A television and radio ad campaign relating to the federal surface transportation reauthorization bill and featuring former Presidents Reagan and Clinton has been named a 2012 “Hermes Award” winner by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. The ads were developed by the Washington, D.C.-based American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) and American Public Transportation Association (APTA).
The “Hermes Awards” program is an annual, international competition recognizing outstanding creativity in the concept, writing, and design of traditional and emerging media. Entries come from marketing, communication, advertising and public relations organizations from around the globe. This year, judges selected winners from over 4,700 applications.
The radio ad, which won the “Gold Award” in the category of “Audio Advocacy,” and the television ad, which earned “Honorable Mention,” in the “TV Advocacy” category, feature excerpts of the two men during their respective presidencies talking about the importance of highway and transit investment to the economy. The goal of the campaign was to elevate transportation higher on the congressional agenda, and urge the House and Senate to move forward on a long-term infrastructure reauthorization bill.
Produced in partnership with “Something Else Strategies,” a media and communications firm with offices in Washington, D.C., South Carolina and Alabama, the ad has won three other national and international awards since it was unveiled in 2011.
The TV spot (which can be viewed here), has run on CNN, FOX, NBC’s “Meet the Press” and ABC’s “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” in the D.C.-Metro area, and the radio ad aired regularly on WTOP—Washington’s highest rated news talk station, along with major cities around the country, such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta and Seattle, among others. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led Americans for Transportation Mobility coalition also produced a similar radio spot in key media markets during the 2011 August congressional recess, and made it the foundation of a major, six-figure TV ad buy in targeted Republican congressional districts during February 2012.
