Case Study Monday:Award-Winning Marketing Through Collaboration

Today, we'd like to feature a case study that demonstrates how two companies collaborated to utilize multiple marketing channels to create an outstanding and award-winning marketing campaign. By receiving these awards, KG Partners and Con-Way Inc. really demonstrate how marketing success can be realized by effectively working together, thus creating a real partnership through true collaboration.

KG Partners and Con-way Win Six Transportation Marketing & Communications Association (TMCA) Compass Awards

KG Partners, a nationally recognized advertising, public relations and interactive agency, and Con-way Inc. (NYSE: CNW), a $4.7 billion freight transportation and logistics services company, today announced that they have won six awards from the Transportation Marketing & Communications Association (TMCA).

The companies won six TMCA Compass Awards -- one of which achieved the Best in Class designation for marketing excellence in the transportation and logistics industry. The awards were presented at TMCA's recent annual conference held in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

"The TMCA Compass Awards are well-respected throughout the industry and could only be won with a strong relationship between our companies and a shared strategic vision," said Tom Nightingale, chief marketing officer, Con-way. "Developing and implementing an effective, results-driven marketing and communications program is vital in an industry as competitive as ours. Recognition from our industry peers is indicative of the type of meaningful work the teams are producing in collaboration."

KG Partners and Con-way received the highest number of awards of all 2008 TMCA entrants. The Compass Award-winning entry, "Con-way Truckload: Driver Recruitment Advertising Campaign," was the recipient of the 2008 Best in Class award. The Best in Class award is one of the two highest honors in TMCA's Compass program. Winners must have excelled in all areas of the judging criteria and achieved a perfect or near perfect overall score.

"The creative marketing, media relations and interactive campaigns KG Partners executed for Con-way last year were extremely successful in helping promote its Con-way Freight, Con-way Truckload and Menlo Worldwide Logistics lines of business as well as its driver career opportunities," said David Goldberg, principal, KG Partners. "Being honored by our industry colleagues at TMCA for our transportation and logistics industry communications expertise makes the success of our campaigns for Con-way even more gratifying."

The six TMCA Compass Awards earned by KG Partners and Con-way are as follows:

* TMCA Excellence Award & Best in Class: Advertising campaign -- Con-way
Truckload: Driver Recruitment: A national print advertisement series running in several driver-targeted publications promoting a lifestyle oriented career and Con-way Truckload as a leader in the industry.

* TMCA Excellence Award: Integrated communications program -- Filling the Seats: Con-way Truckload Q1 2007 Driver Recruitment Campaign: Planning and execution of a 10-week program that included public relations, advertising, search-engine marketing and online advertising resulting in a 166 percent increase of new driving teams hired each week.

* TMCA Merit Award: Media relations -- OceanGuaranteed(SM) Expanded Service Offering from Con-way Freight and APL Logistics: A media relations campaign creating a thought-leadership position in the global supply chain industry for Con-way Freight and APL Logistics, who teamed up to provide a new service offering on the cutting edge of international supply chain management.

* TMCA Merit Award: New media -- Con-way Inc.: Con-way Enterprise Web Site: A complete redesign of www.con-way.com by KG Partners to improve the customer experience, build the Con-way brand and more clearly define the company's business units.

* TMCA Merit Award: Media relations -- Con-way Inc.: Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Campaign: A media relations campaign to communicate Con-way's support of the National Guard and Reserve and its win of the prestigious Department of Defense Freedom Award -- given to employers who have shown exemplary support of employees who also serve in the National Guard and Reserve -- was developed to leverage the company's thought-leadership position on this issue.

Finally, Con-way Inc. also earned the following TMCA Compass Award for their direct marketing campaign:

* TMCA Merit Award for Direct Marketing Campaign -- Experience The Road Systems Advantage: A video campaign sent to select transportation providers that had a need to extend the lives of their 28-foot trailer fleets. The campaign was developed into a flash module, which served as the focal point of the new Road Systems Inc.(RSI) Web site, a resource for media interest and an ongoing online search presence for RSI.