Identity Recognized As 2014 MarCom Awards Gold Winner For 3 Campaigns

Here at Identity, we take pride in the great work we do and the value we generate for our clients every day. Our passion for the craft of integrated public relations has led to several accomplishments that we are extremely proud of and hold high as a testament to our success.

During the course of this year, we’ve been recognized on a national stage for our ability to conceptualize, develop and execute award-winning campaigns. In addition to being selected as a 2014 PR Daily Awards finalist for our Wilbanks Energy Logistics rebranding campaign, and receiving two Gold Hermes Creative Awards for the “Logo/Design” and “Website Overall/Business to Business” categories, we were recently named as a 2014 MarCom Awards Gold Winner for our work on the following campaigns:

• Absopure Pure Michigan Partnership (Social Media Campaign)
• Del Taco Epic Burrito Challenge (Special Event)
• Bill Pulte (Publicity Campaign)

As the only Michigan agency to receive accolades in the categories of social media campaign, special event and publicity campaign, we’re honored to be recognized on a national scale for the high-caliber work we deliver and upheld as an example of excellence in our ever-evolving industry.

To celebrate our great work, we’re sharing our strategic approach to each campaign below.

Absopure Pure Michigan Partnership (Gold winner for Social Media Campaign)

To ensure Absopure’s Pure Michigan partnership announcement received maximum exposure, we developed an integrated campaign that combined media relations and social media to raise awareness, generate media coverage and engage with Michigan residents and potential Absopure customers in a meaningful way.

Through carefully crafted messaging, media maximization and the creation of a consumer-focused social media contest at the core of the campaign, we leveraged Absopure’s owned media channels (Facebook page and blog) and pursued earned media opportunities to raise awareness about Absopure’s rich history as a Michigan brand in a unique, compelling and engaging way, while remaining true to the company’s humble Michigan roots.

As a result, more than 200 news organizations covered the announcement, including multiple radio mentions, print stories and an article by the Associated Press that was subsequently picked up by news outlets nationally, as well as a feature during a live-from-the New York stock exchange segment with a CNN reporter sharing the story with Detroit’s NBC affiliate, WDIV.

To further amplify Absopure’s partnership with Pure Michigan, we collaborated with Pure Michigan’s social media agency to cross-promote the contest on Pure Michigan’s various social channels. The contest was shared more than 4,400 times and generated entries from pre-existing fans, as well as a previously untapped Facebook audience, further expanding Absopure’s social media presence among its target audience.

Del Taco Epic Burrito Challenge (Gold winner for Special Event)

To boost Del Taco’s visibility and educate the metro Detroit community about the restaurant’s fresh and healthy menu on behalf of client Livonia-based TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants, our media relations and marketing team developed and executed an event that engaged community members and activated new brand advocates.

Centering on the timeliness of Cinco de Mayo, we designed a unique in-store contest—The Del Taco Epic Burrito Challenge. To drive participation and build brand awareness, we crafted a custom strategic media relations program, including pre-and post-event press releases, live cooking TV segments, on-air radio contest mentions and interviews, as well as day-of event TV coverage.

Through our targeted media outreach, we secured a total of 14 earned and highly visible local metro Detroit media stories surrounding the Del Taco Epic Burrito Challenge, including two live, in-studio cooking segments on WDIV, as well as vast day-of event on-site coverage on WJBK-TV and MyTV20. These segments, combined with additional coverage, allowed us to reach more than 5.1 million readers and viewers in the metro Detroit area.

In addition to increasing brand awareness, the contest greatly impacted store sales. In total, the Del Taco Dearborn Heights location responsible for hosting the contest sold 12,100 tacos in just five hours, 20,000 tacos throughout the day and achieved a 105.18% increase in total sales for the day from the previous year.

Bill Pulte (Gold winner for Publicity Campaign)

Bill Pulte is the founder and CEO of the Detroit Blight Authority and the CEO of Pulte Capital Partners, a strategic investment firm focused exclusively on investing in leading building products businesses.

Shortly after being founded in February of 2013, The Detroit Blight Authority found itself in need of connection support and bandwidth.

To raise awareness about the organization’s mission and elevate the public profile of its visionary CEO, the Detroit Blight Authority and Pulte Capital Partners reached out to our media relations and marketing team to build a strategic communications program.

With the help of a partnership with then-mayor of Detroit Dave Bing, Pulte and his team identified a 10-square-block area, cleared brush and debris with unprecedented speed and held a press conference to announce their initial success. Overnight, Bill Pulte had essentially created a mass blight elimination movement in Detroit.

Our primary objective was to share this story with the media, and subsequently the general public and influential decision-makers, both locally and nationally, who could help The Blight Authority move forward. The goal was to give Bill Pulte a platform to share his ideas, spread his message and position his new organization to make a difference that extended well beyond 10 city blocks to Detroit’s 142 square miles.

With a proactive media approach, Identity helped position Pulte as the “voice” of Detroit blight elimination. Overall, the campaign secured more than 383 individual pieces of media coverage from key, high profile local and national media, including Forbes, CNBC, Chicago Tribune and Detroit Free Press. And, when Morning Joe welcomed experts to participate in a discussion about the future of the city, the Mayor of Detroit and Bill Pulte were first and second on the call list.

We’re very proud of these accomplishments and want to congratulate each of our specialty practice areas of media relations and marketing, social media and creative for being recognized for their hard work and continued concentration on excellence. As we approach the end of 2014, we look forward to continuing our trajectory of success in 2015.