Company: Honeywell Hometown Solutions and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Morristown NJ
Company Division/Group: Weber Shandwick
Company Description: Honeywell Hometown Solutions provides resources, financial support, and encourages employee volunteerism to meet local neighborhood needs where Honeywell can make a real, lasting impact. We help in five critical areas: Science & math education; Family safety & security; Housing & shelter; Habitat & conservation; and Humanitarian Relief
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Community Relations

Nomination Title: Honeywell Hometown Solutions (HHS) and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC): KidSmartz

Tell the story about this nominated campaign since January 1, 2014 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

Six-year-old Morgan Nick was last seen on June 9, 1995, at a Little League game in Alma, Arkansas. Witnesses saw her chasing lightning bugs with her friends. They also saw an unidentified man watching her from afar and an unmarked red pickup truck leave the area at the time she disappeared. Colleen Nick, Morgan’s mother, never saw her daughter again. Everyday more than 2,000 children in the United States are reported missing, according to the FBI.

For over a decade, Honeywell Hometown Solutions (HHS), Honeywell’s corporate responsibility organization and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) have partnered to prevent abductions like Morgan’s by empowering kids to practice personal safety. The partnership started in 2003 with the launch of ‘Got2BSafe! Think Smart and Take Charge!’ the first ever classroom-based child abduction prevention program for third graders.

In October of 2014, NCMEC and HHS launched KidSmartz™ expanding the program to students in grades K-5 and introducing new methods that help keep kids out of harm’s way. NCMEC and HHS have since built upon the KidSmartz success with the January 2015 launch of the KidSmartz Safety Dance contest, which invites elementary schools to participate in a nationwide competition that reinforces the importance of personal safety through catchy lyrics and fun dance moves. Both programs are an expression of NCMEC and HHS’ commitment to reducing the number of child abductions by empowering children to stay safe.

RESEARCH

FBI data shows that more than 400,000 children under the age of 18 are abducted annually. The majority of abductors are family members or someone the child knows. NCMEC has analyzed over 9,000 attempted abduction cases to better understand the circumstances under which children are likely to be abducted. This analysis shows that most involve a suspect driving a vehicle and occur while children are traveling to or from school. The analysis also revealed that 83% of children who escaped their would-be abductors kicked, yelled and pulled away.

Using donations from Honeywell employees and NCMEC data, NCMEC and HHS developed KidSmartz and the KidSmartz Safety Dance Video Contest to help adults rethink the concept of abduction safety.

STRATEGIC EXECUTION

NCMEC and HHS developed a two-tiered launch strategy to effectively present KidSmartz and KidSmartz Safety Dance Video Contest as leading mechanisms for safety education.

To help spread the word about KidSmartz programs to a broad audience, NCMEC and HHS enlisted the help of Tia Mowry, star of Nickelodeon sitcom Instant Mom as a spokesperson who could personally connect with kids and parents to deliver the overall mission. As a mother, she is able to personally relate to the goal NCMEC and HHS aim to achieve and inspire parents, educators and children about safety.

Additional facets of the launch strategy include:

• Integrating NCMEC and HHS into broader discussions of child safety occurring among parents and teachers through same-day communications across owned and earned media channels;
• Utilizing data from NCMEC’s analysis of common abduction scenarios to develop impactful resources for parents and teachers;
• Amplifying the KidSmartz story in a way that resonates with key stakeholders through an authentic spokesperson.

Key tactical elements of the launch:

• HHS and NCMEC integrated KidSmartz and the KidSmartz Safety Dance into broader discussions of child safety by launching the programs on Halloween and AMBER Alert Awareness Day, two days where child safety is a topic in the media;
• Spokesperson Tia Mowry made several national and local broadcast appearances on the on the day of both launches to amplify programs to key audiences;
• Tia created a series of 4 Public Service Announcements highlighting KidSmartz; PSAs were distributed to key audiences via targeted communications on Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail;
• Tia was active in amplifying news of KidSmartz on her own social media channels, using program hashtags: #KidSmartz and and #SafetyDance;
• NCMEC and HHS purchased the rights to and adapted the Men Without Hats 1993 hit song, "The Safety Dance," to include fun safety-oriented lyrics.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief features and results of this nominated PR program since the beginning of 2014 (up to 150 words).

1,700 KidSmartz curriculum toolkits and 1,500 KidSmartz Safety Dance Contest kits have been downloaded from KidSmartz.org.
The October KidSmartz launch garnered:
- 200 national media mentions and 63 million media impressions,
- 5,000 Twitter mentions,
- 6,000 Facebook likes,
- 2.3 million positive impressions on social media.
The January Dance Contest launch garnered :
- 78,777,000 audience members reached via 22 televised interviews with Tia and 200 website placements of the multi-media news release;
- 70 video entries, 67,000 contest votes;
- 119,000 views and 4,700 likes for Tia’s Facebook post.
Positive accolades from teachers across the U.S., such as:
- “I truly feel this is such a worthwhile project, for children, parents and teachers. I know my kids learned a lot while creating our video, but it was a great refresher for me as well. The Safety Dance is a wonderful way to reach children and help them learn about safety, "Lori Schurle, Liberty Oaks Elementary