Aspen Skiing Co.’s “Give a Flake” print advertising campaign won the prestigious Kelly Award from The Association of Magazine Media in New York City on Tuesday, according to Skico and its ad agency, Karsh Hagan.
The ad topped the creative campaigns of such national companies as Audi, Target, Kraft, Purina and Marriott, according to Skico and Karsh Hagan.
“‘Give a Flake’ is a departure from traditional ski resort marketing and invites people to join the resort in becoming activists on behalf of climate change and equal rights,” said a statement from the companies.
The campaign targeted three Republican U.S. senators who are swing votes on climate policy: Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) and Rob Portman (Ohio). The campaign created a national magazine ad featuring a tear-out, postage-paid card for readers to sign and mail to those senators urging them to act on climate change.
To further push them on the issue, videos, social content, and digital online ads encouraged people to register to vote and educated visitors on how to reach out to their elected officials via Tweets and letters. Sen. Murkowski responded with an open letter to the editor responding to all of the postcards she received.
Skico President and CEO Mike Kaplan told an audience at an Aspen Chamber Resort Association event in September that the campaign is about action, activism and engagement.
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“We’re trying to say, ‘Look, we need action. We’re all doing a lot individually to green up our open operations, green up our lifestyle, but it’s not enough,'” Kaplan said in September. “We have got to curb emissions and get off this path. That’s going to take legislative action that puts a price on carbon then unleashes the market forces and unleashes the technology that is already there.”
The social engagement has garnered over 1 million impressions, and more than 2,500 people contacted their elected officials to discuss climate change voting and equal rights issues.
The winners were chosen by a panel of judges composed of top agency creative directors, marketing executives and magazine media experts and were judged on the goals, elements and impact of the advertisement or advertising campaign.
The campaign was also recently awarded the best campaign and the best social campaign in “The Fifty” Colorado Ad Club 2019 awards show.