Example Silver Anvil Case Studies

Brand Journalism: The Statement

BOK Financial used a research-informed business case to pitch brand journalism to leadership. Right as the initiative gained ground, the pandemic hit and derailed plans for a new owned content website. But the communications team persevered with the belief that owned content was a powerful avenue to build brand recognition, increase visibility for company experts and provide valuable information directly to audiences including commercial clients and prospects. After a makeshift approach for nearly a year, https://thestatement.bokf.com/ was launched. The content highlights all lines of business and geographies using a journalistic approach, which is promoted through a variety of channels.

From “Floating Petri Dish” to “Safer than Main Street” - Navigating the Pandemic, Regaining Trust and a Healthy Return to Sailing

In March 2020, as the pandemic surged worldwide, Royal Caribbean Group’s Corporate Communications team had to help restore an industry facing an existential challenge. As a result of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “No Sail Order,” cruise companies spent months navigating uncertain waters and the possibility of industry-wide bankruptcy. The effort to build confidence, provide reassurance and regain trust in the industry’s commitment to safety required an incredibly coherent communications machine that could change the narrative from “Floating Petri Dish” to “Safer than Main Street.” Royal Caribbean Group achieved this with a plan unlike any other.

From “Floating Petri Dish” to “Safer than Main Street” - Navigating the Pandemic, Regaining Trust and a Healthy Return to Sailing

In March 2020, as the pandemic surged worldwide, Royal Caribbean Group’s Corporate Communications team had to help restore an industry facing an existential challenge. As a result of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “No Sail Order,” cruise companies spent months navigating uncertain waters and the possibility of industry-wide bankruptcy. The effort to build confidence, provide reassurance and regain trust in the industry’s commitment to safety required an incredibly coherent communications machine that could change the narrative from “Floating Petri Dish” to “Safer than Main Street.” Royal Caribbean Group achieved this with a plan unlike any other.

World Thrombosis Day Helps the World Learn “How to Save a Life”

World Thrombosis Day is a global health campaign that aims to spread awareness of the signs, symptoms and risk factors of one of the leading causes of preventable death worldwide: thrombosis, commonly known as blood clots. Through a strategic public relations plan incorporating partner agencies across the globe, World Thrombosis Day effectively secured over 6.1 billion global impressions, inevitably saving lives from this potentially fatal and often misunderstood health condition.

Troy-Bilt Fence Talks Program

Troy-Bilt is on a mission to make yardwork less of a chore by being a helpful partner in the yard. Research revealed a serious need for content addressing common lawn and garden challenges, so Fence Talks launched in 2020 to meet that need. Influencers addressed yard questions driven by social listening insights, creating high engagement and building brand awareness during peak gardening season. Building initially on the pandemic lockdown-driven interest in outdoor projects, the program has continued through 2021 and has shown measurable increases in brand awareness, preference and perceptions of Troy-Bilt as helpful.

Pittsburgh's Catholic Schools Are Lighting the Way

Student enrollment in Pittsburgh’s Catholic schools was in a 10-year decline, marked by school closures, consolidations, and teacher layoffs. Worse still, the peak infection period of the Covid-19 pandemic was an “accelerant” fueling continued decline. The Diocese of Pittsburgh and OPR Group developed the Lighting the Way campaign to persuade parents of the important values and attributes of a Catholic education, overcome a decade of decline, and increase enrollment. Through an integrated marketing campaign of storytelling and strategic messaging, enrollment in Pittsburgh’s Catholic schools increased more than 12%, far surpassing public and private school enrollment during the same period.

The Greatest Delivery: UPS Healthcare Leads Worldwide COVID-19 Vaccine Logistics and Distribution

If COVID-19 was the global story for 2020, the rollout of the vaccines was its turning point – shifting the narrative from hardship to hope. As a preferred logistics provider, UPS saw this opportunity to showcase its role in a once-in-a-century, global event. UPS generated exposure for its growing healthcare services business, credit to the UPSers who made this massive effort possible, and support for philanthropic efforts to increase health equity worldwide. UPS met the moment – delivering more than one billion doses and generating 9,800 stories that positioned the company as a key driver of this century’s “greatest delivery.”

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Vaccines Bring Us Closer campaign

To provide a safe treatment environment for patients with cancer and catastrophic diseases, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital took decisive action and required all employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The institution’s mandate occurred when few in the region had made this difficult, and sometimes controversial, decision. Partnering with experts across the hospital over two months, the internal communications team developed an agile and analytical approach when addressing employee concerns. Using a variety of storytelling methods and educational materials to combat vaccine hesitancy and misinformation, the team successfully implemented tactics to achieve the institution’s goal of 98% employee vaccination adherence.

The SCN Coalition: Battling A Bug to Improve America’s Soybean Profitability and Sustainability

America’s farmers are waging war against the soybean cyst nematode (SCN) to improve profitability and sustainability by harvesting more soybeans from less acres. These parasitic roundworms feed on soybean roots, robbing 23% of the plant’s yield potential, requiring farmers to plant more acres to feed the world. Research showed many farmers were unaware of SCN’s resistance to their management until The SCN Coalition, a public/private partnership, created a campaign to help farmers actively manage SCN. To date, this campaign has motivated up to 18% more farmers to actively manage SCN, enabling them to farm more sustainably and profitably.

Schleich “Chief Storytelling Officer” Campaign

Animal figurine manufacturer, Schleich, sought holiday awareness with parents and demand from kids. Noting a conflict between the desires of the groups, Brilliant PR & Marketing sought to rally parents to give kids gifts that help them become change-makers while giving kids an unexpected way to get what they want. After searching for a kid to fill the role, Schleich’s new Chief Storytelling Officer drove the message home in a holiday video series. Coverage included a feature on The Kelly Clarkson Show. 19% of the brand’s audience reported seeing advertising during the campaign window and Schleich’s holiday sales increased 77%.

PEEPS® Makes a Triumphant Return to Shelves for Easter

PEEPS® was noticeably missing from stores since spring 2020 as the brand shut down the factory to prioritize employee safety. With many 2020 holiday traditions uprooted, PEEPS® wanted to make Easter 2021 one to remember with the biggest comeback of all time. Coyne PR helped develop a multi-faceted campaign to announce the brand’s return and leveraged social media, traditional media and influencers to sustain momentum and excitement ahead of Easter. New product announcements and unique partnerships like PEPSIxPEEPS® made it hard to miss this sweet comeback, hitting every major news outlet, and saturating news cycles from January through April!

Debuting the New Era of Local Good Center

Three Box client Chase Oaks Church created Local Good Center (LGC) to serve the North Texas community through advocacy, wellness, job readiness and education programming. The Center first opened its doors to the public in 2014, and due to an increase in demand, quadrupled its space and expanded its service offerings in 2021. Three Box was tasked with introducing the next generation of LGC to external audiences to build awareness, increase engagement and drive action around the new Center’s grand opening weekend on November 6. Our budget for this program was $7,000.

Alerting the World to MADE: Mask-Associated Dry Eye

Several weeks after COVID-19-related mask wear became widespread, eye doctors began noticing more patients presenting with dry eyes. Sensing this issue could have global clinical relevance, the Centre for Ocular Research & Education (CORE) at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, quickly developed a focused, 18-month communications program to alert the eyecare community and general population to mask-associated dry eye—MADE. Despite zero budget and an already overextended staff, a small team advanced the knowledge of medical peers on six continents, helped millions of consumers understand and counteract this new phenomenon, and gained worldwide exposure for CORE’s scientific expertise.

Stacy's Rise Project: FoundedByHer

Stacy’s Pita Chips is a female-founded brand and longtime advocate for female advancement. To launch the third Stacy’s Rise project, they focused their efforts on helping female founders be found through financial investment/executive mentorship for 10 selected founders, partnerships with Hello Alice and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, the creation of an online database for consumers to find and support female-owned businesses and through the distribution of an educational infographic. The program garnered 814MM+ media impressions, including interviews for the founders with top-tier media outlets.

Final phase rollout of curbside composting collection for Austin residents

In February 2021, Austin Resource Recovery (ARR), completed the fourth and final expansion of its curbside composting collection program. ARRs Public Information and Marketing Team (PIO) announced the final roll out in December of 2020 and began a year-long advertising and outreach campaign. The goal of the campaign was to inform residents and encourage participation. PIO’s advertising and community outreach were planned with environmental justice as one of the guiding principles. The campaign was highly effective, decreasing contamination from 2.8% to 1.25%, increasing the amount of diverted material and increasing the pounds of curbside compost collected.

My Health Can't Wait - A Global PR and Public Affairs Effort to Support Patients

After the successful 2020 launch of My Health Can't Wait, Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s global education initiative and online resource to help patients and providers safely navigate patient care during the pandemic, the campaign returned in 2021 with a more targeted focus. With a year’s understanding of how the pandemic prevents patients from receiving care, the campaign replicated its previous 360-degree-surround-sound amplification strategy through earned media, social promotion, and third-party engagement, but localized these efforts around the globe, in six key regions, calibrating outreach activities based on the region’s biggest needs, key patient populations, and most urgent therapeutic areas.

Falck Ambulance Unseats 23-Year Emergency Medical Service Incumbent –Twice

Southwest Strategies (SWS) led a comprehensive and successful public affairs campaign for its client, Falck, to unseat a 20+ year incumbent ambulance provider from the City of San Diego’s Emergency Ambulance Services contract. Over the course of a two-year request for proposal (RFP) process, Falck was awarded the contract twice. Despite an aggressive misinformation campaign and an RFP process that was interrupted and restarted, SWS navigated Falck to victory after a unanimous (9-0) City Council vote in April 2021. The success of this campaign is attributed to SWS’ public affairs strategies, community coalition, and Falck’s world renowned reputation.

Vaccinate WA

The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) partnered with C+C to develop a social marketing initiative designed to get 70% of Washington adults vaccinated. Ongoing research informed all elements o the campaign. The campaign strategy hinged upon building receptivity, intention and action – including among hesitant populations. A wide suite of tactics supported the campaign strategy including, influencers, organic social advertising, expert panels, partnerships and materials. The result? As of the end of January 2022, 83.7% of Washington adults had initiated vaccination and progress to “close the gap” had been made among three of the hesitant population groups.

Build Oregon: Build What Matters

To help AGC overcome its increasingly difficult challenges with attracting the next generation to the construction industry, Quinn Thomas (QT) developed a comprehensive brand strategy and communications program. By conducting research with industry members and its target audiences, QT uncovered existing brand and channel misalignment and misconceptions among AGC’s audience. QT then developed and deployed a highly successful brand refresh, owned channel refresh and ongoing paid media, influencer and social media campaigns. The highly successful program beat all 1st-year goals by 82-290% and drove a high level of interest in construction careers among target audiences.