The PRSA Nebraska Chapter Paper Anvil Awards recognize the works of Nebraska public relations, marketing and communications professionals. The 2022 event took place
Dec. 1 and featured 102 awards across 29 categories. The
following received top Excellence award honors.
About PRSA Nebraska: With more than 145 members, the Public Relations Society of America – Nebraska Chapter exists to further the profession by creating connections and community throughout the state. Check out prsanebraska.org for information on membership, programing and a full list of Paper Anvil Winners.
Ameritas 2021 Annual Report
Category: Annual Reports
Company name: Ameritas
Creative by: Ameritas
Published each spring, the Ameritas Annual Report showcases highlights of the year just ended. It tells a story of how Ameritas brings to life its purpose and values. The report conveys a message of leadership and financial strength from a performance and growth-oriented organization.
SiteOne Irrigation Growth Articles
Category: Blogs
Company name: Swanson Russell
Creative by: Swanson Russell
SiteOne Landscape Supply launched an Irrigation Growth campaign with the primary goal to provide messaging, education and business support to emerging, small and medium contractors to gain brand loyalty and increased share of wallet. Swanson Russell produced four blog articles to support the campaign based on four key messages.
UNMC College of Dentistry
Category: Community Relations
Organization name: UNMC College of Dentistry
Creative by: UNMC
To help prevent dental disease in Nebraska children, the UNMC College of Dentistry distributed 25,000 early dental health starter kits and an educational video. The target audience reported remarkable increases in oral health knowledge.
Make School Fruitful
Category: COVID-19 Projects
Client name: Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Community Health & Advocacy
Company name: KidGlov
Orange you glad kids have access to COVID-19 vaccines? Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Community Health & Advocacy and Nebraska Department of Education partnered with KidGlov to craft a fresh and facts-based COVID-19 vaccine campaign to help boost the vaccination rate among kids in Nebraska. With the help of some of our favorite fruits, this marketing campaign made a difficult topic educational, yet fun and engaging.
2022 Advocacy Communications
Category: Created In-House
Organization name: Women’s Fund of Omaha
Creative by: Women’s Fund of Omaha
Gender equity fails to be prioritized in public policy. It was the goal of the four-person public awareness team at the Women’s Fund to increase the collective voice of underrepresented women and girls to create effective public policy solutions for all Nebraskans. With increased engagement through digital communications and virtual events as well as accessible content, the team helped to support advocacy on 24 legislative bills with five of those bills becoming law.
Introducing the all-new www.ops.org
Category: Created In-House
Organization name: Omaha Public Schools
Creative by: Omaha Public Schools
In 2021, Omaha Public Schools launched a new district website, and it was the first website overhaul in a decade. While the old site was universally disliked, change is difficult. OPS District Communications developed a plan to leverage thought-leaders, printed collateral, in-person meetings, social media, video and digital advertising to gain understanding and support for the all-new ops.org.
Hudl Week 2022
Category: Internal Communications
Company name: Hudl
Creative by: Hudl
Sports technology company, Hudl, knows how to fulfill their mission to “make every moment count.” Hudl Week 2022 brought more than 1,000 Hudlies and guests from across the world for a week of hands-on work, fiery vision planning and spectacular social events. Every detail was customized for each attendee, resulting in an engaged, aligned and connected global team.
Max the Vax
Covid-19 Campaign
Category: Crisis & Issues Management
Client name: Children’s Hospital & Medical Center and the Nebraska Department of Education
Company name: KidGlov
The Nebraska Department of Education and Children’s Hospital & Medical Center joined forces in a statewide initiative to support COVID-19 vaccinations for kids. They tapped KidGlov to help them Max the Vax. This research-based crisis communications campaign was designed to keep kids safe and maximize their futures by helping families access accurate vaccination facts, resources, and information through the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year.
Max the Vax
Social Impact Campaign
Category:Global Communications/Multicultural Public Relations
Client name: Children’s Hospital & Medical Center and the Nebraska Department of Education
Company name: KidGlov
How do you combat misinformation around COVID-19 vaccines, especially concerning kids? That was the challenge KidGlov faced for Max the Vax, a statewide effort to educate vaccine-hesitant parents, jointly conducted by the Nebraska Department of Education and Children’s Hospital & Medical Center. After conducting primary research with Nebraska health care providers, KidGlov targeted four audiences in the “wait and see” category: Black, Hispanic, low income & low education, and rural parents.
Max the Vax
Social Impact Campaign
Category: Media/Press Kits
Client name: Children’s Hospital & Medical Center and the Nebraska Department of Education
Company name: KidGlov
Through Max the Vax, a partnership between the Nebraska Department of Education and Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, KidGlov successfully crafted news updates that provided families with a steady stream of reliable information. A major contributing factor to the campaign’s success involved putting the mic in front of the heroes – health care providers – and allowing their expertise to shape how the campaign was conducted, including a press conference that saw three times its return on investment.
Comparing Beef with Alternative Proteins:
What Are the Facts?
Category: Editorials/Op-Ed Columns
Company name: Swanson Russell
Creative by: Swanson Russell
Administered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB), the Beef Checkoff uses a $1-per-head producer investment to fund programs that drive beef demand. Many producers are concerned that more consumers will turn to plant-based protein alternatives, decreasing beef sales. Swanson Russell developed an op-ed with Norman Voyles, CBB’s 2021 vice chair, to inform producers about the research the Checkoff has done into these alternatives and their potential impact on beef.
Arbor Day Foundation 50th Anniversary PR Campaign
Category: Events & Observances
Company name: Arbor Day Foundation
Creative by: Arbor Day Foundation
The Arbor Day Foundation turned 50 in 2022. The Foundation, with a mission to “inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees,” leveraged its 50th anniversary to activate a national PR campaign, which saw Foundation representatives appear on the TODAY Show, ring the New York Stock Exchange opening bell on Wall Street, and sit for two live, in-studio segments on The Weather Channel all within the span of seven days.
Flagstar Bank & Brownstone Boys
Category: Influencer Marketing
Client name: Flagstar Bank
Company name: Bailey Lauerman
Flagstar Bank, one of Forbes’ 2022 Top Banks in America, recently launched their first-ever influencer campaign with the Brownstone Boys, a nationally known DIY and renovation influencer. To support this, Bailey Lauerman launched a sponsored five-part video series on YouTube with the task of generating awareness on Flagstar’s growing channel while also promoting the bank’s expertise within the home lending space.
One Choice Renews Lives
Category: Student: Outstanding Campus Event
Student team: UNO PRSSA
Creative by: UNO PRSSA
The University of Nebraska at Omaha PRSSA chapter held the “One Choice Renews Life,” campus event to create greater awareness of life-saving organ donation. In collaboration with Live on Nebraska, UNO PRSSA hosted a two-part campus event on April 14 that featured a panel with organ and tissue recipients and a caregiver. With a butterfly theme, the team set up an arts station and informational tables.
Arts, Beats & Eats
Category: Influencer Marketing
Client name: Flagstar Bank
Company name: Bailey Lauerman
Flagstar Bank, one of Forbes’ 2022 Top Banks in America, recently paired an influencer campaign with a local event sponsorship of Soaring Eagle Arts, Beats & Eats. A total of six Detroit-based, food-centered influencers were brought to the event to shoot real-time content, share the lively dining scene and feature Flagstar’s Culture on the Fourth space, an area dedicated to supporting diverse vendors.
The Kendall Custom
Best in Show
Category: Integrated Communications
Client name: Kendall Motor Oil
Company name: Bailey Lauerman
Capitalizing on the Kendall Motor Oil philosophy, “You Get Out What You Put In,” Bailey Lauerman and Kendall Motor Oil set out to create a project that shows on the outside what Kendall Motor Oil does on the inside, by building a Kendall custom-branded car. Bailey Lauerman and Kendall Motor Oil partnered with SEMA-award-winning builder Thompson Street Customs to design and build a one-of-a-kind muscle car—The Kendall Custom.
The Kendall Custom
Category: Marketing Consumer Products
Client name: Kendall Motor Oil
Company name: Bailey Lauerman
Bailey Lauerman and Kendall Motor Oil partnered with SEMA-award-winning builder Thompson Street Customs to design and build a one-of-a-kind muscle car—The Kendall Custom. To create large-scale awareness, the campaign was phased through a multi-year and integrated-content approach across paid, owned and earned media with event activations.
Omaha Community Foundation Rebrand
Category: Reputation/Brand Management
Client name: Omaha Community Foundation
Company name: Emspace + Lovgren
For several years, Omaha Community Foundation’s communications agency, Emspace + Lovgren, had been informally evolving their brand. As the organization’s 40th anniversary was approaching, and a new strategic plan was in the works and a new leadership team was in place, Emspace + Lovgren used the milestone moment to propose a rebrand.
Farmer’s and Merchants, Your Hometown Bank
Category: Marketing Consumer Services
Client name: Farmers & Merchants Bank
Company name: KidGlov
What can your hometown bank do for you? Farmers & Merchants Bank needed an intuitive way to educate customers and prospects about all of the bank’s financial offerings. The KidGlov team created four unique print pieces to share exactly what this hometown bank can bring to the table. After this campaign, their communities knew exactly what big bank perks this bank had to offer and crushed every single objective in the process.
2022 Advocacy Communications
Category: Public Affairs
Organization name: Women’s Fund of Omaha
Creative by: Women’s Fund of Omaha
With a goal to increase the collective voice of underrepresented women and girls to create effective public policy solutions for all Nebraskans, the Public Awareness Team at the Women’s Fund utilized their trusted brand, dynamic designs and approachable copy to directly engage individuals and move them to advocate for gender equity during the 2022 Nebraska Legislative Session.
Flagstar Bank Narrows the Digital Divide
Category: Public Service
Client name: Flagstar Bank
Company name: Bailey Lauerman
Flagstar Bank has been actively involved in advancing its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. In September 2021, Flagstar Bank committed $1 million toward the “Smart City” initiative, which aims to bridge the digital divide and address racial disparities in access to reliable high-speed internet in Inkster, Michigan. Bailey Lauerman developed a comprehensive PR and social media plan that maximized the exposure of Flagstar’s role in the pilot program in metro Detroit.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bateman Team / Lymphoma Research Foundation
Student Best in Show
Category: Student: Outstanding Strategy to Address a Problem
Student team: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bateman Team
Creative by: UNL
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bateman team created the “1 is Still 1” campaign to support the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s goal of erasing lymphoma on college campuses while focusing on the issue of young adults being overlooked in research funding. Every “1” young adult is still “1” person with a unique story. The campaign tagline (“Lymphoma sucks. Advocate for every 1.”) also served as a call-to-action to rally UNL students together to change the narrative about young adult lymphoma.
Nebraska Arts Council Website Redesign
Category: Websites and Smartphone/Tablet Applications
Client name: Nebraska Arts Council
Company name: KidGlov
Nebraska Arts Council positively impacts the lives of Nebraskans by providing arts programming, grants, and opportunities to foster creative innovation. Wanting to make these opportunities – and the art itself – more accessible, they sought KidGlov’s help in building a new website. The agency created a site that accomplishes two things: wowing visitors with its art-focused design while creating a structure that was easy to navigate.
Flagstar Bank MortgageTech Accelerator
Category: Marketing Business to Business
Client name: Flagstar Bank
Company name: Bailey Lauerman
Flagstar Bank hosts its MortgageTech Accelerator program focused on fintech startups to provide mentorship and training for these businesses. Bailey Lauerman used strategic, splashy media placements to establish Flagstar Bank as an innovator in the mortgage industry. The B2B campaign for the MortgageTech Accelerator generated the largest and most qualified group of applicants in the program’s history.
Stop & Think Opioid Prevention Campaign
Category: Social Media
Client name: Prevention Coalition
Company name: KidGlov
Bite me. Imagine seeing that while scrolling on Facebook. Prevention Coalition came to KidGlov wanting an opioid and Fentanyl awareness campaign to address the growing problem in our community. The team banded together and came up with “Stop & Think” that paired edgy, headlines like the ones you just heard, with the ever-popular candy: Lifesavers. The hope was that anyone seeing this campaign would take a moment to stop and think before they took their next pill.
Dreamweaver Connecting Hope Goes National Campaign
Category: Special Projects
Client name: Dreamweaver Foundation
Company name: KidGlov
The pandemic was hard, especially for seniors. Committed to lifting spirits, Dreamweaver Foundation partnered with KidGlov to launch Connecting Hope. This effort started by providing area seniors with tablet devices. Recognizing the high demand, Dreamweaver expanded the program and is now serving seniors in every single state in the U.S., growing this Omaha-based nonprofit into a national powerhouse.
CEDARS Foster Care TV Campaign
Category: Video
Client name: CEDARS
Company name: KidGlov
The crisis-level shortage of foster families in Nebraska means that today, thousands of kids are waiting. While numbers are important to understand in this crisis, kids in foster care aren’t just part of a social problem. CEDARS, a nonprofit child-service organization, needed more foster parents. They turned to KidGlov to craft a marketing campaign to empower and motivate potential foster families to rise to the occasion.
Section Sponsors:
PRSA Nebraska: https://prsanebraska.org
KidGlov: KidGlov.com
Lukas Partners: www.lukaspartners.com
