PR Week reports that Denver’s Smashburger has selected the Boston-based PR firm Mullen Lowe as agency of record:

The restaurant chain issued an RFP at the start of December and selected Mullen Lowe later that month. Aside from Mullen Lowe, 10 agencies pitched for the business, including DKC, Canvas Blue, Connect PR, Kaplow Communications, Stuntman PR, MWW, M Booth, Spong, Exponent PR, and Allied Integrated Marketing. The finalists were Mullen, M Booth, DKC, and Exponent.

Mullen Lowe will manage Smashburger’s media relations nationally and locally. For instance, the firm will help to get the word out about the chain’s promotion windows, which change every eight weeks, and support restaurant openings with proactive and reactive communications.

The firm’s first order of business is helping Smashburger put together a core PR strategy, including key messaging points to be included in all pitches throughout the year, and defining what beliefs drive Smashburger from a consumer and internal perspective.

Business Marketing Association Colorado (BMA Colorado) is accepting entries for its annual Gold Key competition. The competition features 60 categories, including innovative campaign strategies, branding, integrated internal and external marketing communications strategy, digital marketing strategy, multimedia and video strategy, and successful public relations campaign. The deadline for entry is March 4.

Karsh Hagan has added HuHot Mongolian Grill as a PR client. The agency will support the restaurant’s franchise development efforts.

PR Week reports:

Fast-casual restaurant chain Freshii is halving the cost of its Mexican menu items, when Chipotle shuts its doors on February 8 to meet with employees and discuss its response to E. coli outbreaks. Freshii CEO Matthew Corrin said in a statement, “We figured the least we could do was look after their customers while Chipotle pauses to recalibrate.”

How generous.

One of the major museums in Denver is looking for someone to fill in for their communications manager this summer (roughly May 1 – August 15). It is a 40 hours/week position for those three-and-a-half months. If you are interested, email me.

Proof PR has added The Bombay Company as a client. The Bombay Company is the owner of Bombay Clay Oven in Cherry Creek and the Saucy Bombay Concept, both of which incorporate cuisines from North and South India.

Fitzgerald Petersen Communications has added Roundup River Ranch, PEAK Resources 25^th Anniversary Project, Feld Entertainment’s Marvel Universe Live!, Cirque du Soleil’s newest show TORUK – The First Flight, and Denver Scholarship Foundation to its client roster.

Daniel Victor, reporting for the New York Times:

As Chipotle Mexican Grill tries to recover from a series of contaminations that have caused some customers and investors to flee, it said it would shut all its stores for several hours on Feb. 8 to hold food safety meetings with employees.

“We are hosting a national team meeting to thank our employees for their hard work through this difficult time, discuss some of the food safety changes we are implementing, and answer questions from employees,” Chris Arnold, a Chipotle spokesman, said in an email. The stores will open at 3 p.m., later than the usual start time of about 10 a.m. or 11 a.m., skipping the lunch hour rush on a Monday.

Hard to tell if this will help or just prolong the story, but a lot of market cap rides on the answer.

Congratulations to Sharon Linhart and the rest of the team at Linhart PR, which celebrated the firm’s 20th anniversary. Sharon, Paul, Carri, Dawn and the others – past and present – have built one of Denver’s great PR firms.

PRSA Colorado is accepting nominations for the following awards:

• Swede Johnson Lifetime Achievement
• Joe Fuentes Rookie of the Year
• Chapter Service
• PR Person of the Year
• Business Person of the Year
• Mentor of the Year
• PR Team of the Year

The deadline for nominations is Friday, Jan. 29.

Longtime Denver PR counselors Steven Silvers and Paul Jacobson have launched Silvers & Jacobson, a PR firm that helps businesses “prepare for and address the increasingly complex challenges of business growth and crisis situations.” The Denver Business Journal has more details.

Holmes Reports is out with the news that Denver-based Chipotle has split from its PR agency of record, Edelman, and is reviewing proposals for a new firm. Edelman’s work did not include crisis, which is handled by Denver’s GBSM, but its new firm is expected to partner with GBSM to supplement their efforts.

Among those hiring for PR jobs this week are Adams County, Amélie Company, City of Boulder, Colorado PERA, Colorado School of Mines, FirstBank, Jackson National Life Insurance, Jewish Family Service of Colorado, Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation, TeleTech and the Town of Windsor.

Former Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post business reporter and columnist Penny Parker has died. She was 62.

Proof PR has added the soon-to-open Cherry Hills Sushi Co. as a new client. CHSC is the first venture from husband-and-wife team Olivia Maeng and Bradford Kim. Kim is a trained sushi chef who has recently worked on the financial side of restaurant groups SBE/Katsuya and Innovative Dining Group.

Silver Spur Marketing has been retained to work with the Children’s Diabetes Foundation in Denver for 2016 and also is working on the organization’s Carousel of Hope Gala in Los Angeles at The Beverly Hilton.

CH2M Hill Vice President of Media & Public Relations John Corsi passed away this weekend. He was 48.

PRSA Colorado announced it 2016 board of directors:

Executive Officers

• President: Nicole Yost, founder and president, Fyn Public Relations
• President-Elect: Renee Robinson, APR, Ball Corporation
• Immediate Past-President: Cara Crifasi, co-founder, Evoke Creative Services
• Secretary: Suzanne Trantow, Aguilar PR
• Treasurer: Jerry Brown, APR, independent practitioner

Assembly Delegates

• Elizabeth Jumel, APR, president, Jumel Public Relations
• Elisabeth Monaghan, APR, independent practitioner
• Diane Mulligan, APR, president, Mulligan & Co. LLC
• Stacey Sepp, APR, principal, Xstatic Public Relations
• Dana Stone, external communications director, Elavon, Inc.

Directors

• Michelle Ellis, partner, Orapin Marketing + Public Relations
• Kelly Janhunen, senior account director and partner, Linhart Public Relations
• Michelle Kern, business development manager, Onyx Data Solutions
• Claudia Morlan, account director, Elmore Public Relations
• Jessica Sidener, director of communications, Arapahoe Library District

The Colorado Education Association (CEA) has named Weber Shandwick as its strategic communications agency of record. Weber Shandwick’s Denver office will manage the CEA account, as it helps expand awareness of and support for the CEA’s local advocacy efforts for quality public education through traditional media relations and digital storytelling.

Red Energy Public Relations, Advertising & Events has added three new clients: L.A.-based Sole Play; Jackson Hole-based Orion Design Group; and Mako Graphics of Sacramento, California. Services for the new clients include market research, focus groups, brand development, website content development and SEO optimization.

dovetail solutions has added the real estate firm Mile High Home Pro as a client. As part of the relationship, dovetail solutions will expand Mile High Home Pro’s community investment efforts, as well as manage the firm’s media relations and public relations services.

Vladimir Jones has appointed Matt Ingwalson and Jennifer Hohn to roles as partners and executive creative directors. Together, the two will focus on developing the creative department’s size and capabilities.

Denver’s Communications Strategy Group (CSG) has opened an office in New York City. The new office, located in the city’s financial district, joins CSG’s existing offices in Washington, D.C., and Denver. CSG has hired Ashley Frost as its first senior associate in New York and plans to recruit additional professionals in the coming months.

Turner PR has added four clients to its travel and tourism roster: Q&A Residential Hotel, Vidanta, Smith Fork Ranch and World Nomads.

Bill Kostka was the son of the man who opened Denver’s first public relations firm. He could have easily ridden those coattails, but instead he made an even bigger name for himself by growing the firm with high-profile clients such as Ford Motor Co., Martin Marietta Corp., Kodak and Dow Corning.

Bill passed away last night. He was 81.

Once again, Colorado has dominated Outside Magazine’s list of the 100 Best Places to Work. Congrats to all the Colorado companies that made the list, including the marketing and communications firms:

#1 – GroundFloor Media
#10 – TDA_Boulder
#23 – Bluetent
#29 –Sterling-Rice Group
#31 – Slice of Lime
#68 – Mondo Robot

Author Geoff Smart’s SMARTfest 2016 conference is looking for PR/Marketing support. The rough details are about 200 hours of support at about $50 per hour, with a potential bonus that could double that. If you are interested, contact Jessica Butts.

Linhart Public Relations has promoted Geoff Renstrom to senior account executive and added Dani Row as an account executive and Kelly Nash as an account associate.

Proof PR has added therapeutic massage center Peace of Mind Massage as a client. Peace of Mind is a collective community of licensed, certified massage therapists work together to treat the wide variety of people who could benefit from massage.

The Denver Preschool Program has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for management of its Outreach and Communications, which includes five major projects – Strategic Communications Consultant, Community Outreach, Public Relations & Copy Writing, Design, and Website Development.

Response options include responding as a single entity to complete all projects, responding as a single entity to any one project or responding as a single entity to any combination of projects. The deadline to respond is Nov. 6, 2015.

Among those hiring this week are B Public Relations, Clean Energy Collective (CEC), Denver Health, Denver Water, Denver Zoo, Gaiam, Great-West, Historic Grant Avenue, Jewish Family Service of Colorado, Kapost (internship), Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, National Jewish Health, PENSCO, Ski Coupons, University of Colorado, Vail Resorts, Virtegic Group and Wilbur-Ellis.

Silver Spur Marketing has added Denver Food & Wine and the Children’s Diabetes Foundation as clients. SSM will handle social media for Denver Food & Wine, and promote the Carousel Ball featuring Usher for the CDF.

dovetail solutions has added Stonebridge Companies, Transit Alliance, Redefy Real Estate and Gobi Racks as new clients. The firm also added James Cullen as a client services partner and Shannon Hughes as an intern.

From the Longmont Times-Call:

The Longmont City Council appointed a homeless man to the city’s housing authority board, but city staff members haven’t heard from him since he submitted an application for the position and don’t know how to reach him.

Congratulations to JKD & Company’s Jane Dvorak, who has been nominated as president-elect of the national PRSA organization. The formal election will take place in November.

Jane has been a member of the PRSA National board of directors, served as a National PRSA Delegate At-Large, been a Western District Chair and is a former PRSA Colorado chapter president. She has been awarded the PRSA Small Business Award and is a PRSA Silver Anvil winner. And, in 2012, Jane was named the PRSA Colorado Swede Johnson Lifetime Achievement recipient.

Congratulations to Volume PR, which has been selected as the Colorado partner and representative for the PRConsultants Group (PRCG), a nationwide network of nearly 50 public relations consultants.

As usual, Westword has the inside scoop on its cross-town competitor:

• Tom Trout
• Claire Martin
• Lori Smith
• Maureen Scance
• Joanne Davidson
• Steve Raabe
• Allen Daniel
• Vickie Heath
• Tom Kensler
• Electa Draper
• Bryan Moore
• Anthony Cotton
• Susan Clotfelter
• Jeff Domingues
• Lisa Kennedy
• Tara Lutzens
• Mark Jaffe
• Lynn Bartels
• Dean Krakel

Twin Cities dentist Walter Palmer is now in hiding. Welcome to the age of the Internet, Dr. Walt.

5W Public Relations is opening a Denver office to “support its growing client base in the Southwestern United States. … The agency’s Denver office will work with clients in both the consumer and corporate space, managing integrated communications and PR campaigns.”

Metzger Albee Public Relations won Campaign of the Year for its work with IT security client Coalfire Systems in the Business Intelligence Group’s 2015 Public Relations Excellence Awards. The team at Metzger Albee designed the campaign to react and respond in real-time to ongoing cybersecurity news. The approach paired company thought leaders with reporters covering breaches and other IT risk management issues. As a result, Coalfire and its security experts were featured in top-tier outlets and trade publications yielding a signifiant increase in media coverage and website traffic.

The NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers inexplicably showed this video making light of domestic abuse at their recent home game against the Chicago Bulls. I presume there are now a couple dozen positions open in the Cavs’ marketing department.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3ITvufeIgw