Partnership honored for mixed-media campaign designed to help people save their lives
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) honored a broad partnership led by The Ohio State University Office of the Chief Wellness Officer and the College of Nursing with a 2020 Circle of Excellence Gold award for last fall’s O-Heart-I-O heart health campaign.
The O-Heart-I-O campaign launched at the Ohio State football game against the University of Maryland on November 9, 2019 and focused on empowering Buckeye fans everywhere to know their numbers related to heart health risk factors and make lifestyle behavior changes to extend their lives. Key partners in the effort included the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, the Ohio Mayors Alliance, Buckeye Wellness and Buckeye Wellness Innovators, The Ohio State University Marching Band and Learfield/IMG College. The partnership created several assets to convey an urgent message of action and encouragement. The assets included content for the game program, themed videos that played on the main scoreboard, social media outreach, a custom webpage with facts and resources, radio broadcast promotions and two on-field recognitions for the university’s Buckeye Wellness Innovators and mayors from across Ohio who engaged in the National Forum’s Move with the Mayor physical activity program.
“Our partnership’s goal was to provide relevant, practical information that people could use to save their own and their families’ lives,” said Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, APRN-CNP, EBP-C, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, vice president for health promotion, university chief wellness officer and dean of the College of Nursing. “We know that 80 percent of chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, are preventable with a few lifestyle behavior changes. This campaign was so successful in getting the message across in a variety of different ways, and we are thrilled and grateful to earn this international honor for our efforts.”
CASE is a global non-profit membership association of educational institutions dedicated to advancing education to transform lives and society. It engages in areas including alumni relations, communications, development, marketing, government relations and advancement services. The peer-selected Circle of Excellence Awards, which have been given out since 1994, acknowledge superior accomplishments that have lasting impact, demonstrate the highest level of professionalism while delivering exceptional results.
“These awards demonstrate our members’ success in advancing their institutions through their remarkable and varied work across all advancement disciplines,” said Sue Cunningham, president and CEO of CASE. “The CASE Circle of Excellence Awards demonstrate creativity and strategy. They are a great source of inspiration and ideas for your own institutions.”
This year, CASE received 2,752 entries from 28 countries. Those entries came from 587 institutions for consideration in 100 categories that were judged by 416 volunteers who selected more than 400 entries for recognition. There are four levels of recognition: Grand Gold, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Ohio State’s O-Heart-I-O campaign was one of only 130 entries globally to earned Gold distinction.
