PRSA Chicago recently celebrated its 2021 Skyline Awards winner in a virtual gala, recognizing the best of the best in Chicago public relations and communications. We are excited to announce that seven of our client programs have won awards this year, with one exemplary campaign winning the Best of Skylines award!

Our staff teams work hard each day to create impactful, innovative and mission-driven programs and have worked to help our clients through challenging times and enable their communications-driven campaigns to thrive. We are extraordinarily proud of our teams for the purpose-driven and creative work they do each day.

The winners of the 2021 PRSA Chicago Skyline Awards are:

Best of Skylines Award:

Gift of Hope

PRSA Chicago recently celebrated its 2021 Skyline Awards winner in a virtual gala, recognizing the best of the best in Chicago public relations and communications. We are excited to announce that seven of our client programs have won awards this year, with one exemplary campaign winning the Best of Skylines award!

Our staff teams work hard each day to create impactful, innovative and mission-driven programs and have worked to help our clients through challenging times and enable their communications-driven campaigns to thrive. We are extraordinarily proud of our teams for the purpose-driven and creative work they do each day.

Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network – the not-for-profit organ procurement organization that coordinates organ and tissue donation in Illinois and northwest Indiana – is dedicated to saving and enhancing the lives of as many people as possible through donation. Its mission is founded on the core belief that donation transcends all forms of diversity, connects people from all walks of life and offers the gift of life and healing to people in need. As part of its ongoing public education and awareness efforts, Gift of Hope partnered with Public Communications Inc. (PCI) to develop an integrated marketing and communications program that leveraged National Minority Donor Awareness Month on the local level to educate the community about the importance of ethnic diversity in donation and to empower people of diverse ethnicities to say “yes” to donation.

Winner: Skyline Award

AARP Illinois

After identifying social media as an underutilized resource to reach their audiences, AARP Illinois partnered with PCI to position the organization on social media as the go-to advocate and voice for its 1.7 million members and Illinois residents 50+ on critical advocacy efforts. Following a half-day strategy planning workshop with AARP Illinois leadership to identify needs and challenges, PCI developed and activated upon a social media strategy playbook through management of AARP Illinois’ social media, including a successful pivot to bring the traditionally in-person event-based organization to a fully virtual environment on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Winner: Skyline Award

Chimp haven

Chimp Haven is the world’s largest chimpanzee sanctuary and has successfully retired hundreds of chimpanzees formerly used in biomedical research. Chimp Haven was entering the final stretch in its campaign, and the need to widen their donor pool and elevate their work to complete the expansion was critical. In late 2018, we began discussions with UK-based Blink Films about bringing Chimp Haven’s stories to life through a documentary-style television series for National Geographic. Not only would this provide Chimp Haven, a non-profit organization, an incredible earned media opportunity to share its work and with a wider audience at no cost, but the media relations opportunities leading up to the premiere and immediately following the launch of the program “Meet the Chimps” on Disney+ in October 2020 significantly increased brand exposure during a critical fundraising period. PCI is Chimp Haven’s agency of record and led film coordination, storyline development and planning efforts from pre- to post-production and worked with Disney+ and National Geographic to promote the program’s premiere.

Winner: Award of Excellence

Cornerstones

The COVID-19 pandemic had devastating effects on already-vulnerable Virginian individuals/families and Cornerstones was there with wraparound services to support and advocate for their clients throughout the year. PCI worked with Cornerstones leadership in the summer of 2020 to understand current capabilities and needs, assessed the nonprofit’s social media presence and used past analytics to develop a comprehensive social media strategy playbook, which included goals, strategies, content buckets highlighting topics of focus and content ideas, and would guide PCI’s community management of the nonprofit’s social media. With CARES Act funding running out at the end of 2020, it was imperative that Cornerstones secured a significant amount of money through its end of year (EOY) giving campaign to continue providing critical services in 2021 when funding would end.

Winner: Skyline Award

Howard Brown Health

In 2020, Public Communications Inc. (PCI) partnered with Howard Brown Health (HBH), a federally qualified health center serving Chicago’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community, to lead a Google Ads campaign to drive walk-in visits and appointments to three HBH clinics in Southside Chicago. Due to the unexpected circumstance of COVID-19, the campaign was pivoted to telehealth to align with changing healthcare needs due to patient apprehension to in-person visits.

Winner: Skyline Award

Save Giraffes Now

Texas-based nonprofit Save Giraffes Now (SGN) joined forces with Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) and an African non-government organization to float a group of Rothschild’s giraffes to safety from their flooded Kenya range. Four giraffes have been moved, but due to the area’s remoteness and COVID-19 restrictions, media couldn’t cover the rescue.

PCI created and executed a media strategy to bring attention to the conservation needs of today and inspire people to financially support this important work through the inspiring, dynamic story of the giraffes of Longicharo Island. The strategy included press releases, targeted media pitches and engaging social media content.

Winner: Award of Excellence

Society of Critical Care Medicine

In March 2020, as COVID-19 cases skyrocketed and concerns grew about Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity and ventilator and staffing shortages, the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) and Public Communications Inc. (PCI) developed and implemented a national earned media strategy to advocate for critical care specialists (intensivists) and other ICU clinicians and share critical information with key audiences including the healthcare community, public and media.

Congratulations to all the clients and teams for their hard work on these award-winning campaigns, and congratulations to all the Skylines award winners!

Want to know more about the campaigns or interested in learning how we can help you? Email us at lets_talk@pcipr.com.