Agency Takes Home Four Awards and Three Certificates of Excellence
(Fall 2012) For more than 22 years, Cookerly Public Relations has been recognized as an industry leader in powering perceptions for a diverse client base. Recently, the Georgia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America honored the agency for its latest client success stories with four Phoenix Awards and three Certificates of Excellence. The prestigious awards are reflective of the Cookerly team’s hard-work, expertise and dedication to conceiving and implementing strategic communications programs that maximize clients’ return on investment.
Cookerly took home Phoenix Awards for the following public relations programs:
- Marketing Consumer Services – Financial Services Award for the agency’s work with SunTrust. Cookerly led a comprehensive public relations program for SunTrust and provided strategic input on communications programs and issues. The agency worked to increase visibility and awareness of the SunTrust brand Live Solid and supported the overall theme How Can We Help You? across the bank’s varied business platforms. In addition to the Phoenix Award, this program was one of a very few nominated for the “Best of Phoenix Award” which goes to the most outstanding entry across all award categories.
- Smartphone Apps Award for the Georgia Emergency management Agency Ready Georgia mobile app. The Ready Georgia app makes it easy for Georgia residents on-the-go to create and update Ready profiles and emergency plans, learn about preparedness and receive real-time weather and emergency alerts customized to their locations. In just one month, more than 17,000 people downloaded the app, and Ready profiles created rose 235 percent, indicating the app compelled users to actively create emergency plans and checklists.
- Podcasts Award for the Ready Georgia “Get Ready” podcast, a bimonthly podcast highlighting emergency preparedness and providing actionable advice from some of Georgia’s leading experts on weather, emergencies and emergency preparedness. 2011 was the second full year of podcasting for the Ready Georgia campaign. The podcast led to more than 15,000 new subscriptions to the RSS feed and more than double the number of unique visitors from the previous year.
- Public Service – Associations/Nonprofit Organizations Award for The Clean Air Campaign: Changing Behavior to Change Our Future. Cookerly Public Relations has worked with The Clean Air Campaign for 12 consecutive years. In 2011, the agency extended its long list of successes through targeted media outreach, social networking and week-long events that combined to educate the public on the importance of Clean Air Campaign programs and to drive increases in program participation.
Cookerly was also recognized in three additional categories with Certificates of Excellence:
- Events or Observances – Associations/Nonprofit Organizations Certificate for “Telework Works”: A commemoration of Telework Week 2011 in Georgia. The agency highlighted the program’s second year through consumer and business-focused media relations, a Telework Summit, social networking, a pledge campaign, Op-eds, byline articles, guest blogs and a partnership with newly elected Governor Nathan Deal.
- Public Service – Government Certificate for Ready Georgia: Preparing Now, Preventing Disaster Later. In its fourth year, the campaign provides a local dimension to the national Ready America campaign which encourages people to prepare for natural disasters and other broad-based emergencies. The Cookerly team was honored for its communications efforts that highlighted Ready Georgia’s calls to action: create an emergency preparedness kit, develop a communications plan and stay informed about potential local threats.
- Social Media Certificate for Everyday Winning, a Facebook Contest for the SunTrust brand Live Solid. Over a three-week promotion period, Everyday Winning invited fans to select photos which best exemplified smart financial choices. The contest successfully increased the number of “fans” for SunTrust’s Facebook page and resulted in an online community that was more significantly engaged with the bank via social media.
“A hallmark of our agency has been a staff that, in my opinion, is second to none in its ability to identify client needs, develop a thoughtful plan and execute on the deliverables,” said President Carol Cookerly. “The Phoenix Awards are Georgia PR’s equivalent of the Oscars and we are humbled to have been accorded the recognition of our peers.”
About Cookerly Public Relations
Cookerly Public Relations provides focused, strategic public relations counsel to an array of diverse, complex clients—from Fortune 500 companies to the public sector—across a broad range of industries including finance, environment, healthcare, technology and professional services. The seasoned experience of the Cookerly team delivers measurable results that strengthen our clients’ bottom lines through effective media relations, issues management and crisis communication, branding, and B-to-B and B-to-C marketing communications. Founded in 1990, Cookerly Public Relations is consistently ranked by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the region’s top 10 privately-held public relations agencies.
As senior vice president at Cookerly, Mike Rieman specializes in building and maintaining relationships with the media and has an excellent track record of landing significant placements in print and broadcast media including USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Money Magazine.
As design director at Cookerly, Tim serves as the creative lead in the development of branding campaigns, print collateral and digital media for clients across a broad range of industries, including consumer, professional services, healthcare and technology.
As vice president of Cookerly, Sheryl Sellaway uses her extensive corporate communications background to lead consumer PR efforts, deliver strategy for marketing programs and share expertise about community initiatives.