Last night I attended the annual PRSA Silver Anvil awards, which honor the best PR campaigns. The auditorium was full of talented professionals who obviously deserved recognition.
I loved the band, which played a song for every award winner based on the name of their entry. For example, an Alzheimer’s campaign elicited “Who are You” (though that does seem a little wrong).
But my big takeaway was that some of these PR campaigns really are about improving our lives, not just making a profit or strengthening a brand. The top award went to AT&T’s “It Can Wait” campaign to end texting while driving.
The elements were so powerful that AT&T’s competitors–Verizon, Spring and T-Mobile–joined in. And data showed that several states were projected to have fewer accidents and deaths as a result of texting while driving.
Now that’s some good PR.