Silicon Valley Public Relations Agency Wins International PR Award for Orchard Supply Hardware Corporate Social Responsibility Campaign

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The International Public Relations Network (IPRN), a consortium of 45 agencies from 32 countries, awarded PRx Communication Strategists of San Jose, California, its Project of the Year Award. This award, IPRN’s highest honor, was conferred on PRx for a community relations campaign designed and executed for Orchard Supply Hardware’s 75^th Anniversary.

“This campaign was both a labor of love and an experiment to learn how a company like OSH could make substantive improvements to early childhood education, giving elementary students, their parents and teachers the tools to put gardening into the academic mix”

Competing against campaigns mounted by agencies from Austria, Singapore, Spain, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Sweden and France, PRx won the 10^th Annual Project of the Year Award for its Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) school gardens campaign. PRx created an experiential learning project for the hardware chain’s 86 stores, linking elementary schools throughout California with OSH stores and their employees. OSH gardening staff and horticulturists worked with thousands of parents and teachers to create school gardens to teach math, biology, chemistry and project management to more than 40,000 students in 2007.

Collaborating with the California Department of Education, PRx branded state curriculum guides and resources with the OSH 75^th Anniversary logo and created an online application process for schools to apply for $1000 OSH store credits for gardening tools and supplies. More than 300 schools applied for the grants, and 86 schools were chosen to work with an OSH store near their campuses to create a garden and integrate the year’s gardening activities into the academic curriculum.

In a survey after the year-long project ended, 62% of the schools responded and reported that:

• More than 84% of the schools rated OSH’s support as “good to far more than expected”
• 94% of schools plan to continue their gardens
• 86% of schools have been able to leverage their OSH grant to secure other funding and support
• 40% of schools claimed measured gains in test scores
• 68% of schools rated the OSH Garden experience as outstanding, with another 24% rating it worthwhile

In other news,

• OSH was named “the leading pioneer in school gardens” by the CA Dep’t. of Education
• California First Lady Maria Shriver issued a statement of support and appreciation to OSH’s CEO Rob Lynch

“This campaign was both a labor of love and an experiment to learn how a company like OSH could make substantive improvements to early childhood education, giving elementary students, their parents and teachers the tools to put gardening into the academic mix,” said Rob Lynch, OSH CEO. “We’re known as the answer people for gardening and home improvement projects, so our staff’s involvement with the schools and their students enabled them to take their expertise out of the stores and into the community, making a real difference in thousands of kids’ lives. We’re enormously proud of this project, and we hope that other corporations will become more involved with schools and students, to leverage their contributions to learning and increase the return on investment we as citizens make through our taxes and volunteer activities.”

PRx is the only agency to have won two IPRN Project of the Year Awards. It previously won the award in 2002 for its 2001 Silicon Valley Technology and Homeland Security Summit and Expo. For more information, please see www.iprn.com and www.prxinc.com.

The International Public Relations Network was formed in 1995 to enable small and medium-sized PR consultancies to compete with multinational PR firms. Featuring global reach and local expertise, the network boasts 45 agencies in 32 countries, billing more than $50 million per year.

PRx founder and CEO Brenna Bolger said, “This award is a very important validation of how we help companies get not only news coverage but create productive relationships that help communities improve their services to their residents. We are very proud of our role in assisting our clients in being good corporate citizens, engaging them with important causes and creating grand initiatives that help both the community and our clients’ strategic marketing goals.” For more information, please see www.iprn.com and www.prxinc.com