Preston Spire Wins Radio Mercury Award for YMCA Membership Campaign
Comedic radio spot boosts YMCA membership enrollments by calling out those sleeping on their fitness goals—literally
MINNEAPOLIS—June 12, 2023—Preston Spire, Minneapolis’ independently-owned “Good Wins” agency, took home the award for “Local Market Broadcast Radio Commercial” at the 2023 Radio Mercury Awards. The agency had five spots in total named as finalists, each all for its client the YMCA of the North. Preston Spire was the only Minnesota agency to win the prestigious award, and tied with one other agency in America for the most nominations among agencies.
Preston Spire won the award for “Pillow Talk” for the YMCA of the North. The agency says that the Y achieved 108 percent of its membership goal over the four-month period that the five nominated spots ran on-air, including “Pillow Talk.”.
“’Pillow Talk’ speaks to the core of what Preston Spire does, which is creating work that is a welcome addition to people’s lives,” said Chris Preston, Chief Creative Officer. “We believe in entertaining our audience and respecting their intelligence. ‘Pillow Talk’ is a light, fun spot that we hope encourages people to stick with their goals in a positive way.”
Listen to “Pillow Talk” + see full list of winners: www.radiomercuryawards.com/2023Winners.cfm
“Pillow Talk” was written by Charlie Tournat and produced by Lisa Thotland. The creative director was Chris Preston; sound was engineered and produced by Echo Boys. The spot calls out people (literally) sleeping on their New Year’s fitness resolutions through the perspective of their smooth-talking bed pillow, effectively harnessing comedy to get people back to the gym to meet their goals.
“Pillow Talk”
About the Radio Mercury Awards
The Radio Mercury Awards, the only competition exclusively devoted to radio and audio, was established in 1992 to encourage and reward the development of effective and creative radio commercials. The annual Radio Mercury Awards competition draws entries from advertising agencies, production houses, radio stations and educational institutions across the country. Approximately 20,000 commercials have competed for close to $3.5 million in prizes. The Radio Creative Fund (RCF), a nonprofit corporation funded by the radio industry, governs the Radio Mercury Awards. The Radio Advertising Bureau produces the Radio Mercury Awards.
About Preston Spire
Preston Spire makes brands positively matter by creating experiences so meaningful they are welcome in people’s lives. They build businesses by finding a brand’s authentic purpose and emotionally engaging consumers with work driven by the belief that Good Wins. They have seamless collaboration across our multiple in-house disciplines: account planning/research; advertising; brand strategy; media; design; direct; digital; public relations; and social marketing. Preston Spire has consistently been among the U.S. top agencies in the Effie Effectiveness Index.
To learn more about Preston Spire, visit prestonspire.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.