JCI Takes Home Eleven MarCom Awards for Outstanding Work in Communications

Last month, JCI Worldwide won the honor of receiving eleven prestigious MarCom Awards, impressing a seasoned panel of judges. The MarCom Awards are the premier accolade for exemplary work in PR and communications, and JCI has added more trophies to its collection.

JCI won Platinum Awards, the highest recognition, for our work on our own blog overall, a single blog post, a pro-bono case, an op-ed, and a newspaper placement. We won Gold Awards for an informational blog post, an online media placement, a TV placement, our social media engagement, a social media campaign, and a special event.

The JCI Blog is a staple of our work and website; it's how we keep in touch and express ourselves. We won a Platinum Award for the Blog Overall, as we continuously develop blog content ranging from trending topics to entertainment to social advocacy to industry information. We utilize blog posts to further expand upon and investigate the worlds of communications and public affairs, and content is curated to provide updates on current events, practical advice, and case studies that highlight successful communications campaigns.

We also won a Platinum Award for Associate Prakriti Bhanot’s Industry-Focused Single Blog Post, Resilience Unleashed: Navigating the High-Stress World of Strategic Communications. “Resilience Unleashed” offers insights into managing the high-stress world of strategic communications with tips on self-care, building a supportive network, time management, continuous learning, self-management, and recognizing achievements. Ultimately, building resilience and fostering effective communication can help professionals excel while maintaining their well-being in the demanding field of strategic communications.

Account Supervisor Claire Del Prete’s Informational Blog Post, AAPI Heritage Month: A Conversation with my Chinese-American Mother, took home a Gold Award. In this article, Claire interviewed her mother, Rachelle Chong, for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Rachelle Chong, a trailblazing Chinese American woman who was the first Asian American Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission, expressed her appreciation for the month as it reminds her of her roots and the achievements of Asian Americans in the country. She also encouraged members of the AAPI community and other minorities to consider getting more involved in or serving in government.

Our blog is not the only way that we stay connected. JCI snagged another Gold Award for our consistent Social Media Engagement on a variety of platforms–Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and TikTok. We specialize in simplifying complex issues to effectively communicate with diverse audiences, creating compelling content that spans social and political topics and trending subjects. Our approach focuses on building brand awareness, nurturing customer relationships, promoting client content, and driving business growth for both JCI and our clients through online social media engagement.

We won two Platinum Awards for our Pro Bono Work for a high-profile domestic gun violence case. The campaign, “Justice for Wyland Gomes–Combating Gun Violence in California” was created when our client, Christy Camara, lost her son, Wyland Gomes, after he was shot and killed by his father who should not have been allowed to purchase a gun by the State of California. Christy Camara believes that the California Department of Justice (DOJ) is withholding crucial information about her son's wrongful death, and she has taken legal action by filing a lawsuit against the California DOJ for violating the Public Records Act. Additionally, Christy has written a memoir titled "Can I Still Be Funny After My Son's Murder?" where she shares her journey with grief, and we have been helping to promote her book. Through JCI’s work for Christy Camara, in honor of Wyland, we were able to secure media coverage in the Los Angeles Times of Christy’s lawsuit against the CA DOJ. The Newspaper Placement, Wyland Gomes’ Tragic Story of Failed Gun Control Told in the LA Times, helped to bring greater awareness of Wyland’s tragic story and the need for effective background checks.

JCI co-wrote an op-ed on behalf of the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which received a Platinum award, to emphasize the importance of health equity in the United States and the role of pharmacy benefit management in protecting consumers and lowering high drug costs. The piece was placed nationally in hundreds of publications, including The San Diego Union-Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Star Tribune, Boston Herald, Arizona Daily Star, and many others.

Our team also won two Gold awards for recent media placements featuring our client Kwikbit Internet. JCI won Gold for an Online Media Placement, Kwikbit Internet Online Placement in Cord Cutters News, and a TV Placement on NBC Sacramento. The company is a leading wireless internet provider, specializing in high-speed, low-cost service for the marginalized communities of mobile home parks across the country. To promote Kwikbit's services, JCI creatively pitched the company's innovative technology during a local California launch, which resulted in media coverage by Cord Cutters News and featured an interview with CEO Joe Costello, reaching a national audience of nearly 2.4 million readers. The KCRA-NBC Sacramento placement, with several airings, reached hundreds of thousands of viewers and brought hope to mobile home communities. The segment featured a powerful interview with a park resident that highlighted the strong broadband disparities that mobile home residents face.

Other Gold Awards included a Social Media Campaign to Save Mono Lake Again for the Mono Lake Committee and communications efforts around a Special Event, CoCreate, for Alibaba.com.

The Mono Lake Committee partnered with JCI to address LADWP’s unjust water diversions, emphasizing the urgency of the lake's condition to the Los Angeles City Council and the general public. JCI developed a messaging strategy and engaged multiple organizations and individuals to testify at the State Water Board Workshop, recording their testimonies for social media and direct outreach. Through this campaign, MLC successfully garnered support for an official hearing on Mono Lake, raising awareness about the diversions and the urgent need for intervention.

Alibaba.com, the world's largest online retailer, connects entrepreneurs and businesses with manufacturers and factories through its extensive platform. The company is expanding its presence in the United States, and JCI successfully promoted its inaugural in-person conference, CoCreate, by engaging over 25 business associations and securing the attendance of 13 VIP representatives from prominent organizations. Additionally, Alibaba.com's membership was facilitated in nine organizations, resulting in direct email communication about CoCreate reaching at least 46,000 connections within these business networks.

We are incredibly proud of these achievements, and appreciative of our team, partners, and clients for their diligence and hard work during these campaigns. As always, stay up-to-date with what the JCI team is up to on our (platinum) award-winning blog and various social media accounts. We look forward to many more successful partnerships and campaigns in the coming year!