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.

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.