2006 Cause Marketing Halo Award Winners

• 2005 Cause Marketing Halo Award Winners
• 2004 Cause Marketing Halo Award Winners
• 2003 Cause Marketing Halo Award Winners

Meet the winners of our competition for the best campaigns of 2005.

Click on a Category for program descriptions.

The 2006 Cause Marketing Golden Halo Award Winners

Each year, the Cause Marketing Forum recognizes one business and one nonprofit organization for their leadership and outstanding efforts in the field of cause marketing.  Our 2006 winners are:

The Home Depot

The world's largest home improvement retailer has mixed business with giving back for more than 25 years.  Among The Home Depot's notable initiatives:

Corporate Volunteerism: The Home Depot has one of America’s most advanced employee volunteerism programs.  In 2005 alone, Team Depot helped build 181 Habitat for Humanity homes and made 8,670 home repairs with Rebuilding Together among other projects. Home Depot actively encourages other companies to engage their workers as a leader of the Hands On Network’s Corporate Month of Service. 

Disaster Relief:  When disaster strikes The Home Depot is in the vanguard of companies working smart with nonprofits to help out.  The Home Depot, its foundation and suppliers have invested over $11 million in rebuilding Gulf Coast communities since Hurricane Katrina.  In addition, the company is in a multi-year partnership with the American Red Cross to teach people how to get ready for hurricanes, wild fires and other cataclysmic events.
  
KaBOOM!: A founding sponsor of KaBOOM!, The Home Depot announced in July 2005 that it would create and refurbish 1,000 playspaces in 1,000 days, a commitment of $25 million and 1 million volunteer hours.

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KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America.  Since 1996, it has brought together business and community interests to construct nearly 1,000 playspaces nationwide.  Businesses appreciate how KaBOOM!’s community-build approach can strengthen brands, employee morale and other stakeholder relationships. KaBOOM! partners with companies in two primary ways:

• Community-Build Playspace Projects –KaBOOM! teams funders with community groups and provides full project management.  Employees and residents labor side by side -- an outstanding way of building teams and strengthening community relations. 

Two current examples: The Home Depot’s commitment of $25 million to create or refurbish 1,000 playspaces in 1,000 days and PepsiCo’s campaign to build 12 SmartSpot playgrounds to encourage healthier lifestyles and more activity among children.

• Cause Marketing Opportunities – KaBOOM! has built marketing programs that leverage the power of play with many of America’s top brands.  Outstanding examples include:
  • Stride-Rite demonstrated its concern for kids through playground builds and by creating a shoe collection that raises money for KaBOOM!
  • KaBerry KaBOOM! was the first flavor named after a nonprofit by Ben & Jerry’s, an initiative that raised enough funds to build four playgrounds

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Campaign Awards

An interdisciplinary judging panel selected winners on the basis of conceptual strength, execution, business results and cause results of campaigns that ran in whole or in part in 2005.

BEST TRANSACTIONAL CAMPAIGN

GOLD: Music Rising: Gibson Guitar, Guitar Center and MusiCares

Shortly after Katrina hit, U2’s The Edge and producer Bob Ezrin went to these music industry leaders to quickly launch Music Rising, a campaign to bring the music back to the Gulf Region by replacing musicians’ lost or destroyed instruments.  Gibson produced 300 Music Rising Guitars which were sold by Guitar Center.  The $1 million raised went to Music Rising which has helped over 1,000 musicians to date.

SILVER: Easter Seals & Friendly’s Cones for Kids: Easter Seals and Friendly Ice Cream Corporation

This dynamic duo celebrated 25 years of supporting families living with disabilities with Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day promotions including ice cream cone coupons given in thanks for donations and fundraising merchandise sales.  Together they raised $1 million and drove store traffic during the slow (for ice cream) winter season.

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BEST HEALTH CAMPAIGN

GOLD: Cook for the Cure: KitchenAid and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

In its fifth year, Cook for the Cure went further than ever to publicize and integrate its multi-faceted program.  Print advertising, PR, POS, online and trade efforts promoted pink countertop appliances that generate donations, a major appliance donation-with-purchase program and a home dinner party fundraising kit.  2005 donations topped $700,000 for Komen and sales lifts for KitchenAid.

SILVER: Luna/Breast Cancer Fund Partnership: LUNA, a Clif Bar product, and the Breast Cancer Fund.

Support for the Breast Cancer Fund has been at the core of LUNA Whole Nutrition for Women since its launch in 1999 and cause-related spending accounts for 25% of the brand’s marketing budget.  Outlets for collaboration include packaging promotion, event sponsorship, the LUNAFEST traveling film festival, sampling and more.  It’s a potent combination: LUNA is the 2nd best-selling energy bar in grocery and natural channels and the BCF’s #1 corporate supporter.

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BEST ENVIRONMENTAL/WILDLIFE CAMPAIGN

GOLD: Iams Home for the Holidays: Iams Dog and Cat Foods and the Helen Woodward Animal Center

In this program’s seventh season, Iams teamed with 1,900 animal shelters to find loving homes for more than 328,000 orphaned pets.  National and localized PR drove consumers to their area shelters where 100,000 Iams Adoption kits were distributed, an outstanding trial driver for Iams products.  Since the program’s inception it has facilitated the adoption of more than 1,000,000 dogs and cats.

SILVER: AT&T’s MySBC eBill Paperless Program: AT&T and The National Arbor Day Foundation

Saving and planting trees was the lead incentive offered to AT&T customers to sign up for paperless, electronic billing.   Online communications, bill inserts and publicity were the main vehicles for informing consumers that if they switched to an eBill service, AT&T would give $1 to The National Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees.  Nearly 500,000 customers opted in which saved the company millions in paper, printing and mailing costs, saved thousands of trees, reduced paper waste and funded the planting of nearly 500,000 trees.

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BEST SOCIAL SERVICE/EDUCATION CAMPAIGN

GOLD: Jones New York In The Classroom: Jones Apparel Group and Fund for Teachers, New Teacher Academy, Teachers Count and Adopt-A-Classroom

Extensive employee and external research led Jones to make supporting teachers and children’s education the focus of its first signature cause initiative.  Launched with a rich blend of promotional, fundraising and employee engagement tactics, the campaign generated trade and consumer interest for the company while helping the nonprofits attack teacher shortages, attrition, burnout and expenses.

SILVER: Save Our History: The History Channel and the American Association for State and Local History

Reaching from the White House to small town America, this initiative supports the preservation of local historic sites and the teaching of local history while strengthening The History Channel’s appeal to advertisers and its core audience.  First Lady Laura Bush appeared in three PSAs announcing a $250,000 annual grant program to fund community preservation projects.  A Save Our History K-12 curriculum, training and honors for educators and preservationists, on-air and special event promotion combined to give the program breadth and depth.  The History Channel garnered $7 million in incremental ad revenue and local history gained a major national champion.

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BEST EVENT

GOLD: Hyundai Hope on Wheels: Hyundai Motor America and CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation

The media angle was simple and effective: children fighting cancer making colorful handprints on Hyundai SUVs at local hospitals.  A 30-market tour raised awareness for the carmaker and CureSearch, its new partner in the fight against pediatric cancer.  The company and its dealers made $1.5 million in contributions in 2005, enough to fund 97 clinical research positions, 500 enrollments in clinical trials and other medical investments.

SILVER: The World’s Largest Ice Cream Cake Social: Cold Stone Creamery and Make-A-Wish Foundation of America

Once a year, Cold Stone Creamery invites consumers in for a free piece of Make-A-Wish Ice Cream Cake in exchange for a donation.  In 2005, Local Make-A-Wish chapters worked with the chain’s 1,200+ franchise locations to drive traffic during the three-hour promotional period via PR, direct mail and word of mouth.  The effort raised more than $750,000 (enough to fund 123 wishes) and highlighted the company’s community spirit through 210 million media impressions.

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BEST JOINT MESSAGE PROMOTION:

GOLD: Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery: Energizer Max Brand Batteries and the International Association of Fire Chiefs

Over 18 years, this program’s central message has gone from new idea to common sense: Change your smoke alarm batteries when you set clocks back from Daylight Savings Time.  National and local PR dovetailed with community awareness programs by more than 5,800 fire departments to increase adoption of this lifesaving – and battery selling – idea.

SILVER: Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil: ALDO Group and YouthAIDS

A long-time supporter of the fight against AIDS, footwear retailer ALDO selected YouthAIDS to partner on a campaign to make young people aware of the facts and risks associated with AIDS.  YouthAIDS engaged eight major celebrities to donate their time to appear with eyes, ears and/or mouth covered with duct tape in photographs illustrating the need to break the silence about HIV/AIDS.  ALDO leveraged its entire media buy to launch the campaign and featured it prominently in stores.  ALDO reports positive business results and tremendous PR coverage – even in markets where it does not have stores.  YouthAIDS received more than $1 million from the sale of “Empowerment Tags” and a major boost to its status as a player in the cause marketing field.

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BEST PRINT CREATIVE

GOLD: Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil: ALDO Group and YouthAIDS

Silence, ignorance and complacency are huge obstacles in the fight to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.  ALDO and YouthAIDS enlisted top photographer Peter Lindbergh to create attention-grabbing images of celebrity volunteers with eyes, ears and/or mouth covered with duct tape.  The images appeared in numerous formats including print advertising, major in-store installations and the packaging for “Empowerment Tags” sold to raise $1 million for YouthAIDS.

SILVER: Jones New York In The Classroom: Jones Apparel Group and Fund for Teachers, New Teacher Academy, Teachers Count and Adopt-A-Classroom

A print ad featuring Brooke Shields in a cause-related t-shirt provided a beautiful image that gained this print PSA ad distribution in major magazines totaling 16.3 million circulation.  In O, The Oprah Magazine it was part of a four-page advertorial  highlighting a five-city teacher and classroom makeover program and Shop for Education, a week of shopping where 10% of sales from select Jones New York lines were donated to educational initiatives. 

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BEST NATIONAL/LOCAL INTEGRATION

GOLD: Jones New York In The Classroom: Jones Apparel Group and Fund for Teachers, New Teacher Academy, Teachers Count and Adopt-A-Classroom

Classroom makeovers, Teacher’s Runway Fashion Shows and retail activation in more than 250 department stores were among the local tactics that combined with national print, direct mail and online promotion to successfully launch Jones Apparel Group’s support of education. 

SILVER: Ford Get Tied to the Cure: Ford Motor Company and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

Ford has been a national sponsor of  Komen’s Race for the Cure Series since 1995 and in 2005 it took national/local integration to new heights.  As in the past, 2,000 dealers participated in Race for the Cure events.  This year nearly all Ford Dealer Advertising Groups ran special dealer tagged ads in conjunction with a special breast cancer-focused episode of “ER”.  The Ford Breast Cancer Awareness Scarf was featured on the show, national and dealer group ads directed viewers to fordcares.com for information and,  following the broadcast, news anchors on 70 stations wore the scarf and addressed the breast cancer issue.

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