Another year is winding down and the PR News Agency has dispensed another set of Elite Awards to firms in twenty-nine categories. Every agency and firm nominated for a 2014 Elite Award showed outstanding innovation and client satisfaction and the winner of each category truly had a great year. However, winners in three categories deserve special mention for their hard work and fresh approach to PR.
In the category of Marketing to Women, the clear winner was 5W Public Relations. 5W took on client Rowenda Beauty, who was making a push finto the North American market. 5W developed a unique strategy that made use of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in to showcase Rowenda and its product line to models, spectators and industry leaders alike.
They placed special emphasis on reaching out to editors and showing how Rowenda could be incorporated into their publications. 5W's close competitors included 451 Marketing's launch campaign for Mom Meet Mom, Nebo's Engages and Inspires Women campaign for LiviRae Lingerie, The Bromley Group for Curvy Couture Lingerie and Powell Tate for the National Women's Law Center.
In the Public Affairs category, the 2014 PR Elite Award went to APCO Worldwide. APCO teamed up with the US Travel Association to tackle the growing problem of lengthy lines at U.S. Immigration entry points. A relentless Twitter campaign reached an estimated 10 million people and drove extensive traffic to the US Travel Association website. Evidence of the campaign's success can be found in the travel revisions included in the 2014 Omnibus Spending Bill passed by Congress. APCO Worldwide was joined in the category by Davies Public Affairs and by Resolute Consulting, who managed public relations for the Traffic Safety Coalition of Ohio.
In the category of Integrated Communications, two firms share the Elite Award. MGSCOMM ran the campaign for MilkPEP. By directing the campaign toward the fast-growing Hispanic population, their Project Breakfast campaign was a major success. The "El Super Desayuno" television commercial, developed in conjunction with the Got Milk? campaign, was one of the top-ranked TV ads of the year.
Waggener Edstrom Communications shares the award for their work for T-Mobile. Instead of making excuses for what T-Mobile lacked compared to the bigger carriers, Waggener Edstrom relentlessly highlighted what T-Mobile does better. This garnered T-Mobile an estimated 2.1 million new wireless subscribers. Eastwick, The Horn Group, PACO and Rbb Public relations' Digital Park were also nominated in the category.
