To help raise awareness and get attention for two new product launches, Miracle-Gro’s Performance Organics and Twelve Indoor Growing System, the gardening company’s agency created an experiential program at the 2019 South by Southwest (SXSW) conference. The tech-and-entertainment-focused audience is increasingly interested in sustainability and natural well-being, making SXSW an ideal, if unorthodox, venue for Miracle-Gro’s products. The concept has won the top prize in the “Influencer Event” category of the PR Daily Awards.

As an official conference sponsor, Miracle-Gro hosted a number of interactive events at a location dubbed “Harvest HQ,” where consumers, influencers and media were invited to try the products out firsthand. The invitees were selected based on research conducted by Miracle-Gro’s communicators; those who attended were asked to use the #HarvestHQ hashtag in their social posts.

The outdoor venue featured not only plants but also signage (bearing plant puns), drinks, food, live music and expert gardening tips. The media company Cheddar set itself up in Harvest HQ to interview celebrities and guests throughout the weekend. Miracle-Gro also partnered with several organizations at the venue.

Event-goers learned about Harvest HQ through email, apps, social media, influencers and on-site promotions, generating nearly 6,500 RSVPs who attended a total of seven micro-events.

The hashtag reached more than 1.5 million people. The media paid attention, too, generating 89 articles and broadcast segments; 28 editors from 26 media outlets visited Harvest HQ in person.

Congrats to Emily Gannet, Jackie Banda, Melissa Gamwell and Kim Markus.

BCW, a full-service global communications agency, developed an influencer-based campaign for Bank of America to promote its consumer loyalty program, Preferred Rewards, already ranked among the highest in the financial services industry. Seeking to raise awareness above the cluttered loyalty program space and help affluent consumers understand how the program benefits them in their daily lives, BCW executed a holistic influencer campaign starring travel expert Lee Abbamonte, the youngest American to visit every country in the world (along with the North and South Poles). The campaign has won the top prize in the “Influencer Campaign” category of the PR Daily Awards.

The campaign sought to increase client satisfaction and retention at Bank of America, boost program enrollment by half a million and build positive perceptions of the program on social media. The team engaged Abbamonte for a full year of content production, including a social video series, long-form blog content and media opportunities.

The campaign helped contribute to a member satisfaction rating of 85% and a retention rate of nearly 99%. The “In :60” videos Abbamonte produced in partnership with the bank have generated more than 375,000 organic impressions and more than 37,000 engagements across social media, and more than 70% of comments mentioning the bank across Facebook and Twitter have been positive.

Congratulations to Matt Miller, Hayley Flatley, Ali Karp, Maureen Ray, Meredith Beyer, Aine Dowdall, Madison Behm and Sydney Heile.

It was time for VisitPITTSBURGH, the official tourism marketing and promotion agency for Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, to undertake its first national campaign in a decade. Normally, the agency focuses on the driving market, but Pittsburgh International Airport had added more direct flights from a variety of cities as near as Boston and as far as Seattle, inspiring VisitPITTSBURGH to undertake a campaign to attract travelers from both markets. The “Pull Up A Chair” campaign is the first-place winner in the “Hospitality, Travel or Tourism Campaign” category of the PR Daily Awards.

The chair VisitPITTSBURGH invited visitors to pull up is based on Pittsburgh’s famous “parking chair,” a tradition in which someone who shovels a space for their car can reserve it by putting a chair in that spot. Centered around the act of offering someone a chair—a universal sign of hospitality—the mostly-digital multimedia campaign focused on the leisure market.

The campaign was introduced in stages, with the 3,900 attendees of the PCMA Convening Leaders Meeting serving as a focus group. A campaign video was shown on a Times Square video board over the summer as two eight-foot parking chairs were delivered to various locations around the city. “Good Morning America” broadcast live from Pittsburgh with host Ginger Zee sitting on one of VisitPITTSBURGH’s eight-foot parking chairs; she mentioned the campaign to the national TV audience.

Later, 90 painted chairs were selected to be displayed in an art exhibit and then auctioned off for charity. A social media contest asked followers to send photos of their favorite chair with a Pittsburgh landscape behind it.

The campaign racked up impressive metrics, notably web traffic from targeted cities. Congratulations to the entire VisitPITTSBURGH marketing department.

Most video series from health care providers are housed on YouTube and embedded on websites. Despite the ability to broadcast live on YouTube, few organizations take advantage of it. The University of Kansas Cancer Center opted instead for Facebook Live to capture both real-time and replay audiences. The series helps KU Cancer Center be at the forefront of the minds of patients and potential patients when deciding where to receive cancer care, and it’s won the top prize in the “Video” category, Health Care PR and Marketing division, of the 2019 PR Daily Awards.

Now in its fourth season, the series follows news and developments related to cancer research, prevention and treatment. KU Cancer Center director Roy Jensen hosts the show and interviews cancer health and research professionals from KU Cancer Center, the University of Kansas Health System and the University of Kansas Medical Center, as well as patients and professionals from other organizations.

The series reports on clinical and research findings along with educational information. Facebook followers can ask questions, post comments and get answers in real time; followers are notified when the show is about to go live.

The series is produced exclusively with in-house resources. A speaker is identified once a topic is selected for each episode. After the show airs, it is reshared to capture viewers unable to tune in live; weekly reminders are emailed to some 700 recipients. Episodes are occasionally boosted with an ad spend.

Sixty episodes have aired so far, reaching nearly a quarter million people who watched nearly 100,000 minutes.

Congratulations to Roy Jensen, Christine Wilson, Jill Chadwick, Marcia Francis, Logan Blankenship, Cliff Erwin, Pauline Horton, Leslie McGuire, Pam Crawford, Cameron Poindexter and Megan Peters.

America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is the national association whose members provide coverage for health care and related services. The association wanted to offer in-depth perspective on important issues to its audience while elevating the profile of its CEO and other leaders, along with members. The solution was a podcast, “The Next Big Thing in Health,” which has won first place in the “Thought Leadership Campaign” category in the Health Care PR and Marketing division of the PR Daily Awards.

The interview-style podcast is hosted by AHIP’s president and CEO alongside a former broadcast news anchor. Guests come from member companies, policymakers, academics and thought leaders who discuss the big ideas shaping the U.S. health care system.

The podcast was launched in late 2019 with a press release, media outreach, a content marketing strategy (including blog posts and GIFs), social media promotion, digital advertising, member and partner communications and on-site promotion (featuring stickers and seat-drops distributed at a national AHIP policy conference in Washington, D.C.).

Each episode is posted to the AHIP blog along with complementary visuals, and promoted in weekly and monthly newsletters, among other channels. The podcast has been downloaded 3,000 times and has earned an average five-star rating based on 16 reviews on Apple Podcasts. AHIP has secured sponsorship for the next two seasons from major national health care companies. It has been mentioned in the Politico Pulse Newsletter, a noteworthy achievement for so new a podcast.

Congratulations to Alicia Caramenico.

Bench to Bedside is a weekly Facebook Live series hosted by The University of Kansas Cancer Center. The series helps bring KU Cancer Center to the forefront of to the minds of patients and potential patients deciding where to receive cancer care. The series has won the top prize in the “Social Media Campaign” category, Health Care PR and Marketing division, in the PR Daily Awards.

Now in its fourth season, the series follows news and developments related to cancer research, prevention and treatment. KU Cancer Center director Roy Jensen hosts the show and interviews cancer health and research professionals from KU Cancer Center, the University of Kansas Health System and the University of Kansas Medical Center, as well as patients and professionals from other organizations.

The series targets 105 counties in Kansas and 18 in western Missouri, disseminating clinical and research findings along with educational information. Facebook followers can ask questions, post comments and get answers in real time; followers are notified when the show is about to go live.

The series is produced exclusively with in-house resources. Topics are selected based on a variety of inputs, such as topics addressed in social media and external cancer news. A speaker is identified once a topic is selected.

After the show airs, it is reshared to capture viewers unable to tune in live; weekly reminders are emailed to some 700 recipients. Episodes are occasionally boosted with an ad spend. Sixty episodes have aired so far, reaching nearly a quarter million people who watched nearly 100,000 minutes.

Congratulations to Roy Jensen, Christine Wilson, Jill Chadwick, Marcia Francis, Logan Blankenship, Cliff Erwin, Pauline Horton, Leslie McGuire, Pam Crawford, Cameron Poindexter and Megan Peters.

A tremendous amount of publicity has raised awareness among Americans that cheaper drugs can be obtained from online Canadian pharmacies. The fact is, however, the drugs sold by these outlets are rarely the same regulator-approved products Canadian customers get, creating health risks for American patients who could be getting dangerous fake drugs. As for the legitimate products, too much American commerce could threaten the supply available to Canadians. An effort to combat these issues has won first place in the “PR or Media Relations Campaign” category of the Health Care PR and Marketing division of the PR Daily Awards.

ASOP Global—whose goal is to protect consumers worldwide by working to ensure safe access to medications—worked with agency Scott Circle to push a media narrative that Canadian health organizations oppose U.S. drug importation plans and apply mounting pressure to prompt a public statement from the Canadian government committing to protect Canada’s drug supply.

Over the course of a year, the communications team developed a list of reporters who covered the issue, maintaining regular contact and delivering key information, including research that showed 59% of consumers oppose importation after learning the facts about the dangers of online Canadian pharmacies.

They also counseled on the timing of a stakeholder letter to the Canadian Health Minister, releasing the letter just before Senator Bernie Sanders arrived with a patient caravan, producing media coverage of the issue while refuting Sanders’ claims. After the caravan left, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a “Safe Importation Action Plan.”

The campaign delivered nearly 70 placements that amplified the message. Ultimately Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed to protect Canada’s drug supply.

Congratulations to Kellie Murphy, Elizabeth Harmon and Matheson Sharp.

The growth of the web as a resource for medical information has produced some serious adverse effects. Research conducted by Teva Pharmaceuticals revealed that one-third of patients got incorrect information or advice online. Nearly half found the jargon hard to comprehend. And 63% wished there were easier ways to know whether the health information they found online was relevant. Teva’s efforts to correct this have earned it first place in the “Patient-Focused Content” (Health Care PR and Marketing division) category of the PR Daily Awards.

Research led Teva to establish a digital hub for patients: Life Effects exists in three iterations to meet regional compliance requirements: the U.S., Europe and the U.K. One of the most interesting aspects of Life Effects is that, despite the fact that it is led by a team with journalism and publishing experience, the posts are authored by patients. (Teva also engaged Healthline, a consumer health information site, and Slate Studios, a podcast network, to help balance the voice of the patient with authoritative content.)

The patients offer first-hand, credible perspectives on what it’s like to live with a chronic condition that a Teva product addresses. The team has worked with 42 patient contributors across five chronic conditions who have produced more than 300 pieces of content, which includes articles, narratives and diaries, how-tos, listicles, photo galleries, opinion pieces, videos and podcast episodes.

To reach patients, Teva employs paid social, partnerships and other advertising. Life Effects garnered 42 million-plus impressions and 1.5 million pageviews between June 2018 and May 2019; other metrics are equally impressive.

Congratulations to Teva’s Arun Mahtani, Lili Radloff, Faye Howard and Duncan Welling.

Jefferson Health already had a blog, @Jeff, but plans were in the works to relaunch the site as a content marketing hub that could support multimedia elements with minimal branding. The team’s goal in reintroducing the blog was to build regional and national brand awareness through compelling content without the filter of, or interpretation by, the news media—pretty much the goal of any brand journalism effort (along with sharing content the media wouldn’t cover).

Discussions on the framework for The Health Nexus changed abruptly with the news of the closure of nearby Hahnemann University Hospital, which posed a public health crisis in Philadelphia. The site that was launched to respond to the closure has won first place in the “Content Marketing and Brand Journalism” category of the PR Daily Awards, Health Care PR and Marketing division.

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital administration and staff immediately focused on preparing for the influx of patients while the communications team anticipated local press would fixate on the closure. Jefferson accelerated the launch of TheHealthNexus.org in order to shift that narrative and share—directly to consumers—human interest stories about the impact of the closure and how Jefferson was stepping up for its community.

The site launched with 35 stories in key sections: Healthy You, Patient Perspectives, From the Experts, Research & Innovation and Special Reports. Accelerating the launch of TheHealthNexus.org during a time of intense media and public attention to the Hahnemann closure proved to be a crucial part of its early success.

Six of the top 11 highest-performing articles on The Health Nexus focus on Hahnemann. The three podcast episodes on the closure also performed well.

Congratulations to John Brand, Barbara Henderson, Brandon Lausch, Jessica Lopez, Carly Williams, Gianna DeMedio and Carter Knight.

The tobacco industry has aggressively marketed menthol cigarettes to black communities. Consequently, black smokers are 11 times more likely to smoke menthol cigarettes than white smokers. Because the flavor masks the harsh burn of traditional cigarettes, smokers take longer, deeper inhales, increasing the amount of nicotine inhaled, making menthol cigarettes more addictive and a greater health risk.

Yet menthol-flavored tobacco products have not been regulated like other flavored items. The campaign to change that has earned first place in the “Community Outreach Campaign” (Health Care PR and Marketing division) category of the PR Daily Awards.

Public Health Solutions (a public health nonprofit serving New York City) and strategic communications firm Group Gordon launched a large-scale PR, advertising and marketing campaign to deter use of menthol cigarettes and vapes, notably among the black communities and youth in New York. In addition to educating the community about the danger of menthols, the campaign also encouraged smoking cessation and sought to motivate the city council to restrict sales.

The ad campaign featured an ad illustrating the high menthol use among black communities and big tobacco’s targeted marketing. The ads appeared in digital and print media outlets and out-of-home venues (like subway stations).

Op-eds and expert commentary were other campaign components, along with peer-to-peer communication and partnerships with 65 organizations. Social media was employed to share relevant news and support partner efforts.

Nearly 3 million impressions were gained, along with more than 7,500 clicks to the NYC Smoke-Free website. The city council was due to vote on menthol sales restrictions by the end of 2019.

Congratulations to Lisa David, Deidre Sully, Lisa Jakobsberg, Hillary Wasserman and Genevieve Friedman.

When Avedro’s communicators were challenged to communicate that the FDA had approved the company’s new procedure for a debilitating ophthalmic condition, the team set metrics that you don’t see often in such efforts. The campaign Avedro’s communicators developed, with assistance from Next Step Communications and Packard Innovations, led to 11,000 inquiries about the procedure, earning the “Grand Prize: Health Care PR and Marketing Campaign of the Year” honor in the PR Daily Awards.

Rather than focus on reach and engagements, the team aimed to drive patients to a “Find an Expert” site and the websites of medical practices offering the procedure. The condition, keratoconus, presents in teens or people in their early 20s with blurred vision, frequent changes in eyeglass prescription or vision that cannot be corrected with glasses. Until Avedro’s cross-linking treatment was approved, all patients could do was “watch and wait” until their vision deteriorated enough to warrant a corneal transplant.

The campaign featured a patient-facing website, online ads across Google and Facebook, a media outreach effort and social media. The team told the tale of a patient success, along with commentary from the patient’s doctor, which was further boosted through blog posts and other social media.

Coverage was secured from outlets like Parents, NBC Boston, Today.com and Thrive Global. The Living with KC website, blog and social media channels provided patients and families the opportunity to participate in the conversation, along with a series featuring doctors from across the country answering patient questions. KC Journeys is a patient profile series highlighting what it’s like to live with the condition.

In addition to the referrals, the campaign earned spectacular PR analytics.

Congratulations to Nigel Smith, Cassie Smith, Melissa Brouilette, Erin Dixon, Jessika Pary, Olivia Mannion, Brian Packard, Tom Kirwan, Lynn Gray, Lauren McGuiggan and Melissa Graz.

Solutionreach had a blog, but the team behind it had no way to know how many people were viewing it or if any had subscribed, thanks to outdated and ineffective software. The decision to relaunch the blog has led to 20,000 subscribers with an average of 15,000 views per month, which, along with the quality of the blog, has earned it first place in the “Blog” (Health Care PR and Marketing division) category of the PR Daily Awards.

The Solutionreach blog has become a go-to resource for patient relationship management (PRM) topics, the focus of the company’s business: Solutionreach software helps health care practices improve the patient experience and connect with patients. The goals for the relaunch were focused strictly on subscribers and views, which were achieved by delivering outstanding PRM content.

A content calendar was developed and, once the team had created a steady stream of posts, guest posts were added from Solutionreach staff members, allowing them to discuss their own health care experiences. Other guest posts came from patient advocates, and a new category of posts was introduced based on research the organization conducted.

With content added at a steady clip, the team turned to search engine optimization, with each post analyzed and improved based on ongoing SEO analysis. The team also added a blog subscription option to every lead form on the Solutionreach website. The blog was also instrumental in a new customer advocacy program, with participants encouraged to link to relevant posts.

Reader growth has been steady; the team meets regularly to discuss its strategy for continuous improvement.

Congratulations to Lea Chatham and Lori Boyer.

MultiCare Health Systems’ creative team set lofty goals for an article series for the systems’ Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital: more than 1,000 pageviews for each entry in the series and a quarter of a million dollars donated to support children with cancer at the hospital. To achieve these goals, the communicators produced a three-article series featuring Cecile Snyder, a teenager with Down syndrome and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The series has won first place in the “Article” (Health Care PR and Marketing division) category of the PR Daily Awards.  

The articles also told the story of cancer care at Mary Bridge, focusing on Cecile, her parents and her caregivers—all during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The articles, photos and four videos were hosted on a microsite, with links to the site shared across MultiCare’s online properties.

The microsite’s landing page displayed all three stories along with articles about philanthropy. Each story chapter features prominent calls to action with buttons to donate, along with explainer copy and video explaining the importance of donations.

The articles were promoted across MultiCare’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts for the entire month of September. Social media also housed videos and photos along with other content to get the story across to those less inclined to visit the microsite.

The articles have drawn 8,453 pageviews, half of which came directly from Facebook. Although the fundraiser earned $180,000, short of the goal, the team was gratified by the traffic and engagement.

Congratulations to Roxanne Cooke, Chris Ceresa, Dean Koepfler, Rebecca Stewart-Johnson, Laura McDonald, Jen Rittenhouse, Brittney Lott, Jeremy Harrison and Marce Edwards.

Life Alive quietly opened a flagship organic café near Boston University to showcase its new look and feel, and offer uplifting communal experiences. But the flagship’s soft launch wasn’t yet ready to promote to the media, which meant when a PR agency was engaged for the official opening, it would need to create something special to inject newness into the story. How Adam Ritchie Brand Direction met that challenge has earned the agency top prize in the “Food and Beverage Campaign” category of the PR Daily Awards.

Adam Ritchie Brand Direction invited a focus group of Gen Z Instagrammers to the café to hear their thoughts on the brand, the new space, the menu items that caught their attention and more. The agency then identified nine micro-influencers in the food, healthy living and student life categories. Collaborating with these influencers, the team employed clever tactics like naming new menu items after the influencers’ Instagram handles and donating a portion of proceeds to their chosen wellness-related nonprofit.

The structure of the campaign adhered to Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, with a call to adventure (a welcome dinner for the group of influencers), meeting the mentor (the café’s culinary director) a transformation (the influencers’ social handles became signature dishes for a week) and a return (delivery of funds to nonprofits).

The campaign also tapped into the owner’s reputation as a fast casual restaurant visionary, and used this new chapter in his storied career as an additional hook.

The combined influencer and press campaign delivered more than 46 million earned impressions; consumers who saw the posts commented that they had to try the dishes. Consumer and business coverage was secured in national and regional outlets. Ultimately, the campaign contributed to a 6% increase in the café’s quarterly sales.

Congratulations to Adam Ritchie, Kate Weiser, Keith Pascal, Leah Dubois, Max Pelham, Ron Shaich, Lisa Weintraub, Kendall Lowe, Kiki Mobley, Abigail Connor, Alexa DeVito, Liz Aragao, Jennifer Kennedy and Leesa Coyne.

Specialists insurer Hiscox took an innovative approach to a campaign designed to attract entrepreneurs to its business: focusing on those businesspeople who used their side hustles (while still working full-time) as platforms for launching their small businesses. The campaign has earned the top prize in the “Finance or Utilities Campaign” category of the PR Daily Awards.

The campaign was designed to give these small-business owners a voice, allowing others to learn from their experiences. The content marketing approach taken by Hiscox included a research study, a 10-episode podcast, a documentary-style video series, an email campaign, social media infographics and blog content focused on side hustles.

The survey of 400 U.S. small-business owners produced sharable findings on issues like how to replace lost income and hiring your first employee. The podcast, hosted by Hiscox’s head of communications, featured the stories of people who took their first steps as entrepreneurs while still working a full-time job in their own words. 

The videos went behind the scenes with a select group of side hustlers while media outreach (supported by a bylined article in Entrepreneur magazine) produced articles in Forbes, Yahoo! Finance, CNBC and other outlets. Blog posts on side hustles were amplified with posts across social media.

The landing page for the campaign attracted more than 85,000 visits and 31,000 social media shares, with the survey as the focus of much of the media coverage. The podcast was ranked among the top 100 business podcasts on Apple podcasts, a singular feat.

Congratulations to Lou Casale, Hiscox’s head of communications, Gyawu Mahama, Senior Communications Manager, Hiscox, and all the members of the Hiscox USA Marketing team..