Second Place
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP — Title of Entry: Akin Gump 2009 Holiday Greetings

Akin Gump understands the goodwill of extending seasonal greetings, even as they understand cost-consciousness. The strategic objective of the 2009 Holiday Greetings project was to continue being fiscally and environmentally conscious, while providing lawyers and staff with a user-friendly, cost-effective mechanism to send holiday greetings.

The main message was to convey seasonal greetings that were simple messages of goodwill and celebrated the spirit of the holidays. Internal messages embraced the idea of being “one firm” and opened distribution to everyone at the firm. The 2009 Holiday Greeting Web portal launched on December 8 and was announced via e-mail and posted to the intranet. The campaign later became viral after “Above the Law,” an online legal tabloid,  posted a holiday card poll of the best law firm card, with a link to the Warmest Wishes*.

Providing choices was important; lawyers and staff could select from one of two cards offered. Snowflake Kaleidoscope used traditional icons but in an unexpected execution; Warm Wishes* played on the legal profession’s disclaimer language. The firm chose electronic media as both cost-effective and modern. The greetings stood out because they were well-designed and clever.

Summary of Outcomes

The firm lawyers appreciated having a choice of cards; the overwhelming response was that the cards were sophisticated and the messages appropriate for the audience. The user-friendly application made it easy to send the cards. The project launched on-time on December 8. They had initially judged the success of the project according to the numerous kudos received from recipients. Once the cards went viral, they judged success by the number of hits (over 32,000 as of January 6, 2010), the number of Twitter tweets about the card and media attention.

Third Place
Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP — Interactive Holiday e-Card

For 2009, beyond sharing seasons greetings, Parker Poe saw their e-card, “2010 Wishes for 2010,” as an opportunity to demonstrate Parker Poe’s close collaboration with clients and the growing use of social networking tools.

With recipients having the ability to post their own wishes for the coming year, recipients could create the core content of the card, update it second-by-second and post it to their own blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other accounts. This viral, crowdsourcing approach put the Parker Poe brand in front of thousands of people worldwide, far exceeding the initial mailing list and creating thousands of additional impressions.

The central message for the e-card was looking forward to 2010 — celebrating the new year and the new opportunities that come with it. Recipients were greeted with a message and then asked to post and share their own wishes for 2010. Once submitted, a wish becomes one of the flash-animated snowflakes in the page background and a log-in feature allows the user to return to the site to click on a snowflake and view their own wish or those of others. A viral feature was available to share the card on Facebook, Twitter, and other networks.

Summary of Outcomes

Clients voluntarily told the firm that the e-card stood out from the many others that they received. A typical response included that of a partner at a Big Four accounting firm who replied, “I love Parker Poe’s e-card! I’m saving it and continuing to read everyone’s wishes.” Another client said it was the only card they would save and share with others.

The holiday e-card not only made a big impact with clients and friends, but also went viral and reached people around the world. To date, more than 1,000 wishes have been added to the e-card from nearly 20 countries.