Winner of a Keystone Award from the Central PA Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America

“Very thorough, impressive work. They achieved their objectives and then some.”

– Keystone Award judge

The Challenge

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian) and Children’s Health Fund, along with Scholastic, sought to launch a statewide oral health education and public awareness initiative in Pennsylvania as part of their “Guardians of the Smile” national partnership. The partnership provides dental services and education to children, teaches students about the importance of proper oral hygiene and aims to instill good habits from an early age.

Specifically, Guardian aimed to promote the partnership’s educational message to parents and guardians in Pennsylvania, particularly in Lehigh Valley (Guardian’s home market), during the initiative’s two-month duration.

The Approach

In collaboration with Guardian, PRworks devised a strategy that centered on an influencer and media relations campaign. Tactics included:

• Acquiring and producing media assets (images, a video package, audio bites and an infographic)
• Developing key messages
• Developing an FAQ document
• Developing and distributing a multimedia news release
• Sustained media pitching
• Researching, identifying and evaluating mom/parenting influencers
• Partnering with select influencers to develop and post content

PRworks integrated this scope of work with a larger overall effort that included additional strategies, tactics and activations by Guardian, Children’s Health Fund and Scholastic.

The Results

Influencer Campaign

• The mom/parenting influencer campaign reached the markets of Harrisburg, Lancaster and Pittsburgh, PA, while a customized package via a national parenting blog cast a net across five major Pennsylvania metro areas.
• The campaign published four pieces of authentic influencer-created content and more than a dozen social posts.

Media Placements

• A live four-minute segment aired on WFMZ-TV 69 News at Sunrise, which reached the target area of Lehigh Valley; the segment also reached an expanded audience on the station’s website
• An article in the Allentown Morning Call reached the company’s target area of Lehigh Valley
• WLCH-FM Radio Centro, a Latino public radio station reaching Lancaster and York, aired a 13-minute interview segment
• Dentistry Today published an article bylined by the CEOs of Guardian and Children’s Health Fund

Additionally, an organic post published on Guardian’s Facebook page using a video created for the campaign achieved the most views for a single post the company had experienced during the prior six months.

Overall, the media and influencer campaign tactics delivered more than 326,000 impressions and earned more than 1,200 engagements.

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