Year: 2017

Clairemont Lands 10 Industry Awards

Cherith AndesAwards, Blog, Public Relations, , , ,

The Clairemont House is brimming with fun, head-tilting little touches. Like a conference table surrounded by pink, heart-shaped stools. A row of reclaimed stadium seats. And a room of doodling chalkboards. We love working in a creative atmosphere, but what we love even more is the chance to craft creative campaigns that secure successes for our clients. So our little heart-shaped hearts were thrilled when we were honored last week for our client work!

On October 17, the Raleigh Public Relations Society (RPRS) hosted its 2017 Sir Walter Raleigh Awards honoring exemplary campaigns by public relations and marketing professionals in the Triangle.

Clairemont’s 2017 Sir Walter Raleigh Awards included:

  • Platinum Award in Campaigns: Branding (Community or Product) for “Il Palio Dishes Up Something New”
  • Platinum Award in Campaigns: Organizational Identity/Promotion for “Wendell Falls Busts Real Estate Myths”
  • Platinum Award in Digital Communications: Social Media Campaign for “A Taste of Italy at Il Palio”
  • Gold Award in Campaigns: Branding (Community or Product) for “Il Palio Dishes Up Something New”
  • Gold Award in Campaigns: Special Events for “Fire It Up! Briar Chapel’s 9th Annual Pepper Festival”
  • Gold Award in Campaigns: Organizational Identity/Promotion for “Briar Chapel Back on the Map
  • Gold Award in Digital Communications: Video/Podcast/Videocast Program for “Our Coffee Cares Video”
  • Silver Award in Event Marketing for “Vita Vite Creates ‘Raleigh’s Sunday Spot'”
  • Silver Award in Media Event for “Hoedown Showdown at Wendell Falls”
  • Silver Award in Publication & PR Writing: Press Release for “DQ’s Miracle Treat Day Benefits Duke Children’s Hospital”

Our biggest thank you goes directly to our wonderful clients; we love doing what we do, and we love that we get to do it with you!

Want to partner with Clairemont to cook up your next creative campaign? Drop us a line!

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The “Coolest” Client Challenge

Cherith AndesBlog, Clairemont Client News, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , , , , ,

I scream; you scream; we all scream for … Blizzards? In this “chilling” student competition, we absolutely did!

What’s this “Upside-Down or Free” Gig?

Clairemont client Triangle Dairy Queen wanted to bolster and support student learning in a fun, creative way. So Clairemont and Triangle DQ devised the “Upside-Down or Free Competition,” challenging local elementary schools to test their engineering skills in a Blizzard ice-cream-launching competition. Designed in partnership with The Engineering Place at NC State University, the competition invited approximately 400 students to design an apparatus that could carry a Dairy Queen Blizzard upside down from a platform safely to a target on the ground.

That’s right! First- and fifth-grade students crafted some crazy cool contraptions from reusable materials, from balloons and bubble wrap to shoeboxes and used soda bottles.

So why upside-down?

At Dairy Queen, all Blizzards are served to guests upside down, or they are free. Triangle Dairy Queen owner Andy Valkanoff wanted to leverage this fun factoid to re-energize learning, stimulate a renewed interested in engineering and provide an imaginative outlet for kiddos to simply create!

Who were Blizzard-bombing players?

  • Approximately 400 students from York Elementary, A.B. Combs Magnet Elementary and Wendell Elementary schools, jazzed to unveil their Blizzard-blitzing contraptions.
  • Andy Valkanoff, owner of Triangle Dairy Queen, who personally launched almost 150 Blizzards from
    the threshold of a sky-high cherry picker. Yes, he did.
  • The photo-taking, event-organizing, uber-excited Clairemont team!
  • Engineer students and representatives from The Engineering Place at NC State, carefully judging each Blizzard competitor.
  • A large squeegee. (Because smooshed and melting ice cream in 85-degree weather needs something heavier than a broom!)

At the end, Triangle DQ crowned a grand prize and runner up winner for each grade, who received coveted prizes like ice cream for a year. Each student trotted off with their own Starkiss and a coupon for free Blizzard, while every teacher was bequeathed a free ice cream cake. Best of all were the smiles on the students’ faces paired with one request for us to return next year for “the best challenge ever!”

We love devising zany, effective strategies to support our community and help our clients reach their goals. Looking for your next “voila” for your company? Drop us a line!

Photos courtesy of Triangle Dairy Queen.

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LinkedIn Is Back

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , ,

LinkedIn may be turning a corner. What was once a sleepy job forum is launching new features that might transform it into a vibrant social contender. Yes, at its foundation, LinkedIn is a professional networking platform, and since its cash cow is job marketing, it won’t likely revamp its entire identity. However, LinkedIn’s fresh tools offer additional functionality and opportunities for interaction.

Native Video

Previously, LinkedIn only permitted you to repost video links from video platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo. Now in late 2017, LinkedIn is rolling native video, allowing users to shoot and upload video directly to the platform. This provides opportunities for professionals to create stronger brand messages and target content to specific audiences, ultimately boosting interaction and business visibility.

In addition, LinkedIn provides metrics such as top companies, titles and the location of viewers, along with views, likes and comments on the video. Note that native video is currently only available to individuals (not businesses) and only via the LinkedIn app. Take advantage of this opportunity to position your executives as thought leaders through first-person interviews on their personal LinkedIn profiles or behind-the-scenes glimpses of company processes. For an extra boost, include text in the video with tools such as Apple Clips.

Active Status

Never know the right time to start a conversation? There’s (part of) an app for that. LinkedIn now lets you know when a contact is active online by placing a green dot in the lower right-hand corner of their profile pictures. A green dot with a white center denotes contacts who are available only on mobile. This notation opens the door for real-time conversations between anyone from colleagues to potential employees and business partners. Experts have speculated if this will eventually beget relationships like professional mentorships via LinkedIn. For now, chat away!

Calendar Sync

While not necessarily new, this simple tool tends to slip under the radar. LinkedIn provides the option to sync with your calendar in three easy steps. When toggling between meetings, this allows you to quickly research new contacts or refresh your memory on the details of an acquaintance. The synced calendar will even remind you to follow up with your contacts after the meeting.

And as an extra tip, Social Media Examiner suggests that in addition to native video, text-only posts perform surprisingly well, especially when crafted with a question or in a storytelling format.

Keep digging! Check out other tips on maximizing your social media!

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Beef Up Your Video Power

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , ,

Although videos are the dominate medium in marketing these days, it’s no longer sufficient to simply shoot and post good footage. Even hot fads like Facebook Livestream or drone b-roll alone won’t make the cut anymore. Savvy communicators must develop layered strategies to leverage video work by combining prevalent tools with rising cultural trends.

Image courtesy of Facebook

This doesn’t mean departing from your hard-earned techniques, storyboards or technical skills. Facebook 360, for example, secures twice as many views all the way through the entire video than traditional videos. That’s a tool worth exploring! But now, build on these successful tools by reframing each video project through an added lens. How can you take a new approach to the storyline and tap into your demographic’s way of thinking?

Video + Trend

Clairemont recently tackled a challenge with client Wendell Falls, one of the Triangle’s largest master-planned new-home communities, located 15 minutes from downtown Raleigh. With a fresh crop of new model homes, Wendell Falls sought to highlight its builders’ creations and engage millennial and Gen Y prospects, two key demographics. We recognized that a simple video tour wouldn’t do the trick. Visual walk-throughs are readily available online, and in essence, a slideshow could render the same effect.

Instead, we paired the project with a trend that is (still!) hot in the market. Research shows that more than half of millennials aspire to launch their own start-up companies, and Gen Y-ers have earned the title as the DIY generation. Entrepreneurism, hands-on approaches and self creation mark these demographic’s approaches to projects. Hence, we created a series of DIY videos in home design tips and techniques that featured the model homes at Wendell Falls as a backdrop.

Useful, Sharable, Visual

Working from home? Check out these tips to create a productive and inspiring home office (featuring the Dan Ryan Builders model home). Learn how to style a party-worthy porch or master your open floor plan with expertise advice from Homes By Dickerson. Here’s another favorite on spicy design tips!

The final product yielded a clean, engaging video that was both educational and (ding ding!) shareable. For those looking for quick and free design tips, we fit the bill And in a Pinterest-esque way, the videos provided content that you could pass on to friends, strategically helping to expand the social visibility of Wendell Falls.

What one thing do you want to highlight in your business? Drop us a line to partner on your next video project.

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Meet Lindsey, Clairemont Intern

Clairemont InternBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, The Clairemont Team, , , ,

Fashion has been something that has always captured my attention. From the time my mom gave me a purse that read “I Love Shoes” for Christmas to my very first designer anything, I’ve been obsessed and completely infatuated with the culture and creativity behind the fashion industry.

As I grew up, I soon realized that I, unfortunately, didn’t inherit the artist gene that basically every other member of my family had. So I quickly had to consider and learn other areas of the fashion industry that I could pursue.

Having moved to Asheville, North Carolina from New Jersey made me realize some key changes in the culture around me, especially within fashion. It taught me a lot about how to pursue a dream and stay true to what you believe in although it may be challenging when faced with criticism from your peers.

Then, during my sophomore year of high school, I got the opportunity to tour Diane von Furstenberg’s corporate headquarters. I knew right then that I wanted nothing more than to work in the fashion industry and decided fashion journalism was the path I wanted to take.

A Change of Pace

After spending countless hours honing my reporting skills through high school and into my freshman year of college, I came to the conclusion that the journalism industry wasn’t a fit. I switched from studying reporting to PR and haven’t regretted a single second of pursuing a career in this industry.

This past summer I had the opportunity to intern and live in New York City, which has always been the city of my dreams. I’m pretty positive it took me all summer to even realize I was actually living out my dream in my dream city. It taught me an incredible amount about PR in general but, more importantly, about my own drive and work ethic. Diving right in to an industry in a brand new city is hard, but I can’t even begin to describe how valuable an experience like that is for a young professional.

Why I Love the PR Industry

I think that the PR industry has so much room for creativity, and how dependent it is on person-to-person interaction isn’t something you find in every career. It’s fun, it’s fulfilling, and most importantly, it’s important; after dipping my toes into my first internship, I took away the idea that really every brand or client relies on the work PR practitioners establish. Everything from social media to traditional news articles are intertwined and codependent, thanks to the work that goes in from the PR side.

Now after returning back to my second home at UNC-Chapel Hill, I have been able to understand so much more about why I love PR. I am so excited to continue working with it while interning at Clairemont Communications this semester.

Written by Lindsey Hoover, junior at UNC-Chapel Hill.

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