Merritt Group Wins Awards for Social Media Campaign and Pro-Bono Work

October 29, 2009 | Posted by: Alisa Valudes

It’s not quite the Oscars…but so thrilling to be a part of an agency that produces award-winning work! Perhaps there’s something in the air in October…besides falling leaves, that is! These two new awards come on the heels of a few other accolades in October. It’s amazing to be surrounded by so many talented professionals here at Merritt Group who bring their energy, enthusiasm and creativity into the agency every day to make this all possible!

On October 21, Merritt was honored as a finalist for “Best Small PR Agency” in the U.S. in this year’s PRNews Platinum PR Awards competition. And just last week, Merritt Group was recognized as one of Washingtonian Magazine’s “50 Great Places to Work.” For Washingtonian, this was the third consecutive year that Merritt Group has been recognized! We’ve worked hard to create a culture here at Merritt Group where our employees come first, and it is an honor to be recognized for our innovation when it comes to staff development, benefits, and developing a unique culture that helps drive success for our clients.

And, today, we learned that we won two Gold awards for client campaigns in the 2009 MarCom Awards competition.

For the first award, Merritt was recognized with our Microsoft client in the category of Social Media for its USO/Microsoft A Salute to Our Troops Facebook Campaign. A Salute to Our Troops is a national program honoring the many faces of courage and inspiration belonging to individuals who demonstrate selfless dedication to our country. In the USO tradition of entertaining the troops, one of the program initiatives provides free tickets for the troops and their families to attend Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectacular in New York City, giving them a chance to spend valuable time with their families during the holiday season. Working on behalf of Microsoft, Merritt Group set up, promoted and maintained a custom-branded A Salute to the Troops Facebook page to drive engagement and participation in the events that took place throughout the 2008 Veteran’s Day weekend celebration in New York City.

The second award highlights Merritt’s “Adding Sizzle to the Summer with the Brainfood Grill-Off 2009” pro-bono work. On June 11, 2009, Brainfood -- a nonprofit youth development organization that uses food and cooking as tools to teach life skills and healthy living to teenagers in a safe, healthy and positive environment -- held its yearly fundraising event, the 3rd Annual Brainfood Grill-Off. At the Grill-off, teams supported Brainfood's mission while competing for prizes and the coveted Brainfood Skillet Award. Each team – made up of five amateur chefs (co-workers, friends, family) paired with a professional chef from one of DC’s premier restaurants and a Brainfood student -- received a surprise pantry of ingredients and had one hour to create a culinary masterpiece. The Grill-Off was judged by a panel of chefs, restaurant owners and other foodies. Additionally, Leon Harris (news anchor of WJLA ABC 7) served as the evening’s emcee who set the tone for a fun and energetic night.

Next week, Merritt will be heading to the National Press Club with Brainfood for a ceremony honoring finalists in the 2009 PRNews NonProfit PR awards.

Hats off to our amazing staff and equally amazing clients