In any industry, being singled out for excellence by your peers for exemplary work over the course of a year is a tremendous honor. That is especially true in marketing and communications, where dynamic agencies vie for top honors in a highly creative and competitive field. In this episode of the “Can You Hear Me?” podcast, co-hosts Eileen Rochford and Rob Johnson welcome guests Anne Marie Mitchell, Vice President of Reputation Partners and Executive Board of Directors Co-President at the Publicity Club of Chicago, as well as Tweed Thornton, the Executive Director of the Publicity Club of Chicago and a not-for-profit consultant to discuss “Why Marketing Awards Are So Important.”
Anne Marie Mitchell – Senior Vice President
Anne Marie has been with Reputation Partners since 2023. She has 25+ years of experience as a communications consultant, strategist, educator, and trainer. Throughout her career, Anne Marie has specialized in employee and leader communications as a consultant working with leaders at Fortune 100 companies as well as in-house with companies including Sara Lee, Case Corporation, ComEd, Rand McNally and others. She is a specialist in helping C-Suite leaders deliver impactful messages that retain and motivate employees during times of crisis and culture transition. Fluent in Spanish and having lived and worked in Europe, Mexico and South America, Anne Marie is particularly adept at supporting organizations with complex, global workforces. She is co-president of The Publicity Club of Chicago (PCC) and serves on the board of Steep Theatre in Chicago's Edgewater district.
Tweed Thornton is a dedicated leader driven by a passion for social impact and organizational excellence. As the founder and CEO of Four Star Initiatives (FSI), Thornton has led his company since 2017 to make significant contributions to nonprofit organizations such as the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, the Alliance for Regional Development, Collaboraction Theatre Company, the Publicity Club of Chicago, and WTTW. FSI's work includes community and media outreach, event planning, meeting facilitation, operational growth, and strategic development.
Before establishing FSI, Thornton served as Executive Director at the City Club of Chicago for eight years, during which time he oversaw a tripling of membership and events. His tenure was marked by notable achievements, including attracting prominent national speakers, highlighted by a joint forum featuring U.S. Senators Richard Durbin and John McCain.
Today, Thornton is a sought-after speaker and organizer for panels, podcasts, and other thought leadership discussions. Thornton specializes in bringing people together to create future action. Committed to giving back, he serves various nonprofits as a volunteer, including as President of the Board of Directors for the Association of Consultants to Nonprofits.
Rob Johnson: [00:00:18] Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Can You Hear Me podcast. I'm Rob Johnson, president of Rob Johnson communications. [00:00:23][5.6]
Eileen Rochford: [00:00:24] And I'm Eileen Rochford. I'm CEO of The Harbinger Group. We're a marketing and strategy communications firm. So every year marketing firms like mine agencies, even corporate communications departments compete against each other and even other Chicago firms to be recognized as the very, very, very best in the entire business. So why do we put so much time and effort into these honors? [00:00:48][23.5]
Rob Johnson: [00:00:49] That's a very good question. We're going to explore it today. One reason is that the agency business is highly competitive, and its teams are about as creative as you can get. So we're going to dive in a little deeper into today's topic, which is why marketing awards are so important. And to do that, we welcome not one but two guests to the podcast. Ann-Marie Mitchell is vice president of Reputation Partners here in Chicago and also the executive board of directors co-president at the Publicity Club of Chicago. Tweet Thornton is the executive director of the Publicity Club of Chicago and a not for profit consultant. So the Publicity Club runs the most prestigious awards program in the Midwest, the Golden Trumpet Awards. These awards have been recognizing excellence in public relations, marketing, and communications in the Midwest for over 65 years. So, Anne Marie and Tweed, welcome to Can You Hear Me? We are thrilled to have you. [00:01:43][54.4]
Tweed Thornton: [00:01:44] Thanks. Thanks for having us. [00:01:45][1.1]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:01:45] Excited to be here. Yeah. [00:01:46][1.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:01:47] You guys are like the words King and Queen of Chicago for, you know, PR and marketing agency and advertising. Right? Come on. [00:01:54][7.6]
Tweed Thornton: [00:01:56] This is news to me, but. [00:01:57][1.1]
Eileen Rochford: [00:01:58] You've just released. I'm thrilled to have it. [00:02:00][1.8]
Tweed Thornton: [00:02:00] Yes. I accept the. [00:02:03][2.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:02:03] Honor. Well, I have explanation, sir. So. But before we have the conversation. How about we here just to meet with you a little bit for our listeners so they can understand your own professional journeys and how you came to be where you are. A little bit. How does that sound? Who wants to go first? [00:02:22][19.3]
Tweed Thornton: [00:02:23] That sounds great. I'll I'll go ahead first. So again tweed thornton I have been with the publicity club of Chicago since 2019. I've got my first start working in the nonprofit field in in college. I had studied nonprofit, nonprofit management even back then, and I was at the City Club of Chicago not to be confused with the very closely named Publicity Club of Chicago, but I was at the City Club of Chicago and I became executive director there in 2009, led a lot of different programs, had expanded the kinds of programs that City Club was doing. When I first started, it was a lot of civic officials. It's always going to be a lot of civic officials at the City Club, but we started having like nonprofit series inside of our our overall series. We had foundation leaders. Then we would have education leaders and we would be talking about policy. Eventually, if anything was happening in Chicago, the we would get a lot of top leaders to come coming to talk about it. For example, the NHL draft came to Chicago. And of one of the first things I did was reach out to the commissioner's office and eventually Gary Bettman came to speak to City Club. Biggest accomplishment? The thing I'm most proud about is having a event where John McCain and Dick Durbin spoke together at the height of the government shutdown and in 2013, a story for another podcast. So in 2017, I left to start my own company. Based on my experience and my company for Star Initiatives, which consults nonprofit organizations and helps them have great events, great marketing and communication campaigns, and strategic planning, among among other things. So again, started with Publicity Club in Chicago in 2019. I've been serving as executive director there during that time, and have had the great opportunity to work with communications and PR leaders Like Andrea Mitchell, who started as co-president last year and has been a frequent collaborator. And board member for PCC. [00:05:01][158.0]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:05:02] Thank you. I'm going to try to follow that one. So yes, I have been co-president since last year, but involved with PCC for probably ten years, on the board for five years. And I think the way I would describe my journey to nonprofit PCC work and also this thank you. The mantle Queen of award. You've ignited me and united me. Eileen. So the first, I would say half of my career, I'm gonna say 15 years ish. I was more in the the corporate and agency side, you know, and working on so many campaigns, whether I was working with Ketchum or Golden on the agency side or, you know, campaigns with my corporate employers like commend, Pace Corporation, Amoco, now BP. And, you know, it's funny, like when I think about those 15 years, what is the thing that I remember most is the Prsa award winning, you know, Silver Anvil campaign. You know, all the things, because that was when you're able to take a campaign that you worked on so hard. And this was something we worked on for Georgia Pacific when I was with Ketchum. And you're able to articulate what it is that mattered about that campaign and talk about the results, then put and come together with your team and your client and then put that award entry and and then get to go to Georgia to get recognized by the Georgia Prsa for this, you know, employee communications campaign that was noted as the best. You know. And of all the those applicants, I still have that trophy. You know, I'm sitting behind me in my other office. You don't see it behind me here through my home office. But, you know, I think that speaks to the value of awards, right? You know, you spend your career and you do all these different programs. And what what do you remember? It's that culminating moment. So now the second half of the career I spent 15 years of it teaching at Columbia College Chicago. I was working with students and working with a lot of nonprofit clients while still consulting. And then I've come back to the agency side now with Reputation Partners and working with PCC on these on the Golden Trumpets. And now seeing again, I'm kind of back full circle on the agency side and I will be able to talk about this. But what what I was able to see from my colleagues as they were putting together and no conflict of interest, because this was a campaign I wasn't a part of, but just that they were putting together the campaign and to to enter the golden trumpets for this year's award ceremony. It just it's a thread, right, to see how agencies, how corporations in the communications world are able to come together and use the process of of working on an award entry for so many different benefits that I know we'll talk about. And, you know, it's just it's just really impactful. And to be now on the side working with PCC and, you know, being a judge and bringing judges on and getting to see what happens at these magical award ceremonies that I know we're going to talk about how we've been able to bring this back since Covid and, you know, make them these special moments again, which people are craving. And it's it's just been wonderful and magical. So just thrilled to to be talking about this with you. [00:08:11][188.6]
Eileen Rochford: [00:08:11] Yay! It is so fun. Just the whole award thing. I know there's for most of us, I would imagine coming from agency life, there's a lot of pain in remembering award entries this season, but there's also a lot of joy, isn't there? There's a ton of joy when you're in it. [00:08:27][16.5]
Rob Johnson: [00:08:28] So let me let me ask you this, this question. You were talking about the benefits of of entering it. But obviously people will say, oh, I'm just glad to be nominated or whatever, but truly, they want to win the awards. What are the benefits of entering and winning awards for brands and for agencies. Tweet. Let's start with you. [00:08:46][17.5]
Tweed Thornton: [00:08:46] You know, Anne-Marie talked a little bit about it already. You know, and you get that that special moment, you know, that that can carry with you, you know, for the rest of your life you have the physical trophy. That's a constant reminder. I'll be you know, I enjoy walking into agency offices and seeing a line of PCC awards that are on there. And I know that, you know, they didn't just put that out there that morning because I happened to be stopping by. That's where they are all the time and where they live. So obviously just that that physical reminder is certainly one. You know, the enhanced reputation and credibility that comes with the awards, especially if you're a younger agency, you know, submitting the award, then getting that honor and getting the honor at the the same night that some of the largest agencies in the world are getting an honor as well. You know, that's that's a big thing. And then we'll see agencies. Also also nonprofits, also associations and and other and some corporations will will apply as well. But primarily the you know, the agencies as soon as they're getting the award. Many of them the very next day up on their website, they are broadcasting the fact that they got it and they're sharing it across their social channels, and they want to both, you know, boost their reputation, among others, including, you know, there's the hope of attracts clients and other business opportunities. You know, you'll visit these websites and agency websites and they'll talk about how they're an award winning firm and especially for the younger agencies, maybe, Maybe PCC is the good. The Golden Trumpet Awards are the awards that made them be able to say, we are an award winning firm. And then, you know, it's also it's great for employee morale and and talent retention as well. So a couple of your team team members have worked really hard on this. You give them their their moment in the sun. That they've earned you know, that they put in so much time and effort. And by putting their work in front of the entire community, you know that I know that that can be a real. It's it's, you know, again, it boost morale and and helps, helps them all around. And talking about the fact that these awards are announced in front of the entire community. There's a great opportunity for networking. You know, this is going to the award ceremony itself. Is, you know, there's so many people that it's it's it's like a reunion on on one level you'll see a lot a lot of hugs, a lot of people, you know, asking each other how they've been saying, you know, it's been so long since they saw each other. And Marie mentioned how, you know, the the awards, how we've brought them back, quote unquote, from during Covid, our virtual, our 2020 and 2021 award ceremonies were both virtual when we brought the awards back in 2022. We wanted to have as small of a program as possible, because this was the first time that a lot of people who had regularly gotten together over the years. It was the first time in history for years that they had had a chance to see each other. So, you know, there's there's a lot that that goes into it. And, you know, there's some, some other things that other reasons I'm sure I missed, but those are definitely the top ones and the ones that I enjoy seeing, especially the community aspect of it. You know, in some ways, I've seen agencies use the Golden Trumpet Awards as their coming out party. You know, maybe they've been around for 3 or 4 years and they they had a great year. They feel that, you know, they've finally come to the point where they can enter the Golden Trumpet Awards. They'll win 4 or 5 awards and bring out the whole team. And it's it's you know, a lot of people will get on the community's radar because of the Golden Trumpet Awards. [00:13:18][271.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:13:18] That's great. These are all excellent examples. So every tweet touched on a bunch of things. He did kind of lightly touch some of that employee morale. You know, having the party of them celebrating and thanking team members and such. Definitely touched on brand reputation a little bit. And you mentioned client acquisition, but do you have anything to expand in all those areas in terms of what are the benefits for brands and agencies when winning these awards? [00:13:45][26.6]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:13:46] Yeah, I mean, I, I think it's the whole arc beginning to end. Like I almost I was almost thinking of mapping out this process, you know, of thinking like just from when the agency finds out the award is, you know, entries are open to the mad scramble to figure out what are the best, you know, stories we have to tell. You know what what what what are the most impactful moments? So just even forcing those conversations right within and within an environment to think about what is it, what is it that we're most proud of? Getting the associations, as you said, and other nonprofits, because it's not just agencies, but we want all organizations who are working in communications and really working in important marketing issues, you know, trying to trying to move audiences and change perceptions and bring people, you know, for all different kinds of reasons and goals to to to hear a message, you know, that's really can change lives. You know, when you think of some of our, our nonprofit award entries that are dealing with really tough issues and marginalized communities and trying to make an impact. So like them being able to tell their story and see their story represented in the award entries that we get to get to review. But the mad scramble, figuring out what to work on and then telling that story. And I know the agency has put so much time, the ones that win put a lot of time into telling that story and meeting the requirements of the entry, because it's a pure pleasure. Then, on being on the other side to be a judge and working with, you know, these these qualified judges because, you know, that's the other thing. It's like, who judges these things? Well, it's, you know, experts, the best people who've been in the business for a very long time, who who know are qualified to be our judges and get to, you know, you know, recognize award or put the numbers up, and then we get to these other categories to, you know, to really recognize the best of the best. But then the, the, the ceremony itself, when they find out that they have been awarded, they don't know what you know, they don't know what they're going to win yet. So we got to keep that carried out there. Like you don't know, you don't know. But you better come and find out. And then, you know, to bring in the client and hoping for the best. Is it going to be, you know, a big one. What's it going to be? But that moment of bonding with the client too, that is so important to be able to bring the client, celebrate your relationship, celebrate your partnership and just be people you know, be people out together in the world and you know, and and celebrating success. So it kind of it touches on lots of different things. And then I have to say this year, boy, did the social media just blow up because I think we did. You know, one of the things we try to do is understand when people come to the award ceremony, what they're looking to get out of it. And one thing we've seen an escalation in is being able to tell the story in a really visual way. We won this award, so I would say this year we really stepped it up with the red carpet and also the the timing. You know, like you get your award and then you go right away to the step and repeat so you can, you know, get that, that that photo and be able to share that image, you know, the very next day. And that really I think helped accelerate, you know, the timeline and keep it very timely and keep it all very special. So they were feeling that euphoria after winning the award and then being able to to share it the next day and just, you know, connecting then with your colleagues in, you know, across the city, across the country, your clients tying it all together and being able to celebrate virtually with the folks who couldn't be there. It's a it's just a wonderful process, you know, and it just brings touches on so many, so much of the joy that we have in this profession, you know, is being able to celebrate. We're communicators, right? We like to not just communicate for our clients, but communicate for ourselves and for our story. [00:17:29][223.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:17:30] Yeah. [00:17:30][0.0]
Rob Johnson: [00:17:30] Did you say that? Did you say that? You let people know that they won before they come? Or are people just nominated when they come to the prize? I don't know if I want to win or not. [00:17:39][8.6]
Tweed Thornton: [00:17:39] Yeah. So. So the distinction is that you you enter into the, you submit your entry and then it gets judged. And then we tell people if they are winning a gold or a silver or specifically that you you've won an award. Now to come to the Golden Trumpet Awards where you will find out if you want. If it's a gold or silver, gold is higher than silver, just like in the Olympics. And so so that's the distinction. The distinction is that you, you know, that you wore and won something. And then the reveal, if you will, the suspense on the evening is if it's it's gold or silver. [00:18:22][43.2]
Rob Johnson: [00:18:23] That is so much better because back in my old business this for the Emmy Awards? You know, you get nominated and then you go there and you can sit there and have your best piece of work, not win. And somebody else and you're like, oh my gosh. To know that you're coming there and you're winning something that makes the night totally different, doesn't it? That's kind of cool. [00:18:41][18.3]
Eileen Rochford: [00:18:42] You know, you're not gonna lose. You're gonna like me or something. Yeah. [00:18:43][1.8]
Tweed Thornton: [00:18:45] All and the way that we do it, too. You know, Anne-Marie talked about this on social media. You know, it's it's interesting thinking about how these awards have evolved. Not just the Golden Trumpet Awards, but all all the awards. I remember watching an episode of Mad Men, and there is it's an awards. There's an awards ceremony there, and they capture that. It's a big deal for them to win in front of their colleagues and and to do so on, on that night. And because back then and, you know, arguably 80s, 90s, even 2000, the main thing that you would do when you get your award is it was all in the community and whatever that business community you had. Well, this you know, in this day and age, you know, what we've done with the Golden Trumpet Awards is design it so that you can get your award, and then you immediately get your photo taken because you know, the that photo. Now the community, if you will, is LinkedIn and and your website. You can take that message. You can take that photo and you can share it way beyond what what traditionally would be your, your audience for for who would find out that that you won the award. So we've definitely catered to that and made sure that, you know, the first and foremost, everyone's walking away from the evening with the marketing materials that that they need to be able to tell everyone that, that they're a winner. [00:20:15][90.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:20:16] It's so important for clients, I think, to have to see that in my experience, the the getting the not just the photo, but, you know, the actual physical award and being able to show it to them. I know we talk about this in terms of agency, reputation so much, and I think that's just because that's where many, many of us, you know, kind of reside in our careers, that I can share a story. This is recently with our biggest and most important value in a sense. The because their mission and other things we were they were not able to come. When our team found out that they had won the Golden Trumpet, which was wildly exciting. They were not able to be there. And these clients in particular, they're not marketers. And that's that's unusual, I think, in our industry to have to turn to report to, you know, a committee or a board. So it's maybe more comment and association work and things. But so we were opening up to give our presentation for our, you know, next year's plan and budget. And before everyone came in the room, we we hadn't told them yet that we had won. So we had these little, you know, chocolate trophies made that we're looked like because they were wrapped in gold foil. So they didn't look like trumpets, but whatever. So we were trying hard. So we and then just you kind of wrote up, you know, this is what we won. Lost. So it's important. And so there's 12, 14 people sitting around this gigantic conference room walk in. Of course, they're delighted that they've just been given chocolate, that they were like, wow, you guys just won something like super, super important. Clearly, you know, maybe we made a little too big of a deal out of it. But they were thrilled. So it just so validating for that validation I should say for their clients. And you know, in another situation where clients are in marketing or communications, having the endorsement, you know, the validation essentially, you know, to boost their own credibility internally through those awards, I have found to be very important for the clients I've worked with, you know, often helps them further justify their budget or their staff, you know, expansion and things like that. So it can have a very meaningful impact, I think, and brands as well as agencies. [00:22:33][137.4]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:22:34] Absolutely lends credibility. I mean, and also just also to the team, it makes the team perform better in a lot of ways. You know, that that knowing that you're, you know, you've been recognized as one of the best, you know. And now that bar is high, the bar is there. So we got to keep keep reaching that keep up and over it. [00:22:49][14.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:22:49] And you know I'm a huge fan. Oh sorry. Go ahead. No. Please don't. Come on. Jump in. You're next. [00:22:54][5.5]
Rob Johnson: [00:22:55] I was just going to say tweet point earlier about all of a sudden you're an award winner. You're, you know, Golden Trumpet Award winner. And nobody can take that away from you. And especially, as he was mentioning, for those smaller firms or firms that are looking to get some oxygen in that agency world, that's invaluable. [00:23:09][14.6]
Eileen Rochford: [00:23:10] So it's so true. Yeah. I was going to mention that. Just I'm not embarrassed to say this when we start new engagements, new, you know, implementations of plans, we will say as a team. Okay, what award are we going for? You know, at the start of a year and we'll often think about, okay, well, how will we structure our reporting. This doesn't mean that the KPIs have changed. That's not the point. You know, the objectives that are established in the strategy and established, but how we structure what we're doing so that it fits certain reporting criteria for awards. So it makes it easier for us to kind of check as we go along. Are we actually doing a good enough job in this regard as we roll out, you know, this plan this year. So it's kind of like a quarterly check or depending that, you know, the structure of the client's work. But I'm not embarrassed to say that that is something that we definitely. And here's why. Because when I used to work for Andy Eklund at Gullane, this is ages ago, and I'm certain that Andy, I'm just going to send him this episode because he needs to hear this. He was one of my first bosses ever in my lifetime, certainly in an agency. And he basically said, if you want to win a silver medal or win any of the other prestigious awards, you know, the golden trumpet, etc., then you have to have your plan for how you're going to win that. So here's what an award entry looks like and a winning award entry. And here's what the questions are that they ask every year. Go pay attention to that. And the work that you do, you know, needs to fulfill needs to look like this. And it gives me something that, you know, he won and he didn't. He was a VP at the time when he was my boss. But he had set, you know, winning the silver Angel was one of his personal professional, you know, major goals. And he'd accomplished it. So it you're absolutely right. There's so many ways that. [00:24:56][106.3]
Rob Johnson: [00:24:57] You just go for the next thing perfectly, Eileen, which is putting together the right content for your submission. So tweet I'll, I'll ask you, what are the best strategies to share when creating compelling award submissions? I'm sure there's not just one way to do it, but are there some Guideposts? [00:25:16][18.4]
Tweed Thornton: [00:25:17] Yeah. You know, it's interesting. We'll see entries that it I mean, it sounds so simple. But definitely understand the basics. And you know, look at look at the award criteria. It's so easy to skip over and, you know, think okay well here's we engaged with this celebrity you know so so this is home run here. You know. Or we had such a a great message. All we need to focus on is the like the one idea the the the brilliant thing that led to the campaign. But if definitely take a look at the criteria, understand the the point levels. So there's five different five different criteria areas for Golden Trumpet awards. And if you focus you might have the best message and you're going to get a 20 out of 20 there. But we also judge based on your narrative. And if you don't have the narrative that sets everything up. I've seen great campaigns get judged by other judges. I don't judge any of the entries. I'm like the commissioner, if you will, of of the judges, of recruit the judges, put them in. And then do a little bit of oversight. But what I'll I'll see judges knock out a campaign or, you know, a gold campaign turns into a silver campaign. Because they didn't because someone didn't read all of the fundamentals. And make sure to to have a good campaign there. So sometimes it's just a matter of having, you know, defining your goal, making a compelling one, and then telling the judges how you, you know, how you matched your goal and how you beat it, You know, if you use jargon, and I assume now that there are some people that are using ChatGPT to help right there, there are award entries. I you know, that that's that's fine as long as you're fact checking it, as long as your I would suggest tampering down. You know, ChatGPT is language. They have a way of or all. You know I chat gen or text generation has a way of using elevating language I would say. And elevating language is not going to help you with a Golden Trumpet Awards entry. And it can end up becoming distracting. And it's it's very basics 101. Here's what we set out to do. Here's how we did it. And that's why here's why. That's a very compelling reason for for us to get to get the award. So those that that's my number one suggestion. You know, like especially in the in this age of ChatGPT, you know, use it as a tool. But if you're using ChatGPT to write your entry, it's not going it's going to miss some of the fundamentals for you. [00:28:29][192.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:28:30] May I ask a follow up to please. [00:28:32][1.2]
Tweed Thornton: [00:28:32] Yeah. [00:28:32][0.0]
Eileen Rochford: [00:28:32] Okay. Thank you. So in in the Golden Trumpets. How important is setting up and explaining your strategic foundation and the choices that were made in selecting strategy? [00:28:44][11.3]
Tweed Thornton: [00:28:45] In some ways, that's more important than the content of the campaign. Because of the way that the because of the way that the judging criteria is set up and I and that's not the same. And then I think that's the same across all awards campaigns. I don't think that the Golden Trumpet Awards or any or that much different in, in that aspect. So, you know, there's only so much of the campaign, only so much of the judging that is based on creative. Because, you know, I think we've all seen campaigns that knock it out of the park when it comes to being creative, but they fail in other areas. And it's not as compelling of a campaign for that reason. So one other thing I'll mention is that we do have a place where campaigns can submit the financial information, so everything is confidential, and it's the only people that see that would be the judges. And the judges are professionals they're keeping they keep their information confidential. You can choose to not include financial information, but if you got, you know, 5 billion impressions off of a $50,000 budget, I suggest that you include that. Yeah. [00:30:05][80.7]
Eileen Rochford: [00:30:06] That's. [00:30:06][0.0]
Tweed Thornton: [00:30:06] That's that's going to be helpful. So just and also you know, being realizing stuff like that, you know, how am I going to tell you know what. What is my best story to tell. What what what are my winning factors. It's it's just as important as, again, creativity and the overall compelling nature of your campaign. [00:30:30][23.9]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:30:31] Now just throw in I mean, I think the story is so important, the story of what it is you were trying to do and achieve and setting up that, you know, it isn't. It is a narrative, you know, and and I would say even a tight budget versus a big budget, you know, some of the best awards are the tight budget awards, you know, don't be you know, it's not always bigger is better. I know we always want to think that in our world today. But you know, it's not it's not at all. So if you've been able to tell us on the tight budget, sometimes that can even be the more compelling story. We had a tight budget, but these were our goals and this we wanted to achieve. And this is how we used our creativity to to work this challenge. And these were our results that can even be, you know, a more compelling story in some ways than if, you know, you had everything and you were able to throw everything against it. And, you know, you even had a great top celebrity in the campaign. You know, those can be great stories, too. But that's not everything. So we, you know, we look at everything. We don't. It's not a this versus that. Right. It's everything. We judge it for its own campaign and its own integrity and its own. What were the goals it set out to achieve and did it achieve it? [00:31:34][63.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:31:35] But I really like what you're saying. The it's a different, slightly different way of thinking about this. Somebody has done this for 30 years. So this is kind of I love that you're getting me thinking about this in a different way. So the, the, the story arc is and bringing, you know, all the other components of great storytelling to that and even, you know, like the drama and the tension and all those kinds of things, I don't know that we in our approach to entries, have emphasized that enough. I tend to put that lens on the strategy and the objectives and and the outcomes very, very heavily. I'm a little too rational a thinker, so I love what you're suggesting, which is. Yeah. And we don't. [00:32:17][41.8]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:32:17] Want you to tell us, you know, the inside, like who hated who and who really drove the other. And you can. [00:32:21][4.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:32:22] Only get so many words right. But it's. [00:32:24][1.5]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:32:24] And work. No. Not that. No. But like if your campaign. I'm thinking of for example, Covid, there was a lot of impacts from Covid and campaigns that were ready to go out the door had to be shut down, and then they had to wait a year, and then they had to reconfigure it. And, you know, so so, as you know, I'm sure this is ringing a bell for you. Everybody was there, right? So it's that type of thing, you know, not the dirty laundry. Don't worry. I don't want you to go thinking I. We want you to air your dirty laundry. I'm not looking for a salacious story in the campaign intrigue. That's not getting extra points. [00:32:58][33.6]
Eileen Rochford: [00:32:58] Okay. Good points. But It is like drawing on our skills as great storytellers and kind of applying it here. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Thank you. Okay. What else? But haven't you told us yet? I guess we could ask. We were planning to cover how you use of words like gold nuggets to measure and improve marketing performance. What are your thoughts on that? I kind of talk about how we do that a little bit, but I'd love to hear what you guys think. [00:33:27][29.1]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:33:28] I think that I when you were talking, I was like, I hope everybody's taking notes of what Eileen does because it was brilliant. I mean, I think you as somebody who submits awards has the best insights into that. And it just I think just watching the way people. I love the idea of of developing a campaign for a client and looking actually at an award entry in advance to think it's good, really. Let's just, you know, let's make sure we're hitting that. I mean, why not? Why not hit on all of the points of the award entry that you have in mind as you're developing a campaign like I just. I think that's brilliant. I'm learning a lot, too, from this conversation, to be honest with you. I don't know what to say. We got to work on our one of our marketing messages. For now, we're getting ready to launch the golden trumpets very soon. So? So that's exciting. We'll be opening that up soon, and we hope people are thinking about awards season as it's starting to starting to approach. Yeah, I do you want to add anything else? [00:34:22][53.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:34:22] Well, I guess I would say that, you know, it costs money right in for certainly for smaller organizations like mine and for smaller client companies, you know, brands or otherwise, they, you know, have to think twice and which ones to enter and how many. And because it can really, really add up. Right. So one of the things that I would say to other smaller agencies like ours, if you're thinking about not doing awards, I would just say the process of having to articulate all the elements of an award entry and really like say what you did and why you did it and how you did it. And what you achieved can be one of the greatest, most powerful learning experiences, particularly for younger folks on your team. And and I you know, it used to be like, oh, God, would you like ticket to the account coordinator or the AA? And they they all had to do the awards, which frankly, in my opinion, was one of the dumbest thing that you could have done, because how good can they're you know what I mean? Like, you better have a VIP or senior VP involved. Heavily involved. Do you want to make it worth it? But having someone who is junior having to see that what happens is the next time they approached in a client, a client campaign or a client plan, they're thinking, oh, wait, that's what strategy is. That's that's how I had to explain it. And here's how I can use it in the work that I'm doing on behalf of this, you know, totally unrelated, different client. There's the it is such a powerful way to teach that tangibly. Yeah. So I think some of, you know, some years when we have a lot more, you know, ability budget wise to enter words and enter more than we really need to just so I can give more access to that experience. Other is you know, we got to be a little choosier. [00:36:06][103.9]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:36:07] I think you're hitting on something really important, though. What you just shared is that if you think of an award entry in isolation is it's just like, oh, it's this cost this much and we enter this award. But if you think of it as a teaching experience, professional development, if you think of the organization that you're submitting the award to, if you become more familiar with them, maybe even get a membership. I mean, this is, you know, for example, you get a discount if you are a corporate member of the PCC. So save money there and then you take advantage of the other programing throughout the year, like the media studio tour, so that you can get your junior folks to develop relationships with media and to practice their pitching and other skills and networking. So it should be viewed as a holistic relationship and not just a one off if you're doing it right. So, you know, I'm somewhat smart what you said and hopefully, you know, all agencies think of it. And whether it's PCC or Prsa or whatever, marketing AMA. I mean, I know everybody has to, you know, should be thinking of the whole of a holistic relationship. [00:37:09][61.9]
Rob Johnson: [00:37:10] Understanding those nuances of each of those organizations is really a great point, because, you know, you understand how they take a little bit better. Your submission is going to be stronger, presumably with that sort of understanding. So I think that's a great point. [00:37:23][12.9]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:37:23] And you know what? Also don't forget these are all nonprofits. Everybody you know, hello. It's not like the money is going anywhere other than to sustain the process of having independent, objective organizations and associations that serve you. You know, they serve you. They serve our communities. So being it's it's just it's a bigger deal than just, you know, that award entry keeping them alive. You know, keeping them stable financially. But, you know, as long as they're serving you, you know, making that investment, I would say, and like you were saying, Rob, any organization. [00:38:01][37.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:38:01] Yeah. Taking full advantage of of all that these, you know, awarding entities offer in terms of learning and professional development is another great point. I'm really glad you said that. That's for sure. I keep trying to say, as we got to go to this, look at this for paying for this. Remember, come back, don't go cut. So we're working at it. We're we're, you know, baby steps. But at least at least we have some processes in place that are better for everybody to do the work. [00:38:27][26.1]
Rob Johnson: [00:38:28] And wouldn't miss the publicity club. They would never miss that of a no, sir. [00:38:32][4.0]
Eileen Rochford: [00:38:34] Okay. So now I think it's a great time in our show for you guys to just tell us all the reasons why people should be members of PCC. And also, when do the golden trumpets kick off? When? When's the big show? This year. All the details and where they can go to learn everything about you so that they can take advantage of your great programing. Yeah. It's the commercial portion. [00:38:55][20.6]
Tweed Thornton: [00:38:55] Yeah I think. Thank you for that. Appreciate that. At the Publicity Club of Chicago, we definitely understand that. So, you know, one thing, the biggest thing I'll say about getting involved with organizations like Publicity Club Chicago is that I think a lot of us lost our networking muscle. We lost our, you know, our instinct to connect and and network as we were. We were forced to during the pandemic. I, you know, myself, you know, felt like I went to a professional journey as especially as someone that is a parent of two young children who are not so young now, but definitely were during the pandemic. You know, networking Going part professional development. On some ways there was it was just on went by the wayside out of survival. And when I'm helping my daughter figure out virtual kindergarten and navigating breakouts for her kindergarten class on our iPad, that was that was not a fun time. So now again, you know, getting back out into the world, being able to connect with people. And then there is an entire generation of people that are coming into the workplace that didn't have events like that in place. And, you know, organizations like Publicity Club of Chicago definitely take advantage of those opportunities. You know, we're we're here. We have Amari mentioned our media studio tour series. We have where we go to journalists outlets and visit them. We sit down with senior leaders from the organizations and hear their plans for for what they're doing at the outlet. So definitely take a look at those. We have some networking events that are coming together. PCC membership starts at $100 a year for our Our Networkers Golden Trumpet Awards benefits start at the professional membership. If you are with an agency and want to get more members of your team going, we do have corporate and corporate gold membership as well. Both of those membership levels allow for unlimited discounts with anything that has to do with the Golden Trumpet Awards. But you know, so we see people really enjoying those events, getting together not just for Golden Trumpet Awards, but also for for those, again, those media studio tours, those networking opportunities. It's a great way to learn from each other. And I see the benefits every day when when I'm interacting with members and seeing them talk to each other during programs. So I highly encourage you to to get involved and come out to PCC events in the future. Publicity.org is where you can stay on top of things. [00:42:16][200.2]
Rob Johnson: [00:42:16] So Wendy, when do you when are the submissions beginning to be accepted and and the awards during the fall. [00:42:21][5.3]
Tweed Thornton: [00:42:22] So yeah. So the award ceremony itself will be in the fall date TBD. We also will be opening up entries for submissions in March of this year, so be on the lookout for that. There's a chance they might open a little bit earlier than that, but they'll definitely be open in March. One last thought I would say to is don't wait until the last minute to submit your entries. Very few people are going to take me up on that advice, given the historical trends of when people submit. But if there's but definitely like I, I, I've seen some campaigns that I think if they had another hour or two or a day that they probably could have done even better, but they submitted it to last minute. So get your entries ready for March and, you know, maybe save myself a little bit of stress knowing what the final numbers are going to be by getting in some of the early entries as well. [00:43:20][58.6]
Eileen Rochford: [00:43:21] So yeah. Are there any new categories this year? [00:43:23][2.0]
Tweed Thornton: [00:43:23] We don't have any new categories this year. Do highlight the the integrated Civic Communications category. That's one of the newer categories. I am very glad that we have retired all Covid related It. Categories. We have health care categories that you can enter. And but yeah there's there's almost 30 categories to choose from. And you know there's there's more and more specialties that that pop up in the industry every year. So. [00:43:57][33.7]
Rob Johnson: [00:43:57] Well Anne Marie and Tweed, you guys have been unbelievable. We thank you so much for joining us and filling us in on all the intricacies of award submissions and the relevance behind them, and how important it is for not only agencies, but clients. You guys have been great. [00:44:12][14.9]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:44:13] Thank you. Happy to do it. A lot of fun. [00:44:14][1.7]
Tweed Thornton: [00:44:15] Thanks so much for having us. [00:44:15][0.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:44:16] Yeah. And yeah. Recognizing and Rebeck is a is a two time guest. We're thrilled. Yes. Thanks. [00:44:22][5.8]
Rob Johnson: [00:44:22] It's sort of like Saturday Night Live. When she gets to her fifth time, she gets a, like, a jacket. Okay, we're in the lead. We'll get her a gold jacket to match your golden trumpet. How about that? [00:44:31][8.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:44:31] There you go. Let me know. [00:44:32][1.3]
Rob Johnson: [00:44:32] But seriously, Emery. Thank you. Yes, you were on a couple of years ago, and we appreciate you. [00:44:37][4.3]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:44:37] I love it every time. I hope I get invited back. Thank you so much. It's fun. Always fun to catch up with you too. [00:44:42][5.0]
Eileen Rochford: [00:44:43] Thank you. [00:44:43][0.3]
Rob Johnson: [00:44:43] Thank you, thank you. Well, that's going to do it for another edition of. Can you hear me? I'm Rob Johnson. If you'd like to weigh in on the podcast or give us an idea for a topic, please contact us at our Can You Hear Me podcast page on LinkedIn. [00:44:55][11.1]
Eileen Rochford: [00:44:55] And thanks everybody. I'm Eileen Rochford. It was great to be with you today. Do you like what you heard? Please consider giving. Can you hear me a review? Certainly a positive one would be amazing wherever you find your podcasts and that's going to do it. Thanks so much, everybody. Take care. Oh, yay. So I will start off the recording is sort of set up the recording kind of like you know I'm working on it just like this morning. I am why. [00:45:18][22.5]
Rob Johnson: [00:45:18] I'm like I'm not saying. [00:45:19][0.7]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:45:19] We like. All right. So this is where I say all the inappropriate, the outtakes. [00:45:22][3.0]
Eileen Rochford: [00:45:23] Yeah, yeah. First of the day, as I said, I am hobbling along in my iPad world without my MacBook Pro, which died, and I. [00:45:31][8.3]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:45:31] Was going to I was going to promote our podcast to today, but I don't know if we're going to keep doing them. And plus, I'm not trying to give you guys competition, but we have. [00:45:38][7.1]
Rob Johnson: [00:45:39] Oh, God. There's there. [00:45:40][0.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:45:41] And as you. [00:45:41][0.4]
Rob Johnson: [00:45:41] Walk down the street, there's 30 people with a podcast. [00:45:43][1.9]
Eileen Rochford: [00:45:44] But they're now 30. My husband on the other side of this wall as to so you know. Yeah. Because. Yeah. [00:45:49][5.3]
Rob Johnson: [00:45:49] Oh my gosh. Thank you guys so much. It was amazing. [00:45:52][2.3]
Eileen Rochford: [00:45:52] Oh yeah. It's fun. [00:45:53][0.7]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:45:53] Thank you. No, that was really it. But let us know when and when it posts and we'll put it on our website and well hopefully we'll amp up your followers. Oh. [00:46:01][7.4]
Rob Johnson: [00:46:02] I tried that. If anybody's going to publicize it, it should be. [00:46:05][2.9]
Eileen Rochford: [00:46:05] Yeah, absolutely. [00:46:06][0.3]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:46:07] Oh my God. That's probably going to be your most popular podcast ever. [00:46:10][3.1]
Rob Johnson: [00:46:11] I hope so. [00:46:11][0.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:46:11] Well, yeah, I mean, certainly for people in agencies they need to hear. I mean, yeah, I think that you're going to get some great, great numbers on this one. Thanks. I was just. [00:46:20][8.4]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:46:20] Talking to Nick before I got on the call, and I'm like, I got to do the package. Like, is that with Eileen? I like, I know. Wow. [00:46:25][4.9]
Eileen Rochford: [00:46:25] Oh, my God, you're so sweet. Tell him I said hi, too. [00:46:27][2.0]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:46:28] I will, I will definitely. [00:46:29][0.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:46:30] I love that. I love them. Oh. How do we all know so many people? Just such a fun part of this work we do. [00:46:34][4.8]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:46:35] It's a good community. It's perfect timing, actually. I mean, unfortunately, we had to cancel last week, but since it was right off our board meeting, it was kind of I was like in PPC mindset anyway, not in like, oh my God, how do I what am I going? [00:46:47][12.3]
Tweed Thornton: [00:46:47] What am I looking at? [00:46:48][0.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:46:48] This client I know life, you know. Well since as you're launching March, I'll try and see what we can do with our schedule to get this out right around the time when you're opening entries. That's great. I also think we can do that. Okay, guys, how are you? [00:47:04][15.3]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:47:04] You two have a great rest day. [00:47:05][0.9]
Tweed Thornton: [00:47:05] So much. [00:47:06][0.2]
Rob Johnson: [00:47:06] Take care. [00:47:06][0.2]
Anne Marie Mitchell: [00:47:06] Bye bye. [00:47:06][0.0]
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