Company: Northwestern Mutual, Milwaukee, WI
Company Description: Northwestern Mutual has helped clients achieve financial security for more than 155 years. As a mutual company with $1.2 trillion of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual has no shareholders. The company focuses on its clients and seeks to deliver consistent and dependable value to them over time. Northwestern Mutual offers a holistic approach to financial security solutions.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Social Media Focused

Nomination Title: Click for Kids

Tell the story about this nominated campaign since January 1 2011 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

At four years old, Kyle should have been potty-trained and out having fun playing with other kids, but his autism held him back. Early intervention and 30-hours of intense therapy a week, thanks to Easter Seals, have helped to bring Kyle out of his shell. It’s programs like these that help to give children a level playing field.

Whether the goal is to help the next generation obtain access to life-changing programs and therapies, establish healthy habits, or give them the tools to succeed in school, Northwestern Mutual (NM) believes that helping our children is the right thing to do.

In 2011, NM took those ideals a step further by implementing Click for Kids, a Facebook-driven campaign that donated a total of $200,000 to three best-in-class nonprofits – Easter Seals, Action for Healthy Kids and Teach for America.

The five-month initiative was developed to pinpoint a creative solution that highlights the need to help children across the country succeed in their own lives.

NM used social media channels to get the word out. Here’s how the program worked:
• Consumers were asked to visit and Like NM's Facebook page.
• Visitors had the opportunity to watch video shorts highlighting each of the nonprofits, and vote for their favorite.
• A vote translated into a $10 gift from NM to the selected nonprofit.
• Visitors were encouraged to Share the campaign with their friends to help increase vote totals and spread the word.
• Each vote raised the donation total for that organization. Totals were tallied on NM’s Facebook page in real time.

Click for Kids launched on April 26, 2011 with its own creative look and feel, distinct logo and the tagline, You Vote, We Give. The campaign kicked off with a national news wire release and social engagement strategies and immediately, a flurry of excitement was created.

The featured nonprofits took advantage of the competitive situation and rallied their networks to vote on Facebook with referrals from Twitter, YouTube and the nonprofits’ marketing tools. During the first 24 hours of the campaign, Click for Kids and its rallying cry generated nearly 2,500 votes.

The campaign team used a national and localized promotion strategy to get the word out. Nonprofit and Field Force communications toolkits were developed, including campaign messaging, localized press release templates, social media messaging, email, website copy and a clickable graphic for email auto-signatures.

In the end, the campaign successfully raised $200,000 for Action for Healthy Kids ($24,560), Easter Seals ($47,110) and Teach For America ($128,330) to help support children across the country. The campaign also exceeded its communications metrics goals, including a 200 percent increase in the total Likes on NM’s Facebook page. Additionally, Click for Kids comprised nearly 50 percent of northwesternmutual.com’s Facebook referrals through August 2011.

In a business world where we often base our successes on metrics, it’s nice to think about important, basic measures, too. Today, thanks to the early intervention and therapy, Kyle is a student in a regular first grade class.
Upload a collection of supporting files and web addresses to our server to provide more background information to the judges. You may upload any number of attachments and URLs through the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above. (Do NOT list your URLs below.)

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that carried out this campaign:

Kimberley Goode is vice president of communications and corporate affairs and a member of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation Board. Goode joined Northwestern Mutual in 2008 and has more than 20 years experience in corporate communications with global companies.

She is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and a member of the board of trustees for the Arthur W. Page Society, the board of directors for Action for Healthy Kids and the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Milwaukee executive committee. Goode and her husband Andre have three children and reside in the Milwaukee North Shore area.