RLF Communications and the N.C. Medical Society Take Another Gold Award for Annual Report

By David French

The North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) and RLF Communications have been presented a Gold award in the Annual Report category of the Hermes Creative Awards.
NCMS challenged RLF to produce a report to serve several purposes and audiences. Through a striking design and peer testimonials, we were able to accomplish the objectives of: reporting on the organization’s latest developments to members; educating non-members on the value of the Society; and acknowledging the organization’s long history in representing N.C. physicians and patients. The report is titled Past/Future: North Carolina Medical Society Community Report.
Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition for creative professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of marketing materials and programs. Entries are judged not against one another, but against a set of standards developed by a panel of marketing communications professionals who act as judges. Judges may present an award, an honorable mention or no award to each entry. The awards program has been sponsored by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals for more than 25 years.

RLF and the N.C. Medical Society Honored for Annual Report

By David French

The North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) and RLF Communications have been awarded first-place in the Annual Report category of Association TRENDS newspaper’s 2013 All-Media Contest.
The award will be presented at the 35th annual “Salute to Association Excellence” on Feb. 20 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C. Our winning entry will be on display at the event, along with the other winners, and will be featured in the January issue of TRENDS and on the publication’s website.
The NCMS challenged RLF to produce a report to serve several purposes and audiences. Through a striking design and peer testimonials, we were able to accomplish the objectives of: reporting on the organization’s latest developments to members; educating non-members on the value of the Society; and acknowledging the organization’s long history in representing N.C. physicians and patients. The report was titled Past/Future: North Carolina Medical Society Community Report.
The contest is an annual competition held by Association TRENDS, the national newspaper for executives, professional staff and suppliers of international, national, state, regional and local associations. The 2013 competition included a record 467 entries in 22 categories.
North Carolina Medical Society Executive Vice President and CEO Robert Seligson said: “We are honored to have received this award. RLF was a great inspiration and partner throughout the Community Report project and we look forward to future work with the RLF team.”

RLF Communications Named Finalist for Prestigious PRWeek Award

When RLF Communications undertook the assignment to promote the International Civil Rights Center & Museum’s historic Feb. 1, 2010 opening, our objective was to capture national recognition for a civil rights landmark. We were extremely pleased with the campaign’s results and honored PRWeek has named it
one of the year’s top five promotional campaigns. RLF Named 2011 PRWeek Award Finalist
The list of PRWeekAward finalists represents some of the biggest and best public relations companies in the world (Fleishman-Hillard, Golin Harris, MS&L, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide) advocating causes both serious (bringing clean water to 1 billion people, celebrating the Boy Scouts of America’s 100th anniversary) and fun (Pop Tarts in Times Square and Christmas Caroling to Celebrate the Holidays). It will be a pleasure to share the stage with these agencies and their clients at the awards ceremony in March. We also look forward to celebrating with our Worldcom Public Relations Group partners who are finalists in other categories, such as Padilla Speer Beardsley and Marina Maher Communications.
 
To learn more about the PRWeek Awards, and the list of 2011 finalists, click here. And if you haven’t made plans
to visit the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, we hope you will journey to North Carolina soon to see this
national treasure and visit the RLF office just a few blocks away.

International Civil Rights Center & Museum
Feb. 1, 2010 Grand Opening of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum shortlisted for 2011 PRWeek Award - Promotional Event of the Year.

2010 Sabre Awards Dinner

Even in a deep recession, the public relations profession is turning out amazing and meaningful work for clients.
That thought has resonated for me during the last month, since I attended the SABRE awards dinner at the gorgeous Cipriani building across from Grand Central Station in New York City in May. More than 1,000 public relations professionals had gathered for one of the big three awards shows to honor the best campaigns and teams in our industry (the PR Week Awards and Silver Anvil Awards are the other two major national awards).
Paul Holmes, the organizer of the SABRE Awards – which stands for Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation – set the tone for the evening when he remarked that despite all of the economic troubles that have challenged our industry, the number of entries for SABRE recognition set a record (1,700) and the quality had never been higher.
As Paul noted, public relations has demonstrated that reach and frequency are not enough to create successful outcomes in today’s world. There must be engagement as well, and public relations has taken a leadership position among the communications disciplines in creating engaging, meaningful campaigns. This is particularly true in the realm of social media, which our profession has done a remarkable job of weaving into the overall communications mix.
Over the course of five hours (from the first cocktail to the closing coffee), Aleasha Vuncannon and I had the opportunity to talk with fascinating professionals from around the country, review the lists of finalists for the awards in each category, and enjoy the pageantry of an event as a participant (instead of as a behind-the-scenes organizer, which is our normal role!).
And when our time came, when the finalists for the top campaign in the category of Educational & Cultural Institutions were announced, we were thrilled to hear that our work in partnership with the International Civil Rights Center & Museum had been recognized as the best in our business. We had felt like it was worthy of this recognition. We knew how hard our team had worked and how much had been accomplished. Yet, we still held our breath in anticipation as the winner was announced, because every campaign that had made the finals had strong results.  It felt good to scream when we heard the results.
Here is a brief glimpse into the work that we did for the grand opening of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum:


After the dinner, Aleasha and I walked through Times Square at midnight, dressed in our best clothes, carrying a deceptively heavy trophy and reflecting on the evening (not surprisingly, no one batted an eye at us or thought we were out-of-place in the crazy scene that is Times Square). It feels good to do great work for clients, to create campaigns that generate meaningful results and advance our client’s objectives. We do this work not for awards, but when we strive to be one of the very best agencies in our industry, it is evenings like this that provide the mileposts to let us know that our agency is on the right road.

And the Winner Is…..RLF Communications


RLF Communications, led by its Creative Director Ron Irons, had a big night at the AAF Triad’s Addy Awards on Saturday. More than 150 people representing advertising agencies throughout the Triad attended this annual event honoring the best creative work in the region. Though it was RLF’s first time  entering this competition, it sure wasn’t beginner’s luck that we ended the night with 14 awards – all for  work done on behalf of our client, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

RLF won the “Best of Show”, the evening’s highest honor, for the following ad:

RLF won a “Judge’s Choice” award (one of two) for the following ad:

In addition, RLF took home eight Gold ADDY awards and four Silver ADDY awards for other creative work on behalf of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. Congratulations to Ron Irons and everyone at RLF Communications for these well-earned honors

Click here to see more creative work for the International Civil Rights Center & Museum.