A video the restaurant produced with Red Couch Stories and Encore Public Relations for its 2017 breakfast has won first place in the “Event Video” Category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

The restaurant brought on Red Couch Stories and Encore Public Relations to produce and share the story of Kay and Dave Swenson, whose son, Marine Lance Corporal Curtis Swenson, made the ultimate sacrifice in 2010 during Operation Enduring Freedom, supporting combat operations in Afghanistan. 

The film debut in front of 800 people at a free community breakfast before it was released online just before Veterans Day, attracting more than 30,000 views, nearly 250 shares and hundreds of comments on Canadian Honker’s Facebook page. The local ABC affiliate and a local radio station also shared the video on their Facebook pages, delivering more than 7,000 additional views. 

Congratulations to Encore Public Relations and Red Couch Stories’ Laurie Archbold, Shawn Fagan and Tom Flessland.

Beyond Silence is part of a broader initiative called Be Vocal: Speak Up for Mental Health—a collaboration that includes singer and mental health advocate Demi Lovato, who is living with bipolar disorder, as well as five leading mental health advocacy organizations and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals. In an era of short attention spans and accommodatingly short videos, the half-hour documentary took off—and has won first place in the “Educational Video” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

The Be Vocal initiative began with a focus on Lovato’s mental health journey, but evolved to feature the stories of others who have experienced the power of speaking up about their mental health. Three of those stories are featured in the film Beyond Silence. The team behind it identified real people from diverse walks of life whose experience with a mental health condition was transformed after they spoke up. They narrate their own stories with compelling documentary footage accompanying their voice-overs and on-camera interviews. 

The documentary, which counts documentarian Shaul Schwartz as its Director and Lovato as its Executive Producer, premiered in February 2017. A well-conceived PR campaign drove awareness of the film, ultimately drawing more than 138,000 people to the livestreaming premiere event and many others to viewing it on the Be Vocal website. Multiple organizations have requested screenings, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons is planning to incorporate the film as part of their mental health and suicide prevention training. It was even screened at BlogHer17, among other notable conferences.

Congratulations to the team of Maureen Sheltry (Sunovion Pharmaceuticals) and Keri McDonough, Stephanie Budnick, Chaz Cox, Devonne Sutton, Rebecca O’Neill, Amy Rosenfeld, Zohra Roy, Samantha Polansky, Sydney Shale and Allison Predmore (Biosector 2).

Neither customers nor employees tend to think much about the good GE Power Services does. Mostly viewed as a creator of hardware and software solutions, the organization actually improves people’s lives around the world by keeping vital systems running. Wanting to connect internal and external audiences to what the organization really achieves, GE Power Services called on production firm Mountain View Group to develop a short video. The video that resulted has won first place in the “Organization Overview Video” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

Demonstrating sustainability efforts and the use of advanced technology to power schools, hospitals and other critical infrastructure was the video’s primary goal. The video also showcases the people behind the organization, and the passion and expertise they bring to their assignments. 

The video addresses a key challenge nimbly: covering the broad range of customers the organization serves and the vast number of solutions it delivers. Footage was filmed in remote locations, like the Middle East, to offer a glimpse into how GE Power Services contributes to making the world a better place. 

The video was never meant for broad online distribution. Instead, leadership shows it during customer presentations and at energy industry events, where it has enjoyed an enthusiastic response. Focus group tests also score the video highly for positive mood, joy, surprise an attentiveness. 

Congratulations on a superb video produced by Simon Umlauf, photographed by Craig Braden and Duane Codrington, written by Mickey Bradley and designed by Michael Neff, with visual effects by Kevin Taylor, editing by Buff Harsh, sound design by Joel Edwards and voiceover by Susannah Kenton.

The Milton Hershey School provides a high-quality education and stable home life (including medical and dental care) for 2,000 underprivileged boys and girls from pre-K through 12th grade, all at no charge to families. To convey the impact the school has on the lives of its students, a video telling the story of one student was produced and distributed via YouTube and Facebook. The video has won first prize in the “Charitable or Nonprofit Video” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

Eli, a high school senior, shares his story through a variety of techniques woven skillfully into the three-minute video, including direct interview and B-roll featuring Eli in school as well as footage of his hometown. The video is expertly narrated, and only at the end do we learn that the narrator is one of the school’s educators and Eli’s mentor. 

The video’s simple goal was to share the school’s values with those who follow it on social media. The YouTube video earned more than 2,500 views and drove considerable traffic to the school’s website. On Facebook, some 7,000 people watched the video, sharing reactions and comments in respectable numbers. Additional views resulted from the Wharton School of Business retweeting the video, as did the University of Pennsylvania. 

Congratulations to all involved in the video’s production.

The “Fearless Girl” statue has become famous in photos and videos. Hands on hips, chin high, the statue was installed facing the famous Wall Street bull to symbolize “the power of women today and tomorrow,” according to State Street Corporation. The statue, and the campaign its symbolizes, has won first place in the “Campaign of the Year” category of Ragan’s 2017 PR Daily Awards.

The statue was devised to introduce a new ETF (exchange-traded fund) on the eve of International Women’s Day—the SHE Fund (with the ticker symbol SHE). Twenty-five percent of Russell 3000 companies don’t have even a single woman on their boards, and fewer than 15 percent of boards are female among nearly 60 percent of the index—despite multiple studies that demonstrate organizations with higher percentages of women in leadership roles outperform their competition. The SHE Fund was devised to focus on investments in organizations that have a higher than average percentage of women in leadership roles. 

The statue was installed in the dead of night. People arriving at work the next morning couldn’t miss it. They started taking pictures and sharing them across social media without a clue as to its origin. 

The strategy was massively successful, producing more than 1 billion Twitter impressions in the first 12 hours and 3.3 billion in five weeks. The organization’s share of voice soared 379 percent, and the SHE Fund average daily trading volume increased 384 percent in the first three days. The organization was mentioned in 3,400 articles and more than 1,500 broadcast segments.

There are reproductions available (at $6,500 a pop), and the statue is still in place while a permanent home is decided. Most impressive, though: A year after the statue was installed, State Street reported that 152 of the organizations it targeted have added a woman to their boards, and 34 others have committed to doing so. 

Congratulations to State Street Corporation for an eye-opening campaign.

The idea of vacationing in central New York state in the dead of winter probably isn’t at the top of most people’s dream list. Visit Syracuse, working with agency Break the Ice Media, took a lighthearted approach to attracting tourism in winter, proclaiming Syracuse “The Official Home of Winter.” The resulting campaign has won first place in the “Publicity Stunt” category of Ragan’s 2017 PR Daily Awards.

The campaign aimed to create social and video content, engage key audiences and build awareness of the region as a winter tourism destination. As part of the campaign, the team stealthily sent a 10-person team to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, for Groundhog Day. Clad in Syracuse-branded winter clothing, the team engaged in interviews via phone and video with Syracuse media. They then boarded the Groundhog Day shuttle to Gobbler’s Knob, where Punxsutawney Phil makes his annual world-famous prediction. 

Team members carried signs reading, “Show Me the Shadow,” “To See or Not to See,” “Six More Weeks!” and “May the Frost Be With You.” Among the group was a Syracuse comedian portraying Winter; he led cheers and chants for “Six more weeks!” 

The stunt was wildly successful, with interviews aired on CNN, Voice of America and The Weather Channel, among other outlets. The effort produced 15 media placements and a torrent of social media, altogether resulting in nearly 90 million impressions. Winter hotel bookings in Syracuse rose 6.2 percent.

Congratulations to the team of Camille Zess (account manager), Nicole Mahoney, Sarah Blackwell, Jessica Reilly, Colleen Knopeck, Rhonda Vaccaro, Carol Eaton, Justin Lynch, Nikita Jankowski, David Holder and Bruce Stoff.

People 55 years old and over—the Baby Boomers—have been underserved in the mobile marketplace. The only 55-and-over plans available offer a ridiculously limited number of voice minutes and no data; some carriers don’t offer a plan for seniors at all. T-Mobile once offered a limited plan but, recognizing the market includes nearly 100 million people, the organization devised a new, highly desirable plan: two lines with unlimited voice and data for $60. All T-Mobile had to do was create awareness of the plan. The result has earned first place in the “Product or Service Launch” category of Ragan’s 2017 PR Daily Awards. 

T-Mobile’s corporate communications team set targets for the campaign: more than 60 stories with 100 percent positive tone and 90 percent key message pickup, more than 15 non-traditional media placements and 3,000 mentions and 90 million impressions on social media, along with 600 mentions and 22 million impressions from CEO John Legere. 

To achieve those targets, the team held executive prebriefings with key media while Legere recorded a video blog and launched a teaser tweetstorm to kick off the campaign. The announcement itself included a press release and a Legere vlog that included a parody infomercial mocking how other carriers treated seniors. T-Mobile also teamed up with several Boomer influencers to engage their audiences on misperceptions about what Boomer consumers want. 

A mat release for print media accommodated Boomers who read a newspaper every day, while a satellite media tour took advantage of broadcast media. Social media and other activities rounded out the program, which resulted in the plan outperforming expectations by three times the target goal. The effort garnered 548 earned media stories, paid media generated more than 5,000 placements, the influencer program generated 2.9 million impressions and social engagement delivered nearly 7,000 mentions, along with nearly 2,000 more for Legere’s personal Twitter account.

Congratulations to the team at T-Mobile for an outstanding launch.

Even those who aren’t big “Star Trek” fans have heard of the tricorder. The fictional technology even has its own Wikipedia listing: It’s “a multifunction hand-held device used for sensor scanning, data analysis, and recording data” (three functions, hence the “tri” in the name). XPRIZE, a nonprofit global leader in incentivized prize competitions, joined with the Qualcomm Foundation to offer a $10 million prize to a team that could meet benchmark criteria for a working tricorder. A post-prize program for the competition has taken first place in the “Press Event or Media Tour” category of Ragan’s 2017 PR Daily Awards.

Nobody has yet to design a working tricorder, but the achievements of the teams that tried were remarkable in their own right. In 2017 two brothers from Paili, Pennsylvania, were awarded $2.6 million for their attempt, and a Taiwan-based team led by a Harvard Medical School associate professor came in second, earning $1 million. For the first time ever, XPRIZE and Qualcomm announced a post-prize program so the winning teams could accelerate testing and commercialization of their tricorders, funded by the money left over in the prize purse. 

The campaign to generate interest in the competition aimed to grab the attention of multiple audiences, from innovators and inventors to the investment community, from the medical technology industry to media and bloggers. The effort included educating the media about the complexity of tricorder devices. Spreading the word included a NASDAQ opening bell ceremony and an award ceremony. Interest in the competition was high based on the “Star Trek” connection. 

The award ceremony alone produced 140 online articles, 138 pickups of those articles, 99 press release pick-ups, original TV coverage and through-the-roof social media metrics. 

Congratulations to Eric Desatnik, Katherine Schelbert, Ben Ellenbecker, Betsy Merryman, Mariesa Kemble, Jim Hughes, Joyce Hsieh and Sabina David for their successful work on the event.

Activision’s Call of Duty game series has been a genuine phenomenon; the newest title, “World War II,” was certain to generate mind-boggling sales numbers. Activision made sure the launch would be spectacular through the use of influencer marketing. The influencers? Athletes. The launch has taken first place in the “Influencer Event” category of the 2017 PR Daily Awards.

Activision and its agency partner, PMK*BNC took the game on the road to give fans a sneak peak. The connection between the first-person combat game and athletics? “Who better to tout this return than professional athletes who embody camaraderie and brotherhood each day on the field?” says Activision. 

Before the game and details of the campaign were revealed, Activision brought exclusive previews to Philadelphia and New York City for players attending the NFL and NBA drafts; draft picks were among the first people anywhere to learn details. Activision also cast Le’Veon Bell and Alejandro Villaneuva as in-game characters, generating massive awareness based on the size of their social media following. The pair hosted a private sneak preview event for their fellow teammates, breaking the news the evening of the event across social platforms. 

The PR campaign delivered more than 5.1 million media impressions from the activation. The NFL players alone posted 31 times, creating 4.4 impressions across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The in-game character reveal produced nearly 90 million media impressions from press covering the news. 

Congratulations to Activision and PMK*BMC.

Kid Food Nation was introduced by Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada so children 7–12 could submit healthy, original recipes. The contest was so successful it’s won first place in the “Contest or Giveaway” category of Ragan’s 2017 PR Daily Awards.

The campaign sought to get 1,000 recipes from boys and girls in every province and territory in the country. More than 2,000 were submitted, and the audience for on-air content exceeded 100 million, 233 percent of the audience estimated on Corus Entertainment’s youth-focused channels. 

How did Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada pull off this remarkable achievement? A multichannel campaign targeted a website, social media and TV, with all content branded with Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada and the Kid Food Nation logo. On-air content targeted families watching TV from 6–8 p.m. on weeknights, while the website used games, videos, tips about healthy eating and fun cooking facts; kids earned points for their online activities, which could be used for a chance to win cooking-related prizes. 

Posters in Boys and Girls Clubs throughout Canada touted the competition, which yielded two winning recipes from each province and territory (13 boys and 13 girls). The winners and their parents attended a gala event, and winning recipes were published in a cookbook that is selling out across the country. 

Hearty congratulations to Mathieu Chantelois, Denise Silverstone, Rachel Gouin, Mary O’Connell, Amy Bilodeau, Vivian Trumblay, Dominique Robinson, Jared Morrow, Etienne Dicaire, Stevie Shipman, Nicole Sanders, Amy Boughner, Emma Reid and Béatrice Savoie-Frenette.

Walmart is a natural venue for prepaid mobile phone sales, one that Verizon has taken advantage of for years. Yet a crowded marketplace and increased competition had eaten into those sales. The campaign Verizon devised to win back its share of cross-cultural value consumers has won first place in the “Technology Campaign” category of Ragan’s 2017 PR Daily Awards.

Verizon teamed up with hip-hop label 300 Entertainment, music mogul Kevin Liles and record producer London On Da Track to present the #freestyle50 challenge, which offered aspiring artists the chance to win a single record deal, $10,000 and a spot on the 300 Artist Development Tour. The campaign consisted of a teaser, a launch event (with more than 750 attendees and performances by marquee hip-hop superstars), a call for entries, regional competitions and a national finals event and post-event outreach. 

The competition attracted more than 30,000 entries and delivered more than 1 billion organic social media impressions, more than doubling the year-over-year volume of conversation. Media outreach paid off too, with 121 media placements that included Billboard, BET Music and the Chicago Tribune. The proof of the its success, though, is that Walmart sales of the prepaid plan (8GB for $50) outpaced national sales by as much as 7.6 percent in the five cities targeted by the campaign (Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and New Orleans). 

Congratulations on the campaign developed and managed by Jessica Thorpe, Jessica Shih, Kevin Liles, Asantewaa R, Telly Wong, Keisha Brown, Marisol Yanez, Erika Lamand and others.

Mountains of research tells us millennials value organizations that couple social purpose with their financial goals. To appeal to this important demographic, Ronald McDonald House Charities and McDonald’s turned to IW Group to devise a way to win millennial attention and build support for the charitable organization that provides housing for families near hospitals where their children are being treated. Their success has earned first place in the “Sports or Outdoor Campaign” category of Ragan’s 2017 PR Daily Awards.

IW Group’s research produced important insights: Traditional advertising is ineffective among millennials, they want experiences, and New York—whose Tri-State area was the target of the campaign—was the birthplace of (wait for it) breakdancing. That led to the creation of the McDonald’s B-BOY Royale, a breakdance competition that involved partnerships with relevant organizations and a connection to New York City’s subculture. 

IW ensured the messaging about the event was incorporated into all promotional materials and content and obtained the sponsorship of HOT 97, the top hip-hop radio station in the country (as well as that of a number of breakdance-related organizations). The event featured breakdance crews from across the U.S. and Canada competing in seven rounds of head-to-head battles; one would win the $5,000 prize and become the McDonald’s B-BOY champion. 

The program also included a variety of compelling features, such as a lifetime achievement award, showcase performances, audience battles and real-time social media engagement. PR and marketing activities combined to raise awareness and excitement about the competition. Noteworthy results included a sold-out event, ticket sales of $8,000 donated to the charity, 28 media placements, more than 50 million earned media impressions and more than 20 million social media impressions.

Kudos to IW’s team of Telly Wong, Kai Chuan, Jennifer Kim, Anumita Steinberg, Evan Stainsby and Ryosuke Hoshiyama.

Tourism is New Orleans’ biggest industry, employing more than 80,000 residents and generating annual revenues of $7 billion. Central to bringing tourists and conventions to New Orleans is the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau (NOCVB). The NOCVB asked DEVENEY to generate national and regional coverage in target markets and promote New Orleans as a leisure and business destination. DEVENEY’S success has led to its taking first place in the “Hospitality, Travel or Tourism Campaign” category of Ragan’s 2017 PR Daily Awards.

Even before developing its proposal, the DEVENEY team conducted internet research to get a good sense of current perceptions and coverage. With the contract in hand, more research informed the project, including an email survey soliciting feedback from NOCVB staff and board members, focus groups with the group’s leaders and interviews with internal and external stakeholders. 

The research led to a strategic plan designed to secure eight national features, six “fly market” features, six “drive market” features and six trade publication features. To drive the outreach, DEVENEY compiled editorial calendars from target outlets, developed unique story angles, used resources like Help A Report Out (HARO) and ProfNet to identify pitch opportunities and coordinated familiarization trips for individual reporters and media groups. 

The approach helped DEVENEY exceed its goals—by a lot. The campaign yielded 38 national placements, 17 fly market placements, 20 drive market placements and 37 trade publication placements. Ultimately, 124 stories were published based on 397 media engagements. 

Congratulations to DEVENEY for its win.

Of the 175 drug overdose deaths every day in the United States, most are directly related to opioids. Despite the epidemic’s spread in recent years, getting institutions and society to embrace a viable solution has been a challenge. CURA Strategies was founded as a bipartisan effort to focus on promoting a recovery treatment that works: Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT). Its efforts have earned first place in the “Health Care Campaign” category of Ragan’s2017 PR Daily Awards. 

Despite the evidence of its effectiveness, MAT is offered to less than 10 percent of people in treatment. To change that, CURA established four pillars for its efforts: educating policymakers and institutions about MAT’s effectiveness, ensuring access to treatment, removing barriers to insurance coverage and encouraging drug court programs to permit the use of MAT treatment. 

CURA used social media to aim its efforts at New York and Washington, D.C. and support passage and funding of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. Particularly smart was getting the attention of newly-elected President Trump and his administration with the hashtag #LetsTrumpAddiction that “appeals to Trump’s bravado and builds on his campaign promises,” according to CURA. 

The nine-day blitz told the tale of a new patient, family or provider each day in order to humanize the crisis. Allies were offered a social media toolkit to help spread the word. Op-eds were published and other PR tactics employed, ultimately exceeding the goal of recruiting 1,500 supporters despite a challenging environment that was more focused on derailing Trump’s agenda than on addressing the opioid crisis and other important issues. 

Engagement on social media was strong. Even presidential administration action started out well, with CURA’s agency contacted by White House speechwriters a few days before Trump was due to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress in which he was expected to talk about the opioid situation. Trump made only one brief reference to opioids, but the Presidential Commission on Combating Drug Addiction issued a final report that advanced every one of CURA’s four pillars.

Congratulations to Anne Woodbury, Jeff Valliere, Casey Dillon, Miriam Brisbin and Meghan Swope.

Over the years, Chili’s has expanded its menu to include a variety of items that, while tasty, strayed from its core strengths of burgers, ribs and fajitas. Finding itself at a pivotal point in its history and facing a variety of challenges in a shifting marketplace, the restaurant chain made the tough decision to slash 40 percent of its menu items and refocus on its basics. The campaign to raise awareness that “Chili’s is Back, Baby” has taken first place in the “Food and Beverage Campaign” category of Ragan’s 2017 PR Daily Awards.

The campaign focused first on the menu changes, then on the fact that its burgers, ribs and fajitas are better than ever. The organization also played on consumers’ emotions by bidding fond farewells to items that were being dropped from the menu. 

Chili’s communicated the menu reduction to national business reporters with a pitch under embargo, giving reporters a chance to familiarize themselves with the strategy before the official announcement was made. An online press conference gave exclusive information to Business Insider and Ad Age, whose coverage led to expanded reporting and the incorporation of the social media-focused “goodbye” videos into media stories. Top-tier news outlets, including FoodBeast and The Today Show, got media kits that included recipe books featuring items that were being dropped from the menu. 

A key to the campaign was the launch of a new jingle, which was also included in the media kits along with the departing-items cookbook. 

The campaign earned a remarkable 1 billion earned media impressions, more than 300 media placements (including top-tier outlets like CNN, ABC News, Bloomberg and USA Today) and a stunning 100 percent message pullthrough. 

Congratulations to Aisha Fletcher, Bailie Bridges and Whitney Strittmatter.