At Maven, we are always looking to promote our clients in new and creative ways.  And when there is no “breaking” news to announce on behalf of your clients, a good PR firm will find ways to create their own.

Salon Vanity by Edmondo Blando on the 10! Show

Excel Physical Therapy and Fitness and Salon Vanity by Edmondo Blando, are two consumer clients whose clients include many brides-to-be looking to gear up for their big day.  Since June is the most popular month of the year to get married, we thought why not pitch a targeted broadcast segment focusing specifically on weddings? With broadcast coverage in mind, we approached the NBC 10! Show with the idea of launching a “wedding special” featuring both clients. The producers loved the idea of putting together a show about the hottest trends in weddings in the hottest month to get married. With a tight time line of three weeks, wedding special feature grew from two segments into an entire hour-long program dedicated to the hottest wedding trends – everything from flowers, dresses, dances, hair & makeup, wedding planners, fitness, food and more with an audience consisting entirely of brides-to-be. Maven and the NBC 10! team divided and conquered the show and all of its various components.

Excel Physical Therapy and Fitness on the 10! Show

In addition to our two clients, Maven secured fabulous wedding consultant Vinnie D’Adamo of Kaleidoscope Solutions to cover wedding planning trends, and high end bridal boutique Bridals by Danielle to showcase the hottest wedding dress trends for the season. We outlined the segments, developed key messages for guests, media trained the spokesperson and practiced run-throughs with all our segment guests to ensure the show was flawless.

As well as conducting the orchestra of semi-live television (the 10! Show is taped at 10am as if live but then plays as is at 11am), Maven was charged with filling the 50-seat audience entirely with brides-to-be and assemble a gift bag for each. We ended the bride search with a waiting list 15 brides deep and a very excited studio audience. In addition, gift bags for the audience turned out wonderfully with a value of more than $500 each.

The icing on the wedding cake was a special giveaway to one lucky bride in the audience. Maven was able to secure:

A three-day/2-night Luxury Included® Honeymoon to any of the twelve Sandals Resorts with locations in Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia and the Bahamas. The lucky couple’s Luxury Included® stay includes lavish accommodations, all meals, including gourmet dining and anytime snacks, premium brand beverages, daily & nightly entertainment, an array of land and water-sports including snorkeling and scuba, gratuities, and transfers to and from the resort designated airport.

The excited Sandals Resorts' winner!

The brides had no idea about their chance to win this special getaway when signing up for the show, but they were thrilled to find out! The winner was thrilled and Maven basked in its once in a lifetime Oprah-inspired moment.

Watch our clients’ segments below as seen by the estimated 27,000 daily viewers of the 10! Show. Maven placed the videos of their segments on their respective websites and facebook pages and made sure people saw how great they were and are! We owe the 10! Show team and everyone who helped out a HUGE thank you! Please visit the websites of those who donated to the gift bags at the end of this post. In addition, you can find more behind the scenes photos on Maven’s facebook page.

Everyone was elated with how the wedding special turned out, especially and most importantly, our clients, who were thrilled with the exposure the segment provided.

Gift Bag Contributors:

Sandals Resorts

Beke Beau

Bellezza Veils

Brandywine Valley Talent

Bridals by Danielle

Byers’ Choice, LTD.

Carl Alan Floral Designs

Carolina Pad

Chic Gems

dressy.com

Elegant Events

Excel Physical Therapy and Fitness

It’s in the Stars

Kaleidoscope Solutions

Larmon Studios

Marriott Philadelphia West

Philadelphia Marriott Downtown

Pictures by Todd,

Priscilla of Boston

Proud to Plan

Queen of Hearts Weddings

Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia

Sabrina Ann

Sagets Formal Wear

Salon Vanity by Edmondo Blando

Silver Image Photography

Spell it Out

Stella & Dot

Rebecca "off camera"

In April, I was featured on a local NBC news segment regarding the Tiger Woods’ Nike Ad, featuring a voice over from Tiger’s deceased father.   There were a few things that went awry almost immediately.  First, I was late.  Big no-no.  Not only does that aggravate the producer, who has to deal with possibility a no-show segment, but it eliminates the opportunity for you to understand your surroundings, review message points, and relax.  As a result, I look tense and uncomfortable during the anchor’s introduction.  Actually, I look like I’m channeling Elin Woods right before she smashed the back of Tiger’s Escalade with one of his golf clubs.  On camera, everything communicates.  Body language, expressions, hand gestures, dress, etc. all convey a message about you and your company.  If my message was discomfort, then I think I hit a home run.

Given the humbling reminder on the importance of media prep, I thought I’d share (and review) some tips for succession media interview strategies below.

Define your Purpose: Before agreeing to do any interview, make sure you have a specific end game in mind.  How will the interview benefit you or your company?  If you can’t think of anything, then allow the opportunity to pass.  If you accept the interview, be sure to set specific goals for what you want to communicate.  Develop 3-5 key messages that you want to deliver throughout the interview.  These are the main ideas you’ll want to hammer home during the course of your interview.

Prepare, Practice, Repeat: Once you have your key messages in place, you’ll need to practice.  Have a colleague or member of your communications team run sample Q&A with you so you can get comfortable with the responses.  Make sure you have answers to the tough questions.  Even in friendly interview settings, it is important to have a response to questions you may not like answering.  Practice answering every question with a key message, and remember to keep your responses focused and concise.  In addition, it helps to do your homework before you walk into the interview.  What is the reporter’s interview style like? What have they covered in the past? What will the interview format be? Is the interview live or taped; in-person or via phone/satellite?  Doing a little legwork up front will ensure you are comfortable and prepared during your interview.

Watch your Body Language: For in person or on-camera interviews, everything communicates.  Even in positive interview situations, it is easy to look tense or stiff (ahem), which can impact credibility.   Arrive 15 minutes early to give yourself time to relax and review your message points.  If you have time before the interview, walk around take deep breaths to loosen up your body.  Avoid wild hand movements or big gestures when emphasizing your point.  If possible, maintain eye contact with the reporter as it helps to establish a connection with the reporters. If the interview is being conducted via satellite, look directly into the camera and keep your gaze steady.

Stay on Message: Listen carefully to the reporters questions, and take your time in responding to avoid rushing your response.  Remember your key points and try incorporate them in every single answer.  Keep your answers short and sweet, and avoid industry jargon to keep your explanations clear and easy to understand.  If a reporter asks you a question you cannot or will not answer, say so and offer an alternative if possible.  You can say something like “I can’t give out personal employee information, but what I can tell you is….”  or “We don’t have that  information at this time, but we are investigating the situation and will keep you apprised of any new developments.”

Avoid “No Comment”: If you can’t answer a question, emphasize what you can say and go back to your key message points.  Never go off the record to explain your point, even if the cameras are not rolling.  If you don’t want to comment to be shared, don’t make it.  Period.

I thought the most interesting seminar was presented on crisis PR from Jerri Williams, chief press officer at SEPTA. Yes, her title makes even me say, “yikes, that is one heck of a job.” I was interested not only because I am one of those thousands of people cursing SEPTA in the morning, and most evenings, but also because any Philadelphian knows SEPTA has had a tough year by even the toughest standards.  Ms. Williams was insightful, eloquent, honest and refreshingly witty about SEPTA’s past year and her process of dealing with crises. The best part was her delightful redundant questions testing our knowledge about what qualifies as a ‘crisis.’

“What is a crisis? How about when the Transport Workers Union goes on strike at 3am on a Tuesday morning leaving the 3.8 million people relying on SEPTA’s buses, trolleys subways and some rail lines stranded? Or what about if three days later a train on a popular regional rail line, which was not affected by the strike, catches fire and 400 people have to evacuate on the tracks? Or maybe it was the following day when a SEPTA employee was struck and killed by a train?…”

It certainly made her point, as well as put my daily to-do lists and the students’ term papers to shame. Ms. Williams made two other noteworthy points: 1) it is not always SEPTA’s responsibility, but it is always SEPTA’s problem and 2) no matter how much of her job is fending defending SEPTA’s reputation, it is always important to establish a positive reputation as well. It may not be SEPTA’s responsibility to police and respond to attacks within the underground passages, which are technically city property, but the news and public see it as so. It affects their commuters thus it is their duty to respond. As much as is Ms. Williams chief responsibility to mitigate crisis, another important role is to establish and encourage positive perceptions of SEPTA, like her initiative “Did You Find Love on SEPTA?” contest, which featured 14 couples who found love aboard SEPTA.

SEPTA’s crises have undoubtedly taken a toll on its public perception. However with Ms. Williams at the wheel, I trust its team is doing their best and with a touch of tasteful humor as well. I will try to remember that at the bus stop tomorrow morning.

The tournament raised more than $200,000 this year with over 400 guests attending. Media highlights from the event included all major local broadcast affiliates including CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and Comcast Sportsnet; The MLB Network on Sirius/XM; Philadelphia Magazine; and the Philadelphia Inquirer & Daily News. Check out two of the Maven ladies in Philadelphia Chit Chat and Philadelphia Magazine. The media coverage in the Metro is featured below along with some photos from the event.

Media coverage secured in the Philadelphia Metro

Megan, Rebecca, Jessica & Sarah working hard at the event

Jimmy takes questions from the media

Guests are welcomed to the event sponsored by Maven

Spark! Networking logo

Spark! Networking is a case study about collaboration and partner relationship management that allows a number of corporate entities to team up and benefit from shared information, cross-over interest, indirect sales channels and integrated systems. Ultimately if you don’t have the skillset in house, find someone who does and create a partnership rather than just outsourcing. This case study is also about the successful use of social media in generating attention for an event and creating a community of followers and fans.

Situation and Challenge

A group of Philadelphia creative companies noticed a lack of unique networking events that attracted a new and varied group of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial-minded people in the Philadelphia area.  The four companies decided to collaborate and create an interactive conference that included innovative networking and business development workshops to provided attendees with an experience designed to connect big ideas with real opportunities.  In April of 2009, 300 attendees participated in the first annual Spark! Networking event at The HUB at the Cira Center.

Strategy

Strategic Planning: The underlying success of this event was the planning, execution and cooperation between the four companies that created Spark!.  The core team consisted of four companies that had similar entrepreneurial goals and complimentary services: Maven Communications (PR Firm), Brolik Productions (design firm), Ideablob Corporation (small business venture by Advanta) and The Hub (an interactive meeting venue).

Public Relations: Maven Communications helped generate buzz and excitement around the event through the use of social media and traditional media including:

• A Facebook “fan” and “event” page
• A twitter account that “tweeted” interesting entrepreneurial articles and provoked conversation among Spark! followers
• Media alerts were sent to bloggers, and local media outlets
• Postings about the event were made to Yelp, Basecamp, and Facebook
• Distributed Spark! invitations and reminders about the event to list of potential attendees.

Branding: After creating a name that encompassed the event concept of idea exchange, Brolik created a full identity package for Spark! including logo and supporting collateral including signage, brochures and nametags.  Brolik also created an interactive web site that included registration through Ticketleap, a twitter feed, link to an event Facebook page, sponsorship information, speaker bios and a live feed for those who couldn’t attend but still wanted to be a part of the event.

Interactive: Brolik created an interactive web site that included registration through ticketleap, a twitter feed, link to Facebook page, sponsorship information, speaker bios and also a live feed where those that couldn’t attend could view the conference directly from the site.

Marketing: Ideablob created partnerships with local networking and entrepreneurial groups who communicated to each of their member list serves about the event and posted it to their web site. Additionally fliers were given out at several networking events and a raffle was held to give away free tickets to the event.

Results

Over 300 people attended Spark! Attendees were a diverse group ranging from young entrepreneurs to those looking to start a new career, to venture capitalists in a wide variety of industries.  The event featured six panels with 26 notable speakers on topics such as networking, marketing a start up, funding and legal matters. The Spark! team secured four sponsors including Drexel University, Rembrandts restaurant, R3 Networks and Springboard media. More than 40,000 people were reached with Spark! messaging through secured strategic marketing relationships and in less than six weeks the Spark! Twitter page, @sparknetworking, had 425 followers and the facebook fan page had 100 fans. The Hub was also a tremendous venue for the event as it provided flexibility, innovation and most importantly networking capabilities.

Future

There are plans to hold a second Spark! event in the fall of 2009.  Spark! networking will continue to be active on the web and at other smaller networking events in order to continue the momentum and encourage new ideas to spark.  Photos and videos from the event can be found at Spark! Networking or www.sparknetworking.com

Maven’s seasoned team offers a full range of issues management services that can be deployed on a per-project, hourly or retainer basis to provide immediate tactical response and long term strategic communications counsel. Services include employee communications, media relations, spokesperson identification and training, key stakeholder outreach, social media strategies and ongoing traditional and social media monitoring to analyze campaign strategies and respond accordingly.

“In today’s economic environment, having a clear, focused approach to communicate your organization’s economic position is an essential part of any overall business strategy,” said Rebecca Devine, Principal, Maven Communications. “Unfortunately, most companies don’t have the resources or budget to develop and execute these strategies for short and long term success. From press release development to social media outreach to internal communications, our strategies will ensure you help build bridges, not burn them, during tough economic times and beyond.”

Our experienced team has counseled clients through financial and product communications crises; plant closings; mergers and acquisitions; corporate criminal investigations and real estate development crisis. Maven’s team can work seamlessly with your current marketing, HR and legal teams to help communicate your corporate position clearly and confidently to achieve the best possible outcome.