Volvo Cars of North America, Volvo for life Awards
Winner: 2004 PR News Platinum Awards, “Best Media Event”

A national grassroots movement to honor hometown heroes with $1 million in charitable contributions, the Volvo for life Awards communicates Volvo’s core brand values through the stories of everyday people doing the extraordinary in their communities. Launched in December 2002, the annual program asks people nationwide to visit www.volvoforlifeawards.com to nominate a hometown hero they know. A panel of celebrity judges, including Paul Newman, Hank Aaron, Bill Bradley, Caroline Kennedy, Maya Lin, Dr. Sally Ride, Sir Richard Branson, Val Kilmer and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, selects the program’s top heroes in the categories of safety, environment and quality of life.

Challenge: Show, Don’t Tell, Volvo’s Brand Values

Communicate Volvo’s brand values of safety, quality of life and environment — and reinforce its brand reputation for demonstrating care, conscience and character — in a way that creates an emotional connection between Volvo and consumers and inspires people to give back to their own communities.

Solution: Let Everyday Heroes Do the Talking

Invite non-profit associations and philanthropic entities to encourage individuals to nominate heroes they know. Pitch hundreds of nominees’ stories to their local media outlets and national media to solicit nominations and inspire community giving. Develop an unprecedented awards ceremony with production partner, Fitzgerald Brunetti Inc., to honor winning heroes on a national media stage in New York City. Pitch stories on the winning heroes to help promote the next year’s awards.

Results: 13,000 Heroes, 50 Million Web Hits, 1.2 Billion Media Impressions

Over a four-year period, the Volvo for life Awards Web site has received more than 13,000 hero nominations and 50 million Web hits. Haberman & Associates has generated approximately 1.2 billion media impressions.

During the four annual Volvo for life Awards, Haberman & Associates garnered more than 4,000 newspaper, radio and television stories about heroes in such outlets as The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC’s Today, CNN, the CBS Early Show, 60 Minutes, Guideposts, Organic Style, Time for Kids, ESPN, FOX News Network and Black Enterprise. More than 250 of the nation’s most powerful media have attended an emotional ceremony in New York each year.

By showing Volvo’s brand values, the Volvo for life Awards redefines the meaning of corporate citizenship, allowing Volvo to connect with consumers in a way that few large corporations could ever achieve or even attempt. The program also has created legions of everyday heroes who are Volvo spokespeople, humanizing the Volvo brand in ways that no advertisement or news release ever could. There is simply no other car company that would — or could — stand behind programs like this, and it shows.

Feedback

Roger Ormisher, Vice President of Public Affairs, Volvo Cars of North America: “With Volvo for life Awards, Haberman & Associates has brought the Volvo brand to a whole new target media. They do this by consistently and successfully projecting Volvo's brand values in the most positive and uplifting way. The result is a great campaign that has grown exponentially every year and captured the media’s hearts and minds like no other brand or corporate citizenship campaign before.”