Case Study:
New York Women in Communications Matrix Awards 2011
Each year, New York Women in Communications presents Matrix Awards to an "A list" of accomplished women in the field of communications. The awards are presented at a gala luncheon in the Waldorf Astoria before a crowd of 1,200 guests who range from broadcast network CEOS to up-and-coming communications professionals. The previous year's Matrix Awards Gala was a star-studded event featuring headliners Brian Williams, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Leslie Stahl, Maria Bartiromo, Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, Sheryl Crow and other marquee names. All that star power helped to fuel media coverage from People magazine to CBS Sunday Morning. The celebrity line-up and success of the 2010 event made it a tough act to follow.
Strategy
An integrated team comprised of members of Kellen Communications, Kellen Meetings, Kellen Creative and Kellen Interactive worked together to assure the Matrix 2011 event came off without a hitch. By highlighting the significance of the awards within the communications industry and the accomplishments of Matrix honorees in sectors such as journalism, advertising, PR, digital media and broadcasting, Kellen was able to leverage the message to secure mass media attention.
Tactics
Kellen worked closely with the volunteer committee that selects the honorees and ultimately worked with each of the honorees— industry leaders such as PBS News Hour's Gwen Ifill, Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg and her presenter Arianna Huffington, celebrity marketer Cindi Berger of PMK and her presenter Rosie O'Donnell, and Fairfield Fashion Group CEO Gina Sanders and her presenter Evelyn Lauder—to prepare them for the awards presentation. We made maximum use of digital media including weekly "Matrix Monday" blog posts, e-blasts and tweets to build excitement leading up to the event; and then continued with live streaming of the awards gala on Facebook, live tweeting and posting from the event, and mobile check-in for guests.
Results
Kellen executed a flawless event that included a surprise live performance by Grammy-award winning artist John Legend which required a special piano, audio and video; and a live satellite feed with actresses Betty White and Valerie Harper from Los Angeles. The Kellen Communications team secured top tier media coverage of the event that included 29 feature articles in media such as CNN.com, The New York Times, The New York Post and New York Magazine. Media exposure exceeded 160 million impressions. Social media scored 411 Matrix tweets and an increase of 416 Facebook fans in one month.
