Legacy
Company: Legacy, Washington, DC
Company Description: Legacy is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit - helping American live longer, healthier lives. Legacy develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Public Service
Nomination Title: truth® Orange Summer and Fall Tours 2010
Tell the story about this nominated campaign since January 1 2010 (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:
Program Objectives:
Celebrating its ten-year anniversary in 2010, Legacy's truth® campaign is the
nation's largest youth smoking prevention campaign. Each year, the truth tour
reaches more than 500,000 teens in markets across the country, seeking to save
lives by reducing the number of young adults who begin smoking.
Tour Goals include:
• Prevent youth ages 12-24 (12-17 primarily) from becoming tobacco users, by
educating and engaging teens.
• Keep truth top-of-mind with media, policymakers, potential partners and the
public.
Challenges:
• The truth tour travels daily. Successful outreach requires advanced planning;
daily pitching; and coordination with field staff to address potential
logistical/crisis issues.
• "Issue Fatigue": The misperception exists that the smoking issue has been
well-documented.
• 2010 marked the eleventh truth tour; fresh pitch angles were needed to
maintain interest.
• Outreach funds are limited; the amount the tobacco industry spends daily on
marketing exceeds the annual truth marketing/communications budget.
Execution:
Running June through October, daily planning and media relations involving
in-house and agency resources reached markets through localized outreach.
Online & Social Media
• truth crew members sent updates from tour stops via @truthorange and the PR
team sent updates to journalists via @truthPR on Twitter. Crew members uploaded
photos of tour activities to flickr.
• Published two news releases with interactive links to photos and videos; the
summer release alone garnered pick-up in more than 298 publications.
• Shared photos with local media's Web sites. Grassroots:
• 14 young adults served as crew members, making stops in more than 70 cities
and 30 states.
• Crew members educated thousands of teens, handed out educational truth "gear",
and utilized music and games to spread truth messages.
Media Outreach
• Professionally media-trained crew members.
• Produced localized media materials for each tour market.
• Produced an RMT, and b-roll package with tour footage and sound bites from
Legacy spokespeople and crew members.
• Produced and pitched Spanish-language and Asian American-focused releases to
ethnic media.
Evaluation of Success/Results:
Objective 1- Research continues to prove the efficacy of the campaign in
changing teen's attitudes, behaviors and beliefs towards tobacco:
• A December 2010 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found
that the reach of the truth campaign extends beyond its primary audience of
youth ages 12-17. Awareness levels reached as high as 68 percent among young
adults aged 18 to 24 years old.
Objective 2 - awareness of truth
• Media impressions for the tour totaled more than 35 million.
• truth tour reached more than 500,000 teens; distributed more than 33,000
pieces of gear and collected more than 42,000 emails.
• Ten-year anniversary events were held on Capitol Hill (attracting more than 75
Hill staffers and one U.S. Senator) in July; crew members conducted a half-dozen
briefings with Congressional staff. A thought leadership session, The Future of
Youth Marketing, saw speakers from MTV and The Washington Post; more than 375
in-person and Webcast attendees.
List hyperlinks to any online work samples, news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
http://www.thetruth.com/
truth in the News: http://www.legacyforhealth.org/2944.aspx
truth Press Releases: http://www.legacyforhealth.org/2944.aspx[
truth Press Kit: [http://www.legacyforhealth.org/2952.aspx
truth Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/truthPR
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that carried out this campaign:
SVP of Communications Julia Cartwright leads a team of communications
professionals devoted to raising awareness about the deadly toll tobacco takes
on our nation. She develops media partnerships with news organizations, creates
public education campaigns about tobacco use, and leads executive communications
efforts and organizational branding. Cartwright spearheaded a campaign
partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters, Code Blue for Lung
Cancer, to raise awareness about the nation's number one cancer killer: lung
cancer. She joined Legacy in 2002 after leading communications for the National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children, helping that organization grow into an
internationally-respected organization.