Making A Difference

Weber Shandwick is committed to supporting the communities in which it operates through pro-bono community outreach programs around the world. These efforts are an important part of our company culture and provide another way for our employees to deliver advocacy – in this case, for community organizations worldwide.

We recognize the significant contributions of our colleagues' pro-bono efforts, which are as varied and diverse as our offices, through Weber Shandwick | Making A Difference, our annual, internal awards program.

While all of the work submitted this year was impressive, we are proud to announce the winning campaigns.

Campaign of the Year Winners:

• CANFAR (Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research): Youth Awareness Campaign (Toronto)
  For over 20 years, Weber Shandwick Toronto has supported The Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) with their annual charity event, Bloor Street Entertains. This year, the firm signed on as Agency of Record committing to $120K in pro-bono services and with that, took on a new charge. With young people accounting for half of all new HIV infections globally and the rate of infection having increased by 50% in Canada over the past 10 years, CANFAR needed to speak to Canadian youth in a way that was both credible and relevant to them. The Weber Shandwick team helped establish a partnership between CANFAR and singer Keshia Chanté to connect with this hard to reach audience. Through the team’s efforts and Keshia’s representation at events, media interviews, press conferences and her participation in CANFAR’s Youth Trip to Kenya, the team secured more than 17 million media impressions. And Keshia’s large following on Twitter has significantly increased CANFAR’s reach with young audiences.

• Richard House Children’s Hospice: Harry’s Million (London)
  Weber Shandwick London was charged with launching Richard House’s new campaign Harry’s Million. The aim of the campaign is to generate awareness around the organization and raise £1million over three years so Richard House – London’s first children’s hospice – can continue giving life-limited children the freedom they deserve. Using the program’s mascot, Harry the Puppet, the team initiated a social media campaign creating pages on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and interacting with its followers in the voice of Harry. The team also coordinated interviews between celebrities and Harry the Puppet. The campaign generated the awareness it had hoped with the celebrity interviews being picked up in trade and regional newspaper press. The social media campaign saw the number of Facebook fans rise to 454 in just six months, with clear trends towards increasing numbers when the celebrity interviews were uploaded. To date, the figures across all their social media platforms are: 525 Facebook fans, 105 followers on Twitter, 10,563 upload views and 5,559 channel views on YouTube.

Best Campaign Tactic Winners:

• Big Brothers Big Sisters Detroit & Southfield High School: The Social Circle Presents “Become A Little” (Detroit)
  Weber Shandwick Detroit partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters Detroit (BBBS) to establish The Social Circle, an ongoing mentoring program for Southfield High School students. One of the BBBS goals for 2011 was to recruit local youth to become a “Little” and be paired with a mentor. To meet that goal, the Weber Shandwick team worked with the students in The Social Circle to create a video encouraging their peers to become a “Little” with BBBS. The final video entitled, “Become A Little,” was posted on the BBBS website and social properties and shared with high schools across Detroit. And since its release, the video has exceeded BBBS’ expectations with eight high school students signing up to become “Littles” as a result of seeing the video.

• Foundation Fighting Blindness: Dining in the Dark (San Francisco)
  The Foundation Fighting Blindness’ Dining in the Dark gala allows guests to experience firsthand what it means to be completely blind – at least for dinner. During the annual event, guests dine in complete darkness to gain insight into the daily lives of those affected by blindness. All of the proceeds from the gala are used for research and clinical trials aimed at curing blindness-causing retinal diseases, which affect more than 10 million people in the United States. For the last two years, Weber Shandwick San Francisco has provided pro-bono media relations support to generate media interest and heighten visibility for the San Francisco event and also raise awareness of the Foundation and the importance of retinal degenerative disease research. Despite some initial challenges, the team’s outreach efforts resulted in more than three million impressions and helped drive sold-out attendance for the event.

• WWF China: Earth Hour’s Beyond The Hour – 26 March 2011 (Beijing, China)
  The Earth Hour campaign was developed by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and is the world’s largest save-the-planet campaign. It reaches out to every corner of the world by calling on individuals, businesses, communities and governments to commit to switching off their lights for one hour. In 2011, Weber Shandwick was retained for the third consecutive year to support Earth Hour in China and tasked with providing strategic council, media outreach and PR support for the program and the night-of-lights-out event on the night of Earth Hour. After a continuous wave of press releases, social media outreach and interviews, Earth Hour received 2742 pieces of positive coverage and a series of in-depth TV and print interviews with WWF spokespeople. Earth Hour was among the top trending topics on weibo on the day of the event and the firm also received a Certificate of Appreciation from the WWF.

Most Active Office Winners:

• Weber Shandwick Boston: Share Your Story: A Public Relations Workshop (Boston)
  In its fourth year, Weber Shandwick Boston’s Share Your Story PR workshop continues to change and evolve, using insights from years past to deliver concrete training, strategy and advice to numerous Greater Boston non-profit organizations. Share Your Story is now the cornerstone of Weber Shandwick Boston’s philanthropic efforts, involving employees at all levels in the strategy, planning, and execution of the event. The 2011 Share Your Story planning committee developed a target list of local non-profit organizations, determined appropriate leaders for the workshops, and secured A-list Boston-area media for panel discussions. The committee engaged more Weber Shandwick Boston staff than any year previous, with a total of 22 people participating in some way. What truly separated this year’s Share Your Story workshop from years past was the increased participation and enthusiasm from the Weber Shandwick staff, the integration of social media during the day’s events and the team’s continued interaction with the non-profit organization representatives following the event.

• Weber Shandwick Minneapolis: Weber Shandwick On Loan (Minneapolis)
  The Minneapolis office of Weber Shandwick has a 23 year history of supporting local non-profit organizations through pro-bono client relationships, mentorships, work projects and an annual day-long workshop designed to help non-profits effectively tell their stories. Their Making A Difference program includes Weber Shandwick On Loan. The goal is not only to make a difference in their community, but also in the lives of its staff by providing them with opportunities to lead and effect change. Weber Shandwick On Loan gives as many people in the office as possible the opportunity to work on half-day or day-long work projects in the community. So rather than schedule one major project, they take pride in hosting projects that are employee-selected, organized and led. Approximately 75 percent of employees are involved and since January 2010, more than 125 Minneapolis employees have surfaced, organized and participated in numerous Weber Shandwick On Loan projects.

Other inspiring work happening around the world includes:

• Compassion for Migrant Children: Weber Shandwick: All for Chinese Migrant Children (Beijing, China)
• Lifeline Energy: The Lifeplayer: An Answer to Energy Poverty (New York)
• National Women’s History Museum: Meryl Streep Fundraising Dinner (Washington, D.C.)
• PRSA Detroit, Big Brothers Big Sisters Detroit, and Southfield High School: 2010-2011 Diversity & Inclusion Program (Detroit)
• The country of Japan & overseas business communities: Real Voices, Real Japan (Tokyo)
• Weber Shandwick Detroit: Big Brothers Big Sisters Detroit & Southfield High School (Detroit)

Click here for a snapshot of work done over the years. And check out more of our work on Weber Shandwick’s YouTube channel.