First Place
Middleton Reutlinger — Kindness Public Service Advertising Campaign

What the Judges said:

We appreciate that the firm chose to highlight seven strong community organizations that were not extremely well-known. The series of ads about the community organizations helped to raise awareness of the organizations; there was minimal emphasis on the firm in the ads. The results from the community organizations were extraordinary, including increased Web site pageviews and increased volunteerism. 

Middleton Reutlinger’s philosophy is to give back to the community for support the law firm has received during its 155 years in business. In 2009, the firm’s public service advertising campaign highlighted several local nonprofits, which are not high profile and have limited resources. Middleton Reutlinger’s marketing committee identified various charitable groups that would benefit from advertising that raises awareness of their organizations. 

Promoting kindness was the common theme of the advertisements. The ads featured a variety of groups that included serving the elderly and poor, veterans with spinal cord injuries, cancer victims and their families, missing and exploited children, inner city children and children with disabilities.  

The public service ads were designed to increase awareness of nonprofits and remind businesses during tough economic times, charities need help now more than ever. The objective was to increase awareness of the organizations through increased donations, interest, volunteers or new members of the respective groups.

Middleton Reutlinger’s target audience of local business professionals in the greater Louisville community was reached via Louisville’s Business First, a local weekly business publication. 

The law firm has done public service ad campaigns the past few years. Based on previous feedback and suggestions, they selected seven nonprofits that would benefit most from this campaign:  Little Sisters of the Poor, Gilda’s Club Louisville, Exploited Children’s Help Organization, Paralyzed Veterans of America, The Luci Center, Nativity Academy and Kentucky Refugee Ministries.

Summary of Outcomes 

Their ad campaign caught the attention of the national advertising director of American City Business Journals, who watches all 40 of its newspapers for unique campaigns, and noted that this was such a unique strategy, especially for a law firm.

Feedback from the business community and nonprofits was very positive. Charitable groups highlighted reported increased membership, volunteers, Web traffic, interest and inquiries resulting from the ads.