ARF David Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Advertising Research 2007

‘got milk?’ Ten years ago, the answer might have been, "not as much as we used to." In fact, up until the 1990s, the milk industry had been experiencing a 30-year declining trend in per capita consumption. In response, The Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) was established.

Responding to this challenge, MilkPEP developed the famed "milk mustache" celebrity print ads. The first ad launched in 1995 and was quickly followed by a succession of others all touting the functional health benefits of milk (strong bones, height, etc.) While the ads were extremely successful in driving awareness and quickly became a fixture of popular culture, MilkPEP was not seeing consistent increases in consumption.

In late 2001, MilkPEP undertook a quest to explore a new positioning based on "higher order" benefits or "emotional connections" that would motivate target audiences to drink more milk. Their search for a research firm with experience in values-based communications led them to engage Harris Interactive.

• Case Study
• Original Ad: Skinny Glass
• Resulting Ad: Skinny Glass Woman

ARF David Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Advertising Research 2007

The positioning of Las Vegas as the mecca of adult freedom evolved as a result of extensive market research and its "What Happens Here, Stays Here" manifestation has been the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s (LVCVA’s) greatest marketing success on record. Aided by R&R Partners as the advertising agency of record for LVCVA and Harris Interactive as the strategic marketing research consultancy, these two firms have been working in partnership to help the LVCVA achieve its new, long term goals.

With a strong brand positioning initiative in their pocket, the LVCVA and R&R Partners were under pressure to continue to increase visitation to an even higher level and create new demand on an unprecedented scale. Due to the success of the "what happens here stays here" marketing strategy, Las Vegas continues to experience explosive investment and physical growth, and is counting on new strategies to further increase tourism from 37 million visitors in 2005 to 43 million visitors by 2009.

• Case Study
• Original Ad: Mistress of Disguise
• Resulting Ad: Alibi Names
• Resulting Ad: Blue Man Group
• Resulting Radio Ad: Dining

ARF David Ogilvy Award Honoring Advertising ROI

American Forest and Paper Association - The Sustainable Forestry Initiative

By the mid 1990’s, after decades of relentless negative focus on industry forest management practices by environmental groups, local, state and federal regulators/legislators and the media, the American forest and paper industry stood on the brink of losing its social, political and economic "license to operate" within the United States.

The objective of the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) marketing campaign was nothing less than to ensure the survival of the U.S. forest and paper products industry, which ships $263 billion in products each year and employs more than one million Americans with an annual payroll of $61 billion. The daunting task ahead was to convince legislators, regulators, customers, the general public, and even environmentalists, that "responsible environmental stewardship" should entail active, thoughtful management of the forests, including responsible logging and production. Further, the campaign had to demonstrate that the industry is a responsible environmental steward, as demonstrated by its commitment to technology and the science of forest management, so it could ensure its "license to operate."

With powerful and insightful research provided by Harris Interactive, the American Forest and Paper Association fully understood its stakeholders perceptions and why they held those perceptions. The organization launched The Sustainable Forestry Initiative. The main objectives of AF&PA’s SFI campaign were to change public opinion, reverse trends in government regulation, and preserve access to customer markets by stopping the de-selection of SFI-certified products. The accomplishment of these objectives has had huge financial implications, measured in losses avoided rather than increases realized.

• Case Study
• News Release
• Video*
• American Forest & Paper Association

ARF David Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Advertising Research 2005

UBS - You and Us

You have probably heard the advertisements and have a growing familiarity with UBS. What you may not be aware of, is the overall re-branding process UBS undertook to strengthen its position in the global financial world.  At the onset of 2001 while managing over 70 well known brands in their respective markets, including Warburg and PaineWebber, UBS made building a powerful, global financial services brand one of its top strategic priorities. While that decision seems logical, it is important to note that nothing like that existed at the time among the top-tier integrated financial services firms. UBS was paving new roads in their industry.  

Each year the ARF puts the spotlight on winning marketing teams for their excellence in translating superior research and planning into high-impact marketing communications. UBS received top honors in the services category for its use of research in the development of the "You and Us" brand strategy and advertising campaign. Harris Interactive’s research staff was instrumental in partnering with UBS, providing brand and strategy research and consultation for its marketing communications effort. This is the first time a financial institution has won in this category.

• Case Study
• News Release
• Video*
• UBS

ARF David Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Advertising Research 2004

Volvo Cars of North America - Starting a Family

The Ogilvy Award recognizes great advertising and the critical role research plays to make it possible. Volvo is a 2004 Ogilvy Award finalist for advertising it developed in conjunction with our strategic partner Witeck-Combs Communications targeting Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) consumers.

In most cases, Ogilvy Award-recognized research is spread out across many firms through the various stages of ad development. This is not one of those cases. Harris Interactive was the exclusive research provider to Volvo for this award-winning work, including segmentation, brand equity analysis, qualitative research, copy testing and in-market tracking.

• News Release
• Video*
• Volvo Cars

ARF David Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Advertising Research 2002

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - Covering Kids

Millions of American children go without health insurance because their parents don't think they can afford it. Government assistance is available in the form of Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), but most parents fail to take advantage of these programs because they mistakenly presume they do not qualify.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and healthcare issues, launched a massive national public awareness campaign to increase enrollment in SCHIP. They chose Harris Interactive as their strategic partner. Our research laid the foundation for the "Covering Kids" communication strategy and our counsel helped refine the advertising campaign that has led to huge increases in program enrollments nationwide.

• Summary Report
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Amid intense competition from national advertising campaigns for leading brands such as AT&T, Kool Aid, Kraft, Kitchen Aid, Castrol and Aleve, Harris Interactive's work for Lincoln Financial Group reached the semifinals of the 2001 David Ogilvy Research Award competition.

The campaign, a total rebranding of Lincoln's family of financial service companies, received an Honorable Mention from the Advertising Research Foundation. Designed to target affluent investors, the campaign featured a coordinated program of print, broadcast, and Internet advertising, along with corporate sponsorships and a website redesign.

• Lincoln Financial Group

ARF David Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Advertising Research 1999

American Iron and Steel Institute - The New Steel. Feel The Strength.

With this award, the Advertising Research Foundation recognized Harris Interactive's efforts as the year's most outstanding example of research company contributions to a successful national advertising campaign.

Our research for the steel industry demonstrated an urgent need to correct outdated consumer perceptions of steel and to halt the decline in steel's market share in the face of competing materials. A memorable and effective national campaign: "The New Steel. Feel The Strength." was the result.

• Case Study
• American Iron and Steel Institute

ARF David Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Advertising Research 1997

American Plastics Council - Plastics Make it Possible

This award recognized our research and consulting support for the American Plastics Council's national advertising campaign, "Plastics Make it Possible," which has been credited with turning around the decline in consumer attitudes toward plastic and creating a more positive image for the industry.

As a key partner with American Plastics Council, Harris Interactive quantified consumer attitudes toward plastics, developed a communications strategy to counter negative attitudes by building on the industry's positive perceptual equities, worked with American Plastics Council’s agencies to develop and pre-test advertising and public relations messages, then tracked the success of the campaign.

• Case Study
• American Plastics Council

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