Company: USA North 811, Concord, CA
Company Description: USA North 811 is the non-profit "Call 811 before you dig" center for Northern & Central California and Nevada. We promote the awareness of the 3-digit phone number 811. Prior to digging, you are required to call 811 to have your utility lines marked out, this way you can avoid potential dangers underground such as gas & electric lines while digging.
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Categories - Specialty
Nomination Sub Category: Small-Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year (<$3 million)

Nomination Title: Call 811 Kentucky Derby & Triple Crown Campaign

Tell the story of this nominated marketing campaign for the judges (up to 650 words). Describe the genesis, planning, execution, and results to date of your campaign.

The Genesis of Our Campaign:

USA North 811 is a non-profit call 811 before you dig call center serving Northern & Central California and Nevada. Our main goal is to create awareness of the free National 3-digit phone number, 811, across our coverage area by prompting everyone to call 811 before they dig to have underground utility lines located and identified before digging or excavating in the ground. When you call 811 before you dig you are protecting yourself, your family and surrounding neighborhood by avoiding these potential underground disasters, like gas and electric lines, that if struck or damaged can sometimes have fatal results. Since our message is very utilitarian, and doesn’t have much pizazz on its own, we crafted an idea to get the “Call 811” message into the fastest two minutes in sports, the Kentucky Derby. With California being one of the top states involved in horse racing, and our target audience (male contractors & excavators) being some of the top viewers and followers of sporting events and coverage, it was a natural fit.

Planning:

The idea was simple: advertise the “Call 811” message on the pants of one of the jockeys in the 140th running of the Kentucky Derby, with the hopes that our jockey would win the derby and with that win help spread the message to a National audience. With two members of our team connected to the horse racing community, making connections with the jockeys and their agents was fairly easy. Ultimately we settled on reaching out to jockey Victor Espinoza who was riding a horse named California Chrome in the upcoming Kentucky Derby.

Execution:

With our jockey targeted, we began negotiations with Victor to wear our message on his pants while riding California Chrome in the 2014 Kentucky Derby. Negotiations went smoothly and we were able to settle on a figure of $30,000 for his services to ride our message on his pants during the race.

Results:

With our “Call 811” message emblazoned on his pant legs, Victor Espinoza and California Chrome won the 2014 Kentucky Derby, generating record levels interest and awareness for our “Call 811” message. After the success of the Kentucky Derby, we reached a deal with Victor Espinoza to continue to ride the “Call 811” message on his pants for the remaining two legs of horse racing’s Triple Crown; the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. We negotiated a price of $100,000 for the final two races in the Triple Crown. With 811 aboard, Victor and California Chrome went win the 2014 Preakness Stakes as well as finish 4th in the 2014 Belmont Stakes, falling just short of the first Triple Crown win in 36 years. Throughout this entire process and campaign we have seen record numbers related to “Call 811” and related this increase in awareness solely to the Kentucky Derby & Triple Crown campaign. This campaign alone generated the following numbers:

$15 million in total media value earned during the Triple Crown run

15 million viewers on NBC for the Kentucky Derby

10 million viewers on NBC for the Preakness Stakes

21 million viewers on NBC for the Belmont Stakes

Over 600 million media impressions (tv, print, web, social, etc)

Quadrupled all National “Call 811” exposure from 2013

Overall call811.com traffic up 71% on Kentucky Derby Day, up 105% on Preakness Stakes day, and up 334% on Belmont Stakes day

Call 811 online searches via google, yahoo, etc. up 596%

811 call volume up over 30% in California and Nevada

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief features and results of the nominated campaign (up to 150 words).

- $15 million in total media value earned during the Triple Crown run
- 15 million viewers on NBC for the Kentucky Derby
- 10 million viewers on NBC for the Preakness Stakes
- 21 million viewers on NBC for the Belmont Stakes
- Over 600 million media impressions (tv, print, web, social, etc)
- Quadrupled all National “Call 811” exposure from 2013
- Overall call811.com traffic up 71% on Kentucky Derby Day, up 105% on Preakness Stakes day, and up 334% on Belmont Stakes day
-Call 811 online searches via google, yahoo, etc. up 596%
- 811 call volume up over 30% in California and Nevada