Company: IMAGES USA, Atlanta, GA
Company Description: IMAGES USA is a national full-service multicultural marketing communications agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1989, IMAGES offers marketing expertise to clients wanting to reach, motivate and influence African-American, Hispanic and Asian consumers.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - For a For-profit Purpose

Nomination Title: Pullman Porters Tribute

   1. Tell the story about this nominated campaign since January 1 2008 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

          Amtrak sought to overcome a perception of irrelevance to African Americans.
          They teamed up with IMAGES USA to highlight the company’s long, historic
          relationship with the African American community by showcasing the often
          undervalued and overlooked contributions of the Pullman Porter. Amtrak hoped
          that celebrating the Pullman Porter’s role in building America’s passenger rail
          economy would bolster pride and translate into renewed interest in railroad
          history and railroad travel as a viable transportation option for today’s
          African American families.

          Pullman Porters were the iconic symbol of luxury train travel in the United
          States for close to a century. Pullman Porters prided themselves on providing
          the highest level of care for their customers that allowed railroad barons to
          reap huge profits and made overnight railroad travel the preferred means of
          passenger transport for decades. Pullman Porters spent weeks at a time away
          from their families, but when they returned, the tips they earned through
          steady employment contributed to building a solid Black middle class.  As
          faster modes of transportation replaced railroad travel, the Pullman Porter
          faded into idealized memories of a bygone era when luxurious personal service
          was a hallmark of domestic rail travel. Today, only a handful of retired
          Pullman Porters are still alive.  These elderly gentlemen and the history they
          made became the focus of one of IMAGES, USA’s most successful public relations
          campaigns.

          Strategies:

          •   Amtrak partnered with the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum to
          host four recognition ceremonies in Washington, D.C. (February, 2008), Chicago
          (May, 2008), Oakland (February, 2009) and Philadelphia (May, 2009) to honor
          Pullman Porters.
          •   MAGES USA activated a local, regional and national publicity placement
          program to capture the attention of both general market and African American
          audiences.
          •   As individual Pullman Porters were found and secured for interviews,
          IMAGES USA PR contacted local media to pre-pitch story and invite the media to
          accompany the Porter en route to their destination

          Results:
          •   More than 224,953,880 million media impressions were achieved for the
          events in Washington, D.C. (February 2008) and Chicago, IL (May 2008):
          •   Associated Press wire story for the Chicago Pullman Porter event
          produced 20 related hits including: ABC News, AOL News, Chicago Tribune, Contra
          Costa Times, Examiner, WBBM-AM Online (CBS-Chicago, IL), WMAQ-TV Online (NBC-
          Chicago, IL) and Yahoo! News
          •   For the events in Washington, D.C. and Chicago, a $60,000 budget
          delivered more than $672,000 of ad value resulting in a ROI of approximately of
          11.20 or 1,120%
          •   Cost per impression equaled $2.98/impression 
          •   For every dollar Amtrak spent on these events, they earned back $8.90
          •   Results for the event recently held in Oakland are still forthcoming as
          long lead media print/air/publish future stories
          •   To date for the Oakland event, we have achieved 86 million impressions
          •   Associated Press wire story for the Oakland Pullman Porter event
          produced 120 related hits including: San Jose Mercury News, Chicago Daily
          Herald, Yahoo politics, MSNBC, Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Bay News
          Times, Forbes.com

   2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

          https://www.onlinefilefolder.com/4fhGJ4CqJUsNzC

   3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that carried out this campaign:

          Hank works on the IMAGES USA Public Relations team where he is responsible for
          planning, directing and implementing the public and media relations, and public
          affairs campaigns for clients accounts, as well as for IMAGES USA. He has been
          instrumental at generating awareness and publicity in major trade publications
          such as AdWeek, AdAge, and BrandWeek, along with The New York Times, USA Today,
          Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, NBC Nightly News and a host of other
          local and national media outlets.