AT&T’s It Can Wait Movement Celebrated as Year’s Best Campaign

AT&T received the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Best of Silver Anvil award last night. The award, given to AT&T’s It Can Wait no-texting-while-driving program, celebrates the industry’s top campaign of the year. The honor was announced at PRSA’s annual Silver Anvil ceremony.

The It Can Wait program, which aims to eliminate texting while driving, also won the Silver Anvil in the “Public Service-Business” category. The Best of Silver Anvil recipient is selected from all Silver Anvil winners. 

The It Can Wait movement has two main goals: 1) reduce the number of automobile crashes caused by texting while driving, and 2) spur advocacy to show that texting and driving is as dangerous as drinking and driving. AT&T, garnered the support from 1,500-plus organizations (up from 160 the previous year), enlisted celebrity help, created a moving documentary and engaged audiences via social media (#ItCanWait). And these efforts may be making an impact. A preliminary analysis of It Can Wait activities and accident reports in Texas, Illinois, and Florida suggests a positive statistical correlation between people sharing It Can Wait messages and a projected reduction in crashes. Meanwhile, the program has achieved billions of earned and social media impressions and nearly 5 million pledges not to text while driving.

The annual Silver Anvils recognize the industry’s exceptional campaigns across a wide range of categories and sectors. Read more here.