French/West/Vaughan Wins Scoops Two Bronze Anvil Awards

French/West/Vaughan (FWV), a leading PR and Brand Communications agency based in the US, has been recognized for its superior performance in the design and execution of individual tactics in a broader PR campaign with not just one, but two, highly-coveted Bronze Anvil Awards from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

FWV received the 2012 Bronze Anvil Awards at the 2012 Silver Anvil Awards Evening in New York on June 7. The two awards were bestowed upon the agency in recognition of its successes with its Melitta Private Café Collection Escape campaign in the “Word-of-Mouth” category, and its redesign of The V Foundation for Cancer Research website in the “Websites” category.

Melitta USA called upon FWV to help it engage centers of influence in the Philadelphia market by developing a new “buzz-worthy” promotion for its Café Collection coffee brand. FWV’s targeted PR campaign sought to achieve the core objectives of providing an indulgent, one-on-one “Private Café” experience to Café Collection’s customers in the city, whilst also increasing the affinity, reach and purchase intent of the brand.

Over a period of three days, FWV’s team of specially trained marketing experts successfully engaged with thousands of people on the streets of Philadelphia, whilst the agency simultaneously launched a traditional advertising blitz in the city. FWV’s promotional efforts proved to be a runaway success, helping Café Collection to achieve a 35% increase in sales compared to the same period of the previous year.

FWV also excelled in its services provided to The V Foundation for Cancer Research (TVF), a charity that dedicates itself to finding a cure for cancer. The agency was tasked with the redesign and programming of the TVF’s jimmyv.org website, in order to make it easier for visitors to make donations, find and register for events, and listed to the famous ESPY speech by Jim Valvano.

FWV once again surpassed all expectations, by not only completing the redesign to the highest satisfaction of the client, but also by producing a new video for the site which explained what the organization hopes to achieve whilst emphasizing the key reasons to donate to TVF. In addition, FWV introduced ‘easy access’ tabs to make the ESPN’s Jimmy V Week for Cancer Research feature of the site more accessible to users of mobile devices.

These additions, together with a careful overhaul of the site’s aesthetics and functionality, helped TVF to increase its online donations by more than 12% compared to the same four-month period in the previous year.

Rick French, Chairman and CEO of FWV, spoke of his delight in the company’s recognition at the award ceremony:

“We are honored to receive two Bronze Anvil Awards from the largest organization of public relations professionals and students in the nation. These esteemed awards are a testament to the committed and talented team of professionals that I am proud to call my colleagues.”

The Bronze Anvil Awards represent the pinnacle of achievement in the US public relations industry, having been created by the PRSA in 1969 to provide recognition of the nation’s best public relations tactics each year. Bronze Anvil Awards are given away across a total of 65 categories – representing the components that make up broader PR campaigns – including Newsletters, Media Relations, Feature Stories, Podcasts, Press Kits, Blogs and Word-of-Mouth.