Zeppos & Associates Earns Top National Honor for Public Affairs

BROOKFIELD RESIDENTS EARN TOP NATIONAL HONOR FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS
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FIRM AWARDED PRSA SILVER ANVIL
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Effort to Build Job-Creating Downtown HotelGains National Recognition for Innovation and Creativity

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Zeppos & Associates Inc. today announced it has received the prestigious national Silver Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). The Silver Anvil, which recognizes outstanding achievement in strategic public relations planning and implementation, was presented during the Silver Anvil Awards Ceremony held June 7 in New York City.

Brookfield residents Evan Zeppos, APR, president of the firm, and Brenna Kriviskey Sadler, APR, a vice president, received the 2012 Silver Anvil Award in the category of Public Affairs – Business for work to help a Milwaukee developer gain public support and secure approval to build a $50 million, job-creating Marriott hotel on the site of five mostly vacant, long-neglected Downtown buildings. The Zeppos & Associates team developed and executed a high-energy public affairs effort combining grassroots organizing, lobbying, public hearing strategy, media relations and Internet/social media tools to achieve a decisive win. The effort saw the mayor, high-ranking officials, talk radio, news media, influential third parties and others aggressively champion the cause, propelling the hotel to final approval. Construction is currently under way.

“I am continually impressed with the quality of work coming out of our profession, whether it is multiple winners from one of the large international PR firms or a single winner from a small non-profit with a limited budget and no outside assistance. Silver Anvil winners are making a difference in our world, in terms of creating awareness, generating sales, reinforcing a brand or furthering an organization’s objectives,” said James J. Roop, APR, Fellow PRSA, 2012 Awards and Honors Committee chair and president of Roop & Co., Cleveland, Ohio. “The Silver Anvils continue to recognize the best practices in our field.”
The Silver Anvil Awards program has grown in scope and stature since its inception in 1946, and awards are now given in various categories. The Silver Anvil program is more than 60 years old, and Zeppos & Associates was the only Wisconsin firm to win a Silver Anvil in this year’s competition.

About Zeppos & Associates
Zeppos & Associates, Incorporated, is ranked as one of the top independent public relations firms in the nation. The firm, located in Downtown Milwaukee, provides public relations and government affairs services to a diverse group of local, national and international clients. More information about Zeppos & Associates and its staff can be found at www.zeppos.com.

About the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
With more than 31,000 members, PRSA is the largest organization of public relations professionals and students. PRSA is comprised of 111 local Chapters organized into 10 geographic Districts; 14 Professional Interest Sections that focus on issues, trends and research relevant to specialized practice areas, such as technology, health care, financial communications, entertainment and sports, and travel tourism; and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), which has more than 300 Chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. PRSA is headquartered in New York.

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