The Stasko Agency has been tapped to handle all the local publicity efforts for Brown-Forman’s launch of Cinnaster, a new, cinnamon-flavored Tuaca Liqueur. Stasko was also selected by the Colorado Business Group on Health to provide publicity and public relations services for the 2013 Culture of Health Conference – the fourth conference the firm has promoted. In addition, the agency has been named Agency of Record for Circle Fresh Farms.
Month: November 2012
Philosophy Adds Social Media Client
Philosophy Communication continues to stuff its social media rolodex. They recently added U.S. Nursing Corporation/FASTAFF, LLC. Philosophy will be conducting monthly social media work to help gain more healthcare facility clients and travel nurses.
Great Moments in Marketing
Denver PR Blog Named Westword #WebAward Winner
Thanks to Westword for naming me a 2012 Denver #WebAward winner for “Best PR Flack on Twitter.” I’d also like to take a second to thank all the journalists who served as subjects of my Great Moments in Journalism posts, which is what I think pushed me to the top of the list.
Young PRSA Pros Benefit from Pushkin PR Grant
Jon Pushkin is celebrating Pushkin Public Relations‘ 15th anniversary by funding a PRSA Colorado scholarship to help young professionals get started in their careers. The $1,500 donation will help young professionals attend PRSA Colorado programs and become more active members of the chapter.
“We believe that integrity and a thirst for learning are fundamental to building solid reputations and successful careers,” said Pushkin. “Over the past 15 years, we’ve helped dozens of organizations grow and prosper. So we are proud to honor our 15th anniversary by helping young professionals grow into successful practitioners.”
DIA Names CDOT’s Stacey Stegman as Global Comms Director
CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman has accepted the position of Global Communications Director at Denver International Airport. Stegman replaces Jeff Green, who recently was named Marketing and Communications Director at Denver Parks and Recreation.
GroundFloor Places Second in DBJ’s ‘Best Places to Work’
Congratulations to GroundFloor Media, which was placed second overall in the Denver Business Journal’s 2012 Best Places to Work awards. Winners were chosen based on employees’ responses to a confidential survey about the organization’s leadership, planning, benefits, culture, training and development, as well as overall employee satisfaction. GroundFloor scored 99.63 out of a possible 100 percent, making it the second-highest ranking among all 40 finalists in four categories.
Stafford-Thomas Named New Comms Director at Jackson
Jackson National Life Insurance Company has named Lori Stafford-Thomas director of external communications. She previously was with Fiserv in Milwaukee. In her new role with Jackson, Stafford-Thomas will oversee the media relations and external outreach efforts of Jackson and its affiliates, including National Planning Holdings (NPH) and Curian Capital, LLC (Curian).
SOS Outreach Names KeylinkPR as AOR
SOS Outreach has named Key Link PR as agency of record. SOS Outreach is a non-profit youth development adventure sports program that engages at-risk students in long-term mentorship relationships to instill in them core values.
GPR Helps States With Communications About Education
Gonder Public Relations has has been retained by the National Governors Association to help educators in three states – Colorado, Kentucky and North Carolina – communicate major education initiatives.
Colorado Proud Names Philosophy as AOR
Colorado Proud has hired Philosophy Communication as its agency of record. Philosophy’s “Choose Colorado” campaign will focus on increasing state-wide awareness about Colorado Proud and its members. The campaign will also encourage Coloradans to purchase local whenever possible and promote Colorado Proud as a year-around organization. Philosophy will provide public relations, marketing, social media, event and website support.
Cheetos & Goldfish: Keeping the Story Alive
For a governor who was against Amendment 64, John Hickenlooper sure knows how to give a lot of attention to its passage.
(Hat Tip: Rob Reuteman)
Metzger Hires One, Promotes Two
Metzger Associates has added a staff member and promoted two senior team members:
- Amy Little has been promoted to digital services manager. Her role now includes project management, search engine optimization (SEO) and website content strategy and consulting.
- Drew Stachnik has been promoted to senior web developer, and now heads up Metzger’s video and photo production, graphic design and front-end User Interface/User Experience (UI/UX) web design.
- Web designer Adam Felgar has joined the digital services team. He will support the group’s focus on developing state-of-the-art look and feel with UI/UX content organization and navigation.
CPR Names Lauren Cameron PR Manager
Colorado Public Radio has named Lauren Cameron public relations manager . Cameron previously was with Linhart PR, where she was an account executive for the past few years.
Barefoot Celebrates 2nd Anniversary with Client Wins
Barefoot PR is celebrating its second anniversary, and the firm announced several client wins: ASR Companies, Inc. (brand enhancement through messaging, public relations and community involvement) and WorkLife Partnership (increase brand awareness through targeted message development, public relations, and partnership facilitation). Barefoot also expanded its work with The Space Creators to include community involvement and strategic partnerships.
10 Questions with … The Denver Post’s Curtis Hubbard
Curtis Hubbard, the editorial page editor at The Denver Post, had his hands full this election season.
In addition to the usual activities of sifting through inflammatory letters to the editor and meeting with local politicians seeking the paper’s endorsement, he had to contend with a minor controversy over whether U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman plagiarized material used in an OpEd.
Now that the election has passed, Hubbard agreed to answer some questions about the plagiarism accusations, as well as a few other issues relevant to the public relations industry.
Q: As a result of the issue with Rep. Coffman’s opinion column, you have implemented new policies to ensure that material The Denver Post publishes is “original work.” What are those new policies, and how do they differ from previous policies?
A: As I told (The Denver Post reporter) Kurtis Lee for his story, we’ve always operated with the understanding that the work people submit is their own. There was a similar issue with Rep. Scott McInnis and op-eds he penned for The Denver Post under previous editors, so I decided that we would spell it to eliminate any confusion. We have posted the policy online and are in the process of creating a form in which contributors acknowledge that, to the best of their knowledge, the work they are submitting is their own (if that sounds a lot like the Honor Code at Colorado College, it’s probably because two brothers and my best friend went there).
Q: Lee reported that, “Ethics experts contacted by The Post said the duplicative writings fall short of their definition of plagiarism. But they said Coffman’s use of material by other writers failed to reach accepted standards for attribution.” What conclusion did you reach as the editorial page editor?
A: The “cut” and “paste” functions on computers and political “messaging” operations can be dangerous.
Q: What, if any, conversations did you have with Rep. Coffman or his office once it was determined that the material had appeared other places under the bylines of other individuals?
A: I haven’t had any conversations with him. I expect we will the next time he offers a piece. We’ve always had a a cordial professional relationship, and I don’t expect this episode to change that fact.
Q: It is a common practice in public relations to ghostwrite material for clients. What is your opinion about that practice? Continue reading “10 Questions with … The Denver Post’s Curtis Hubbard”
Heinrich, Blake & Emico win Colorado Foreclosure Hotline
Colorado Foreclosure Hotline recently awarded Heinrich Marketing, in partnership with Blake Communications and Emico Media, the contract for a public awareness and marketing campaign. The Hotline provides counseling services for homeowners facing possible foreclosure.
Catfight Alert: Aurora PD vs. KMGH/Channel 7
The Aurora Police Department tells KMGH/Channel 7 to go Ferrugia itself. On Facebook.
Great Moments in Journalism
From Denver’s own Channel 7:
News Director Jeff Harris explained:
“It was a regrettable and embarrassing error. We are mortified this appeared during our 5 p.m. news broadcast. The editor pulled the image of the book cover from the Internet without realizing it had been doctored. We sincerely regret the error and have corrected the story to prevent any recurrence of its broadcast. We are following up internally as well, to avoid a repeat of this inexcusable oversight.”
Hat Tip: Michael Roberts at Westword
Blake Communications Announces New Clients
Blake Communications has added several new clients, including Corner Bakery Cafe, Heinrich Marketing, Fallene Wells’ Forever Darling VI, Ambient Life Photography and Duane Wells’ Living Wells. Blake Communications works primarily with creative industry, education and nonprofit clients.
Vail Resorts Announces Changes to Communications Team
Vail Resorts has made some changes to its communications team:
- Ashley Lowe has been appointed Senior Manager of Communications, Hospitality & VRDC. Previously, Lowe led employee communications for Vail Resorts and prior to that was PR Director for Cactus.
- May Lilley has been promoted to Senior Manager of Communications, International. Lilley has 10 years of experience in the marketing/communications industry between Vail Resorts and formerly heading up the broadcast advertising for Australia/New Zealand’s largest retail advertiser, Kmart, as Senior Account Manager at Sapient Nitro in Melbourne.
- Laura Kirby has been hired as Corporate Communications Coordinator. Kirby started with Vail Resorts in 2009 as an intern with Echo. She returned in 2010 as a coordinator for the Group Sales and Marketing team in Broomfield, where she has been responsible for supporting the sales effort to our group wholesalers, ski clubs and councils across the country.
104 West Opens San Francisco Office
104 West Partners has opened a Media Relations Bureau in San Francisco to offer increased contact for its national clients with the major tech press corps based in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. Alissa Bushnell, a 20-year tech PR veteran, has joined 104 West and will lead the firm’s presence in San Francisco.
Colorado: Anatomy of a Swing State
GroundFloor Adds SlimGenics as Client
GroundFloor Media has added SlimGenics as a client. The Centennial-based client will leverage GFM’s background in health, wellness and consumer brands to raise the profile of its healthy weight management and preventive health care programs. Specifically, GFM will utilize its expertise in traditional media relations, community relations, reputation management and social media to increase awareness of SlimGenics in the company’s key markets, as well as nationally.
RIP Jim Hall
James W. Hall, co-founder of the advertising, public relations and digital agency Vladimir Jones, has died at the age of 70. Hall founded the agency, originally named PRACO, with his wife Nechie in 1970. The firm is now run by the couple’s daughter, Meredith Vaughan, and employs 84 in Denver and Colorado Springs.
Ryan Warner Has This Effect On Me, Too
After hearing one too many Colorado Public Radio reports on the 2012 Presidential election, Fort Collins’ Abigael Evans has become the national poster child for the emotional toll it is taking.
CORRECTION: Abigael’s video was in response to a story she heard on NPR, which was broadcast on KUNC, not CPR. And I actually like Ryan Warner.
Denver Public Relations Blog 