CRT/tanaka's Work Recognized Among Top Five PR Campaigns of the Decade

NEW YORK, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- CRT/tanaka today announced that its groundbreaking work with Liz Claiborne's "Women's Work" domestic violence awareness campaign was named one of the top five PR campaigns of the past decade by The Holmes Report, a leading PR trade publication.

The publication cited CRT/tanaka's work with Liz Claiborne (through one of its predecessor agencies, Patrice Tanaka & Company, Inc.) as "one of the most impressive cause-related marketing programs of all time," which also earned The Holmes Report's first-ever Lifetime Achievement SABRE Award in 2002.

"The campaign was distinguished first by the company's choice of a tough, sometimes controversial issue – domestic violence – as its centerpiece, a choice that enabled Liz Claiborne to own the issue and position itself as a leader; and later by an unusually deep and sustained commitment that included employee volunteerism, fund-raising and educational components," according to The Holmes Report.

"We are thrilled that Liz Claiborne, Inc. is being recognized for the company's courage in taking on the 'unpretty' issue of domestic violence in 1991, when no other national corporation in America was willing to do so," said Patrice Tanaka, CRT/tanaka co-chair and chief creative officer. "The company's pioneering efforts helped to 'mainstream' the issue and make it safe for other corporations to get involved with domestic violence awareness and prevention."

"The important contribution of Liz Claiborne and other companies was in 're-positioning' the issue of domestic violence from a private, hidden family matter to a public health crisis, which is what needed to happen before appropriate public, private and non-profit resources could be marshaled to deal with this societal problem that affects nearly one in four women in America and at least one in every three women globally," Tanaka said.

The other four campaigns of the decade are:

• Shell Oil Company, the U.S. Army, the National Wildlife Agency and MGA Communications for the Rocky Mountain Arsenal clean-up and wildlife preserve campaign
• The National Heart Lung & Blood Institute and Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide for The Heart Truth campaign and The American Heart Association and Cone for the Go Red for Women campaign
• Several technology and telecommunications companies – SBC Communications, Yahoo! and Cingular Wireless among them – and Fleishman-Hillard for relief efforts to help individuals displaced by Hurricane Katrina  
• Frito-Lay and Ketchum for teaming up to encourage loyal customers to create a Super Bowl ad for Doritos (Doritos Crashes the Super Bowl), which was named the Best Campaign of the Decade

About CRT/tanaka

CRT/tanaka is an award-winning public relations and marketing firm known for its whatcanbe(SM) workplace culture and approach to business. Headquartered in Richmond, Va., and New York, with offices in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Norfolk, Va., CRT/tanaka features four integrated specialties – Consumer, Health, Corporate and Interactive/Social. The agency has been recognized with more than 300 national and regional awards for its strategic counsel, creativity, workplace culture and community service. Clients include Air New Zealand, BISSELL Homecare, Inc., Cambria Suites, Charles Schwab & Co., Council for Responsible Nutrition, Council of Better Business Bureaus, Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, Girl Scouts of the USA, Network Solutions, PetNovations, Sprint Nextel and Wines from Rioja (Spain). More information about CRT/tanaka is available at www.crt-tanaka.com.

SOURCE CRT/tanaka