October 22, 2010

Philippine Seven Corporation (7-Eleven Philippines) was awarded by the Advertising Foundation of the Philippines with its highest honor, the Gintong Haligi award, for its innovative marketing campaign, 7-Elections. The Social Marketing award recognized the efforts of PSC to promote voter awareness and to encourage the public to vote during the May 2010 Presidential Elections.

The Gintong Haligi is a rare and prestigious distinction, with the first awards given back in 1998.This year, the Advertising Foundation of the Philippines selected 5 exemplary campaigns out of 16 voter education campaigns. The foundation sought to give merit to the private sector for their initiatives to promote honest and meaningful elections for the 2010 polls.

7-Elections was an informal Presidential polling campaign where 7-Eleven customers could “vote” by buying Gulp Cups with the image and colors of the candidates of their choice. Apart from the use of in-store media to promote 7-Elections, the platform was also seen on the web and in social networking sites to reach out to the online community. The initiative was able to engage the voting public in a meaningful election initiative anchored on the values of freedom of choice and responsible voting.

Notably, PSC was the only retailer to be awarded the Gintong Haligi. “7-Elections was something that really excited us – it fit our vision of being a real world gateway to the virtual world of media and the internet, and frankly, its not everyday that a simple retailer gets to do something so socially relevant,” said PSC’s President and CEO, Jose Victor Paterno as he received the award.

Other recipients of the award were ABS CBN for “Boto mo, I-Patrol Mo,” Bombo Radyo for voter’s education on automated election, public information about the candidates and public service, PLDT & Smart Foundation for “Ako Mismo,” and Philippine Star for the topic on Presidential and Vice Presidential debate, voter’s enlightenment.