Category: Blog

Thanksgiving at Clairemont

Clairemont InternBlog, The Clairemont Team, , ,

There’s a lot Clairemont has to be thankful for this year—our creative, hardworking team, beautiful home office space in the heart of downtown Raleigh, award recognition from both the Public Relations Society of America and the Raleigh Public Relations Society, and most importantly, our amazing clients.

While all of us here at Clairemont are thankful for many similar things, we each have a few aspects special to us that deserve recognition.

Anna

“I’m thankful for this amazing internship opportunity at Clairemont. Over the past few months, I have learned a great deal about the PR and communications industries through various projects and by working directly with clients. I have had the privilege to work with and learn from an incredible group of energetic and fun women who are extremely talented at what they do. I am also thankful for the Clairemont porch that has doubled as my creative thinking hub on beautiful fall days and for the Clairemont candy jar (and a team who never judges me for eating way too many Jolly Ranchers).

On a more personal note, I am thankful for my friends and family who always support me. I am grateful to be spending this Thanksgiving with my loved ones, even though they somehow convinced me to run a turkey trot race.”

Kaitlyn

“This year I’m thankful for new opportunities. At Clairemont, I’m actually getting to write and create for clients. I really feel like I’m a part of the team and getting to leave my mark. I also like being the first one in the office twice a week. It feels like a fresh start and a new opportunity to help clients and Clairemont as I unlock the door, get all the lights on and put on a pot of coffee. It seems small, but it’s refreshing. I’m grateful to start each day with optimism and enthusiasm.

I’m also grateful for my many nieces and nephews who make me laugh, build my patience and enjoy sweets as much as me.”

Cherith

“What am I thankful for this year at Clairemont? That chalkboard wall in a little room we call “The Pitch Parlor.” Truthfully, it owes its name to our love of alliteration at Clairemont, and we imagined we’d retreat into its cozy ambience — complete with heart-shaped chairs — to make media calls. It since has taken on a rather jack-of-all trades function, but it still sports its hallmark chalkboard wall. I’m thankful for what this wall represents. It almost begs to be covered in drawings — ideas, musings, brainstorms. There’s a sense of exciting possibilities and an encouragement for exploration. This quality mirrors the atmosphere at Clairemont — a team eager to spin new ideas, explore new paths, encourage bright ideas and make great things happen together. For that, I am thankful.

Personally, I’m thankful for Oreo Truffles. I’ve had some good ones. And I’m eternally grateful for a family that never quits.”

Tracy

“First and foremost, I am thankful for my family. I have a loving husband who is truly a best friend and partner, two amazing children and an extended family that I love dearly. I also thank God every day for a profession that continues to inspire me, a job that I love and that I have the pleasure of working with the most outstanding women. Friends that are family are also at the top of my list. It takes a village to raise a family with our busy schedules, and we are blessed to be raising ours alongside our oldest and dearest friends. And last but not least, I am thankful for Amazon Prime. Quite simply it just makes life easier. Especially at Christmas time 🙂 Rather than running all over town, anything I need can be delivered to my doorstep. Sometimes it’s all about the little things that make our life a little less hectic.”

Kelli

“There’s so much to be thankful for! This year, we bought our first home, moved back to our home state, started new jobs and celebrated our second kid’s first birthday. We couldn’t have done any of these things without the full support of our amazing family and friends. They helped oversee home inspections and renovations when we lived 1,000 miles away. They helped us find daycare for our kids. They helped us pack up in Massachusetts and unpack in North Carolina. They housed us, fed us, watched the kids, watched our cat and even got/gave us jobs. When we called upon them (and even when we didn’t) they stepped up and asked: ‘What do you need? What can I do?’ As I come up on Thanksgiving this year, a year that held just as many challenges as it did joys, I’m overwhelmed with the love that so many people showered over us this year and I can honestly say, I’ve never been more grateful for anything.”

Dana

“I am thankful for my son and his fearless creativity! He is a prolific artist, skilled videographer and overall talented creator. I’m always amused by how quickly he executes an idea, and I love hearing about what’s next. For example, the other night he recorded several songs that he ‘wrote’ as he was recording them. I’m so grateful that he is never afraid to explore and express his creative passions.

I am thankful for all the Clairemont team members. I’ve always heard that the key to success for a business owner is to hire people smarter than you. I have done just that! I love working with the smart, experienced, dedicated and kind people who bring their best to our clients each day.

I am thankful for having a beautiful place to work in our lovely City of Oaks. The Clairemont House, located in downtown Raleigh, has been home to Clairemont for about five years. Whether we are cranking out ideas in our ‘crank room’ or gathered around the kitchen island brainstorming ideas for a client, we find the character of this historic home to encourage positive energy and productivity.”

We certainly have a lot to be thankful for at Clairemont this year. We are looking forward to spending the holiday season with our loved ones at home and at work. Here at Clairemont, we begin each day with smiles on our faces and an optimistic outlook knowing that we will inevitably find one more thing for which to be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving from our team to you and yours!

Written by Clairemont Intern Anna Ostrowski, a senior at UNC.

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The Five Love Languages: PR Edition

Kelli FletcherBlog, Hiring a PR Firm, Public Relations, , , ,

In 1995 Gary Chapman wrote a book that promised to enlighten you on “how to express heartfelt commitment to your mate.” It was dubbed the “secret” to making a relationship last and promised a path to truer, deeper love. The book was titled, The Five Love Languages. Twenty years later a revised edition of the book was released and since then, pop culture has seen a resurgence of the concept: that there are five ways to express and experience love, and that each person has one primary and one secondary love language.

Well, call us silly, but we do fancy ourselves in the business of love and commitment. As in, we LOVE what we do and who we do it for, and we are COMMITTED to making our clients happy, day in and day out. In fact, to take it a step further, our team strives to not just make these relationships with our clients but also to maintain them for years to come.

And because each client’s needs are different and each views success in a variety of ways, we’ll argue that we’ve become somewhat of a group of experts at this whole theory and each of its languages. Bottom line: Every day we strive to present our clients with all the languages of love!

Here’s a little snippet of ways we at Clairemont “speak” the five languages of love:

Receiving Gifts: Some people love flowers, but we think nothing says “I love you” more than a big fat clipbook of media hits in our client’s target outlets.

Quality Time: We not only connect with our clients weekly but we also try to do it in person whenever we can. We love hosting kick-off meetings and “calls” at the Clairemont House. This way our clients (and potential clients) can see where all the magic happens.

Words of Affirmation: Whether it’s feedback on a recent camera interview or acknowledging a fantastic idea, we want to let our clients know they’re doing a great job. We think we work with some of the best clients in the biz, and, well, we’re going to tell you about it.

Acts of Service: For us, this is our most fluent. We’re not just going to talk the talk; we’re going to walk the walk! Maybe it’s connecting our clients to the community or to each other. Or perhaps we are tasked with executing a flawless event. Whatever it is our clients need, we’re going to make sure it gets done.

Physical Touch: Often times we’ll kick off a client relationship with a strong handshake and celebrate successes with a high five. But there’s no hiding that we’re a group of huggers at heart, which means we often hug it out with our clients when we say hello and good-bye.

Maybe one of these languages speaks more loudly to you, or heck, maybe you and your business need them all. Either way, our team is up (and excited!) for the chance to show you we care! Want to learn more? Drop us a line!

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Finding Your Head-Tilting Idea

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Public Relations, , , , ,
You have it. You found your something, your showstopper, your Shark-tank-worthy product that you know will revamp your industry! You wouldn’t invest your time, talent and resources in an initiative if you didn’t believe in its revolutionary power.
Why, then, aren’t media inquiries flooding your inbox? Why aren’t eager customers beating down your doors and clearing your shelves? Why is your social media engagement fizzling to nothing?

Sound Familiar?

Alas, thus is the plight of many brands that come to us — a world-changing idea that hasn’t yielded the results they expected. Now notably, many elements of the business require honest evaluation in this situation, from the product production to the business model itself.
But at Clairemont, we’re in the business of transforming a company’s marketing and PR from “blah to Voila,” as we say. And one of our secret ingredients is what one of our friends – Sean Lilly Wilson of Fullsteam Brewery — once called “the head-tilting idea.”

The Head-Tilting Idea

A head-tilting idea is the element that makes you simply stop … and take a second glance — the “wait, what now?” factor. (That’s the technical term in our PR textbooks.) This twist of creativity swivels the spotlight to your company, placing your brand on centerstage. Whether based on humor, a bold CSR move or an unlikely partnership, the contrast where the expected meets the unexpected produces a magical magnetism, one that we’ve seen catch the attention of busy reporters and create a vibrant buzz amidst consumers.

Ideas in Action

Here are just a few we cooked up in the Clairemont creative kitchen:

Hoedown Showdown: A master-planned community threw a barn-raising themed event to celebrate its first anniversary. To transform this internal milestone into a media-worthy moment, Clairemont concocted the ultimate “dancing with the stars” competition. Media were invited to compete in the square-dance competition dubbed “the hoedown showdown” for a chance to win $1,000 to donate to charity of their choice. This unexpected boot-scootin’ bonanza captured the attention of busy media, landing coverage across the Triangle.

LEKKER’s 24 Hour Tour: Fans flocked to see North Carolina’s  newest star — one that made its debut for just 24 hours in Greensboro. The celebrity made appearances at everything from restaurants and boutiques to morning TV shows and even on stage at a live band performance. The guest celebrity? A Dutch fashion bicycle making its debut in the United States. Clairemont positioned the LEKKER bike as a celebrity that spent its first American day doing photo opps, “signing autographs” and meeting its new fans. Clairemont transformed a typical product launch into an anticipated debut, garnering fans, securing bold coverage and topping the season’s holiday shopping list.

Wrangler Dave Launches the Railinc CowParade: When Railinc, IT provider to the rail industry, asked Clairemont to give them some creative ideas to promote its sponsorship of CowParade North Carolina, we said we’ll do you one better and give you something no other sponsors have! We’ll give you a cowboy! Clairemont’s Wrangler Dave became the official cowboy of the Railinc cow. In full cowboy getup Wrangler Dave starred in videos and on the Clairemont-created landing page talking about how supporting mooovelous causes like the CowParade made Railinc an udderly amazing place to work. We collaborated with the 16-year-old artist selected by Railinc to paint their cow to include QR codes in the cow’s design, linked the landing page. Railinc employees were invited by Wrangler Dave to participate in a cow-naming contest, a photo contest and to join Wrangler Dave at CowParade events. During Raleigh’s First Fridays while Railinc’s cow as on parade, Wrangler Dave hosted “Chow Cow,” a promotional game that highlighted career opportunities and helped boost Railinc’s employment!
Are you looking for that new angle, a fresh pizzazz to bring your brand to life? Drop us a line to find your head-tilting idea!
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What does a PR agency do? Newland Saves Residents A Million Dollars

Clairemont InternAwards, Blog, Case Studies, , , , , , , Leave a Comment on What does a PR agency do? Newland Saves Residents A Million Dollars

Newland Communities, the country’s largest privately held residential real estate developer, touts two master-planned green communities in central North Carolina: Briar Chapel and Wendell Falls. From inception, Newland built these communities on principles of sustainable design through energy efficient land planning and comprehensive, NGBS-certified home construction – standing as the two largest green communities in the Triangle. Newland sought to showcase its industry leadership with research and data proving the tangible value of building green. Clairemont set the objective to reach media outlets with a circulation of more than 100,000. Therefore, our goal was to secure a feature story in Builder Magazine within the 2017 calendar year that highlighted Newland’s delivery of demonstrable results.

STRATEGY

Clairemont and client Newland developed five personas to define our diverse target market, homebuyers between ages 21 and 65 actively seeking homes in North Carolina and designed an innovative pitch angle tailored to the publications’ needs. Clairemont framed the 10-year study’s centerpiece finding – that Briar Chapel and Wendell Falls saved residents more than $1 million in energy bills – with attention-grabbing, light-hearted depictions of the equivalent annual savings. For example, homeowners could have purchased 14,015 movie nights, 9,110 family cookouts or 60,733 fresh apple pies with their savings. We accompanied our pitch with content that editors could repurpose, such as visually appealing charts and images of the homes. To further ensure a good editorial fit, we met Builder Magazine’s need for data-driven insights by offering supplementary reports, an interview with Newland’s marketing director and the top three quantifiable ways Newland saves energy.

EXECUTION

The Clairemont team completed a media audit to determine which outlets provided maximum visibility within the target demographic. We also thoroughly researched the green building market to identify homebuyers’ biggest questions about green building and how Newland allays these concerns. To ensure quality from start to finish, we held regular internal planning meetings and client calls and completed multiple rounds of editing and proofing.

RESULTS

Clairemont met the stated objective and far exceeded expectations within our budget by the end of 2017. The feature story in Builder Magazine spotlighted Newland’s sustainable nature while positioning the community as a thought leader in the green home industry to its circulation of approximately 120,000.

This feature story fed into a larger campaign that skyrocketed traffic at Wendell Falls by approximately 32 percent, landed Briar Chapel two Best Neighborhood awards in Chapel Hill and earned Newland the Developer of the Year award from the Home Builders Association of the Triangle.

The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Newland Communities earned Awards of Excellence, Best in Category and Best in Show awards by the North Carolina Public Relations Society of America (NCPRSA) and a Platinum Award from the Raleigh Public Relations Society. We are proud that this campaign represents one of the 198 awards we’ve received since starting Clairemont in 2010.

To read more about the work we do with clients, please visit the case study section of our blog.

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What does a PR agency do? A Freshly Baked Media Kit

Clairemont InternAwards, Blog, Case Studies, , , , , , , , Leave a Comment on What does a PR agency do? A Freshly Baked Media Kit

Il Palio, Chapel Hill’s AAA-rated Four Diamond Italian restaurant, wanted to break into the national culinary scene and gain acclaim as a leading restaurant in the Southeast. As part of a comprehensive PR strategy, Clairemont Communications secured a coveted invitation for Executive Chef Teddy Diggs to cook a dinner at the James Beard House, the country’s leading culinary organization.

A Tasty Media Kit

To secure an invitation to the James Beard House, Clairemont creatively positioned Chef Teddy as the country’s newest kind of “sommelier,” an olive oil expert qualified by his extensive culinary experience with Italy’s olive oil producing regions. Clairemont then crafted themed pitches to pique the interest of busy culinary writers in New York City. To accompany the pitches, we devised a media kit with one main ingredient: a wedge of Teddy’s renowned, freshly baked Sea Salt and Rosemary Focaccia. We paired the tasty sample with an opportunity for an in-person interview with Teddy as well as an invitation to the Italian Olive Oil Feast at the James Beard House. It was all in the details! We orchestrated the bread’s perfectly timed journey from Il Palio’s ovens to New York’s news desks within 24 hours.

Results

  1. Clairemont placed six national media stories in coveted outlets such as Saveur, The Daily Meal and Food Republic. Social media posts reached approximately 1.2 million followers on Twitter alone, far exceeding the original goal.
  2. As a direct result of our media kit, Clairemont secured dinner attendance from five key media from outlets like Food and Wine Magazine and NBC’s Today Show.

Bolstered by diner reviews and media coverage, Il Palio earned a Silver Medal from food critics as a “Best Restaurant in the Triangle in 2017.” In addition, the James Beard dinner sparked the “Taste of James Beard,” a collaborative dinner with leading Raleigh chefs that Chef Teddy hosted upon return, leveraging his New York trip to attract new customers and boost sales at Il Palio.

The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Il Palio earned a Best in Category and an Honorable Mention by the North Carolina Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). We are proud that this campaign represents one of the 198 awards we’ve received since starting Clairemont in 2010.

To read more about the work we do with clients, please visit the case study section of our blog.

Feature image courtesy of Sandra Benton.

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