The Institute for Public Relations and its Commission on Public Relations Measurement and Evaluation today announced that Northwestern Mutual and agency partners Gagen MacDonald and EMPA will receive the 2010 Jack Felton Golden Ruler Award for excellence in public relations measurement and evaluation.
Emerging from the global financial crisis and at a time requiring elevated employee performance, Northwestern Mutual launched the Motivated Workforce Pilot. Through research and analytics, the company and its agency partners identified a set of leadership behaviors – “soft” performance measures that predict productivity and increased employee engagement at Northwestern Mutual. This link was established through a controlled pilot, making a case for the companys future investment in employee engagement.
The primary objective of the award is to identify superb examples of research and measurement integrated into public relations practice, and to publish these as case studies on the Institute’s website (instituteforpr.org).
The award is named for Jack Felton, President and CEO Emeritus of the Institute, who was instrumental in founding the Commission on Public Relations Measurement and Evaluation. It is sanctioned and judged by leaders in public relations measurement from corporations, nonprofits, public relations agencies, academic and research organizations.
“The winning entry clearly measured up to the high standards of the Golden Rule Award competition,” said David Kistle, a leader in communication research and measurement and chair of the judging committee. “The quality and substance of the research methods were superb. The fact that the entry described work done in internal, employee communications is very relevant and contributes significantly to the practice of public relations.”
The Institute for Public Relations and its Commission presented the award at the Institute’s 8th Summit on Measurement, October 6-8 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at a luncheon sponsored by RF|Binder. (See event highlights at www.iprmeasure.org)
The Summit is an annual event for experts in communications and public relations measurement and evaluation and for public relations practitioners who want a more focused research strategy. This is the only event in the communication industry at which corporate and other end-users, agencies, research companies, and noted academics annually meet, exchange insights, and challenge each other for better results.
Institute for Public Relations Announces 2010 Jack Felton Golden Ruler Award Winner
The winning case is available free on the Institute’s website where past winners also are posted.
The IPR Commission on Public Relations Measurement and Evaluation exists to establish standards and methods for public relations research and measurement and to issue authoritative white papers on research and best practices.
The Institute for Public Relations is an independent non-profit headquartered at the University of Florida. It bridges the academic and professional fields, supporting public relations research and mainstreaming this knowledge into practice.
The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI (www.northwesternmutual.com) has helped clients achieve financial security for more than 150 years. As a mutual company with $1.2 trillion of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual seeks to share its gains with policyowners anddeliver consistent and dependable value to clients over time. This award was made possible by a grant from the Northwestern Mutual Foundation.
Contacts:
For information about the pilot study design and employee engagement strategy, contact: Morgan Marzec at Gagen MacDonald m.marzec@gagenmac.com
Questions pertaining to research design and statistical analysis can be directed to Palmer Morrel-Samuels, PhD at palmer@umich.edu.
Information about the Institute for Public Relations is available from Robert Grupp at rgrupp@instituteforpr.org +1-484-557-8401.
