people tuned in online to watch the performances. The integrated program drove positive awareness for Nikon online and off and created an experience consumers enjoyed enough to share with others. Nikon and MWW leveraged SXSW as a platform to increase consumer awareness for Nikon, build excitement and drive positive product exposure for Nikon HD-SLR video quality and new Wi-Fi enabled and connected cameras. The PR pros sought to create positive conversation for Nikon and its products among the extremely social consumer influencers at SXSW that discover and share new technologies, artists and experiences. Nikon had a unique opportunity to connect with new consumers online and off; MWW provided hands-on experiences with Nikon cameras for attendees and delivered high-quality viewing experiences to those watching the live-stream shot with Nikon HDSLRs. Through the on-site activation and live-streamed performances, Nikon was able to lead social conversation on Twitter; #NikonWarnerSound became a top trending topic all three event nights. Fans both at the event and at home helped generate a swell of awareness and positive sentiment for the Nikon brand. Nikon successfully leveraged consumer influencers, Warner Music Artists, music and technology media and the popular SXSW community to create widespread awareness of the Nikon brand and its connected camera offerings. The Nikon SXSW 2013 activation achieved this by adding value to consumers’ ability to experience SXSW online and off in a relevant way for Nikon products, driving positive brand conversation throughout the activation. Overall, more

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

than 500,000 people watched the live stream captured with Nikon HD-SLR cameras. The average viewing time—11+ minutes—was five times greater than the industry average of two minutes. #NikonWarnerSound reached the top trending topic on Twitter on the second night of three-day activation. What’s more, over 1,100 photos taken with Nikon cameras from the event were shared by consumers, and more than 15,000 social posts featured program tag #NikonWarnerSound with incredibly positive sentiment. The campaign generated over 46 million media impressions and over 166 million social impressions.

BRONZE “RadioShack Recharge: Powering Up Influencers and Attendees at SXSW” RadioShack with Weber Shandwick RadioShack looked to grow its presence at the 2013 South by Southwest conference in Austin, expanding on past years’ efforts with both the Interactive and Music portions of the event. As SXSW continues to grow in popularity, RadioShack wanted to maximize the opportunity, without an official event sponsorship. The exceptional campaign by the PR pros at Weber Shandwick centered on executing guerilla-style tactics at SXSW Interactive and Music, reaching attendees one-on-one, engaging them directly with the RadioShack brand. The focus was to improve the SXSW experience with RadioShack private brand products, from Enercell portable packs (for charging mobile phones on-the-go) to PointMobl glass screen protectors. SXSW Interactive hosts more than 20,000 attendees for panels and networking events focused on the latest in technology, mobile and social networking. Historically, this event has been overwhelmed by brand presences from the Convention Center to nightly parties on Sixth Street. Given the noise surrounding SXSW, RadioShack's team determined the best way to connect with influencers was to provide them with necessities to survive the conference. The influencers chosen for this effort would be qualified by their online reach, whether through blog impressions, Twitter followers or other audiences. For the SXSW Interactive portion of the campaign, Weber Shandwick identified key influencers scheduled to attend SXSW by researching those that previously attended or covered the event, scheduled to speak or talking about attending via their social networks. They then created survival kits with items to enhance an attendee’s SXSW experience, including an Enercell portable power pack, PointMobl glass screen protector, PointMobl stylus, Auvio earbuds and Power Bar granola bars. On social media, they responded to influencers tweeting with the #RSSXSW hashtag and coordinated with

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR A CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY CAMPAIGN influencers onsite using the @RadioShack Twitter account to capture photos, videos and extend engagement with the brand. The PR pros then shared content posted by influencers on RadioShack’s social channels to extend reach and awareness. SXSW Music, while similarly sized with almost 19,000 attendees, has a lower level of brand participation, although the number of brands sponsoring shows and venues has grown in recent years. These attendees are slightly younger, and many spend upwards of 12 hours per day attending live shows at venues across the city. RadioShack chose this conference for a more expanded effort, focusing on improving attendees’ experiences and driving awareness for Enercell portable power packs, exclusively available at RadioShack. Both activations were planned around key brand messaging of technology-enabling experiences and play, highlighting RadioShack’s diverse private brand product line. The SXSW Music effort centered on real-time social media listening. The team configured searches to identify attendees posting about dying phone batteries and encouraged conversations using the #RSSSW hashtag. They engaged with over 250 users from the @RadioShack Twitter account and delivered fully charged Enercell portable power packs to users’ locations. A street team consisting of RadioShack employees and agency representatives assigned to high traffic areas around downtown Austin also boosted buzz every day. The campaign exceeded all goals and was featured as one of the best examples of real-time marketing at SXSW. During the 10-day conference, the team earned more than 40.2 million impressions generated by blog posts and social media mentions from the brand, influencers and attendees, including use of the #RSSXSW hashtag. They also engaged 676 attendees across Interactive and Music conferences and generated 1,323 organic social posts from attendees. Based on the success of this campaign, the client has chosen to use it as a model for future event activations.

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

DIGITAL/SOCIAL COMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR

GOLD “Krylon ColorMaster Challenge: 24 Projects in 24 Hours” Marcus Thomas LLC Krylon, an industry leader in product innovation, package design, project inspiration and color, enlisted the help of Marcus Thomas to launch the new Krylon ColorMasterTM with durable Covermax® technology. The agency knew they would need to highlight the product’s competitive advantages such as improved hide, exclusive EZ Touch 360 ® Dial spray tip, longer recoat window and shorter dry times. The brand’s range of products expands beyond the home into the backyard, with craft, multi-purpose, plastic and rust-preventative products—yet its core audience remained largely craft-focused. The team’s task was to trigger sales of Krylon. They knew that for both audiences, it all starts with their next project: These crafters and DIYers wouldn’t settle for still images in print magazines alone. They would want video to inspire and instruct them. Then, they would rush to a retailer to buy and then post their progress and results on social media to share with friends. Marcus Thomas knew they’d better come with a boat-load of project content—and an attractive handyperson. But if all they did was generate projects, they would still need to drive an audience to the projects … and money was tight. The budget was less than $700,000, eliminating the possibility of a national TV campaign. So the problem was defined: How could they generate interest in the new ColorMaster paint and its competitive advantages, while creating new project content that will appeal more to the male-centric DIY audience, yet deepen the relationship with the core crafter audience? Marcus Thomas launched Krylon ColorMaster by creating projects for DIYers and crafters and produced as a live social event, with the assistance of key influential bloggers. The PR pros used a “show, tell and share” strategy and made it a live event that demonstrated the brand’s 360 ® Dial spray tip, longer recoat window, great colors and quicker dry times. “If you can demonstrate the benefits of a new product, it’s a good launch,” says Amber Zent, Marcus Thomas VP and social media strategist. So, they embarked on a social media grand slam: The Krylon ColorMaster Challenge: 24 Projects in 24 Hours. The objectives were to gain national recognition for Krylon ColorMaster spray paint, demonstrate the product’s benefits, fuel user and DIY engagement and stimulate social media sharing and participation. The Krylon ColorMaster Challenge: 24 Projects in 24 Hours was held on June 28 and 29, 2013. To achieve success, messaging and communications activities focused on pre-event support—a satellite media tour, strategic SEO, paid digital media and blogger relations—as well as live event support—blogger participation, social community management, user-generated content and crowdsourced content. Multiple tactics were implemented to carry out this integrated campaign, culminating in a live two-day event. Marcus Thomas developed Krylon ColorMaster Challenge microsite and hand-selected 24 projects based on keyword searches. They also executed 10 Twitter promotions and launched a 23-city satellite media tour with Jeff Devlin, licensed contractor and host of DIY Network’s “I Hate My Bath.” Ad buys targeted ideal demographics on networks such as Pandora and HGTV.com. At the event, a camera was stationed outside of live stream to curate content for future use and a community manager monitored conversations and replied to threads across all social platforms. The team crowdsourced paint color selections for several projects on Facebook and Twitter, engaging fans throughout live event and invited key influential DIY and home décor bloggers to participate live on set. In 11 days, from tease to the completion of its 24th project, The Krylon ColorMaster Challenge garnered an estimated 190.5 million total impressions, 673,000 minutes video watched and coverage on nationally syndicated TV programs, airing in more than 400 markets, including “The Daily Buzz” and “NewsWatch.” The PR team also scored placements in Crain’s Cleveland Business, National Hardware, Show Industry Edge and Marketing Daily.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

DIGITAL/SOCIAL COMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR

S I LV E R “More Than Motion: Online Community Educates About the Full Range of Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms” Cooney/Waters Group In the time it takes someone to sift through 30-minutes of email, at least three people will learn they have Parkinson’s disease (PD). Those diagnosed, and their families, often turn to the Internet to find support and information about managing their PD symptoms. They also look for personal stories from others who share their triumphs and tribulations. Additionally, new research shows that people aged 55 and older—the group most impacted by PD—are increasingly interested in social media. It’s estimated that 46 percent of Facebook users are over the age of 45. In early 2012, global biopharmaceutical company UCB, a leader in the central nervous system market, was on the cusp of introducing a new PD treatment in the United States. In recognition of the unique attributes of UCB’s new medicine and the online time spent by people affected by PD, Cooney/Waters and UCB developed an interactive Facebook community with a first-of-its-kind reality-style video series to inform patients about the importance of recognizing and treating both the motor and non-motor aspects of PD. The new community, Parkinson’s More Than Motion, launched in conjunction with the approval of UCB’s new medicine. The online community offers tools such as the PD Well-Being Map, an innovative visual guide designed to help patients to initiate conversations with their doctors about all of their PD symptoms, as well as two compelling, reality-style videos series that highlight two families’ experiences with PD and how they have come to address the full range of PD symptoms. The team also oversees ongoing content creation and communications to keep visitors actively engaged and returning. To create the online reality series, the team identified and filmed two compelling PD patients (one of whom was NFL Hall of Famer Forrest Gregg) who are vocal advocates and demonstrate the importance of recognizing both motor and non-motor symptoms. Each patient’s story featured family members, friends and healthcare providers offering different perspectives into the PD experience and the importance of a care team. They produced two video series with four concise episodes each to appeal to online audiences and encourage complete views and return visits. These videos feature footage from the patients’ daily lives and confessional-style interviews with the patients and families to highlight emotional aspects of PD.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

Cooney/Waters coordinated with a digital agency to design the Facebook page with interactive and compelling content to keep the community engaged through the video series, photos, quick polls and infographics. They also conducted media outreach to national, health and hometown media outlets at the launch of each patient’s video series, announced launch via multiple PD patient organizations and hosted a booth at two major PD events in 2012 and 2013 to bring Parkinson’s More Than Motion straight to the PD patient community. Overall, the Facebook Page has scored 44,600+ “likes” and generated 25,000+ total page interactions, among many other huge successes. 42 media interviews were conducted with PD patient spokespeople, and the team saw eleven original articles promoting the Facebook page published in The Associated Press, USA Today and more.

BRONZE “Blimp-borne radar protecting American interests” Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems Talks of sequestration spread across the nation in early 2012. The scheduled slashing of government funds clouded the future of thousands of federally run initiatives, including Raytheon’s JLENS radar program—a critical defense asset needed by the military to protect against today’s ever-evolving threats. JLENS, short for Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, is a system of two aerostats, or tethered airships, that float 10,000 feet in the air. The aerostats, each nearly as long as a football field, carry powerful radars that can look deep into enemy territory. Declining defense budgets in 2011 forced the Department of Defense (DoD) to continue development of the JLENS system while curtailing production. However, in 2012, the DoD decided to take a “try-before-you-buy” approach with JLENS, consequently ordering the Army to have Raytheon finish building and testing JLENS. The system was scheduled to be deployed for its first field test in 2014. Upon completion of the multi-year evaluation, the DoD will decided whether to restart the production of Raytheon’s radarcarrying blimps. While Raytheon’s technical experts remained focused on continuing to develop the JLENS system, the communications team focused on supporting the DoD to ensure that the field evaluation would take place. The team began by conducting extensive research to identify target

DIGITAL/SOCIAL COMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR audiences and their interests. Research indicated that the identified target audiences rely heavily on digital/social media as a primary source of information. As one trade press reporter mentioned, “The first place I go to look when I want to find something out is Google.” Thus, the team developed key creative integrated digital campaign tactics and a content-rich landing page that clearly articulated the threat faced by the military and JLENS’ unique value proposition. Digital news announcements aligned with the new messaging strategy, and digital press coverage amplified by linking to the JLENS landing page. The communications team sent out tweets highlighting JLENSrelated media coverage to Raytheon’ s followers and initiated a digital advertising campaign that premiered on websites frequently visited by the target audiences. A compelling call-to-action directed readers to the media rich landing page. A visually appealing infographic and video brought the threat narrative to life, while sharing on Raytheon’s social channels increased traffic back to the landing page. New imagery, including never before seen photos of JLENS, was featured on Raytheon’s Facebook page and other owned-media channels. To top it off, a strategic search engine marketing campaign included Google keywords associated with the revised messaging. To increase visibility all digital content—both earned and owned—was shared with the Raytheon Government Relations and DoD customer engagement teams, enabling those teams to send critical assets to constituents within the Executive and Legislative branches of government. As a direct result of the tactics listed above, the JLENS landing page saw an increased Google Relevance score as well as the coveted #1 Google search result for relevant keywords. The JLENS landing page has received 25,000 visits since the start of this year, and digital advertising tailored to the D.C. area, resulting in +3.6M impressions. The campaign received extensive digital media coverage, including placements in Popular Mechanics and Politico.com. Perhaps more importantly, the campaign has sparked conversation among key military and government leaders and defense analysts and Reuters reported that the DoD decided to formally announce that JLENS would deploy to the Washington DC region.

and tiny tots across the nation in an exclusive acoustic sing-along and live reading of her recently released children’s book “That’s What I’d Do.” The interactive live session took place via Pampers Facebook page. The live chat feature offered fans the chance to go “behind-thescenes” at Jewel’s Texas ranch home, ask questions and share in her most cherished beautiful morning moments as mom to 14month-old Kase. Pampers and their agency, Citizen Paine, hired MultiVu to facilitate, produce and run this event. MultiVu’s production team brought a satellite truck to Jewel’s ranch in a remote part of Texas. The video was fed live to MultiVu’s webcast team, which downlinked the footage and webcast it through Facebook, live and in real time. Fans were thrilled to have the chance to interact live with Jewel through Facebook. The campaign kick-off generated tangible results for the brand. Jewel attracted an audience of over 250 fans during the live event—Pampers’ best Facebook event turnout to date. The team gained 2,164 likes, and the event resulted in two-way conversation, including 75+ interactive comments. The interactive aspect of the initiative encouraged hundreds of shares, and the total number of Pampers Facebook Fans has increased by over 63M since the launch of the Beautiful Mornings campaign. After the interactive event, a group of influential parent bloggers were offered the opportunity for exclusive one-on-one interviews (via satellite) with Jewel in support of the campaign, resulting in coverage on top blogs including “Ahorros Para Mama,” “Maija's Mommy Moments,” “Mama Contemporanea,” “Mom In Work PJs,” “Mommy Factor,” “Mommy Katie,” “My West Michigan Mommy,” “The Mama Report” and “Thrifty & Chic Mom.”

HONORABLE MENTION “Pampers ‘Beautiful Morning Memories’ Facebook Chat with Jewel” PR Newswire, MultiVu TTo kick off its “Millions of Beautiful Morning Moments” campaign, Pampers partnered with singer-songwriter Jewel to engage parents

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION MARKETING

GOLD “McGraw-Hill Education: A Beacon of Digital Learning within a Digital Space” RF|Binder Partners In addition to the national conversation about education and education reform, debates rage around niche education issues, as well. Many of these more targeted debates focus on issues that are of direct concern to learning companies like McGraw-Hill Education, including the role of education technology, the notion of “open source” learning and the recent emergence of massive open online courses known as MOOCs. Nowhere can these conversations be seen more clearly than on Twitter at hashtags like #edtech, #edinno and #CommonCore. RF|Binder saw an opportunity not only to insert its client, McGraw-Hill Education, into this conversation, but also to use digital media as a way to position the company as a leader in the field, delivering digital education solutions for 21st century success. First, having launched McGraw-Hill Education’s Twitter account (@MHEducation) in 2010, RF|Binder sought to expand the company’s overall Twitter presence and increase followers. Its primary target audience includes educators, administrators and influencers at the K-12 and higher education levels and educational and ed tech media and bloggers; its secondary audience includes parents and students. Second, the team set out to introduce handpicked company executives into the online education technology community. These personalities would engage an audience of digitally savvy educators, reporters, parents, policymakers and other influencers in a wider variety of contexts and voices, often beyond the traditional social media landscape, and ultimately help the company achieve an array of business goals. The strategy involved building an engaging Twitter presence, engaging bloggers, influencers and followers by hosting special online events and supporting new app launches. Each day, RF|Binder gathered relevant education news and developed 10-12 tweets to share this news along with the company’s unique perspective. RF|Binder monitored the account throughout the day and engaged individual Twitter users in real-time whenever possible. RF|Binder seamlessly integrated McGraw-Hill Education’s Twitter account with its larger public relations program, mentioning McGraw-Hill Education’s Twitter presence in nearly all press releases and supporting other public activities using the company’s Twitter handle. RF|Binder also engaged professors and higher education leaders, as well as education and technology media, in a Twitter chat on the topic of adaptive learning led by one of its adaptive learning technology experts. RF|Binder branded the event “#adaptivechat” and promoted it widely to targeted ed tech and higher education media, professors and students. Following directly on the heels of the highly successful Twitter chat, RF|Binder hosted a series of live virtual roundtable discussions between McGraw-Hill Education executives and an exclusive selection of bloggers and other alternative media journalists. RF|Binder’s social and digital media efforts have successfully helped McGraw-Hill Education reach a significantly wider section of its target audience while simultaneously reinforcing the company as a thought leader on topics that are vital to its business: The virtual roundtable events resulted in coverage by such outlets as GigaOM, EdCetera, Education News and Education Dive, among others. The company’s Twitter account has added over 5,200 followers since the beginning of 2011 (an increase of over 400%), and is frequently cited as a leading source for education news and commentary by its followers. McGraw-Hill Education’s Twitter account has also helped the company achieve its business goals. The company’s Anatomy and Physiology REVEALED app, for example, has already exceeded sales expectations since its release in July, driven largely by social media and related blogger promotion. McGraw-Hill Education’s digital and social efforts have strengthened relationships with key education and tech media, demonstrating digital media’s increasing power in influencing media relations.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION MARKETING

S I LV E R “Using Social Media to Connect MIT Sloan’s Experts with Major Media Opportunities” Schneider Associates In the summer of 2012, the director of media relations at the MIT Sloan School of Management met with Schneider Associates (SA), the leader in Launch Public Relations, to discuss two challenges facing the “MIT Sloan Experts” Blog. While the blog offers MIT Sloan professors the chance to share their research and discuss current news stories and trends, the obstacle facing the MIT Sloan media relations team was the time-consuming process of coordinating posts from busy faculty members, while simultaneously promoting posts to the media and building relationships with influential reporters. MIT Sloan also struggled with generating traffic to the blog, particularly with its key audience: Top-tier journalists in need of expert sources. The SA team saw opportunities within these challenges and proposed a two-phase project to help solve them. Phase I involved evaluating the current blog platform, upgrading its design and optimizing it for search engines, while also adding a Media Resource Center (MRC) that would allow media to quickly and easily connect with members of the MIT Sloan media relations team and faculty. Phase II consisted of developing a content creation and dissemination strategy for the new blog, including seeding media posts through an email marketing and social media engagement campaign designed to drive inbound media inquiries. The team first redesigned the MIT Sloan Experts Blog to make it more visitor-friendly, including the addition of social sharing tools so journalists can blog, tweet and link posts to their Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. They also optimized the search ranking of the blog and its content using best-in-class SEO strategies based on Google’s “Panda” update, which places more emphasis on the quality of the content, not the density of keywords. Next, SA developed the new MRC, giving media several unique and easy options to connect with media relations staff and faculty experts, including the ability to send text messages to the media relations team at any time of the day to request an expert source on a breaking news story. Reporters could also submit story ideas confidentially via an email form and search the faculty directory by subject area. SA launched the newly designed blog and MRC to reporters and media through a direct email outreach campaign, highlighting the unique features of the MRC, including innovative search tools and a dedicated media relations Twitter handle. The PR pros conducted a detailed analysis of MIT faculty expertise and content areas to

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

create a streamlined process for developing blog post ideas and facilitated the content creation process between the MIT media relations team, professors and SA. They shared all blog content through the @MITSloanExperts Twitter handle, followed influential news outlets and reporters, tweeted current news relevant to MIT Sloan’s areas of expertise, engaged with Twitter followers to build a community on Twitter and positioned MIT Sloan as an accessible source of responsive experts for the media. They also used tools such as Google Analytics and SproutSocial to measure volume and visitor patterns to pinpoint content strengths and weaknesses and adjust strategy. Follow-up phone calls were conducted with key members of the media to gauge their feedback, encourage them to visit the blog/MRC and follow the media relations team on Twitter SA’s program to re-launch the MIT Sloan Experts Blog (named MediaLEAD) and enhance engagement with the media exceeded expectations and resulted in increased traffic to the blog by more than 70 percent in three months. Additionally, SA’s Twitter management resulted in the school engaging with a number of influential journalists from top-tier media outlets. Using an approach that combined search engine optimization, website redesign and social media engagement, SA was able to meet each of the objectives that it set for this campaign.

BRONZE “NC State University Social Medias” French/West/Vaughan When French/West/Vaughan (FWV) began working with NC State University, the university’s Facebook page had only 35,000 fans and was not perceived by Facebook or its users as the official page for the university. FWV was tasked with developing a social media campaign to acquire qualified Facebook fans on the NC State University page, as well as increasing reach and engagement with prospective students, current students, alumni and supporters of NC State. FWV develop a fan acquisition campaign with a goal of obtaining 12,500 new fans and positioning the page as the official Facebook page of NC State University. The campaign was executed in conjunction with NC State’s yearlong 125th anniversary celebration, emphasizing the University’s tradition of transformation. The primary strategy that drove the campaign was based on building an interactive community to spread the reach of the “Tradition and Transformation” messaging and raise awareness of the University’s positive impact on the global economy. FWV created and managed three primary social campaigns on behalf of the university. FWV launched the “Wolfpack Road Trip: Atlanta”

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION MARKETING sweepstakes promotion using a Facebook referral application. The promotion was executed in a way that allowed entrants to gain additional entries by inviting their friends to become fans and enter as well. The grand prize winner was drawn at random, and the prize package included a trip to watch the NC State football team play the University of Tennessee in Atlanta. Set up like the previous sweepstakes, the “Wolfpack Road Tip: ACC Tourney” offered two tickets to the 2013 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament in Greensboro, N.C. FWV created a 10-day blitz, targeting five prospective out-of-state markets for math and science students with Facebook ads. The purpose of the campaign was to evaluate how well brand creative and messaging resonated with student personas based on interests and locations. FWV was able to collect, compile, compare and report data to NC State University to help them better allocate future Facebook ad resources against goals. FWV transformed the official NC State Facebook page from a limited presence to an authoritative source on Facebook with 33,029 new fans during the campaign timeframe, which was almost a 100% increase in total fans and an 83% increase of alumni and students over a six-month period. The campaign effectively introduced the page and positioned it as the leader on Facebook among all the pages that claim the NC State University name.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR A HEALTH/FITNESS/MEDICINE CAMPAIGN

GOLD “KA-POW! AZO Girl to the Rescue!” The Thomas Collective AZO is a nationally distributed portfolio of products that supports urinary health, relieves the pain suffered from urinary tract infections and remedies the symptoms of yeast infections. To help create differentiation from private label brands, AZO looked to build a campaign that would not only help create a distinct identity, but also help educate consumers on its role as a pain reliever that was created to address the discomfort caused by UTIs. With 98% of 18-24-year-olds using social media in any given month and the fact that 68% of millennials get their news from social media, the channel for the campaign was clear. The brand’s target audience is women, ages 18-34, with a sweet spot between 21 and 25. AZO had executed programming in the social media space in the two previous years, with its fan base never budging past the low fourfigure bracket. The Thomas Collective (TTC) was challenged to rethink the approach. Research led TTC to create a theme on which the brand could harness the message of “Health=Happiness” in its social media campaign. The theme led to the inspiration behind the voice for the social media campaign: AZO Girl—a pain-battling super- heroine who arrives to help UTI-sufferers in their moment of need. The purpose of the character was not to merely create a visual personality, but rather a defined voice for the brand. Sassy and knowing, she provided a filter through which to overcome the awkward discussion of urinary and vaginal health by addressing it head on. AZO Girl simultaneously reinforced the brand’s identity as a rescuer and created a relevant means to connect with the audience. TCC created awareness of AZO with the 18–34-year-old female target by focusing the delivery on Facebook as the primary channel as users are 53% female. The PR team developed key messaging with a focus on the strength and efficacy of AZO, its credibility with physicians, and its superiority over general pain relievers—all incorporated into topics that resonated with the target audience, answering the question: What will AZO do for me? They developed posts each week from the voice of AZO Girl, posting regular content and topical posts when relevant news broke. TCC also created opportunities for engagement by executing proactive content with “like gated” driven contests, the AZO “Do-Over Contest,” which gave a young woman the chance to re-live an event previously ruined by a UTI, and two sweepstakes on Facebook to drive fan likes and engagement. All in all, the AZO Facebook fan base has seen a 666% increase in 12 months, with an average daily engaged User increase of 2,208%. The AZO Girl voice now extends beyond the social media pages and has made its way into all digital programming, acting as host and cheerleader, with all communication in her voice and posts reflective of her and the target’s shared interests. The focus she has provided has acted as translator and filter for all involved marketing channels, including advertising, public relations, event execution, sampling, internal (corporate) communication, media buying and promotions. The brand has attributed social media, along with advertising, to the brand’s awareness growth from 39% to 55%, outpacing its entire competitive set by well over 10%.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL B E S T A R T S & EFOR N T EARHEALTH/FITNESS/MEDICINE TA I N M E N T C A M PA I G N CAMPAIGN

S I LV E R “More Than Motion: Online Community Educates about the Full Range of Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms” Cooney/Waters Group In the time it takes someone to sift through 30-minutes of email, at least three people will learn they have Parkinson’s disease (PD). Those diagnosed, and their families, often turn to the Internet to find support and information about managing their PD symptoms. They also look for personal stories from others who share their triumphs and tribulations. Additionally, new research shows that people aged 55 and older—the group most impacted by PD—are increasingly interested in social media. It’s estimated that 46 percent of Facebook users are over the age of 45. In early 2012, global biopharmaceutical company UCB, a leader in the central nervous system market, was on the cusp of introducing a new PD treatment in the United States. In recognition of the unique attributes of UCB’s new medicine and the online time spent by people affected by PD, Cooney/Waters and UCB developed an interactive Facebook community with a first-of-its-kind reality-style video series to inform patients about the importance of recognizing and treating both the motor and non-motor aspects of PD. The new community, Parkinson’s More Than Motion, launched in conjunction with the approval of UCB’s new medicine. The online community offers tools such as the PD Well-Being Map, an innovative visual guide designed to help patients to initiate conversations with their doctors about all of their PD symptoms, as well as two compelling, reality-style videos series that highlight two families’ experiences with PD and how they have come to address the full range of PD symptoms. The team also oversees ongoing content creation and communications to keep visitors actively engaged and returning. To create the online reality series, the team identified and filmed two compelling PD patients (one of whom was NFL Hall of Famer Forrest Gregg) who are vocal advocates and demonstrate the importance of recognizing both motor and non-motor symptoms. Each patient’s story featured family members, friends and healthcare providers offering different perspectives into the PD experience and the importance of a care team. They produced two video series with four concise episodes each to appeal to online audiences and encourage complete views and return visits. These videos feature footage from the patients’ daily lives and confessional-style interviews with the patients and families to highlight emotional aspects of PD.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BRONZE “Summer of Hope” City of Hope City of Hope is a global leader in the research and treatment of cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS. For 100 years, City of Hope has led the fight against these diseases, helping develop four of the world’s most widely used cancer drugs, the technology used in bone marrow transplants and the synthetic insulin used to treat diabetes. Over 100 million people a year benefit from the lifesaving research, treatments and cures developed at City of Hope. Since its inception, City of Hope has relied on philanthropic partners to fund its lifesaving treatment and research. Especially notable is the fundraising structure of its “industry groups,” a philanthropic model that pulls together companies and corporate volunteers united by their connection to a single industry. Each year, an influential person from each industry group is selected to receive the Spirit of Life Award. These honorees then use their influence within their industry to raise funds during a year-long campaign supporting City of Hope. This year’s Music and Entertainment Industry honoree wanted to do more than raise donations through traditional efforts. As the managing director and head of music at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Rob Light had the influence to increase awareness for City of Hope’s lifesaving work through what he knew best—managing the world’s biggest music artists. With this in mind, City of Hope created a national campaign that leveraged the power of social media to bring together the entire music and entertainment industry in support of its efforts. Music artists and other notable celebrities turned to Facebook and Twitter to ask their millions of fans to help them fight some of the world’s deadliest diseases by supporting a charity at the forefront of

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR A HEALTH/FITNESS/MEDICINE CAMPAIGN medical breakthroughs. The response was overwhelming. The Summer of Hope campaign went viral in a matter of hours. City of Hope and Rob Light hosted Summer of Hope kick-off parties in Los Angeles, New York City and Nashville months before the campaign launch to generate excitement and encourage industrywide support for the campaign. City of Hope also organized industry committee meetings and sent frequent updates on the campaign to remind the volunteers that their support was critical. The team leveraged the relationship between City of Hope’s music industry connections and Apple to create a Summer of Hope compilation CD that could be downloaded on iTunes with a donation of $25 or more. Music industry executives created an outreach list of the top artists in the country and then divided up responsibilities for the outreach to the celebrities. A Summer of Hope one-sheet campaign overview and sample social media tweets and posts were then sent to the celebrities’ managers and agents. City of Hope also reached out to key partners and asked them to get involved. People magazine, VH1 and Josie Maran all enthusiastically agreed to participate by posting messages on their social feeds as well. Starting on June 21st, the first day of summer, artists around the country flooded Twitter and Facebook feeds with Summer of Hope messages and asked their fans to join them in supporting City of Hope. Fans were either driven to a donation page where they could make an online donation (www.cityofhope.org/summerofhope) or asked to text “SUMMER” to a designated number to make a $10 donation to City of Hope. Fans were also asked to retweet and share the message through their own social channels, and City of Hope retweeted, shared and thanked each artist who participated to increase virality and illustrate the partnership. City of Hope also pitched the story to key media outlets to generate additional exposure for the awareness effort. The campaign resulted in significant exposure for City of Hope. Overall, the campaign reached over 361MM fans and hundreds of thousands more through retweets and shares. Total online donations reached $2,984.75, and $1,600 was donated via the text-to-give initiative. The PR pros also saw hundreds of placements in newspapers, blogs, broadcast media and more.

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST MEASUREMENT OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

GOLD “Bleach It Away” The Clorox Company with Ketchum Life gets messy. Sometimes really, really messy... the type of messy that only bleach can clean up. An older generation knows this, but many of today’s new consumers, who inevitably deal with some of life’s messiest moments, do not. Ketchum and Clorox set out to help change this, and get a new, younger generation buzzing about bleach. During the second year of the Bleachable Moments campaign, a frank and funny program highlighting life’s “OMG EWW” moments that only bleach can solve, the team stepped away from the shelf and targeted these “Newly Responsibles” where they actually spend their time—online and at play—with engaging and authentic content worthy of a “share.” Bleachable Moments launched on www.BleachItAway.com as an outlet for parents and newly responsibles to share their own stories and get tips and advice from experts such as cleaning expert, Dr. Laundry. Once it was live, Ketchum and Clorox took to the streets and to the Internet to get consumers talking about their messy moments and sharing them on www.BleachItAway.com. Las Vegas was the perfect place for Clorox to help vacationers do some cleaning up before heading home. Through a partnership with actress and comedian, Angela Kinsey, the team leveraged a city-wide takeover—with a backdrop of interactive Bleach It Away billboards and themed cab toppers. Video footage was used to create a compilation video of Angela’s hilarious interactions with consumers, which was shared via tweets. When parents want to commiserate about life’s messy moments online, Someecards is often one of the first places they go. With this insight in mind, the team partnered with Someecards to create ten custom bleach-focused e-cards. To amplify visibility of the Bleach It Away campaign online, drive visits and submissions to the website, they employed a promoted-tweets campaign from the @Clorox handle to strategically reach target audiences. Online influencers were another backbone of the Bleach It Away program, helping to reach target audiences and make them aware of how bleach fits into their everyday lives. Ketchum and Clorox held a joint Twitter Party with two influencers to amplify reach. #BleachItAway was the number-one trending topic in the U.S. during the time of the party, which helped double website visits for the week. The campaign also included celebrity partnerships and a Pinterest promotion with “The Divine Miss Mommy.” Working from a mantra of “make bleach relevant,” the team sought to take the humor of those inevitable moments you would rather bleach away and get consumers talking. They reached them via top-tier influencers online, including bloggers and celebrities; extensive activity on social platforms; and strategic partnerships with Someecards and Twitter, all to get people to share their “bleachable moments” with Clorox and associate bleach as the solve. To top it off, they invaded the Vegas Strip in an integrated effort to get consumers buzzing. When the campaign wrapped, they had tripled online conversation volume about Bleachable Moments and more than doubled online connections between Clorox and messes.

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST MEASUREMENT OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

S I LV E R “From Transactions to Transformation: Bringing MasterCard to the Conversation” MasterCard Three years ago, MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga challenged his team to transform the 45 year-old B2B financial services giant into a more consumer-focused payments technology company. From a communications standpoint, MasterCard was squarely B2B; the opportunity was to shift engagement online and develop a direct relationship and dialogue with consumers and influencers. Early data revealed more than 30 million online conversations weekly related to MasterCard and its industry; however, MasterCard was engaged in just 1% of those discussions. Further, commerce—the center of MasterCard’s business—was shifting online and increasingly via social media channels. To move beyond traditional “listening,” MasterCard created the Conversation Suite—a dynamic, global insights and engagement engine that shifted the company from monitoring social and traditional media to applying purposeful listening to inform business decisions and foster more impactful communications. Further, MasterCard built a number of content-led social channels to support its social engagement objectives and establish a more distinct, accessible voice and online brand identity to interact with consumers in the online community. The Conversation Suite’s centerpiece is a sophisticated tool that can analyze the conversations taking place online for tone and trending topics. The Conversation Suite itself spans beyond this tool to include an innovative workspace. Regular “Social Jam” events are held in the Conversation Suite with employees and partners to leverage the data and insights and infuse social business throughout the organization. The Conversation Suite continues to be a coveted workspace and venue to hold both internal and external events related to social media. Three months after the launch, engagement increased by 400%. On an average week, the team generates around 20,200 mentions with a potential exposure of over 70 million users. Initial exposure and interest in the data has resulted in the development of a dedicated Partner Plus program in which MasterCard works with partners to leverage data and conduct social media programs. The data and insights derived from the Conversation Suite helps the team refine campaigns in real-time. Partner and stakeholder feedback from announcements can be reported back to business owners to enhance messaging as well as improve products and solutions. By unifying social and traditional media monitoring, the communications pros are able to save money for the company, and the impressive suite of tools wins new business through the Partner

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

Plus program. The greatest advantage of the Conversation Suite is that implementation has brought benefits to MasterCard beyond usual public relations measurement statistics.

BRONZE “VMware vCloud” LEWIS Pulse Based on the enhanced tracking process and measurement techniques implemented by LEWIS Pulse for the VMware vCloud social advertising program, the PR team was able to track individual social posts and correlate them to lead generation and new customer acquisition. LEWIS Pulse has worked closely with VMware to develop advanced Twitter PPC programs. The results have been impressive to-date, resulting in significant follower acquisition— thousands of new followers—and increased reach for content. In fact, the campaign has generated fives times the clicks in comparison to organic tactics. In addition, Lewis PR’s work has resulted in an impressive impact on lead generation in conjunction with LinkedIn ads. The Twitter advertising campaign built buzz around the branded @vCloud Twitter account. Before Twitter ads, a typical piece of highperforming content would generate 100-200 clicks and five to six retweets. Twitter ads increased the visibility of Twitter content up to five times its normal reach, generating thousands of clicks and about 40 retweets. As part of the lead-generation program, LEWIS Pulse also implemented B2B LinkedIn ads for VMware vCloud targeting specific business buyers and using enhanced tracking with Omniture to measure impact all the way through the campaign— from a LinkedIn post to trial sign-up. They structured the targeting for the LinkedIn pilot by targeting LinkedIn Groups, including Cloud Hosting & Service Providers Forum; Cloud Computing SaaS & Virtualization; The Virtualization & Cloud Computing Group and VMware vCloud Director. They also targeted consumers based on geography, reaching LinkedIn users in North America, Middle East, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Antarctica and Oceania ... for a total reach of 122,600 LinkedIn users. LEWIS Pulse consistently hit the initial daily budget of $25/day (10-12 clicks per day), and after increasing the daily budget to $60/day, continued to hit the daily spend by mid-morning (about 27 clicks by 11 a.m.). Within one week, the team received 183 clicks to the LinkedIn ads, illustrating the strong interest among the LinkedIn community to test-drive VMware public/hybrid cloud offerings.

BEST MEASUREMENT OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS LEWIS Pulse tracked both Twitter and LinkedIn campaigns (to the VMware public cloud test drive page) with source links (Omniture SRC codes). They were able to track users going all the way through from Twitter and LinkedIn content to the vCloud test drive page and completing the form to try the product. The enhanced tracking and PPC program led to 25% of online leads coming from social media quarter over quarter. Overall, the goal of LinkedIn advertising was to target members of pre-identified groups with the action of either following the brand, downloading a white paper or piece of valuable content from a branded landing page or joining a VMware user group. These actions resulted in an efficient and targeted way to reach new prospects that would be interested in VMwareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cloud offerings. This tactic continues to contribute to 25% of online leads quarter over quarter, in conjunction with Twitter ads.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST MICROSITE OR SPECIALIZED WEBSITE

GOLD “Fake Weed and Zombies: How one public health initiative stepped outside the box” Octane Public Relations & Advertising & APRA At the beginning of 2013, the Addiction Prevention & Recovery Administration (APRA) engaged Octane Public Relations & Advertising to assist their agency with reaching an ambitious goal with an aggressive timeline: Launch the first large-scale synthetic marijuana public awareness campaign by summer. A spike in synthetic marijuana use among DC teens compelled APRA to address the issue. With a spark of PR ingenuity, Octane developed a central metaphorical character—the zombie—for the campaign, “K2 Zombie DC.” The zombie would demonstrate what youth may become or behave like after using synthetic marijuana. The proposed campaign leveraged a direct tagline, “Danger: K2+U = Zombie.” Supporting messaging played upon themes familiar to youth. For example, one prom-themed version of the K2 Zombie DC ad featured youth as zombies in formal wear with the message, “Going to the prom? Don’t masquerade as a zombie. Keep fake weed out of the picture at your prom.” Another prom-themed ad message would read “No one wants to take a zombie to the prom. Pass on the fake weed. Be the life of the party, not a zombie nightmare.” Other ads featured healthy teens transitioning into K2 zombies and used more fact-based messaging to support the creative: “Did you know that fake weed contains harmful and unsafe chemicals? Smoking, drinking or eating fake weed just once is a big risk that could affect your future” and “The chemicals in fake weed cause hallucinations, paranoia and seizures.” All of the campaign ads included the campaign website, K2ZombieDC.com, and social media accounts for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. With input from its DC-focused team, Octane settled on a comprehensive program to support the ad campaign and engage DC youth, a population often considered to be hard to reach. The plan was to include the following program elements and to stress social media at every point: A launch event, social media, an interactive website, paid media, earned media, educational materials and an evaluation piece. Some of the program elements were sole digital platforms; all other program elements were used to reinforce the digital efforts of the campaign. In the end, Octane found that the zombie theme helped pique youth’s interest and catch their attention—which resulted in many hits to the website and social media conversations. Since its launch, K2ZombieDC.com has received over 45,000 views and has been seen as an agency model for its ability to successfully connect with DC youth on a timely public health issue. Through the website, APRA has received a number of requests campaign from DC youth around the city as well as community organizations for information on synthetic marijuana and the K2 Zombie DC campaign. One request came in from a DC teen who was suffering from the immediate side effects of synthetic marijuana; the teen was linked to treatment resources in DC. The website and supporting social media have facilitated a dialogue among DC teens and increased awareness of synthetic marijuana and its effects as evidenced by event participation and social media followers.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST MICROSITE OR SPECIALIZED WEBSITE

S I LV E R “Krylon® ColorMaster™ Challenge: 24 Projects in 24 Hours ” Marcus Thomas LLC Krylon, an industry leader in product innovation, package design, project inspiration and color, enlisted the help of Marcus Thomas to launch the new Krylon ColorMasterTM with durable Covermax® technology. The agency knew they would need to highlight the product’s competitive advantages such as improved hide, exclusive EZ Touch 360 ® Dial spray tip, longer recoat window and shorter dry times. The brand’s range of products expands beyond the home into the backyard, with craft, multi-purpose, plastic and rust-preventative products—yet its core audience remained largely craft-focused. The team’s task was to trigger sales of Krylon. They knew that for both audiences, it all starts with their next project: These crafters and DIYers wouldn’t settle for still images in print magazines alone. They would want video to inspire and instruct them. Then, they would rush to a retailer to buy and then post their progress and results on social media to share with friends. Marcus Thomas knew they’d better come with a boat-load of project content—and an attractive handyperson. But if all they did was generate projects, they would still need to drive an audience to the projects … and money was tight. The budget was less than $700,000, eliminating the possibility of a national TV campaign. So the problem was defined: How could they generate interest in the new ColorMaster paint and its competitive advantages, while creating new project content that will appeal more to the malecentric DIY audience, yet deepen the relationship with the core crafter audience? Marcus Thomas launched Krylon ColorMaster by creating projects for DIYers and crafters and produced as a live social event, with the assistance of key influential bloggers. The PR pros used a “show, tell and share” strategy and made it a live event that demonstrated the brand’s 360 ® Dial spray tip, longer recoat window, great colors and quicker dry times. “If you can demonstrate the benefits of a new product, it’s a good launch,” says Amber Zent, Marcus Thomas VP and social media strategist. So, they embarked on a social media grand slam: The Krylon ColorMaster Challenge: 24 Projects in 24 Hours. The objectives were to gain national recognition for Krylon ColorMaster spray paint, demonstrate the product’s benefits, fuel user and DIY engagement and stimulate social media sharing and participation. The Krylon ColorMaster Challenge: 24 Projects in 24

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

Hours was held on June 28 and 29, 2013. To achieve success, messaging and communications activities focused on pre-event support—a satellite media tour, strategic SEO, paid digital media and blogger relations—as well as live event support—blogger participation, social community management, user-generated content and crowdsourced content. Multiple tactics were implemented to carry out this integrated campaign, culminating in a live two-day event. Marcus Thomas developed Krylon ColorMaster Challenge microsite and handselected 24 projects based on keyword searches. They also executed 10 Twitter promotions and launched a 23-city satellite media tour with Jeff Devlin, licensed contractor and host of DIY Network’s “I Hate My Bath.” Ad buys targeted ideal demographics on networks such as Pandora and HGTV.com. At the event, a camera was stationed outside of live stream to curate content for future use and a community manager monitored conversations and replied to threads across all social platforms. The team crowdsourced paint color selections for several projects on Facebook and Twitter, engaging fans throughout live event and invited key influential DIY and home décor bloggers to participate live on set. In 11 days, from tease to the completion of its 24th project, The Krylon ColorMaster Challenge garnered an estimated 190.5 million total impressions, 673,000 minutes video watched and coverage on nationally syndicated TV programs, airing in more than 400 markets, including “The Daily Buzz” and “NewsWatch.” The PR team also scored placements in Crain’s Cleveland Business, National Hardware, Show Industry Edge and Marketing Daily.

BRONZE “Honoring a Newtown Victim by Celebrating Her Passion for Art” Havas PR North America When Havas PR North America (@havaspr) discovered on the day after the massacre in Newtown, Conn. that a former colleague is cousin to Alissa Parker, mother of slain 6-year-old Emilie, the PR team offered their help pro bono for media relations. They quickly worked to help relieve the weight of the influx of requests from media worldwide and people wanting to help, plus the hateful comments from conspiracy theorists. As the tragedy evolved into talk of creating a legacy, @havaspr and the Parkers evolved the original tribute website they developed into a site that celebrates her passion—creating artwork—by supporting arts programs. The goal was simple: Create a site that honors the Parker’s daughter Emilie and her enthusiasm for art by showcasing stories,

BEST MICROSITE F O O D OR & BSPECIALIZED E V E R A G E WEBSITE pictures and videos of her artwork and raising money to help finance arts programs. Havas PR North America stepped in to this national tragedy and major international news story and used its power of influence and social media savvy to heal. @havaspr designed and published emilieparkerfund.com in December 2012 for communication, helped promote a Facebook page started by family friends and shielded the Parkers from the Internet trolls who homed in on Emilie as a proof point for their warped theories. Among the great media relations efforts, they arranged for Emilie’s aunt and uncle to give an impassioned interview to Piers Morgan on the one-month anniversary of the shooting and placed a lengthy interview with Alissa and Robbie with CBS at the 100-day anniversary for the network’s cross-platform special report. One unexpected part of the job has been the fight with the “truthers.” They scrupulously monitor all comments on emilieparkerfund.com, keeping an eye out for any potentially threatening, harassing or illegal posts, most of which are generated by conspiracy theorists who latched onto the idea that Newtown was a hoax. @havaspr contacted the FBI in Connecticut and local branches of law enforcement in New York and Connecticut to report the potential online threats. The team has also had fake sites removed on Facebook. In March 2013, team members met with the Parkers at the Connecticut office for an intensive daylong session. They were able to hear the Parker’s vision for how they wanted the site to really honor Emilie, who she was and what she loved; it gave @havaspr the tools they needed to transform the website. They provided all the artwork, which the PR team developed into a downloadable Art Book and online Art Gallery, and they offered source video, which @havaspr edited together and featured as separate mini-docs— “Emilie’s Story” and “Making a Bead Necklace”—on two pages. The communications pros worked to provide many different ways of experiencing Emilie’s story through words, pictures and videos, and to establish an entry point on every page for donating to the cause. The opening and promoting of the social communications channels at the onset of the crisis helped family and friends process the loss of Emilie. The Facebook page has 318,000 likes, and more than 1 million people saw the most popular post through sharing (it had more than 249,000 likes and 17,000 shares). The website has garnered more than 154,000 unique visitors (surging after 100day- anniversary media hits) and more than 855 comments. A CBS interview in March 2013 opened a media floodgate—for 22.1 million total media impressions and 1.8 billion Twitter impressions over one weekend—partly because the Parkers revealed their debate-changing meeting with the shooter’s father, which @havaspr arranged with the Lanza family representative at Edelman. @havaspr continues to help the family manage their social media presence and develop the Emilie Parker Fund into its next iteration of making a difference.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST B E S TNEW A R TOR S & REDESIGNED E N T E R T A I WEBSITE N M E N T COFA M THE P AYEAR IGN

GOLD “Peelschools.org Website Redesign” Peel District School Board As the Peel District School Board continued to grow as an organization—with more programs, schools and students—it became clear the current website did not reflect the board’s reputation for innovation and success. The website—which originally launched in 1999—was outdated and hard to navigate. The homepage contained an overwhelming amount of text, cluttered photos and many sub-sites that weren’t accessible through the main navigation. Consultation with parents, community members and board employees confirmed the need for a website re-launch of www.peelschools.org. To meet the needs and expectations of target audiences, the Peel board took on a “start from scratch” approach, rather than a technical migration with a facelift and cleanup. This process began with extensive research of best practices—for example, researching other similar websites—as well as focus groups and surveys with internal and external stakeholders. Based on this research, the Communications and Community Relations Support Services and Learning Technology Support Services departments created an implementation plan that involved ensuring all content was edited, accessible, updated and appropriate for the Web. The team planned to edit each page to ensure peelschools.org only contained relevant information; remove or replace all broken links; consolidate content to reduce scrolling and make it easier to read; create ‘Spotlight on Schools’ to publish positive stories from schools; and a rotating ‘Seasonal Spotlight’ section under the navigation bar, which highlights key information and events. The communications department also sought to create a website that is functional and easy to navigate. They planned to move all sites over to a new Web application platform, Sharepoint, so content uploads quicker and can be saved as a draft to be edited at a later time. They would also move the navigation to the top of the page (horizontal) with drop-down boxes and list important and frequently visited links on the home page, separated into target audiences—students, parents, those new to Peel and trustees. “Quick Links” were placed on the right hand corner of every page, and an improved search function, along with an improved subscription function, would bring the site to the digital forefront. To revamp the website’s look and feel, the team devised a new layout, featuring four new colors and more photos and embedded videos. All sites would follow a strict style guide for fonts and image placement. The new site officially launched in August 2012. A news release was sent out to website subscribers, who include regional and local news outlets as well as parents and community members, to inform the public of the re-launch. It was also promoted via the board’s social media pages (Facebook and Twitter). To notify staff members, an email message was sent out to the entire board system, and an announcement was made at Starting Point—an event held at the start of each school year which addresses over 1,000 principals, viceprincipals, trustees, business staff and other key leaders in the system. As of June 2013, the current peelschools.org site received an average of 20,908 page views per day—a significant increase from the 2,400 average daily page views in 2011. The website also received many messages of support and positive feedback since its launch.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST NEW OR REDESIGNED WEBSITE OF THE YEAR

S I LV E R “Empowering Virginians to ‘Value their Power’” GolinHarris and Virginia Energy Sense Virginia Energy Sense is a state-sponsored energy education and outreach program launched to the public in July 2010. Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) and its partner, GolinHarris, have joined with consumers, schools, businesses and other organizations through a broad range of digital, community outreach, marketing and academic channels to educate consumers about the importance of energy conservation. The foundation of the campaign, which was established by the Virginia’s General Assembly in 2008, is the state’s goal to help consumers “value their power” and reduce electrical energy use by 10 percent. GolinHarris and the SCC have been building and growing an integrated public education campaign that fuses media outreach with community engagement programs. A growing digital platform is at the heart of this work. Since the launch of the campaign, Virginia Energy Sense has used its website, VirginiaEnergySense.org, to facilitate a conversation with Virginians, supplemented by the program’s presence on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube and most recently, Pinterest. Since its launch, the campaign has focused its efforts around several key initiatives to help reach and educate consumers. Despite the program’s success, GolinHarris recognized the opportunity to improve the user experience and grow its online tool kit for consumers beyond the core elements created at the onset of the program in 2010. The team wanted to make it easier and more interesting for them to learn about its mission, stay in touch and help spread the word. After carefully prioritizing the program’s messages and tools, GolinHarris worked with its Web team to develop several design concepts. Ultimately, the team selected a design that was modern and clean, while providing easy and intuitive navigation and the ability to continually refresh content. Another key priority for the site was to incorporate as many engaging images and graphics as possible, a goal which proves continually challenging given the complicated and often unglamorous subject matter. For easy and efficient updating of the site, the team selected WordPress as the user-friendly CMS. Rather than assigning certain content to inside pages only, the new homepage was designed to feature a revolving set of banner images that highlight a handful of major initiatives and resources. This followed the website’s theme of creating direct pathways to important information by allowing users to navigate effortlessly to areas of interest without a multi-click navigation process.

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

As part of the redesigned website, GolinHarris and its Web team developed and launched a second phase of an Energy Efficient Homes Showcase they created to show how homeowners and home builders were taking action. The showcase features a user-friendly map and easy to click shadowboxes featuring a brief description of each home with accompanying photos. The showcase incorporates a Twitter functionality tool to encourage visitors to take action by selecting one of several preset tweets about home-related energy efficiency practices, or creating their own unique tweet, to tell their network what they’re doing to save energy at home. Users are also able to submit their own energy efficiency home to be added to the showcase via an easy online form. Since introducing the new and improved Virginia Energy Sense website, the team has seen the site’s traffic, interest and activity increase exponentially. The new site has also received extremely positive feedback from consumers, stakeholders and the SCC.

BRONZE “The Tchotchke Challenge: Repositioning MediScripts for Success in the Digital World” Makovsky In 1981, a new advertising media vehicle was introduced to the pharmaceutical industry. Medi-Scripts. It was an extraordinarily simple, extraordinarily powerful idea: Physicians would receive personalized prescription pads. And pharmaceutical marketers would be able to place their ads between the pages of those pads. For nearly 20 years, Medi-Scripts enjoyed almost effortlessly increasing sales and profits. And then everything changed. In recent years, pharma marketers have been shifting an increasing percentage of their marketing dollars into digital channels. This was incredibly frustrating for Medi-Scripts. Even though digital and social media had yet to prove their effectiveness as a marketing tool, pharma brands were still pumping more and more money into digital campaigns. And brand managers—particularly young, up-andcoming ones—began to dismiss MediScripts as just another tchotchke. Makovsky’s challenge was to find a way to move MediScripts out of that tchotchke graveyard and into the world of multichannel marketing. The first step was to reposition Medi-Scripts using the language of the digital world: “MediScripts. The most engaging medium.” This deftly positioned Medi-Scripts as an actual advertising medium— one that offered superior engagement. Makovsky then redesigned Medi-Scripts’ dated brand identity, with a modern proprietary font

BEST NEW OR REDESIGNED WEBSITE OF THE YEAR and a brand icon specifically designed for use in digital applications. They even convinced the company to remove the hyphen from “Medi-Scripts” and become simply MediScripts. The new MediScripts launched in September 2011, with a redesigned website, digital advertising campaign and marketing materials, an aggressive media relations program, an executive visibility initiative and a series of industry events. The new MediScripts website featured separate user interface pathways for its three targets. The Brand Manager path focused on the results and ROI; the Media Planner path focused on physician targeting; and the Creative Director path highlighted the creative possibilities of the medium. Each pathway ended in customized downloadable materials. A campaign of provocative digital teaser ads in pharmaceutical marketing sites and general advertising sites confronted the conventional media wisdom. Meanwhile, Erez Lapsker, the young CEO of MediScripts, became the public face of the brand, authoring bylined articles, white papers and podcasts, and hosting a Marketing Agency Happy Hour with representatives from key organizations. Feature articles in major pharma marketing publications repositioned the company and legitimized point-ofprescription advertising with a new era of brand managers and agency teams. Finally, using Makovsky’s own marketing muscle, the team personnel brokered new relationships for the MediScripts sales team with Novartis, Merck, Watson, Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness, DraftFCB Healthcare, Sudler & Hennessey and SSCG Media Group. Makovsky’s work for the new MediScripts produced immediate results. In the first 90 days of the campaign, website traffic shot up by 120% and unique visits increased over 80%, six feature articles and a corporate announcement produced 65M media impressions, the podcast downloaded 765 times and the advertising produced truly historic CTRs as high as 4800 media impressions. The bottom line: Within this very compressed time frame, the MediScripts launch campaign generated actual sales meetings with 20 major prospects and, to date, three new clients—a roughly 4:1 return on MediScripts’ investment.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL IN A PUBLIC AFFAIRS/AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

GOLD “Blimp-borne radar protecting American interests” Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems Talks of sequestration spread across the nation in early 2012. The scheduled slashing of government funds clouded the future of thousands of federally run initiatives, including Raytheon’s JLENS radar program—a critical defense asset needed by the military to protect against today’s ever-evolving threats. JLENS, short for Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, is a system of two aerostats, or tethered airships, that float 10,000 feet in the air. The aerostats, each nearly as long as a football field, carry powerful radars that can look deep into enemy territory. Declining defense budgets in 2011 forced the Department of Defense (DoD) to continue development of the JLENS system while curtailing production. However, in 2012, the DoD decided to take a “try-before-you-buy” approach with JLENS, consequently ordering the Army to have Raytheon finish building and testing JLENS. The system was scheduled to be deployed for its first field test in 2014. Upon completion of the multi-year evaluation, the DoD will decide whether to restart the production of Raytheon’s radar-carrying blimps. While Raytheon’s technical experts remained focused on continuing to develop the JLENS system, the communications team focused on supporting the DoD to ensure that the field evaluation would take place. The team began by conducting extensive research to identify target audiences and their interests. Research indicated that the identified target audiences rely heavily on digital/social media as a primary source of information. As one trade press reporter mentioned, “The first place I go to look when I want to find something out is Google.” Thus, the team developed key creative integrated digital campaign tactics and a content-rich landing page that clearly articulated the threat faced by the military and JLENS’ unique value proposition. Digital news announcements aligned with the new messaging strategy, and digital press coverage amplified by linking to the JLENS landing page. The communications team sent out tweets highlighting JLENS-related media coverage to Raytheon’ s followers and initiated a digital advertising campaign that premiered on websites frequently visited by the target audiences. A compelling call-to-action directed readers to the media rich landing page. A visually appealing infographic and video brought the threat narrative to life, while sharing on Raytheon’s social channels increased traffic back to the landing page. New imagery, including never before seen photos of JLENS, was featured on Raytheon’s Facebook page and other owned-media channels. To top it off, a strategic search engine marketing campaign included Google keywords associated with the revised messaging. To increase visibility all digital content—both earned and owned—was shared with the Raytheon Government Relations and DoD customer engagement teams, enabling those teams to send critical assets to constituents within the Executive and Legislative branches of government. As a direct result of the tactics listed above, the JLENS landing page saw an increased Google Relevance score as well as the coveted #1 Google search result for relevant keywords. The JLENS landing page has received 25,000 visits since the start of this year, and digital advertising tailored to the D.C. area, resulting in +3.6M impressions. The campaign received extensive digital media coverage, including placements in Popular Mechanics and Politico.com. Perhaps more importantly, the campaign has sparked conversation among key military and government leaders and defense analysts and Reuters reported that the DoD decided to formally announce that JLENS would deploy to the Washington DC region.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL IN A PUBLIC AFFAIRS/AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

S I LV E R “Fake Weed and Zombies: How one public health initiative stepped outside the box” Octane Public Relations & Advertising & APRA At the beginning of 2013, the Addiction Prevention & Recovery Administration (APRA) engaged Octane Public Relations & Advertising to assist their agency with reaching an ambitious goal with an aggressive timeline: Launch the first large-scale synthetic marijuana public awareness campaign by summer. A spike in synthetic marijuana use among DC teens compelled APRA to address the issue. With a spark of PR ingenuity, Octane developed a central metaphorical character—the zombie—for the campaign, “K2 Zombie DC.” The zombie would demonstrate what youth may become or behave like after using synthetic marijuana. The proposed campaign leveraged a direct tagline, “Danger: K2+U = Zombie.” Supporting messaging played upon themes familiar to youth. For example, one prom-themed version of the K2 Zombie DC ad featured youth as zombies in formal wear with the message, “Going to the prom? Don’t masquerade as a zombie. Keep fake weed out of the picture at your prom.” Another prom-themed ad message would read “No one wants to take a zombie to the prom. Pass on the fake weed. Be the life of the party, not a zombie nightmare.” Other ads featured healthy teens transitioning into K2 zombies and used more fact-based messaging to support the creative: “Did you know that fake weed contains harmful and unsafe chemicals? Smoking, drinking or eating fake weed just once is a big risk that could affect your future” and “The chemicals in fake weed cause hallucinations, paranoia and seizures.” All of the campaign ads included the campaign website, K2ZombieDC.com, and social media accounts for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. With input from its DC-focused team, Octane settled on a comprehensive program to support the ad campaign and engage DC youth, a population often considered to be hard to reach. The plan was to include the following program elements and to stress social media at every point: A launch event, social media, an interactive website, paid media, earned media, educational materials and an evaluation piece. Some of the program elements were sole digital platforms; all other program elements were used to reinforce the digital efforts of the campaign. In the end, Octane found that the zombie theme helped pique youth’s interest and catch their attention—which resulted in many hits to the website and social media conversations. Since its launch, K2ZombieDC.com has received over 45,000 views and has been seen as an agency model for its ability to successfully connect with DC youth on a timely public health issue. Through the

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

website, APRA has received a number of requests campaign from DC youth around the city as well as community organizations for information on synthetic marijuana and the K2 Zombie DC campaign. One request came in from a DC teen who was suffering from the immediate side effects of synthetic marijuana; the teen was linked to treatment resources in DC. The website and supporting social media have facilitated a dialogue among DC teens and increased awareness of synthetic marijuana and its effects as evidenced by event participation and social media followers.

BRONZE “The Learning Community: Survival to Success for Kids in Poverty” Carroll Communications The Learning Community of Douglas and Sarpy Counties is a firstof-its-kind educational political subdivision created by the Nebraska Legislature to address low student achievement in high-poverty areas of the Omaha metropolitan area. The organization struggled through the startup phase, was vastly misunderstood and resented for its limited taxing power. A shared pool of tax dollars united eleven public school districts in the two counties. While the Learning Community itself received no funding from that common tax levy, a series of court cases challenging its constitutionality went all the way to the Nebraska Supreme Court. It ended with a clear court victory but significant public confusion. A Carroll Communications audit of print and broadcast media coverage, editorial commentary, social media and letters to the editor confirmed a consistent level of confusion. Well-documented public resentment related primarily to economic stress and fears. Despite increasingly successful programs, the general public had limited awareness of these Learning Community programs to improve academic achievement for children in poverty. While the introduction of a common levy tax could be expected to generate a negative response, few had been given the opportunity to learn about children and families in poverty. The information gap extended to news media throughout the Omaha metro and in the state capital, Lincoln, Nebraska. While there was greater appreciation of educational needs in high poverty areas, the benefits of new programs were vague even to the reporters assigned to the Learning Community beat. Within months of the Nebraska Supreme Court decision unanimously affirming the Learning Community's position, an Omaha World-Herald editorial correctly stated that the organization needed to speak clearly about

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL IN A PUBLIC AFFAIRS/AWARENESS CAMPAIGN its role in language that people could understand. This served to reinforce Carroll Communications' suggested strategy to move away from an institutional presence reinforced by years of court challenges. Starting in November, advance media features placed prominently on the website captured the attention of community leaders who were impressed by the growing body of evidence that Learning Community educational programs worked. A monthly e-newsletter launched to keep community leaders informed, along with Learning Community program partners. Low-cost videos proved to be effective reminders with a compelling message about multigenerational poverty and how the entire metro area would benefit from Learning Community strategies. Website videos featuring Council members from high poverty areas reached more senators. The January launch of a content-rich website enabled the Learning Community to tell its story in terms of the children and families. The site showcased a growing body of independent program evaluations, showing a positive trend and proving that much can be done to improve student achievement. With legislative monitoring and close coordination with the Learning Community's solo lobbyist, contacts with education beat reporters addressed expected distortions in advance. The public hearing strategy included advance summary briefs for the legislature and a testimony to highlight the organization's successful track record. Individuals providing testimony on the Learning Community's behalf were well-prepared to counter unwarranted criticisms and included rare testimony from a parent, enrolled in family literacy classes to help his children succeed in elementary school. Appearances on weekend public affairs programs exposed in a systematic way that many Learning Community opponents were illinformed.

the second and third hearings set up the calls and personal visits from Learning Community leadership and Council members. After surviving three hearings, the Learning Community's greatest threat became a risky opportunity. A revised bill would go to the full Legislature for floor debate. If the agreement held, the Learning Community would give up taxing authority for building in order to guide and oversee $2.5 million in additional funding for early childhood education, specifically for children in poverty. Communications, legal, lobbying and leadership all worked together. The small and nimble characteristics of the respective teams turned out to be their best asset. During the gap between the hearings and floor debate, contacts with individual senators continued systematically. The session ended with a result that exceeded all expectationsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an expanded Learning Community role to address early childhood education, specifically tailored for children in poverty. The Nebraska Legislature passed bold legislation to address the educational needs of children in poverty. An additional $2.4 million to fund school district programs for early childhood education, specifically designed for children in poverty. The website saw a 30 percent increase in traffic during the legislative debate and a 50 percent increase in page views with results focused content. Videos of parent stories reached key supporters and state senators with 75 views in the month of March. The e-newsletters also immensely increased subscribers during legislative debate, and key media stories circulated to educate legislators who were unfamiliar with successful track record. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more, senators from key committees followed the Learning Community on Twitter, and website traffic from Facebook doubled during the March legislative debate.

When the high-stakes legislative debate expanded from one legislative committee to three, the Learning Community plan to bring a new story to the legislature needed to change. Two out of three bills aimed to effectively dismantle the organization and another was being revised by a state senator for the key Education Committee. Mid-way through the legislative session, when damaging distortions renewed, Carroll Communications needed to supplement Council guest editorials and targeted public affairs programs. With the launch of a FactChecker page on the website, key opponents were put on notice that their comments would be highlighted. Equally important, community newspaper editors could see for themselves how the facts were being distorted. Carroll Communications sent out additional newsletters during the legislative debate with custom content for Legislators, and analytics confirmed that key senators received the information. Online materials combined with more traditional briefing books for

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL TO PITCH TRADITIONAL MEDIA

GOLD “Get Back UP Today” Bouvier Kelly In 2004, severe spinal trauma and subsequent surgery left Beth Deloria with nerve damage that made her unable to flex her left ankle and raise the front portion of her foot. This condition, known as foot drop, was devastating for the devout distance runner, who had competed in major marathon events from Chicago to Boston. As she recovered from her surgery seven years ago, Beth tried the molded plastic orthotic braces often prescribed to remedy the mobility issues related to foot drop. Finding the devices too cumbersome to permit full mobility, Beth feared her running days were over. Beth searched for other options until she eventually found the ToeOFF brace, a technologically advanced, carbon fiber orthotic device designed to mimic the biophysical movement of the muscles in her legs and feet. The results were dramatic—after four months training with the new brace, Beth ran the Chicago Marathon in the fastest time she had ever recorded for a 26.2 mile race. Her continued race quest is part of a strengthened commitment for Beth as the director of community outreach for Allard USA, the company that manufactures ToeOFF. Through this campaign, Beth is able to spread her message and advocacy for those with mobility issues even farther with digital and social media backing PR. Bouvier Kelly works collaboratively with Beth to ensure all interaction is answered in a timely manner. Throughout the progression of the campaign in 2012, Beth and Bouvier Kelly, via social media channels and PR earned media, came into contact with many foot drop sufferers facing day-to-day challenges. Some of these people also happen to be elite athletes with stories as compelling as Beth’s. They were getting back up. TeamUP was established. With the assistance of Allard USA and Bouvier Kelly, Beth invited seven people to join her as ambassadors and founding members on TeamUP. With a limited budget, they were able to increase the reach of the campaign by increasing the number of people being featured in posts socially, in news stories, and in “Get Back UP Today” messaging. Instead of the compelling message of just one person who got back up with the ToeOFF, the campaign now had a panel of elite brand ambassadors from all walks of life ready to be brand advocates for no other reason than the desire to help others Get Back UP Today. TeamUP was introduced together for the first time in April 2013 to participate in the BB&T Half-Marathon in Greensboro, NC. During this time, they were able to meet with representatives from Allard USA to have candid conversations about their braces, with a team of doctors from Advanced O&P to see how they can improve the fit and use of their braces, as well as with Bouvier Kelly to learn social media and media outreach techniques that would make all TeamUP efforts uniform and effective in reaching the campaign goals. Consumers and potential consumers come to Beth and all the members of TeamUP through social media with questions about the brace and sharing their experience and struggles. Social media has created one-on-one brand ambassadors to talk openly and honestly with wearers and potential wearers about getting back up with the ToeOFF. Through this collaborative effort, customer relations that were already good have improved to a reputation of fantastic in the O&P community. Beth and members of TeamUP continued to participate in marathons and other events throughout the remainder of 2013. Involvement with each of these events is cataloged through the continued social media and PR efforts to be sure that as many people as possible learn more about getting back up today with Allard USA’s ToeOFF. To date, more than 50 traditional media stories picked up on broadcast and cable TV, radio, newsprint, online news outlets, trade pubs, and glossy magazines. All online traffic has been acquired through organic efforts. Hundreds of followers on Twitter and Facebook populated organically through conversation, and Beth’s blog saw more than 17,000 page views. The average cost of a brace is $2,0003,000. Allard USA is thrilled with their ROI. Based upon the success of the campaign, the efforts will evolve again in 2014 and will continue for the near future until all foot drop sufferers are reached.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION IN A CAMPAIGN

GOLD “Debunking the Baby Carrot Myth” The Water Quality & Health Council Debunks the Baby Carrot Myth The Water Quality & Health Council seeks to provide public health officials, the media and the general public with a greater understanding of issues such as safe drinking water, recreational waters, infection control and food safety. The Water Quality & Health Council launched the Moms Against Cooties online media campaign in April 2011. The campaign was intended to help turn mounting green/eco movement-fueled opposition to the use of chlorine bleach as a disinfection tool. Through the development and growth of multiple social network communities and websites, Moms Against Cooties provided young mothers who use chlorine bleach to disinfect with an outlet to voice support and share positive messaging with friends and family. From launch to January 15, 2013, the Moms Against Cooties community grew to more than 155,000 members across Facebook and Twitter, with more than 5,000 people, on average, visiting the Moms Against Cooties website (MomsAgainstCooties.com) monthly. Years before, in March 2008, a series of chain emails spread across the Internet proclaiming that baby carrots were actually deformed regular carrots that had been whittled down and marinated in chlorine. The email reappeared on numerous occasions from its debut in 2008 through 2012. In 2012, though, the message’s vehicle shifted from email to Facebook and took on a new life. The first viral Facebook post about the baby carrot myth, created by Mario Torero on November 19, 2012, was shared more than 148,000 times. Other similar posts were published to Facebook in the weeks that followed, including a post by Victor Zammit on January 10, 2013, that was shared more than 61,000 times. On December 7, 2012, Sachs Media Group identified Mario Torero’s viral Facebook post and shared it with the Water Quality & Health Council as part of a weekly Digital Conversation Analysis Report. After further discussion, the PR team decided to prepare for future iterations of the myth by drafting a series of myth-busting blog posts and optimizing them for peak search engine performance. The SEO strategy focused on content, code, architecture and social interaction. Google ranks “fresh” content the highest in its indexing algorithm, so it was imperative to keep current with a blog/news section. The code structure of each website was optimized for search engines. Each blogging website included titles on images, a dynamic description to the body sections of posts and an appropriate amount of keywords (without overloading the page) to ensure better optimization. Since each blogging website was built on top of the WordPress content management system, they were able to utilize SEO plug-ins that provide a do-not- repeat-yourself (DRY) approach for increased SEO. Each site’s navigation and usability was another authentic factor for SEO efforts. This encompassed everything from page speed to link structure. Sachs Media Group built a universal navigational structure that was easy to find and static on all interior pages. The drop-down menus were built with HTML, as opposed to Javascript, so the pages could easily be crawled. What’s more, they understand the more trusted a brand is, the higher a search engine values its content—so built-in tools, such as social sharing buttons, helped to seamlessly push out a message to a wider target audience. When the blog articles were shared via social networks, social meta-tags were configured to optimize the style and message of the posting. This helped to ensure that message was appropriately represented. Overall, two myth-busting blog articles ranked on the first results page of most major Google search queries related to baby carrots and chlorine from the end of January through August 31, 2013. For example, on the search results page for “baby carrots chlorine,” the MomsAgainstCooties.com article peaked as the top result and the WaterAndHealth.org article peaked as the third highest result. Combined, the blog articles accumulated 15,423 page views from publication through August 31, 2013. The MomsAgainstCooties.com blog article achieved an average time on page of 3 minutes, 43 seconds, and the WaterAndHealth.org blog article achieved an average time on page of 5 minutes 11 seconds. Combined, the blog articles received 841 Facebook shares.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION IN A CAMPAIGN

S I LV E R

sunshinesweetcorn.com

The Florida Sweet Corn Exchange is a collective of family farmers growing super sweet varieties of fresh corn in Palm Beach County, Florida, bred naturally and entirely without GMOs. Florida Sweet Corn produces fresh sweet corn November through May but has a peak season between April 1 and June 1. The organization sought out CRT/tanaka to optimize their Web property, sunshinesweetcorn.com, for marketing efforts for fresh sweet corn in the spring, rather than summer. A successful campaign would boost rank organically for sweet corn related searches in Google in order to drive traffic to the Florida Sweet Corn Exchange website (sunshinesweetcorn.com), drive traffic from Google to the website for related searches and generate impressions in April and May for the Florida Sweet Corn brand.

Having the website optimized for “sweet corn” content didn’t really give them opportunity to rank for more general “corn” searches. They wanted to get traffic to the site for searches that didn’t include “sweet corn” in the query, as a searcher could easily use sweet corn in place of regular corn. They first set up a Google AdWords campaign to target searches that only originated east of the Mississippi River, where the client’s product would be for sale. With geographic targeting in place, the PR team then set up 20 different ad groups that utilized unique keyword matches and ad copy. Ad groups were centered on recipes, tips, cooking techniques, meal types and growing corn. To make sure the ads were getting served for their researched keywords, they used broad, exact and phrase keyword match types. The core strategy for Google AdWords relied on the phrase match keyword type. This would allow the ad to get served for corn and sweet corn related searches. For example, having keywords set to phrase match allowed ads to show up for both “corn salad” as well as “sweet corn salad.”

With the client’s product hitting the produce aisle, it was imperative that the site was showing up for any corn related searches in Google. Sweet corn can easily be substituted for regular corn so the PR team wanted to appeal to any corn-related search in the search engine. Although they wanted traffic to the site for corn searches, they didn’t necessarily want to rank organically for corn searches as that was not relevant to the client’s sweet corn brand.

Overall, traffic from a search engine grew by 675% compared to the season last year. Search was the number-one traffic driver to the site during the campaign, and 39% of the site’s traffic came from a search engine. The campaign scored 250,000 search impressions in Google, and the Florida Sweet Corn Exchange reported recordbreaking sales figures for May 2013. To date, traffic to the site from organic Google searches is up by 572%.

“Sweet SEO Success for Sunshine Sweet Corn” CRT/tanaka

CRT/tanaka determined that sunshinesweetcorn.com should get optimized for organic search terms related to sweet corn and that they would leverage Google AdWords to appeal to broader cornrelated searches. With this strategy in place, they would be able to drive traffic to the site for both types of keywords. They first conducted keyword research to see what sweet corn searches might be occurring on Google. Once they compiled keyword research data, the team selected a handful of keywords to optimize the site around. These selected keywords had a decent search volume and low competition. From there, CRT/tanaka created content around these keywords and optimized the pages that this new content would live on. With keyword rich content in place, they had fully accomplished the onsite optimization. However, having an optimized site wasn’t good enough for organic rankings in Google. A part of Google’s ranking algorithm looks at the quality and quantity of websites linking back to your content. To help grow backlink profile to ensure stronger rankings, they deployed a guest blog post strategy to help promote the sunshinesweetcorn.com content. The strategy targeted blogs that had a good domain authority, community and participation. With guest posts and outreach, the team was able to have guest posts on other sites link back to their sweet corn-related content on

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST ONLINE/SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITY OF THE YEAR

GOLD “Likes, tweets and...finances? How Fifth Third Bank used social media to build consumer relationships” Finn Partners As a financial institution, Fifth Third Bank understood that the economic environment over the last few years demanded change. For the company, this meant developing innovative solutions for their customers, offering services that were straightforward and fairly priced, and leveraging its size to provide functional support while maintaining a local focus. But changing business strategies wasn’t enough, and the Bank understood building an online community was just as important in order to attract customers. In 2012, Fifth Third Bank saw tremendous growth with earnings continuing to rebound and returns approaching those associated with a normalized financial economy. To attract and retain customers, the financial industry as a whole began to realize the importance of social media, and Fifth Third Bank was ready to join. Fifth Third Bank approached Finn Partners to build an online presence more closely aligned with its growth and brand identity. The team created a social media strategy centered on customer engagement and utilized the Bank’s existing Facebook and Twitter channels as a tool to listen to, react to and engage with prospective and existing customers, as well as promote Fifth Third’s products and services. Based on preliminary research and key findings, Fifth Third Bank and Finn Partners sought to lay the framework for an integrated social media presence, define the Bank’s brand voice and increase integration among Bank products and services, encourage conversations among Fifth Third’s customer base, and build lasting relationships through engaging and relevant social content. The team also hoped to integrate social media insights into Bank policy and procedures and leverage the Bank’s community partnerships and sports sponsorships within the audience footprint. Stemming from Fifth Third’s recent successes, Finn Partners and the Bank focused on building a social media community more demonstrative of the Bank’s rising status in the financial industry. The team built an online brand persona that aligned with the Bank’s key strengths: Its reputation, quality financial products and services and strong community presence. Additionally, they monitored conversations to identify the voice of the customer. The team found highlighting the Bank’s community service efforts, geo-targeting local events, sharing relevant financial tips and creating timely posts was the type of content that resonated with the Bank’s Facebook and Twitter audience the most. In addition to building an audience with ongoing monthly content, the team carried out ongoing social media campaigns throughout the year, promoting campaigns from the Bank’s new prepaid reloadable debit card to the Bank’s NASCAR and NFL sponsorships. Throughout the execution of these campaigns, Finn Partners and the Bank ensured the social media content and strategy addressed a number of potential roadblocks associated with the financial industry today. One way the team accomplished this was by identifying potential questions or concerns in advance and drafting approved Facebook and Twitter responses. First, to reach the Bank’s target audience, initial growth and increased consumer engagement was key. Over a 10-month period, Finn Partners helped Fifth Third Bank successfully grow their social media community. Boosting only 1,300 “Likes” in October 2012, the Bank’s Facebook page has now grown to more than 30,000 users, a 1,808-percent increase. This initial growth was essential, but Fifth Third Bank also needed to create lasting relationships with their online consumers. Today, the Bank’s Facebook content reaches an average of nearly 300,000 users daily. Content also generated engagement and creating dialogue: The average number of engaged users interacting with the Bank on Facebook has increased from 36 users to more than 6,000 today. While laying the groundwork, the team leveraged the Bank’s growing social channels to promote Fifth Third Bank products and services. Social content and ads for ongoing Bank initiatives have resulted in a total reach of 153,914,400 users to date. From Q1 to Q2, these efforts also contributed to an 8-percent increase in positive customer experiences shared on the Bank’s social platforms.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST ONLINE/SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITY OF THE YEAR

S I LV E R “Chevrolet for Community of the Year” FleishmanHillard FleishmanHillard took over Chevrolet social media in 2012, and since then the community has thrived. From the 2014 Corvette Stingray social reveal to the celebration of the community’s two million Facebook fans, the PR team has attracted, engaged and maintained a community that is passionate and involved. Chevrolet’s social presence lives on Google+, Twitter, Vine, Pinterest, Instagram and especially Facebook. The team makes sure that fans are acknowledged and encouraged to engage on the different outlets. When users have a bad experience with Chevrolet and turn to social to let it out, FleishmanHillard lends an ear and helps work out issues to make sure consumers are satisfied. FleishmanHillard’s engagement scores and metric numbers reveal what works well and what doesn’t. Something FleishmanHillard strives to do is to make sure that the content they’re pushing out is something Chevrolet fans and followers will find interesting, relevant and engage-worthy. They do not post just to post. Over the course of the campaign, Chevrolet’s Facebook presence grew from 1,000,000 fans to 2,000,000 fans in just 18 months. Chevrolet’s YouTube presence scored more than 47,000,000 video views, and on Google+, the fanbase skyrocketed to over 2,000,000 fans. The branded Instagram achieved 40,000 followers in one year, and Chevorlet’s Twitter account, which FleishmanHillard took over in January 2012, has spiked to 250,000 engaged followers. One exceptional example of the PR team’s success: FleishmanHillard has helped Chevrolet engage during SXSW for the last for years. This year, Chevrolet received 12,000 mentions of their hashtag #ChevySXSW and over 110m impressions. FleishmanHillard also helps Chevrolet promote fan advocacy by engaging with fans on every platform—by commenting on relevant Facebook photos, @-mentioning fans and retweeting posts.

BRONZE “Best Use of Instagram” Zeno Group and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Through Instagram, the PR pros at Zeno Group sought to bring the world of Four Seasons to life. The team developed “Four Seasons Fotog”—an innovative initiative that would leverage Instagram’s widespread popularity by sharing exclusive of-the-moment and behind-the-scenes shots. Four Seasons Fotog aims to surprise and delight followers, ignite travelers’ imagination, and inspire

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

wanderlust. Four Seasons uses Instagram as a unique channel to engage with guests and to see Four Seasons through their lens. The campaign’s target audience is comprised of travel enthusiasts, luxury lifestyle enthusiasts, photographers and Instagram aficionados. Zeno Group engaged these audience segments by using Four Seasons Fotog to offer rich and varied imagery daily, from aspirational travel photos and luxurious food and beverage shots to behind-the-scenes “sneak peeks” and how-to secrets from Four Seasons experts. Four Seasons engages with fans on Instagram by actively monitoring hashtags and check-ins. User-generated content is occasionally shared or “reblogged” to the branded stream to show the company’s appreciation for guests’ photos. Four Seasons has hosted an Instagram contest and “surprise and delight” campaign based entirely on user-generated content to encourage sharing from fans and capture authentic moments. Four Seasons used Instagram as the principal platform for generating excitement around the re-opening of the brand’s flagship hotel in Toronto. Four Seasons Fotog hosted the #UncoverToronto Instagram contest, which encouraged users to share their best Toronto snapshots. These images were shared on Instagram and pulled into a contest landing page on Four Seasons Magazine online, where viewers could vote for their favorites. Further to the contest, the grand opening celebration at the hotel was shared on Instagram in real time to include followers around the world in the momentous event as it unfolded. Due to this wild success, Instagram remains Four Seasons’ go-to channel for exclusive insider imagery, and all content is syndicated to Twitter. Instagram is Four Seasons’ fastest growing channel, with steady follower and engagement growth. In less than one year, Four Seasons Fotog acquired almost 10,000 fans and is on track to supersede this growth in year two. Four Seasons boasts 42 global accounts with a total of more than 18,000 fans. Both the brand account and aggregate global accounts have more than ten times the number of followers as the nearest direct competitor. Photo likes have reached 22,270—with 602 average likes per photo—and the most likes received on one photo was 1,296. Instagram posts have also garnered over 600 comments. Four Seasons Fotog brings aspirational imagery to life on Instagram through users mobile streams. Because of Four Seasons compelling imagery and dedication to community engagement, posts continue to outperform month over month. Four Seasons focuses on Instagram as a primary outlet for visual social media content, sharing this content cross-channel, as a result, Instagram has become Four Seasons fastest growing social channel. The media has also taken note of this amazing effort. Placements include NY Daily News, CBS Local New York, Luxury Daily and People Style Watch.

BEST SOCIAL NETWORK MESSAGING STRATEGY

GOLD “More Than Motion: Online Community Educates about the Full Range of Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms” Cooney/Waters Group In the time it takes someone to sift through 30-minutes of email, at least three people will learn they have Parkinson’s disease (PD). Those diagnosed, and their families, often turn to the Internet to find support and information about managing their PD symptoms. They also look for personal stories from others who share their triumphs and tribulations. Additionally, new research shows that people aged 55 and older—the group most impacted by PD—are increasingly interested in social media. It’s estimated that 46 percent of Facebook users are over the age of 45. In early 2012, global biopharmaceutical company UCB, a leader in the central nervous system market, was on the cusp of introducing a new PD treatment in the United States. In recognition of the unique attributes of UCB’s new medicine and the online time spent by people affected by PD, Cooney/Waters and UCB developed an interactive Facebook community with a first-of-its-kind reality-style video series to inform patients about the importance of recognizing and treating both the motor and non-motor aspects of PD. The new community, Parkinson’s More Than Motion, launched in conjunction with the approval of UCB’s new medicine. The online community offers tools such as the PD Well-Being Map, an innovative visual guide designed to help patients to initiate conversations with their doctors about all of their PD symptoms, as well as two compelling, reality-style videos series that highlight two families’ experiences with PD and how they have come to address the full range of PD symptoms. The team also oversees ongoing content creation and communications to keep visitors actively engaged and returning. To create the online reality series, the team identified and filmed two compelling PD patients (one of whom was NFL Hall of Famer Forrest Gregg) who are vocal advocates and demonstrate the importance of recognizing both motor and non-motor symptoms. Each patient’s story featured family members, friends and healthcare providers offering different perspectives into the PD experience and the importance of a care team. They produced two video series with four concise episodes each to appeal to online audiences and encourage complete views and return visits. These videos feature footage from the patients’ daily lives and confessional-style interviews with the patients and families to highlight emotional aspects of PD. Cooney/Waters coordinated with a digital agency to design the Facebook page with interactive and compelling content to keep the community engaged through the video series, photos, quick polls and infographics. They also conducted media outreach to national, health and hometown media outlets at the launch of each patient’s video series, announced launch via multiple PD patient organizations and hosted a booth at two major PD events in 2012 and 2013 to bring Parkinson’s More Than Motion straight to the PD patient community. In the time it takes someone to sift through 30-minutes of email, at least three people will learn they have Parkinson’s disease (PD). Those diagnosed, and their families, often turn to the Internet to find support and information about managing their PD symptoms. They also look for personal stories from others who share their triumphs and tribulations. Additionally, new research shows that people aged 55 and older—the group most impacted by PD—are increasingly interested in social media. It’s estimated that 46 percent of Facebook users are over the age of 45. In early 2012, global biopharmaceutical company UCB, a leader in the central nervous system market, was on the cusp of introducing a new PD treatment in the United States. In recognition of the unique attributes of UCB’s new medicine and the online time spent by people affected by PD, Cooney/Waters and UCB developed an interactive Facebook community with a first-of-its-kind realitystyle video series to inform patients about the importance of recognizing and treating both the motor and non-motor aspects of PD. The new community, Parkinson’s More Than Motion, launched in conjunction with the approval of UCB’s new medicine. The online community offers tools such as the PD Well-Being Map, an innovative visual guide designed to help patients to initiate conversations with their doctors about all of their PD symptoms, as well as two compelling, reality-style videos series that highlight two families’ experiences with PD and how they have come to address the full range of PD symptoms. The team also oversees ongoing content creation and communications to keep visitors actively engaged and returning. To create the online reality series, the team identified and filmed two compelling PD patients (one of whom was NFL Hall of Famer Forrest Gregg) who are vocal advocates and demonstrate the importance of recognizing both motor and non-motor symptoms. Each patient’s story featured family members, friends and healthcare providers offering different perspectives into the PD experience and the importance of a care team. They produced two video series with four concise episodes each to appeal to online audiences and encourage complete views

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST SOCIAL NETWORK MESSAGING STRATEGY and return visits. These videos feature footage from the patients’ daily lives and confessional-style interviews with the patients and families to highlight emotional aspects of PD. Cooney/Waters coordinated with a digital agency to design the Facebook page with interactive and compelling content to keep the community engaged through the video series, photos, quick polls and infographics. They also conducted media outreach to national, health and hometown media outlets at the launch of each patient’s video series, announced launch via multiple PD patient organizations and hosted a booth at two major PD events in 2012 and 2013 to bring Parkinson’s More Than Motion straight to the PD patient community. Overall, the Facebook Page has scored 44,600+ “likes” and generated 25,000+ total page interactions, among many other huge successes. 42 media interviews were conducted with PD patient spokespeople, and the team saw eleven original articles promoting the Facebook page published in The Associated Press, USA Today and more. Overall, the Facebook Page has scored 44,600+ “likes” and generated 25,000+ total page interactions, among many other huge successes. 42 media interviews were conducted with PD patient spokespeople, and the team saw eleven original articles promoting the Facebook page published in The Associated Press, USA Today and more.

S I LV E R “Bausch + Lomb’s Vision Experts” Zeno Group In 2011, Bausch + Lomb, a division of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, dedicated to protecting and enhancing the gift of sight for millions of people around the world, launched Vision Experts, an online resource for eye-care professionals featuring industry news, insights, and thought leadership. Vision Experts was designed for eye-care professionals interested in sharing visionary ideas and insights on eye health from around the industry. From breaking news and updates to practice management and marketing tools, Vision Experts aimed to provide busy eye-care professionals with the information they needed to know to grow their business and stay informed. The goal was to provide information that was useful and educational, rather than promotional. In 2012, Bausch + Lomb tasked Zeno to reignite and reposition Vision Experts as the industry leader in providing eye-care

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

professionals around the world with timely, relevant educational content that informed and engaged while encouraging them to share their own insights and expertise – all to enhance the opportunity to help patients see better to live better. To achieve this mission, Zeno developed a fresh approach to how content was created, positioned and shared across the Vision Experts channels. Zeno increased the breadth of content and developed theme-driven editorial calendars that determined not only the content but the visuals as well. In order to fully understand how eye-care professionals engage with sponsored social channels, Zeno studied other educational content based channels that were successfully attracting members of the typically segmented, optometry and ophthalmology spaces. The outcome of the research showed an increase in engagement when the content had a clear call to action, challenged the individual intellectually, tapped into their personal interests, and incorporated powerful visuals (that may otherwise be too graphic for the consumer audience). Zeno quickly realized that the optometry and ophthalmology trade publications were only just beginning to leverage social to share their coverage and identified ways in which Bausch + Lomb could work with the publications to share content. Zeno saw an opportunity to appeal to eye-care professionals by diversifying the type of content, as well as the way in which content was aggregated. While the trade publications reported only their own coverage, Vision Experts would be positioned as the allencompassing aggregation of relative, timely content where they would be able to have a dialogue about more than just one area of interest, or type of content. Using this research, and based on learnings from past digital and health programs, Zeno made the recommendation to create both a monthly and daily theme content calendar, to provide a framework for sourcing content that allowed for archiving evergreen content for regular use and flexibility for hot topics when opportunistic content occurred. The revamped messaging strategy for Vision Experts launched in February of 2013. Each month, the content highlighted specific articles of interest tied to the monthly theme. The Facebook cover photo and Twitter background photo depicted an image reflecting the monthly theme and included a statistic or statement attributed to a member of Bausch + Lomb’s Vision Experts internal team who specialized on an area related to the monthly theme. Zeno also actively engaged with highly trafficked and followed eye health organizations and opinion leaders through social media channels. Appropriate health influencers and key health outlets with over 1,000 likes on Facebook and 500 followers on Twitter were targeted for engagement. Leveraging Bausch + Lomb’s

BEST SOCIAL NETWORK MESSAGING STRATEGY presence at medical meetings helped generate timely content and increase engagement by following the appropriate medical meetings’ social channels and promoting the pages at the meetings. Zeno shared relevant content in close to real time from these meetings and engaged with others by leveraging appropriate hashtags and trending topics. Zeno also used the medical meetings as a way to connect with trade reporters about Bausch + Lomb’s progress with Vision Experts and discuss ways to increase crosspollination between outlet’s channels and Vision Experts. Vision Experts is the first and only social profile created by an eyecare company that targeted eye-care professionals with primarily non-promotional, educational content. Over 50 percent of the traffic to the Vision Experts page on Facebook comes from Bausch.com, indicating that strategies to integrate owned with social content is driving engagement on social platforms. Facebook is currently at 1,266 likes, which grew at an average rate of 7 percent per month since Zeno took over management of the page. Virality rates for content on Vision Experts is upwards of 20% and grows every month. Fans are sharing content regularly and increasing the organic reach of the brand page. Twitter is now at 1,166 followers, and grew by 35 percent since March.

BRONZE “Engaging Doctors and Experts through Thought Leadership on Twitter” The Doctors Company The Doctors Company is the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer, with 74,000 members and $4 billion in assets. They are committed to defending, protecting and rewarding the practice of good medicine. They provide coverage to doctors, hospitals and large and small medical groups. While The Doctors Company operates in a highly regulated and conservative industry, they wanted to extend thought leadership, brand and customer outreach to new digital channels to enable them to reach customers wherever they are consuming information. Doctors are on social media every day, engaging in physician and patient communities and seeking out the latest news and research. They have learned that 67 percent of physicians use social media for professional purposes, and over 1,500 U.S. hospitals have official accounts on social networking sites.

these digital channels, the company’s competitors showed little to no engagement in social media. They saw an opportunity to be the leader in the field by getting out in front and setting the standard for social media campaigns. Because they were one of the first medical malpractice insurers to engage in an active social media campaign, they had to set the standard for the industry’s use of social media. They had to discover what kinds of information audiences were looking for and create a comprehensive social media strategy and social media policy. Because they are in a highly regulated industry speaking to highly educated professionals, they had to define a voice that encouraged engagement while maintaining the conservative standards of the industry. In addition to speaking to customers, the team engaged its agents in social media efforts in order to distinguish The Doctors Company as the preferred agent/broker partner. The new social media channels now provide agents with content that they can leverage to enhance their own digital presence. The team also created numerous resources for agents, including a how-to guide for social media and a dynamic, online social media resource center with regularly updated content. Agents have limited resources to implement their own social media campaign, and physicians don’t have the time to search multiple sites to find the latest information on medical malpractice trends. By providing a one-stop resource on The Doctors Company social media channels for all things regarding medical malpractice, it was able to address the needs of its direct audiences—physicians and agents—while providing a valuable resource to extended audiences, including hospital and medical group administrators, national and medical association directors, and medical journalists. The strategy for The Doctors Company Twitter page was to deliver timely and actionable news items and information to the medical professionals who follow the company, rather than a stream of sales-oriented messages. Breaking news and insight on major trends provides actionable value, which makes tweets more likely to be shared by physicians and by agents to their physician clients. Having tweets and related content presented to doctors by wellknown and trusted organizations—through retweets and articles sparked by its tweets—confers additional credibility on The Doctors Company and helps cement its position as a thought leader. Tweets have been successful in terms of driving retweets and serving as catalysts for significant coverage within the medical community in articles and blog posts. Since February 2013, the team has sent, on average, 46 tweets a month and has had an average of 43 retweets a month.

When the communications team started its social media campaign, they found that despite high levels of physician involvement in

2013 BULLDOG AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST SOCIAL NETWORK MESSAGING STRATEGY

HONORABLE MENTION “Cisco’s Corporate Social Channels” Cisco Most big brands face a dilemma about how best to position themselves with the proper audience and convey a cohesive message when they embark on a social media strategy. Through a strategic approach tackled by an internal social media team, Cisco successfully runs its corporate Twitter and Facebook channels with one sleek strategy: “Engagement and response”. The team keeps this in mind when sharing content across its corporate channels, and because of this, is seen as a leading technology brand to follow on Twitter and Facebook. Through the corporate Twitter handle (@Cisco) and its Facebook fan page, Cisco aims to cement its place as the leader in connected technology. The team shares content that is both industry-relevant and company-oriented, and cross- promotes content that is generated on its own brand journalism site, The Network. The key message behind Cisco’s social strategy is community engagement across all communities in hopes to foster unique, industrygrabbing conversations and engagements. The team aims to do this by sharing exciting, fresh content and engaging in Twitter chats and Facebook polls to drive awareness around the brand channels.

a more personal level and leverage brand reach for a greater cause. Success is achieved as long as the community of earned followers on both Facebook and Twitter continues to engage in conversations with the brand about the Internet of Everything, global technology trends, and share their own unique stories about connectivity and the network. The “How Do You Give?” campaign resulted in a total of 884 meals to families in need across the globe. Also, the company’s most successful Twitter chat—which occurred on February 21, 2013 under the hashtag #WhyIoE—resulted in almost 700 tweets, and the #WhyIoE hashtag gained a spot on Twitter’s topic trends section. The coordinated efforts between Cisco, Brian Solis and Dave Evans to host the chat made this the most successful and engaged TweetChat in the history of the @Cisco handle. Both channels continue to deliver consistent, cohesive messages about the Cisco brand, and syndicate content from across the company and industry at large.

Since May 2012, Cisco has successfully developed its @Cisco Twitter channel through interactive campaigns and an aesthetically pleasing homepage that highlights recent media from The Network, growing the follower base to more than 248,000 unique followers to the @Cisco handle. As with any growing follower base, the team carefully implemented messaging tactics with efforts to produce successful Twitter chats that were relevant to the Cisco space. Between May 2012 and June 2013, the team has run four coordinated Twitter chats with third-party influencers in order to generate buzz around the @Cisco handle and promote community engagement with thought leaders in the technology space. The team took the same approach with its corporate Facebook page, which is fast approaching the 500,000 likes milestone and highlights visual content and unique campaigns around giving initiatives and timely industry matters. The Cisco social media team created a content calendar of creative, thematic content and worked cross-promotionally with other departments to repurpose images, infographics and video that would not only highlight Cisco’s initiatives but also trends in the greater technology industry. The team implemented smaller engagement campaigns from May 2012 through June 2013, such as a coordinated CSR effort titled “How Do You Give?” which donated four meals to a family in need for every Facebook comment, in order to engage with audiences on

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR A TRAVEL/HOSPITALITY CAMPAIGN

GOLD “JetBlue Election Protection” Mullen JetBlue’s customer service approach has raised the bar for air travel, but the time had come to secure its spot as New York’s most likeable airline. During election season 2012, the only conversation occurring was incendiary and divisive—and JetBlue was determined to help change it. Tapping into the insight of election escapism and noting the popular joke, “If [my candidate] doesn’t win, I’m leaving the country,” JetBlue seized the opportunity to call people’s bluff. With the help of PR agency Mullen, JetBlue decided to give away 2,012 flights so electoral losers could still get a taste of victory and, of course, leave the country. They called this win-if-you-lose promotion “Election Protection” and created a digital, real-time voting experience that reflected a real-life polling situation. Consumers connected through their Facebook accounts to cast their votes and entered to win one of 2,012 trips to the airline’s Caribbean destinations. Socially, the team leveraged Facebook, JetBlue’s top social platform, to inform and create new content for followers. Twitter was used to facilitate real-time “bursts” of conversation. All social efforts were scaled through paid social ads and through media partnerships with companies like BuzzFeed. And to really drive the message home in the New York market, they deployed a decked-out Airstream campaign vehicle to rove city streets and armed street teams to spread the word to consumers and keep campaign momentum going. Mullen and JetBlue created a custom digital experience for users to learn more about and participate in the promotion via jetblue.com/electionprotection. Not only could users cast their votes on the site by selecting a “Donkey” or “Elephant” icon and choosing which country they would fly to if they won, but they could also view the results for political party and destination as they were updated in real time. A campaign television advertisement and mobile Web functionalities helped supplement the social effort and reached on-the-go consumers. To ensure maximum reach, the PR pros created a cross-channel communications plan across paid, owned and earned platforms. The story was pushed to press via a wire release, and later, they created an integrated partnership with NBC. When it launched on October 3, 2012, Election Protection immediately received positive press coverage and generated hundreds of stories. In all, the spectacular communications effort scored 60MM earned impressions, doubling paid impressions, including coverage in AdWeek, The Associated Press, Bloomberg Businessweek, CNN, Fox News, JetBlue’s customer service approach has raised the bar for air travel, but the time had come to secure its spot as New York’s most likeable airline. During election season 2012, the only conversation occurring was incendiary and divisive—and JetBlue was determined to help change it. Tapping into the insight of election escapism and noting the popular joke, “If [my candidate] doesn’t win, I’m leaving the country,” JetBlue seized the opportunity to call people’s bluff. With the help of PR agency Mullen, JetBlue decided to give away 2,012 flights so electoral losers could still get a taste of victory and, of course, leave the country. They called this win-if-you-lose promotion “Election Protection” and created a digital, real-time voting experience that reflected a real-life polling situation. Consumers connected through their Facebook accounts to cast their votes and entered to win one of 2,012 trips to the airline’s Caribbean destinations. Socially, the team leveraged Facebook, JetBlue’s top social platform, to inform and create new content for followers. Twitter was used to facilitate real-time “bursts” of conversation. All social efforts were scaled through paid social ads and through media partnerships with companies like BuzzFeed. And to really drive the message home in the New York market, they deployed a decked-out Airstream campaign vehicle to rove city streets and armed street teams to spread the word to consumers and keep campaign momentum going. Mullen and JetBlue created a custom digital experience for users to learn more about and participate in the promotion via jetblue.com/electionprotection. Not only could users cast their votes on the site by selecting a “Donkey” or “Elephant” icon and choosing which country they would fly to if they won, but they could also view the results for political party and destination as they were updated in real time. A campaign television advertisement and mobile Web functionalities helped supplement the social effort and reached on-the-go consumers. To ensure maximum reach, the PR pros created a cross-channel communications plan across paid, owned and earned platforms. The story was pushed to press via a wire release, and later, they created an integrated partnership with NBC. When it launched on October 3, 2012,

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR A TRAVEL/HOSPITALITY CAMPAIGN Election Protection immediately received positive press coverage and generated hundreds of stories. In all, the spectacular communications effort scored 60MM earned impressions, doubling paid impressions, including coverage in AdWeek, The Associated Press, Bloomberg Businessweek, CNN, Fox News, The Hill, Gawker, The New York Times, NPR, PerezHilton, USA TODAY and many other outlets. The story was picked up by 1,560 news outlets in 11 countries, and the contest saw over 112,000 votes.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

BEST USE OF DIGITAL/SOCIAL FOR A TRAVEL/HOSPITALITY CAMPAIGN

S I LV E R

BRONZE

“Affinia Hotels’ Partners with Boo, the World’s Cutest Dog” Quinn & Co Public Relations

“Blogging Florida” Diamond Public Relations

Affinia Hotels, a small boutique hotel collection with properties in NYC and DC, wanted to spread the word that it was dog friendly. Specifically, the Affinia communications team wanted to increase awareness of Affinia’s pet-loving status with Facebook users. The secondary goal was to drive engagement and positive sentiment about Affinia on Facebook. All this would have to be accomplished on a bite-size budget. The campaign targeted dog-loving consumers and travelers on Facebook. After thorough research, Affinia found Boo, the World’s Cutest Dog, with more than 4.6 million Facebook “likes” and a highly engaged audience. The team courted Boo by contacting him via his Facebook page. When Boo posted about a trip to NYC, Affinia replied to his post, inviting him to stay at Affinia to indulge in its services and amenities. They followed up aggressively and didn’t give up until Boo said yes. They then arranged a three-night stay for Boo at Affinia Gardens. In preparation for his stay, Affinia teased Boo’s arrival by sharing a photo from his Facebook page on Affinia’s page. They also provided Boo with an Affinia-branded bandana to be worn with the brand’s Chief Comfort Officer and a bellman during a photo shoot in multiple locations on site. All photos from Boo’s stay were posted in an album on Affinia’s page. In exchange for the stay, Boo agreed to promote Affinia by posting about his stay and linking back to Affinia Hotels on Facebook. The campaign’s messaging, which promoted Affinia as a dogfriendly hotel, reached 4.6 million Facebook users when Boo posted about his stay. What’s more, 23,000 people engaged from Affinia’s page, and engagement produced 66,052 likes, 6,355 shares and 1,432 comments. 383 stories were created about Affinia’s photo album. While it is rare for an Affinia Facebook post to have more than 5% virality, campaign posts scored 8.67% virality. Consumers were extremely receptive and left many enthusiastic comments. Most impressive: The out-ofpocket expenses for working with Boo, The World’s Cutest Dog, were less than $1,000.

Diamond Public Relations client Florida Marriott is a group of 14 JW Marriott, Autograph Collection, Renaissance, Marriott and Gaylord Hotels throughout the Sunshine State, reaching from the Panhandle region to Key Largo to northeast Florida. In order to promote all 14 resorts cohesively yet for their individual attributes, the agency identified a range of influential online media to simultaneously visit resorts within the collection and subsequently report back to their audiences on their experiences at their assigned properties. Diamond sought to create awareness of Florida Marriott’s dynamic resort collection throughout the state and the varied amenities the resort collections offers to a wide range of consumers in different niches. They would leverage the power of the social media to grow the reach of messages distributed by participating bloggers and vloggers, the latter of whom would post their content to YouTube, the world’s second largest search engine after Google. They would then target both the national and drive markets to boost bookings and revenue for summer 2013. The team would simultaneously promote the resort collection’s “Endless Summer” promotion, available to book at participating resorts. In producing the “Blogging Florida” event, the agency selected eight travel bloggers and vloggers to simultaneously explore, experience and report on the very best of Florida Marriott’s key properties. Bloggers were selected based on a series of criteria, including monthly reach, niche, where they are based and social media influence. The agency created eight itineraries providing a unique experience for each travel blogger who spent one to two nights at each resort to experience firsthand the accommodations, cuisine, amenities and attractions unique to each property. Each blogger was given a daily resort credit to enjoy the hotels “at leisure,” allowing them to explore based on their interests and those of their audiences. In producing the itineraries, the agency worked closely with each of the participating resorts to include experiences/amenities tailored to each. The agency created the hashtag #BloggingFL to be used by participants when posting about their experiences on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. With each blogger traveling separately, the social media aspect would enable participants to stay connected and establish a sense of camaraderie throughout their visit while simultaneously promoting the resort collection. Furthermore, the website www.FloridaResortBuzz.com was created as part of the event where blogger biographies, social media

732013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

B E S T A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T C A M PA I G N handles and blog posts were aggregated in a “live-feed” format. In addition to streaming blog posts from each participant’s outlet, the event hashtag facilitated the aggregation/tracking of tweets and Instagram posts. With a focus on driving summer business, the agency provided participants with details about Florida Marriott’s “Endless Summer,” should they wish to organically include it in their coverage of the resorts. The agency achieved participation of eight influential travel bloggers and vloggers from Visit Florida, South Florida Food & Wine, Trekaroo, Tourist 2 Townie / Trip Films, Wanderplex, Stop Having a Boring Life, Travel Yourself and Family Travel Magazine. Combined, these outlets had a total reach of 1,043,400 unique visitors monthly, catering to a wide range of consumers. Within a one-month period, the Blogging Florida participants produced a total of 39 blog posts that promoted Florida Marriott’s collection of hotels and resorts. As a result of the #BloggingFL hashtag, all posts generated as a result of the trip were linked together in one conversation. According to the social tracking tool Hashtracking.com, the #BloggingFL hashtag achieved just short of 8 million timeline deliveries on Twitter alone.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

B E S T U S E O F V I D E O I N A D I G I TA L / S O C I A L E N V I RO N M E N T

GOLD “Krylon® ColorMaster™ Challenge: 24 Projects in 24 Hours” Marcus Thomas LLC Krylon, an industry leader in product innovation, package design, project inspiration and color, enlisted the help of Marcus Thomas to launch the new Krylon ColorMasterTM with durable Covermax® technology. The agency knew they would need to highlight the product’s competitive advantages such as improved hide, exclusive EZ Touch 360 ® Dial spray tip, longer recoat window and shorter dry times. The brand’s range of products expands beyond the home into the backyard, with craft, multi-purpose, plastic and rust-preventative products—yet its core audience remained largely craft-focused. The team’s task was to trigger sales of Krylon. They knew that for both audiences, it all starts with their next project: These crafters and DIYers wouldn’t settle for still images in print magazines alone. They would want video to inspire and instruct them. Then, they would rush to a retailer to buy and then post their progress and results on social media to share with friends. Marcus Thomas knew they’d better come with a boat-load of project content—and an attractive handyperson. But if all they did was generate projects, they would still need to drive an audience to the projects … and money was tight. The budget was less than $700,000, eliminating the possibility of a national TV campaign. So the problem was defined: How could they generate interest in the new ColorMaster paint and its competitive advantages, while creating new project content that will appeal more to the male-centric DIY audience, yet deepen the relationship with the core crafter audience? Marcus Thomas launched Krylon ColorMaster by creating projects for DIYers and crafters and produced as a live social event, with the assistance of key influential bloggers. The PR pros used a “show, tell and share” strategy and made it a live event that demonstrated the brand’s 360 ® Dial spray tip, longer recoat window, great colors and quicker dry times. “If you can demonstrate the benefits of a new product, it’s a good launch,” says Amber Zent, Marcus Thomas VP and social media strategist. So, they embarked on a social media grand slam: The Krylon ColorMaster Challenge: 24 Projects in 24 Hours. The objectives were to gain national recognition for Krylon ColorMaster spray paint, demonstrate the product’s benefits, fuel user and DIY engagement and stimulate social media sharing and participation. The Krylon ColorMaster Challenge: 24 Projects in 24 Hours was held on June 28 and 29, 2013. To achieve success, messaging and communications activities focused on pre-event support—a satellite media tour, strategic SEO, paid digital media and blogger relations—as well as live event support—blogger participation, social community management, user-generated content and crowdsourced content. Multiple tactics were implemented to carry out this integrated campaign, culminating in a live two-day event. Marcus Thomas developed Krylon ColorMaster Challenge microsite and hand-selected 24 projects based on keyword searches. They also executed 10 Twitter promotions and launched a 23-city satellite media tour with Jeff Devlin, licensed contractor and host of DIY Network’s “I Hate My Bath.” Ad buys targeted ideal demographics on networks such as Pandora and HGTV.com. At the event, a camera was stationed outside of live stream to curate content for future use and a community manager monitored conversations and replied to threads across all social platforms. The team crowdsourced paint color selections for several projects on Facebook and Twitter, engaging fans throughout live event and invited key influential DIY and home décor bloggers to participate live on set. In 11 days, from tease to the completion of its 24th project, The Krylon ColorMaster Challenge garnered an estimated 190.5 million total impressions, 673,000 minutes video watched and coverage on nationally syndicated TV programs, airing in more than 400 markets, including “The Daily Buzz” and “NewsWatch.” The PR team also scored placements in Crain’s Cleveland Business, National Hardware, Show Industry Edge and Marketing Daily.

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

B E S T U SBEE SO TF AV RI DT ES O&I NE NAT EDRI G T AI TI N A LM/ESNOTC CI AALM EP N A IVGI RNO N M E N T

S I LV E R “Online Experience Imitates Life to Save Lives” Exponent Public Relations Shockingly, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a leading cause of death in America, killing nearly 400,000 people a year. That’s more than breast, lung, colon and prostate cancer combined. Despite tremendous advancements in medicine, SCA survival is bleak. SCA has a 92 percent national death rate that has not improved since 1979. Thousands of people witness SCA every day but few bystanders step in to help because they don’t know what to do. This hesitancy is one reason why nine out of 10 SCA victims don’t survive. The HeartRescue Project, funded by the Medtronic Foundation, is dedicated to improving how SCA is recognized, treated and measured in the United States. Community response education is an important component of the program’s mission. Exponent PR/Colle+McVoy was tasked with increasing survival rates through an educational campaign. The goal was to reach Americans with little to no awareness of SCA and/or proper response. What’s more, the PR pros wanted to achieve this in three minutes or less. SCA death rates are staggering and unwavering. Yet SCA is treatable when proper response occurs. Working toward a mission to reduce SCA death through the HeartRescue Project, Exponent PR/Colle+McVoy was poised to educate people about this problem. Studies show the potential of survival rates double when people have seen a short video on CPR. However, many of those videos are outdated. That’s why the agency created the Save-a-Life Simulator. This immersive online experience depicts a man suddenly collapsing and then presents users with choices that will determine whether he survives or not, thus teaching proper SCA response to millions of people.

interacted with the site are twice as likely to save a life. Site visitors spent, on average, two minutes engaging with the site to learn the basic response steps, which were continually reinforced through visual and verbal cues. The site was digitally and socially shared with key influencers in the EMS community, including leading resuscitation doctors and medical staff, who urged their networks to check out the site. Medical and healthcare trade media received information about the site to share with their audiences. Media outreach mentioning the tool garnered more than 188 million traditional and social media impressions.

BRONZE “IMS ‘Human Motorcycles’ Campaign” i.d.e.a. and Advanstar The Progressive International Motorcycle Shows (IMS), a 13-city motorcycle expo, had been experiencing flat sales and listless engagement with its audience. Its campaigns were predictable with little that differentiated the brand or show. Thus, i.d.e.a. was tapped to create an integrated campaign that would change conventional motorcycle marketing and increase brand awareness and excitement for the 2012/2013 tour. The PR pros would also need to achieve strong media and social buzz leading up to the tour, particularly in motorcycle forums and blogs. The agency did this by combining the inherent sex appeal often used in motorcycle advertising with artistic expression and customization—a core behavior of motorcycle enthusiasts. Working with fine art and avant-garde fashion body painter Trina Merry—and a band of highly flexible and uninhibited models— i.d.e.a. painted bodies to mimic iconic bikes. In other words, they made models out of models. They sought to combine the art of the motorcycle with true art, thereby elevating the ads to something people would want to look at, enjoy and share.

To generate mass awareness of how to respond to SCA and also put a spotlight on the project’s efforts, Exponent PR/Colle+McVoy worked with The Medtronic Foundation’s HeartRescue Project to develop a highly immersive online experience called the Save-a-Life Simulator. Visitors to HeartRescueNow.com are immersed in a life or death situation of choosing to respond—or not—while witnessing someone suffer SCA. In addition, a public service announcement (PSA) using the look and feel of the simulator drove people to visit the website for more information about SCA.

The team then taped the creation of the campaign to build buzz and create excitement about the tour. They integrated the video posting with paid media on YouTube, strategic tagging, linking back to IMS site, social media efforts and PR. Tactically, the PR pros combined a smart digital execution with a strong PR and social media push. The public did the rest.

The Save-A-Life Simulator bridges the gap between classroom training and a real crisis. More than 3 million people have run the simulation and saved a virtual life since its April 2012 launch, surpassing the goal by 200 percent. The three million people who

i.d.e.a. tagged the video with keywords that would be searched by target audiences to influence discovery. They included branded terms—for example, “International Motorcycle Shows,” “IMS” and “human motorcycles—and Erin Bates specific terms to help video

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

B E S T A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T C A M PA I G N be found by users familiar with the concept or brand. To supercharge outreach, they dedicated a small marketing budget to get the video in front of prime candidates. They utilized YouTube featured videos and Facebook advertising targeting the motorcycle enthusiast demographic. They also included branded terms in the video title and description to help increase likelihood that the video would get picked up in search results. The same week the video was posted, motorcycle trades were pitched. Reaction was swift, with posts in most of the influential outlets with embedded video or links to the YouTube page. The team then pitched national consumer outlets and ad and marketing media. The behind-the-scenes video went viral in the first weekend. To date, it has had more than 940,000 views. The video crossed over from the identified motorcycle riding target audience to art enthusiasts, marketers and culture influencers. It was picked up by international, national, regional and online publications, including ABC News, ADWEEK, Mashable, Business Insider and Ripley’s Believe it or Not!. In particular, it had high sharing and posting on motorcycle forums and blogs, thus reaching the key target audience of motorcycle enthusiasts.

HONORABLE MENTION “REFUEL: A New Audience and Usage Occasion for Chocolate Milk” MilkPEP and Weber Shandwick After decades of a slow but steady decline in milk consumption, an emerging body of research identified a surprising new usage occasion and a new audience for chocolate milk: As an effective beverage for helping active adults recover after strenuous exercise. To change the perception of chocolate milk being a “kids’ drink” and build credibility around its post- workout recovery benefits among serious athletes, Weber Shandwick launched an all-new fully integrated program that highlights what athletes do after strenuous exercise can make a dramatic difference in how they feel and perform during the next workout. The REFUEL | “got chocolate milk?” “my After” campaign highlights the benefits of refueling with lowfat chocolate milk after strenuous exercise and specifically showcases how some of the world’s greatest athletes incorporate it as part of their “After.” To engage a wide range of athletes and sports influencers in the campaign throughout the year, the team maximized media buys with top sports partners to create a series of training day videos featuring an inside look at the real-life training routines and

2013 BULLDOG DIGITAL/SOCIAL AWARDS HALL OF FAME

techniques of an elite team of celebrity and competitive athletes— with a spotlight on their recovery and post-exercise nutrition. These REFUEL athletes include twelve-time swimming medalist Dara Torres, IRONMAN World Champions Chris Lieto and Mirinda Carfrae, USA Basketball legend Carmelo Anthony, US Swim Team Trainer Nick Folker, and more. The team designed a strategic plan focused on creating compelling content that delivered the REFUEL message authentically to athletes and influencers nationwide. To provide powerful third-party endorsement, they partnered with some of the world’s most respected sports organizations—including Competitor Group International (CGI), STACK Media, and USA Basketball—to produce and distribute a series of videos that give an inside look at the training regimens and after workout routines of elite, inspirational athletes and coaches. The digital long-form videos were used to entertain, inspire and educate athletes about training techniques— but most importantly, to show them that the things they do after a strenuous workout (e.g., refueling with chocolate milk) can be just as important as their pre-workout prep. REFUEL, in partnership with CGI, STACK and USA Basketball, created a total of 33 videos, each providing athletes with key takeaways about the important of training and post-workout nutrition, and authentically delivering the chocolate milk refuel message. The campaign included many personal and engaging videos—for example, a four-part series featuring Dara Torres as she “competes against the clock” to train and be a mom and competing against the biological clock as she attempts to become the oldest Olympic swimmer in history. In total, 33 videos were produced and distributed through December 2012. Distribution of the videos included posting on REFUEL-owned channels including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, REFUEL blog and monthly eblast, in addition to educating REFUEL influencers to share the assets on their channels with their audience. The PR team also collaborated with program partners who distributed the videos in their eblast that has 85k+ subscribers. Professional athletes shared the videos from their personal channels, engaging fans and followers, and key program partners brought the videos to their robust online communities. All in all, the campaign generated 456,543 total video views with over 1,900 engagements on YouTube alone including shares, comments and likes. Within the first three months after launch, our partner video syndication had more than 48K total views and nearly 1.5MM impressions. Flavored milk sales grew 9.3% after growth of 5.9% over the prior 13 weeks.