The agency offered their PR services pro bono to help the family of Emilie Parker, who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Their objectives were to relieve stress on the family from media requests and conspiracy theorists, and help them turn the tragedy into a positive legacy. They helped the family start the Emilie Parker Art Connection charity to honor Emilie's love of art. Through media placements and social media, over 1 billion people learned of the charity, helping the family and creating a lasting tribute to Emilie.

1. Using Our Expertise to Help a Family
Through a Crisis into Creating a Legacy

2. Background: Describe the product or service for which
the CBI was developed. (50 words)
− When we discovered on the day after the December 14, 2012, massacre in
Newtown, Conn., that a former colleague is cousin to Alissa Parker, mother
of slain 6-year-old Emilie, we offered our help pro bono

3. The Challenge: Describe the marketing/business
challenge and the objectives. (100 words)
− The Parkers were quickly overwhelmed by three groups: media wanting
interviews, people wanting to help and hateful conspiracy theorists
− As the crisis unfolded, our objectives were to relieve a heavy load from Alissa
and Robbie as they focused on grieving; shield them from the dark side of
being part of such a public story; and make sure we got the right messages
to the right media outlets. Those goals are the same today, as we offer media
relations support, assist the family during pop-up crises and help develop
ideas for how the Parkers can turn the tragedy into Emilie’s legacy

4. The CBI Idea: Please describe the CBI and its execution.
What was innovative in both the concept and the
execution? (150 words)
− The CBI was to take the evilness of the Internet trolls and “truthers” and
counter it with the purity of a child’s creativity and art and to give the family
something to rally around
− We helped the Parker family incorporate by arranging donation of legal
services and by handling the announcement of the charity, then PR’ing it
over the course of several months, including at national and local events
such as an Ogden, Utah, minor-league baseball game and an event at a
Sikh temple, plus an appearance by Robbie on “Piers Morgan Tonight”

5. Did you use the CBI development tool in creating this
CBI? (If yes, how did the process contribute to the
development of the CBI?)
− The Emilie Parker Art Connection was born from the creativity and love
of a small child whose life was cut tragically short. We used the CBI
process as a guide to ensure that Emilie’s kind spirit and character would
show through every aspect of the organization
− The CBI process helped us put rigor and discipline behind the emotional
but very important task of establishing a meaningful tribute to Emilie
Parker

6. PROSUMER
The media, public, and friends
and family of the Parkers
clamor to find a way to help the
family of one of the Newtown
tragedy’s young victims
BRAND
RELEVANCE
BRAND
OPPORTUNITY
Create a destination for
the incredible generosity
of people wanting to
help the Parker family
Create a meaningful
legacy for Emilie Parker in
the face of a horrible
tragedy
A YOUNG
ARTIST’S FINAL
MASTERPIECE
OF LOVE
BRAND
Emilie Parker’s life was marked
by creativity and joy that she
expressed through her love of
art
CATEGORY
BRAND
ADVANTAGE
Let Emilie’s light shine through the
darkness of the Newtown tragedy
by sharing her joys with others
An unspeakable tragedy
horrifies the nation and a small
town and robs a family of their
young child

7. Creative Expression
− Insert creative across all relevant disciplines: TV, print, posters, DM,
leaflets, digital, social media, etc.
(An integration board is uploaded with our entry.)

8. Results: How did this CBI transform the brand?
− Our opening and promoting of the social communications channels helped family and friends
process the loss of Emilie. The Facebook page has 318,000 likes, and more than 1 million people
saw the most popular post through sharing (it had more than 249,000 likes and 17,000 shares).
The website has garnered 181,000 unique visitors and more than 855 comments
− A CBS interview we placed in March opened a media floodgate—for 22.1 million media
impressions and 1.8 billion Twitter impressions over one weekend—partly because the Parkers
revealed their debate-changing meeting with the shooter’s father, which our agency arranged with
the Lanza family representative at Edelman. We’ve garnered 65 million total impressions from the
top half-dozen stories about the Parkers alone (CBS, plus “Piers Morgan,” a syndicated AP story,
and local press in Utah and Connecticut)
− Moving forward from this unspeakable tragedy, we continue in our pro bono efforts to help the
family manage their social media presence and develop the Emilie Parker Fund into its next
iteration of paying tribute to Emilie. In the end, making a difference for the Parkers and helping them
move beyond the crisis to become advocates for school safety and other child-related initiatives
was the best result we could have achieved

9. Results: Please provide results to show that this
CBI facilitated profitable growth.
− Our work with the Parkers is fortifying our reputation as an agency that can act quickly and
effectively, especially using various social channels and influencers, in the face of great crisis and
with causes that make a difference. In business terms, this case is about reputation. In personal
terms, it is helping us to feel helpful. This kind of work highlights our ingenuity and collaborative
nature while doing something good for people around us
− The horrific killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School were easily the largest worldwide media
story of 2012, and gun violence and gun control continue to dominate discussions across the
Internet, in large buildings in Washington, D.C., and in dining rooms across America and the world.
Through the Parkers and our focus on turning a tragedy into an opportunity, we believe we are
helping to set an example for how strategic open communication can lead to real change
− As a footnote: This Newtown connection bonded us to Aaron Sherinian, who awarded Havas PR
the United Nations Foundation business. Thus, the UNF, #GivingTuesday and Newtown are all
linked

10. List all communications channels used in this campaign. How was
this CBI integrated across media (online and offline) and across
marketing disciplines?
− Targeted pitching to media
− Targeted media placements
− Family-issued statements
− Website (building and designing one version for crisis management, one for
legacy building)
− Facebook (promoting a page started by family friends)
− Twitter
− Public speaking engagements
− Cause efforts

11. Do you have your client’s permission to present
this work? If so, please attach written consent.
The Parker family is in isolation this week and next because of the anniversary
of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. We will secure their
permission at a later date

12. Please fill in the information below with regards
to this CBI in particular:
− Name of office: Havas PR North America
− Client: The Parker Family
− Brand: Emilie Parker Art Connection
− Category: Other
− The CBI: Using Our Expertise to Help a Family Through a Crisis into Creating a
Legacy
− First and last names and titles of each person/team member who contributed to
the CBI:
− Marian Salzman, CEO
− JoMarie Fecci, Creative Director
− Angie Argabrite, Senior Vice President, Editorial
− Cindy Tanenbaum, Media Relations Specialist