Martin Waymire wins the Oscar of the PR world for work on Proposal 5

The Martin-Waymire public relations firm in Lansing has won the nation's "Silver Anvil" award, which is apparently the equivalent of an Oscar in the PR community.

So, hey, if you win an Oscar, you get to give a speech. And, here, on Selweski's blog, the orchestra will not interrupt you. In that spirit, here is the release they put out to announce the award:

Martin Waymire Advocacy Communications, a Lansing-based full-service public relations and social media marketing firm, won the nation’s top award for public relations excellence — the Silver Anvil — at a ceremony Thursday night in New York City.

The firm was recognized by the Public Relations Society of America for its work on the campaign to defeat Proposal 5, the proposed “Super Minority” constitutional amendment on Michigan’s November 2012 statewide ballot.  Proposal 5 would have required two-thirds of both chambers of the Michigan Legislature to raise any tax or close any tax loophole.  

Considered the “Oscar” of the public relations profession, the Silver Anvil is the oldest and most prestigious award given in the nation for outstanding achievement in PR. Martin Waymire’s award came in the category of Public Affairs, Associations/Nonprofit Organizations.  It is the third Silver Anvil won by Martin Waymire staffers in the past 20 years, all for managing ballot campaigns.

“We are thrilled to be recognized in the public affairs category, since that is the arena Martin Waymire excels in every day,” said Martin Waymire Partner Roger Martin, APR. “Helping bring together the extraordinary coalition of associations and nonprofits that made up Defend Michigan Democracy, developing the strategy and then executing it precisely is extremely satisfying. This award recognizes the efforts of our entire staff, who absolutely killed it to defeat a dangerous amendment to Michigan’s constitution. Many PR practitioners can do excellent work for an entire career and not win a Silver Anvil, so we are so very grateful.”

Defend Michigan Democracy came together after the ballot proposal was certified for the November 2012 election. Before we launched the NO on 5 campaign, polls showed the proposal winning with 70 percent of the vote. It was supported by Tea Party organizations and the so-called “Americans for Prosperity” special interest group. In the end, Michigan voters defeated Proposal 5 by 69 percent to 31 percent, the largest margin of any of the questions or candidates on the statewide ballot.

Here are some other metrics from the successful NO on Prop 5 campaign:

·        *  NO on 5 got the most votes — by far — of any candidate or question on Michigan’s ballot (including President Obama, who won the state by a landslide for the second time).

·         * NO on 5 was the only ballot question or candidate campaign to exceed 3 million votes on the Michigan ballot.

·         * NO on 5 out-performed the next best-performing statewide ballot campaign by 260,000 votes.

·        *  Every Michigan newspaper in the state that editorialized on Proposal 5 said “VOTE NO.”

·        *  One of our “odd couple videos” was named one of Michigan’s political videos of the year for 2012.

“While Roger and I have both won Silver Anvils in the past for managing ballot proposal campaigns, this is our first working together at Martin Waymire,” said David Waymire, a partner at the firm who this year received the Central Michigan Public Relations Society of America’s PACE Maker of the Year Award. “Our entire team was immersed in this campaign, implementing an extensive social media campaign and developing viral videos that featured ‘odd couples’ such as Gov. Rick Snyder and his 2010 Democratic opponent, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, explaining why all of Michigan was coming together to reject the extremist proposal. Beating this extremist measure was good for Michigan, and being recognized for our work by our peers nationally for that work is particularly sweet.”

Martin Waymire would like to thank the founding members of Defend Michigan Democracy for retaining our firm to run the NO on 5 campaign, including the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, the Michigan Municipal League, AARP Michigan, and the Michigan Education Association.

The campaign also won first place in the Mid-Michigan Public Relations Society of America contest for public affairs. Martin Waymire was one of only two Michigan-based firms to even be nominated for a Silver Anvil.

For more information on Martin Waymire and our services visit www.martinwaymire.com. For more information on the Defend Michigan Democracy campaign, visit http://martinwaymire.com/featured-clients/.