Largemouth Communications Receives Top NCPRSA Honor with Silver Best in Show InSpire Award

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Created on Friday, 04 May 2012 02:27

Public relations agency wins Integrated Communications category for the Kangaroo Express Salute Our Troops campaign

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Largemouth Communications, a full-service public relations firm based in Raleigh-Durham, today announced it earned "Best in Show" at the North Carolina Chapter of The Public Relations Society of America (NCPRSA) InSpire Awards banquet for its creativity and meaningful client results around the Kangaroo Express Salute Our Troops campaign. The banquet was held May 2 at the Capital City Club in downtown Raleigh with NBC17 My Carolina Today host, Valonda Calloway, as the emcee.

The NCPRSA InSpire Awards honor communications programs that have achieved great success and inspired others across the state of North Carolina. The Salute Our Troops campaign received a Silver Award of Excellence and "Best in Category" in the Integrated Communications: Business – Products/Services category. The Silver InSpire Awards recognize communication campaigns, while Bronze awards honor tactics.

As the top-scoring campaign in the division, Salute Our Troops was also named the "Silver Best in Show" for 2012.

"Since opening our doors in 2005, we have continuously challenged ourselves to build and validate Largemouth Communications as a premier public relations firm in the region, and we're making strong progress by delivering exceptional results for our clients," said Brandon Bryce, president and CEO of Largemouth Communications. "Being recognized for our strategic and creative campaigns on the local, regional and national level is gratifying, and I am immensely proud of the Largemouth team and our client, Kangaroo Express, as the Salute Our Troops Campaign reached more than half a billion consumers to share the stories of our military heroes that defend our freedom each and every day."

The summer-long Salute Our Troops campaign engaged and energized employees, vendor partners and customers with such passion that the goal of $1 million was met in the early weeks of the campaign and totaled $2.5 million by Labor Day, resulting in one of the largest donations to the USO in its 70-year history from a single fundraising campaign.

A fully-restored 1952 Willys CJ-3 Jeep became a fundraiser icon as part of the USO Salute Our Troops Jeep Tour. Local media impressions along each USO Jeep Tour stop connected with customers and established a positive brand reputation. The tour traveled to more than 300 Kangaroo Express stores and touched more than 75 communities, recognizing military heroes along the way. Top news outlets such as CNN, Wall Street Journal and Stars & Stripes also featured the campaign on a national level. Through public relations efforts, the Salute Our Troops campaign received 519.67 million media impressions, creating a sustained presence with an average of more than four news stories a day throughout the summer.

Largemouth Communications' efforts in the Salute Our Troops campaign also received recognition with an honorable mention in PR News' CSR Awards Media Relations category and a feature in PR Week, noting that the public relations team, "clearly understands how to align with and drive stakeholder passions."

This is the second time Largemouth Communications has been recognized for a Kangaroo Express campaign since becoming its agency of record in 2010. The Battle for Bean Street, a Triangle-based campaign pitting UNC, NC State and Duke fans against each other to raise funds for local charities and increase coffee sales, was spotlighted by New York Times' advertising columnist, Stuart Elliot, and featured in PR Week.

About Largemouth Communications
Largemouth Communications is a full-service public relations firm focused on providing media relations services to both business-to-business and consumer-facing companies with local, regional, national and global communications needs. Largemouth strives to create public relations programs to meet each client's unique needs by developing strategies through three core communication channels: news media, digital/social media and corporate communications. Largemouth was established in 2005 and serves the Mid-Atlantic region from its headquarters in Research Triangle Park, N.C., along with its Pittsburgh office. For more information, please visit www.largemouthpr.com.

Media Contact:
Kelly Hubbard
Largemouth Communications
919-459-6453
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