WEBER SHANDWICK WINS PRSA ANVIL AWARDS

The Twin Cities office of Weber Shandwick won a Bronze Anvil award, one Bronze Anvil Award of Commendation and two Silver Anvil Awards of Commendation from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) at the annual awards event on June 14 in New York.

"We truly value this recognition from peers throughout our industry," Sara Gavin, president of Weber Shandwick’s Twin Cities office. "These honors are a testament to our clients’ imagination and forward thinking and our shared commitment to creativity and professionalism."

Weber Shandwick received a Bronze Anvil Award in the “More Than 17 Pages” category and a Bronze Anvil Award of Commendation in the “External Video Programs” category for “Forward: Living Life After Transplant” on behalf of the National Marrow Donor Program’s® (NMDP) Office of Patient Advocacy. The NMDP challenged Weber Shandwick to develop a compelling way to educate patients ages 14 to 23 about what to expect – medically, emotionally and socially – from a blood cell or bone marrow transplant. The brochure, paired with a video, featured transplant survivors’ personal stories as well as comments from family, friends and medical experts who explained the complex medical issues the patients faced.

Weber Shandwick received two Silver Anvil Awards of Excellence in the categories of Public Service and Integrated Communications for its work with The Allstate Foundation and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Weber Shandwick's program, Keep the Drive, for The Allstate Foundation involved educating and empowering teens and their peers to make smart driving decisions. The grassroots, teen-led movement challenges teens to become advocates for safe driving and reverse the rising number of automotive fatalities that are their number one killer.

On behalf of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Weber Shandwick developed an integrated “surround-sound” approach – mobilizing national and local financial institutions, community-based organizations, police departments, elected officials and religious organizations as “trusted voices” on the Treasury’s behalf – to create a national campaign designed to convert Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients from dependence on paper checks to direct deposit. The high-profile, branded Go Direct campaign unites grassroots outreach with media relations, Web relations and direct mail to change the behavior of hard-to-reach, hard-to-convert check recipients.