09/21/2017

Mark Martin’s 2017 NASCAR HOF Speech Wins Top Honor at PR News’ Platinum Awards

CONCORD, N.C. (Sept. 21, 2017) – Mark Martin and Roush Fenway Racing have teamed up for  yet another victory, bringing home the top honor at the 2017 PR News’ Platinum Awards Ceremony in the category of Speech Writing Campaign for Mark Martin’s 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction speech. The speech was crafted by Roush Fenway’s vice president of marketing operations and communications Kevin Woods, who served as Martin’s marketing and public relations director for a number of years. Martin was Roush Fenway’s first driver in the NASCAR series and went on to drive 19 seasons in the iconic No. 6 Ford for team owner Jack Roush.

“This is an incredible honor and it’s a really big deal to me,” said Martin, who ended his celebrated NASCAR run with 97 wins. “That night was my opportunity to highlight all the things we were fortunate to accomplish and to pay homage and give credit to all the people responsible for our success. I’m very pleased that we were able to do that in an effective manner and again I can’t think all the people enough that helped put me on the stage that night.”

In addition, Roush Fenway’s marketing launch of team partner SunnyD’s re-entrance into NASCAR was named a finalist in the category of Digital Communications and brought home honorable mention awards.  The platform featured NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and FOX TV personalities Kaitlyn Vincie and Andrew Doud, recreating the classic “Purple Stuff” SunnyD commercial. The launch was a massive success, garnering instant fan, industry and media recognition. Other finalist in the category included Mastercard, Johnson & Johnson and PepsiCo.

The awards celebrate the ingenuity and leadership behind the year’s most outstanding communications initiatives. The finalists of the Platinum Awards represent the innovative, risk-taking and strategic communicators setting the benchmark of excellence in the communications arena.

“The Platinum and Agency Elite Awards are more than just our way of honoring the year’s top teams and individual campaigns—taken together, they also celebrate the vision, ingenuity and passion of a rapidly evolving profession,” says Jerry Ascierto, executive editor of PR News. “Given the overwhelming quality and quantity of submissions, our judges had an extremely difficult task this year.”

Winners were announced at an awards luncheon on September 14 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City.

Roush Fenway Racing has produced multiple award-winning marketing campaigns, including multiple Platinum MarCom awards in 2016. The team won a PR News’ Social Icon Award in 2012 and has been recognized a leader in marketing and platform solutions.