Axis-Weber Shandwick has won the Hispanic Public Relations Association’s Media Event – Campaign of the Year. The award recognizes the efforts of the agency’s Miami office and the Army account team, led by Senior Vice President and General Manager, Al Quintana. The “Hispanics Flying Army Strong” campaign produced an award-winning media event that garnered more than 1.5 million local media impressions, 3,800 YouTube views of viral video and more than 200 discussions on Facebook Fan pages.
The goal of the effort was to help the U.S. Army’s Miami Recruiting Battalion generate greater awareness and leads from Hispanics interested in enlisting in the U.S. Army.
In response to the assignment the Agency partnered with Univision’s “The Enrique and Joe Show,” which has built a legion of bilingual Hispanic listeners. The program’s success stemmed from DJs Enrique Santos and Joe Ferrero’s ability to connect with young Hispanics using irreverent stunts. Given the DJs nature of trying almost anything on air, including once prank calling Cuba’s Fidel Castro, the Agency identified a unique opportunity – to jump out of an airplane at 13,000 feet with the U.S. Army’s elite Golden Knights parachute team.
The Agency pitched the idea of broadcasting live from the site of the tandem jump at Fort Bragg, North Carolina as well as an opportunity for the DJs to go through Army PT (physical training) locally in order to “get in shape” for the jump. This enabled us to develop two local opportunities for the DJs to interact with Soldiers that attracted many listeners. These events gave Miami Army recruiters the opportunity to generate direct leads and receive significant promotional air time on Univision Radio.
The media event impacted the Miami Battalion’s recruitment in significant ways. Of the more than 1,000 recruits, more than 55 percent were Hispanic. The positive messaging that was achieved via the Univision Radio Golden Knights media initiative helped raise the Army’s profile among young Hispanics and led to a dramatic increase in the number of Hispanic enlistments.
“I’m proud of HPRA’s recognition our agency’s work,” said Mr. Quintana, “and equally proud of the effort that our local Miami Recruiting Battalion and Univision Radio contributed to making this media initiative a huge success.”