Afterschool Alliance

Quaker Afterschool Rocks H.E.R. Award

by Ursula Helminski

We loved partnering with Quaker Oats for the Quaker Chewy Afterschool Rocks campaign—it brought light to the need for afterschool programs in a fun, creative and relevant way. So we were thrilled to see Quaker win the 2011 H.E.R. Award for the campaign from the Marketing to Moms Coalition, a nonprofit housed at Purdue University.

The H.E.R award recognizes companies that honor, empower and respect mothers through their marketing and public relations campaigns.

As part of the campaign, the Afterschool Alliance and Quaker Chewy teamed up to create the“Get Active: Be Healthy Afterschool Toolkit” especially for afterschool programs. The Toolkit provides creative, easy-to-implement ways to integrate health and wellness into afterschool programs, including lesson plans, ideas for field trips and guest speakers, links to funding resources and more.

Quaker Chewy Afterschool Rocks also offered parents a special playlist of more than 250 songs, featuring 70+ artists, including: Jordin Sparks, Jason Derulo and Gloriana, and Ms. Sparks lent her voice to the cause. Jordin Sparks even visited an NYC afterschool program,where she sat down to talk with the afterschool youth and sang for them.

Here’s what Teri Lucie Thompson, a founding member of the Marketing to Moms Coalition and Chief Marketing Officer of Purdue University said about the campaign: “The Quaker ‘Afterschool Rocks’ campaign pays tribute to the fact that moms enjoy bonding with their children through music. The campaign is fresh, well-executed, and perfectly in tune with pop culture. It’s a thoroughly modern example of how to reach moms effectively.”

Congratulations, Quaker, and thank you!

The campaign is now over, but we’re hopeful others take notice of this great award and take up the afterschool cause.