Case Studies

Job Corps Earth Day Every Day Campaign

10/18/2011
In the summer of 2009, funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) enabled the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps program to build and upgrade facilities and incorporate ...

The Friends of Gaile Owens Campaign

6/1/2011
Gaile Owens, a domestic abuse survivor on death row, nearly became the first woman executed in Tennessee in almost 200 years. But thanks to a legal effort closely coordinated with ...

Metro Nashville Airport Authority

2/16/2010
Nashville has grown significantly as a city over the last decade, from the dozens of relocated corporate headquarters to the renaissance of downtown Nashville. And as Nashville has evolved, the ...

Earth Hour Nashville 2009

1/25/2010
How do you convince hundreds of Music City businesses, owners of major buildings and residents to turn off all nonessential lights for one hour on a busy March Saturday night?

Nashville Health Care Council

4/14/2009
A national spotlight was shining on Nashville in October of 2008 as Belmont University hosted the second of three presidential debates between John McCain and Barack Obama. To take advantage ...

Nashville for All of Us Special Election Campaign

4/14/2009
For two years, a group in Nashville worked to make English the only permissible language for use by Metro government. Tapping into public anger over immigration issues, Metropolitan Nashville Council ...

Job Corps

8/22/2008
In 1995, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps program faced a problem in the Southeast: how to recruit more age- and income-appropriate students to the program’s education and job ...

Meth Destroys

7/29/2008
In September 2005, the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference retained MP&F to conduct a statewide anti-methamphetamine campaign. There were multiple objectives: to educate and inform the public, particularly school-age youth, ...

More Case Studies

Thompson Square to Serve as 2012 Santa Train Celebrity Guest

10/8/2012

Award-winning country music duo Keifer and Shawna Thompson of Thompson Square will return to the Santa Train on Nov. 17 as this year’s celebrity guests.

“We are extremely honored to be asked to ride the Santa Train again for the second straight year,” said Shawna Thompson. “Last year brought many new opportunities for Keifer and me, but interacting with the families along the route and sharing a piece of Christmas with the children is a memory we will never forget.”

“We fell in love with the region and with the people,” continued Keifer on the duo’s decision to return for the Santa Train’s 70th anniversary run. “We’ve been so fortunate over the last couple of years that we wanted to return to Appalachia again this year to help give back.”

Thompson Square is continuing to make its mark as one of country music’s hottest breakthrough acts, as the husband-and-wife duo won “Vocal Duo of the Year” from the Academy of Country Music in April, becoming the first new country music act to break through and win the award in 20 years.

“Thompson Square is one of the most talented up-and-coming duos in country music,” said Tori Kaplan, CSX director of corporate citizenship and special events. “They were a huge hit last year, and we can’t wait to have them back on the Santa Train.”

The group was recently nominated by the Country Music Association for Vocal Duo of the Year and New Artist of the Year awards, to be announced at the 46th Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 1.

Now in its 70th year, the Santa Train runs along a 110-mile route through Appalachia, making 14 stops in Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. The Santa Train is sponsored by CSX, Dignity U Wear, Food City and the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce.

The Santa Train begins its journey in Pikeville, Ky., and rolls to a final stop in Kingsport, Tenn. Thompson Square, Santa Claus and dozens of volunteers will distribute gifts to families from the surrounding areas at each of the 14 stops.