Flickr Image: jon madison

Establish benchmarks at the beginning of each campaign. Do your research. Show that you have positively changed attitude about or knowledge of an issue.

These were the key points presented by Jennifer Pfahler, executive vice president of Edelman, during her discussion of the award-winning integrated communications campaign, Go Red for Women (American Heart Association), at this year’s PRSA International Conference. (Full disclosure: the American Heart Association (AHA) is a BurrellesLuce client and my grandmother died of heart disease a couple years ago.)

Pfahler outlined the challenges associated with creating a campaign of this type:

• Not many women know that heart disease is the #1 killer of women.
• Women have different symptoms of heart disease than men.
• AHA needed to drive women to its website and move them to take the checkup.
• Fundraising for education, scientific research, media outreach had to accelerate.

Pfahler said Edelman had worked on the Go Red for Women account for a few years, but was limited to one event in February. They worked to craft an integrated campaign, which included a TV documentary with NBC/Universal, and to find ways to create buzz throughout the 2007 year. In February 2007, they were able to pitch Marie Osmond as their spokesperson, and generate interest in their casting call for the documentary. Out of almost 800  submited stories, eight were picked, verified by Edelman, and used in the documentary. (more…)