By Nina Zapala, director of public relations, Anson-Stoner
Nina Zapala, director of public relations, Anson-Stoner
The Anson-Stoner PR Team won two honors at the 2012 Golden Image Awards in the Press Release Category, including: Windjammer Landing “Steals” Headlines—Award of Distinction and Windjammer Landing “Steals” Headlines—Judges’ Award.
Entering the FPRA Image Awards is an ideal way for Anson-Stoner to showcase its prowess in the PR industry. The Image Awards, through the evaluation process, allow the agency to compare itself regionally via judge’s feedback in areas such as: comments, scoring and the overall review of the entry. These are invaluable tools as they provide the agency an opportunity to review its strengths and weaknesses in the areas of campaign strategy, planning, implementation and measurement. This evaluation is also used internally to help educate the PR team and bring up discussions of current campaigns for improvement and evaluation. Of course, Anson-Stoner also uses this award as a way to generate local and regional press highlighting the agency’s expertise in the area of public relations.
Another benefit of entering the Image Awards is that it allows Anson-Stoner to educate clients on the value, role and importance of public relations. Specifically, this 2012 Image Award case allowed Anson-Stoner to educate clients on the impact that a single press release may have on awareness and positioning.
Anson-Stoner also believes that the Image Awards generate positive news both internally and externally for clients. For example, clients benefit from winning awards as this news reflects exceptional work and can be shared amongst employees. Externally, news releases can be generated, mentions can be posted across client social media channels and the agency also suggests a copy of the award be prominently displayed in the office. This is a win-win for the client as this news spreads to customers as well.
Why did Anson-Stoner choose the press release category? The Image Awards press release category was entered for several reasons. Today, many naysayers say the press release is dead. We disagree. Any communication that is well written and timely, and offers beneficial information to its target audience is as valuable as a white paper, a content rich blog post, a client fact sheet, and more. Anson-Stoner created a press release as part of the overall campaign strategy for Windjammer Landing Resort to help generate awareness in the U.S. and position the resort as a family-friendly, affordable option to travelers visiting Saint Lucia.
We assumed the Golden Image Award was bestowed on Anson-Stoner for the following reasons. First and foremost, the press release accomplished a crucial goal for the resort in generating awareness about the property in the U.S. on a national level. Secondly, the press release highlighted the fact that the resort was family-friendly and affordable—two marketing objectives that were part of the overall positioning for the client. Thirdly, not only did the press release get picked-up in key target markets, but it was also syndicated to top dailies in the U.S., thus generating awareness for the client in secondary target markets.
The rewards for entering the Image Awards are multi-faceted and Anson-Stoner believes that the ongoing success of any great PR campaign is through learning, evaluation and peer review. These tools allow the agency to grow and keep abreast of the ever-changing PR landscape.
Learn more about your local chapter’s image awards program by visiting www.fpra.org/chapters.