A quick little recap of the 2018 PRSA public relations awards in San Diego, and the not-so-little list of public relations awards that we won.

• We submitted 13 PR awards and won 15 awards
• We won two best of shows: Newsletter and Public Affairs (only the best-rated work from the entire evening)
• We’re feeling especially emotional about the communications work with did for CCAEJ
• We love that our pro bono and volunteer public relations work won, too
• Scroll to the bottom to learn our secret to success

Best in Show Silver Bernays Award for Public Affairs – CCAEJ

The first time I met Penny Newman, she told me: media don’t care about us anymore. We used to have great relationships, but these days, they don’t just care about our communities.

I’ve seen from afar the power of Penny’s organization in the Inland Valley – uniting community members into a strong voice to keep their communities healthy and viable. And, in this most recent time, standing up to the prejudice and harmful policies being trumpeted by our federal government.

We took our task to heart when Riverside County’s Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice tasked us with building its brand to complement its organizing power with communications power. And what a task we had: a PR agency in San Diego who needed to understand, become a part of, and lift up community voices of the Inland Valley neighborhoods. We had to be aware of our privilege and our biases as we developed internal systems and external messages to help CCAEJ’s communities fight.

There is no doubt in my mind that some of the most important work that we did in the past year occurred in Inland Valley. Not because of the work itself, but because the work we did opened connections between the most fearless advocates that we’ve met and the people with the power of the pen (and camera).

To see our industry, which is often led by large budget programs and big business, recognize this collaborative work as the Best in Show, and the best in several categories, reminds me that working at Mixte isn’t just a job, but a mission to do business the right way for the people who stand for shared values. Yes, it’s a paycheck, but it’s also a commitment to doing what we can to make our world better for all people.

Mixte and CCAEJ also won awards in these categories:

• Mark of Merit Silver Bernays for Integrated Communications
• Mark of Excellence Silver Bernays for Reputation/Brand Management
• Mark of Excellence Silver Bernays for Multicultural Public Relations
• Mark of Excellence Silver Bernays for Community Relations Nonprofit
• Mark of Excellence Silver Bernays for Public Affairs

Best in Show Bronze – Business for Good San Diego

Wow. This particular award has special meaning for us because our CEO is a founding board member, and also because it’s our pro bono client. It’s been a joy to create a monthly email newsletter from the voice of small business owners in San Diego to help those small business owners stay updated and engaged on their policy work. To achieve a near-40 percent open rate continually for Business for Good San Diego is a phenomenal feat in itself, but it’s unbelievably powerful knowing that this effort supports policy efforts on behalf of immigrants, for more housing to get people off the streets, for choice in energy and bicycle infrastructure, as well as many other important community needs.

Mixte and Business for Good also won: Mark of Excellence Bronze Bernays Award Newsletter

Mark of Merit Bronze Bernays Award Social Media Barons Market

We’ve been working with Barons Market for almost as long as we’ve been around, and we love that our work with this fun and smart team has transitioned to different projects – we just never settle for good enough. We admire the Barons’ team because they allow us to test new marketing tactics – and sometimes they just don’t do that well (hello cookie decorating). But we hit the nail on the head with our social media influencer program, and for that, we say cheers (hopefully at a Backroom Beer Pairing), and thanks for the long, fruitful, award-winning, and hilariously inappropriate relationship, Barons Market.

Mark of Excellence Bronze Bernays Award Research Evaluation International Rescue Committee

We’re not gonna lie – we wish we had more work with International Rescue Committee, but we certainly loved working on this 6-week project to assess its statewide partnership strategies. We partnered with several locally based consultants to achieve our goals for this assessment and report, and we’re happy to hear that our clients at IRC rated us with marks of excellence at a similar level to this award. What did we learn? That IRC and its partners are doing important human rights work, and if you have a chance to get involved — you should.

Marks of Merits in four categories for American Council on Exercise

It was a tough call to retire this long-term Mixte client this year, but we’re happy to report that our work together received four Marks of Merit from the Bernays. Our work with American Council on Exercise centered on using its leadership role in the fitness and health space to educate the American public on how to get moving. We’ve won an award in the past for our national public relations efforts for ACE, but a specific highlight for our team this year included helping ACE reach new audiences by bringing a media relations focus to a project it empowered in the communities of Los Angeles.

We won awards for:

• Mark of Merit Silver Bernays Award Reputation/Brand Management
• Mark of Merit Silver Bernays Award Community Relations Nonprofit
• Mark of Merit Bronze Bernays Award Media Relations Consumer Products and Services
• Mark of Merit Bronze Bernays Award Media Relations Nonprofit Mark of Merit Bronze

Bernays Award Creative Tactics Intergalacticon

We know what you’re thinking: a comic convention in Mixte’s portfolio? You can’t believe how much happiness and hilarity this particular project brought to our team. And, yes, you can believe that the CEO and founder’s vision fit in with all that we stand for. Another layer of love to this project is our friends at Less + More did the design and branding for the event, which was a huge catalyst for the creative tactics that we brought to life. #teamdream

Why did we win so many public relations awards?

Honestly, it was hard to limit our selections when we were submitting – you should have seen the original list. We’re happy to report that we won an award for every entry we submitted. And we picked up two awards for the best of the best of the night. Wow, what an honor! We’re thankful that our clients bring us important work, trust us to lead their strategies, work with us as we dig in, and consider us a part of their team for years on end.

What’s our secret to success in public relations?

We think it’s four parts equal:

1. Smart clients doing important work who dig in with us. It’s the true definition of MixTeam.
2. A proven process, called our Secret Sauce, to start every project.
3. A specialization in values-based communication programs so that we bring time-tested practices to every project.
4. An engaged and diverse team who see how their role impacts the outcomes and who believe in our mission to do the work that makes our communities stronger.