Savoir Media Co.

Company: Savoir Media Co., Belmont, MA
Company Description: Savoir Media is a strategic communications firm that helps companies tell their most compelling stories. Whether in print, online, on radio or on TV -- in blogs, in a speech, or in marketing collateral - our stories make people want to learn more about our clients. Every story we write is based on fact, and our clients trust us because our stories clearly reflect their credibility and integrity.
Nomination Category: Media & Marketing Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications Campaign of the Year - For-Profit

Nomination Title: Savoir Media Co.'s Public Relations Campaign: Tackling Childhood Obesity

Describe for the judges the objectives, activities, and results of the nominated communications campaign (up to 500 words):

More than a third of U.S. children are overweight or obese. At Savoir Media, we
were appalled to learn that statistic.

As parents, our hearts go out to those children, who need to learn healthy
lifestyles now, or they risk a lifetime of health complications. Indeed, many
children are now struggling with adult diseases – Type 2 diabetes, heart disease –
because they haven’t been taught how to make healthy choices.

As career professionals, and citizens, we are concerned about the rising cost of
this epidemic. It will tax our country’s already overburdened healthcare system. It
will cost companies not only dollars in healthcare benefits, but time and
productivity.

It was with these thoughts in mind that we embarked on an ambitious, and
aggressive public relations and marketing campaign that blanketed the Greater
Boston area with news and information about the dangers of childhood obesity.

Savoir Media was hired by Great Moves!, a pediatric weight management program
in Newton, Massachusetts, which was formed in collaboration with the physicians
of Children’s Hospital Boston. The media program launched the business and
increased awareness about the perils of the pediatric obesity epidemic. Highly
successful, the coverage was vast for Great Moves!, and the issue of childhood
obesity. The hits included:

Media Relations and Training:
•Great Moves!, which was launched with an exclusive feature on the front page of
The Boston Globe’s Business section, also appeared in:

New England Cable News (NECN): Featured health segment

WCVB-TV Channel 5, Boston’s ABC Affiliate: Featured health segment

Chronicle, Boston’s news magazine program: Featured in ½ program profiling
issue of childhood obesity

WBZ News Radio: Highlights of program featured in newscast

Pediatric News: Lead story, highlighting its innovative approach to the epidemic

Parents Magazine: Part of a special feature on teaching kids healthy lifestyles

Boston Parents Paper

Newton and Brookline Magazines: Feature profile stories

Newton TAB: Feature story

WUML radio, Lowell, MA: Featured guests, discussing the program’s innovative
approach

The Jewish Advocate

• Savoir Media also arranged for two members of the company’s senior
management team to write a column entitled “Building Healthy Lifestyles” in the
Wayland and Weston Town Crier newspapers.

Editorial Services:
• Savoir Media helped to develop a quarterly newsletter entitled, “Building Healthy
Lifestyles,” which was distributed to pediatricians and some residents in the
Greater Boston area.

Marketing:
• Savoir Media developed the concept for a poster campaign entitled, “Boston’s
New Red Line” that highlighted the importance of monitoring a child’s body mass
index to avoid obesity. Savoir Media also developed marketing collateral, including
brochures, BMI charts and advertisements that were distributed to pediatricians’
offices, schools and residents in the Greater Boston area.

• Savoir Media developed a series of radio ads that ran on WBZ News Radio about
childhood obesity, and the importance of families developing healthy lifestyles,
and provided media training to Great Moves! Clinical Director Suzanne Rostler, who
spoke on the ads.

• Savoir Media scheduled speaking opportunities, edited presentations, and
represented Great Moves! at trade shows.

List the URLs (web addresses) of any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that you would like the judges to see that support your entry. IMPORTANT: List each URL on a separate line, begin each URL with http://, and enclose each URL in square brackets. For example, [http://www.yourcompany.com/pressrelease.html]:

http://www.greatmoves.com
http://greatmoves.com/News_Events.html
http://www.bostonhealthexpo.com/dish/

Provide a brief biography of the person or persons who lead the team that created and carried out the nominated communications campaign (up to 100 words):

Christine Dunn worked at Bloomberg News for over a decade before starting Savoir
Media in 2006. Her positions at Bloomberg included North America
Consumer/Retail Team Leader and Bureau Chief of Boston, Bloomberg's second
largest market in North America.

Ms. Dunn graduated from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and has a
BA from Tufts University. She also earned certificates for Japanese language
study at Keio University and the International Conversation Academy in Tokyo.

Ms. Dunn has volunteered at the Center for Women and Enterprise in Boston,
counseling entrepreneurs on marketing strategies, and continues to write for
various publications.