Agency’s Earth Day Campaign for Nalgene Highlights Nation’s Least Wasteful Cities; Urges Environmental Responsibility Across U.S.

Boston, Mass. (May 7, 2010) – Advertising and PR agency Cercone Brown & Co. (CBC) was recently bestowed one of the PR industry’s top honors: a 2010 Bulldog Award for “Best Green Campaign.”

Recognized from a total pool of 800 submissions, the Boston PR agency earned a Silver award for its “America’s Least Wasteful Cities” program, developed for reusable bottle icon Nalgene.  The program combined social media, online marketing and traditional media relations to reach millions across America.  The Twitter campaign alone reached more than one million prospects.

“Many ‘experts’ will have you believe that social media alone is the silver bullet for PR campaigns today.  But it’s really the combination of traditional media relations and social media marketing that makes the online universe come alive,” said Cercone Brown & Co. partner Len Cercone.  “Creating content that people want to share is the key, whether that be from journalist to reader or person to person.”

Launched in April, the news was featured on the home page of USA Today, AOL, numerous green and news blogs and scores of TV stations, newspapers and magazines nationwide.  Each piece of coverage fueled sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and other social sites, as well as through the campaign site itself.  As a result, the news reached more than 4 million people within one month.

“Thanks to our partnership with CBC, Nalgene continues to think beyond the bottle,” said Tiffany Teaford, product manager/product development lead ,Nalgene-Outdoor. “The award-winning Least Wasteful Cities campaign reflects Nalgene’s broader mission of empowering people to create change, once choice at a time.”

The Campaign: America’s Least Wasteful Cities

During a time when many Americans sought to make environmentally friendly decisions in their lives, the “America’s Least Wasteful Cities” campaign identified wasteful behaviors in everyday actions.

As the focal point of the campaign, Cercone Brown & Co. designed an online research survey, polling 3,750 participants in the largest 25 cities (based on DMA) on waste-focused habits – from recycling, to using public transportation, to shutting off lights. When the results were tallied, San Francisco earned the title of America’s Least Wasteful City, while Atlanta ranked last.

With the news launched just prior to Earth Day, Boston PR agency Cercone Brown & Co. leveraged traditional public relations tactics along with social media tools, including Twitter and Facebook, to spread the word directly to consumers and online press alike.

In addition, the PR agency deployed a content-filled online microsite, which educated millions of Americans on their own wasteful behaviors, while providing an intimate setting for consumers to interact with the Nalgene brand.

Visitors were invited to purchase a special Nalgene bottle designed by Cercone Brown & Co., with a portion of the proceeds going to the Surfrider Foundation, an environmental organization dedicated to protecting the world’s waves and beaches.

The prestigious 2010 Bulldog Award for the “America’s Least Wasteful Cities” campaign underscores Cercone Brown & Co.’s commitment to developing campaigns yielding socially responsible outcomes.

“As an action-oriented advertising and PR agency, we feel a tremendous amount of accountability toward our clients, the general public and the environment around us,” said Caroline Budney, director of corporate social responsibility at Boston PR agency Cercone Brown & Co. “With the ‘America’s Least Wasteful Cities’ campaign, we encourage the general public to make environmentally-responsible decisions by highlighting the impact simple, everyday actions can make.”

In addition to developing campaigns for individual clients, PR agency Cercone Brown & Co. is renowned for its annual Green House event, where the nation’s top “green” editors are immersed in the latest practical and planet-friendly products, services and technologies. This year’s experiential marketing event will take place in Boulder, Colo. in August. For more information on getting involved, visit the Green House website at http://www.cbcgreenhouse.com/.

About Cercone Brown & Co.

Located in Boston, Massachusetts, Cercone Brown & Co. (CBC) provides branding, advertising, public relations and promotions services to companies in a range of industries. Founded in 2001, the company has worked with leading brands that include adidas, GMAC Insurance, Hasbro, Nantucket Nectars, Orvis, Cognos, Sperry Top-Sider, K2, The Timberland Company, Vibram and ZOOTS. For more information, visit www.cerconebrown.com, join the Cercone Brown Facebook page and follow Cercone Brown on Twitter.

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Splash Ultra Lounge on Kneeland Street (photo: Matt Baldelli)

Splash Ultra Lounge on Kneeland St. (Photo: Matt Baldelli)

As a Boston PR agency, folks expect us to be in the know around town…the parties, people and places that are on the A-List.  Truth be told, we entertain media as much in New York as we do in Boston. For that matter, Nantucket and Park City, too, as part of our Summer House program.  But… we do make an effort to keep up on the best places to eat, drink and do business around the Hub of the Universe.

That’s why we’re both happy and sad to see Boston.com’s list of roof decks around town.  It’s a one-stop-shop to make some of these lesser known gems even more crowded than usual this summer.

All the same, these are great spots for the right kind of business meeting, aprés office drinks or just for fun.

So…go ahead and enjoy, and don’t forget the shades.

Public relations programs have long been in vogue when money is tight. A PR agency typically can fill multiple holes in a company’s marketing team for a lot less money when compared to advertising.  So it should come as no surprise that PR is one of the first areas to make a comeback when economic conditions approve.

And improvement seems to finally be here.  In the past two weeks, Cercone Brown has received more new business inquiries than any period in recent memory.  Granted, we’ve been very fortunate during this downturn.  In fact, through hard work and creativity, CBC had one of its best years in 2009.  But that’s a subject for a different post.

If RFPs, requests for meetings and general tire kicking is any indication, client-side spending is making a comeback.  And though CBC is does not specialize in Boston PR (our clients are mostly national brands that are scattered across the USA), a many of these requests cite the Boston area as key to success.  Also interesting is the make up of the inquiries: only one is replacing an existing agency.  Several are overseas companies launching in the U.S. (China, New Zealand), and all target consumers (not B2B).

Social media is the other common theme, as expected.  But what may be surprising is that each and every company puts a premium on traditional media relations.  They want magazines, national TV, local press…the whole gamut. Seems the rumors of the death of traditional media are overstated (at least for now.)

We’ll keep you updated on how we do with these proposals.  In fact, we’ve quietly added a good number of new clients in 2010 that we’ve yet to announce (Orvis, Dr. Kracker, Green Mountain Coffee to name a few). But for now, the good news is that the spending seems to be on the uptick, and that’s great news for everyone.