THETRAVELISSUE · 2014. 2. 7. · July 2011 | THETRAVELISSUE Newtacticstocurethe...

J u l y 2 0 1 1 | w w w . o d w y e r p r . c o m

THE TRAVEL ISSUENew tactics to cure theU.S. travel doldrums pg. 12

Pg. 10Highlights from the 2011

U.S. Travel Assocs. ‘Pow Wow’

O’Dwyer’s rankings of top Travel& Tourism PR firmspg. 31

Why travel PR should take a pagefrom the marketer’s handbookpg. 14

Pg. 20Profiles of Travel &

Tourism PR firms

Special report: Why travel stillneeds to push value pg. 18

Julymagazine:Layout 1 6/28/11 1:48 PM

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Vol. 25, No. 7JuLY 2011

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HAWKINS INTERNATIONAL PR..........................9LOG-ON................................................................7LOU HAMMOND & ASSOCS..............................13

KEF.......................................................................3NAPS.............................................INSIDE COVEROMEGA WORLD TRAVEL..................................17

OGILVY PUBLIC RELATIONS..............................5RUDER FINN..................................BACK COVERTV ACCESS........................................................32

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PPRROOFFEESSSSIIOONNAALL DDEEVVEELLOOPPMMEENNTTFraser Seitel

FFIINNAANNCCIIAALL MMAANNAAGGEEMMEENNTTRichard Goldstein

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EEDDIITTOORRIIAALLMedia deserves blame in today’ssensationalistic news cycle.

6FFAACCEEBBOOOOKK TTOO TTAAKKEE TTOOPPSSLLOOTT FFOORR DDIISSPPLLAAYY AADDSSA new study shows the social net-work is soon poised to surpass Yahoo as thenumber-one earner of online display adver-tising revenues.

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GGAANNNNEETTTT CCOO.. TTOO CCUUTT 770000NNEEWWSSPPAAPPEERR JJOOBBSSVirginia-based newspaper giantGannett Co. continues its austerity meas-ures by reducing its newspaper staff by2%.

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FFCCCC CCIITTEESS RREECCEENNTTDDEECCLLIINNEE IINN VVNNRRssThe use of video news releases iswaning in U.S. newsrooms, according torecent findings in a larger report released bythe FCC.

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‘‘PPOOWW WWOOWW’’ FFIIGGHHTTSS TTOOSSTTRREENNGGTTHHEENN UU..SS.. TTRRAAVVEELLHighlights from the 43rd annualU.S. Travel Association’s International PowWow, in San Francisco.

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NNEEWW TTAACCTTIICCSS,, NNEEWW MMEEDDIIAATTOO CCUURREE TTRRAAVVEELL LLUULLLLTravelers have found ways to domore with less, and PR is figuring out howto creatively address today’s travel realities.

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TTRRAAVVEELL PPRR DDEEMMAANNDDSS AAMMAARRKKEETTIINNGG MMIINNDDSSEETTAs the role of “media relations”shifts, PR professionals have achance to interact with their clients in newand exciting ways.

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TTWWEEEETTSS CCOOSSTT PPRR FFIIRRMMVVIIDDEEOO GGAAMMEE CCLLIIEENNTTA PR firm that threatened journal-ists via Twitter has been canned as theagency of record for the popular “DukeNukem Forever” video game.

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16 NNEEWW--AAGGEE JJOOUURRNNAALLIISSMM NNEEEEDDSSOOLLDD--AAGGEE VVAALLUUEESSThe veracity and tenacity in yester-year’s press rooms has disappeared inexchange for lazy gossip mills.

TTRRAAVVEELL EEXXPPEERRTTSS:: VVAALLUUEE VVAACCAATTIIOONNSS AARREE HHEERREE TTOO SSTTAAYYWhile travel has improved modestly,PR pros have found U.S. travelers stillcling to brand messages that reiteratevalue.


JULY 2011 �WWW.ODWYERPR.COM6

EDITORIAL

Media deserves blame in sensationalistic news cycle

Let’s be honest: the news in 2011 is a joke. Go to any popular news site today and you’dthink you’d stumbled onto a YouTube knockoff. Sprinkled in with the occasional worldevent is a stream of slapstick videos, cheap celebrity gossip, obtuse punditry, sensation-

alistic sophistry and anecdotal half-assery from a network of information carnies who pedalvisual snake-oil to a nation of media-sated babies.The modern media is a museum of itself. It latches onto a story, extracts its own conversa-

tion and then promulgates its vestigial vagaries into national importance until the life has beenbeaten out of it. The media spent upwards of a month breaking, disseminating and pontificat-ing on Rep. Anthony Weiner’s no-sex scandal, dedicated countless hours to the release ofSarah Palin’s emails, and has wasted months obsessing over its latest “trial of the century”(paradoxically, we seem to get one every year) with Casey Anthony. In the midst of all this isa noticeable dearth of national or world events that actually matter (you know, the news). Thenews in 2011 is a footnote, a happenstance, an afterthought. Networks create the conversa-tion; they decide what issue is worth following. The adage used to be that our news was run on

fear. While I’d argue this is still the case formuch of the local nightly news cycle, thenational networks serve the role of virtualpacifiers, anesthetizing the masses with astream of soporific, sugar-coated patterand sanguine slices-of-life stories deliv-ered with the mindless aplomb of aLifetime movie. Jon Stewart got it rightduring his well-publicized June spat withFox News’ Chris Wallace when he said thereal bias of the media “is towards laziness,conflict, and sensationalism.” The fourth estatehas decided its direct competition is now gossip blogs, teenybopper rags and social mediasites. Call it what you want. It isn’t news.Don’t believe me? I picked a random day in late June and scrolled through the top head-

lines on several of the most popular news sites on the web. Below is a brief sampling of whatI found:CNN was the worst. Their website in particular has practically become the McDonald’s of

news. Among the headlines in the “top stories” section of the site: “Lindsay Lohan stands upMatt Lauer,” “51-year-old Lost actor weds 16-year-old,” and “Setback for Anna Nicole Smithestate dispute.” These are just CNN’s most popular stories. Look immediately below in thewebsite’s “features” section and you’ll find these enlightening gems: “Are Pippa and Harrydating?” “The 25 best animated films,” “Tom Hanks tells fans to make a baby,” “Creator offried Kool-Aid tells all,” and “Does life online give you ‘popcorn brain’?” (yes, it does).The headlines weren’t much better on TIME.com. “It is okay to eat while texting?” was the

top news story, followed by “The pleasures of cooking while drunk with Hannah Hart,” and“Can city living warp your Brain?”Just several of the top stories on ABC.com were “Lohan skirts jail, can drink again,” “Jesus

resurrected … in a lawn chair,” and “Bedpans to riches … heiress’ nurse gets $34 million.”Even supposedly “high-brow” sites like Huffington Post don’t fare much better. Some of

their top stories were “7 sites you should be wasting time on right now,” “Surprising reasonswhy writers should keep their day jobs,” and “How January Jones’ pregnancy will impact‘Mad Men.’”I guess you could argue it was a bad news day. I’ll admit, it’d be one thing if these stories

were buried at the bottom of the page with sports items and weather reports — but these weretop headlines, in spots once reserved for late-braking news. In many cases they beat out otheractual news stories happening that day, such as President Obama’s announced troop with-drawal plan for Afghanistan, and updates on the New York Senate’s then-undecided vote ongay marriage. In some cases these two items didn’t appear at all. I also understand that we live in a 24-hour news cycle. The beast needs to be fed; we need

pundits to fill out the news cycle. But isn’t it the media’s responsibility to prioritize for thesake of its own integrity, to take a stand internally? What ever happened to the ‘inverted pyra-mid’ model of journalism, and why doesn’t it apply here? What happened to veracity,verisimilitude, professionalism, or just pride in your craft? �

— Jon Gingerich

EEDDIITTOORR--IINN--CCHHIIEEFFJack O’[email protected]

AASSSSOOCCIIAATTEE PPUUBBLLIISSHHEERRKevin [email protected]

EEDDIITTOORRJon [email protected]

SSEENNIIOORR EEDDIITTOORRGreg [email protected]

CCOONNTTRRIIBBUUTTIINNGG EEDDIITTOORRSSJohn O’DwyerFraser SeitelRichard Goldstein

AADDVVEERRTTIISSIINNGG SSAALLEESSJohn O’DwyerAdvertising Sales [email protected]

Jack FogartyNational Advertising [email protected]

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Virginia-based newspaper giantGannett Co. announced June 21that it would be laying off 700

employees from the company’s newspaperdivision, or about 2% of its workforce.The cuts will affect virtually all of

Gannett’s 82 U.S. newspapers.The layoffs are the company’s largest

since July 2009, when Gannett’s U.S.newspaper division slashed nearly 1,500jobs. It’s the fourth such layoff since thesummer of 2008. News of the layoffs comes after Gannett

Co. introduced several austerity measuresto cut costs. Many newspaper employeestook a week-long unpaid furlough duringthe second quarter of 2011, and practicallyevery Gannett employee was forced totake a similar furlough during the firstquarter. In a June 21 memo distributed to more

than 20,000 company employees, GannettU.S. Newspapers Division President BobDickey explained the layoffs as the resultof current economic conditions. “National advertising remains soft and

with many of our local advertisers reduc-ing their overall budgets, we need to takefurther steps to align our costs with thecurrent revenue trends,” Dickey wrote. Gannett Co., which publishes USA

Today and dozens of local newspapersaround the country such as The

Indianapolis Star, The CincinnatiEnquirer, The Tennessean and The DesMoines Register, employed nearly 33,000workers as of 2010. The company’s U.S.newspaper division comprises about 65%of its employees.Earnings at Gannett have fallen consis-

tently in recent years. First quarter earn-ings for 2011 revealed revenues for thecompany’s publishing units fell 6.2%, to$930 million. Advertising revenue similar-ly dropped 7.3%, to $602 million. Thecompany’s television revenues fell $3 mil-lion to $158 million. Overall, the compa-ny’s net income dropped by 23%, to $91million. It was $117 million during thesame period in 2010.Gannett Co. came under fire earlier this

year when a New York Times story report-ed that Gannett Chairman, President andCEO Craig Dubow received an estimatedannual salary of $9.4 million in 2010,which was almost twice what he earned in2009. It was also discovered that Dubowhad received a $1.25 million cash bonus,based in part on his success in reducingcompany costs through layoffs. �

Facebook will soon earn more rev-enues in display advertising than anyother website, according to a June

report by market research companyeMarketer.The world’s most popular social net-

working site is estimated to bring in asmuch as $2.2 billion in display ads by theend of this year, effectively displacingYahoo Inc.’s former spot as the number-one bread winner for display advertisingrevenues. Already, Facebook beat Yahoo and

Microsoft in online display ads during2011’s first quarter. Total display adimpressions for Facebook during thatperiod were more than 345 billion,according to comScore, which is morethan double its impressions during thesame time in 2010. Facebook is nowexpected to comprise nearly 18% of theoverall market for display ads that appearonline, an increase of more than 5% fromFacebook’s online ad share in 2010. According to the recent eMarketer

report, Facebook is expected to earnabout $4 billion in total advertising rev-

enue by the end of the 2011, which ismore than double the $1.86 billion itraked in the year before. Facebook’santicipated $2.2 billion in display ads —which includes banner ads, video ads andpage sponsorships — have doubled eachyear for the past two years.

Display ad growth abounds onlineThe eMarketer report said Yahoo can

also expect growth in its online displaycapacity. The search site should see ofsurge in display ads by nearly 14% thisyear. Google’s display ad revenues willtotal $1.15 billion in the U.S. in 2011, up34% from 2010.The news couldn’t come at a better

time for Facebook. The company isrumored to be prepping for an initial pub-lic offering sometime later this year,which is expected to be met with investorfanfare. CNBC in June reported an IPOcould value the site at more than $100billion. The company moved from itslong-time Palo Alto headquarters to near-by Menlo Park in June. Facebook currently has nearly 650 mil-

lion users. In May alone, Quantcast esti-mated Facebook took in approximately140 million unique U.S. visitors. The last

two years in particular have been an eraof immense growth for the company, withoverall site activity increasing about 40%between 2010 and 2011. The overall confidence advertisers

have in running successful display adcampaigns on the site, however, showsanother side to the story. Until last year, Microsoft was the

exclusive seller of display advertising onFacebook. Facebook’s display ad saleshave picked up since ending its arrange-ment with Microsoft, but display ads aretypically a mixed bag on social network-ing sites, where click-through rates arenotoriously lower than in search enginesor on “traditional” websites. Facebook’saverage click-through rates for displayadvertisements, for example, are about afifth of what occurs on other top web-sites. Even today, MySpace’s averageclick-through rates for display advertise-ments still manage to surpass that ofFacebook’s. Experts have citedFacebook’s younger audience, users whoare quicker to ignore display ads, to moretechnologically savvy users who employad blocking software, as possible reasonsfor the lack of clicks. �


By Jon Gingerich

Facebook to take number-one spot for online display ads MEDIA NOTES

Jill Abramson, Managing Editor and formerWashington Bureau Chief at the New York Times, istaking the Executive Editor job of Bill Keller on Sept.6.

Keller, 62, who ran the NYT’s newsroom for thelast eight years, will become a full-time writer forthe New York Times Magazine as well as thepaper’s news and opinion page.

Arthur Sulzberger, Publisher of the NYT, accept-ed Keller’s decision to step down with “mixed emo-tions.” Abramson, 57, called her new post a “dreamjob for any journalist.” She joined the NYT in 1997from the Wall Street Journal, where she wasdeputy D.C. bureau chief. Earlier she edited LegalTimes.

Media News Briefs

AABBRRAAMMSSOONN SSUUCCCCEEEEDDSSKKEELLLLEERR AATT NNYYTT

By Jon Gingerich

Gannett to resume layoffs, cutting 700 more newspaper jobs


Video news releases, for decades astaple of the PR repertoire, areused less and more carefully by

newsrooms in the wake of FederalCommunications Commission fines anda damaging report in 2006 by a PRwatchdog, the FCC said in a lengthyreport on the state of the media June 9.Brian Schwartz, former Director of

Client Solutions for Synaptic Digital, toldthe FCC in an interview last fall that hiscompany, the former Medialink, does notuse the term “video news release” muchany more but that the content is still usedbecause it is free and TV news resourcesare limited. Schwartz left Synaptic inNovember.Doug Simon, President of New York-

based D S Simon Productions, told theFCC that VNRs have become irrelevantin the wake of third-party video and the“near-death experience” of TV news.“VNRs aren’t a relevant communicationstool anymore,” he told the FCC via email.“I don’t have anything else to add.”Simon’s firm produced a VNR spot

that the FCC said was misused by aMinneapolis Fox affiliate in 2006 and ledto a fine earlier this year. Former Hearst VP Fred Young told the

FCC that that proper use of VNRs withidentification is acceptable for news

rooms. “Today if you clearly identifywhere [the VNR] came from, I have noproblem with it,” he told the FCC. “It isthe people who are taking it and passingit off as news that bothers me.”Kevin Benz, News Director for News 8

Austin, said the station uses VNRs fromthe state that are related to outdoor activ-ities, but they are fully vetted and thesource is identified on air and online. “Ifthere is something that we feel is overlypromotional, or only promotional, wedon’t air it,” he said.Others are more wary.Steve Schwaid, Director of News and

Digital Content for an Atlanta CBS affil-iate, said the station does not use VNRsunless there is a drug recall and it’s theonly video available. “But we do not takeVNR handouts, period,” he said.Hearst’s current guidelines call for

identifying VNR video used, but its sta-tions do not use VNRs “as a whole,”

according to the FCC report. A newsdirector for FOX 13 Salt Lake City saidthe station burns “courtesy of” into thevideotape before it’s even reviewed toprevent VNR footage from being used asB-roll for another story without attribu-tion.The FCC notes that some argue that

enforcement actions against VNRs vio-late First Amendment rights. FOX has acase pending in defense of its VNR usagearguing that it did not violate sponsorshipID rules because it was not paid to air theVNR content. The News Corp. propertyalso says the FCC encroached on its “dis-cretion in making editorial choices.”The FCC also detailed examples of

“pay-for-play” arrangements betweenadvertisers and local TV news stations,adding that stations that disclose VNRsources often fail to do so in reports post-ed to their websites. The commissioneven suggested the creation of a “unifiedonline public file” which would serve asa searchable record for which stations usesponsorship arrangements. Another notable PR reference in the

FCC report is the statistic that 12.4 per-cent of 251 TV news directors said theyare already doing or considering doingproduct placements within newscasts. �

JULY 2011 �WWW.ODWYERPR.COM 9

FCC cites recent decline in VNRs

McGraw-Hill Cos. has hired Morgan Stanley tosell its $100M broadcast business as the companydecides to focus on its information services and edu-cational units.

The stations include ABC affiliates in Denver, SanDiego, Bakersfield and Indianapolis and AztecaAmerica aligned properties in Denver, Fort Collins,Colorado Springs, San Diego and Bakersfield.

The broadcast unit reported an 18 percent boostin revenues last year and stands poised to gain froma surge in political advertising tied to next year’selection.

McGraw-Hill is pitching the units as stations in“desirable markets that should be attractive tostrategic and financial buyers with a focus onmedia.”

CEO Terry McGraw II, expects the divestiture willdemonstrate that the owner of Standard & Poor’s,J.D. Power & Assocs. and Platts energy informationservices is “committed to driving superior sharehold-er value by focusing on high growth global brandsand businesses.”

Media News Briefs

MMccGGRRAAWW--HHIILLLL PPUUTTSS TTVVSSTTAATTIIOONNSS OONN BBLLOOCCKK

Video news release use in newsrooms has waned in the wake ofFCC fines and a damaging report in 2006 by a PR watchdog, theFCC said in a lengthy report on the state of the media. By Greg Hazley


According to Steve P. Joyce,President & CEO of ChoiceHotels International and National

Chair of the U.S. Travel Association, thisyear’s event was “one of the best-attend-ed in the past 10 years.” Joyce said therelationships formed and renewed hereare “the bedrock of a $134 billion indus-try,” the average amount of revenue gen-erated by international visitors to theUnited States each year. The event gathered more than 5,500

registered participants. Pre-scheduledbusiness appointments numbered morethan 70,000. Professionals from morethan 1,000 travel organizations and 1,500travel buyers from 70 countries mingledat the multi-faceted conference’s numer-ous functions.The U.S. Travel Association officials

estimate that about $3 billion of travelbusiness should come out of the contactsbrought together at this year’s Pow Wow.This was the second time that the interna-tional Pow Wow was held in SanFrancisco.

The fight to save U.S. tourism The United States had lost travel mar-

ket share to other destinations in recentyears. U.S. Travel reported that while thecountry welcomed nearly 60 millioninbound travelers in 2010 — includingmore than 26 million from overseascountries — its share of global long-haularrivals had fallen significantly. “America’s lack of a national travel

promotion program contributed to thedecline,” reported Mike Milligan in thePowWow Daily, May 23. Now all this is expected to change for

the better. Headway has been made tostrengthen the United States as a traveldestination. The Corporation for TravelPromotion, America’s first national pro-gram to attract international travel, wasestablished by Congress under the TravelPromotion Act signed into law in March2010. It is the first-ever nationally coor-dinated, non-profit public-private part-nership program with the mission of pro-moting increased international travel tothe U.S. This includes foreign leisure,business and scholarly travel and maxi-mizing the economic and social benefits

of that travel for communi-ties all over the U.S.Virtually every sector of

the U.S. economy will bene-fit from the CTP, resultingfrom work carried out afterrecent conferences ofInternational Pow Wow(IPW) and the U.S. TravelAssociation, reports a factsheet about CTP released bythe High Lantern Group.The average overseas vis-

itor to America spends$4,000 on hotels, restau-rants, retail and other localbusiness, reports the U.S.Travel Association, based onDepartment of Commercedata. CTP is charged withidentifying and addressingperceptions regarding entrypolicies to the U.S; andmaximizing the economicbenefits of travel. In 2010,international travel to theUnited States generated atrade surplus of $32 billionand supported 1.2 millionjobs.James P. Evans in mid-

May was named as the firstChief Executive Officer ofthe CTP. Evans, an acknowl-edged leader in global hos-pitality and former CEO ofJenny Craig and BestWestern International, toldthe Pow Wow audience atthe hugely-attended May 23luncheon that the travelindustry would play a keyrole in the success of theCTP. “We’ll be good partners.

We’ll be great listeners andwe’ll ask you for yourideas,” Evans said.According to Evans,

attracting more internationalvisitors to the U.S. benefitsthe industry and our countryby creating jobs, growing


REPORT

The 43rd annual U.S. Travel Association’s International Pow Wow — the biggest travel industryevent promoting travel to the United States — convened May 21-25 in San Francisco, bringingtogether more than 450 journalists and thousands of PR professionals, industry experts andtravel organizations from all over the world to tout “Brand U.S.A.”

Annual ‘Pow Wow’ fights to strengthen U.S. travel brand

By Carla Marie Rupp

�Continued on next page



exports and spurring economic growth. CTP Chairman Stephen J. Cloobeck,

who is Chairman and CEO of DiamondResorts International, calls CTP’s newleadership “a game changer.”“For the first time in the history of the

United States, we’re actually going tomarket and brand ‘Team USA.’”

A travel writer’s dreamSan Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee wel-

comed Pow Wow attendees, saying“tourism is the number-one (money) gen-erator in San Francisco.” Journalistsattended the Pow Wow from as far awayas Australia, Egypt, Thailand, Italy,Germany and Ecuador.

“Pow Wow is a window tothe world,” said RobertArends, Public RelationsManager, San DiegoConvention & VisitorsBureau. “It gives our PRteam a chance to meet inter-national journalists in aninteractive face-to-face set-ting. We’re able to target SanDiego stories to some of ourbiggest global markets,including the U.K., Canada,Germany and Australia, plusbig emerging markets likeChina.” Travel proved to be an evenbigger bonanza for mediaand PR pros this year,according to Roger Dow,President and CEO, U.S.Travel Association.“It’s the best organized trav-el show I know of in theworld. You meet all the sup-pliers and destinations in theU.S. And San Francisco is alovely city!” exclaimed NilsNorberg, CEO, RES TravelMagazine, Stockholm,Sweden.Both prior and during the

five-day event, journalistswere able to mingle withcommunicators as well asschedule appointments withPR contacts. Plenty of PRnetworking with media andbuyers occurred on a varietyof interesting tours in SanFrancisco and throughoutthe region of California.A Sunday press brunch at

the Ferry Building broughtmedia delegates together fora preview of the week whilemingling and trying a largesampling of food from SanFrancisco’s restaurants.

Tours and outings included complimen-tary trips to beautiful San Mateo County,Sonoma County and Napa Valley vine-yards, Segway tours with the ElectricTour Company, musical heritage toursusing the Magic Bus to visit Haight-Ashbury and the Fillmore District, partyboat tours to Alcatraz and a tour that tookguests under the famed Golden GateBridge.“Pow Wow did a great choice on the

selected places we could visit in SanFrancisco. It’s a really amazing city,” saidMaria Belen Tinajero, delegate from SoloTurismo, Ecuador.Producer Jeffrey Lehmann, Del Mar,

CA, host of PBS’ Weekly Explorer TravelSeries said, “The amazing thing aboutPow Wow is that it brings all the moversand shakers in travel together for oneweek. It showcases a different city eachyear and you learn so much each time —even though I’ve been there before!”Press conferences, a required event for

official media attending Pow Wow,included lively events with news for thejournalists from Universal Theme Parksin Orlando and in Hollywood, reportsfrom Greater Orlando (last year’s HostCity), Disney Destinations and SeaWorldParks, presentations from NYC &Company, the 2011 Host City SanFrancisco, as well as tips from the LosAngeles CVB’s LA Inc. and the latestfrom Los Angeles World Airports, theCalifornia Travel and TourismCommission and Cirque du Soleil.Breaking news from the U.S. TravelAssociation and the Corporation forTravel Promotion (CTP) also filled outthe busy day for reporters.The presence of the media gathering

news tips and information and stories atthese events and others — lavish gala par-ties at City Hall, Pier 39, Alcatraz, and atthe California Academy of Sciences inGolden Gate Park — provided plenty ofPR networking opportunities for tourismpros. Hundreds of PR professionals net-worked with international and U.S. free-lance and staff journalists eager for storyideas for their publications and broadcastoutlets.San Francisco went all out in creating

fun networking. Even after journalists’busy day at Tuesday press conferences,the press were able to mingle with publi-cists and the rest of the 5,000+ delegatesat the “Culture Club,” party, sipping cock-tails and California wines, savoring inter-national cuisine, enjoying music andunique entertainment — all whileexchanging business cards.At the extravagant night at historic City

Hall, a large ferris wheel was set up forrides. The colorful, vibrant flavor of SanFrancisco filled the evening, with jug-glers, stilt-walkers, R&B singers, danc-ing, seafood and other tastes of the city —set to the backdrop of a psychedelic lightshow on the face of City Hall itself. During a specially-guided tour of

Alcatraz, visitors heard from formerprison guards Frank Heaney and GeorgeDivencenzi, as well as a former inmate-turned-author, Bob Luke, now in his 80s. PR professionals brought writers

together at a client function at the HyattRegency San Francisco; at the Hyatt at

�Continued on page 19

All photos by Carla Marie Rupp.


It seems a mandate of the times formarketing and communications direc-tors to motivate more consumers using

fewer resources. All the while, the pool ofconsumers spending money is signifi-cantly smaller than it was not so long ago.Throw in the decline in travel writers andthe struggling newspaper industry, andthe tourism industry is presented with amonumental set of challenges.While a sluggish economy might

eliminate competition in other indus-tries, destinations don’t disappear. Abeach or a mountain doesn’t sell off,pack it up and move to where the workis. It doesn’t reinvent itself in a newmarket. A “traditional” destination PR tactic

may have included inviting travel writ-ers to visit on press tours and taking thatexperience back to their readers andviewers. Unfortunately, many outlets donot allow their reporters to go on com-plimentary press tours. They run intobudget restrictions, scheduling conflictsor decline because they are looking fora more individualized experience. If adestination’s entire PR budget is spenton press tours, opportunities with manypopular feeder market outlets will bemissed.

Bring the destination to lifeTourism in the City of Gatlinburg,

Tennessee, is up 12% from last year.Gatlinburg, located in the heart of theSmoky Mountains, is the ideal destina-tion for adventure and outdoor activities.From December through March, OberGatlinburg, Tennessee’s only ski resort,comes alive as visitors flock to the slopesfor skiing, snowboarding, tubing and iceskating. The mountain destination hascontinued to grow visitors in an other-wise rocky economic environment.How? For one, leadership made a

commitment to step outside of theircomfort zone and implement new tac-tics. Namely, Gatlinburg made it snowin the South during October andNovember, bBringing a series of eventsthat delivered a true taste of aGatlinburg winter vacation directly toaudiences in three key feeder cities:Atlanta, Nashville and Birmingham.To create snow, the city of Gatlinburg

worked with an ice-delivery companythat also had a largesnow slide. The com-pany took trucksloaded with 300-pound blocks of iceito these cities and,after arriving, fedthese blocks into atrailer with an indus-trial strength blowerthat chipped the iceinto snow. The snowwas then blownthrough a large hoseonto the snow slideand surroundingareas. Since it wasvery warm during theevents, materialssuch as plywood was used to insulate thesnow from the ground, keeping it coolerso attendees could enjoy the snow longer.The events, held in high foot-traffic

locations in Atlanta, Nashville andBirmingham, featured a manmade snowhill for guests to speed down on tubes,a ski demonstration and Gatlinburgtreats like fudge, mountain taffy andhot chocolate, as well as prizes like VIPvacations. Attendees were given handbills direct-

ing them to a website with event-specificdiscounts to lodging, attractions andrestaurants, and personal information thatcan be used in future marketing efforts wascollected on-site using contest registrationforms. Getting directly in front of its audi-ence at the events allowed Gatlinburg tocontrol messages and receive immediatefeedback, and the visual of snow tubing ineighty degree weather resulted in main-stream media coverage.These events delivered a Gatlinburg

experience that the best written articlecould never deliver, and the multiplemedia hooks resulted in region-widepre- and post-event coverage with eachstop.

Make it easy for reportersFor those reporters that cannot attend

press tours, consider taking your desti-nation to their newsroom. Gatlinburgconducted face-to-face deskside briefin-

gs with travel editors, bloggers andreporters in key feeder markets. It tookno more than 30 minutes out of areporter’s busy day and gave us theopportunity to leave behind a press bas-ket with little pieces of Gatlinburg andpress materials with new story angles,unique packages, Gatlinburg-specificnews and upcoming events. It is impor-tant to know the reporter’s audience andto provide materials customized to eachoutlet. While your destinations mayhave a lot to offer, be sure to createpitches and story ideas that most effec-tively engage their readers. A mommy-blogger most likely isn’t interested inthe same topics as the local newspaperreporter that is a known adventurist.Most importantly, these introductionsestablished mutually-beneficial relation-ships with reporters. Knowing that a PRcontact was there to provide informationin a timely manner encouraged reportersto consider covering Gatlinburg.

Utilize PR in advertising marketsThe Gatlinburg event in Atlanta was a

great example of how PR can provide acost-effective solution to reaching afeeder market. A destination’s market-ing dollars can be spread across severalstates in the form of advertising, earnedmedia, collateral materials distribution,conducting contests and social net-


FEATURE

Travelers have declined, competition is fierce and resources are down. How can travel destinationscontinue to grow in this environment, and how can PR continue to provide a positive ROI? The keyto success is breaking away from business as usual.

New tactics, new media to cure the travel doldrums

By Lauren Reed

The scenic aerial tramway in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, takes passen-gers on a two-mile trek from the Ober Gatlinburg ski resort to down-town Gatlinburg, home of a variety of dining options and rustic-stylestores reminiscent of old-style villages.




working. It can be a struggle to decidehow to allocate dollars over severalfeeder markets, especially when target-ing a large city like Atlanta whereadvertising is expensive relative toother markets. While the cost of adver-tising varies from city to city, PRefforts generally require a similaramount of resources across markets —especially if you have an establishedPR presence in multiple markets.Gatlinburg utilized Peritus staff in ourBirmingham and Nashville offices tocut down on travel expenses and lever-age local media knowledge and rela-tionships.

Set benchmarks, measure successWhile everything you do in tourism

marketing should drive more visitors,having overall tourism up or down afew percentage points is not the onlyway to measure success. Gatlinburg setspecific goals prior to each event withcriteria that defined what a successfulevent would be including number ofhandouts distributed, attendees, awardregistrants, partner organizationinvolvement, social media activity andmedia impressions. In addition to the

number of media impres-sions, the quality of thecoverage was measured.Did it include images?Was the article promi-nently placed? Did thearticle convey your keymessages? How manypeople took action as aresult? Was this measuredby reviewing Web visitsto an event-specific page?Not only is

Gatlinburg’s overalltourism up 12%, print,radio, TV and Web mediacoverage of the threeevents was valued at morethan six times the budget,more than 2,500 people attended andreceived information about Gatlinburgand its attractions and millions ofmedia impressions reached an evenlarger audience.In short, a story in print or on televi-

sion can show an audience what yourdestination has to offer but by bringingaspects of your destination to them, yougive them a hands-on, lasting experi-

ence that entices them to actually visit.The world of media is evolving and thepublic relations field and tourism mar-keters have to follow suit. It’s time tothink of creative ways to not only reachyour audience, but encourage them toact and leave a lasting impression onthem.Lauren Reed, APR, is Senior Director

at Peritus in Nashville. �

Residents in southern U.S. cities such as Atlanta found them-selves participating in the unlikely summer activity of ‘tubing,’after the city of Gatlinburg decided to spread its message bytaking the snow to them.



REPORT

After many years in travel andtourism public relations, I’mbemused by the fact that so many

PR professionals, both newly-minted andlong-seasoned, still draw a clear distinc-tion between “public relations” and “mar-keting.”This is an era of great opportunity for

PR. With so many exciting new technolo-gies and tactics emerging, and the potentialto stretch skill sets into such arenas as con-stantly-evolving social media, hyper-localnews sites and flash sales, I’d like to seemore of my travel PR peers identify them-selves as marketers, too.

A shrinking divideWhy should travel PR play more of a

marketing role? Just in the past 24 hours,the following items appeared in my inbox:Ad agencies’ domination of the PR

Lions (awarded in Cannes) this yearmeans the PR industry need to “wake up”and “integrate with other disciplines,”according to the category’s jury. DavidSenay, PR Lions jury President and ChiefExecutive of Fleishman-Hillard, said thatwhen it came to marketing themselves forawards, ad agencies were “better at pack-aging” than PR companies, which stillhave a lot to learn. A report from Forbes Insights, “Bringing

20/20 Foresight to Marketing,” asks:given the continued emergence of disrup-tive marketing technologies, how can com-panies stay abreast, much less ahead,of where consumers will interact with theirbrands? Marketers today need to view thecustomer with 20/20 foresight, but arecaught in hindsight by focusing on what’sworked in the past, not what is working inthe present or will work in the future. Thesurvey — whose respondents includedtravel and hospitality executives — askedabout budgeting in 2012 as well. Over thenext year, 56% of respondents said theywill increase their online marketing spend,54% will increase their social media spend,

and 50% will increasetheir mobile marketingspend. Each of the areas tar-

geted for budget expan-sion represent opportuni-ties for PR practitionerswho embrace theseemerging technologies,all of which are predictedto continue growing inimportance as the waysconsumers research infor-mation and increasingly,purchase travel. And thatincreased spendingmeans less spent on othertactics, possibly includingactivities traditionallyhoused within the PRbudget.

Ideal conditions forinteractionLet’s examine just some prominent

trends in travel, to see where currentopportunities for growth are evident.According to the Office of Travel and

Tourism, International visitors have spentan estimated $48.3 billion on U.S. traveland tourism-related goods and servicesyear to date (January through April), anincrease of 13% compared to the sameperiod in 2010. The U.S. travel andtourism industry is on pace for a record-setting year. According to experts, inter-national visitors could inject more than$151 billion into the U.S. economy in2011 if these trends continue.Given the weak dollar, the United

States is a bargain now for travelers fromaround the globe, and likely to remain sofor some time. Do you know from whichcountries travelers are visiting yourstate/city/property/attraction? Do youknow what they are looking for in a vaca-tion? Can you tweet or post on your face-book page in that language, to makepotential visitors feel even more comfort-able? What about a simple “Welcome”card or leaflet in appropriate languagesfor your hotel or visitors’ center, or atranslation for restaurant menu or spaservices?New technologies and tactics — from

Twitter and Facebook to Foursquare,Gowalla, TripIt and others that haveundoubtedly emerged as I write this! —provide swift, inexpensive methods forreaching or servicing targeted markets,while adding to our often-overwhelming

“to do” lists. But this is not the time — ifthere ever was such a time — to say “notmy job.” As the definition of “media relations”

shifts — and the long-standing tactics ofpress releases, media events, fam toursand pitches morph with the adoption ofsocial media, the shrinkage of the tradi-tional media corps, the expansion of citi-zen journalism and the proliferation ofsmart phones making everyone a poten-tial iReporter — PR professionals havean unprecedented chance to redefinethemselves and their firms as essentialguides for their clients through this newreality.

Embracing the ‘marketing mindset’That notion was particularly clear when

I recently attended two travel industryconferences back-to-back this June: thePRSA Travel & Tourism Section/SATWAssociates Council in San Antonio,which drew some 250 enthusiastic PRand communications practitioners, andthree days later, the Association of TravelMarketing Executives in Boston, wherethere were exactly four public relationsexecutives in a total attendance of 150.It’s not hard to see why the

PRSA/SATW Conference — a long-standing annual event that’s on the radarscreens for many of us — drew so manytravel PR practitioners. There was greatprogramming that focused on everythingfrom web analytics to pitching a variety

Travel PR demands a marketing mindset

This graphic illustrates PR’s opportunities to integrate with travel-ers at numerous points in the sales and marketing process.According to Henry Harteveldt’s presentation at the 2011 ATMEConference, today’s companies must now effectively engage withtravelers across a growing “vortex” of touch-points through whichconsumers are constantly-connected.

Source: Forrester Research. June 2011. Used with permission.


By Peggy Bendel

A new media landscape hasblurred the roles and bound-aries of marketing and PR,with interactive technologiespresenting a series of newadvantages to professionalsworking in today’s travelenvironment.



of niche media, networking opportunitieswith peers and media. But the program-ming was equally strong at ATME, withtop executives from Google, RandMcNally, the Knot and more.To quote Henry Harteveldt, Vice

President and Principal Analyst atForrester Research and the newly-elect-ed Chairman of ATME, who gave thekeynote presentation at this year’sATME Conference, “The lines are blur-ring within what we collectively call‘marketing.” PR is marketing,eCommerce is marketing, social is mar-keting. And at the same time, PR is relat-ed to eCommerce and advertising isrelated to social.”Harteveldt’s presentation, titled

“Agile Marketing in Dynamic Times,”outlined many macro-trends that impacttravel patterns — essential informationfor travel PR practitioners — as well asthose in other marketing disciplines. Among Forrester’s findings:Basic types of trips are more popular

with active/adventure travel and VFRgrowing, while 4-7 day trips, 8+dayvacations and even weekend getawaysare dropping, comparing Q1 2011 to Q12008.Nearly four in five U.S. online travel-

ers now also use social media.Social commerce is beginning to

emerge, with airlines, tour operators andhotels now offering the opportunity topurchase travel on Facebook, for exam-ple.Online travel has no borders, with the

global online population expanding rap-idly, particularly in Asia/AsiaPacific/Oceania, which Forrester fore-casts will comprise 44% of the globalonline population by 2014, up from 39%in 2009. North America and Europe,while growing numerically, will dropfrom 16% and 26% of the global onlinepopulation to 13% and 22%, respective-ly.Particularly germane to public rela-

tions professionals, the “splinternet”adds complexity to marketing andeCommerce, with users connecting viamultiple devices, as smart phones andtablets steal online time from laptopsand desktops. Social online experiences,from TripAdvisor to AfarConnect,encourage travelers to connect with theirsimilarly-minded peers, reinforcing that“people like me” continue to be the mosttrusted source of information. Harteveldt noted that marketers must

craft “story arcs” to benefit from themultiple events and micro-journeyswithin a person’s trip, beginning withplanning (“Join our online community to

discuss with peers!”), and through pur-chase (“Would you like to upgrade?”),departure (“Would you like any extraamenities?”), trip (“Need dinner reser-vations?”), return (“Please share yourcomments with our online community,and on Facebook”) and next trip(“Download our mobile app to get thebest deal on your next trip”). Many of these touch-points and trends

provide opportunity for innovative PRpractitioners, and the firms that employthem, to expand their “share of cus-tomer” by developing expertise in theseareas, several of which align with publicrelations better than any other marketingdiscipline. After all, we are the story-tellers and relationship-builders, and wecan help our clients weave together thedisparate and often confusing strands ofmarketing intelligence into a cohesivemarketing plan that leverages the com-

pany’s brand strengths in new andengaging — not to mention cost-effec-tive — ways. Firms of all sizes are embracing that

marketing mindset. Working on theclient side, PR practitioners at airlines,hotels, cruise lines, tour operators anddestinations can bring the same market-ing-based approach to their organiza-tions, by themselves, or in cooperationwith their outside PR counsel. The result? A more challenging, exciting

— and ever more lucrative — path for PRprofessionals with a marketing mindset.Peggy Bendel is an expert in travel mar-

keting, crisis communications and mediatraining. She is President of BendelCommunications in New York and Arizona,and sits on the Boards of the Association ofTravel Marketing Executives (ATME) andthe Public Relations Society of America’s(PRSA) Travel & Tourism section. �

Tweets cost PR firm video game client

Video game publisher 2K Gamesfired PR agency The RednerGroup after the boutique firm’s

president warned in a tweet that thefirm would blacklist writers who pennegative reviews of 2K’s latest release“Duke Nukem Forever.”The company said Wednesday that it

“does not endorse” comments by JimRedner and that “The Redner Group nolonger represents our products.”Redner, a former Director at BNC

PR who also worked at Edelman, hadalready backtracked from Twitter com-ments earlier this week when he saidsome reviewers had gone “too far”with reviews and that the firm was“reviewing who gets games next timeand who doesn’t based on today’svenom.”Redner apologized via Twitter after

the comments were widely coveredonline and said he would contactreviewers individually to apologize aswell.“Again, I want everyone to know

that I was acting on my own,” he saidWednesday. “2K had nothing to dowith this. I am so very sorry for what Isaid.”Reviews of the new game have tend-

ed to be negative.Ben Kuchera, Gaming Editor for tech

news site Ars Technica, wrote thatwhile retaliation from companies and

PR reps happens,it has rarely ifever been donepublicly.“Anyone who

has done this jobfor any amountof time has suf-fered through adry spell aftergiving a publish-er a bad review, but this is the first timethe threat of a blacklist has been madepublic,” he wrote of the Redner inci-dent.Meanwhile, gamers reacted to 2K’s

firing the agency in various forums.“Jim Redner is one of the more dedi-

cated and professional PR people I’vehad the opportunity to work with,”wrote one commenter, aegies, on theneogaf.net forum. “It sucks that a singlemistake is going to put such a crunch onhis career. We’ve all said something stu-pid we wish we could take back at somepoint.”Others were less sympathetic.“One bad mistake is all it takes.

You’re a PR man,” wrote another com-menter, rez, on the same forum. “Ifyou’re the reason for bad PR, that’s it,you’re done. You spend your wholecareer getting **** like this drilled intoyour head. It isn’t a ‘a little slip,’ it hadto have been a very conscious decision.”2K is one of four clients listed on

Redner’s website as of June 16. �

By Greg Hazley



What ever happened to theresponsible press? The pressthat used to check the veracity

of news before reporting it; the press thatwould report facts, not half truths; thepress that would report stories in properEnglish; the press that would limit rumorsto the gossip columnists. And yes, thepress that wouldn’t assume that mosteverything that came from a PR personwas tainted.Those of us who go back a while —

especially those like me who were journal-ists and loved being on the reporting sideprior to entering the PR business — arethought to be dinosaurs by the young com-munications school grads who today arelegion in both the media and PR agencies. Seven specific events gave me the impe-

tus to write this: Rep. MicheleBachmann’s State of the Union reply,Donald Trump, “The Wedding of TheNew Century” (thus far), the presidentialprimary coverage, the bin Laden killing,the Rep. Anthony Weiner saga and myrecent reading of a fantastic book about asports hero and how he was treated bywhat used to be called “the toy depart-ment.”

(So called) “hard news” reportingFor years, PR people knew that the TV

talk shows would follow the major news-papers to get story ideas. Get a story in theNew York Times, Wall Street Journal andother majors and often a TV producerwould call you to book a guest. This stillhappens, but now there is more often areversal: TV now mostly dictates whatnews journals will cover.Want proof? The next time Sarah Palin

and Michele Bachmann send a tweet mes-sage that gets picked up on TV, check thenext day’s newspapers. There it is.Reported as if they were making majorproclamations, instead of self-serving,publicity seeking statements.Bachmann is an elected member of the

House of Representatives. She was elect-ed as a Republican and still is aRepublican. But to watch TV the night ofher State of the Union rebuttal, and to readthe next day’s newspapers, she received asmuch attention as if hers was the officialGOP reply or she was announcing that shewas bolting the GOP to head up the TeaParty.And as anyone who closely follows pol-

itics knows, every time someone who rep-

resents the Tea Party says something, thecameras are all over it. Good journalism orjournalism to create a conversation topicfor the program’s pundits?Just as ludicrous is the TV and print

media exposure that Trump received withhis trumped-up birther issue. Perhaps TVcable news programs should be reclassi-fied as non-reality shows. The coverage of the bin Laden episode

resulted in predictably non-news propa-ganda reports about accusations from Bushdevotees that he was not receiving suffi-cient credit (what a surprise), to criticism ofthe fluctuating information from theObama administration, to rumors that therewasn’t proof that bin Laden was actuallydead (known as the no man on the moonconspiracy theory). Even so-called sophis-ticated broadcasting like National PublicRadio was not exempt from questionablereporting.On its May 7 “On The Media” program,

it featured past conspiracy speculationsregarding bin Laden: he must be deadbecause he couldn’t survive in a cave givenhis medical problems, he was killed duringthe 2001 bombing of Tora Bora, to therecent theory that he was killed during theearly days of the Obama administrationand it wasn’t announced until now.Repeating such nonsense on a supposedlyserious program actually helps perpetuatedisproven fairy tales, which can easily betaken out of context for other propagandauses.Those of us who grew up as journalists

witnessed how the race between theAssociated Press and United PressInternational to break news first wouldresult in scoops that sometimes never mate-rialized. Reporters for dailies had more timeto substantiate information. The heirs of therace to be first are TV journalists.During the bin Laden coverage, their

continuous reporting of rumors as facts, andthen having to correct the information, spot-lighted the sloppiness of TV news reportingduring breaking stories.But, perhaps, the incessant coverage of

the never-ending, on-going presidentialcampaign demonstrates best how TV influ-ences the print media. Even before all thevotes are counted on election night, thecable TV pundits begin handicappingpotential candidates for an election fouryears away. The print media, which priorto the 24-hour cable “news” programswould ignore such nonsensical politicalmeanderings, now follows suit.TV news reporting is also famous for the

misleading, “we have learned” lead-in togive the impression of reporting exclusiveinformation, when every other station hasthe same story and it often has been in thea.m. dailies.The 24-hour Weiner non-sex, virtual

sexting coverage of a troubled personshowed that both TV and print media keepon making it unnecessary to purchasesupermarket tabloids for people wantingcontinuing coverage of salacious stories.(Remember Tiger Woods?)

“Toy department” reportingFor those uninitiated to journalism lingo:

When journalism was serious, and not con-sidered an entertainment vehicle, thephrase “toy department” referred to thesports department of a newspaper.Today, sports sections contain more seri-

ous reporting than in the past. Players mis-conduct and salaries, sports marketing,exorbitant ticket prices and the value ofsports properties are often the subjects.But too often, sports reporters regress tothe old days, when athletes were automati-cally praised and new talents were promot-ed as the next Babe Ruth.Not a season goes by without at least

several NFL football owners being hailedas “the finest of gentleman,” “a true gentle-man,” “someone the NFL can be proudoff,” “a person who has the best interest ofplayers at heart,” especially if their teamsreach the Super Bowl. And coaches aren’t just proficient at

their jobs. It’s as if ownership and coacheswere so concerned about their players thatthey would insist on a complete medicalevaluation after an injury before letting theplayer back on the field, or didn’t needprodding from Congress and the medicalprofession before admitting that concus-sions can have serious consequences.And then there are the ballclub issued

notes and similar athlete quotes that arereported each day. Read one newspaper,read three, all the notes and utterances aresimilar; the notes are often not even rewrit-ten, a “no no” in my “cub” reporting days.A lengthy Wall Street Journal story on June10 even questioned whether reporters’locker room access was still necessary.There have been great sports editors.

Vince Doria of the Boston Globe, HenryFreeman of USA Today, Dick Sandler ofNewsday, Bill Dwyre of the Los AngelesTimes and George (no relation) Solomonof the Washington Post come to mind.Arthur Solomon is a former Senior Vice

President and Senior Counselor atBurson-Marsteller. �

New-age journalism needs old-time valuesBy Arthur Solomon

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REPORT

Travel is on the rebound in the U.S.,though not to the degree mostexperts had predicted or would

have hoped. Like the economy, indica-tions show recovery in the travel industryis occurring, albeit at a snail’s pace, cer-tainly slower than anyone with a stake inthe U.S. travel business would haveliked. There is good news. Spending on trav-

el and tourism in the U.S. increased lastyear by nearly 4%, the first spike aftertwo consecutive years of decline. Totaltravel expenditures in the U.S. are upnearly 8%, and international travelersvisiting the U.S. are up 3.5%, accordingto recent figures by the U.S. TravelAssociation.The U.S. hotel industry took in nearly

$128 billion in total revenue last year, aslight (.4%) increase from 2009, accord-ing to a recent Hotel Operating Statisticsstudy. Hotel demand has continued togrow, with average domestic hotel ratesnow up 3% from last year, according to astudy by American Express GlobalBusiness Travel.Then there’s the bad news. Gas prices

have been horrendous — averagingabout $4 a gallon in the U.S. — a factorthat is sure to keep families off the roadfor lengthy periods of time. Related tothis is the current cost of airfare. Ticketprices have gone up between five andeight percent in recent months (depend-ing on which poll you read), effectivelypushing average prices into pre-reces-sion levels without the customer demandto support it. Instead, airlines are surviving by hit-

ting customers with a barrage of hiddenfees. Spirit Airlines announced it wouldnow charge a $5 fee to print boardingpasses for their customers. The newscomes a year after the Florida-based air-line announced it would also begincharging fees for all carry-on luggage.Tellingly, airlines are now rated last interms of customer satisfaction, accordingto the most recent findings by the

American Customer Satisfaction Index.Meanwhile, U.S. hotel construction is

down nearly 4% this year from 2010,according to a May STR/McGraw Hillstudy. A June 20 New York Times articlereported that even vacation mainstayslike Las Vegas are still reeling from therecessionary pinch, citing “stagnant”occupancy rates on the Strip andincreased local unemployment for enter-tainment workers in the city. By now, we’re already familiar with

the most dismal forecast of all.Unemployment still hovers nationally atabout 9.1%, and according to the LaborDepartment, employers hired fewerworkers in May than they had for nearlya year prior. The fact is, economic recov-ery isn’t happening as quickly as previ-ously promised, and U.S. travelers aren’tspending like they used to.

The new normalAccording to marketing and PR profes-

sionals working in the travel and tourismindustries, consumers wised up duringthe recession. While it was once stan-dard for travel marketers to simply pusha luxury angle (“Live outside yourmeans!” “You owe it to yourself!”), thepost-recession consumer knows it justisn’t good sense to spend frivolously.Sensible questions arose. “I’m payingall this money, so what am I getting inreturn?”The result is an environment with a

smarter, savvier traveler who’s usingtheir wallet to steer the conversation.Today’s travelers want more for less,and according to experts it’s a conceptthat’s here to stay. Value is paramount,more so now than ever.“For the past three summers, people in

the industry said there’d be a day whenwe’d go back to normal,” said LarryMeltzer, Agency Principal and CreativeDirector of MM2 Public Relations inDallas. “I hate to be trite, but that’s whatthis is. This is the new normal. For yearstravel providers and U.S. companieshave told consumers to ask questionslike ‘why pay full price?’ ‘Why buy nowif there’s going to be a sale later on?’

Consumers have been trained to seevalue and now they’re asking the obvi-ous question: ‘Why should I spend?’”Meltzer said PR’s reliance on value

messaging has now evolved to the pointwhere it’s shed its former emphasis ondollars to take on new, nimble nuances.“It’s almost as if the concept has

evolved into two segments,” he said.“The first is simply going for cost, andthe second is more of a conceptual viewof how much you can get for the dollar.It’s about hotels giving more space, oraccess to kitchens. In these cases thevalue takes on a different kind of mes-sage.”Of course, price still matters. Charles

Mardiks, Managing Director of MMGMardiks in New York, said dollars stillsteer the American traveler. The bestvalue conversations, however, won’tsimply slash prices. They’ll offer theclassic American incentive: freebies,deals, the combo, the package.According to Mardiks, the process can

now be targeted so well that travel com-panies can hit up only key segments theywant to attract, thereby avoiding anyalienation of an existing “luxury” basethat may be turned off by bargain mes-sages. More importantly, it can beimmediate.“People are just more value-conscious

now. They’re looking at every nickelthey’re spending these days, and they feelthey’re being cheated if they don’t get themaximum return,” Mardiks said. “I thinkwhat a lot of hotels are trying to do ispush more value, less price discounting.In terms of long-term branding, it’s agreat tactic. It can be the small things thatmake a difference. A customer might say,‘okay, I still spent $400 a night in a luxu-ry hotel, but I got a free spa treatment outof it.’” According to Lou Hammond,

Chairman and Founder of Lou Hammondand Associates, value has surpassed itsmonetary connotations to the point that itcan now be used to imply a learned,

Travel experts: value vacations are here to staySeveral years ago, many travel, tourism and hospitality companies begrudgingly turned to pitchingthe value vacation during our nation’s economic dip in the road, typically with the unspoken assump-tion that we’d soon return to business-as-usual (and who could forget such holiday hokum as the“Staycation” or the “Babymoon?”). While recovery still looms somewhere on the horizon, it’s becomeincreasingly obvious that value is now set to be a permanent fixture with the American traveler.

By Jon Gingerich





Fisherman’s Wharf, andaboard one of the Red andWhite Fleet’s many baycruises.

Travel writers awardedAt the Media Marketplace

Reception, sponsored byCityPASS and U.S. Travel,three travel writers were hon-ored for outstanding writing,receiving awards and $1,000cash prizes.The Discover America

Travel Writer Award Winnerswere veteran journalist MaryMoore Mason, an EditorialDirector based in London,who won a prize for her mag-azine article in EssentiallyAmerica: North AmericanTravel & Lifestyle; freelancewriter/blogger MeganSingleton, whose story waspublished in New Zealand’sHerald; and IlonaKauremszky, Canadian free-lance writer, for her story inOne+ magazine.Moore Mason won in the

“Best U.S. Travel DestinationArticle” category. Her story,“From Oz to Oklahoma,”highlighted Mason’s journeythrough America’s heartland,from the Oz Museum (dedi-cated to The Wizard ofOz film and other Oz-relateditems) in tiny Wamego,Kansas, to the colorful cowboy heritage ofOklahoma City. Freelance writer/blogger Megan

Singleton took first place in the “BestInternational Pow Wow Host City Article”category. Her story featured the newlyopened Wizarding World of HarryPotter at Universal Studios in Orlando,Fla. (Orlando served as the 2010 IPW hostcity). Singleton is a two-time winner of theDiscover America Travel Writer Awards,having received the honor in 2009 for astory on Las Vegas titled “In the Money.”Canadian freelance writer Ilona

Kauremszky authored the award-winningentry in the “Best Trade Article” category.Her story focused on the behind-the-scenes efforts that go into producingAmerica’s largest “visit USA” travel tradeshow. Taking the perspective of the hostdestination and the event’s managementcompany, Kauremszky explored the plan-ning, logistics and endless hours that go

into producing IPW, as well as the posi-tive economic impact the trade show hason its host city. The resulting article,“More than Amusement: Orlando MadeAttendees Smile,” appearedin One+ magazine, the official publica-tion of Meeting ProfessionalsInternational. The 2011 Discover America Travel

Writer Awards received more than 150entries from travel journalists and editorswho attended IPW 2011. During theirevaluation of the entries, judges looked forarticles that featured original ideas andexceptional storytelling skills, as well asprose that would inspire readers to travelto the United States. The 2012 U.S. Travel Association’s

International Pow Wow will be held April21-25 in Los Angeles. Carla Marie Rupp is a journalist and

travel writer based in New York City. Thisreport was assisted by Jason Rupp. �

almost spiritual experience. Visit localmuseums, take a tour, see the historicalsites. Value is no longer about being“cheap.” Value now implies enrichment;it offers an experience that shapes thetraveler into being a better person. “People are becoming much more cre-

ative in how they’re spending money onvacation. That’s a good thing,” Hammondsaid. “Value is now about making youfeel special, it’s about you doing some-thing nice for me. People see vacation asa time when they can be enriched or edu-cated. They can have an experience withtheir children and learn new things they’dnever learned before.”

Americans will always travelValue may be here for the long stretch,

and it may be a conversation where lux-ury brands find themselves an unwillingparticipant. Yet, the good news remains:Hotel yield is up, and there’s still morepeople spending on travel than last year.Consumers may not be happy about gasprices, but if recent studies are any indi-cation, they’ll cut costs in other areas oftheir lives to make a vacation happen. Mardiks cited a recent study where

consumers were asked what they woulddo if they were given $5,000. More than40% responded that they’d spend it ontravel before necessities like payingbills.“This tells us that people really need

their vacations,” he said. “Even thoughpeople equate travel with a sort of luxu-ry, people are still stressed. People seetravel as equally as a state of mentalhealth nowadays. They’re still going totravel, but how they’re going to travel isthe most interesting story. The demand isthere, it’s just a question of how they’llbe spending their money and where.”And travel is still an aspirational con-

cept. You can still hook consumers withthe dream, the ideal, the fantasy. At theend of the day it all comes down to theidea of whether it’s a fantasy they canafford to indulge. “You don’t have to convince people to

take a vacation,” Hammond said.“Americans believe vacations are a right,that it’s a way of life. It’s okay to say ‘Ideserve a vacation.’ They believe it’stheir God-given right to have one.”“People are just planning a little more

carefully,’ she continued. “They want toknow where their money is going andhow they’re going to spend it. They’llseek value but the good news is they’regoing to make it happen regardless.” �

TTRRAAVVEELL ‘‘PPOOWW WWOOWW’’�Continued from page 11

VVAALLUUEE HHEERREE TTOO SSTTAAYY�Continued from previous page


AGNES HUFF COMMUNICATIONS

GROUP

6601 Center Dr. West, #100Los Angeles, CA 90045310/641-2525www.ahuffgroup.com

Ágnes Huff, PhD, President/CEOAnna Jerden, Vice PresidentAdriana Jakobsen, AccountExecutive

Located in Los Angeles,Ágnes Huff CommunicationsGroup (AHCG) is an award-winning, full-service publicrelations, marketing and crisismanagement firm. Establishedin 1995, the agency brings morethan 30 years of collective expe-rience among its strategic com-munications team serving awide range of global and nation-al clients in most major indus-tries. With established expertisein strategic public relationscounseling, media relations,online marketing, product andcampaign launches, specialevents production, and othercommunications assets,AHCG’s focus remains on

delivering best-in-class serviceto enhance client profiles andimprove market position in anever-changing businessclimate. The agency’s specialty travel

and tourism practice continuesto innovate, reaching newheights for its clients throughthe firm’s proprietarySmarterPhD MarketingSolutions© protocol. AHCG’smedia relations specialists stayahead of industry curves bydemonstrating relevance intoday’s news climate, address-ing and improving reputationissues, and changing environ-mental, business and market-place needs to capture mediaattention and demonstrate clientsuperiority and differentials.The firm’s airline concentrationincludes clients such as BritishAirways, Qantas Airways, QatarAirways, Bahamasair and WorldAirways, which have achievedtop-of-mind awareness andshare of voice for their brandsthrough the firm’s commitmentto partnership and passion formeasurable results. Travel industry client experi-

ence includes airBC, AmericanAirlines, Bahamasair, BritishAirways, FedEx, Los Angeles

World Airports, Loew’s SantaMonica Beach Hotel, MojaveAirport, Princess Cruises,Singapore Airlines, TravelIndochina, Turkish Airlines,Qantas Airways, Qatar Airwaysand World Airways, among oth-ers.

BENDEL COMMUNICATIONS

INTERNATIONAL

New York • Arizona • California •North Carolina • Oregon •

Washington, DC • Sydney, Australia

917/969-9919www.BendelCommunications.com

Peggy Bendel, PresidentSue Lomenzo, StrategicCommunications/Social MarketingBill Baker, Destination BrandingHank Todd, Destination Strategy

Travel is our passion, andamong our team, we’ve coveredthe globe — well, not Antarctica(yet)!Headed by HSMAI Lifetime

Achievement public relationsaward-winner Peggy Bendel,we’re a consortium of seniortravel industry professionalswith more than a century’s realworld experience, representingalmost every facet of the travelindustry, including countries,regions, cities, NGOs, hotels,trade shows and tour operators.We’ve created award-winning

solutions to marketing chal-lenges, led teams of top mar-keters, handled crises of star-tling proportions, escorted presstrips, planned special events andpromotions, solved thorny prob-lems, spoken at conferences andtrade shows around the world,written articles and books —and had an exciting and fulfill-ing time doing so. We also enjoyworking in partnership withother firms to tackle specialassignments that might disruptongoing client services, fromcrisis communications to spe-cial events.Public speaking is a forte, as

well: among us, we have servedas keynote speakers, workshopleaders and panelists on the top-

ics of public relations, market-ing, social media, destinationbranding, strategic communica-tions, media training and orga-nizational structure at confer-ences around the world, mostrecently in Canada, Norway,Madeira, Uganda and the US. Current tourism clients

include Arizona Office ofTourism, preparing to celebratethe State’s Centennial in 2012;Peter Sommer Travels (peter-sommer.com), offering historicand culinary gulet sailing andland tours of coastal Turkey,Greece and Sicily; andMontana-based Ecology ProjectInternational (ecologypro-ject.org), pairing US highschool students with their peersin Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuadorand the Greater YellowstoneEcosystem to enhance andrestore wildlife and habitat.Peggy sits on the Boards ofPRSA’s Travel & TourismSection and the Association ofTravel Marketing Executives.She is the author of the forth-coming book “It’s a Crisis! NowWhat? A Step-by-step CrisisCommunications Handbook forthe Global Hospitality Industry.”

BLAZE PR

225 Santa Monica Blvd., Third Flr.Santa Monica, CA 90401310/395-5050www.blazepr.com

John Davies, CEOKaren Gee-McAuley, ExecutiveVice President

Award-winning, nationally-ranked Blaze PR has helped trav-el and hospitality clients stay rel-evant for more than 20 years byfinding their unique voice, theright distribution channel fortheir messages and making com-munications work successfullyfor their business. Based in LosAngeles, with New York and SanFrancisco partner offices,Blaze’s approach to public rela-tions is impactful. The agency isstrategic, using valuable bench-marking and planning processesapplied to creative and integrat-ed PR campaigns designed tomeet clients’ objectives.

Profiles

TRAVEL & TOURISM 7.11

O’Dwyer’sGuide to:

JULY 2011 �WWW.ODWYERPR.COM � ADVERTISING SECTION20

British Airways recently introduced daily non-stop flights on Boeing777 aircraft between San Diego and London Heathrow. BA ChiefExecutive Keith Williams is joined by SeaWorld’s Shamu, PennyPenguin and the BA promotional team as they welcome the UK to SanDiego on its June 1st inaugural flight. Ágnes Huff CommunicationsGroup handled media relations for the much anticipated launch. PRstrategies included arrival press conference, departure gate celebra-tion, inaugural luncheon, business outreach and inbound and out-bound press trips to highlight the new route in target media.

COMMUNICATIONS


Implementing a variety of strate-gies, from off and online mediarelations, strategic partnershipsand promotions or event market-ing and community relations,Blaze has represented more than175 clients in the tourism indus-try. Some of the agency’s award-winning work includes cam-paigns for Marina del Rey CVB,Shell Vacations Hospitality,Tourism Queensland, Westin St.Maarten, and Viking RiverCruises.

COYNE PR

5 Wood Hollow RoadParsippany, NJ 07054973/588-2000www.coynepr.com

1065 Avenue of the Americas28th FloorNew York, NY 10018212/938-0166

Tom Coyne, CEORich Lukis, PresidentBrad Buyce, Executive VicePresident, Client StrategyJohn Gogarty, Executive VicePresident, Travel, Entertainment& LifestyleLauren Mackiel Gory, AssistantVice PresidentMin Tak, Assistant Vice President

Coyne PR’s Travel practicepossesses the creativity, experi-ence and passion to make agame-changing impact on yourbusiness. Our team has man-aged and executed world-classevents and promotions, brandbuilding campaigns, socialmedia programs and media rela-tions for some of the travelindustry’s most prominentbrands and destinations. Clientsinclude: Hard RockInternational, Disney Parks &Resorts, Adventures by Disney,Disney Cruise Lines, SouthAfrican Tourism and the HongKong Tourism Board. TheCoyne Travel team has devel-oped ideas and campaigns thattake our clients (and the media)to new heights — sometimes lit-erally — as in the case with thelaunch of SkyJump Las Vegas,

which encouraged consumers totake an 855-foot leap of faith offthe top of the Stratosphere HotelTower. Our in-depth knowledgeof the travel industry and long-standing relationships with thetravel media help brands standout in the crowded travel mar-ketplace.

DEVELOPMENTCOUNSELLORS

INTERNATIONAL(DCI)

215 Park Avenue South, 10th flr.New York, NY 10003212/725-0707www.aboutdci.com@AboutDCI

Andrew Levine, President/ChiefCreative OfficerKaryl Leigh Barnes, Senior VicePresident/Partner

DCI is the leader in market-ing places. Since 1960 the firmhas worked exclusively intourism and economic develop-ment marketing serving morethan 400 destinations. CurrentU.S. travel clients include thestates of California,Massachusetts, New Mexicoand North Carolina and thecities/regions of Corpus Christi,Finger Lakes, Louisville, ParkCity, Portland, Sunny Isles andWilliamsburg, as well asCityPASS and the US TravelAssociation. Our roster of international

clients grew dramatically in thepast year when DCI acquiredMondotels, a firm specialized inMICE marketing since 1987.Current international clientsinclude Colombia, Copenhagen,Dubai, Melbourne, Monte-Carlo, Namibia, Scotland,Sweden, Tasmania and Toronto.

FAHLGREN MORTINE

4030 Easton Station, Suite 300Columbus, OH 43219614/383-1500www.fahlgrenmortine.com

Neil Mortine, President and CEOMelissa Dykstra, SVP, ExecutiveDirectorMarty McDonald, VP, TourismPractice Area Leader

Fahlgren Mortine providespublic relations services forclients across many industries

and is a top 35 independentfirm nationally (currently #31on the O’Dwyer’s list). Thefirm has been recognized withdozens of top national PR andtourism awards, includingSilver and Bronze Anvils fromthe Public Relations Society ofAmerica, and, in 2010,Fahlgren Mortine received aMercury award from the U.S.Travel Association in the cate-gory of public and media rela-tions.With 55 associates and scores

of clients based in more than 25states from California toConnecticut, Fahlgren Mortineis headquartered in Columbus,Ohio, with locations in

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Daytonand Toledo, Ohio; Parkersburgand Charleston, W.Va.; Denver,Colo.; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; andLexington, Ky.Travel industry client experi-

ence includes AppalachianRegional Commission; OhioTourism Division; U.S.Department of the Interior,National Park Service; CedarFair; Lake Erie Shores &Islands; North Dakota NationalParks; Experience Columbus;Franklin Park Conservatory;and many other destinations,cities / communities/regions,convention and visitor bureaus,hotels/hospitality properties,festivals, attractions and more.

PROFILES OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PR FIRMS

ADVERTISING SECTION � JULY 2011 �WWW.ODWYERPR.COM 21

Fahlgren Mortine team members enjoy some local culture during amedia mixer at the 2011 PRSA/SATW conference in San Antonio, TX.

Hard Rock charged Coyne PR with generating national broadcast mediafor its Winner’s Way Parking Garage grand opening in Hollywood, FL. Tomark the opening, the property hosted the “World’s Largest GuitarSmash” and Guinness World Records was on site to officiate the record.Rockers Huey Lewis and The News led the official smash of 1,914 par-ticipants and the property provided a donation of $50,000 worth of guitarsto music programs in South Florida schools. Media results includedmore than 12 million broadcast media impressions and 200 placementswith national broadcast coverage on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, HLN, NBC’s“Early Today” and ABC “World News Now.”

The August issue of O’Dwyer’s will profilePR firms that specialize in investor rela-tions, and will have a second section pro-filing PR firms that specialize in profes-sional services. If you would like your firmto be listed, contact Editor Jon Gingerich at646/843-2080 or [email protected]


FRENCH / WEST /VAUGHAN

112 E. Hargett StreetRaleigh, NC 27601919/832-6300www.fwv-us.com

Rick French, Chairman & CEO David Gwyn, President /PrincipalNatalie Best, Executive VicePresident / Principal

French/West/Vaughan (FWV)is the Southeast’s largest inde-pendent public relations, publicaffairs and brand communica-tions agency, and is the nation’s18th largest independently-owned PR firm. Founded in1997, the agency is headquar-tered in Raleigh, N.C. and alsohas offices in New York City,Dallas, Tampa, and Los Angeles.FWV’s dedicated travel and

tourism practice boasts exten-sive destination marketing expe-rience, specializing in lifestyleand leisure marketing and publicrelations. Travel and tourismindustry experience includeswork with Divi Resorts and itsnine Caribbean properties, andco-operative destination market-ing with each of the tourismorganizations for Aruba,Barbados, Bonaire, St. Croix(U.S.V.I. Dept. of Tourism) andSt. Maarten. In addition, FWV

has worked with Gatlinburg,Tennessee; Cabarrus County,North Carolina — home toNASCAR’s Lowe’s MotorSpeedway; Oakland County,Michigan; Tweetsie Railroad —North Carolina’s Oldest ThemePark; Branson, Missouri; theOld Salem Moravian village inNorth Carolina; the GreaterRaleigh CVB; the WilmingtonConvention & Visitor’s Bureau(N.C.), and America’s HistoricTriangle, located inWilliamsburg, Virginia. In addition to its diverse range

of travel and tourism clients,FWV works with many of theworld’s leading companies andbrands, including internationalutility provider ABB, the Coca-Cola Company, Wrangler, theJustin Boot Company, Moe’sSouthwest Grill restaurants,spirits company Hood RiverDistillery, and the U.S. PoloAssociation. The agency’s fullyintegrated creative and digitalteam provides award-winningadvertising, graphic design anddigital and social media servicesfor a wide range of clients.

GRAHAM & ASSOCIATES, INC.

111 Maiden Lane, #650San Francisco, CA 94108415/986-7212Fax: 415/986-7216

www.graham-associates.com

Lydia Graham, President andFounder

Graham & Associates offersstrategic national and interna-tional public relations andsocial media for companies andnonprofits in high-tech, con-sumer lifestyle/travel, andhealth and wellness. Its suc-cessful track record workingwith established and emergingcompanies provides results andexcellence in the following corecompetencies: national andinternational media relations,comprehensive company andproduct launch programs, onlinePR, strategic communications,branding/positioning and con-tent creation. The award-win-ning firm (52 top national PRawards, including BestCommunications CampaignNorth America from IBA, theSpecial Creativity Award fromIPRA and the Silver Anvil) isknown for its high ly creativeand effective results-drivencampaigns. The firm operates in11 countries throughout NorthAmerica and Europe throughPlexus, its exclusive organiza-tion of international PR agen-cies. Contact 415/986-7212 [email protected].

HAWKINS INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC RELATIONS

119 West 23rd Street, Suite 401New York, NY 10011212/[email protected]

Jennifer Hawkins, PresidentAmy Newcomb, Vice PresidentAnna Stancioff, Vice President

A New York boutique PRagency, Jennifer Hawkins andher team have extensive experi-ence representing leading luxuryhotels, resorts, spas, destina-tions, and travel products. Thefirm represents a roster ofworld-class clients and fullyunderstands the global big pic-ture issues of today and con-stantly changing media land-scape.They have unrivaled personal

relationships with print andbroadcast media as well as withthe leading players in digitalmedia. Their collective passionfor travel perfectly complements

their detailed, creative approachand undeniably spot-on results.

J PUBLIC RELATIONS

San Diego1125 West Olive StreetSan Diego, CA 92103619/255-9069www.jpublicrelations.com

New York12 Desbrosses StreetNew York, NY 10013212/360-2307

Jamie Lynn Sigler and KimJulin Guyader, FoundingPartnersSarah Evans, Managing Partner

With offices in San Diego andNew York City, J Public Relationsis a bi-coastal hospitality andlifestyle public relations agency,working with many recognizedbrands, nationally and interna-tionally. From distinctive, bou-tique hotel properties to globalcorporate brands, JPR enthusias-tically offers clients uniqueinsight and forward-thinkingstrategies that keep them in themedia spotlight long after the ini-tial buzz has died down. J PublicRelations’ strength lies not onlyin traditional media but also insocial media and new media. TheJPR team devises social mediastrategies that drastically increaseclients’ visibility and footprint onthe web. A sampling of J PublicRelations’ impressive client listincludes Fairmont Hotels &Resorts, The White Barn Inn, TheUS GRANT, Vanderbilt Grace,Washington School House Hotel,The Regent Palms, Lake PlacidLodge, Willow Stream Spas,YCO Yachts, Rancho BernardoInn, Surf & Sand Resort andHilton San Diego Bayfront.

KEITH SHERMAN & ASSOCIATES

234 West 44th StreetNew York, NY 10036212/764-7900www.ksa-pr.com

Keith Sherman, PresidentBrett Oberman, VPScott Klein, VP

Keith Sherman & Associatesprovides diversified public rela-tions and marketing communica-tions services to travel, entertain-ment, media and lifestyles clients.KSA has represented “The New



The U.S. Grant, a Luxury Collection Hotel, has become an icon in SanDiego over the last 100 years. The hotel has hosted numerous celebritiesand luminaries in its day, including 14 U.S. Presidents. J Public Relationshas formed an ongoing relationship with The U.S. Grant, handling allaspects of the property’s PR for almost three years. JPR recently playedan integral role in the planning efforts of The U.S. Grant’s CentennialAnniversary, which included extensive national pitching resulting inextraordinary coverage by top-tiered media such as Los Angeles Times,Today Show, ABCNews.com, Hotel Chatter, Hotel Business, Wine &Food Travel, Successful Meetings, Smart Meetings, and Gentry.


York Times Travel Show” since itsinception eight years ago. Clientsinclude the Montreal Jazz Festival,Luminato in Toronto, The AbuDhabi Festival, New YorkMarriott Marquis, Hertz, TheRyokan Collection (Japanese bou-tique hotels), Shanghai SymphonyOrchestra, Sony, The Onion,Architectural Digest, ColumbiaUniversity, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, TheBroadway League, Bristol-MyersSquibb and “The New York TimesArts & Leisure Weekend.”KSA is a member of the IGLTA

and provides specialize expertisein reaching the LGBT market.KSA has also publicized hundredsof films, network and cable televi-sion broadcasts, Broadway,national touring productions andhigh profile events for such clientsas Focus Features, UniversalPictures, Tony Awards on CBS for18 years, Olympic Medalist BrianBoitano, Bolshoi Ballet and oth-ers.KSA is a hands-on agency dis-

tinguished by innovation, smartstrategic thinking, proactive effort,integrity, personal attention,responsivness and a passionatedrive to deliver excellent resultsfor the clients we represent.The company is headquartered

in Times Square.

KTCPR

77 North Centre Ave., Suite 215Rockville Centre, NY 11570516/594-4100www.Kahn-Travel.com

Richard S. Kahn, PresidentTheresa Oakes, AccountSupervisor

Kahn Travel Communications,also known as KTCpr, is a 20-year-old public relations, marketing andpublishing company formed byRichard S. Kahn, former Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher ofTravel Agent magazine.

Kahn, having spent 22 years asa reporter, writer and editor fornewspapers and magazines, has astrong understanding and connec-tion to the media — the end gamefor any public relations agency.

KTCpr was launched with apurpose — to be responsive to themedia and act as a resource. In thatway, the company has been able tosustain a steady growth based onthe success of achieving results, inlarge part thanks to Kahn’s relation-ships with the media. KTCpremployees have all been indoctri-

nated into the fold, and responsetime on media queries is basicallyzero. Our expertise covers mediarelations, the creation of promo-tions (print, radio and Internet), thelaunch of new hotels and resorts,marketing consultation, crisis com-munication, speech writing andpublishing services.

A testament to KTCpr’s quali-ty of work and the tireless dedica-tion of the staff, clients are alsovery loyal — the Caribbean Hotel& Tourism Association (19 years),La Cabana Beach & Racquet Clubin Aruba (20 years). Other clientsinclude St. Maarten Tourist Office(3 years), Philippine Department ofTourism (5 years), Victoria Cruises(10 years), Travel Impressions (6years), Spice Island Beach Resortin Grenada (13 years), BlueHorizons Garden Resort inGrenada (13 years), Mango Bay inBarbados (11 years), IntervalInternational (13 years), The NewYorker Hotel (4 years), PacificDelight Tours (2 years) and PinkBeach Club Bermuda (returnedafter trying another agency for 2years) and new clients LighthouseBay Resort in Barbuda and AranuiCruiseline in the South Pacific.Key placements over the years

have been TV exposure on“Today,” “The Early Show” andlocal New York news stations aswell as coverage in The New YorkTimes, The Washington Post, TheLos Angeles Times, Newsday, TheBoston Globe, Miami Herald,Travel + Leisure, Conde NastTraveler, Sports Illustrated andmany more in addition to all themajor travel trade publications.

LAURA DAVIDSONPUBLIC RELATIONS

72 Madison Ave., 11th FloorNew York, NY 10016212/696-0660www.ldpr.com

Laura Davidson, PresidentLeslie Cohen, Executive VicePresident

As the media world shifts andevolves, LDPR is constantlyadapting its PR strategies to graspevery new opportunity. Aftercarefully assessing each client’sgoals, we blend the best tradition-al “tools” with the latest digi-tal/social media tactics to gener-ate outstanding, award-winningresults.LDPR believes in a collabora-

tive approach, seeing PR as anintegral part of our clients’ overall

marketing strategy. We are proac-tive and results-oriented, settingprecise goals and striving toexceed them. We are known for adynamic creativity that hasearned us more than 50 HSMAIAwards. And we are proud of thelongevity of our client relation-ships (many have stayed loyal toLDPR for eight years or more).LDPR represents many of the

most prestigious destinations andresorts in the world. Our currentclient roster includesVisitScotland, Tourisme Montréal,Melbourne/Tourism Victoria inAustralia, Bal Harbour, Florida,the island of Mustique, Eden Rockin St Barths, Curtain Bluff inAntigua, Paws Up in Montana,Preferred Hotel Group, Atlantis —Paradise Island, Trump SoHo NewYork, Abercrombie & Kent,RockResorts and Vail ResortsHospitality, and Residence Inn byMarriott, among others.

LOU HAMMOND &ASSOCIATES

39 East 51st StreetNew York, NY 10022212/308-8880Fax: 212/[email protected]/louhammondpr

Lou Hammond, Founder andChairmanStephen Hammond, PresidentTerence Gallagher, ExecutiveVice President

Founded in 1984, LouHammond & Associates (LH&A)is the recognized leader in traveland hospitality public relations.LH&A’s experience in all facetsof tourism from destination,



The LDPR team congratulates actress and philanthropist HollyRobinson Peete, recipient of Residence Inn by Marriott’s inaugural“Resident Mom” award in May 2011.

Sandals Resorts celebrates 30 years of innovation at Lou Hammond& Associates’ New York City offices. Pictured left to right, RyvisSierra and Debbie White of Sandals Resorts, agency chair, LouHammond and Cathy Decker, senior vice president.



where LH&A represents adiverse clientele that includescities and states, counties andcountries, to hotel, spa, cruiseand culinary, is among the mosthighly honored and recognizedin the industry, winning moreHospitality Sales & MarketingAssociation International(HSMAI) Adrian Awards overthe past decade than any otherentrant. The company’s passion as

well as an unswerving commit-ment to quality is a legacy driv-en by its legendary founder andchairman, Lou Hammond,regarded as one of the mostwell-known and enthusiasticadvocates for LH&A clients andthe industry as a whole. The Lou Hammond approach

is no nonsense and straightfor-ward. The company createsinnovative, value-driven cam-paigns for traditional and social

mediums marked by strategicthinking and swift action thatlead to measurable, bottom-lineresults. This method, alongwith an ability to respond tomarket changes quickly, hasearned the company the trust ofits clients and most proudly forthe agency, long-term relation-ships — including MandarinOriental Hotel Group, an LH&Aclient for more than twodecades.This year, Lou Hammond &

Associates has added to theirlist of distinguished tourismclients including: TourismAuthority of Thailand, Marriottand Renaissance Caribbean &Mexico Resorts and Santa Fe,New Mexico.The company also created

mini-campaigns for the annualInternational Festival of Artsand Ideas in New Haven, CT,the opening of HistoricCharleston City Market and the“cultural all-nighter,” SleeplessNight Miami Beach.

MARX LAYNE &COMPANY

31420 Northwestern HighwayFarmington Hills, Michigan 48034248/[email protected]

Michael Layne, President

Since its founding in 1987, thesuccess experienced by MarxLayne & Co. in the travel andtourism sector can be directlyattributed to its ability to createcost-effective publicRelations and digital marketing

strategies that place destinationsand attractions in front of the rightaudiences with the right messagesat the right times.The agency’s travel, hospitality

and tourism practice has encom-passed international, national,regional and local campaigns forlarge organizations, nationally rec-ognized resorts, award-winningrestaurants and hotels, as well asindividual tourist and retail destina-tions.The agency has conceptualized

and conducted digital and socialmedia and media relations cam-paigns, grand openings, promotion-al activities, special events, strate-gic marketing and Media trainingprograms for Travel Michigan,MGM Grand Detroit and Hotel,Best Western, Shanty Creek,Detroit Zoo, America Haunts,Townsend Hotel and DetroitScience Center. Agency clientshave been recognized as the best intheir industry sector as a result ofour award-winning work conduct-ed on their behalf.

MDP PUBLICITY

21 East 87th Street, #5ANew York, NY 10128www.mdppublicity.com 917/359-3512Fax: 212/[email protected] twitter : merylpearlsteinFacebook : MDP Publicity

Meryl D. Pearlstein, President

MDP Publicity is a boutique PRand writing agency, specializing inthe hospitality, travel, food andlifestyle industries. With clientsranging from luxury hotels andresorts to restaurants, destinationsand tour operators — along withexpertise in writing for all types ofmedia — the Agency has deepunderstanding of what motivates

today’s traveler and today’s jour-nalist. MDP Publicity’s ability to high-

light what is most meaningful andinteresting about its clients isdemonstrated repeatedly in theAgency’s emphasis on strategicmedia relations. Creative, interac-tive and results-oriented mediatours, media receptions and mar-ketplaces are scheduled accordingto a client’s needs and budget,with press releases, interviews andpress visits filling out each pro-gram. Taking center stage in all PR

programs is the Agency’s expertisein social media, integrating blogs,Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn andother real-time tools with tradition-al print and electronic media. The Agency works closely with

clients to develop targeted nicheprograms such as app-focused orliterary getaways for TheWayfarers walking vacations;“green” and Ayurvedic/wellnessprograms at Tabacón Grand SpaThermal Resort (Costa Rica); lan-guage immersion holidays forCactus Language Vacations; chef-led biking, hiking, skiing and culi-nary tours for Italiaoutdoors; andadventures-of-a-lifetime forAdventure Center and iExplore. The Agency also specializes in

working on projects for U.S. CVBsand international Tourist Boardsincluding Florida, Bavaria andLouisiana.

MIDDLETON &GENDRON

845 Third AvenueNew York, NY 10022212/980-9060www.mg-pr.com

Yvonne Middleton, Chairman

In its 34th year, Middleton &Gendron continues to represent thebest of the best in travel, hospitalityand lifestyle. With its exceptionally talented

staff, M&G enjoys great benchdepth while also cultivating up andcomers among its account execu-tives. The past year has brought alot of movement — literally andfiguratively. The agency moved tostriking, sunny new offices onThird Avenue in midtown andworked aggressively to launch newhotel, real estate and lifestyleclients.Among the hotels, the agency

successfully positioned The SetaiFifth Avenue as the new heart ofmidtown Manhattan, and Trump



Middleton & Gendron launched the Trump Royal Wedding Breakfastat Trump International Hotel & Tower New York — the first U.S. hotelpackage tied to the Royal Wedding. Kathie Lee Gifford and HodaKotb, hosts of the fourth hour of TODAY, were on hand at the event,which started at 5 a.m. The campaign garnered over 231 millionimpressions, including 9.6 million households during a simulcast ofthe event on TODAY.

Photo: Betsy Low

LLOOUU HHAAMMMMOONNDD�Continued from page 23




SoHo New York as downtown’smost exciting and exclusive addi-tion. Throughout the year, theagency used news events to greatadvantage, designing, for instance,a Royal Wedding Package forTrump International Hotel &Tower New York that yielded phe-nomenal coverage including a livebroadcast from NBC’s TodayShow (see photo).The agency continued to prove

to its clients that the most effectivePR programs integrate traditionalmedia with online and social net-working. As has always been true, M&G

helped its clients transition to newmanagement, design events toattract influencers, create specialon- and off-line promotions, andmanage the occasional crisis. Itsstaff, however, still found time topursue its private board and com-munity work for organizationsincluding Women’s SportsFoundation and Washington SpaAlliance.The agency looks forward to a

year of keeping its core hotel andtravel clients front and center,growing its digital and productionpractices further, and developingstrong synergies between its hospi-tality and general lifestyle clients.

MISSY FARREN &ASSOCIATES

33 E. 33rd Street, Suite 905New York, NY 10016212/528-1691www.mfaltd.com

Missy Farren & Associates is amid-sized public relations agencyoffering the personal attention of aboutique firm while deliveringmeaningful results that impact bot-tom line. Our passion for traveldrives our professional success andour relationships in various travelniches, including: culinary, adven-ture, family, romance, Caribbean,wellness/spa, arts/culture, sportsand more. From strategic mediarelations and social media strategyand management, to partnershipdevelopment and event facilitation,to spokesperson positioning andcrisis communications, we work asan extension of our clients’ market-ing and public relations depart-ments and in complete of theirgoals. A team of agile, professional

marketers, we deliver results inmainstream and unexpectedly out-lets. Our innovative thinking andnever-say-never attitude allow us toconsistently exceed expectations.

Travel industry experienceincludes: Aspen Ski Co.; CaymanAirways; Cayman Cookout; TheCayman Islands Department ofTourism; The ColonialWilliamsburg Foundation;Colorado Ski Country; CopperMountain; Disneyland 50thAnniversary; Disneyland Food &Beverage; Limelight Lodge; TheLittle Nell; The Lodge atWoodloch; Michelin Food &Travel; Montagna Restaurant; TheRitz-Carlton Hotels of New York;Royal Plantation Collection;Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort;The Spa of Colonial Williamsburg;Squaw Valley USA; Steamboat;Stratton; Tremblant; Twin Farms;Whistler Blackcomb; Winter Park;and more.

MMG MARDIKS

245 Fifth Avenue, Suite 902New York, NY 10016212/219-7560www.mmgmardiks.com

Charles Mardiks, ManagingDirectorRoland B, Alonzi, VicePresident, Account GroupDirector

MMG Mardiks is a creative col-laboration of some of the sharpestminds in travel and tourism publicrelations. A subsidiary of MMGWorldwide, a global marketingcommunications agency servingthe world’s premier travel andtourism brands, MMG Mardiks is astrategic communications firmwith personalized senior-levelservice and large agency resources.MMG Mardiks offers comprehen-sive public relations, media rela-tions, and marketing communica-tions services including: digi-tal/social media campaigns, crisiscommunications, event marketing,and partnership marketing. MMGMardiks’ powerful digital/socialmedia practice seamlessly inte-grates new media, social network-ing, geo-targeting, and LiveWebstrategies using channels such asFacebook, Twitter, FourSquare,YouTube, Flickr, and others tobuild digital buzz and business forour clients. In January 2011, MMG Mardiks

wrapped up the “World’sUnluckiest Traveler” social mediacampaign on behalf of TravelGuard North America. Designed toeducate consumers on the benefitsof travel insurance, the year-longeffort provided a lighthearted lookat the disruptions today’s travelersface — from ash clouds to earth-

quakes, and every flight delay inbetween. At launch, the public wasinvited to post their travel night-mares on a campaign microsite forthe chance to win a $10,000 dreamvacation. Entrants were encour-aged to share their stories with theirsocial networks to solicit votes andspread the contest virally. Keepingwith the good-humored theme,MMG Mardiks announced the con-test winner in an unconventionalfashion, enlisting the help of animprov comedy troupe featuringtravel trade writer Harvey Chipkin.The troupe’s performance, whichpoked fun at the year in travel,drew more than 20 editors andwriters from outlets includingTravel + Leisure, Conde NastTraveler, ABCNews.com, andmore. MMG Mardiks’ traditionaland social media strategies resultedin more than 64 million impres-sions and a 20 percent increase insales on TravelGuard.com.Current clients include: The

Colorado Tourism Office, HotelMissoni, Lebua Hotels andResorts, MasterCard, RadissonEdwardian Hotels, Regent Hotels& Resorts, Renaissance ArubaResort & Casino, RenaissanceCuraçao Resort & Casino, TheRezidor Hotel Group, RadissonBlu Hotels and Resorts, Park Inn,Ringling International ArtsFestival, Rocky Mountaineer,Sarasota Convention & VisitorsBureau, ShermansTravel Media,and Travel Guard.

MWW GROUP

304 Park Avenue SouthNew York, NY 10010212/704-9727Toll Free: 866/[email protected]

Michael Kempner, Pres. & CEOAlissa Blate, Executive VicePresident, Global ConsumerMarketing Practice Leader

MWW Group executes strategichigh-impact campaigns to connectdestinations and hospitality brandswith consumers and the media.We’ve represented a full-range ofhotels, destinations, airlines andtravel publishers to create engage-ment, re-energize brands, increasemind and market share, and createnews opportunities. MWW Group has established

relationships with influential mem-bers of the consumer travel, busi-ness and trade press. We leverageour industry expertise to createownable campaigns and position-ing programs that elevate destina-tions and increase traffic and book-ings. Our award-winning digitalteam combines research and analy-sis with knowledge of the socialmedia landscape to develop digitalstrategies that drive travelerengagement. We understand our


Travel Guard North America crowned Dr. Gary Feldman of Ventura, CA,the “World’s Unluckiest Traveler” in January 2011. Feldman, who fell offa cliff during a medical mission in Vietnam, accepted the award during atravel-themed comedy show and media reception in New York organizedby MMG Mardiks. Travel trade writer and comedy troupe member HarveyChipkin (left) and Dean Sivley, CEO of Travel Guard North America (right)were on hand to present him with a trophy and a $10,000 dream vacation.


client’s business goals and designrelevant public relations cam-paigns to achieve measurable

results.In the past year, MWW Group

was named “Midsize Agency ofthe Year” and “Strategic PRAgency of the Year” by TheHolmes Report and “Digital Firm& Team of the Year” and a “TopPlace to Work in PR” by PR News.

NANCY J. FRIEDMAN PUBLICRELATIONS, INC.

35 East 21st Street, 8th Flr.New York, NY 10010212/228-1500Fax: 212/[email protected]

Nancy J. Friedman, PresidentEmily Wilson, Sr. Vice PresidentKeri Firstenberg Prestia, VicePresident

NJFPR’s “Leave No StoneUnturned” philosophy has catapult-ed the firm to the top of the catego-ry in travel and hospitality. Forclients seeking senior level counsel,advocacy of their product and unri-valled media savvy, Nancy J.Friedman Public Relations is afirst-stop. A self-described “mediajunkie with wanderlust”, Nancyand her team pride themselves onlong-term partnerships with clientsand the ability to wring everyounce of marketing potential out ofa property or destination utilizingsocial media, traditional media,events and creative promotions.Our portfolio of clients include: IanSchrager’s Public Chicago(Ambassador East and PumpRoom); Hotel Williamsburg,Brooklyn, NY; Z Hotel, LongIsland City, NY; The Charles Hotel,Boston; Le Sport/Body Holiday, St.Lucia; Rendezvous, St. Lucia;Elysian Hotel, Chicago; BorgataHotel Casino & Spa, Atlantic City;The Water Club - A Signature Hotelby Borgata; Hyatt Regency ArubaResort & Casino; Gansevoort,Turks and Caicos; Grand HyattNew York; Gansevoort Park, NewYork; Hotel Gansevoort, NewYork; The Maritime Hotel, NewYork; The Bowery Hotel, NewYork; The Jane, New York; ThePod Hotel, New York; Apple CoreHotels, New York; Sheraton Hotels& Resorts Worldwide; WestinHotels & Resorts Worldwide; JWMarriott Camelback Inn Resort &Spa, Scottsdale; JW MarriottDesert Springs Resort & Spa, PalmDesert; Spring Creek Ranch,Jackson Hole, WY; The CondadoVanderbilt, Puerto Rico;Doubletree Hilton, San Juan,Puerto Rico; The Courtyard IslaVerde, Puerto Rico; La ConchaResort: A Renaissance Hotel,Puerto Rico; El Convento, SanJuan, Puerto Rico; St.Petersburg/Clearwater, Florida;Cooperstown, New York; The

Otesaga Hotel, Cooperstown, NY;Baseball Hall of Fame,Cooperstown, NY; Fenimore ArtMuseum, Cooperstown, NY;Farmer’s Museum, Cooperstown,NY; The Elysian Spa & HealthClub, Chicago; The Spa atCamelback Inn, Scottsdale, AZ;The Spa at Desert Springs, PalmDesert, CA; Wilderness AdventureSpa at Spring Creek Ranch,Jackson Hole, WY; Ria at theElysian Hotel, Chicago; Matsuri atThe Maritime Hotel, New York.

OGILVY PUBLICRELATIONS

WORLDWIDE

636 Eleventh AvenueThe Chocolate FactoryNew York, NY 10036212/[email protected]

Samantha Allen, ManagingDirector, Global ConsumerMarketing

We know tourism. Our teamconsists of travel and tourismexperts with specific strengths inthe areas of consumer and brandPR, corporate communications, cri-sis communications and reputationmanagement, events management,trade marketing, partnership andalliances, sponsorship creation andleverage, content creation anddevelopment, digital and traditionalmedia relations. Ogilvy PR hassuccessfully elevated brands acrossa variety of travel industry cate-gories including, hospitality, tour,cruise, airline, transportation, tech-nology and destinations. Our com-bination of research-based strategy,break through creativity, and flaw-less execution deliver strong mediatalkablility and business buildingimpact. Our work has helpedclients to reach potential travelerswhere they work, live and play.Relevant travel and tourism clientsinclude the Mexico Tourism Board,Virgin Airlines, Tourism NewSouth Wales, Hilton Hotels,Tourism Australia, Ireland Golf,Singapore Airlines, Brazil,Scotland, France, Chile, Malta andHong Kong.



Florence Quinn, president of Quinn & Co. PR, on break with RichardDavid Story, editor-in-chief of Departures, while shooting LuxuryManifesto, an online series of chats with global thought leaders onthe meaning of luxury hosted by John Vanderslice, head ofHilton Luxury & Lifestyle.

MMWWWW GGRROOUUPP�Continued from page 25

Nancy J. Friedman won the Lifetime Achievement Award forExcellence in Public Relations at the 2011 Hotel Sales MarketingAssociation International Awards. The Agency took home an addi-tional 12 awards for diverse clients including: Starwood Hotels &Resorts; Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown; The Jane Hotel; ThePod Hotel; Gansevoort Hotel Group.

View and download profiles of PR firmsfrom our online database, which now fea-tures hundreds of firms listed in 12 differentspecialty areas, now searchable by Google:

WWW.ODWYERPR.COM


PERITUS

200 South Fifth St., Suite 503NLouisville, KY 40202502/644-0732Fax: 502/292-4101 www.perituspr.com

Peritus is a national, full-servicecommunications agency withoffices in Kentucky, Tennessee,Indiana, Ohio and Alabama, thatoffers layered expertise in publicrelations, public affairs, marketingand creative services. We produceaward-winning campaigns fortourism and hospitality clients,including the City of Gatlinburg,Marriott Hotels, 21c MuseumHotel, Hotel Preston and theLouisville and LexingtonConvention and Visitors Bureaus.With offices in many tourist desti-nations’ feeder markets, we lever-age local knowledge and relation-ships to bring designations to lifeamong target audiences throughevents and social and traditionalmedia outreach. Our work has pro-duced media placements in manylocal and regional media outlets, aswell as national and internationalones, including the New YorkTimes, The Wall Street Journal, TheView, The London Times, CondéNast Traveler, Travel + LeisureMagazine, Vanity Fair, WMagazine, USA Today andSouthern Living. Our relentless,passionate efforts deliver winningsolutions for our clients.

QUINN & CO.

520 8th Avenue, 21st floorNew York, NY 10018212/868-1900www.quinnandco.comFacebook, LinkedIn and Twitter:@Quinnandco

Florence Quinn, President, @florenceqCarla Caccavale Reynolds,Partner, Travel,@Carla_CaccaReySuzanne Rosnowski, Partner,Real Estate, @Suz_Rosnowski John Frazier, Executive VicePresident, Travel, @giraffe1David Semanoff, Associate VicePresident and Head of Food,Wine + Spirits, @dsems

Quinn & Co. combines strongstrategic thinking with our signaturecreative approach to developdynamic and highly effective inte-grated PR programs. We helpclients in our core areas of Travel,Real Estate and Food, Wine +Spirits to achieve goals, reach target

audiences with key message pointsand ultimately drive business. Quinn & Co.’s innovative initia-

tives are recognized globally andhave earned us hundreds of awards;including two, back-to-backHSMAI Best of Show Awards forBest Travel PR Campaign of theYear, Worldwide. We were the U.S.PR firm behind the blockbuster TheBest Job in the World campaign forTourism Queensland where morethan 34,600 people from 200 coun-tries applied for the job of IslandCaretaker. The social-media phenomenon

produced 336,000 Facebook-referred website visits and morethan 3,170 Twitter followers. Over6.7 million people visited the web-site, and 423,000 people voted. BestJob generated $11 million worth ofmedia exposure.We have many compelling suc-

cess stories: We developed LuxuryManifesto, a series of interviewswith luxury leaders, for HiltonLuxury. We invented Martini onthe Rock, the $10,000 martini atThe Algonquin Hotel that was cov-ered by 400 TV segments, includ-ing Letterman, Regis & Kelly, Ellenand Good Morning America, andmade it into Trivial Pursuit. We cre-ated a new niche product,Procreation Vacation, for StarwoodCaribbean.The agency offers a Digital Audit

for social media, SEO, blogs andWeb sites. We identify opportunitiesand challenges then generate rec-ommendations to meet goals, man-age reputation and engage.

RBB PUBLIC RELATIONS

355 Alhambra Circle, Suite 800Miami, FL 33134305/448-7450www.rbbpr.com

Christine Barney, CEOLisa Ross, PresidentTina Elmowitz, Executive VP

Miami-based rbb PublicRelations is a leading national PRfirm with a wealth of experienceserving hospitality entities fromhotel companies and airlines to des-tinations and cruise lines. Theagency prides itself on deliveringaward-winning campaigns that usesmart communications to persuade,motivate and influence consumerdecisions. The PR agency is alsorecognized for best practices inmedia relations, corporate and crisiscommunications, product introduc-tions and digital / social media.

rbb’s Travel & Leisure rosterincludes brands such as HomewoodSuites by Hilton; Zoëtry Wellness& Spa Resorts, Secrets, Dreams,Now and Sunscape Resorts & Spasby AMResorts; and Canyon RanchHotel & Spa. Recently, the firmreceived a Silver Adrian Award byHospitality, Sales & MarketingAssociation International (HSMAI)for its “Flu-Free Guarantee” cam-paign developed for clientAMResorts. In 2010, the firm alsoreceived a Silver Anvil and a SilverSabre for its work for AMResortsand in 2009 a Silver Sabre for itscrisis management program forclient Costa Maya.Three-time winner of the “PR

Agency of the Year” title, rbb givesits Fortune 500 and entrepreneurialclients award-worthy counsel andresults, with the individual attentiononly a boutique agency can provide.Explore how rbb’s employee-driv-en workplace results in extraordi-

nary client satisfaction atwww.rbbpr.com or call 305/448-7457.

REDPOINT MARKETING PR,

INC.

161 Avenue of the Americas,Suite 1305New York, NY 10013212/[email protected]

Victoria Feldman de Falco,PrincipalChristina Miranda Diaz, Principal

Specializing in travel, hospi-tality, interior design, and homefurnishings, Redpoint is a fullservice marketing PR firm with


27

rbb Public Relations puts the spotlight on Homewood Suites by Hilton’snational partnership with early literacy advocacy group, Books ForKids. Bill Duncan, Global Head, Brand Management, HomewoodSuites by Hilton reads “Lewis the Duck Goes to Canada” to a group ofcaptivated children at the new Homewood Suites Books For Kidslibrary in D.C., one of two opened by the Hilton brand since 2010.

ADVERTISING SECTION � JULY 2011 �WWW.ODWYERPR.COM

Redpoint Marketing PR helped kids learn how to “play dirty” atSulphur Springs as part of the Saint Lucia Tourist Board’s “GoBananas” family program.



an entrepreneurial style, brandbuilding expertise, and a pas-sion for results. We orchestratecompelling campaigns that inte-grate traditional PR with sophis-ticated digital and social mediamarketing initiatives.Select travel/hospitality

clients include the Saint LuciaTourist Board, Loews Hotels;The Principality of Monaco;The Benjamin Hotel; TAGGalyean AIA; Woodstock Inn &Resort, VT; Broadway.com;Ripley’s Believe It or Not!Times Square; US TourOperations Association; HiddenPond Resort, ME; The TidesBeach Club, ME; TheKennebunkport Inn, ME; The

Cottages at Cabot Cove, ME;The Old Fort Inn, ME; TheDylan Hotel, Amsterdam;Simon PearceRedpoint executives bring a

“nose for news” to every clientchallenge, ensuring that market-ing ideas have just the rightdash of risk to make them sig-nificantly newsworthy withoutbeing operationally challengingto implement.

ROGERS & COWAN

8687 Melrose Avenue, 7th FloorLos Angeles, CA 90069310/854-8117Fax: 310/[email protected]

Tom Tardio, CEOTara Walls, EVP

Rogers & Cowan offers sig-nificant experience in creatingand executing integrated mar-keting and PR campaigns forclients in the travel and tourismindustries, including resorts andresort developers, hotel associa-tions, government tourismoffices, visitors bureaus, muse-um and cultural exhibits, air-lines, tour packagers, cruiselines and travel magazines.We create PR and marketing

strategies that elevate a client’score messages beyond traveloutlets and into the lifestylemedia through the influence ofentertainment. Our distinctiveapproach goes beyond mediarelations to include destinationintegration, promotions, influ-encer seeding, special events,social media and green market-ing. The agency’s work hasincluded building awareness forhotels and resorts throughcelebrity seeding programs,positioning countries as perfecttravel destinations through des-tination integrations in filmsand television shows, creatingonline content tied to entertain-ment properties, and activatingsponsorship of entertainmentevents. In 2010, R&C receivedtwo Buzz Awards recognizingour work integrating AmericanAirlines into Paramount’sblockbuster film, “Up in theAir.” Current / past clients include

American Airlines, The Islands ofthe Bahamas, Canadian TourismCommission, Travel Alberta,Bodies the Exhibition, Titanic theArtifact Exhibition, RoyalCaribbean, InterContinentalHotels Group, Miami BoutiqueHotels, The Seaport, and theRock and Roll Hall of Fame.

SPRING O’BRIEN

50 West 23rd StreetNew York, NY 10010 212/620-7100Fax: 212/[email protected]

Chris Spring, PresidentDavid Kleinman, Executive VPLauren Kaufman, Vice President

With more channels of com-munication today than ever, theneed for dynamically engagingcontent has never been greater.There’s no longer a box to thinkoutside of! Attuned to the “newnormal” demands thrift as well

as innovation to achieve thecompetitive edge, sparking newbusiness opportunities for ourclients by burnishing publicrelations, social media andbranding campaigns with cre-ative ideas from online market-ing and advertising. We consistently achieve high-

visibility broadcast and cableTV, print and online coverage tocatapult client brands beyondthe fray of an ever-realigningmarketplace. Drawing fromtravel-related areas like foodand wine to architecture anddesign, we forge partner andmedia opportunities rather thanwait for them. We don’t tell ourclients stories, we get their sto-ries told — delivering integrat-ed campaign solutions, leverag-ing celebrity participation inspecial events, on-location filmshoots and colorful spokesper-sons to bring our clients’ com-petitive advantages to life.

Our success in achieving“the visible difference” fortourism boards, tour operators,airlines, hotels and resorts andother travel companies speaksfor itself. We invite you toexplore how we can put ourexperience to work for you.

WEBER SHANDWICK

919 Third AvenueNew York, NY 10022212/445-8000www.webershandwick.com

Rene Mack, President, Travel &Lifestyle Alice Diaz, Executive VicePresident, Travel & Lifestyle

Weber Shandwick’s Travel &Lifestyle practice excels in cre-ating comprehensive marketingstrategies for clients that lever-age offline and online mediachannels, digital media plat-forms, promotions, and brandand entertainment integrationsto speak directly to consumers.In a shifting industry, these pro-grams secure headlines, igniteconversations and drive the bot-tom line for clients.Known for innovation, col-

laboration and creativity, theTravel practice has earnedmajor industry awards fromPRSA Anvils and PRWeek, to arecord 15 Platinum HSMAI



Weber Shandwick’s Travel & Lifestyle practice launched the world’slargest cruise ship in 2010, Royal Caribbean International’s Allure ofthe Seas. The team executed a multi-faceted PR campaign thatincluded an hour-long live broadcast of the TODAY Show with KathieLee & Hoda, successfully generating unprecedented fanfare for asecond-in-class ship launch.

The Prime Minister of Saint Vincent & the Grenadines the HonorableRalph E. Gonzales with Chris Spring of Spring, O'Brien, at the launchof their new branding and Mobile APP, developed by the agency.

RREEDDPPOOIINNTT MMAARRKKEETTIINNGG�Continued from page 27



Why O’Dwyer’s Directory ofPR Firms is so popular ...

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Leaders ranked in 12 specialized categories:agriculture, beauty & fashion, entertainment,environmental/PA, financial, food & beverage,healthcare, home furnishings, professionalsvcs., sports/leisure, technology and travel.

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awards in every major category.In 2005, Rene Mack was hon-ored by HSMAI with a lifetimeachievement award for his con-tribution to the travel industry.Clients benefit from the

Travel practice’s global per-spective and emphasis on col-laboration. In 2011, the practiceled the global launch of theGHA Discovery rewards pro-gram, landing Global HotelAlliance in the pages of USATODAY and The New YorkTimes, while also tapping theWeber Shandwick network andmanaging media relationsefforts with offices in HongKong, London, Sydney, Berlinand Mumbai.Online, the practice shapes

the digital and social mediapresence for clients, creatingoriginal content, implementingcampaigns including theHSMAI award-winning BahamaFridays digital marketing cam-paign, and taking a leadershiprole in online community man-agement. Our clients includes some of

the world’s premiere destina-tions, airlines, hospitality com-panies, cruise lines, attractions,travel products and services,resorts and hotels, as well asonline travel sites. Wealso have a strong team of crisismanagement and corporatepositioning experts.

WEILL

27 West 24 StreetNew York, NY 10010 212/288-1144 Toll free: 866-PR-WEILL Fax: 212/288-5855www.geoffreyweill.com

Mark Liebermann, Assistant VicePresident

Founded 16 years ago, WEILLspecializes in hospitality, traveland tourism. The firm’s specialtyis luxury hotels. According tocompany founder, Geoffrey Weill,his firm takes pride in the fact thatonly two of its staff ever worked inanother PR firm. His preference isto choose staff with talent, charm,personality and a passion for trav-el — and then train them. The transformation of the busi-

ness since we started has beenmind-boggling,” Weill says; forinstance, 16 years ago, we barelyhad an e-mail address, now 95%of our communication is e-mail.” In 2011, WEILL stresses the

importance of concentrating on allPR disciplines. Each client —large or small — is covered by aminimum of three staff members.There are teams that specialize indesignated media and key editors.And there is a team that concen-trates on social media and blogs,including the company’s ownsites. The WEILL offices in New

York’s Flatiron District boast anextraordinary collection of origi-nal travel posters; the entiregallery is accessible atwww.geoffreyweill.com. �


Weill staffers at work amidst the agency’s extensive vintage travelposter collection.

WWEEBBEERR SSHHAANNDDWWIICCKK�Continued from page 28



FFiirrmm 22001100 NNeett FFeeeess

O’DWYER’S RANKINGSTOP TRAVEL AND TOURISM PR FIRMS

11..22..33..44..55..66..77..88..99..1100..1111..1122..1133..1144..1155..1166..1177..1188..1199..2200..2211..2222..2233..2244..2255..2266..2277..2288..2299..3300..3311..3322..3333..3344..3355..3366..3377..3388..3399..4400..4411..4422..4433..4444..

Edelman New YorkRuder Finn New YorkThe Zimmerman Agency TallahasseeLou Hammond & Associates New YorkQuinn & Co. New YorkDevelopment Counsellors Int'l New YorkAllison & Partners San FranciscoYpartnership Orlando5W PR New YorkFrench | West | Vaughan RaleighZeno Group New YorkBLAZE Los AngelesJackson Spalding AtlantaStanding Partnership St. LouisLane PR Portland, ORrbb PR Coral Gables, FLCRT/tanaka Richmond, VAFahlgren Mortine Columbus, OHCoyne PR Parsippany, NJRichmond PR SeattleQorvis Communications Wash., D.C.CooperKatz + Co. New YorkBlack Twig Communications St. LouisJ Public Relations San DiegoPadilla Speer Beardsley MinneapolisMcNeely Pigott & Fox PR NashvilleMDi media group Mobile, ALLinhart PR DenverSinger Associates San FranciscoMichael A. Burns & Associates DallasKohnstamm Communications St. Paul Peritus LouisvilleWatershed Comms. Portland, ORLuckie Strategic PR Birmingham, ALGregory FCA Ardmore, PARon Sachs Communications TallahasseeBridge Global Strategies New YorkShelton Group DallasLandis Communications San FranciscoRed Sky Public Relations BoisePowell Group DallasGuthrie/Mayes & Associates St. LouisBoardroom Communications Plantation, FLGodwinGroup Jackson, MS

$16,288,715 10,009,000 6,470,000 5,932,431 2,680,016 2,507,1282,476,000 1,435,209 1,400,000 1,233,116 930,246 885,012 871,612 782,458 765,767 759,375 750,000 603,064 603,000 557,464 489,640 489,024 471,600 426,466 378,311 331,432 316,602 215,368 200,117 181,477 175,184 158,116 139,106 120,000 100,000 85,890 80,869 66,647 53,700 51,233 35,982 30,136 25,000 22,776

© Copyright 2011 The J.R. O'Dwyer Co.



Professional DevelopmentOPINION

As a Hewlett-Packard shareholder, Ihope new CEO Leo Apothekerturns out to be the world’s greatest

business manager. But as an internal com-municator, he’s anidiot. The new Chairman’spredilection to displayhis ire on paper result-ed in H-P’s stock get-ting pummeled inJune. CEO Apotheker, in a“confidential” emailsent to 10 senior H-Pexecutives prior to itsquarterly earningsannouncement andinvestor conferencecall, warned of “anoth-er tough quarter … (in

which) we must watch every penny andminimize all hiring.” Those are just the kind of words thatsends Wall Street into a tailspin and neces-

sitates moving up earnings announcementsand conference calls. (All of which hap-pened after the H-P memo was published inits entirety by Bloomberg.) Even worse, Apotheker’s memo repeatedwhat the CEO had just verbally transmittedto his top brass at an H-P Executive Councilmeeting. And to make matters worse,Apotheker went on CNBC to announce hewould investigate the leakers!Maybe that’s the way they do things inyour native Germany, Mr. Chairman, butthis is America — land of leaks and skittishshareholders. So next time, stifle yourselfand follow the following half dozen rules inwriting — or not writing! — internalmemos. Rule #1 — Aim highMemos are impersonal vehicles, inappro-priate for supervisor-to-subordinate com-munication. A memo should be written tosuperiors; in the case of Mr. Apotheker, hisboard of directors or shareholders. Apotheker’s initial instinct to verballycommunicate the bad news to his top aidesin the privacy of a management forum wasthe right one. Why he felt it necessary to underscore the

urgency of his words with a memo seems tosuggest that he lacks the confidence that histop lieutenants could accurately retain themessage and transmit it down the line. Rule #2 — No bad newsMemos are not the place for “bad news.”That should be done verbally. By contrast,memos are the place for gratitude and com-mendation, as well as rule changes andnotices. When Apotheker warns his colleaguesthat “the headcount plans we have are unaf-fordable, given the pressures on our busi-ness,” he is announcing dire news withoutexplanation. Rule #3 — Confirm don’t announceDitto, using a memo to “announce” any-thing invariably leads to problems.Examples: How are we to interpret thestaffing announcement? What does it meanto job openings in the pipeline? What ifwe’ve already budgeted for new head-count?It’s one thing to “confirm” what hasalready been announced, but quite anotherto declare new policy via memo. Rule #4 - No ‘I’There’s no “I” in “team.” But there is an“I” in “Idiot.” Using “I” in a memo from thetop sets up a dangerous division, particular-ly in a company seeking to become moreefficient. It’s as if the CEO sees the employ-ees’ task as separate from his own; himagainst them.When Apotheker says, “I can’t stressenough the need to set the right tone ...” theimplication isn’t exactly that “We’re all inthis together.”Rule #5 — Distribute to allPeople don’t like to get frozen out ofmemos. If my supervisor can see it, whycan’t I see it? “For your eyes only” memos, like the H-P chairman’s, are fraught with peril. What ifsomebody gets a copy by mistake? What ifthat “somebody” is so irritated that he orshe leaks it in spite?The best approach is to direct the memoto the entire staff. In this case, there’s noth-ing wrong with reminding everyone that theenvironment is uncertain and that we haveto pull together to sacrifice to make ournumbers. Rule #6 — Count to 1,000The best memo is the memo unwritten.Any time you commit something to paper— or email, text message or Twitter — youare memorializing a missive that can getyou into beaucoup trouble. It’s always better to take a breath, walkaway, and then consider whether you haveto put something in writing. �

Fraser P. Seitel hasbeen a communica-tions consultant,author and teacher for30 years. He is theauthor of the Prentice-Hall text, The Practiceof Public Relations.

Six rules for internal memosBy Fraser Seitel



Financial Management

My first column on this subjectappeared May 2006. The sub-ject of debt versus equity has

not cooled downand is still on theIRS hot list.It is not uncom-mon for a PR firmowner to advancemoney to his or hercorporation. If thecorporation is a “C”or regular corpora-tion, negative taxconsequences canresult.The question iswhether the loan or

advance is a capital contribution or aloan. The essential difference is that aloan is intended to be repaid, while acontribution to capital generally is notintended to be repaid. The problem aris-es if the debt is repaid. If the IRS viewsthe debt repayment as a nonliquidatingdistribution paid by the corporation tothe individual shareholder, there can bean unintended tax liability.

Corporate distributionIn order to determine if there is expo-sure that a loan repayment can be taxedto the shareholder(s), a three-layeranalysis must be understood.The first layer is that a distribution istaxable dividend to the extent of thecorporation’s earnings and profits, cur-rent or accumulated. The non tax pro-fessional can view earnings and profitsas an amount similar to accountingretained earnings. It is not in factaccounting retained earnings, but forpurposes of this column it will beviewed as such. Accordingly, assumethat a corporation has current earningsof $100,000 and the shareholder hasloaned the corporation $100,000. Aloan repayment of $100,000 can beviewed by the IRS as a nonliquidatingdistribution of $100,000 that will betaxed as a dividend. Dividends fromnow through 2012 are taxed at a maxi-mum rate of 15%. (Caution: dividendsare taxed by states that have an incometax at the same rate as all otherincome.) Assume that instead of earn-

ing $100,000, there is a loss of$100,000. Since there are no currentearnings and profits, a dividend will notresult. However, if the cumulative prioryear earnings and profits (known asaccumulated earnings and profits) lessthe $100,000 is positive, a dividendwill result. For example, assume theaccumulated earnings and profits net ofthe $100,000 current year loss is a$105,000, a dividend will still result. The difference between a dividendand a liquidating distribution is thatyour tax basis (cost for example), can-not reduce the amount subject to tax.Layer two is a tax-free return of capi-tal to the extent of tax basis. Assume aPR firm has no current or accumulatedearnings and profits. A loan payment ismade that the IRS characterizes asother than a loan repayment. In thiscase it is treated similar to a loan repay-ment. After the earnings and profitshave been exhausted, subsequent distri-butions reduce each shareholder’s basisin his or her stock. In other words, theloan repayment is not considered a loanrepayment but distributions up to eachshareholder’s stock basis and thereforeis tax-free return of capital. The third layer is simple. After ashareholder’s basis is exhausted fromlayer two, any additional distributionsare treated as capital gains. The gainsare long-term if the stock has been heldfor over a year. Through 2012, the max-imum individual federal income taxrate on long-term gains is only 15 per-cent.

Shareholder loan basisIn determining if a payment to ashareholder is a loan repayment asopposed to a potentially taxable distri-bution, the following factors are gener-ally considered by the Tax Court:1.Whether there is a written promiseto repay evidenced by a note or otherdocument.2.Whether there is a stated principalrepayment schedule or a balloon repay-ment date.3.Whether principal payments are actually made on time.4.Whether interest is charged.5.Whether interest is actually paid ontime.6.Whether there is adequate securityfor the purported loan.

7.Whether the borrower has a reason-able prospect of being able to repay the loan.8.Whether the parties conduct them-selves as if the transaction is a loan.

The Knutsen-Rowell caseIn the above case, John Rowell was anattorney who practiced law thorough aC corporation that he owned. His wifeKathleen was a television and screen-writer and collectibles dealer who con-ducted these activities through herwholly-owned C corporation calledKnutsen-Rowell.In the years in question, the Rowellswithdrew for their personal use about$742,000 from both corporations. Theydid not report these distributions ontheir personal income tax returns.After being audited, the IRS took theposition that about $638,000 of the dis-tributions was characterized as a divi-dend, $102,000 as a long-term capitalgain, and $2,000 as a return of capitalusing the three layer analysis described above. The Rowells disagreed with theIRS and argued that the $742,000 were loan repayments from the two corporations. The Tax Court agreed with the IRSthat the Rowells received taxable con-structive dividends and not loan repay-ments by using the criteria set forthabove and concluded that a bona fidedebtor/creditor relationship did notexist.

Moral of the storyUnfortunately there can be tax conse-quences whenever cash or property passes between a closely-held corpora-tion and its shareholders. Many busi-ness owners ignore this or do notreceive sound tax advice. With transac-tions that are intended to be loans, theabove eight factors must be taken intoconsideration; otherwise the IRS canget involved and recast the transac-tions. You must play the game simi-lar to an unrelated party if you want toavoid tax on loan repayments. The eight factors above are general innature. It is important that you consultyour attorney and/or tax advisor beforeany money is taken out of your corpo-ration. Also, these rules can impact anS corporation (discussed next month).If you would like a more in debt discus-sion of the eight factors, please send mean email at [email protected] I will provide it to you. �

Debt versus equity, revisitedBy Richard Goldstein

Richard Goldsteinis a partner atBuchbinder Tunick &Company LLP, NewYork, Certified PublicAccountants.


In late May, I attended the PR NewsFacebook Conference in New YorkCity. The content I gleaned from this

event was informative, compelling andimportant to my particular trade. So much

so, in fact, that thefollowing morning itinspired me to pub-lish a blog postregarding the event Ititled “15 Must-Knows From ThePRNews FacebookConference,” whereI offered a short listof informative itemsI took away from theevent.The post was well

received, even despite my shoddyattempts at humor after I poked fun at thesalmon at the event. It later ended up appearing on

Ragan.com, Buddy Media and on thePR News blog. Needless to say, I wasthrilled to see my content spread amongmy PR industry brethren. While theinformation was good, it wasn’t all myown. This is why I made the decision tocite each of the individuals I took notesfrom during the day-long event.Less thrilling was the revelation I had

several days later. While doing somebasic research to tally metrics andgauge the article’s reach, I stumbledacross another, eerily-similar article ona popular Facebook-related website.Take a look at the screenshot to the

right. The post I found, published onMay 27, is on the left. My article — theone on on the right — was publishedtwo days prior. Does this information look familiar?

I thought so, as did several of my col-leagues. And through some additionalsleuthing, I found out the “writer” prob-ably didn’t even attend the conference.

Now, as any reporter will tell you,subjects such as Facebook are coveredby many members of the media, so yes,our articles could be expected to besimilar. However, the content for minewas gleaned from the PR NewsFacebook Conference. The subject ofthe latter writer’s article pertained toFacebook and PR tips. What are theodds that five of the writer’s eight bul-lets were this similar — and in someportions, word for word — to mine?Either this is a major coincidence and Ineed to find the nearest restaurant thatserves crow, or my article’s content waslifted and tweaked, then published else-where under another person’s name.Remember when you’d have to write

that one-page paper on who shot AaronBurr in the tenth grade? You’d copysomething out of a book, change threewords in every sentence, and then planto turn it in?From the “Great Aaron Burr Lesson”

came several more — on how to cor-rectly cite sources when leaning onsomeone else for their expertise —whether online, or offline. There are avariety of ways to do this appropriatelywhen blogging, including the follow-ing:• Linking out. As seen in my article

published on the May 25, some of thecontent I posted was information andstatistics that weren’t a result of myown studies or conclusions. By failingto cite the content appropriately, I’mmore or less claiming this knowledge asmy own. This is not correct. To avoid

confusion, link out by hyperlinking thesource of your information to the infor-mation within your post.• Shout Outs. If you choose not to

use links, just give a simple line ofcredit, such as “according to John Doeat DoePR” or “thanks to Jane Smithfrom Smith Communication.” By doingso, you are able to give a clear indica-tion of who provided you that content.If you can provide a shout out and alink, even better.• Footnotes. Everyone has seen

them, most of us hate them. Who wantsto read a sentence at the top of the page,then scroll to the bottom to see to whomit is attributed? Pain in the butt? Yes.Appropriate way to cite someone else’swork? Another yes. While formattingand details may take time, this surefireway of crediting the original author isrelied strongly upon in all areas of jour-nalism and writing.I wanted this editorial to focus on the

importance of proper citation, rather thana malicious piece about someone whodidn’t do it correctly (hence, the offend-ing party’s identity has been withheld).Everyone makes mistakes, and it’s betterto learn and improve rather than dwell onthem.Writing is not easy, no matter who

you are. Take your time, study hard andif you’re going to borrow someoneelse’s content, reference it. We PR peo-ple have a lot to say (at least I do). Let’sdo what we can to help each other learnand grow professionally without step-ping on each other’s toes. �


OPINION Guest Column

Eric Fischgrund is aSenior Account Exec.at Beckerman inHackensack, NJ.

Cite your sources: why plagiarism is never good policy

By Eric Fischgrund

Imitation, the worst form of flattery. On the right, Eric's Fischgrund’s original post, whichwas published on the Beckerman PR blog (beckermanpr.com/blog) May 25. On the left, asimilar post — albeit in reference to a different subject — appeared on May 27, where fiveof eight bullet-points reveal nearly verbatim information. The offending author's identityhas been withheld to prevent further embarrassment.

After publishing a blog postregarding a recent industryconference, one PR pro wassurprised to find his contenton another blog — only hewasn’t listed as the author.



PEOPLE IN PR

Edelman hiresKundred, Clinton

Edelman has hired Curtis Kundred asPresident of its U.S. westernregion, succeeding Gail Becker,

who held that post since 2003. Beckerwas named Western Chair and also willfocus on development of Edelman’s LatinAmerica and Canada regions. Kundred served as Regional President

at Fleishman-Hillard’s east-ern/western opera-tions and Canadianchief. He joinedEdelman July 1 andis based in SanFrancisco.Edelman’s west-ern region generates22% of domesticrevenue from key

clients such as Microsoft, HP, AMD,Volkswagen, Adobe and Charles Schwab& Co. It has offices in S.F., SiliconValley, Sacramento, Los Angeles,Portland and Seattle.John Clinton, who served as GreyWorldwide Canada Chief for nearly adecade, assumes the helm of EdelmanCanada on August 17. He takes over forHeather Conway. Based in Toronto, Clinton will beresponsible for clients such as Labatt,RIM, Starbucks, Kraft, Unilever, andPfizer, 160 staffers and offices inMontreal and Vancouver. Clinton departed Grey in 2008 andjoined Edelman from TranscontinentalMedia, where he was Senior VP/DigitalSolutions and New Media. Before Grey, he chaired J. WalterThompson’s Canadian operations and ranthe global ad business for Kellogg’s inNew York.In citing the convergence of PR, digitaland advertising, Richard Edelmanexpects Clinton’s background to “helpexpand our remit among marketing andcommunications officers.” �

Levy gets extension atPublicis

Publicis Groupe shareholders todayapproved raising the age limit formembers of its management board

to 75 from 70, a move that enables its 69-year-old CEO, Maurice Levy, to continue

service beyond the Dec. 31 expiration ofhis current term.It noted that Levy will continue to leadit through the transformation of the com-munications market through the digital

age and expansioninto emerging mar-kets. He will also havemore time to planfor an orderly succession at theFrench ad/PR conglom.Levy said Publicis

is enjoying stronggrowth this year

and its “robust financial situation enablesus to look to the future with serenity.”In 2007, Publicis raised the mandatoryretirement age to 70 from 65 to accom-modate Levy. �

Edelman’s Wonson toWeber Shandwick

Angela Wonson, a Senior VP inEdelman’s national healthcaremedia practice, has moved to

Weber Shandwick for the Executive VPslot in its health media shop. Prior to Edelman, Wonson ran CalmanMedia, served as Chief Communications

Officer for theCleveland Clinicand handled mediarelations forMSNBC, CNBCand NBC News’Brian Williams.Wonson reports toBarbara Box,President of WeberShandwick’s NewYork and Chicagohealthcare units.

Box is confident that Wonson will bekey in “building a unique healthcaremedia capability, across traditional andsocial channels, to further strengthen anddifferentiate the practice,” according toher statement. �

McDonald’s namesnew PR chief

McDonald’s Corporation haspromoted its VP of GlobalExternal Communications to

fill the senior rolevacated in Januaryby Jack Daly, whodied in earlyFebruary after abattle with cancer.The fast-foodgiant based in OakBrook, Ill., saidthat 25-year veter-an Bridget Coffingwas named SeniorVP of Corporate Relations, serving asChief Communications Officer andoverseeing all corporate PR functionsfrom media relations to CSR and gov-ernment relations.Daly was 62 when he retired. Hejoined McDonald’s in 1992 from its PRagency, GolinHarris. Coffing followedthat same path through GH toMcDonald’s 25 years ago.Coffing reports directly to CEO JimSkinner. In a statement, he said Coffingwill strengthen the company’s efforts to“make a difference as a corporate citizen.” �

Horn makes S.F. leadership change

Horn Group has recruited TimO’Keeffe from Hill & Knowlton tolead its San Francisco office as

Managing Director.He replaces Linda Clarke, who held theMD slot for just over a year and has leftthe tech shop.

O’Keeffe, a SeniorVP at H&K whostarted his career atHG 15 years ago,has handled PRaccounts like Ford,Sony and Dolby.Previous stintsincluded Fleishman-Hillard and RuderFinn.HG, led by CEO

Sabrina Horn, has also added OrlandoDeBruce (VP) from Zebra Technologiesand Vitor Souza (director) of BitDefenderin San Francisco.HG, which is coming off a strong 2010during which revenue grew 23 percent to$7.5M, also has a New York office. Clientsinclude Tibco, WhiteHat Security andAnswers.com. �

Curtis Kundred

Maurice Levy

Tim O’Keeffe

Bridget Coffing

Angela Wonson



WASHINGTON REPORT

Former House Appropriations Committee chairman DaveObey has joined Gephardt Government Affairs. TheWisconsin Democratic Congressman, who was a close ally

of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, declined to seek re-election lastyear, saying he was “bone-tired” after 41 years of service thatspanned nine presidencies.

Obey also works as senior fellow at theWisconsin Institute for Public Policy andService, where he works with students toencourage engagement in governmentalpolicy.In Congress, Obey also chaired theForeign Operations subcommittee andLabor, Health and Human Services subcommittee.Former House Majority Leader and pres-idential candidate Dick Gephardt saysObey knows the ins and outs of government funding like no other. He

admires Obey’s “ability to negotiate, problem solve and developlegislative strategy.” �

Ex-Rep Obey joins Gephardt

Dave Obey

Chris Paulitz has moved to the Financial Services Institute inD.C. to direct communications and media relations for thetrade group of broker-dealers and financial advisors.

Paulitz exits the Insured Retirement Institute, where he was sen-ior VP, communications, marketing and public affairs, leading are-branding of that group.FSI president and CEO Dale Brown said the group wants to“raise the level” of its messaging and communications. It has beenworking the lobbying and PR beat in the wake of Wall Streetreform and the Consumer Protection Act, and as the SEC consid-ers a new fiduciary rule for all investment advice and the Dept. ofLabor may expand its definition of financial advice. Paulitz was a Republican Hill aide, including communicationsroles with Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) and GeorgeVoinovich (R-Ohio). FSI is chaired by Bill Dwyer of LPL Financial. �

Financial advisors tap D.C. pro

Joe Lockhart, the former Clinton White House press sec-retary who founded Glover Park Group in 2001, is slatedto join Facebook as VP of global communications.

Lockhart’s appointment comes weeks after reports that thesocial networking giant was in discussions with former Obamapress secretary Robert Gibbs. It also gives Facebook politicaland PR experience at a time of scrutiny over privacy issues anda rumored IPO for the company.Lockhart, along with Al Gore staffers Michael Feldman and

Carter Eswek, built Glover Park into a Democrat-heavy PR andpublic affairs shop with operations in New York andWashington, D.C., that handles corporate, political and issueswork.At Palo Alto-based Facebook, which he is slated to join July

15, he’ll report to global VP of communications ElliottSchrage, an attorney who moved to Facebook from Google in2008. He’ll manage the company’s coporate, policy and inter-national communications teams.Brandee Barker, a former Zeno Group VP, left Facebook

after four years in November.Lockhart, a former journalist, worked on the agency side at

Bozell Sawyer Miller in the early ’90s in between stints in pol-itics with Dukakis-Bentsen in ’88 and the Clinton-Gore reelec-tion in ’96. He was a producer and assignment editor/managerfor SKY TV, CNN and ABC. �

Facebook friends Lockhart

Ex-Congressman Hill to APCO

Students First, the school reform group led by former D.C.schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, has brought in a for-mer Obama campaign aide and veteran Democratic PR

hand as VP of communications.The hire of a Democrat, Hari Sevugan, comes as Rhee, the

PR-savvy controversial advocate of overhauling public educa-tion, has drawn the ire of some Democrats and teachers’ unionswith her calls for overhauling public education, appearanceswith Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and pledged support ofschool vouchers.Sevugan is a former spokesman for President Obama’s 2008

campaign and was communications director for Sen. ChrisDodd (D-Conn.), in addition to working Dodd’s flirtation withthe presidency in ’08.Sevugan is as a former national press secretary for the

Democratic National Committee.�

Rhee adds Democratic PRhand to reform push

Baron Hill, the five-term Indiana DemocraticCongressman who was defeated by Republican ToddYoung in November, is now senior VP in APCO

Worldwide’s government relations practice.In his 10-year service on Capitol Hill, the Hoosier was a

member of the Armed Services, Joint Economic, Science &Technology and Energy & Commerce Committees.Earlier, he was a state Congressman for eight years and finan-

cial analyst at Merrill Lynch.

Hill, 57, expects his “lasting networks” that he built will ben-efit APCO clients that work the political landscape.He also becomes a member of APCO’s International

Advisory Council. �



International PR News

Aloysius Butler & Clark (AB&C) Philadelphia LLC, Philadelphia, Pa., registered May 24, 2011 for Netherlands Foreign InvestmentAgency, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Washington, D.C., regarding engaging in advertising, direct marketing and public relations to influence theaudiences toward a greater awareness of the Netherlandsʼ advantages as a foreign investment locale. Services include research, planning,preparing and distributing promotional messages and tools.

Blank Rome Government Relations LLC, Washington, D.C., registered June 8, 2011 for The Trust Company of the Marshall Islands, Inc.(TCMI), Majuro, Marshall Islands, regarding representing the principal in connection with outreach and education efforts directed at Congress toaddress the developments arising from the U.S. Coast Guardʼs release of “Volume 1” of the Joint Investigation Teamʼs report of investigation intothe Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Dutko Worldwide, LLC, Washington, D.C., registered May 19, 2011 for Moroccan American Center for Policy, Washington, D.C., regardingpublic relations activities aimed at impacting U.S. opinion leaders concerning U.S./Moroccan relations.

� NNEEWW FFOORREEIIGGNN AAGGEENNTTSS RREEGGIISSTTRRAATTIIOONN AACCTT FFIILLIINNGGSSFARA News

Below is a list of select companies that have registered with the U.S. Department of Justice, FARA Registration Unit, Washington,D.C., in order to comply with the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, regarding their consulting and communications work onbehalf of foreign principals, including governments, political parties, organizations, and individuals.

� NNEEWW LLOOBBBBYYIINNGG DDIISSCCLLOOSSUURREE AACCTT FFIILLIINNGGSSBelow is a list of select companies that have registered with the Secretary of the Senate, Office of Public Records, and the Clerkof the House of Representatives, Legislative Resource Center, Washington, D.C., in order to comply with the Lobbying DisclosureAct of 1995. For a complete list of filings, visit www.senate.gov.

Empire Consulting Group, Washington, D.C., registered June 3, 2011 for Visa, Inc., Washington, D.C.., regarding H.R. 1081, ConsumersPayment System Protection Act; S. 968, Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity & Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011.

Harlow Government Relations LLC, McLean, Va., registered June 13, 2011 for Go Daddy.com, Washington, D.C., regarding piracy (intellec-tual property theft on the Internet), rogue Internet sites, privacy, spam, pharming, phishing, patent reform, Internet governance (ICANN and newgTLDs), and cybersecurity.

Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti, Inc., Washington, D.C., registered June 7, 2011 for PayPal, Washington, D.C., regarding implementation ofDodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, cybersecurity, tax issues, and IRS oversight.

The Nickles Group, LLC, Washington, D.C., registered June 13, 2011 for Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), New York, N.Y., regarding copyright issues.

Ulman Public Policy Federal Relations, Reston, Va., registered May 26, 2011 for Retail Industry Leaders Association, Arlington, Va.,regarding advising on legislative and regulatory developments related to laws governing the workplace.

Lobbying News

Lee was questioned earlier this month by the British House ofCommons on the Qatar bid and said there was no wrongdoing.

Qatar denies reportsThe Qatar Football Association issued a nearly 1,700 statementlast month denying the allegations and crit-icizing the report. “To have this achievement tarnished bycompletely unsubstantiated and false allegations and for those allegations to bepropounded by the Parliament of theUnited Kingdom is something we find dis-tressing, insulting and incomprehensible,”said the QFA.The episode has had a deleterious effecton the image of FIFA, which recently sus-pended two executive members after theyallegedly tried to sell their votes for 2018and 2022. One of the executives then released a memo from thesoccer governing body’s general secretary, Jerome Valcke, claim-ing Qatar “bought” the 2022 World Cup, although Valcke latersaid he was referring to the country’s lavish spending on its bid.The New York Times, in a front-page piece on June 2, saidFIFA’s longtime president was nevertheless re-elected this weekafter he ran unopposed. �

Amid corruption allegations over Qatar’s successfulpitch for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the PR campaignthat boosted the bid was denied a top award by voters

for the Chartered Institute for PR’s annual competition thisweek.Vero Communications’ effort for the Qatar 2022 bid commit-tee was named a finalist for a CIPR Excellence Award in theglobal PR category, but lost to a Unilever campaign by Salt PRat the annual event June 1. The country’s victory was a surprise around the world andVero’s entry for the PR competition was titled “From LongShot to 2022 World Cup Host.” Qatar in December beat the U.S., Australia, South Korea andJapan for the 2022 tournament.The country has been besieged by allegations last monthsparked when the Sunday Times of London reported on andgave evidence to the British Parliament that FIFA officials took$1.5M bribes from Qatar in the competition for hosting dutiesfor the world’s most-watched sporting event. The allegationsalso claimed that payments were made to FIFA voters to swaythe 2010 bid campaign.London-based Vero Communications is led by Mike Lee,who headed PR for London’s successful 2012 Olympic bid.

Qatar World Cup PR bid denied award

Mike Lee



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Cooney/Waters Group is a mid-sized firm headquartered in NewYork City that provides the full range of public relations and pub-lic affairs services to health care, pharmaceutical and biotechnol-ogy enterprises in the non-profit, government, academic andindustrial sectors throughout the world. Cooney/Waters has aculture of honesty, hard work, collegiality and respect.

This Vice President position is responsible for managing day-to-day activities for a high-profile, fast-paced pharmaceuticalaccount that encompasses a broad spectrum of PR activities,including third-party collaborations, un-branded awareness initia-tives and branded product support. Previous experience inepilepsy and/or rheumatology (e.g., product support, advocacyrelations, media) is a plus.

Primary Responsibilities:•Direct strategy and provide counsel to clients.•Develop plans and budgets - from research and creative ideasto writing program and budgets.•Supervise client activities and agency account team(s) fromstrategic vision to tactical execution, details and account admin-istration.•Manage profitability and financial aspects of accounts.•Identify and develop opportunities for growth of existing and newaccounts. •Manage and develop account staff; monitor staff developmentand identify needs and opportunities for training/experience.

Ideal Candidate:6+ years of public relations agency or combination of agency plusin-house pharmaceutical/corporate or non-profit healthcare com-munications experience. Experience with national and localmarket PR campaign management, media relations, scientificdata meetings and data announcements, product launches,familiarity with the FDA approvals and advisory committee meet-ings. Financial management of budgets $500,000+. Must be fastlearner and motivated for success and growth of self, team andaccounts.

Senior Account Executive/Account Supervisor/VP

Sloane & Company is an industry-leading strategic communi-cations firm specializing in corporate and financial public relations, investor relations, transaction support, public affairs,crisis and litigation support.

Sloane & Company has a compelling career opportunity for ahigh-energy, motivated, Associate-level corporate communica-tions professional. An ideal candidate will have at least 3-5years of corporate public relations experience, a strong graspof basic public relations tools, and solid research, writing andediting skills. Candidate should be a quick study with the abil-ity to grasp complicated issues, think proactively and have astrong handle on, and interest in current events.

Requirements include and are not limited to:•Solid computer skills•Excellent oral and written communications skills•Facilitate communications between members of client teamand client•Ability to multi task, manage deadlines, and handle pressurein a fast-paced environment•Maintain close, high level working relationships with clients,journalists, and analysts.•Daily media monitoring•General client administrative tasks

Qualifications:•Bachelors Degree•Strong background in corporate public relations, journalismand/or finance•3-5 years of corporate communications and financial media,or a related field•Experience with publicly-traded and privately-held companies•Superior presentation and written communication skills•Only applicants with 3-5 years relevant CORPORATE and /orHEALTHCARE PUBLIC RELATIONS experience will be con-sidered.

Please send resume with cover letter to: Mariella Capuano,[email protected]



Milton Public Relations Strategies271 Madison Ave., Suite 600, New York, NY 10016212/679-2471; fax: 212/[email protected]; www.miltonpr.comConsumer, financial, tech PR.Employees: 12. Founded: 1972.

Agency Statement: Media-oriented Milton PR will give you an extra set of eyesand ears on your competitive environment and win you important recognition inthe key media that will reach your customers. Our staffers are in daily contactwith a host of general and trade media reporters, checking on word-of-mouthabout our clients and their products and getting advance word of opinion-formingarticles and features in media.

We’ll bring you a steady stream of ideas to increase the visibility of your companyand at low cost compared to print and broadcast advertising. We will bring you anin integrated program that will use all forms of communications. You'll findreporters consider us to be a dependable source of information and help and thatthey rely on us to bring them good stories.

We’ll help you to put your newsworthy material in a form that will get their attention. Our key staffers have decades of experience in our three specialtyareas--consumer, financial and technology.

Give us a chance to visit you and come up with some sample ideas for your business at no charge. Milton PR Strategiesoperates both nationally and internationally through membership in a worldwide network of major PR firms.

Christine Milton, chair and CEO; Fritz Carlson, executive VP; Ludwig Oppenheimer, George Smith, Brenda Nowling,Lucille Ridge, Hamlet Cohen, Joseph Bloomberg, VPs; Rita Corbin, Henry Holt, Jacob Westmeyer, A/Es

1450 Chittenden Square, London WA5 2DN, U.K44-171-594-2123; fax: [email protected] Billingsley, director

ABC IndustriesCooper IndustriesDanielle Hair DressersEffable SoftwareFreight Carriers of MobileGeorgetown ComputersHat Makes of MadisonMental Magic SoftwareOpulent SecuritiesQuasar FinancialTellula Tourism Council Thomas & Thomas Inc.Versatile Technology Corp.Wilson Spaw & Ryder LLCYoungstown Civic Club

Christine Milton, Chair/CEO

List your PR firm on odwyerpr.com & get a year’s access to all our online content

Listings are indexed alphabetically,geographically and by the following 20PR specialties:-Agriculture

-Beauty & Fashion

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Sign-up online at odwyerpr.com or call toll free: 866/395-7710


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