Tag: award winning PR agency

What Does a PR Agency Do? Briar Chapel Unveils Encore

Clairemont InternAwards, Blog, Case Studies, , , , ,

Briar Chapel is one of the largest master-planned green communities in North Carolina and part of Newland Communities, the country’s most prominent privately held residential real estate developer. As Briar Chapel prepared to launch Encore, its new age-qualified section, marketing managers turned to Clairemont Communications to gain visibility and roll out this distinctive offering to homebuyers ages 55 years and older.

Strategy: Feature Story

Clairemont crafted a comprehensive public relations campaign designed to gain visibility and support home sales for Encore. As a key element in this strategy, Clairemont set an objective to secure a feature story in The Original Relocation Guide prior to Encore’s grand opening that highlighted the age-qualified section’s features and lifestyle appeal. To gain maximum exposure, we aimed to secure this story in a local publication with a followership of at least 300,000 that targeted homebuyers. 

Execution

Clairemont recognized that feature stories often secure greater exposure with more opportunity to tell a complete, in-depth narrative than news briefs or short blurbs. Encore included a distinct set of lifestyle offerings that few other locations in the country could claim, so a larger feature story was critical to thoroughly depicting the character of the new section. The Original Location Guide, with its large readership in North Carolina, provided the perfect vehicle to share the news.

Clairemont crafted a creative, out-of-the-box angle designed to grab the attention of busy editors. Our initial hook leveraged the exclusivity that Encore offered, since it was only the second of its kind in the country. While this newsy tidbit might have been worth a local newspaper mention, we recognized the need for a more engaging story that would appeal to The Original Relocation Guide’s informative yet warm tone. We invited them to share a “how to” segment that tapped on both the desire to share fresh news as well as equipping the editors with a DIY approach for their home shoppers.

Results

Clairemont met the stated objective and far exceeded expectations. The feature story in The Original Relocation Guide highlighted the distinct character of Encore while positioning Briar Chapel (cited as the author) as a thought leader in the retirement industry to its circulation of 470,000. Published prior to the grand opening, the feature article prompted interest from prospects, and Encore secured a full waiting list of homebuyers by grand opening date.

The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Briar Chapel received a “Best in Category” award in the 2017 InSpire Awards. We are proud that this campaign represents one of the 175 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? Unlocking Your Child’s Future

Clairemont InternAwards, Blog, Case Studies, , , , , , ,

Newland Communities, the country’s most prominent privately held residential developer, launched its newest master-planned community – Wendell Falls – in May of 2015. Since many families choose their homes based on the quality of the closest school system, Newland turned to Clairemont Communications to unveil the strengths of eastern Wake County’s academics and position Wendell Falls as a popular living destination for families.

Strategy and Tactics

Clairemont crafted a comprehensive strategic campaign to target families with school-aged children seeking homes in the Triangle area. As a component of the campaign, our team set the objective to develop an informative external publication highlighting the school system’s strengths to ambassadors and prospects. The touchstone publication supported a larger strategy to boost home sales by 100 percent in 2016.

Execution

Clairemont decided to craft a brochure that was clear, concise and easily portable, giving realtors the ability to physically pass them out without weighing them down from too much information. Our goal was to make the information readily available to realtors when they were asked questions about Wake County schools and to showcase the quality of education that the school system has to offer the prospective homebuyers and their families.

Results

Clairemont met the stated objective and far exceeded expectations, successfully creating an attractive, informative publication for  homebuyers and ambassadors. Complemented by additional family-centric marketing, sales increased by approximately 250 percent in 2016. Clairemont’s brochure even prompted one Wendell Falls representative to tout it as “the best school tool we’ve had to date!”

The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Wendell Falls earned an Award of Excellence and a Best in Category from the North Carolina Public Relations Society of America. We are proud that this campaign represents one of the 175 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.

*Cover image courtesy of Wendell Falls.

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When Square Dancing Pays Off

Cherith AndesAwards, Blog, The Clairemont Team, , , , , , ,

To all of those wonderful media people who whipped out their best square dancing moves at the Wendell Falls Hoedown Showdown last May … thank you.

On May 10, the North Carolina Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (NCPRSA) hosted its 2017 InSpire Awards recognizing outstanding public relations and marketing campaigns in a variety of categories. The Clairemont team almost danced its pants off when we received 27 accolades from NCPRSA, adding to the agency’s existing 137 awards. Our most favorite, of course, was the Best in Show award for the Wendell Falls Hoedown Showdown … because who doesn’t love cuttin’ a rug for a good cause?

Clairemont’s 2017 InSpire Awards included:

  • Best in Show for “Creative Tactics: Hoedown Showdown at Wendell Falls”
  • Best in Category for “Creative Tactics: Hoedown Showdown at Wendell Falls”
  • Best in Category for “Events and Observances: Fire It Up! Briar Chapel’s 9th Annual Pepper Festival“
  • Best in Category for “Media Relations: The Media Digs Chef Teddy Diggs”
  • Best in Category for “Social Media: A Taste of Italy at Il Palio”
  • Best in Category for “Video: Our Coffee Cares at Wendell Falls”
  • Best in Category for “Feature Stories: Briar Chapel Unveils Encore”
  • Best in Category for “Brochures: Unlocking Your Child’s Future with Wendell Falls”
  • Best in Category for “Press Kits/Media Kits: Applebee’s Hand-Cut Wood-Fired Media Kit”
  • Best in Category for “Editorial/Op-Ed Columns: Piña Coladas, Creativity and #PinkBeetle“
  • Best in Category for “Advertorial: Newland Communities Advertorial for Wake Living”
  • Award of Excellence for “Creative Tactics: Hoedown Showdown at Wendell Falls”
  • Award of Excellence for “Creative Tactics: Vita Vite Creates Raleigh’s Sunday Spot”
  • Award of Excellence for “Creative Tactics: Briar Chapel Asks, ‘How Spicy is Your Personality?’”
  • Award of Excellence for “Events and Observances: Fire It Up! Briar Chapel’s 9th Annual Pepper Festival”
  • Award of Excellence for “Media Relations: The Media Digs Chef Teddy Diggs”
  • Award of Excellence for “Media Relations: DQ’s Miracle Treat Day to Benefit Duke Children’s Hospital“
  • Award of Excellence for “Social Media: A Taste of Italy at Il Palio”
  • Award of Excellence for “Video: Our Coffee Cares at Wendell Falls”
  • Award of Excellence for “Feature Stories: Briar Chapel Unveils Encore“
  • Award of Excellence for “Brochures: Unlocking Your Child’s Future with Wendell Falls”
  • Award of Excellence for “Press Kits/Media Kits: Applebee’s Hand-Cut Wood-Fired Media Kit”
  • Award of Excellence for “Editorial/Op-Ed Columns: Piña Coladas, Creativity and #PinkBeetle”
  • Award of Excellence for “Advertorial: Newland Communities Advertorial for Wake Living”
  • Award of Excellence for “Reputation/Brand Management: Il Palio Dishes Up Something New”
  • Award of Excellence for “Integrated Communications: Il Palio Dishes Up Something New”
  • Honorable Mention for “Social Media: Briar Chapel Asks, ‘How Spicy is Your Personality?‘”

We love what we do. We love our clients. We love doing what we love to do with the clients we love. (Whew! That’s a mouthful!) Thank you to our wonderful partners and clients who allow us to live out our dream and do great work for our community!

Want to know more about what we do? Check out a few of our case studies!

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What Does a PR Agency Do? Gratitude Video

Sarah HattmanAwards, Blog, Case Studies, , , , , ,

It’s a well-known fact that the five-year anniversary is a critical milestone for any business, and it’s one that Clairemont Communications achieved in 2015. Looking ahead to our sixth anniversary in 2016, we took our love of dancing to a whole new level and created a gratitude video to celebrate our success in a fun, creative way.

Strategy

Clairemont opted to celebrate with a virtual dance party set to the tune of Andy Grammer’s “Good to be Alive.” We felt it was the perfect match because its positive lyrics expressed our sentiment that we were happy and grateful to be in business doing work that we love, and that our hard work had paid off with wonderful clients for six amazing years.

Execution

  • Stepping out of our Comfort Zone: It’s something we often ask our clients to do for us in the way of media interviews, public speaking and being in the spotlight. Therefore, we felt that it was important for us to demonstrate that we don’t ask them to do anything we wouldn’t do ourselves. Instead of using Andy Grammer’s voice, we opted to sing the lyrics in our own voices, something that was entirely out of our comfort zone as a group.
  • Clients: As a way to thank our clients, we wanted to celebrate our success together. We went into multiple kitchens and community centers, a restaurant, bar and produce warehouse. We even captured one client dancing on the roof of his business!
  • Families: Clairemont also wanted to thank our families in the video, so we invited them to join us on the front porch of the Clairemont House for dancing.
  • Mentors: To honor Mike Herman, a PR mentor who passed away in 2015, we opted to include information about the Michael Lee Herman Memorial Award Fund at the end of the video. We also recognized other mentors who have helped us in our PR journeys.

Results

At the completion of the project, we met every goal, exceeded expectations and produced the following results:

  • Clairemont surpassed its goal of 10,000 views in the first year by receiving 10,000 views within the first four months of the video’s release, and the number continues to climb.
  • Much to our surprise and delight, clients enthusiastically said yes to our request to dance with us on camera. The video featured nine clients in the video.

Clairemont’s “Good to be Alive” video earned a Best in Division for Digital Communications at the Raleigh Public Relation from the Raleigh Public Relations Society. We are proud that this is one of the 137 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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