Susan G. Komen Orange County Wins Nonprofit IT CreativITy Award for Holiday Jingle

TUSTIN, Calif. - Oct. 8, 2013 - PRLog -- As Breast Cancer Awareness Month kicks off, Susan G. Komen Orange County (http://www.komenoc.org/) was honored Thursday with a Nonprofit IT CreativITy Award (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71c6cpNKGRc) from GroundWork Group (http://oc.groundworkgroup.org/) Orange County, which recognizes nonprofits for using innovation and technology to achieve their missions. The award, in the Community Engagement category, was for Komen Orange County’s first-ever 2012 holiday jingle video campaign (http://www.komenoc.org/site/c.dkIXJcNNKlLaG/b.8645019/k.5BF2/Komen_Holiday_Jingle.htm) that helped the organization net a 53 percent increase in year-end donations over the previous year.

“We are so proud to be recognized for this creative campaign and catchy tune about funding mammograms,” said Lisa Wolter, Executive Director, Komen Orange County. “We needed a unique idea to separate us from other year-end appeals, and by engaging with our public relations agency to help us ask the community for support, we were able to bring together familiar faces in a fun way to make a big impact on our Q4 fundraising efforts.”

In 2012, Komen Orange County tapped longtime PR agency, HKA, Inc. Marketing Communications to develop a creative idea to support its year-end appeal. HKA wrote original lyrics to the tune of the holiday classic “Winter Wonderland,” asking the public to donate funds for life-saving mammograms. Thirteen personalities, including television icon Vanna White, NBA world champion Kurt Rambis, local publishing trailblazer Steve Churm and former major leaguer Jay Johnstone, graciously offered their time – and voices – to support the campaign. The result was a catchy song and video that helped the nonprofit raise funds and awareness for mammograms in Orange County.

“Komen Orange County challenged HKA to think outside the box to address a particular objective, and we took the challenge and ran with it – fueled by the opportunity our client gave us to be creative,” said Kevin Twer, Senior Vice President, HKA, Inc. Marketing Communications and lead songwriter on the project. “The fight against breast cancer is an inspiring one, so our goal was to deliver a fun campaign that also mirrored the positive, upbeat nature of Komen’s uplifting mission.”

The Nonprofit IT CreativITy Awards recognizes the amazing, innovative and meaningful ways in which nonprofits are leveraging Information Technology (IT) to achieve their missions. Nominations for this year’s awards were received from dozens of nonprofits in Orange County. An independent panel of judges selected seven finalists and announced the winners for Technology Maturity, Community Engagement and Social Enterprise Innovative Program during a virtual event Thursday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wFSSjsB3bs) afternoon.



“We want to celebrate excellence in our communities by highlighting nonprofit organizations who realize that creatively thinking about IT can have a dramatically positive impact on a nonprofit’s operations, its ability to focus on and achieve its mission, and ultimately on our community,” said Scott Caine, CEO, GroundWork group. “Komen Orange County demonstrated innovative, creative thinking, through the use of technology and social media to help spread its message of raising urgent funds for breast cancer.”

Komen Orange County and HKA, Inc. currently are developing a second holiday jingle campaign for the 2013 year-end appeal season. The campaign will feature a new song, new lyrics and fresh faces.  It is set to launch in mid-November.

About Susan G. Komen

Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Suzy, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer. Today Susan G. Komen® works to end breast cancer in the U.S. and throughout the world by investing more than $790 million in breast cancer research and 1.5 billion in community outreach programs over the past 30 years; providing funding to help low-income and uninsured women get screened and get treatment, advocating for cancer research and outreach programs; and working globally in more than 30 countries. Visit Komen.org. Connect with us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/susangkomenforthecure?ecid=vanit...) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/SusanGKomen).

For more information on Susan G. Komen Orange County, please visit www.komenoc.org or call 714-957-9157.

About Groundwork Group Organization
GroundWork group is a nonprofit organization, with offices in Columbus, Ohio and Orange County, California. The GroundWork group mission is to strengthen the impact of nonprofit organizations by enhancing their ability to manage their business operations and achieve their missions through sustainable and affordable information management, education and technology solutions.

About HKA, Inc., Marketing Communications

HKA, Inc. Marketing Communications, an award-winning marketing communications agency based in Orange County, Calif., has garnered a reputation for excellence from clients, vendor partners and the media, and has achieved a significant track record since 1984.  Founded by former journalist Hilary Kaye, HKA instills professionalism and integrity into every campaign, project and client relationship, successfully enabling agency partners to leverage marketing and communications strategies to support critical business objectives.  HKA clients enjoy the experience and collaborative resources of a larger marketing communications agency, coupled with the customization and superb attention of smaller firms.  HKA’s “best of both worlds” approach is used by publicly held, private and nonprofit organizations in a wide variety of industries.  For more information: visit www.hkamarcom.com or call (714) 426-0444. Follow us at: @HKA_PR, www.facebook.com/HKAPR and www.hkamarcom.com/blog/.