IABC Atlanta: Golden Flames Panel 2019

Westat

BUSOLA SAKA

Busola Saka is a communications professional with over a decade of experience developing and implementing communications strategies aimed at influencing healthy behaviors. She has developed strategies for communications campaigns around health topics including cancer, childhood immunization, heart disease, HIV and tobacco use; with a focus on medically underserved populations. Currently, Ms. Saka is a senior health communications specialist at Westat, Inc.’s Atlanta office where she provides communications strategy and support to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. Prior to joining Westat, she was a media relations specialist and media relations manager at the American Cancer Society, building media visibility for the organization’s health disparities efforts. Ms. Saka holds a Master of Public Policy degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Georgia State University. She is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators Atlanta and the Society for Health Communication. She resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, two toddlers and their germs.

HAIRSTYLISTS AND BARBERS AGAINST AIDS – VIDEO

OVERVIEW

Westat developed an informational video for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Cut For Life initiative, a program that engages hairstylists and barbers in HIV awareness and prevention in communities most affected by HIV. Filmed in a barbershop/salon in Atlanta, GA on May 7, 2018, the video features a barber and a hairstylist empowering and educating other barbers and stylists on how to talk to their clients about HIV and the importance of testing. According to the CDC, 1 in 7 people who have HIV don’t know. This video brings awareness of this issue to barbers and stylists, encouraging them to use their influence to stop HIV in their communities.

RESULTS

Social messages posts of the video generated over 20,000 views and over 2 million potential impressions.

National Peanut Board

LAUREN HIGHFILL WILLIAMS

Lauren Highfill Williams serves as the marketing and communications manager at the National Peanut Board. In her role, she is a leader in domestic promotions strategy and execution, including business development projects and digital and social assets, and stakeholder communications. Williams has a master’s degree in professional writing from Kennesaw State University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Georgia State University.

SOPHIE ROBERTSON

Sophie Robertson is a digital manager at Golin. She has more than six years of experience in developing and executing digital and social media strategies for various corporate, consumer and healthcare clients. Her primary role is working with clients to achieve digital goals through strategy development and execution, including content creation, paid social media, analytics and ongoing channel support. Sophie received a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from Georgia College, with a minor in Spanish.

MAKING PEANUT ALLERGIES HISTORY: DRIVING PARENTS TO BE THE CHANGE

As food allergies rapidly increase, new national guidelines are positioned to prevent peanut allergies in the next generation. The National Peanut Board took up the challenge of communicating these life-changing recommendations to new parents with a strategic, compelling and effective campaign.

Cox Automotive

JANIE YOUNG

Janie Young is an internal communicator with a knack for the written word and a passion and expertise for workplace culture and employee engagement. Janie has been a part of the Cox Automotive communications team for three years. She currently supports the Manheim brand where she is responsible for delivering compelling content and communicating strategic priorities to more 17,000 desked and remote team members. Janie and her colleagues leverage the power of a strong communications partnership to drive business results, boosting leader impact and helping team members feel inspired to come to work every day. Previously, Janie supported Cox Automotive’s consumer brands Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book and the best-in-class Dealer.com business, where she helped to build an experiential communications program and piloted several innovative projects beneath that umbrella, including the City Guides and Campus Exchange Program.

COX AUTOMOTIVE MEDIA SOLUTIONS CITY GUIDES AND CAMPUS EXCHANGE PROGRAM

Imagine three brands, each distinct in their clients, goals, and workplace cultures. Now imagine that those brands are combined into one group, and the team members that support each must break down silos and get plugged into a set of overall group goals to be effective—without losing the unique core components that drive the brand’s value. The Media City Guides is a highly visual, editorial-style publication series intended to bridge the culture gaps team members experience while supporting different brands within one organization. Each installment in the series explores and celebrates one of the primary office locations within the solution group, told partially through the perspective of a team member from a different Media office who is sent to live and work “like a local” in a campus exchange program. Like Delta’s in-flight city profiles, the Guide covers a wide range of content—everything from brand tie-ins to group priorities to the best place to get a microbrew near the office. The complementary exchange program creates brand advocates and networking pioneers who go on to build those connections at home.

Realm

ERIC BERRIOS

As Director of Strategic Planning at Realm, Eric loves formulating ideas big and small and mapping out strategies that keep the company its clients on target and flourishing. As Vice President of Interactive at Harrison Liefer DiMarco and at Erin/Edwards Communications, Eric was on the front lines of commercial web development during its emergence more than 13 years ago. Today, he’s leading social media at Realm where he crafts communication plans across industries and for companies like UPS, Georgia-Pacific and Cox Enterprises. When not presenting or in his garden, Eric lends his expertise to IABC/Atlanta and EarthShare of Georgia.