UPromise by Sallie Mae is an organization designed to raise awareness of the importance of saving for college. To that end, UPromise organized a sweepstakes called the “Make the Pledge, Keep the Promise,” and asked consumers to make a pledge to save for college. UPromise needed an effective media launch for the sweepstakes and a celebrity spokesperson for the Pledge campaign.
Actress Mira Sorvino was chosen to be the celebrity spokesperson for the “Make the Pledge, Keep the Pledge” campaign. BG developed a media plan which identified national print media targets and developed pitches to secure national broadcast segments featuring Mira Sorvino. This media plan also included an intimate media lunch in New York City hosted by Mira Sorvino.
The media lunch secured several top tier publications and editors including The Wallstreet Journal, New York Times, and Redbook. Broadcast segments of the campaign resulted in more than 28 million impressions. CNN featured a live interview with Mira Sorvino where she mentioned her affiliation with UPromise, FOX News Channel conducted a live interview with Mira Sorvino to discuss her partnership with UPromise, and E! Entertainment News interviewed Mira Sorvino about her involvement with UPromise in a segment that aired three times. In its first year, the ‘Make the Pledge, Keep the Promise’ Sweepstakes received 300,000 entries and 70,998 individual pledges which far exceeded Upromise by Sallie Mae’s expectations for the first year’s campaign.
