If there’s one thing most communicators can do, it’s write a good article. Even when one looks past the emotional wallop of the story, the grace and style of the writing stands out in “‘My God, it’s better’: Emma can write again thanks to a prototype watch, raising hope for Parkinson’s disease,” which has taken first place in the “Article” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Content Marketing Awards.

The story ran on Microsoft’s new blog, Transform. The article focused on Emma Lawton, a graphic designer whose ability to hold and use a pen was compromised by Parkinson’s disease. Her friend, Haiyan Zhang—a fellow London resident and a Microsoft researcher—sought a way to help, and wound up designing a Windows 10 tablet connected to a watch that vibrates in a manner that “hacks the brain,” causing Lawton’s brain to focus on her right wrist, “apparently reducing the brain’s messages to that spot.” 

For the first time in a long time, Lawton was able to write letters and draw lines. The article deftly combines multiple elements—Lawton and Zhang’s friendship, their backgrounds, the technology and the devastating effects of Parkinson’s disease—into a cohesive, compelling story, enhanced with powerful images that included some of the words and lines Lawton was able to produce thanks to the prototype device.

Congratulation to Bill Briggs for a moving and inspirational article.

Cisco Systems’ #WeAreCisco recruiting effort has always been composed completely from employee-generated content. Part of its 2017 effort included the second annual #LoveWhereYouWork contest, which encourages employee sharing about why they think Cisco is a great place to work. It’s the winner in the “Talent Recruitment” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Content Marketing Awards.

The contest was held in February, but a second installment took place in May. That contest started with a single question at the final all-employee meeting of 2016, in which an employee asked the CEO if Cisco could show off its geek pride by celebrating #Maythe4th. (For those unacquainted with this unofficial geek holiday, the full Star Wars-themed expression is “May the 4th be with you.”) The CEO agreed and assigned an executive sponsor to the effort. 

The contest featured employees sharing their reasons why Cisco is a great place to work, this time replete with Star Wars costumes and props. The event commenced with the ringing of the opening bell at NASDAQ, which shared some employee posts on its Times Square tower. Local employees posed for some of their photos in Times Square. 

Two Facebook Live events added momentum, along with content on Snapchat and Instagram Stories. There was even a faux job description for a Jedi Knight, which attracted 25,500 visits and 103 actual replies (generating responses from Cisco, which added the candidates’ information to its database). 

Overall, the campaign inspired more than 400 employee entries to share the relevant hashtags. @WeAreCisco trended on May 4th. 

For a truly innovative recruitment campaign, congratulations to Macy Andrews, Carmen Collins, Casie Shimansky, Anjali Bhatia, Katie Metzler, Sarah McCall, Nan Davis, Ally Taylor, Rowan Trollope and Danna Christensen.

Among other things, Tex-Mex restaurant chain Tijuana Flats is known for the murals that grace the walls of its locations in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Tijuana Flats found an innovative way to draw customer attention to the murals, and along the way won first place in the “Customer Engagement” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Content Marketing Awards.

With the NCAA’s annual basketball tournament “March Madness” about to commence, Tijuana Flats launched its own version of the tournament’s famous brackets, using murals instead of teams. 

Fans voted for their favorite murals (or commented on a contest-related social media post) to be entered into a drawing for a gift card. The contest featured eight rounds showcasing murals from 125 stores. 

The campaign resulted in posts reaching 125,500 people on Facebook; the chain increased its Facebook follower count by 3,260. 

Congratulations to Tijuana Flats for a creative way to drive customer engagement.

In mid-2016, the Tekserve computer repair shop in New York City auctioned off everything after its 30 years in business, including its co-founder’s private collection of Apple Computer products dating back three decades. MacPaw, a software developer that makes applications for Mac, acquired the collection and shipped it to its headquarters in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. For its action, MacPaw has won first place in the “Brand Loyalty” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Content Marketing Awards.

Tekserve predated official Apple stores by a decade and, unlike today’s glossy, high-tech stores with their genius bars, Tekserve focused more on the tech history, including the co-founder’s 35-piece collection, which he called “the Mac Museum.” 

MacPaw bought the entire collection, including a Macintosh 128K autographed by Stephen Wozniak and more than 40 classic Macintosh devices from Lisa and NeXT Cube, and created its own museum in its headquarters, making the machines available to the public. By producing a video about the Apple museum (along with a blog entry), MacPaw attracted the attention of tech media, which covered the story. 

Congratulations to Julia Petryk, Jane Palash and Oleksandr Kosovan for preserving the history tied up in those machines that are so meaningful to Apple fans.

Marriott Hotels was well aware of the global gaming phenomenon Pokémon Go; players were sharing their exploits across multiple social media channels, including those creatures captured in Marriott hotel rooms, pools, meeting spaces, restaurants and other spaces in and around the company’s thousands of properties. Its effort to tap into the craze has won Marriott first place in the “Brand Awareness” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Content Marketing Awards.

M Live, Marriott’s real-time social media command center, kept track of all the activity. When Nick Johnson became the first person to capture all the Pokémon characters in the United States, Marriott Rewards enabled his quest to capture all 145 characters in other countries.

The M Live team found and spread content from Johnson and others, producing massive visibility for Marriott and its Marriott Rewards loyalty program. 

Marriott concentrated on Twitter and Snapchat, where conversation around Pokémon Go was particularly high and where the organization was afforded the best opportunity for organic reach. Word of the quest reached the mainstream media with help from Marriott’s PR team. Ultimately, more than 800 news outlets around the world covered the story, contributing to more than 280 million PR impressions (including 9 million from Twitter alone). 

The total cost of the campaign was just $3,325 for Johnson’s travel to three continents (which did ultimately net him the complete Pokémon set). 

Congratulations to Matthew Glick, Nicole Galbraith, Adam Kravitz, Karin Timpone, Tony Chow, Vanessa Saw, Nathalie Lun, Cecilia Giraud, Bianca Kauffeld, Olivia Donnan, Osama Hirzalla, Sara Conneighton and John Wolf

Health First, a community health care system located in Melbourne, Florida, got a letter from Kathy Taylor. Taylor’s son, a heroin addict, had died of heart failure at a Health First hospital in October 15. Taylor wrote to thank the nurses who had helped her son. A video using the letter’s words has won first place for “Best Overall Video” in PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

The first idea was to read the letter at a leadership meeting, but it was so powerful that the marketing and communications team decided to take it to another level. The team contracted with an actress to read the letter, which was used as narration over a montage of photos of Health First nurses from throughout the system. 

The result is a powerful, gripping video whose results surpass the most ambitious hospital videos, generating more than 860,000 views on YouTube. It was shared on Facebook more than 24,000 times (the team had set a goal of 500 shares). The news media reported on the video. The team also distributed DVD copies to every nurse in the system and created a website, www.HFnurses.org, to honor them. 

Combined with a voice that grabs you, the video achieves more than many videos produced with larger budgets and bigger built-in audiences. 

Congratulations to Health First’s Jeni Hatter and Matt Gerrell. 

Be Vocal: Speak Up for Mental Health has delivered a wide range of outstanding, high-performing content. In addition to a documentary film, social media and other engaging content the initiative has produced, a collection of photos has earned Be Vocal first place in the “Photography” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

Sunovion Pharmaceuticals partnered with five leading mental health advocacy groups, singer and mental health advocate Demi Lovato and various creative professionals, including photojournalist and documentarian Shaul Schwarz, to bring the Be Vocal photography collection to life in an effort to empower adults living with a mental health condition to speak up for themselves and as a community to advance mental health in America. 

The Be Vocal Collection features 10 people living well with various mental health conditions, “showing what mental health can look like when people get the support they need—while also acknowledging the challenges of mental illness.” The photos were shot by Schwarz and developed in partnership with Getty Images to create a collection that is free for editorial use, and which strives to reframe how mental health is portrayed.  Be Vocal won the award because of the stunning quality of these images and how effectively they convey the ideas developed in the initiative concept. 

Nearly 275 media stories were published about The Collection, accounting for more than 819 million traditional media impressions. In addition, social media has delivered over 352 million impressions. 

Congratulations to Maureen Sheltry (Sunovion Pharmaceuticals), and Keri McDonough, Stephanie Budnick, Chaz Cox, Devonne Sutton, Rebecca O’Neill, Amy Rosenfeld, Zohra Roy, Samantha Polansky, Sydney Shale and Allison Predmore (Biosector 2).

Having conquered social media, the Talent Brand Team at Cisco Systems turned its attention to the careers page on the Cisco website. The team had completely rocked social media with sophisticated, employee-centric strategies, but it knew that the website still represented the first contact many candidates have with the organization. In confronting the challenges, Cisco has taken first place in the “Website Design” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

The challenge for the website was the same as in social media: Change the perception of Cisco as a stodgy tech dinosaur into one of an organization with the vibe of a cool new startup. Research came first; an extensive discovery effort and audit of the website revealed areas for improvement. The team used road-mapping sessions and usability testing to identify such problems as unnecessarily complex navigation and a design that didn’t represent the talent brand the team had built.

One particular insight drove the team’s approach to a solution: People look at jobs first, and then seek to learn more about the organization. Three foundational elements drove the strategy for the redesign: users, navigation and brand expression. The new design is consistent with the themes refined and perfected on social media: “Be you, with us. #WeAreCisco.” 

The copy and visuals on the new careers home page shine the spotlight on “employees with pink hair, tattoos, with their skateboards and their teams,” according to Cisco. Employee photos serve as content anchors, presenting the Cisco workplace as one defined by its culture, values and people. 

The refocus of the site has paid off, with 80,000 unique visitors each month who stay on the site 20 percent longer than before. Cisco has also dropped its bounce rate by 20 percent and increased mobile traffic by 7 percent. 

Congratulations to Talent Brand Team members Macy Andrews and Ray Leung for their redesign.

The Thomas Collective, a full-service agency, had worked with AZO to introduce its urinary health products to women 18–34  years old, with Facebook as the channel for addressing urinary tract infections and remedies for yeast infections. The agency created a persona, AZO Girl, “a sassy superhero with an accessible voice.” The character’s success, particularly in moving from Facebook to Instagram, has won The Thomas Collective first place in the “Social Media Design” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.  

AZO Girl became a popular figure on Facebook, increasing engagement by 600 percent in the first year of the campaign. AZO was reluctant, though, to expand beyond Facebook despite the fact that fans were spending more and more time on other platforms. 

Finally given the green light to test other social media waters, the agency took a deep dive into Instagram while evaluating audience behaviors on Facebook. Armed with the results of their research, the team of eight agency staffers refined the AZO Girl persona to accommodate Instagram’s unique characteristics, then developed campaigns that were true to the AZO Girl voice, including “TMI: Facts about Urinary and Vaginal Health,” “Ditch the Itch” and “Things You Can Do This Summer When You Don’t Have a UTI.” 

The agency also created a visual persona specifically for the organization’s Instagram presence, developed an Instagram sweepstakes series and used paid Instagram ads to extend the reach of the campaigns. The effort paid off, with engagement costs 83 percent lower than on Facebook, and actual engagement 250 percent higher. Followers grew at a 50 percent faster clip than anticipated. So effective was the campaign that AZO extended the Instagram-focused visual style to its website.

Congratulations to the team at The Thomas Collective.

Every industry has a conference, and the world of Special Operations Forces is no exception. The Special Operations Forces Industry Conference needed a design to run through all of its communications and collateral—and the visually arresting result has won first place in the “Marketing Design” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

The Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) is “the premier venue for the SOF community to interact with industry and to collaborate on the challenges, initiatives and way-ahead in delivering the most cutting-edge capabilities into the hands of SOF operators,” according to the National Defense Industry Association (NDIA).

Reflecting the secrecy of SOF warriors, the design featured silhouettes of actual SOF operators. It was produced to be used across multiple media, from tiny app icons to massive convention center tapestries. The colors were adapted from the official U.S. Special Operations Command logo, linking the conference to USSOCOM’s marketing materials. 

NDIA also developed a fully responsive website that delivered a first-rate mobile experience as well as a conference app. Among the metrics used to evaluate the design’s effectiveness: Exhibitor profile views on the app increased 272 percent, floor plan views rose 172 percent and sponsor views doubled. A more subjective evaluation was offered by attendees wowed by the branding that appeared on the stage and ceiling during the conference’s networking event and concert.

Congratulations to NDIA’s Christine Klein, Scott Rekdal, Allison Carpenter, Hannah Meushaw and Eve Dorris.

JDA Software’s internal communications team took a lighthearted approach to alleviating anxiety among its sales staff, which faced the introduction of a new tool for configuring and pricing products and tracking approval processes. The team’s video introduction of the tool has won first place in the “Internal Communications Design” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

Sales associates found the prospect of the new tool, called CPQ (for “Configure, Price, Quote”) scary, so communicators adopted the “scary” theme and deployed it across a microsite, internal emails, the organization’s Yammer groups, environmental design assets including posters, clings and cardboard cutouts, employee “survival packs” featuring t-shirts and temporary tattoos and more. 

The campaign kicked off with headlines and visuals that poked fun at the idea that CPQ was “Scary as #&%!” For the software’s global kickoff, the team created a video that emulated classic horror films, again playing on the “scary” theme, featuring actual sales associates and scenes from vintage horror movies. 

The team assessed the campaign’s effectiveness with two surveys, finding that 90 percent of respondents said they actually looked forward to the new tool, a 23 percent increase. Additionally, 95 percent said they understood the reasons for implementing CPQ (a 28 percent increase) and 83 percent said they were confident they could get the support they needed when adopting CPQ (a 30 percent increase). The 90 percent of employees who said they believed JDA Software was fully committed to keeping the change in place represented an amazing 80 percent increase.

Kudos to team members Ross West and Aaron Enright.

Maviner, a software organization involved in cloud-native networking solutions, contracted with the PR agency Matter for an infographic to showcase at the Mobile World Congress, the mobile industry’s largest gathering. The results have won Matter and Maviner first place in the “Infographic” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

Maviner wanted an infographic that would focus on the vulnerabilities of the mobile network, drawing information from a variety of surveys and reports and condensing the data into an easy-to-digest visual that would catch the eyes of attendees passing by the Mavenir booth.

Mavenir and Matter also had bigger plans in mind, planning to deconstruct and repurpose the infographic for use in a variety of channels, including an animated motion-graphic video that would also have its debut at the Mobile World Congress. It would also be used for a series of social media posts.

Developing the infographic meant adopting a style that would translate to video as well as smaller, independent social media posts. “The design team created minimalist icons that reflected many of the styles associated with the tech industry,” Matter says. “Every new data point was presented in a modular fashion that could translate more easily to video and social posts later on.” 

The tower-format infographic itself is a strong standalone piece, easily scanned and conveying complex data concepts in simple images with very light but compelling text.  Watching the video demonstrates just how well the design team executed its vision and helped the Mavenir booth draw a crowd from among the 2,300 exhibitors Mavenir competed with for conference-goer attention. 

Congratulations to Matter’s Matt Brown and Nicole Bedard.

The communications department at Cherokee Nation Businesses is nothing if not ambitious. The department has raised the bar for video series with “Osiyo, Voices of the Cherokee People,” which has been in production since 2014. Now it’s won first place in the “Video Series” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

The series of 30-minute episodes profiles Cherokee Nation citizens, highlights events and figures from history and passes on the Cherokee language. Underlying the production is a fervent desire to set the record straight and correct misperceptions about Cherokees through documentary-style stories, language segments, history segments and news shorts. 

The series is broadcast across Oklahoma through a partnership with local public television station RSU-TV, as well as OETA, Oklahoma’s statewide PBS station, the FNX Network, which specializes in Native American media, and FNX.org. The series is also posted to YouTube and the show’s own website. 

The content itself is beautifully and professionally produced, rivaling the documentary-type productions of much better-funded enterprises. That quality has resulted in nearly 1.5 million views on YouTube alone, representing 4.4 million minutes watched; 7,500 people subscribe to the YouTube channel to be notified when new episodes are available. The Facebook page has 25,000 followers. 

Congratulations to the communications team at Cherokee Nation Businesses (a wholly-owned corporation of the Cherokee Nation) for “Osiyo.” 

Esurance is routinely outspent in its marketing efforts by its competitors. Seeking a way to raise awareness and generate some buzz around its brand, the organization partnered with the Scott Brothers, DIY influencers who have built a fan base through their social media presence as home and garden experts. The partnership has earned Esurance first place in the “Use of Celebrity or Personality” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

The concept: the Scott Brothers and Esurance can help protect consumers’ homes and cars. Working in a single 12-hour period, the Scott Brothers starred in seven home and auto music videos in which the pair offered a number of consumer tips, from determining when to replace car tires to keeping a rug from slipping on wood floors.

The integrated campaign took advantage of owned, earned and digital media. Two media exclusives (with Entertainment Tonight and People LIVE) set the campaign in motion, followed by a Facebook-centric social media strategy. People were driven to the Facebook content through the Esurance website, blog posts, digital ads, customer communications and emails. The videos were released every two weeks for 14 weeks, with the Scott Brothers posting the videos and bonus content to their own Facebook pages. 

The “DIY Ditties” campaign—produced by Esurance with help from Leo Burnett Chicago and MSL Group Chicago—delivered 21 million social media impressions and a whopping 21,000 Facebook shares for the first video alone. The campaign’s media outreach delivered another 1.1 billion earned media impressions. 

During the 14 weeks of the campaign, a total of 152 million social media impressions and 73,000 Facebook shares were recorded. Even more impressive, a brand lift study found 4-5 percent increases in consumer confidence in Esurance.

Congratulations to all involved.

FIORA is a fast-growing tissue brand with a range of products, including toilet paper, paper towels and facial tissue. To differentiate itself from the competition, FIORA worked with advertising and PR agency RIESTER to develop a stop motion semi-animated video that succeeded admirably on all counts, earning first place in the “Stop Motion Video” category of PR Daily’s 2017 Video and Visual Awards.

Fiora wanted a campaign that would convey the key product attributes it wanted consumers to recognize: soft, strong, absorbent and earth-friendly. The RIESTER team employed an inventive approach in which an actress flies through a paper-made world. The natural elements in this fantasy world—including birds, flowers and trees—were all handmade using FIORA products and added to the commercial as 3D images. 

The actress was suspended from a harness in midair to emulate her flight through an earth-friendly paper world featuring balloons made from toilet paper roles and an umbrella and bridge constructed of paper towels. It was important to show a wide range of products, because FIORA’s research found that its customers are loyal and often buy more than one of its products. 

The commercial was produced in Spanish and English and repurposed for pre-rolls, mobile ads, native advertising, social media, PR and search engine marketing. The animated video was uploaded to YouTube, where it has been viewed 12,000 times, in addition to the nearly 20 million impressions the advertising campaign accrued. 

Congratulations to the team of Tom Ortega, Samara Byrne, Mike Rushing, Ben Dverin, Stephanie Fleming and Maggie Arambula.