American Cancer Society Announced as Finalist for Three PR News Awards

(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) February 21, 2012 - The American Cancer Society is a finalist for three PR News awards this year, including the Advocacy Campaign and Lobbying Efforts category of the PR News Nonprofit PR Awards for the First Anniversary of the Choose You Movement, and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Awards in the Cause Branding Campaign and the Nonprofit/Corporate Partnership categories for the collaboration with the NFL on the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, “A Crucial Catch: Annual Screening Saves Lives.”

First Anniversary of Choose You Movement

Choose You, a movement that inspires women to put their health first and make healthy lifestyle choices to stay well and help prevent cancer, is the Society's first cause branding platform focused on cancer prevention, and encouraging healthy lifestyle behaviors among women to help them stay well. The First Anniversary of the Choose You Movement, celebrated in May 2011, included companies around the country participating in Choose You Day on May 12, 2011. Choose You also worked with Poptent, an online community of film makers, to create a Public Service Announcement that shows examples of real women who are choosing to put their health first and motivate other women to put themselves first. They received more than 100 submissions.

A Choose You documentary, with two-time Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank serving as the executive producer, debuted to share the compelling and emotional stories of three women of diverse age, race, geography, and health focuses who engaged in the movement and transformed their lives. Since its inception in 2010, 120,000 people have joined the Choose You movement and made a commitment to make their health a priority.

“A Crucial Catch” Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign

Since its inception, “A Crucial Catch” has encouraged millions of women to get screened, broadened the narrative around breast cancer to encompass everyone the disease affects, and raised millions of dollars for cancer research, treatment and support. The campaign embraced breast cancer as an issue that is not isolated to women, but highly relevant to male fans as well. The NFL and ACS worked together to shape a simple message that would be easy for all audiences to understand and act upon: women should get screened and men should encourage their wives, mothers, sisters and loved ones to get screened.

Every NFL team stenciled “pink ribbons on their fields’ 25-yard lines. The NFL worked with vendors Reebok, Nike, Under Armor, Wilson and Gatorade to produce pink equipment, including pink ribbon helmet shields, gloves, sideline hats, cleats, towels and footballs. NFL players Larry Fitzgerald and DeAngelo Williams served as primary player spokespeople for national media opportunities, telling the touching stories of their personal stake in the issue and reinforcing the strategy of leveraging player visibility to reach a broader audience.

The campaign also included various programs and initiatives in engagement, fundraising, advocacy, and community involvement especially with high school and youth football teams and their supporters.

More Information

The annual Nonprofit PR Awards program recognizes nonprofits and their partners that have executed highly successful and impactful nonprofit PR campaigns in the past 12 months. The finalists will be honored on March 15, 2012 at an awards luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. and in PR News' Nonprofit Awards Issue. The CSR Awards program recognizes organizations, programs and campaigns that have made strides in the world of CSR and demonstrate an understanding of the power of CSR in public relations. The finalists will be honored on April 17, 2012 at an awards lunch at the JW Marriott in Washington, D.C.

Click here for a full list of Nonprofit PR Awards finalists and here for a full list of CSR Awards finalists.

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