The Community Relations category is for campaigns “created to strengthen relations between organizations and the community.” Wilt Public Relations spearheaded two cause-related marketing campaigns in 2009 that were eligible for consideration for this year’s awards.

“Community-based initiatives, especially in our service areas of agriculture and healthcare, are very important to us,” said Melanie Wilt, senior account manager and owner of Wilt Public Relations. “The honor for us is really in working with organizations that see value in communicating with their key stakeholders and have vision to implement into their ideas creatively.”

LiveNow™ is a community-based initiative to encourage Clark County residents to adopt active and healthy lifestyles, which is financially supported by Littleton and Rue Funeral Home. According to the 2008 Healthy Ohioans report, 1 in 3 Clark County residents are considered obese and 1 in 4 are physically inactive. LiveNow ™ centers around a website full of active lifestyle tips and community events at www.ilivenow.org. With help from The Cerium Group, the initiative was launched and grew in 2009.

Fueling the Cure™ is an initiative sponsored by three Ohio farm cooperatives including Southwest Landmark, United Landmark and Heritage Cooperative which deployed pink propane trucks to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer research and prevention education. They joined together to support the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Care Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James). To date, the campaign has raised over $50,000 for breast cancer research and prevention education. Wilt Public Relations worked in conjunction with London, Ohio-based Cultiva Design on this campaign.

Wilt PR is a full-service PR-communication agency helping organizations proactively manage their reputations by implementing effective communication strategies.

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