The television portion of The Most Beautiful Sport in the World, Dance St. Louis' innovative campaign that entwined dance and sports in partnership, has won the 2009 Mid-America Emmy Award for best commercial campaign.
Dance St. Louis joined forces with the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Rams, and St. Louis Blues to increase public awareness of Dance St. Louis and to send a new message about the high-powered athleticism of dance.
The award was announced at the 33rd Annual Emmy Awards Gala held by the Mid-America Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) on October 3 at St. Louis' Renaissance Grand Hotel.
The campaign for print, broadcast and outdoor media was created by Twist, a St. Louis boutique marketing firm, along with Dance St. Louis staff. HEC-TV was the production partner. The campaign kicked off in June 2008 and continued throughout the 2008 / 2009 season.
The creative awardees were Sarah Thompson, campaign producer, formerly of Twist and now an independent marketing consultant, and Boyd Pickup, campaign editor and broadcast operations manager of HEC-TV.
In all the materials, dancers from companies featured in Dance St. Louis' 2008 / 2009 "MADE IN AMERICA" season were juxtaposed with professional athletes to highlight the strength, endurance, discipline, and coordination shared by dance and sports. Each of the sports celebrities committed to lending his name, time, energy, and endorsement. Featured together were linebacker Chris Draft, then of the St. Louis Rams, and Julie Tice of Paul Taylor Dance Company; outfielder Rick Ankiel of the St. Louis Cardinals and Emily Ramirez of BalletMet Columbus; and defenseman Erik Johnson of the St. Louis Blues (as well as forward Jamal Mayers, who was replaced in the campaign by Johnson after being traded) and Mei-Hua Wang of Armitage Gone! Dance.
"We are thrilled by this recognition," said Michael Uthoff, artistic & executive director of Dance St. Louis. "When we created The Most Beautiful Sport in the World, we were tremendously excited that for the first time in St. Louis history, all three professional sports organizations came together to endorse the arts. The campaign was a clever and innovative vehicle that introduced dance to an entirely new audience while spicing it up for those who had always supported it. The Emmy Award is the icing on the cake."
Founded in 1966 as a not-for-profit dance presenting organization, Dance St. Louis provides the St. Louis region with the world's best dance and develops an appreciation of dance as an art form through dance presentation, creation, and education outreach.
NATAS Mid-America is one of 19 regional chapters of the National Academy of Television Arts andSciences, headquartered in New York City. The Mid-America chapter was chartered in 1962 and began honoring outstanding achievement in this region with local Emmy awards in 1976. The chapter includes the television markets primarily in Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois and surrounding designated marketing areas (DMAs). |
