Public Relations
Public relations is a fascinating discipline. It's so fluid, so amorphous, yet there are inviolate rules that every successful PR practitioner follows. Building a company's image is a skill, as is promoting a product or a service. We've had excellent results with all of these, as described in the following case studies:
Project: Media Relations
Client: Marc Graham Classic Designs
Situation: Residential designer Marc Graham specializes in custom home designs, serving clients primarily in the Chagrin Valley and Cleveland's eastern suburbs. Upon moving his business from Chagrin Falls, where he had practiced for 36 years, to a home office in Shaker Heights, he sought help reminding people he was still practicing, just in a different location.
Strategy: We prepared a news release that focused on Graham's joining 45 million other Americans who work from home offices and highlighted the ease of working in a comfortable, architecturally distinguished home. The release also discussed the Grahams receiving a 2009 Preservation Award from the Shaker Heights Landmark Commission.
Media hits included The Chagrin Valley Times, Dec. 10, 2009; a major feature by Susan Condon Love in The Plain Dealer's Inside & Out, Jan. 28, 2010; and a 6-pg. feature in Shaker Life, April/May 2010.
Release Date: November 24, 2009
Project: Media Relations
Client: Dollar Bank
Situation: Dollar Bank (www.dollarbank.com), the largest independent mutual bank in the United States, approached Wren & Associates to handle media relations for the opening of its new Ohio headquarters in the Galleria.
Strategy: We worked closely with the bank's agency to establish an achievable timeline for the media relations campaign. Key components included setting up interviews with out-of-state artist Cecilia Silva who created the massive 512-sq.-ft. lion mosaic in the bank's two-story lobby and attracting media to the unveiling of a giant outdoor LED video screen at E. 9th and St. Clair.
Media hits included artist interviews with The Plain Dealer's Steven Litt and WVIZ-TV 25 for its arts program Applause; an interview with the bank's president posted on www.crainscleveland.com; articles in The Plain Dealer and Inside Business, and a segment on WEWS-TV 5 evening news.
LED Unveiling: August 1, 2008
Project: Media Relations
Client: Heights Youth Club
Situation: Heights Youth Club (www.heightsyouthclub.org), a nonprofit organization providing supervised programs for youth ages 6 to 18, held its Third Annual Summer Solstice Garden Tour on June 21, 2008. The tour featured seven garden gems in Cleveland Heights ranging from elegant French Formal to carefree cottage gardens.
Strategy: The client wanted to increase attendance and proceeds by at least 50 percent over its 2007 tour. Wren & Associates developed an extensive media relations campaign, redesigned the tour's marketing materials and created a newspaper ad, all helping achieve increases of 60 percent in attendance and 54 percent in proceeds over the previous year.
Key media hits included pre-event features in The Sun Press and The Plain Dealer and post-event coverage in Currents.
Tour Date: June 21, 2008
Project: Media Relations
Client: St Ives Cleveland
Situation: St Ives Cleveland, a full-service print communications provider, earned certification through an extensive audit for embracing sustainability and supporting responsible forest management. The Forest Stewardship Council's Chain of Custody certification assures printing customers that a product carrying its logo can be tracked to the forest from which it came.
Strategy: St Ives Cleveland wanted to inform local, regional and national business and communications industries that it achieved FSC certification -- the first Cleveland printer to do so. We prepared a release announcing the certification and distributed it via BusinessWire to obtain maximum coverage.
Media hits included CBS' MarketWatch.com, March 12; dBusinessNews.com, March 13; Forest NewsWatch.com, March 13; PrintingWeek.com, March 13; PrintingNews.com, March 28; Graphic Arts Monthly, March 30; CBC Magazine, April issue; and a 28-paragraph article on sustainability in the printing and paper industries by The Plain Dealer reporter Peter Krouse, May 8, Business Section, p. C1. St Ives US Division also posted the release on its web site.
Release Date: March 12, 2007
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News Release PDF Pages from The Plain Dealer Business section article |
