Winner
Weber Shandwick and Foley & Lardner: The Corporate Governance Price Tag –Sarbanes-Oxley at what cost?

By taking a fresh look at a new challenge facing corporate America, Weber Shandwick and client Foley & Lardner have earned PRWeek's Campaign of the Year award.

President Bush's signing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 signaled the administration's concern over a wave of corporate scandals that had gripped the country, but the business world was left confused by the expectations of the new regulations. National law firm Foley & Lardner sought to translate confusion into business success by creating a multidisciplinary team of attorneys that would help clients navigate this new set of corporate governance complexities.

In publicizing this group of specialists, two critical challenges emerged. First, despite a strong history of serving clients on corporate governance, Foley & Lardner was late in developing a team dedicated to the issue. Second, numerous law firms, capitalizing on the wave of news coverage triggered by the new law, were trying to tap into the same business.

To break through the clutter, the PR team created a multiple-front publicity strategy that took advantage of not only WS' b-to-b capabilities, but also its KRC Research unit. KRC engaged in two phases of research. The first was a look at the costs of Sarbanes-Oxley; the second was a survey of top executives' attitudes toward corporate reform. For the cost study, the PR effort included a conference call involving lawyers on the firm's corporate governance team. For both pieces of research, the results were distributed via a teaser e-mail to media highlighting the issues, and attorneys from the team were used as spokespeople. The PR team also sent a PowerPoint deck with full results to key media outlets. The survey results, which were available on the firm's website, were sent to 500 clients and prospective clients.

The campaign resulted in 220 media placements over a three-month period, including coverage in top-tier outlets like The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNBC, and numerous industry publications. As a result, Foley & Lardner has received more than 195 requests for the data from research institutions, professional associations, and corporate entities. Also, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Stock Exchange have increased their visits to the law firm's website. In August alone, the SEC visited 740 times.

Foley & Lardner attorneys have been asked to speak at a number of conferences, and the firm has been referenced in several important corporate governance discussions, including a Journal editorial on the rising cost of reform.

Honorable Mention
Waggener Edstrom and AVI BioPharma: We Saved Arisco the Penguin – Waggener Edstrom helps AVI demonstrate the promise of antisense therapy

Waggener Edstrom was approached by AVI BioPharma to help boost the reputation of its therapeutic platform, antisense. The agency was entrusted with building credibility with analysts, investors, and potential partners, and changing news coverage to positive discussions of antisense's potential. A reporter education program resulted in an article in The Wall Street Journal on a trial of antisense in a population of kittens. AVI suspected the approach would also work against the West Nile Virus. When the agency learned of an outbreak of West Nile in penguins at the Milwaukee County Zoo, it informed AVI scientists, who contacted the zoo's vet. The firm then shipped the zoo an antisense compound, and three infected penguins were successfully treated. The story appeared in the Journal, The Washington Post, Business Week, and other print outlets. Additional broadcast coverage reached an audience of more than 8 million.

Finalists 2004
International Truck and Engine and Hill & Knowlton: High-Stakes Labor Negotiations; UAW and International Truck and Engine

Ketchum and The Home Depot: Project Homefront

Ogilvy PR Worldwide and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: The Heart Truth campaign
 
Waggener Edstrom and AVI BioPharma: We Saved Arisco the Penguin – Waggener Edstrom helps AVI BioPharma demonstrate the promise of antisense therapy
 
Weber Shandwick and Foley & Lardner: The Corporate Governance Price Tag – Sarbanes-Oxley at what cost?