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Disneynature, the Mouse House’s nature-themed label, pledged to plant a tree for every ticket purchased for Earth, its first film. So far 500,000 people have bought advance tickets to the film, which opens on Earth Day, April 22.
Sears launched a new tag line - “Sears. Life. Well spent.” - that will more strategically align the company’s branding efforts with consumers’ increased interest in quality of life and thoughtful consumption. The new tag line reflects consumers’ changing ideas about the American dream and how Sears’ products fit in with these values, said Tom Aiello, division VP of PR for Sears Holdings. Euro RSCG Worldwide PR will provide PR support. “As we move ahead, you’ll see strategies and tactics come out that really bring the tag line to life,” Aiello said. One example is the Heroes at Home program, which provides support to service members and their families. Sears will be expanding the scope of this program’s reach to include other “everyday heroes,” such as teachers, police officers, and fireman. Projected to begin this expansion in the fall, these changes will “bring focus into local communities,” says Aiello.
Citi Cards launched two new options for cardholders on March 4: Citi Forward, which rewards customers who use the card responsibly by actually lowering their purchase interest rate by a quarter of a percent; and , which gives customers rewards points for reporting their socially responsible activities on the card’s social media page.
“For Citi, this is an offering that rewards consumers for using credit wisely,” noted Terry O’Neil, EVP of Citi Cards in an e-mail to PRWeek. “For MySpace, the new card educates users about being fiscally responsible and mindful in today’s economic climate.”
Citi Cards has been working with TMGpr on the launch activities, which include a pre-launch Webcast moderated by Christopher Penn from the Financial Aid Podcast; “man-on-the-street” video clips now appearing on the card’s ; ; and media outreach, which has gotten coverage in a number of outlets, including Fox Business News.
“If you want to establish deep connections with your consumers, you have to be wherever they are,” Tami Gross-McCarthy, founder and CEO of TMGpr, told PRWeek. “Citi is interested in a two-way dialogue with consumers. The social media world helps us to achieve that.”
Earlier this week, I had the chance to attend the launch party for Western Union’s new yes! campaign. Held at Vanderbilt Hall in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, the event featured photographs and artwork from the campaign, and photographer Steve McCurry and street artist Chase were in attendance. Western Union announced the campaign at the beginning of February, but recently introduced its Web site, where visitors can submit their “yes!” stories of success.
On January 13, I attended a panel hosted by the Columbia University Business School Alumni Club and Weber Shandwick Voiceboxx about how philanthropic organizations are addressing the recession. Weber Shandwick CEO Harris Diamond introduced the panel, which was moderated by Mike Spector, the philanthropy reporter for the Wall Street Journal. More about the event after the jump.
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In this week’s story on the endurance of cause marketing during this rough economic period, PRWeek mentioned Subaru and Starbucks as two corporations that have kicked off, or added to, cause campaigns since the beginning of November.
Here are a few other examples:
There are so many events and activities for World AIDS Day than I wasn’t able to fit them all in my article from the December 1 issue of PRWeek.
Day With(out) Art is one campaign from Visual Arts, which increases awareness of AIDS through visual arts. Positively Aware magazine released a special World AIDS Day issue, which highlights individuals who are making a difference in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Meanwhile, the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band is performing its “A Family Outing” concert on December 1 in honor of World AIDS Day, in addition to its fall concert on December 6. Also, look for blogs discussing HIV/AIDS on December 1 as part of a Blog Catalog event with AIDS.gov.
Have you heard of any others? Post below!
On November 6, Erica Iacono and I traveled to Philadelphia to host PRWeek’s healthcare roundtable and a panel discussion. The roundtable, which is scheduled to appear in our December 1 print issue, covered everything from the FDA’s view on social media to how pharmaceutical companies need to educate reporters about drug safety issues.
The panel, which was open to the public, featured an hour-long discussion with Laurie Hurley, MD of the New York office of Resolute Communications; Gwen Fisher, assistant VP of PR at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals; and Ray Kerins, VP of worldwide communications at Pfizer.
I’ve posted two podcasts (here and here) and a video where the three discuss the merits of social media for Big Pharma.
Last night, I attended the L’Oreal Legends Gala, held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The event is a fundraiser for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund -last night’s event raised more than $4 million dollars alone. But it is also a celebration of L’Oreal’s commitment to the cause of ovarian cancer research, one that can often get lost in the “sea of pink” that is corporate support of breast cancer research. L’Oreal has supported OCRF for 11 years, through events and its Color of Hope makeup collection, raising $18 million in that time.
Not only was the event a great opportunity for some star gazing- Diane Keaton, Andie MacDowell, Pierce Brosnan, Milla Jovovich, and Kerry Washington were among the attendees- but it also was extremely comforting to see that even in a struggling economy, corporations and individuals are willing to give back to causes. It’s something that PRWeek discovered in its 2008 Cause Survey, so it was nice to see it affirmed with a real-life example.
The NFL kicked off the second phase of its kids’ health and fitness initiative, Play 60, with a Play 60 NFL Clinic in Central Park on September 3 and 4. New York and New Jersey public school students were treated to clinics from former NFL players, including Jamal Anderson, Rodney Hampton, and Bart Oates (photos after the jump).
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