The North American Meat Institute won platinum and gold Hermes Creative Awards for two of its 2017 communications programs. The Platinum award was given for December’s Jacksonville Jaguars bologna promotion done in conjunction with the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC) and Beef Checkoff. Following a news story sharing that Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone loves bologna sandwiches after games, the Meat Institute, NHDSC and Beef Checkoff worked with Boar’s Head to send 100 logs of bologna to the team to power its playoff push. The bologna shipment generated more than 400 news stories around the country and 350 million impressions. The Jaguars donated most of the bologna to a local foodbank, and the team added bologna sandwiches to its concessions menu for the rest of the season. Those sandwiches sold out by halftime of each game.

The Platinum award was one of just seven handed out in the media relations category and the Meat Institute was the only association recognized.

The Meat Institute also took home a Gold award for its MyMeatUp app, launched in January 2017 and updated in October. MyMeatUp is the only free app with a guide to beef, pork, lamb and veal cuts and is designed to help make consumers more confident purchasers of different cuts in the grocery store. To date it has been downloaded more than 15,000 times on iPhone and Android devices. The app was built entirely by Meat Institute staff and was the only app developed by an association to win an award.

“We are proud to be recognized for our hard work and achievement by the public affairs team,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Barry Carpenter. “As an association, we are proud of our success in developing creative campaigns on behalf of the industry and are excited to continue that work to help educate consumers about meat.”

The Hermes Creative Awards are an international competition presented by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals for creative professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of traditional materials, marketing and communication programs, and emerging technologies. Entries in more than 200 different categories come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, graphic design shops, production companies, web and digital creators and freelancers. They are graded on a 100 point scale with those scoring between 90-100 honored as Platinum winners, 80-89 as Gold winners and 70-79 as Honorable Mention.

Source: NAMI