Ford’s Theatre “A Virtual Tour” Best of Show Winner, Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington.

Looking to promote its Bicentennial Campaign and new Center for Education and Leadership, the Washington, D.C.-based Ford’s Theatre enlisted Fleishman-Hillard to bring the famed institution and the life and presidency of Abraham Lincoln alive online. Because the theater would be closed for renovations until the winter of 2009, it was imperative that the new site serve as an online virtual museum. In collaboration with Ford’s Theatre, the National Park Service and the Academy of Achievement, the agency developed an engaging — and and best-of-show winning — multi-purpose Web site. Visitors can read about and buy tickets for the theater’s acclaimed performances; learn about the historic events leading to President Lincoln’s assassination; watch videos featuring notable personalities talking about what Lincoln means to them; and donate to the theater’s campaign celebrating the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. In addition to the site’s broad base of content and multi-media tools, one of the most innovative assets is a 360-degree virtual tour of the actual theater that features museum artifacts from the night of Lincoln’s assassination in 1865.

Jim Shannon at the podium, speaking at a recent NFPA event.

Taking on the tobacco industry is a daunting task, to say the least. But when the National Fire Protection Associations (NFPA) approached Fleishman-Hillard to spearhead communications for an aggressive awareness campaign supporting the use of fire-safe cigarettes, the agency embraced the challenge. Despite the fact that traditional cigarettes are the leading cause of home fire fatalities, the lifesaving benefits of fire-safe cigarettes were still going largely unrecognized. NFPA, along with the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes, was looking to raise awareness of the life-saving technology and jump-start state-by-state legislative requirements for fire-safe cigarettes. In just two short years, by mobilizing broad-based support and targeting key state legislators, NFPA and Fleishman-Hillard helped change the landscape of fire safety. The results? The number of states allowing only fire-safe cigarettes increased from two to 20, and the number of Americans who live in states with fire-safe cigarette legislation on the books went from less than 10 percent to 52 percent.

Cell Phones for Soldiers founders Brittany and Robby Bergquist.

Fleishman-Hillard presented AT&T with the idea of supporting Cell Phones for Soldiers (CPFS) to help support AT&T’s mission of connecting military families with loved ones. CPFS was a perfect fit because the nonprofit collects and recycles used wireless phones and uses the proceeds to purchase prepaid phone cards for soldiers overseas. AT&T responded enthusiastically to the idea of working with CPFS, giving the charity more than $500,000 in free phone cards for the troops and providing more than 1,800 AT&T stores as donation sites. The “CBS Evening News,” MSNBC, and The New York Times, among others, covered this support. In order to achieve the year-end partnership goal of $1.4 million — enough for a 20-minute call home for every soldier based in Iraq — Fleishman-Hillard and AT&T added to the ongoing campaign with a holiday donation drive, and AT&T awarded Brittany and Robbie Bergquist, the teenage founders of CPFS, each with a $100,000 college scholarship. The agency secured several key placements for AT&T and the teens, including an interview by Barbara Walters on ABC’s highly rated “The View” and an exclusive feature in USA Today and an appearance on “Good Morning America.” To date, the program has generated more than 67 million media impressions. The charity estimates that enhanced awareness has helped generate 30 times more recycling and 114 percent more in funds given to CPFS compared with the previous year.