2015 Thoth Winning Entries

47th Annual Thoth Awards Gala

Details of all the 2015 Thoth winning programs are listed below. To find the winners in a particular category, just click on the category in the table below.

2015 Thoth Winning Entries
Program Winners
– Community Relations
– Reputation/Brand Management
– Events and Observances (seven or fewer days)
– Events and Observances (more than seven days)
– Events and Observances (more than seven days)
– Public Service
– Public Service
– Public Affairs: Government
– Marketing Consumer Products and Services
– Marketing Business-to-Business Products
– Crisis Communication
– Crisis Communication
– Internal Communications (For organizations with more than 10,000 employees or members)
– Integrated Communications: Consumer Products or Services
– Integrated Communications: Consumer Products or Services
– Integrated Communications: Consumer Products or Services
– Integrated Communications: Associations/ Nonprofit Organizations
– Integrated Communications: Nonprofit Organization
Component Winners
– Integrted Media Relations: Campaigns
– Integrted Media Relations: Campaigns
– Media Relations: Radio Campaign
– Media Relations: Blogger Campaign
– Social Media: News Releases/Announcement
– Social Media: Video
– Social Media: Advocacy
– Social Media: Events
– Social Media: Events
– Single Issue Publication
– Websites
– External Video
– External Video

Program Winners

Community Relations
Thoth Award
Isom Global Strategies
Marine Week Seattle 2014
Marine Week, an annual public relations affair, suffered a setback in 2013 when budget cuts cancelled the event. Following reinstatement of its community relations programs, the Marine Corps retained Isom Global Strategies to plan and execute Marine Week Seattle 2014 in an effort to increase awareness and knowledge of the Marine Corps throughout that region. Through an integrated communications approach, including strong partnership and engagement with local government leaders, sports teams, community-based and non-government organizations, the event positively influenced perception of the Marine Corps, validated existence of the program, and won approval for its continuation for the next five years.

Reputation/Brand Management
Certificate of Excellence
Oglivy Washington
Take Me Fishing
Following a sharp decline in fishing participation across the U.S., the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF) turned to Ogilvy Washington to lead a conversation about the industry that would make waves across the country. The “Take Me Fishing” campaign was an extremely successful, multi-phase initiative that reached new and existing audiences through consumer engagement, industry exposure and collaboration with state agencies. The campaign was covered in media outlets across the nation, from local dailies to a “snapshot” on front of USA Today’s “Life” section, and delivered 186 more stories and 84.55 million more impressions than RBFF’s campaign goals.

Events and Observances (seven or fewer days)
Certificate of Excellence
The Clorox Company with Ketchum
The Clorox Ick Awards
Clorox is a household staple for mostly older generations. Many time-starved parents don’t know Clorox makes products to help them spend less time cleaning and more time living. Modern parents love social media to share and laugh about messes their kids create, from epic diaper meltdowns to exploding science projects – inspiring the Clorox Ick Awards, a consumer co-creation social media event. We recruited Rachel Dratch of “Saturday Night Live” and Second City to improvise a live awards show on Twitter, inviting parents to call the shots in real-time. Attracting thousands, the event clicked with socially influential parents, driving online conversation.

Events and Observances (more than seven days)
Thoth Award
H&R Block with Ketchum
Billion Back with Block
What would you do with your share of $1 billion? An H&R Block study of self-prepared tax returns found $1 billion+ in unclaimed tax refunds. H&R Block launched “Get Your Billion Back America,” the brand’s first consumer engagement program that literally put money in the hands of consumers to demonstrate how much money is left behind in self-prepared tax returns.

Results: Generated 160+ appointments, 550+ leads; gave away $14,660 in cash; exposed 212,000+ consumers to the brand in five markets; generated 185 million+ media impressions; and most importantly, contributed to H&R Block’s business growth with 4 million new customers.

Events and Observances (more than seven days)
Certificate of Excellence
Sandy Hillman Communications
Star-Spangled Spectacular
While most Americans grow up learning the words to the Star-Spangled Banner, relatively few know that Baltimore is the National Anthem’s birthplace and home to Fort McHenry, where the 15-star, 15- stripe flag flew by dawn’s early light and inspired Francis Scott Key to pen his immortal words. On the 200th anniversary of the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner, Star-Spangled 200, Inc., and Sandy Hillman Communications changed that with an aggressive public relations campaign incorporating media relations, event marketing, social media and nationally recognized spokespeople.

Public Service
Thoth Award
Widmeyer Communications, A Finn Partners Company
Pool Safely Drowning Prevention Campaign shows That Simple Steps Can Save Lives
Every year, nearly 400 children under the age of 15 drown in a swimming pool or spa. The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Pool Safely campaign is focused on preventing childhood drownings and educating parents, caregivers and children of the importance of water safety. Pool Safely has assembled a coalition of nearly 900 national and community organizations, distributed millions of pieces of materials, aired over a billion PSAs and garnered nearly a billion media impressions – all in the name of water safety. Child drownings in U.S. pools and spas decreased by 12% from 2012 to 2014.

Public Service
Certificate of Excellence
Personal care Products Council Foundations with Ketchum
Look Good Feel Better – Celebrating 25 Years of Confidence
Lipstick, mascara and eyeliner are not typically mentioned in the same sentence as chemotherapy, radiation and cancer. A simple idea—people who look better, feel better—grew into a revolutionary program 25 years ago to help cancer patients regain confidence and self-esteem while undergoing treatment. We took a financially creative approach, identifying low-cost, high-impact tactics to drive awareness among key audiences through a year-long 25th anniversary celebration, leveraging numerous touch points to engage consumers and media online and offline. Results: $2.5 million raised in funding, 50,000 women participated in Look Good Feel Better sessions, and 107.4+ million media impressions generated.

Public Affairs: Government
Thoth Award
Finn Partners and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea
U.S. Korea Connect – Building U.S. Awareness of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement
Finn Partners established the Embassy of the Republic of Korea’s reputation as the premiere thought leader on the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) through the U.S. Korea Connect program. The integrated program generates awareness of the economic benefits of the FTA and establishes Korea’s importance as a U.S. trade partner. Through the development and distribution of business success stories, trade-focused tools and other original content, U.S. Korea Connect has organically cultivated an engaged network of more than 25,000 individuals representing businesses, government and media who look to the Embassy of Korea as THE source for KORUS FTA information.

Marketing Consumer Products and Services
Thoth Award
PadillaCRT for U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council
Little Changes, Big Rewards: Blueberries Attract Attention and Lead American Families to Healthier Lives
American consumers have a problem that blueberries can help solve. They know they need to make healthier food choices, but they keep tripping up when it comes to sticking with those decisions. PadillaCRT and the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) set out to bridge the awareness-to-action gap and grow blueberry consumption by reminding consumers that little changes can set the stage for big health rewards. Our campaign led to nationwide sharing of healthy living inspiration, a 30 percent increase in purchase intent among U.S. families polled after the program and a projected tripling in consumption from 1995-2015.

Marketing Business-to-Business Products
Certificate of Excellence
PadillaCRT for Wilsonart
Leveraging Continuing Education to Sell Laminate and Capture Thought Leadership
To grow commercial sales of laminate you need new products, but to stay an industry thought leader, you need new content, so PadillaCRT advised Wilsonart to sponsor two Continuing Education Unit courses through Hanley Wood University by way of Architect. To keep the content unbiased, PadillaCRT interviewed some of the most influential architects in the industry about their innovative uses of Wilsonart. To keep the content exciting, the agency filmed and produced videos to share socially, and to supplement the Wilsonart sales team toolkit.

The campaign exceeded its objective, generating 933 unique sales leads, and positioned Wilsonart a thought leader.

Crisis Communication
Thoth Award
Johns Hopkins Medicine Marketing & Communications
Johns Hopkins Medicine: Ebola Communications
When Ebola began to spread in West Africa—and the first U.S. patient infected with the disease came to light—a firestorm of panic ensued among health care workers, patients, families and the general public. In the midst of the panic, infectious disease experts and leadership across JHM quickly engaged the Marketing and Communications team—comprised of members from public relations, internal communications, video, Web, graphic design and social media—to develop a comprehensive communications plan to keep internal and external audiences informed, provide a calming and reassuring voice, and proactively address unmitigated concerns and misinformation appearing in the media.

Crisis Communication
Certificate of Excellence
National Education Association
The Fight Against Corporate Education Reform in York, PA
NEA organizing and communications staff were alerted to a breaking issue in York, PA where an upcoming school board vote could turn over control of the school district to a corporate charter school organization with a long history of not working in students’ and the community’s best interests. NEA developed a comprehensive communications strategy to engage education activists at the state and national level and connect the privatization efforts to attacks in major cities throughout the country. NEA Communications wrote several stories for NEA’s EducationVotes.org, which were then pushed out via social media to enlist allies and enrage educators and parents. NEA’s Pennsylvania affiliate worked hard to mobilize members and community at the local level.

Internal Communications (For organizations with more than 10,000 employees or members)
Thoth Award
Marine Corps Installations command (MCICOM) Facility Operations and Energy (GF-1)
Marine Corps Energy Ethos Campaign
The goal of the United States Marine Corps Energy Ethos campaign is to change Marines’ attitudes and behaviors toward energy use. The Energy Ethos is the shared vision that the efficient use of energy resources is a critical component of Marine mission readiness. Marine Corps Installations Command (MCICOM) Facility Operations and Energy (GF-1) disseminates written, audio, and video communications materials via traditional and social media channels, with a peak each October for Energy Action Month. Additionally, MCICOM GF-1 developed and launched a peer-to-peer Unit Energy Manager (UEM) Program, in an effort to create lasting energy behavior change throughout the Corps.

Integrated Communications: Consumer Products or Services
Thoth Award
Hilton Worldwide with Ketchum
Cookie Care Delivers Sweet Results for Doubletree by Hilton
Cookies have a way of brightening your day. No one knows this better than DoubleTree by Hilton, who presents a warm chocolate chip cookie to every guest at check-in around the world. Travelers say the cookie is one of the top three reasons they select DoubleTree.

To harness the happiness DoubleTree’s iconic cookie brings guests as a way to increase brand awareness. “Cookie Care” was born, leveraging international moments of celebration to surprise people and encouraging them to pay-it-forward. In two months, brand consideration among leisure travelers increased 10%. IN2014, the campaign generated 2.4+B media impressions and 4,100+ placements.

Integrated Communications: Consumer Products or Services
Certificate of Excellence
H&R Block with Ketchum
Billion Back with Block
What would you do with your share of $1 billion? An H&R Block study of self-prepared tax returns found $1 billion+ in unclaimed tax refunds. H&R Block launched “Get Your Billion Back America,” the brand’s first consumer engagement program that literally put money in the hands of consumers to demonstrate how much money is left behind in self-prepared tax returns.

Integrated Communications: Consumer Products or Services
Certificate of Excellence
Department of Rail and Public Transportation
Amtrak “Take the Train” Campaign Rocks Ridership
In 2014, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) and Amtrak sought PadillaCRT to develop and integrated marketing campaign designed to make the train a must-consider choice for travelers. The Challenge: Engage business and leisure travelers in key routes running north from Lynchburg, Richmond and Hampton Roads in Virginia to major Northeast metros along the East Coast. Using the call-to-action, “Take the Train,” the campaign generated increased brand awareness resulting in Amtrak’s Northeast Regional trains reaching its highest ridership year ever.

Integrated Communications: Associations/ Nonprofit Organizations
Thoth Award
Personal Care Products Council Foundation with Ketchum
Look Good Feel Better – Celebrating 25 Years of Confindence
Lipstick, mascara and eyeliner are not typically mentioned in the same sentence as chemotherapy, radiation and cancer. A simple idea—people who look better, feel better—grew into a revolutionary program 25 years ago to help cancer patients regain confidence and self-esteem while undergoing treatment. We took a financially creative approach, identifying low-cost, high-impact tactics to drive awareness among key audiences through a year-long 25th anniversary celebration, leveraging numerous touch points to engage consumers and media online and offline. Results: $2.5 million raised in funding, 50,000 women participated in Look Good Feel Better sessions, and 107.4+ million media impressions generated.

Integrated Communications: Nonprofit Organization
Certificate of Excellence
Crosby Marketing
Helping Keep the Promise to America’s Veterans
DAV is one of America’s leading Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs). Every year it helps more than one million veterans and their families get the benefits and support they earned through their service. The organization selected Crosby to raise its awareness and differentiate it in the VSO space. Our integrated campaign of earned, shared, owned and paid media connected the public to DAV in record numbers by drawing on the deep emotional commitment Americans have for veterans.

Component Winners

Integrated Media Relations: Campaigns
Thoth Award
Hilton Worldwide with Ketchum
Cookie Care Delivers Sweet Results for Doubletree by Hilton
Cookies have a way of brightening your day. No one knows this better than DoubleTree by Hilton, who presents a warm chocolate chip cookie to every guest at check-in around the world. Travelers say the cookie is one of the top three reasons they select DoubleTree.

To harness the happiness DoubleTree’s iconic cookie brings guests as a way to increase brand awareness, “Cookie Care” was born, leveraging international moments of celebration to surprise people and encouraging them to pay-it-forward. In two months, brand consideration among leisure travelers increased 10%. In 2014, the campaign generated 2.4+B media impressions and 4,100+ placements.

Integrated Media Relations: Campaigns
Certificate of Excellence
H&R Block with Ketchum
Billion Back with Block
What would you do with your share of $1 billion? An H&R Block study of self-prepared tax returns found $1 billion+ in unclaimed tax refunds. H&R Block launched “Get Your Billion Back America,” the brand’s first consumer engagement program that literally put money in the hands of consumers to demonstrate how much money is left behind in self-prepared tax returns.

Media Relations: Radio Campaign
Thoth Award
Bread for the World & News Generation
Transition of Congress: The End of the 113th Congress and Beginnning of the 114th
Bread for the World engaged News Generation to institute a campaign targeting the transitioning United States Congress, lobbying the exiting 113th Congress and setting the stage for the incoming 114th Congress, and advocating for issues surrounding the hunger epidemic. Five radio media tours were executed to most effectively reach targeted audiences, including providing localized information to statewide networks and local stations. The campaign dramatically over-delivered the target reach of thirty-five million by 36 percent, pulling in more than forty-seven million listeners and efficiently utilized a $22,000 budget, investing less than five one-hundredths of one penny per earned listener.

Media Relations: Blogger Campaign
Thoth Award
Anthem with Ketchum
Healthy Dad Blogger Campaign
Mark made sure his kids had the best health insurance, but he ignored his own health. He was young and healthy, right? Without his own insurance, he couldn’t afford to hear bad news about his health. But when diagnosed with advanced-stage testicular cancer, Mark realized he might leave behind two young children and a grief-stricken wife, because he ignored his health. Seeking to engage men in a conversation about the importance of health insurance and preventive health, Anthem worked with a network of influential dad bloggers to get the word out to millennial dads. We generated 6,149,610+ impressions reaching 2,678,311.

Social Media: News Releases/Announcement
Certificate of Excellence
Ogilvy Washington
Monitoring the Future 2014 Survey Release
Over its 30-year history, the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey has provided critical understanding of the behaviors and attitudes of American secondary school students and young adults. Ogilvy Washington in 2014 worked with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to disseminate the results and engage with the public. Using tactics executed on Twitter, chosen so NIDA could interact in real-time, the Institute secured unprecedented reach across social media—581,000 impressions or nearly 3x that of 2013—and engaged with interested audiences—responding to 22 public inquiries the day of the release—bolstering NIDA’s position as a leader in research.

Social Media: Video
Thoth Award
The Clorox Company with Ketchum
The Clorox Ick Awards
Clorox is a household staple for mostly older generations. Many time-starved parents don’t know Clorox makes products to help them spend less time cleaning and more time living. Modern parents love social media to share and laugh about messes their kids create, from epic diaper meltdowns to exploding science projects – inspiring the Clorox Ick Awards, a consumer co-creation social media event. We recruited Rachel Dratch of “Saturday Night Live” and Second City to improvise a live awards show on Twitter, inviting parents to call the shots in real-time. Attracting thousands, the event clicked with socially influential parents, driving online conversation.

Social Media: Advocacy
Certificate of Excellence
Crosby Marketing
Empowering Facebook Users to Sign Up as Organ Donors
HRSA/DoT views social media as a key tool to help them reach organizational objectives: increasing conversations about organ donation, empowering advocates to help spread the word and ultimately driving traffic to organdonor.gov where they can sign up as donors using their state registry. In 2014, DoT set an ambitious goal to grow its Facebook community from 60,000 to 125,000 fans as part of an effort to drive new traffic to organdonor.gov. Leveraging industry best practices and research backed by the organ donation community, DoT developed and promoted fun, visual Facebook content to build an engaged community and drive action.

Social Media: Events
Thoth Award
The Clorox Company with Ketchum
The Clorox Ick Awards
Clorox is a household staple for mostly older generations. Many time-starved parents don’t know Clorox makes products to help them spend less time cleaning and more time living. Modern parents love social media to share and laugh about messes their kids create, from epic diaper meltdowns to exploding science projects – inspiring the Clorox Ick Awards, a consumer co-creation social media event. We recruited Rachel Dratch of “Saturday Night Live” and Second City to improvise a live awards show on Twitter, inviting parents to call the shots in real-time. Attracting thousands, the event clicked with socially influential parents, driving online conversation.

Social Media: Events
Certificate of Excellence
Hager Sharp and the HHS Office on Women’s Helath
National Women’s Health Week 2014
During National Women’s Health Week, an observance to empower women to prioritize their health, Hager Sharp and the HHS Office on Women’s Health used social media to connect with women of all ages online and encourage them to take steps for better health. With a budget of $75,000, OWH engaged more women than ever before on social media by creating visual, shareable graphics and infographics, launching a Thunderclap, and developing a new Pinterest page.

Single Issue Publication
Thoth Award
Oglivy Washington
i2i – Created by youth. Driven by youth.
Since 2007, Ogilvy has worked with CDC to help address dating violence through its Dating Matters® program, a community-based intervention program that promotes respectful, nonviolent dating relationships among youth living in high-risk, urban communities. Ogilvy developed i2i: What R U Looking 4®, a direct-to-youth communications program that encourages safe behaviors early. To reach the audience with i2i healthy relationship messages in an engaging way Ogilvy developed a comic book: Alex the Accidental Love Doctor. The program has already surpassed total reach of the previous two years combined though events, social media, and materials, such as the i2i Comic Book.

Websites
Thoth Award
PadillaCRT for U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council
Reviving Little Blue Dynamos: Website Design & Content Strategy Help Bluberries Make a Digital Comeback
With the average website lifespan lingering around two years, the USHBC’s award-winning website that launched in 2011 faced a host of challenges come 2013. Traffic was declining, engagement and content-sharing had slowed, and blueberries were quickly losing ground to berry competitors in Google’s search rankings.

To reverse that trend, and to support the Council’s ongoing efforts to double consumption by 2020, PadillaCRT proposed a digital overhaul hinging on refreshed content, improved functionality and enhanced design. The web effort paralleled a brand refresh to better align the look, feel and tone of blueberry communications with the changing attitudes and preferences of target customers – women and moms ages 25-45.

External Video
Thoth Award
Booz Allen Hamilton
Staying Fit, Staying Ready
The Guard Your Health campaign aims to educate, inspire, and activate Army National Guard Soldiers and families to adopt holistic, healthy behaviors to improve their well-being and medical readiness by using real Soldiers’ success stories as motivation. “Staying Fit, Staying Ready” features Guard Soldiers who pulled civilians to safety after the Boston Marathon bombings. The Soldiers had just hiked the 26.2 mile course with 45-pound packs on their backs to honor fallen comrades, yet were able to launch into action after the explosions. They credit their Guard training with helping them overcome their exhaustion and respond at a moment’s notice.

External Video
Certificate of Excellence
The Clorox Company
The Clorox Company with Ketchum
Clorox is a household staple for mostly older generations. Many time-starved parents don’t know Clorox makes products to help them spend less time cleaning and more time living. Modern parents love social media to share and laugh about messes their kids create, from epic diaper meltdowns to exploding science projects – inspiring the Clorox Ick Awards, a consumer co-creation social media event. We recruited Rachel Dratch of “Saturday Night Live” and Second City to improvise a live awards show on Twitter, inviting parents to call the shots in real-time. Attracting thousands, the event clicked with socially influential parents, driving online conversation.

Program Winners

Component Winners

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