San Rafael, CA – A national organization that recognizes excellence in municipal publicity campaigns showered the County of Marin with four awards last week.
A video about the Marin County Free Library system and a branding and logo initiative garnered top honors from the City-County Communications & Marketing Association, known as 3CMA, during the group’s Savvy Awards competition September 4 in Minneapolis, Minn.
The promotional video titled “5 Things You May Not Know about the Marin County Library” was described by competition judges as “a very cute and creative approach” to promoting the library. The video featured local children helping Library Director Sara Jones count down aspects about the library’s services aside from checking out books. Library Services Manager Damon Hill coordinated the video with the County’s video contractor, Seasons Productions.
Marin received a Savvy Award in the branding/new logo category for its Identity Style Guide, which orchestrated a standardized graphic portrayal of County government to the public to convey a sense of continuity as a family of departments and agencies. The initiative was coordinated by Administrative Analyst Jacalyn Mah of the County Administrator’s Office and former intern Jonathan Paul, who now works for the City of San Jose. The guide was designed by L Studio.
In addition to the first-place Savvy Awards, Marin earned third-place Award of Excellence recognition for a video titled “A Story of Restorative Justice” that promoted the work of the Public Defender’s Office, and for the Marin County Parks High School Community Service Guide that promoted volunteer project opportunities for teens.
A year ago, the County submitted one entry to the competition and won a Savvy Award for a Peter Coyote-narrated video that celebrated the 40th anniversary of Marin County Parks. This year was the second year the County submitted entries to the 3CMA competition.
The Savvies salute skilled and effective city, county, agency or district professionals who have creatively planned and carried out successful innovations in communications and marketing. The awards, held in conjunction with 3CMA’s annual conference, recognized outstanding local government achievements in communications, public-sector marketing and citizen-government relationships. Judges reviewed more than 600 entries in 37 categories.
The County has a Public Communication Plan, approved by the Marin County Board of Supervisors, that outlines efforts to encourage meaningful participation in the governance of the County by all.