We’re wishing you peace and joy this Christmas season and throughout the coming year. May the holiday spirit find a home in your heart! Happy Holidays from the team at Clairemont Communications!
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Ponies and rickshaws and bluegrass, oh my! On May 16, 2015, Wendell Falls, a new-home community in Wendell, N.C., hosted its grand opening celebration, a southern-style affair featuring homebuilder models, bands, food, family activities and the unveiling of the all-new Grounds Café. Wendell Falls turned to Clairemont to raise awareness about the grand opening activities and reach the target homebuyer demographic through a series of coordinated pitches and creative invitations.
The Pitch
As part of the outreach, Clairemont connected with a variety of regional and local media outlets through targeted pitches to pique the interest of contacts, garner coverage and secure onsite visits to Wendell Falls. Clairemont brainstormed “out-of-the-box” angles beyond home construction, highlighting green features, holistic lifestyle options, parks and trails, family oriented amenities and the onsite Grounds Café—the city’s only coffee shop.
Execution
– Coordinated Pitches: Media outlets received personalized pitches showcasing unexpected elements of Wendell Falls. For example, Clairemont worked with the daily newspaper’s features columnist to spotlight the custom-designed Asheville Playgrounds structure at Wendell Falls. The local city paper featured the community’s historic tobacco barn quilt while the home magazines received stories about Wendell Falls’ new ecoSelect green building program.
– Blogger Outreach: Clairemont sent VIP invitations to key bloggers and local media to attend a behind-the-scenes tour of the new home community in addition to grand opening. For example, mom bloggers received details highlighting the family friendly amenities and activities at the grand opening. Food bloggers were invited to taste the local coffee and DIY grilled-cheese bar at Grounds Café while beer experts were offered tidbits about the café’s craft brews.
– Media Materials: In addition to a news release, Clairemont provided a “pre-grand opening” prep kit for reporters that included sample tweets, feature photos and hashtags to share. Media guests who attended grand opening left with a “Taste of Wendell” media kit that included pool passes, gift cards to Grounds Café, information about Wendell Falls for future stories and an assortment of local Wendell goods.
The Results
The team secured coverage in several major media outlets, including stories in the Wake County and Eastern Wake News sections of the News & Observer, a front page story in the Sunday edition of the News & Observer, an article in New Homes & Ideas, double coverage in the WRAL What’s On Tap section and two segments on WNCN-TV.
Clairemont also secured articles with prominent lifestyle, parenting, food and beer bloggers, including Durham Foodie, Carolina Parent, The B Keeps Us Honest, NC Beer Guys and Triangle Food Guy. Additionally, we hosted representatives of WRAL, the News & Observer and the Triangle Business Journal onsite before and during the grand opening.
Want to learn more about Clairemont’s work in the real estate industry? Read our posts about real estate PR.
Our client Andrew Valkanoff, owner and operator of Triangle Dairy Queen, recently showed up at the Clairemont House for a planning meeting with a Candy Cane Oreo Blizzard Cake. What a great way to get in the holiday spirit!
What is your favorite Blizzard flavor? Post it on our Facebook page!
The Pitch
As a tactical component of Clairemont’s public relations strategy to reintroduce Il Palio, Chapel Hill’s iconic Italian restaurant, after the restaurant’s first renovation in 30 years and to gain exposure of the new chef, Chef Teddy Diggs, Clairemont leveraged the back-to-school season by highlighting Chef Teddy’s role as a parent. Recognizing that busy parents often struggle for fresh ideas for school lunches, we asked, “what does a top chef pack for his own children to eat?”
We selected targeted media and shared “Top Chef’s Top Tips for Back-to-School Lunches,” a series of kid-friendly recipes and photos designed to engage children and yield tasty, balanced lunches. We also offered college-friendly recipes upon request. These efforts resulted in articles, blogs and wide-spread posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Execution
Results
Il Palio’s reintroduction to the Triangle restaurant scene has been a success. As part of a larger, strategic campaign, Clairemont helped Il Palio engage with a targeted mom audience by finding a common connection through this Back-to-School pitch. This tactic exceeded expectations by securing five media placements and 10 social media posts, with a reach of more than 51,899 followers on Twitter alone, to generate additional buzz about Chef Teddy and his family friendly persona.
Want to see more about the restaurant PR work we do at Clairemont? Be sure to check out our Foodie Blog Posts!
When you think of a ribbon cutting, chances are you picture giant scissors and the stuffy old red ribbon from Grandpa’s closet. At Clairemont, we’re always searching for new ways to add creativity to our client work. So naturally, as the agency for The Lincoln Apartments grand opening events, the Clairemont team put our heads together to come up with a fun way to welcome The Lincoln to downtown Raleigh that would also capture attention from local media.
The Lincoln is a new 224-unit residential apartment community situated in the rapidly changing Moore Square neighborhood in Downtown Raleigh and offers studio, one and two-bedroom apartments, lofts and townhouses. Residents have access to amenities including a fitness room and yoga studio, a courtyard swimming pool, enclosed parking with electric car chargers, interior bike storage and a pet spa. Since The Lincoln is one of the few downtown Raleigh complexes that is pet friendly, we decided to highlight that amenity and partner with a local pet organization and nonprofit, Cause for Paws of NC, for the ribbon cutting.
On September 10, 2015, The Lincoln Apartments celebrated its official grand opening with a ribbon-cutting event in the afternoon and a cocktail party in the evening. Both were designed to engage key influencers and members from our target demographic to experience The Lincoln Lifestyle, positioning The Lincoln as the premiere urban living development in downtown Raleigh.
The grand opening began with a ribbon-cutting event that featured the president of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, city council members and other prominent Raleigh officials. After the dignitaries made remarks about The Lincoln and its positive impact on the Moore Square District, Molly, our canine ambassador from Cause for Paws, “cut” the ribbon by chewing through a treat.
The event doubled as a fundraiser for Cause for Paws of NC with “Tag, You’re It!” a photo relay where The Lincoln donated $5 to Cause for Paws of NC for each who participated. By simply snapping a photo of the person to the left, sharing it on any social media channel and tagging #TheLincolnRaleigh and #CauseforPawsNC, participants helped Triangle dogs and cats who need homes.
This approach generated excitement about The Lincoln and garnered news coverage on ABC11 and News 14, which, in turn, helped boost exposure for Cause for Paws.
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