If you are a potential Black Ink PR client, and would like to see a few more work samples, kindly write to us directly via the contact form and we would be delighted to share them with you.
Los Angeles, CA — Nov. 18, 2016 – Black Ink PR is pleased and proud to have won two PRism “Awards for Excellence” at the 52nd Annual Public Relations Society of America – L.A. (“PRSA-LA”) Awards Show.
PRSA-LA bestowed honors on BIPR for Excellence in two separate categories:
Strategic Campaigns & Programs – Marketing,
and
Tactical Programs – Social Media.
BIPR was engaged Jan. 15, 2016 by a large Southern California summer day camp, to boost its enrollment by marketing to L.A. schoolchildren and their parents. At its May 15, campaign conclusion, the client had more than doubled its number of campers enrolled, year over year.
Oakland, CA — Feb. 26, 2016 –Black Ink PR partners Margot Black and Jeanne Sullivan just took home the state’s top honor for tourism public relations and marketing – a Visit California Poppy Award. The team accepted the Best PR Campaign award in their category at a special gala Tuesday evening, Feb. 23, in Oakland, California.
Black Ink PR’s win was earned for a campaign implemented in 2014 for Visit San Luis Obispo County, with the Sunset SAVOR the Central Coast 2014 food and wine festival. The firm was delighted to be in the company of the other outstanding finalists for the honors that included The San Diego Tourism Authority and London West Hollywood. Black Ink PR’s produced a hugely successful PR campaign that leveraged a modest budget to produce $47 million in publicity value for Sunset SAVOR the Central Coast 2014 food and wine festival, and 272 million impressions for SAVOR and the destination Visit San Luis Obispo County.
For the third year in a row, Black Ink PR bested its own record-breaking results by successfully managing the PR for “Sunset SAVOR the Central Coast.” This is a unique partnership between Sunset Magazine, the West’s leading lifestyle brand, and Visit San Luis Obispo County, the destination marketing organization for San Luis Obispo County, which is located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
What was different in the 2014 results, apart from boosting the ad equivalent value ten percent, or $4 million, to $46.9 million from its own 2013 record of $42 million which in turn beat its 2012 record $36 million by 16 percent?
In November, 2015, BIPR received one of the PR industry’s highest awards from the prestigious Public Relations Society of America, the 51st Annual PRSA-LA PRism Award for Excellence in the tourism category in recognition of this massively successful campaign on a moderate PR budget. (click here for news release: http://bit.ly/1UAxuzh)
In fact, revenues from the four-day event boosted the local economy by $4.48 million, trending closely with 2013. The total economic impact from attendee spending in region was $1.15 million. The public relations efforts for the event garnered over 300 million total media impressions with a publicity value of $46.9 million. The event charmed food and wine lovers from across California and the country with 36 percent of attendees coming from outside of San Luis Obispo County – a key metric and an increase over 2013 — that included Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and the Central Valley.
The annual, four-day lifestyle event takes place at the renowned Santa Margarita Ranch and throughout the region highlighting the destination’s unique locations.
The September 2014 event highlighted the talents of winemakers, celebrity chefs, brew masters, fishermen, artisanal food producers, Sunset experts, and featured special evening events and adventure tours to promote the destination.
Challenge
A growing number of cities and regions such as SLO County are creating special events like SAVOR to draw easily trackable and highly profitable tourism revenue and tax dollars. The key challenge for the SAVOR PR team was to figure out how to break through the noise and generate media coverage outside the local area to attract out-of town visitors who will not only attend the event, but will stay in local hotels and visit other attractions during their stay. Black Ink PR’ also had a limited marketing and PR budget, so they had to design a program that featured only the most impactful programs.
Solution: On a Festival Field of Dreams, if Black Ink PR Builds It, They Will Come
The Black Ink PR team went to work, creating a series of five news releases and pitches to build the SAVOR story and attract media interest. Margot Black and Jeanne Sullivan organized a special SAVOR and destination media tour and created on-site media events to engage media. Black Ink PR then worked the phones — and the firm’s media contacts — for an intense period of about eight weeks to secure the right media attendance on the media tour and on-site at the event. We also secured several high-impact TV and radio promotions prior to the event to boost ticket sales.
The campaign culminated in the event itself: confirming and servicing 25 journalists; hosting the media room, arranging photo opps, television and print interviews; providing talking points and serving as ‘handlers’ at the side of SAVOR spokespeople and event culinary and wine experts; and doing the extensive post-event follow up with all the journalists working on their stories, fact checking, arranging follow up interviews. All efforts were integrated with the event brand and related efforts, such as social media and advertising.
Huge Success, Measurable Results
The numbers below speak for themselves, and exemplify the dramatic results that can be achieved from a strategic, lean and mean approach. We generated over 300 million impressions representing $46.9 million in publicity value, including 392 articles from press releases alone.
Highlights: Facing substantial funding reductions, teacher job cuts and perilously low enrollment in an unprecedented competitive market for students, 97 year-old Valley View Elementary School engaged Black Ink PR to conceive and implement a multi-dimensional campaign designed to dramatically increase enrollment – with less than a month to go to the start of the next school year.
Bottom line: When everyone else said it couldn’t be done, impossible? BIPR delivered and exceeded all program objectives.
As a result, BIPR in November, 2015 was awarded the top honor from the Public Relations Society of America, L.A. for an outstanding success against all odds (click here for news release: https://blackinkpr.com/black-ink-pr-wins-two-prism-awards-at-prsa-la-51st-annual-awards-2/)
OVERVIEW
Founded in 1917, Valley View is a public elementary school, K-6th grade, nestled in the Hollywood Hills. Nearby neighborhoods are Outpost Estates, Cahuenga Pass, the Hollywood Dell and Hollywood Knolls. Its population of approximately 250 students is multicultural and ethnically diverse. It offers the SAS (School for Advanced Studies) program for qualified students, and its current API score of 822 ranks well above the state and national averages.
Problem: With little to no public visibility, in the prior school year (2014/15) Valley View had precariously low enrollment threatening two out of its 12 staff teacher jobs and reduced funding all of which would’ve required combining classes. Same as at any school in America, its Principal was the target of slander from a couple detractors but, in a PR vacuum, those voices seemed far bigger than the reality.
Nearby public schools had high visibility, enrollments and long, legendary waiting lists. Valley View students were being poached by aggressive new charter schools. Slow to recognize the new 21st century education paradigm, many schools don’t think about PR and Valley View was no exception. By the time Black Ink PR was engaged in August 2014, it had less than one month to increase enrollment by at least 14 students (about 10%) Black Ink PR accepted the challenge – pro bono.
OBJECTIVES
RESEARCH
TARGET AUDIENCE
Parents of children “K to 5” within ten miles.
EXECUTION
Strategy: Conceive a multi-faceted, multi-channel but entirely localized PR strategy that publicized the school’s outstanding quality, countered the slander of a couple isolated detractors, and clearly communicated the opportunity for area parents to enroll children at one of the highest ranked public (free) elementary schools in L.A. The theme: “An Undiscovered Gem of a School.”
With the minimum enrollment hard deadline just three short weeks away, Black Ink PR adopted Valley View as its pro bono client and went to work. The campaign consisted of:
Unique Public School is Best-Kept Secret, Needs More Students
A school garden with veggies kids can take home? Free music classes after school? Ballroom dancing? Quilt classes? Small classes? Good test scores? Workshop studies? A state-of-the-art computer lab? A working library with a librarian who knows every name of every child and what their reading tastes are!
All this exists in one of the smallest schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District—a public school! It’s not a magnet, it’s not a charter, but people have driven nearly an hour to get their children to school every day, and others have championed the diversity of the classes offered in this elementary school. It’s a School for Advanced Studies, and the school will be 100 years old in 2017. But Valley View Elementary School is in trouble… www.examiner.com/article/unique-public-school-is-best-kept-secret-and-needs-more-students
MEASUREMENT/EVALUATION
Phase I: Valley View met its immediate enrollment objective of 14 new students in just three weeks, securing the position of all 12 teachers and maintaining funding levels that would’ve been lost otherwise.
Phase II (August 2014 – July 2015): As of summer 2015, Valley View has the highest kindergarten attendance on record. All other classes filled to capacity.
RESULTS
Valley View is still a gem, but no longer undiscovered thanks to the benefit of its well-deserved positive PR.
“Sunset SAVOR the Central Coast” is a unique partnership between Sunset Magazine, the West’s leading lifestyle brand, and Visit San Luis Obispo County, the destination marketing organization for San Luis Obispo County, which is located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The annual, four-day lifestyle event takes place at the renowned Santa Margarita Ranch and throughout the region highlighting the destination’s unique locations.
The September 2012 event highlighted the talents of winemakers, celebrity chefs, brew masters, fishermen, artisanal food producers, Sunset experts, and featured special evening events and adventure tours to promote the destination..
Challenge
A growing number of cities and regions such as SLO County are creating special events like SAVOR to draw easily trackable and highly profitable tourism revenue and tax dollars. The key challenge for the SAVOR PR team was to figure out how to break through the noise and generate media coverage outside the local area to attract out-of town visitors who will not only attend the event, but will stay in local hotels and visit other attractions during their stay. Black Ink PR’ also had a limited marketing and PR budget, so they had to design a program that featured only the most impactful programs.
Solution: On a Festival Field of Dreams, if Black Ink PR Builds It, They Will Come
The Black Ink PR team went to work, creating a series of five news releases and pitches to build the SAVOR story and attract media interest. Margot Black and Jeanne Sullivan organized a special SAVOR and destination media tour and created on-site media events to engage media. Black Ink PR then worked the phones — and the firm’s media contacts — for an intense period of about eight weeks to secure the right media attendance on the media tour and on-site at the event. We also secured several high-impact TV and radio promotions prior to the event to boost ticket sales.
The campaign culminated in the event itself: confirming and servicing 70 journalists; hosting the media room, arranging photo opps, television and print interviews; providing talking points and serving as ‘handlers’ at the side of SAVOR spokespeople and event culinary and wine experts; and doing the extensive post-event follow up with all the journalists working on their stories, fact checking, arranging follow up interviews. All efforts were integrated with the event brand and related efforts, such as social media and advertising.
Huge Success, Measurable Results
The numbers below speak for themselves, and exemplify the dramatic results that can be achieved from a strategic, lean and mean approach. We generated 304 million impressions representing nearly $36 million in publicity value, including 392 articles from press releases alone.
Subsequently, SAVOR/Visit San Luis Obisbo (SLO) has renewed the Black Ink PR engagement to promote SAVOR and SLO’ County’s vital tourism destination message regionally and nationally on an ongoing basis.
For a detailed breakdown on the various television, print and web-based media coverage generated on this project, see: www.blackinpr.com/SAVORPPT
Los Angeles, CA — Nov. 18, 2016 – Black Ink PR is pleased and proud to have won two PRism “Awards for Excellence” at the 52nd Annual Public Relations Society of America – L.A. (“PRSA-LA”) Awards Show.
For the third year in a row, Black Ink PR bested its own record-breaking results by successfully managing the PR for “Sunset SAVOR the Central Coast.” This is a unique partnership between Sunset Magazine, the West’s leading lifestyle brand, and Visit San Luis Obispo County, the destination marketing organization for San Luis Obispo County, which is located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
What was different in the 2014 results, apart from boosting the ad equivalent value ten percent, or $4 million, to $46.9 million from its own 2013 record of $42 million which in turn beat its 2012 record $36 million by 16 percent?
In November, 2015, BIPR received one of the PR industry’s highest awards from the prestigious Public Relations Society of America, the 51st Annual PRSA-LA PRism Award for Excellence in the tourism category in recognition of this massively successful campaign on a moderate PR budget. (click here for news release: http://bit.ly/1UAxuzh)
In fact, revenues from the four-day event boosted the local economy by $4.48 million, trending closely with 2013. The total economic impact from attendee spending in region was $1.15 million. The public relations efforts for the event garnered over 300 million total media impressions with a publicity value of $46.9 million. The event charmed food and wine lovers from across California and the country with 36 percent of attendees coming from outside of San Luis Obispo County – a key metric and an increase over 2013 — that included Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and the Central Valley.
The annual, four-day lifestyle event takes place at the renowned Santa Margarita Ranch and throughout the region highlighting the destination’s unique locations.
The September 2014 event highlighted the talents of winemakers, celebrity chefs, brew masters, fishermen, artisanal food producers, Sunset experts, and featured special evening events and adventure tours to promote the destination.
Challenge
A growing number of cities and regions such as SLO County are creating special events like SAVOR to draw easily trackable and highly profitable tourism revenue and tax dollars. The key challenge for the SAVOR PR team was to figure out how to break through the noise and generate media coverage outside the local area to attract out-of town visitors who will not only attend the event, but will stay in local hotels and visit other attractions during their stay. Black Ink PR’ also had a limited marketing and PR budget, so they had to design a program that featured only the most impactful programs.
Solution: On a Festival Field of Dreams, if Black Ink PR Builds It, They Will Come
The Black Ink PR team went to work, creating a series of five news releases and pitches to build the SAVOR story and attract media interest. Margot Black and Jeanne Sullivan organized a special SAVOR and destination media tour and created on-site media events to engage media. Black Ink PR then worked the phones — and the firm’s media contacts — for an intense period of about eight weeks to secure the right media attendance on the media tour and on-site at the event. We also secured several high-impact TV and radio promotions prior to the event to boost ticket sales.
The campaign culminated in the event itself: confirming and servicing 25 journalists; hosting the media room, arranging photo opps, television and print interviews; providing talking points and serving as ‘handlers’ at the side of SAVOR spokespeople and event culinary and wine experts; and doing the extensive post-event follow up with all the journalists working on their stories, fact checking, arranging follow up interviews. All efforts were integrated with the event brand and related efforts, such as social media and advertising.
Huge Success, Measurable Results
The numbers below speak for themselves, and exemplify the dramatic results that can be achieved from a strategic, lean and mean approach. We generated over 300 million impressions representing $46.9 million in publicity value, including 392 articles from press releases alone.
Highlights: Facing substantial funding reductions, teacher job cuts and perilously low enrollment in an unprecedented competitive market for students, 97 year-old Valley View Elementary School engaged Black Ink PR to conceive and implement a multi-dimensional campaign designed to dramatically increase enrollment – with less than a month to go to the start of the next school year.
Bottom line: When everyone else said it couldn’t be done, impossible? BIPR delivered and exceeded all program objectives.
As a result, BIPR in November, 2015 was awarded the top honor from the Public Relations Society of America, L.A. for an outstanding success against all odds (click here for news release: https://blackinkpr.com/black-ink-pr-wins-two-prism-awards-at-prsa-la-51st-annual-awards-2/)
OVERVIEW
Founded in 1917, Valley View is a public elementary school, K-6th grade, nestled in the Hollywood Hills. Nearby neighborhoods are Outpost Estates, Cahuenga Pass, the Hollywood Dell and Hollywood Knolls. Its population of approximately 250 students is multicultural and ethnically diverse. It offers the SAS (School for Advanced Studies) program for qualified students, and its current API score of 822 ranks well above the state and national averages.
Problem: With little to no public visibility, in the prior school year (2014/15) Valley View had precariously low enrollment threatening two out of its 12 staff teacher jobs and reduced funding all of which would’ve required combining classes. Same as at any school in America, its Principal was the target of slander from a couple detractors but, in a PR vacuum, those voices seemed far bigger than the reality.
Nearby public schools had high visibility, enrollments and long, legendary waiting lists. Valley View students were being poached by aggressive new charter schools. Slow to recognize the new 21st century education paradigm, many schools don’t think about PR and Valley View was no exception. By the time Black Ink PR was engaged in August 2014, it had less than one month to increase enrollment by at least 14 students (about 10%) Black Ink PR accepted the challenge – pro bono.
OBJECTIVES
RESEARCH
TARGET AUDIENCE
Parents of children “K to 5” within ten miles.
EXECUTION
Strategy: Conceive a multi-faceted, multi-channel but entirely localized PR strategy that publicized the school’s outstanding quality, countered the slander of a couple isolated detractors, and clearly communicated the opportunity for area parents to enroll children at one of the highest ranked public (free) elementary schools in L.A. The theme: “An Undiscovered Gem of a School.”
With the minimum enrollment hard deadline just three short weeks away, Black Ink PR adopted Valley View as its pro bono client and went to work. The campaign consisted of:
Unique Public School is Best-Kept Secret, Needs More Students
A school garden with veggies kids can take home? Free music classes after school? Ballroom dancing? Quilt classes? Small classes? Good test scores? Workshop studies? A state-of-the-art computer lab? A working library with a librarian who knows every name of every child and what their reading tastes are!
All this exists in one of the smallest schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District—a public school! It’s not a magnet, it’s not a charter, but people have driven nearly an hour to get their children to school every day, and others have championed the diversity of the classes offered in this elementary school. It’s a School for Advanced Studies, and the school will be 100 years old in 2017. But Valley View Elementary School is in trouble… www.examiner.com/article/unique-public-school-is-best-kept-secret-and-needs-more-students
MEASUREMENT/EVALUATION
Phase I: Valley View met its immediate enrollment objective of 14 new students in just three weeks, securing the position of all 12 teachers and maintaining funding levels that would’ve been lost otherwise.
Phase II (August 2014 – July 2015): As of summer 2015, Valley View has the highest kindergarten attendance on record. All other classes filled to capacity.
RESULTS
Valley View is still a gem, but no longer undiscovered thanks to the benefit of its well-deserved positive PR.
“Sunset SAVOR the Central Coast” is a unique partnership between Sunset Magazine, the West’s leading lifestyle brand, and Visit San Luis Obispo County, the destination marketing organization for San Luis Obispo County, which is located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The annual, four-day lifestyle event takes place at the renowned Santa Margarita Ranch and throughout the region highlighting the destination’s unique locations.
The September 2012 event highlighted the talents of winemakers, celebrity chefs, brew masters, fishermen, artisanal food producers, Sunset experts, and featured special evening events and adventure tours to promote the destination..
Challenge
A growing number of cities and regions such as SLO County are creating special events like SAVOR to draw easily trackable and highly profitable tourism revenue and tax dollars. The key challenge for the SAVOR PR team was to figure out how to break through the noise and generate media coverage outside the local area to attract out-of town visitors who will not only attend the event, but will stay in local hotels and visit other attractions during their stay. Black Ink PR’ also had a limited marketing and PR budget, so they had to design a program that featured only the most impactful programs.
Solution: On a Festival Field of Dreams, if Black Ink PR Builds It, They Will Come
The Black Ink PR team went to work, creating a series of five news releases and pitches to build the SAVOR story and attract media interest. Margot Black and Jeanne Sullivan organized a special SAVOR and destination media tour and created on-site media events to engage media. Black Ink PR then worked the phones — and the firm’s media contacts — for an intense period of about eight weeks to secure the right media attendance on the media tour and on-site at the event. We also secured several high-impact TV and radio promotions prior to the event to boost ticket sales.
The campaign culminated in the event itself: confirming and servicing 70 journalists; hosting the media room, arranging photo opps, television and print interviews; providing talking points and serving as ‘handlers’ at the side of SAVOR spokespeople and event culinary and wine experts; and doing the extensive post-event follow up with all the journalists working on their stories, fact checking, arranging follow up interviews. All efforts were integrated with the event brand and related efforts, such as social media and advertising.
Huge Success, Measurable Results
The numbers below speak for themselves, and exemplify the dramatic results that can be achieved from a strategic, lean and mean approach. We generated 304 million impressions representing nearly $36 million in publicity value, including 392 articles from press releases alone.
Subsequently, SAVOR/Visit San Luis Obisbo (SLO) has renewed the Black Ink PR engagement to promote SAVOR and SLO’ County’s vital tourism destination message regionally and nationally on an ongoing basis.
For a detailed breakdown on the various television, print and web-based media coverage generated on this project, see: www.blackinpr.com/SAVORPPT
For the third year in a row, Black Ink PR bested its own record-breaking results by successfully managing the PR for “Sunset SAVOR the Central Coast.” This is a unique partnership between Sunset Magazine, the West’s leading lifestyle brand, and Visit San Luis Obispo County, the destination marketing organization for San Luis Obispo County, which is located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
What was different in the 2014 results, apart from boosting the ad equivalent value ten percent, or $4 million, to $46.9 million from its own 2013 record of $42 million which in turn beat its 2012 record $36 million by 16 percent?
In November, 2015, BIPR received one of the PR industry’s highest awards from the prestigious Public Relations Society of America, the 51st Annual PRSA-LA PRism Award for Excellence in the tourism category in recognition of this massively successful campaign on a moderate PR budget. (click here for news release: http://bit.ly/1UAxuzh)
In fact, revenues from the four-day event boosted the local economy by $4.48 million, trending closely with 2013. The total economic impact from attendee spending in region was $1.15 million. The public relations efforts for the event garnered over 300 million total media impressions with a publicity value of $46.9 million. The event charmed food and wine lovers from across California and the country with 36 percent of attendees coming from outside of San Luis Obispo County – a key metric and an increase over 2013 — that included Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and the Central Valley.
The annual, four-day lifestyle event takes place at the renowned Santa Margarita Ranch and throughout the region highlighting the destination’s unique locations.
The September 2014 event highlighted the talents of winemakers, celebrity chefs, brew masters, fishermen, artisanal food producers, Sunset experts, and featured special evening events and adventure tours to promote the destination.
Challenge
A growing number of cities and regions such as SLO County are creating special events like SAVOR to draw easily trackable and highly profitable tourism revenue and tax dollars. The key challenge for the SAVOR PR team was to figure out how to break through the noise and generate media coverage outside the local area to attract out-of town visitors who will not only attend the event, but will stay in local hotels and visit other attractions during their stay. Black Ink PR’ also had a limited marketing and PR budget, so they had to design a program that featured only the most impactful programs.
Solution: On a Festival Field of Dreams, if Black Ink PR Builds It, They Will Come
The Black Ink PR team went to work, creating a series of five news releases and pitches to build the SAVOR story and attract media interest. Margot Black and Jeanne Sullivan organized a special SAVOR and destination media tour and created on-site media events to engage media. Black Ink PR then worked the phones — and the firm’s media contacts — for an intense period of about eight weeks to secure the right media attendance on the media tour and on-site at the event. We also secured several high-impact TV and radio promotions prior to the event to boost ticket sales.
The campaign culminated in the event itself: confirming and servicing 25 journalists; hosting the media room, arranging photo opps, television and print interviews; providing talking points and serving as ‘handlers’ at the side of SAVOR spokespeople and event culinary and wine experts; and doing the extensive post-event follow up with all the journalists working on their stories, fact checking, arranging follow up interviews. All efforts were integrated with the event brand and related efforts, such as social media and advertising.
Huge Success, Measurable Results
The numbers below speak for themselves, and exemplify the dramatic results that can be achieved from a strategic, lean and mean approach. We generated over 300 million impressions representing $46.9 million in publicity value, including 392 articles from press releases alone.
Highlights: Facing substantial funding reductions, teacher job cuts and perilously low enrollment in an unprecedented competitive market for students, 97 year-old Valley View Elementary School engaged Black Ink PR to conceive and implement a multi-dimensional campaign designed to dramatically increase enrollment – with less than a month to go to the start of the next school year.
Bottom line: When everyone else said it couldn’t be done, impossible? BIPR delivered and exceeded all program objectives.
As a result, BIPR in November, 2015 was awarded the top honor from the Public Relations Society of America, L.A. for an outstanding success against all odds (click here for news release: https://blackinkpr.com/black-ink-pr-wins-two-prism-awards-at-prsa-la-51st-annual-awards-2/)
OVERVIEW
Founded in 1917, Valley View is a public elementary school, K-6th grade, nestled in the Hollywood Hills. Nearby neighborhoods are Outpost Estates, Cahuenga Pass, the Hollywood Dell and Hollywood Knolls. Its population of approximately 250 students is multicultural and ethnically diverse. It offers the SAS (School for Advanced Studies) program for qualified students, and its current API score of 822 ranks well above the state and national averages.
Problem: With little to no public visibility, in the prior school year (2014/15) Valley View had precariously low enrollment threatening two out of its 12 staff teacher jobs and reduced funding all of which would’ve required combining classes. Same as at any school in America, its Principal was the target of slander from a couple detractors but, in a PR vacuum, those voices seemed far bigger than the reality.
Nearby public schools had high visibility, enrollments and long, legendary waiting lists. Valley View students were being poached by aggressive new charter schools. Slow to recognize the new 21st century education paradigm, many schools don’t think about PR and Valley View was no exception. By the time Black Ink PR was engaged in August 2014, it had less than one month to increase enrollment by at least 14 students (about 10%) Black Ink PR accepted the challenge – pro bono.
OBJECTIVES
RESEARCH
TARGET AUDIENCE
Parents of children “K to 5” within ten miles.
EXECUTION
Strategy: Conceive a multi-faceted, multi-channel but entirely localized PR strategy that publicized the school’s outstanding quality, countered the slander of a couple isolated detractors, and clearly communicated the opportunity for area parents to enroll children at one of the highest ranked public (free) elementary schools in L.A. The theme: “An Undiscovered Gem of a School.”
With the minimum enrollment hard deadline just three short weeks away, Black Ink PR adopted Valley View as its pro bono client and went to work. The campaign consisted of:
Unique Public School is Best-Kept Secret, Needs More Students
A school garden with veggies kids can take home? Free music classes after school? Ballroom dancing? Quilt classes? Small classes? Good test scores? Workshop studies? A state-of-the-art computer lab? A working library with a librarian who knows every name of every child and what their reading tastes are!
All this exists in one of the smallest schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District—a public school! It’s not a magnet, it’s not a charter, but people have driven nearly an hour to get their children to school every day, and others have championed the diversity of the classes offered in this elementary school. It’s a School for Advanced Studies, and the school will be 100 years old in 2017. But Valley View Elementary School is in trouble… www.examiner.com/article/unique-public-school-is-best-kept-secret-and-needs-more-students
MEASUREMENT/EVALUATION
Phase I: Valley View met its immediate enrollment objective of 14 new students in just three weeks, securing the position of all 12 teachers and maintaining funding levels that would’ve been lost otherwise.
Phase II (August 2014 – July 2015): As of summer 2015, Valley View has the highest kindergarten attendance on record. All other classes filled to capacity.
RESULTS
Valley View is still a gem, but no longer undiscovered thanks to the benefit of its well-deserved positive PR.
“Sunset SAVOR the Central Coast” is a unique partnership between Sunset Magazine, the West’s leading lifestyle brand, and Visit San Luis Obispo County, the destination marketing organization for San Luis Obispo County, which is located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The annual, four-day lifestyle event takes place at the renowned Santa Margarita Ranch and throughout the region highlighting the destination’s unique locations.
The September 2012 event highlighted the talents of winemakers, celebrity chefs, brew masters, fishermen, artisanal food producers, Sunset experts, and featured special evening events and adventure tours to promote the destination..
Challenge
A growing number of cities and regions such as SLO County are creating special events like SAVOR to draw easily trackable and highly profitable tourism revenue and tax dollars. The key challenge for the SAVOR PR team was to figure out how to break through the noise and generate media coverage outside the local area to attract out-of town visitors who will not only attend the event, but will stay in local hotels and visit other attractions during their stay. Black Ink PR’ also had a limited marketing and PR budget, so they had to design a program that featured only the most impactful programs.
Solution: On a Festival Field of Dreams, if Black Ink PR Builds It, They Will Come
The Black Ink PR team went to work, creating a series of five news releases and pitches to build the SAVOR story and attract media interest. Margot Black and Jeanne Sullivan organized a special SAVOR and destination media tour and created on-site media events to engage media. Black Ink PR then worked the phones — and the firm’s media contacts — for an intense period of about eight weeks to secure the right media attendance on the media tour and on-site at the event. We also secured several high-impact TV and radio promotions prior to the event to boost ticket sales.
The campaign culminated in the event itself: confirming and servicing 70 journalists; hosting the media room, arranging photo opps, television and print interviews; providing talking points and serving as ‘handlers’ at the side of SAVOR spokespeople and event culinary and wine experts; and doing the extensive post-event follow up with all the journalists working on their stories, fact checking, arranging follow up interviews. All efforts were integrated with the event brand and related efforts, such as social media and advertising.
Huge Success, Measurable Results
The numbers below speak for themselves, and exemplify the dramatic results that can be achieved from a strategic, lean and mean approach. We generated 304 million impressions representing nearly $36 million in publicity value, including 392 articles from press releases alone.
Subsequently, SAVOR/Visit San Luis Obisbo (SLO) has renewed the Black Ink PR engagement to promote SAVOR and SLO’ County’s vital tourism destination message regionally and nationally on an ongoing basis.
For a detailed breakdown on the various television, print and web-based media coverage generated on this project, see: www.blackinpr.com/SAVORPPT
In July 2011, the challenge was to create a “news story” for the Red Lion Hotel Anaheim — a media pitch, an “angle,” that would meet Black Ink PR’s standard program objective of producing measurable results. Not just ‘ink’ but, for a hotel, added bookings and revenue.
Challenge
It was Month One of the Hotel’s engagement of Black Ink PR and there was no news. No renovation, no new activity programs, no amazing package deal specials with Disneyland. And no room rate deals as this is summer: the Hotel does not want to discount room rates in peak season, they want to be full.
Solution
What was the biggest story of Spring? The biggest buzz globally? The largest worldwide television audience in history to put the Superbowl to shame?
Prince William and Kate’s wedding, of course.
So the Black Ink PR creative team went to work and decided to capitalize on newlywed Will and Kate’s upcoming visit to Southern California. Quite scandalously (in the eyes of our crack research team) the royal couple was not going to visit Disneyland. Or – even worse, the Red Lion Hotel Anaheim? How could that be?
We now interrupt your regular programming for this breaking news flash:
Anaheim, CA, July 5, 2011 – Red Lion Hotel Anaheim, located walking distance from Disneyland® Resort, was disappointed to learn that Britain’s newlyweds Prince William and his bride Kate Middleton will not be visiting Disneyland on their official visit to the U.S. in July. Accordingly, the hotel is offering all U.S. married couples – named William and Kate – the royal treatment with a free three-night stay at its family friendly hotel during the month of July.
Royal Luxury – Stay Comfortable and Content
“Of course we were sad for Prince William and Kate that they are not going to be visiting Disneyland during their U.S. vacation next month,” said Red Lion Hotel Anaheim General Manager Paul Thornton. “We really thought after spending $48 million on their wedding just a few weeks ago, they would especially appreciate very reasonable rates (a steal in comparison to a castle) while being treated in the luxury for which they are accustomed – with our casually sleek design, free breakfast, free parking, outdoor heated pool and rooms with free Wi-Fi, refrigerators, microwaves, granite bathrooms and 37 inch flat-screen TVs.”
“So we decided to commemorate the royal couple’s U.S. visit by offering a free three-night stay during the months of July and August to all the U.S. married couples named William and Kate (or Catherine).”
“We have only one small request,” Mr. Thornton added, “that at the conclusion of their free three-night stay, these guests send a post card or short letter to Prince William and Kate to share highlights of their Red Lion Hotel Anaheim or Anaheim theme park visit with them since the royal couple was not themselves able to enjoy a stay with us.”
William and Kate Royalty Free Three-Night Visit General Eligibility Rules Each eligible participant agrees as follows…
Measurable Results
Led by Margot Black storming the phones, the Black Ink PR media pitching team went to work at a frenzied pace all week.
The “story” was picked up by news outlets worldwide including over 220 media outlets spanning broadcast, print and web in North America alone yielding over 71 million website page views. Social media Facebook and twitter lit up like a Christmas tree. From Yahoo, MarketWatch and International Business Times to The Sacramento Bee, the Press Enterprise and dozens of CBS, NBC and ABC television news affiliates, this was BIG NEWS.
The Los Angeles Times did a feature story both in print and on their blog (see it below).
$$$
The bottom line? In just the first week the story broke, Hotel revenue more than doubled, up 161% year over year.
Prior to beginning her career as a public relations executive, Margot Black enjoyed a successful career as Hollywood screen writer, and standup comedian during which she opened for major national comedy tours headlined by “A” list comedians Margaret Cho, Andrew Dice Clay, Judy Tenuta and many others.
To read the full news release, click here:
To read LA Times article, click here:
A Case Study
Hotel Maya is an upscale, art deco waterfront resort hotel in Long Beach, California. In 2010, the Company came to Black Ink needing help: How to break into the lucrative weddings market and capture share of this highly profitable sector of the hospitality business?
Challenge
The wedding business is largely controlled by hotels with a long established presence and reputation in this market. Hotel Maya’s conventional sales & marketing efforts were not working, because wedding planners and brides would not go to an unproven, new entrant in the wedding business.
Before any sales and marketing would be successful, it was first necessary to re-brand Hotel Maya as an established “go-to” wedding destination. Building this reputation through conventional means could take years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising. How to do so, quickly and cost effectively?
Solution
Margot Black & her team came to Hotel Maya and proposed to create a story — a meme — that would brand the Hotel as the West Coast’s hot, trendy go-to wedding destination. After competing for the major six-month engagement against several national PR firms, Black Ink won and went to work.
Through her myriad Hollywood connections, Margot scored a major coup.1 A television role that every prestigious hotel in America desired. Black Ink PR teamed Hotel Maya with The Knot.com, Endemol TV and MySpace to host a virtual wedding for 13 television episodes in which every element of the wedding – from the dress to the cake – is put to a vote of the viewers. The show is titled, “Married on MySpace 2.”
1Prior to founding Black Ink, Margot was a well-established screenwriter for major entertainment film and television studios as well as a nationally ranked comedian. Today, she routinely draws upon her Hollywood industry insight and connections to secure the unrivalled power of Hollywood & celebrity PR on behalf of the firm’s clients.)
Endemol is the largest independent television and digital production company in the world (produced “Deal or No Deal”). It comprises a global network of around 90 companies in over 30 countries and is headquartered in Amsterdam. MySpace was, at the time, the Internet’s #2 social media site. The Knot is the Internet’s largest and most popular wedding portal on the Web.
After Season One’s tremendous success, a second season of Married On MySpace aired featuring The Hotel Maya in all episodes having to do with the wedding location upon which the MySpace community planned (voted on) every detail of the winning couples’ wedding.
The series offered interactive features including: a forum, profile updates from the betrothed couple, ancillary video and wedding-planning tips, the dance, the drama and the dress — the back drop for it all was Black Ink PR’s client Hotel Maya. With more than 15 million views, it was a PR marriage made in heaven. The unusual, interactive nature of the show ensured an extraordinary degree of “mind share” for viewers seeing Hotel Maya weekly compared with conventional media placements or advertising.
The finale, watched by over 22 million viewers, highlighted every corner of the luxurious Hotel Maya. Watch a video clip of the Season Finale at: http://www.blackinkpr.com/telivision2.html
Big Success, Measurable Results
Season’s Key Metrics:
All in, through its exposure as the nation’s hottest wedding destination, Black Ink PR produced the advertising dollar equivalent publicity value of approximately $1.8 million.
Hotel Maya was catapulted — a seemingly overnight sensation — to become one of Southern California’s most prominent and desired wedding locations.
“Married on MySpace” viewership:
In April, 2009 Pacific Edge Hotel retained Black Ink PR for a six-month comprehensive PR campaign,. This large beachside property had recently been acquired by a joint venture that included a major west coast boutique hotel management firm. Occupancy rates were low, and a major renovation and upgrade was planned for late 2009.
Raise the hotel’s profile; position it for a renovation and transition from “no-frills family” to trendy; and increase occupancy and cash flow.
The media coverage arranged, ranging from national television game shows and major television specials, to local and industry media and guidebooks is valued at an estimated $750,000 in advertising equivalency – for a program ROI of about 35:1.
The wide, positive media exposure and creative direct marketing successfully generating hotel bookings and occupancy rates that were the highest in several years despite a major recession that hit most area hotels hard. The PR campaign has raised the hotel’s consumer and media profile to its highest level ever with area and industry media — positioning it favorably for rollout of its upcoming renovation and rebranding.
Margot Black created and executed this campaign for client Freda Kunin of FredaLA.com. The campaign succeeded (and continues to) on many levels:
Parade Design approached Margot Black to write copy for a booklet that serves as a “take away” for brides shopping for engagement rings. Margot created the copy and the campaign that connects with the idea, emotions and passion of finding “that perfect love” with the idea, emotions and passion of finding “that perfect ring.”
The rules of great jewelry are like the rules of a great love: it must be beautiful, unique, of extraordinary quality—and ignite our hearts with desire. Like a great love, our jewelry is built to endure through the ages. And, of course, just like any great passion, our jewelry, like your true love, will make your heart sing.
We at Parade have used the inspiration of lifelong partnership to create an enchanting collection that captures all the classic moods of love: romance, passion, intrigue, adoration, dazzle, and excitement. We know you’ll find the perfect ring to represent your cherished union. From our hearts to yours, we offer designs to tantalize your senses, ignite your soul and bring a constant smile to both giver and the receiver.
We are honored to be a part of your heart’s desire. May your love sparkle like a diamond in the sunlight…..forever.
