Erwin Penland Wins Seventh Annual South Carolina Excellence in the Workplace Diversity Award

GREENVILLE, SC – October 19, 2011 – Erwin Penland has been honored with the2011 Excellence in the Workplace Diversity Award by the South CarolinaChamber of Commerce and the South Carolina Diversity Council.

Now in its seventh year, the prestigious award recognizes a business’scontribution in moving South Carolina forward in diversity initiatives.  Erwin Penland President Joe Erwin accepted the award in the category ofbusinesses with less than 500 employees at a banquet last night inColumbia.  The honor comes on the heels of Erwin Penland receiving theOutstanding Business Award at the 2011 Upstate Diversity Leadershipawards ceremony from the Riley Institute at Furman University earlierthis year.

“All of us at Erwin Penland are honored and humbled by this recognition,but we realize there is still much work to do be done,” said Erwin.  “Our diversity initiative isn’t about quotas and social engineering.  Understanding and embracing other cultures helps us become bettermarketers, better citizens and better role models for other companies.” 

Erwin said the 25-year-old, 400-person company’s approach to diversityis based on the premise that it’s just smart business to have a culturewhere people from all walks of life feel welcome and valued.  Theagency’s initiatives are driven by its Diversity & InclusionCouncil, which strives for economic inclusion through supplier diversitywhile planting seeds to ensure that the marketing and advertisingworkforce of tomorrow is reflective of an increasingly diversepopulation.  The council, believed to be the first of its kind amongadvertising agencies headquartered in the South, is comprised of a broadspectrum of employees – men and women, seasoned and inexperienced,black and white.

Beyond its own walls, Erwin Penland works to promote diversity bypartnering with high school and college mentoring programs, sponsoringminority internships and providing extensive financial and pro-bonosupport for organizations like the Urban League and NAACP.  Among itscontributions is creating a brand identity and communications materialsfor Greenville’s MLK Dream Weekend, the largest annual celebration ofDr. King’s legacy outside of Atlanta.

Erwin Penland is also proud to serve as a role model for diversityefforts within the advertising industry, and has helped a variety ofclients embrace an inclusive approach to their marketing programs.  Infact, Erwin Penland won the first EFFIE Award – the nation’s mostprestigious accolade for marketing effectiveness – ever bestowed in theHispanic category for a campaign developed for Michelin North America’sUniroyal Tires brand.  The agency repeated the feat a few years later,earning a Gold EFFIE for its nationwide “How Sweet the Sound” gospelchoir competition developed for client Verizon Wireless.

About Erwin-Penland
Erwin Penland is a full-service marketing firmwith offices in New York and Greenville, S.C., providing advertising,experiential branding, event marketing, interactive, public relationsand strategic planning services to clients including Verizon, Denny’s,Lockheed Martin, BI-LO Supermarkets, CertusBank and Advance America.  The 400-person firm is a strategic partner of Boston-based HillHolliday, one of the nation’s largest ad agencies and a member of TheInterpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG).