Agency Wins Regional Awards for Mississippi, Believe It!™ Campaign

IABC/Southern Region recognizes The Cirlot Agency for excellence in communications
Jackson, MS –  The Cirlot Agency, a Mississippi-based, full-service, marketing, public relations and corporate communications firm, took the Silver Quill Award in Strategic Communication at the second annual International Association of Business Communicators/Southern Region Silver Quill Awards competition Sept. 24th in Kansas City. The Agency also won a Merit Award in the Community Relations category.
“The Silver Quill designation is a mark of distinction because it is granted by peers using a rigorous set of criteria backed by research and years of professional experience,” said Lynn Zimmerman, communication consultant with ConocoPhillips and IABC/Southern regional chair. The award was presented for the Agency’s pro bono campaign, entitled Mississippi, Believe It!™. The Cirlot Agency has been recognized with a total of 14 awards for the campaign. Earlier this year, the Agency was awarded top international honors with the Gold Quill Award of Excellence, presented by the International Association of Business Communicators. Rick Looser, President and COO of The Cirlot Agency is proud of the accolades. “This regional award completes a PR industry trifecta for Mississippi, Believe It!™ with the campaign winning statewide Best of Show honors and being singled out as one of the best 52 campaigns in the world this year by the International Association of Business Communicators.”
The campaign was designed to inform and educate the citizens of Mississippi, as well as interested parties across the U.S., about the many positive attributes of Mississippi. It includes eleven public service announcements that have run in dozens of Mississippi newspapers. Also, with the cooperation of the Mississippi Department of Education, a full set of the Mississippi, Believe It!™ posters was sent to every public and private K-12 school and every college and university in the state. The campaign also includes a website that houses the announcements in a downloadable format, which can be printed for personal use.
Mississippi, Believe It!™ was designed by The Cirlot Agency as a gift to Mississippi in an effort to thank the state for supporting its business for more than two decades. The Agency has donated more – More –
than $200,000 in cash and time, and Service Printers of Flowood, MS, has donated more than $20,000 in printing services and paper costs for the posters. The Agency will soon add three new posters to the campaign.

Mississippi, Believe It!™ features many of the wonderful people, aspects, stories and facts associated with the state of Mississippi. The campaign takes common Mississippi stereotypes and twists them to reveal the truth about the state. For example, the headline of one psa reads, “Yes, We Can Read. A Few of Us Can Even Write.” Within this ad are the photos of famous writers from Mississippi, including John Grisham, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Richard Wright, Tennessee Williams, Margaret Walker Alexander, and Willie Morris, to name a few. The public has more than embraced the campaign, as proved by the thousands of emails thanking the Agency for the project, and by the more than 1.5 million unique visitors to the “Mississippi, Believe It!”™ website (www.mississippibelieveit.com).
About IABC
The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is a global network of communication professionals committed to improving organizational effectiveness through strategic communication. Established in 1970, IABC serves more than 13,000 members in 67 countries, 100 chapters and 10,000 organizations. IABC/Southern Region was formed in 2005. It includes 25 chapters in 14 states. The Silver Quill Award is the top award given in the Southern region competition.