The City of Johnston has received a Savvy Award from the City-County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA) for the Smokin’ Heroes Smoke Off event and a Silver Circle Award for the Johnston Police Department Recruitment Video featuring Officer Yeager.
The Savvy Awards, held in conjunction with 3CMA’s Annual Conference in Denver, CO, recognize outstanding local government achievements in communications, public-sector marketing and citizen-government relationships. The Savvies salute skilled and competent city, county, agency, or district professionals who have creatively planned and carried out successful innovations in communications and marketing. 3CMA accommodates local government organizations of all sizes and budget classes by judging entries in several different population groups. Over 700 entries in 40 categories were received. 3CMA utilized volunteer judges from across the United States to review every entry and provide constructive comments on the winning entries. Seventy-two first-place Savvy Awards were presented. 72 second-place Silver Circle Awards and 73 third-place Awards of Excellence were also presented.
The primary goal of the Smokin’ Heroes event is to raise money to send four Johnston High School students to participate in a Toka International Camp in Kosovo. During their visit, they continue building upon the sister-city relationship Johnston city leaders have worked hard to cultivate. The marketing images for this event were creatively designed to grab your attention - they incorporate color and involve active members of Police, Fire and the Military. The
3CMA judges said, “I enjoyed getting to see how the marketing materials and strategies came together to create such a successful inaugural event.”
The Police Department recruitment videos were created to portray the characteristics of our officers to attract new candidates to apply. Since creating these series of videos, the Johnston Police Department increased the number of candidates that apply for open positions. The videos helped put a positive light on law enforcement and the difference each of the members is making in their community. It is those personal stories that hit home with many people!
3CMA judges said, “Well produced piece – we liked the very personal story of Officer Yeager. It was a fantastic idea and use of a personal story to encourage others to join the team."
It’s an honor to be recognized by 3CMA for the City’s marketing achievements and we look forward to continuing to create engagement with our community and departments in the coming year.