5.30.2008 - 09:03am ET

(CSRwire) CHICAGO,IL - May 29, 2008 - Equipping classrooms, renovating homes for disabled veterans, fighting climate change and providing the needy with winter coats are among the many challenges tackled by the winners of the sixth annual Cause Marketing Halo Awards.

The Cause Marketing Halo Awards demonstrate the good that can be done when businesses and nonprofits team up," said David Hessekiel, president of Cause Marketing Forum, Inc., the program’s organizer. "It's a competition in which we all win." Cause marketing is the strategy of building mutually beneficial alliances between companies and causes.

"In 1990 cause marketing spending was a bit more than $100 million - this year it is forecast to reach $1.5 billion," said Hessekiel. The Cause Marketing Forum produces an annual conference, workshops, teleclasses and causemarketingforum.com, a website offering free resources to businesses and nonprofits interested in developing such programs.

The Cause Marketing Forum also announced that McDonald's Corporation and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital each received Cause Marketing Golden Halo Awards for their leadership in this fast-growing field.

Sixteen category-specific awards were presented at the Cause Marketing Halo Awards luncheon at the Westin Chicago River North on Thursday, May 29 to campaigns that occurred in whole or in part in 2007. The winners include:

Best Environmental/Wildlife Campaign:
Gold: "Chase The Extraordinary" InterContinental Hotels Group
Silver: "Esurance – Save Our Selves", Esurance and Live Earth

Best Health Campaign:
Gold: "Skin Cancer Takes Friends", Proctor & Gamble's Olay and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery
Silver: "Albertsons Healthy Eaters", SUPERVALU Inc./Albertsons

Best Social Service/Education Campaign:
Gold: "National Vocabulary Championship", GSN, the Network for Games
Silver: "The 50 Million Pound Challenge", State Farm Insurance


Best Joint Message Promotion
Gold: "Destination Joy Presented by Lay's", Frito-Lay and Make-A-Wish Foundation of America
Silver: "Esurance – Save Our Selves", Esurance and Live Earth

Best Print Creative:
Gold: "Gifts for Greater Good", Target Corp., The Salvation Army and St. Jude Children Research Hospital
Silver: "The Pedigree Adoption Drive", Pedigree

Best Transactional Campaign:
Gold: "Heroes at Home," Sears Holding Co. and Rebuilding Together
Silver: "Crate and Barrel Distribution of DonorsChoose.org Gift Certificates", Crate and Barrel and DonorsChoose.org

Best Cause Marketing Event:
Gold: "Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis", Live Earth
Silver: "A Day Made Better", OfficeMax and Adopt-A-Classroom

Best National/Local Integration
Gold: "Warm Coats and Warm Hearts Drive", ABC News' "Good Morning America", Burlington Coat Factory and One Warm Coat
Silver: "Lets All Play…It Matters", Hasbro and Boundless Playgrounds

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