Calysto Communications bags The 2011 International Business Award

Atlanta : Calysto Communications has announced that it has earned a Distinguished Honoree medal in The 2011 International Business Awards. Calysto received the honor in both the “Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Low Budget (Under $10,000)” category and the “Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Global Issues” category. The International Business Awards are the only global, all-encompassing business awards program honoring great performances in business.
 
Nicknamed the Stevie for the Greek word “crowned,” the awards will be presented to honorees at a gala event on Tuesday, 11 October in the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
 
Honorees were determined through two rounds of judging by close to 200 professionals worldwide. They were selected from more than 3,000 entries received from organizations and individuals in more than 40 nations.
 
“Calysto is excited to be recognized by the Stevies once again for its outstanding PR work on behalf of our client, The mGive Foundation,” said Laura Borgstede, CEO of Calysto Communications. “In this campaign, Calysto secured coverage on Web sites reaching more than 702 million unique visitors and in publications with around 3 million readers in just four days – including coverage in Forbes, MSNBC and Inside Dateline.
 
“As a result, traffic on The mGive Foundation’s website increased more than tenfold,” said Borgstede. “Our announcement hit the wires on March 11, 2011, and mgivefoundation.org received a total of 28,314 visits in March 2011 – compared to just 2,906 total visits in February 2011.”
 
"We were grateful for the strategic counsel Calysto provided when the disaster in Japan occurred. Calysto outlined exactly how we could use public relations to help victims in Japan and immediately get the word out on how to donate via mobile," said Jenifer Snyder, executive director of The mGive Foundation. "I was also impressed by how quickly Calysto was able to secure media coverage – and how fast that translated into additional donations for the disaster victims."
Organizations all over the world are eligible to compete in The International Business Awards and can enter in any of more than 40 categories from Company of the Year to Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year and Executive of the Year. 
 
“Entries to The International Business Awards grew by more than 80% this year, and that illustrates the increasing importance of the IBAs worldwide,” said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards, presenters of the IBAs.  “We congratulate all of the honorees, and we look forward to recognizing them for their achievements at our gala event in Abu Dhabi in October.”