Silver Anvil Awards: Fill it in – Write it in – Lisa Murkowski

The PRSA 2011 Silver Anvil Awards podcast series features finalists from this year's program. The Silver Anvil Award recognizes complete public relations programs incorporating measurable and sound research, planning, execution and evaluation. These four areas represent the solid criteria by which senior practitioners judge each entry to ensure it meets the highest standards of performance in the profession.

 

Join Gary McCormick, APR, PRSA Fellow, as he speaks with Mary Deming Barber, APR, PRSA Fellow and president of The Barber Group, about the Lisa Murkowski for U.S. Senate campaign, “Fill it in – Write it in – Lisa Murkowski.”

 

The stunning upset of Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska primary in August 2010 and her subsequent decision to run as a write-in candidate called for a dynamic communications strategy. The complex goals of winning a write-in campaign were broken into two simple communication objectives: before 7 p.m. on Nov. 2, teach at least 40 percent of Alaskans who were registered to vote 1) how to vote for a write-in candidate, and 2) how to spell “Lisa Murkowski.”

 

By implementing diverse media strategies, the goal was achieved, and Murkowski was re-elected to a full term in the U.S. Senate. The morning after the election, the automated vote count showed “write-ins” led with 41 percent.