Flock and Rally, an integrated communications firm based in Columbia, was honored with two 2018 Palmetto Awards by the South Carolina chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC/SC). Founded in 2010, the firm serves clients across the state of South Carolina and beyond.

The firm and its project partners earned 2018 IABC/SC Palmetto Awards for the following campaigns:

The University of South Carolina: Give 4 Garnet Campaign

http://www.give4garnet.com

The University of South Carolina brought on Flock and Rally to assist with campaign strategy, messaging, and graphic design for its first-ever “Give 4 Garnet” day-of-giving campaign, with the mission of raising $3 million to support the University’s programs ranging from scholarships and internships to study-abroad and research opportunities.

Held on April 18, 2018, the giving campaign ran for a total of 18 hours and one minute, during which time a total of $3.7 million was raised via gifts from 5,200 supporters, surpassing the campaign’s monetary goal by 20 percent and its donor goal by more than 15 percent. The campaign received 20 million social media impressions, with 17.1 million on April 18 alone, along with 1 million social media impressions for the #Give4Garnet hashtag.

The Flock and Rally team shares this IABC/SC Palmetto Award of Excellence in Marketing Communication with the University of South Carolina Office of Annual Giving and the Office of Communications and Public Affairs, as well as project partners Cait Maloney Creative and film/video production company Dust of the Ground.

Total Eclipse Weekend Columbia, S.C.

http://www.totaleclipsecolumbiasc.com

Due to its unique position as the 3rd largest city in the U.S. on the center line of the “path of totality,” Columbia saw the longest period of 100 percent total eclipse for a metro area on the entire East Coast on August 21, 2017, making it one of the top 5 eclipse viewing destinations in the country for the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017.

As a response to this one-time opportunity, the Total Eclipse Weekend Columbia, S.C. tourism campaign was founded by regional leaders to create economic impact in the greater Columbia region by motivating local attractions, cultural organizations, restaurants, etc. to host more than 120 eclipse-themed events across the long weekend of Aug. 18-21, 2017, thus giving travelers from all over the nation and the world plenty of reasons to choose Columbia as their destination for witnessing the eclipse. This integrated communications campaign had a regional, national, and even international scope and served the secondary purpose of taking the opportunity to raise awareness of the Columbia area as a vibrant, authentic destination filled with cool things to do all year-round.

What resulted was unprecedented media exposure for Columbia at nearly 60,000,000 estimated press coverage views and a massive influx of an estimated 400,000 visitors traveling to view the eclipse within the Midlands region. Economic impact in Richland County alone (where Columbia is located) is estimated at $48 million. Statewide economic impact estimated at more than $269 million, per a multi-state, post-event survey by the S.C. Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SCPRT), which calculated an estimated 1.6 million people traveling to and within S.C. to view the total eclipse. View the campaign website at http://www.totaleclipsecolumbiasc.com.