MEDIA RELEASE

Laura Kinoshita, principal of Kinoshita Communications, earned the prestigious Koa Anvil Award at the 29th Annual awards ceremony hosted by the Public Relations Society of America Hawaii Chapter.

Laura Kinoshita (Photo special to Hawaii 24/7)

It was the only Koa Anvil to be awarded to a neighbor-island member. The campaign’s high scores also earned the entry a nomination for the “Best of Show” award.

The campaign was conducted on behalf of Bite Me Sportfishing and led to an increase in new customers, improved search engine rankings, reduced costs for pay-per-click advertising and greater awareness of Bite Me Sportfishing as a top adventure, dining and travel destination site.

Campaign activities generated a 145 percent increase in website traffic and two additional new charter bookings each month. Website optimization saved an average of $697 in monthly pay-per-click spending. TripAdvisor reviews improved two full stars.

The campaign was also one of three finalists for “Best Social Media Campaign of the Year” by Pacific Edge Magazine earlier this year.

“Most businesses can’t attribute a dollar of sales to their social media efforts, but we know our business is growing because of it,” said Deneen Wargo, co-owner of Bite Me Sportfishing. “As a result of Kinoshita Communications’ efforts, we generate more new business leads and sales through our website than we did one year ago.”

The Koa Anvil Awards celebrate outstanding public relations campaigns according to the “Four Rings of Excellence” for which entries are judged: research, planning, execution and evaluation. There were 47 entries for the Koa Anvil competition and 13 Anvil winners.

Up to two other Koa Anvil entries in each subcategory were eligible for an Award of Excellence. Two Big Island agencies — Current Events and Hastings & Pleadwell — each earned an Award of Excellence.

The ceremony was preceded by the Koa Hammer awards for outstanding public relations tactics part of an overall campaign.

The 2012 Koa Anvil Award for Integrated Communications is the second award bestowed to Kinoshita Communications this year.

The PR communications firm also earned an International Hermes Award for Social Media for The Shops at Mauna Lani on the Kohala Coast. That campaign helped bridge the digital divide between the online shopping center’s Facebook fans and Twitter followers by using lead nurturing, custom landing pages and email offers that converted online fans to in-store traffic and sales.