PR students capture honorable mention
in international PR awards contest
Lulu’s Hot Dogs “Great Weiner War” Campaign
A Winner in PR News Platinum Awards
Public Relations students at
the University of South Carolina’s School of Journalism and
Mass Communications captured an honorable mention award alongside
recognized industry professionals in the International PRNews Platinum
awards held on Sept. 14 in New York City.
 Recognized for their brand awareness campaign on behalf of Lulu’s
Hot Dogs in Five Points was the team of Corinne Burdette, Katie Davis,
Dezmon Gilmore, Jennica Justice and Amanda Wenk.
The team of PR Campaigns
students planned and implemented a hugely successful event held during
St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Columbia, March 2011. The
award recognized superior planning and implementation of a marketing
communications campaign that included an integration of marketing,
public relations and media relations along with some exceptional
hustle by the students.
A centerpiece of their campaign was a hot dog eating contest the
morning of the St. Patrick’s Day parade, called the Great Weiner
War of 2011. Coverage of the contest featured targeted publicity
from all local broadcast affiliates and included live shots all day
long on NBC-affiliate and ratings leader WIS television.
“Here we are, a little campaign for a local hot dog chain
being run by students getting recognized among the giants of the
PR industry, it is really very rewarding,” said Jeff Ranta,
an instructor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications
and an advisor to the winning team. “I was excited to see how
well that effort went off. We had a lot of media attention, sales
were up and the attendance was higher than expected. All hallmarks
of a great PR campaign,” he added.
The 2012 Marketing Communications award is one of only seven awarded
in the category, an honor shared by other industry professionals,
not students. Other 2012 winners in their category included: Adobe
Systems, Baptist Health South Florida, Downy Fabric Softener, Novartis
pharmaceuticals, InterContinental Hotels Group and The Reading Hospital
and Medical Center.
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