SJ Public Relations earns Top Award at Publicity Club of Chicago.

SJ Public Relations (SJPR) earned a Golden and Silver Trumpet Award from the Publicity Club of Chicago’s Annual Trumpet Awards competition. Now in its 53rd year, the awards honor achievement in public relations and communications across the Midwest.

“It is always a great honor to be recognized for the work we do on behalf of our clients,” said George L. San Jose, founder and chief creative officer of The San Jose Group. “That honor is magnified when recognition is received for communication efforts that support an initiative as important as raising awareness of organ donation and driving registration of organ donors. “We look forward to continuing to deliver strong public relations programs that help our clients achieve their marketing objectives.”

The 2012 Rose Parade

To raise awareness about organ donation and add donors to the Illinois Organ & Tissue Donor registry, SJPR and Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Network (Gift of Hope) launched a nationwide and local media relations campaign with an announced partnership with Alex Rodriguez, brother of the now deceased, former professional boxer, Francisco “Paco” Rodriguez, whose organs were donated after his life was tragically cut short in 2009 from injuries sustained in a title bout. Alex, who served as the GOH spokesperson at the 2012 Rose Parade appeared on a specially created float that featured a “floragraph” portrait of Paco, made entirely of organic floral materials that helped garner attention for Gift of Hope at the parade. To extend the program locally in the city of Chicago and its surrounding townships, SJPR held a press conference that included other well-known speakers and guests followed by a vigil to honor Paco. The program generated more than 156 media placements in top Hispanic and general market media outlets and drove 2,421 newly registered organ donors, earning the agency a Silver Trumpet in the special events category.

National Minority Day Awareness Day

In support of National Minority Donor Awareness Day, a national observance held annually on August 1 to raise awareness of the urgent need for donors and transplants with the multicultural community, SJPR helped the Gift of Hope get the word out about the importance of becoming an organ donor to minority audiences through a targeted, local market media relations campaign and press conference held at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago. The media event included a tree-planting ceremony and featured Cook County Commissioner Robert B. Steele as spokesperson for the event, drawing media attendees, professional medical staff and other key influencers including donor recipients and families. Aggressive media relations helped the program garner more than 107 media placements in targeted Hispanic and African-American media outlets and added close to 3,000 new organ donors to the Illinois Donor Registry. SJPR earned a Golden Trumpet in the special events category.