THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

Industry

See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Auto See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Beauty See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Business to Business See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Consumer Brand See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Education See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Entertainment See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Financial Services See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Fitness, Health, & Wellness
<br>See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Food & Beverage
See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Gaming See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Government & Politics See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Hospitality See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Insurance See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Live Events See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> News & Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Non-Profit See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Pets & Animals See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Pharma & Healthcare See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Real Estate See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Restaurants See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Retail & E-Commerce See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Social Activism See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Sports See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Technology See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Television See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Travel & Tourism See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Wine, Beer & Spirits

Strategy & Engagement

See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Brand Partnership See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Call to Action See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Community Management See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Creative Use of Technology See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> CTV/OTT See previous winners and honorees for Insights and Trends here.</a> <a href=https://shortyawards.com/17th/"https://shortyawards.com/category/16th/data-visualization">See previous winners and honorees for Data Visualization here.</a>"> Data & Insights See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Earned Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Event & Experiential See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Gamification See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Humor See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Innovative Media Buying Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Integration with Traditional Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Internal Communications See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> LGBTQ Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Micro-Influencer Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Multicultural Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Music & Dance See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> On a Shoestring See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Organic Promotion See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Paid & Amplification See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Physical and Digital Convergence See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Public Service Announcement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Real Time Response See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> SEO & SEM See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Social Commerce See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Storytelling

Future Forward 2024 Campaign

Entered in Multi-Platform Campaign

Objective

Vocal Media targeted viewers who flee to social media as a form of escapism from politics by integrating pro-reproductive healthcare messaging into comedic sketches and stand-up comedy routines. When viewers least expected it, they were met with political messaging that made them laugh and think critically about the 2024 Presidential election. Vocal partnered with Heather Gardner to create an engaging and gut-wrenching script about the dangers of rolling back reproductive healthcare even further in 2025 and beyond.

Strategy

Because the most successful form of content on social media is comedy, and a majority of Generation Z look to social media as a form of escape from the news, Vocal Media developed a strategy to meet them where they were. We allowed comedy creators the freedom to take a serious topic—reproductive rights—and have fun with it. This program was met with overwhelming success and support, and many viewers took to the comments to show appreciation for creators using their platform for good. Vocal worked closely with Heather Gardner to develop content that not only reached large audiences—over 2 million viewers across TikTok, Intstagram Reels, X, and Youtube Shorts—but inform them of the reality of a potential national abortion ban and thus motivate them to vote in the 2024 election. Rather than simply creating a funny jingle, Vocal integrated critical and persuasion-tested reproductive messaging.

Results

To reach key persuadable audiences ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election, Vocal Media took key persuasive messaging from Future Forward and developed it into a digestible and provocative brief for comedy creators. After sourcing hundreds of comedians, Vocal settled on a cohort of 25 creators who each developed funny and relatable content pertaining to reproductive rights. Our team worked closely with Heather Gardner through three rounds of feedback to develop a high-quality, comedic, and devastating comedic story about the effects of abortion bans nationwide. The Supreme Court reverted on 50 years of progress for women's health and women's rights. But mere pleas to care about women are not effective on social media. Heather's content expertly weaved comedy and short-form virality—original song, parody, and beautifiul production—with political messaging to leave viewers thinking about the role of the election in determining whether we as a country will progress, or revert back on even more decades of activism.

Entrant Company / Organization Name

Vocal Media, Future Forward

Links

Entry Credits