By Jim Bucci

When Jumby Bay, a Rosewood Resort representing the private island resort off the coast of Antigua, closed its doors to undergo a $28 million enhancement, the luxury resort would be out of commission for a period of 18 months — conceivably relegating the property to the back burner for top travel editors. Named the "World's Best Caribbean Resort" by the editors of Travel+Leisure prior to the closure in June of 2008, the resort needed to find a way to stay relevant until its reopening in December of 2009.

Rosewood hired long-time public relations agency of record Hawkins International Public Relations to keep the resort front-of-mind from construction until reopen.

"We sought to find opportunities to ensure the all-inclusive, private island resort off the coast of Antigua remained relevant with key editors throughout the redesign and build up buzz in anticipation of the re-launch," explains Corey Finjer, senior account director at Hawkins International PR.

Hawkins' major objective included securing multi-page features in A-list outlets that would highlight not only the investment in the resort, but focus on the island's unique real estate aspect as well. The firm zeroed-in on Town & Country and Departures early on as major targets for the high-end demographic of the resort.

By Jim Bucci

Stephen Wampler had an audacious goal. He wanted to climb Yosemite National Park's El Capitan Mountain — a mountain twice as high as the Empire State Building. Born with cerebral palsy and wheelchair-bound, Wampler's climb would help raise $2 million for his foundation that provides summer camp options for kids with physical disabilities. Embarking on such an arduous and dangerous journey would also serve as an inspirational challenge to disabled children worldwide — no goal is too tall.

Before Wampler could climb, he needed to learn how to climb and solve his fear of heights.

After spending one year training at Coronado Climbing Center, learning how to use a system of ropes to climb, Wampler became the first person with cerebral palsy to reach the summit of "El Cap" in September of 2010. Though his nemesis — fear of heights — crept in halfway up the climb, Wampler persisted to the top, pulling himself up 20,000 times in six days — the equivalent of doing 20,000 pull-ups. Wampler hauled himself up the mountain four to six inches at a time, doing pull-up after pull-up in the bright Yosemite sun.

After completing his journey, Wampler promptly "retired" from climbing—El Capitan to be his first and only mountain.

Approached by ESET, a San Diego-based Internet security company and corporate sponsor of the climb, Schwartz Communications came aboard to construct a PR strategy to support Wampler's climb and fundraising campaign.

By Jim Bucci

In August 2010, USAA, a member-owned financial services provider focused on the military community, launched the first phase of its new "Auto Circle" service designed to help its members save time and money by easily finding, financing and insuring a vehicle online.

And for the first time, the service would be available on the iPhone.

Together with public relations agency Fleishman-Hillard (FH), the goal of the USAA campaign "Auto Circle — From the day you see it 'til the day you sell it" was to position Auto Circle as a trusted source for the full circle of auto ownership, which included future phases of the program on maintaining and selling a vehicle.

"The Auto Circle service marked the biggest product launch in the history of USAA," explains Kristy Wilson, senior vice president at Fleishman-Hillard. "The new, free, online service to find, insure and buy cars was a big product for USAA, usually conservative with previous product launches."

With more than 50 million unique users worldwide, Dictionary.com is the world's largest and most authoritative online and mobile dictionary. In 2009, with the introduction of mobile applications for Dictionary.com, the company quickly discovered the high consumer demand for dictionary-related content in the exact context users needed it to be in for their consumption. They tasked MSR Communications with launching a public relations campaign that would solidify Dictionary.com as the most trusted source for word discovery "in the moment."

"The goal of the campaign was to expand the awareness of what Dictionary.com offers," explains MSR Communications account supervisor Michael Burke. "Dictionary.com is more than a reference site, offering 'word discovery.' Especially with the emergence of the mobile devices, you can have the info you need now anywhere and anytime you need it."

By: Jim Bucci

When Hilton International united with Hilton Hotels Corporation, a new identity for the parent company of the Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand was established through Hilton Worldwide, creating an opportunity for the world's most recognized hotel brand to reconnect with media around the world. But, in order to expand outreach beyond the United States to 75 additional counties where Hilton operates, these properties throughout the world needed the means and flexibility to develop their own media relationships as well as their messages from the brand's voice.

To share the Hilton story, engage media on a global level and support their more than 540 hotels and resorts, they created the Hilton Global Media Center (HGMC), which represented the hotel industry's first comprehensive online resource for the media. Designed to act globally, but "speak locally," the online media tool sought to be a one-stop-shop for everything Hilton-related.

When tasked with launching bobble in the United States, HL Group knew capturing the attention of consumers with another new product would provide a hearty challenge, especially since fresh offerings flood store shelves each week. The marketplace is saturated and consumers overwhelmed with the amount of items now available to them. Only a truly unique product would do. Good thing bobble fits that definition.

Created by Move Collective, bobble is a reusable, recyclable, fashion-meets-function water bottle made from recycled plastic and similar to that of Brita or Pur with a carbon filter built into the cap. Pour standard tap water in and the filter removes chlorine and other contaminants as your drink, improving the water's taste and leaving you with clean water that is indistinguishable from single-serve water.

Even though CND had been the leading brand among nail professionals, it was less recognized by general consumers. But, with the introduction of "Shellac," its newest manicure system, CND saw an opportunity to reach some of the 85% of American women who don't currently go to salons for professional manicures.

To launch Shellac in a way that would appeal to the professional nail industry, attract new clientele into salons and increase brand recognition, CND retained RED PR. The allure of the product would be its durability and ease of removal. Shellac nail color lasts for two weeks, while continuing to look freshly-polished, yet comes off easily without damaging the natural nail.

"We wanted to launch Shellac in a way that would appeal to the professional nail industry, attract new customers into salons and increase global consumer brand recognition," explains RED PR owner and president Julia Labaton.

Knowing that sampling is the ultimate tried-and-true tactic for marketing beverages, but one not likely to generate wide interest; SS+K devised a novel twist. To promote their client, Honest Tea, they launched the "Most Honest City in America" campaign, sampling something more than their client's organic, lightly sweetened tea—the ideal of honesty.

Seeing more and more female consumers looking to the blogosphere for tips and recommendations that influence their supermarket purchase decisions, Sara Lee's Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm brands needed to quickly enhance their online presence or risk rapidly losing ground to its competitors in this critical, emerging playing field. To up its online profile, the brands tabbed public relations agency MWW Group, which set its sights on BlogHer—the pre-eminent conference for female bloggers. With 2,400 influential bloggers in attendance, it would be the perfect event to establish the brands' relevancy.

With more travelers looking to make a difference while on vacation, "Voluntourism" has become the fastest-growing segment of the global travel industry. This was especially true of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and Quinn and Co. recognized that the time was right to launch the "Big Easy Spirit to Serve" program for clients Marriott and Renaissance Hotels of New Orleans.

"In an effort to give back at a time when the city needed it the most, Quinn and Co. suggested the five Marriott and Renaissance Hotels of New Orleans enlist its guests to help with the rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina," explains Michelle Abril, Quinn and Co. associate vice president.

When client Foster Farms was handed the honor of raising the Presidential turkeys to be pardoned by President Obama during Thanksgiving at the White House Rose Garden, Fineman PR viewed the opportunity as a chance promote a larger message and create a wealth of coverage surrounding the pardon, more than had even been generated before.

The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau (GHCVB) had a problem. Their research showed that the city of Houston didn't really have an image—that most people didn't have a perception of Houston—neither positive nor negative. When people visited the city for the first time, they didn't know what to expect. Houston wasn't synonymous with anything specific, not like Dallas, the bustling metropolitan city that's home to the famous Dallas Cowboys football team, or Austin, the state's capital city, known for the University of Texas and world famous cyclist Lance Armstrong. Needless to say, Houston was losing out to its competitors—both in-state rivals and colorful cities like Las Vegas and Chicago—for tourists and conventions.

The airline industry had been hit hard by the economic slowdown, high oil prices and other events of 2008. American Airlines felt that strong alliances with other airlines would ensure viability in the industry. In order to work more closely with other airlines, which included British Airways and Iberia, they applied for antitrust immunity from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

After two years of lackluster publicity and crowds, Target Music in the Park, a philanthropic effort put on by Target and the Phoenix Symphony to bring free outdoor music and arts to children and families in the area, needed a fresh approach to attracting advance publicity. Funded through a grant by Target, while the Phoenix Symphony produces and coordinates the daylong concert, they wanted to find a way to secure significant print and broadcast coverage to bring excitement for the event to a crescendo.

By Jim Bucci

For the first time in its history, play at 2008's World Series of Poker would be suspended prior to a champion being crowned. There would be four months—117 days—before players returned to Las Vegas and to the poker table to battle for the Main Event title and the top prize of $9.1 million.

By Frank Zeccola

2008 was a huge year for TiVo, filled with partnership announcements with Amazon, Rhapsody, Picasa, Music Choice and other mainstream brands. Then, in the spring of that year came a cultural breakthrough: YouTube would soon be available on TiVo...

By Frank Zeccola

2008 was a huge year for TiVo, filled with partnership announcements with Amazon, Rhapsody, Picasa, Music Choice and other mainstream brands. Then, in the spring of that year came a cultural breakthrough: YouTube would soon be available on TiVo.

But with all the news and excitement surrounding the earlier partnerships and releases, TiVo feared reporter fatigue would set in when it came time for the YouTube announcement. Together with agency Ruder Finn, they wanted to do something unique from a PR perspective to jolt TiVo back into the news cycle and hit their target audience—the YouTube Generation—with something memorable...

It's now been a year since the banking and financial crisis exploded in the U.S.

In the lead-up and aftermath, more than a few consumers considered—or actually began—taking their money out of banks and sticking it under their mattresses or in shoe boxes. With high-profile banks getting run into the ground by the dozens, this seemed the safest option to some for saving money, even though the FDIC insures up to $250,000 per depositor...

Microsoft had never before connected in an online forum with security researchers attending the Black Hat USA conference. They hadn't invited blog comments or participated in any kind of online dialogue with top researchers at the event.

They were a tech company falling behind on the tech.

Yet for years Microsoft attended the Black Hat conference—the largest security researcher conference in the world. It hosts the industry's most elite security researchers and top-tier influencers. Thousands attend.

These are key audiences for Microsoft that frequently discuss the company, its products and news that affects them...

During the 2008 presidential election, the sound bites "pork barrel spending" and "earmarks" played heavily in both campaigns, as well as in media analysis throughout. And these phrases certainly figured prominently in voters' minds as they stepped into the voting booth on election day.

Two groups partly responsible for the popularity and high media visibility of these concepts during that year are the Illinois Policy Institute and Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW). These two nonpartisan think tanks joined forces in early 2008 with Chicago-based PR firm Mac Strategies Group to promote the "2008 Illinois Piglet Book."

The book highlights $686 million of what the groups consider wasteful or pork barrel spending by the Illinois government. A 2009 edition has since been released, but in 2008, a lot was on the line...

Getting involved with a cause or charity is a great PR strategy. You can score media attention for a company, personality or product and also do good to make the world a better place...

If you're a PR pro who develops campaigns for products of any kind, you know you have to be at the top of your game constantly — because consumer tastes change over time. A product that's flying off the shelves today could fall flat tomorrow. Something better comes out. Something newer, bigger, with cooler features and more benefits...

Can you imagine how much digital information has been created, captured and replicated by computers, telephone circuits, HDTVs and other devices? If I told you the number was 161 exabytes by 2006, would that mean anything?

As you can guess, it's an enormous amount of content. Think of it like this: It's about three million times the information in all the books ever written. That's equivalent to 12 stacks of Harry Potter books extending from the Earth to the sun. And as of 2006, it would take 20 billion high-capacity iPods to store all the information in the "digital universe"...

It started with a viral marketing video that would either take the blogosphere by storm or tank into obscurity. A young, freckled boy with dirty blond hair tells his parents at dinner, "The economy's not what it used to be. It's time to start my own thing."

His "thing" turns out to be a lemonade stand—the original small business. In subsequent scenes, the boy tests lemonade recipes, looks under the couch for spare coins to use as startup money and presents a colorful business plan on an over-sized piece of paper. He then goes to Umpqua Bank and speaks with a loan officer, who approves a loan for the lemonade stand because, "There's no way I could say no"...