by Global-5 Posted on Oct 30, 2019
Global-5 recently won a national award for the I-4 Ultimate monthly e-newsletter it produces for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).
Anyone can sign up to receive the monthly e-newsletter from the I-4 Ultimate project directly to their inbox. One newsletter example that was shared with the judging committee was the April 2019 edition. This issue detailed an 18-month-long change to the South Street exit ramp, which leads directly into downtown Orlando. The newsletter included information about the shift and a link to a video, detour maps and suggested social media posts. The issue received more than 5,400 views. All newsletters are archived and posted to the website.
This is FDOT’s and Global-5’s third American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) TransComm Skills Contest award for the I-4 Ultimate project. In 2015, FDOT won an award for the project website, I4Ultimate.com. In 2018, it won for a news release notifying local media outlets and motorists of a long-term closure of Hughey Avenue in Downtown Orlando.
The TransComm Skills Contest is conducted annually by AASHTO’s Committee on Transportation Communication to recognize outstanding work by public relations practitioners. The contest awards have become a standard of public relations excellence among state departments of transportation.
The e-newsletter stood out for delivering breaking news about closures and shifts and for helping subscribers understand construction activity and how to navigate detours and new roadways through a series of articles, photos, videos, and graphics. The e-newsletter also helped show a side of the construction project that isn’t visible to daily commuters with profiles of team members, behind-the-scenes looks and more.
The e-newsletter proved to be invaluable in delivering information to an ever-growing base of more than 9,100 subscribers, including organizations, agencies, and media outlets who share the content with their audiences.
