2018 Prism Award Winners
The Prism Campaign Awards recognize the greatest achievements in Alaskan marketing over the past year. The Prism Campaign Awards showcase the best campaigns of the year while the Prism Award for Student Marketer of the Year showcases an individual who has raised the bar in our marketing community while also being a full-time student.
Community Development Campaign of the Year
Beacon Media + Marketing for the Denali Express Chevron Network
About the Campaign: Beacon Media + Marketing was able to raise awareness for the Denali Express Chevron Network’s social programs on social media, helping them raise support and advocacy for the local causes they care about. The strategy used human interest by way of photos and stories of people in their local community to earn likes, comments, and shares on social media platforms.
Advocacy Campaign of the Year
MSI Communications for KRSA, Advocacy for Anglers
About the Campaign: KRSA is the Alaska’s largest sport fishing trade association, with deep roots and connections to the world-famous Kenai River, on the Kenai Peninsula. In 2018, KRSA’s mission and advocacy efforts shifted beyond the Kenai, to represent state and national fishery issues. Last year, they hired MSI to assist with three public advocacy issue campaigns including an effort to defeat a Governor board member appointment to the Board of Fish that would have upset the balance on the board, support for a national marine fisheries act, and a proposal to halt the increase of pink salmon egg-take in Prince William Sound.
Small Business Campaign of the Year
Beacon Media + Marketing for Heroes of the Last Frontier
About the Campaign: Heroes of the Last Frontier both raised awareness for LifeMed Alaska as an emergency air medical transport provider and positioned them as a voice in the communities they serve. With a small budget of $30,000, Beacon Media + Marketing oriented the campaign around a cause that Alaskans naturally care about—first responders—in order to generate massive quantities of likes, comments, and shares.
Integrated Campaign of the Year
MSI Communications for Alaska Airlines Club 49
About the Campaign: Club 49 is an in-state, Alaska-only loyalty program for Alaska Airlines. Club49 offers unique travel benefits to Alaskans and the program is free to join. It complements the industry-leading Mileage Plan from Alaska Airlines and was created to support the unique travel needs of Alaskans. MSI provides all marketing and advertising support for the Club 49 program in the state of Alaska. The annual campaign includes weekly destination marketing, benefit program marketing, television, radio, print, digital, social and airport advertising.
Student Marketer of the Year
Kody Nash from MTA
About Kody: Kody is a full time student pursuing a degree in Marketing. He also dedicates over 40 hours a week to his role as a Marketing professional at MTA. Kody seamlessly manages his time at UAA as well as managing several large projects at MTA. Kody was instrumental in the huge success of MTA’s Product and Marketing Team in 2018.
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2018 Pinnacle Award Winners
The Pinnacle Awards showcase key marketing productions and recognize all the ways Alaskan marketers can be impactful for their clients.
Annual Reports
Strategies 360 for Koniag’s Annual Report
About the Campaign: Strategies 360 was brought on to provide editorial strategy and design for Koniag’s Annual Report. They developed the theme, provided copy for the narrative portion, and designed the report utilizing the new brand look and feel.
Logo
Beacon Media + Marketing for ESI
About the Campaign: The brand Beacon created for ESI represents the company’s unique corporate identity and value proposition while being versatile and easy to use in a variety of formats. They took multiple differentiators and needs and boiled them down into one branding package that met them all.
Website
MSI Communications for KRSA.com
About the Campaign: KRSA is Alaska’s largest sport fishing trade association, with deep roots and connections to the world-famous Kenai River. Historically, the member-based, non-profit organization represented Alaska sportfishermen and lobbied for increased river access and sustainable fishery policies. In 2018, they expanded their mission to increase the visibility of their conservation and river habitat protection efforts, so residents may form an emotional connection with the pledge to protect salmon and Alaskan’s right tofish.MSI created a new website that better represents this new mission using new rich, beautiful photography, videography, and custom iconography as well as value-added tools for members and a sophisticated, integrated, third-party Action Alert tool for advocacy efforts.
Newsletter
MSI Communications for Sitnasuak Messenger
About the Campaign: Sitnasuak Native Corporation (SNC) hired MSI to lead crisis communications during a protracted lawsuit the corporation filed against several shareholders. It was critical that SNC communicated the details of the lawsuit in a transparent, legal and positive manner as the corporation’s future depended on their being able to complete an annual meeting in 2018, one which required a quorum of shareholder participation as outlined by their bi-laws to conduct business. MSI used digital, direct mail, social media, radio and print ads to communicate the lawsuit, build confidence among shareholders and cultivate shareholder participation at the 2018 annual meeting. The work resulted in both SNC-supported proposals passing with a record number of shareholders voting and attending the annual meeting.
Social Media
MSI Communications for Alaska Airlines
About the Campaign: Alaska Airlines has been building membership in the Alaskans-only loyalty program, Club 49, since its inception more than ten years ago. In the past 3 years, the annual Summer Promotion/giveaway has contributed significant gains to membership growth goals, through YOY increased participation and engagement. The goal for this campaign was to continue that growth trend in 2018 through a targeted, statewide multimedia sweepstakes campaign lasting four weeks in June. Each week, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan™ miles were given away to Club 49 members and, during the last week, a grand prize of 110,000 miles was awarded.
Photography
MSI Communications for Donlin Gold – Perspectives from the Region
About the Campaign: Donlin Gold is an Alaska mining company who has partnered with multiple Alaska Native corporations to develop one of the largest known gold deposits in the world located in the Yukon Kuskokwim (YK) region of Alaska. Consistent with most large projects, there is a level of skepticism and fear of change among residents who are downstream from the mine. We flew to western Alaska to film and produce a series of six 30-secondTV spots and a pair of two-minute videos that profile local Alaska Native leader support for the mine, the safety of the project, and the opportunities it will bring to the state’s poorest region. The photo and video shoot resulted in a series of 10 print ads and 9 video spots appearing in Yukon-Kuskokwim region media outlets and broadcasts and online ads.
Industry Sponsor
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Radio Advertising
Spawn Ideas for RAVN Alaska – DAYover Radio
About the Campaign: This campaign targeted passengers who fly in-state, many of whom encounter long layovers on a regular basis. Extending a layover to a DAYover allows fliers time to run errands, visit family, or just explore Alaska, and it reinforces RAVN’s reputation for understanding Alaskans.
Print Advertising
MSI Communications for Donlin Gold – Perspectives from the Region
About the Campaign: Donlin Gold is an Alaska mining company who has partnered with multiple Alaska Native corporations to develop one of the largest known gold deposits in the world located in the Yukon Kuskokwim (YK) region of Alaska. Consistent with most large projects, there is a level of skepticism and fear of change among residents who are downstream from the mine. We flew to western Alaska to film and produce a series of six 30-secondTV spots and a pair of two-minute videos that profile local Alaska Native leader support for the mine, the safety of the project, and the opportunities it will bring to the state’s poorest region. The photo and video shoot resulted in a series of 10 print ads and 9 video spots appearing in Yukon-Kuskokwim region media outlets and broadcasts and online ads.
Branding Corporate Identity
MSI Communications for KRSA Reel Alaska
About the Campaign: The Kenai River Sportfishing Association (KRSA) is the largest sportfishing trade association in Alaska. Established by Senator Ted Stevens and Bob Penny, their original mission was to protect the sustainability of the world’s premier sportfishing river-the Kenai River. In 2018, they expanded their board of directors and shifted their mission to focus on conservation, habitat protection and sound fish policies so that members would see real impacts throughout the community, and not just in the area of advocacy. To this end, they hired MSI Communications to rebrand the organization–and assist with managing member expectations and public perception that goes with a dramatic shift in efforts and brand.
Online Advertising
Beacon Media + Marketing for the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Campaign
About the Campaign: Alaskans love travel, and no other airline understands the unique needs of Alaskans more than Alaska Airlines. Through our integrated Club 49 marketing plan, our online price point advertising has been connecting Alaskans with great destinations for years through statewide placements, including direct placements and programmatic buys. MSI employs a variety of HTML5 ad sizes to capture the audience with weekly fare sales created for Alaska residents as a part of Alaska Airlines Club 49’s commitment to serving the state that shares its name.
Special Events
Beacon Media + Marketing for North x North Festival
About the Campaign: The social media campaign ran for North x North Festival doubled their attendees from the year prior, bringing in new faces, particularly for the events they wanted advertised. Beacon Media + Marketing was able to capture the spirit of the North in a compelling way using graphics, copy, and video.
Video Advertising
Spawn Ideas for GCI iPhone XS Launch
About the Campaign: Spawn Ideas created a TV spot for the launch of the new iPhone that met the strict creative guidelines of Apple, all without knowing any specifics of the new device. Additionally, GCI was one of the first regional carriers to be allowed to attempt creating their own ad – and Spawn passed the test with flying colors. They’ve produced commercials that not only get approval from Apple, but also meet and surpass the goals of the client.
Direct Mail
MSI Communications for Visit Anchorage
About the Campaign: The Official Guide to Anchorage, Alaska is a key component for Alaska tourism. Visit Anchorage produces and prints over 300,000 guides each year and over 200,000 copies of the 104-page,full-color guide are mailed to potential visitors in a matching full-color envelope, providing travelers with compelling photos and information to help them plan theirAnchorageadventure. MSI works closely with Visit Anchorage every year to create a user-friendly trip-planning guide that people are excited to see arrive in their mailbox.
Retail Merchandising
First National Bank Alaska for 2018 Retail Merchandising
About the Campaign: Today, evolving technology empowers Alaskans to manage their finances anytime from anywhere. For their 2018 retail merchandising campaign, First National focused on bringing Alaska’s largest, locally owned bank to the 21st century; highlighting the bank’s multiple Online and Mobile Banking services in an effort to increase digital adoption. Armed with a fresh look and a clear focus, the bank sought to modernize their image while still remaining grounded to their homegrown roots.
Public Relations
MSI Communications for Sitnasuak Native Corporation – Your Voice, Your Vote!
About the Campaign: Sitnasuak Native Corporation (SNC) hired MSI to lead crisis communications during a protracted lawsuit the corporation filed against several shareholders. It was critical that SNC communicated the details of the lawsuit in a transparent, legal and positive manner as the corporation’s future depended on their being able to complete an annual meeting in 2018, one which required a quorum of shareholder participation as outlined by their bi-laws to conduct business. MSI used digital, direct mail, social media, radio and print ads to communicate the lawsuit, build confidence among shareholders and cultivate shareholder participation at the 2018 annual meeting. The work resulted in both SNC-supported proposals passing with a record number of shareholders voting and attending the annual meeting.
Brochures
MSI Communications for Visit Anchorage
About the Campaign: Visit Anchorage understands the unique needs of visitors to Alaska and knows that their interests change with the seasons. We created a series of unique activity cards as a supplement to their popular120-pageOfficial Guide to Anchorage, Alaska, to provide travelers with additional information about popular attractions in and around Anchorage. Typically, the visitor guide is received prior to arriving in Anchorage, and the activity rack cards are handed out in the Visitor’s log cabin by volunteers when talking directly to visitors. This new strategy to create the activity cards has saved Visit Anchorage thousands of dollars in printing costs and reduced the number of wasted visitor’s guides when all they needed was information on a single visitor attraction or activity.
In their company kitchens, the Corporate 100 blend wholesome ingredients with exquisite utensils to create the scrumptious ambrosia that keeps employees gratified and contented. Meet the top Alaska employers ranked by number of Alaskans on their payroll, and learn the recipe for success. This issue also includes a focus on economic development initiatives in Anchorage and Kodiak.