Zehnder Communications Wins International Award

Zehnder Communications received a Gold Davey Award for developing and executing Campaign For Your Cause™, a web-based competition that let Louisiana residents determine how a $200,000 donation from local Burger King® restaurants would be divided among Baton Rouge and New Orleans area non-profit organizations.

The Davey award, judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, honors the finest creative work from the best small firms, agencies and companies worldwide. Evaluated on intelligence and out-of-the-box thinking, it was designed to honor ideas and execution rather than large budgets. Less than 10% of the 4,000 global entries earn recognition. Zehnder was the only agency to receive a gold award in the “marketing effectiveness” category.

The Campaign For Your Cause™ initiative enabled Burger King® franchisee, Strategic Restaurant Acquisition Company (SRAC), to draw on their brand promise of "HAVE IT YOUR WAY®" in its efforts to reenergize Hurricane Katrina affected areas. The competition put the power of choice in the hands of residents and ultimately divided the donation among ten non-profits in each market. 

In the initial phase, viral marketing and traditional public relations encouraged Louisiana residents to nominate their favorite charities, schools, churches or other nonprofit concerns daily at www.campaignforyourcause.com. At the close of this period, the ten organizations receiving the most nominations advanced to phase two. Over 131,000 votes were received for 4,000 different nonprofit organizations.

The top ten organizations in each market were then charged with garnering the largest number of votes for their cause. Supporters utilized grassroots promotion efforts such as rallies and email blasts to persuade the public to vote daily for their cause online. In this phase, over 590,000 votes were cast.

At the competition’s conclusion, organizations in first place received $50,000, second place $25,000, third place $11,000 and fourth through tenth, $2,000 each. Nonprofit winners included a pediatric burn unit, Boy Scout council, animal welfare society, schools and disease support groups.

“We were stumped as to how to help after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Zehnder created a truly innovative program that reinforced our brand promise and put the power of the people to work deciding what was most important to them,” commented SRAC Vice President of Marketing and Development Myrna Schultz.

Zehnder Communications, Inc. is a fully integrated advertising agency providing a wide range of services including strategic marketing, public relations, media placement, creative services, interactive design and programming.  With offices in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the agency has been serving the greater Southeast region for 12 years.

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