AOL Announces Winner of ‘Share Your Cause’ Contest at Cause Marketing Forum in Chicago: “One Warm Coat”

(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) CHICAGO, IL - June 2, 2011 - AOL announces today that “One Warm Coat,” a nonprofit that collects and donates clean, reusable coats for those in need, is the winner of its ‘Share Your Cause’ contest and will be featured on AOL.com. The winner was announced by Blair Cobb, Director, Cause Marketing for AOL, at the Cause Marketing Forum’s annual conference in Chicago, Illinois.

“One of AOL’s core values is to help people by using our large platform to spotlight those individuals and organizations that are effectively making a difference in their communities,” said Cobb. “One Warm Coat is named winner of our ‘Share Your Cause’ contest because of its passionate commitment and proven effectiveness. We are proud to showcase their efforts, and look forward to continuing to engage our users by telling the stories of other nonprofits doing great work across the country.”   “We are very excited that our campaign – which we did in conjunction with ‘Good Morning America’ and Burlington Coat Factory – has been named winner of the ‘AOL Share Your Cause’ contest,” said Sherri Lewis Wood, 
National Founder/President, 
One Warm Coat. “The exposure on AOL.com will significantly increase awareness of our simple yet powerful call to action.”

 

 Said David Hessekiel, president of Cause Marketing Forum, Inc., a company that educates nonprofits and businesses on doing well by doing good together:   “We’re excited that One Warm Coat has earned this opportunity on AOL. The initiative reflects the growing awareness among marketing and media pros that consumers are hungry for information on how businesses and organizations are giving back and how they personally can engage in cause-related activities. One Warm Coat is now in an even better position to leverage this interest in giving back.”   AOL’s ‘Share Your Cause’ contest launched this past March 2011. One Warm Coat was selected for its ‘Warm Coats, Warm Hearts’ campaign, in partnership with ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ and Burlington Coat Factory, by a panel of judges from over 75 submissions from eligible nonprofit organizations, their cause marketing partners or representing agencies. The campaign, which encourages donations of gently used coats, will be featured in a premium position on AOL.com for one day this November, timed to One Warm Coat’s 5^th annual holiday coat drive. This year, they hope to collect 300,000 coat donations, nearly 50% more than last year. One Warm Coat will be honored at the Cause Marketing Forum annual conference on June 2^nd.   In November 2010, AOL launched the Daily Impact platform to provide permanent space on the most premium property, AOL.com, to promote a new cause every day of the year. Over eleven million people visit AOL.com daily.* To date, Daily Impact has garnered 6 billion pro-bono impressions, working with over 150 non-profit partners and 27 Top 100 advertising partners to share their cause story.**   About AOL   AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a premier global media company with a suite of brands and products serving consumers, advertisers and publishers worldwide.  The AOL Huffington Post Media Group is a leading source of news, opinion, entertainment, community and digital information comprised of a wide range of destination websites, including AOL.com, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Moviefone, Engadget, Patch, AOL Music, StyleList and MapQuest. The AOL Advertising.com Group includes Advertising.com, ADTECH, Pictela, Video, inclusive of goviral and 5min Media, Content Solutions and Sponsored Listings and serves a combined content and advertising market at scale through video, brand advertising, content and ad serving.  AOL is focused on engaging consumers and providing online advertising services and solutions on both AOL Huffington Post Media Group destination websites and third party websites, in addition to serving consumer platforms including AOL Mail, AIM, about.me, and mobile experiences.  AOL also operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services that serves as another distribution channel for its consumer offerings.   *comScore Media Metrix April 2011 **Internal AOL data #          #          #   CONTACTS: Jennifer DeGuzman AOL 212-206-4520 Jennifer.deguzman@teamaol.com   David Hessekiel Cause Marketing Forum 914-921-3914 dh@causemarketingforum.com