Winston & Strawn LLP

One of the nation's oldest and most prestigious law firms

Challenges:

• Plan and execute high-profile, community-based events to celebrate the firm’s 150^th anniversary in four U.S. cities.
• Generate event-driven media coverage of the firm in local newspapers and legal trade publications.
• Use the campaign to promote the firm’s philanthropic efforts to key audiences: legal media, current clients, potential clients and the communities which are home to a Winston & Strawn office.

Strategy:

• Create locally focused programs in four major U.S. cities in which Winston & Strawn has offices: New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago.
• Partner with local charitable and educational organizations to design and implement unique community programs that focus on the 150^th anniversary theme: “Opportunities Through Education.”
• In each city, create an event that combined community involvement, law firm staff volunteerism and a compelling visual.
• Involve high profile community, civic and government leaders.
• Leverage each event to attract wide-scale media coverage and community attention – plus draw attention to the firm’s involvement in helping public schools improve the quality of education for its neediest children.

Results:

• Extensive print and/or broadcast media coverage for what was essentially a non-news story in each market resulted in nearly 6 million impressions. Highlights include:

-       Major two-page feature, including photos of its current chairman and founding partners that focused on the firm’s many civic contributions in the Chicago Sun-Times. Other Chicago coverage included segments on WMAQ-TV and WLS-TV and articles in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Defender, Austin Weekly News and Near West Gazette.

-       New York television coverage for the event ran on WNJU-TV and WWOR-TV and in the Harlem News Group newspapers.  

-       Broadcast coverage of the LA event on KCAL-TV and on the cable news program LA City View with stories and event photos running in the Los Angeles Sentinel, Los Angeles Garment & Citizen and in the Wave Community Newspapers.

-       Major stories with photos appeared in the Washington Afro American Newspapers, the Washington Informer and The Washington Sun.

• Articles in local/national legal publications such as The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Washington Lawyer, Legal Times, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, ISBA Bar New and JD Jungle.
• Despite the fact HLB also assumed responsibility for planning and coordinating logistics for all events – which was not part of the original plan – the program was executed at a cost of 18% below budget.
• Firm leaders said the campaign was “one of the firm’s best accomplishments” and commended HLB for meeting and exceeding their standards of excellence.
• Campaign was profiled in PR Week’s “Campaigns” column.