Tag: PR Awards

Clairemont Takes Home Top PR Awards

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Clairemont Communications secured two prestigious PR industry awards at the 2019 Sir Walter Raleigh Awards banquet hosted by the Raleigh Public Relations Society (RPRS). RPRS named Dana Phelps, founder and CEO of Clairemont, as the recipient of the Watt Huntley Award for Lifetime Achievement. Considered the highest honor given by RPRS, the Watt Huntley Award recognizes “an individual who has made lasting and meaningful contributions to the field of public relations over the course of a career.”

The Clairemont team also received the distinction of 2019 Team of the Year, an honor recognizing its creativity, strategy, tenacity, client successes and excellence in the public relations industry. In addition to these prestigious honors, RPRS recognized several of Clairemont’s PR client campaigns in media relations, social media, events, branding and writing, including two Platinum Awards. Other awards included:

  • Silver Award for Media Events in Campaigns: Vita Vite Midtown Hosts a Toast-Worthy Preview
  • Honorable Mention Award for Organizational or Branding in Campaigns: Who Says? Journelle Forces Lingerie Conversations into Limelight
  • Silver Award for Organizational or Branding in Campaigns: Western Governors University Builds a Brand in North Carolina
  • Silver Award for Special Events in Campaigns: Theodore Alexander and Charles, 9th Earl Spencer Debut Royal Furniture Line
  • Gold Award for Social Media in Campaigns: Reimagining Holiday Traditions with Riceland
  • Platinum Award for Community Relations in Campaigns: Lighting a Fire for Everyday Heroes
  • Silver Award for Websites in Tactics: Your People Are Here – Briar Chapel’s Website Refresh
  • Silver Award for Writing – Op/Ed in Tactics: WGU North Carolina Takes Higher Education to Another Level
  • Gold Award for Writing – News Releases in Tactics: Transfer Co. Food Hall Hits the Downtown Scene
  • Silver Award for Writing – Blog or Feature in Tactics: Briar Chapel’s Four Great Gains of Going Green
  • Platinum Award for Media Relations in Tactics: Royal Media Affairs with Lord Spencer and Theodore Alexander

We are humbled and grateful to do work we love with clients we love every day. Thank you to our wonderful partners, clients and industry friends. We’re excited to celebrate more than 230 awards and nearly a decade of Clairemont with you!

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Clairemont Goes Platinum

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Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Garth Brooks, Barbara Streisand — these 20th-century musical moguls marked history with more than 30 platinum and more than 10 multi-platinum records — each.

While we may never build a Graceland or jumpstart a British invasion, Clairemont celebrated its own platinum milestone at the 2018 Sir Walter Awards.

Hosted by the Raleigh Public Relations Society, the Sir Walter Raleigh Awards of Excellence in Communication showcase exemplary campaigns and tactics by public relations and communication professionals. This competition is held annually and recognizes and honors practitioners who have achieved excellence in a variety of categories, as judged by an independent panel of judges. Winning entries receive a rank of silver, gold or  platinum, which is the highest recognition.

This year, Clairemont was humbled to receive a total of eight awards, including six platinum accolades, the most number of platinums awarded this year.

  • Platinum Award in Integrated Communications: “Babalu’s Grand Opening Rocks the Guac“
  • Platinum Award in Campaigns: Green/Sustainability – One Time or Special Event: “Briar Chapel’s Pepper Festival Turns 10”
  • Platinum Award in Campaigns: Special Events – One to Five Days: “Il Palio Fires Up at the James Beard House“ (This award received a perfect score.)
  • Platinum Award in Campaigns: Special Event – Media Event: “Western Governors University Comes to North Carolina”
  • Platinum Award in Tactics: Media Relations: “Talbots and Oprah Magazine Dress for Success“
  • Platinum Award in Tactics: Media Kit: “Il Palio’s Freshly Baked Media Kit”
  • Gold Award in Tactics: Videos – Broadcast/Web Commercial: “Wendell Falls Builder Spotlight Videos”
  • Silver Award in Tactics: Social Media: “The Vita Vite Lifestyle“

Thank you to our clients! It’s such a privilege to be able to do work we love for people and businesses we love.

Want to explore how we might cook up something great for your business? Drop us a line!

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What Does a PR Agency Do? Hoedown Showdown

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Newland Communities, the country’s most prominent privately held residential developer, turned to Clairemont Communications to increase awareness of Wendell Falls, a new-home community situated in a relatively undeveloped section of Wake County. As part of a comprehensive communications strategy, Clairemont worked with Wendell Falls to plan a celebration with a barn-raising theme to commemorate the community’s first anniversary and bring prospective buyers on-site.

Strategy

Clairemont was tasked with securing local media and influencer attendance to help combat the perception that Wendell Falls is in a remote location far from downtown Raleigh. Our one main objective was to get key contacts to attend the Wendell Falls Barn Raising 2016 in order to introduce them to the location and atmosphere of the community, and serve as a building block for future stories.

Execution

In order to attract media and influencers to the location, Clairemont conceptualized the Wendell Falls Hoedown Showdown. We invited TV, print and online personalities to bow to their partners, allemande left and do-si-do for a little dough to donate. This celebrity square-dancing competition was part of the Wendell Falls Barn Raising and offered the winner $1,000 to donate to a charity of his or her choice.

Clairemont ditched standard pitch for a more playful angle that would snag the busy reporter’s attention and put them in a dancing mood. Media received invitations that included a “wanted” poster and a cowboy hat, which one TV reporter even sported on her station’s morning show! The event was planned to be similar to the popular show “Dancing with the Stars;” it was active and engaging yet required minimal time from the participants outside of the actual event day. The influencers who danced at the event didn’t have to practice; rather, they learned via a fun crash course on the morning of the Hoedown.

Results

Clairemont designed and implemented this creative tactic to engage the participating media person and his/her audiences, draw media on-site and engage the nonprofit for which he/she was dancing. This allowed us to exceed our stated objective with the following results:

  1. We recruited media and influencers to participate as either Hoedown Showdown dancers or judges, securing prominent media stories and/or mentions.
  2. Influencers shared the Barn Raising to approximately 52,000 followers on Twitter alone, helping to draw more than 1,000 attendees to this afternoon bash. Additionally, we used the (then) new Facebook Live feature for the first time for the community to broadcast the Hoedown Showdown to 503 viewers.

The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Wendell Falls earned Best in Show for Creative Tactics and Best in Category for Creative Tactics from the North Carolina Public Relations Society of America. It also received a Silver Award in Media Events from the Raleigh Public Relations Society. We are proud that this campaign represents two 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? Briar Chapel’s Spicy App

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More exposure and higher attendance were the goals of the Briar Chapel marketing team as it planned its 9th Annual Pepper Festival to support North Carolina agriculture. Briar Chapel is one of the largest master-planned green communities in Raleigh-Durham and part of Newland Communities, the country’s largest private residential real estate developer. It turned to Clairemont Communications to reengage past festival participants and grab the attention of new audiences.

Strategy

Clairemont spiced up Briar Chapel’s approach with a creative social media personality quiz designed to promote the Pepper Festival to Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill residents. Clairemont had two objectives in mind: to increase visibility for the Pepper Festival and build third-party credibility for the event.

Execution

Spark Social Sharing

Clairemont wanted to expand the event’s social media strategy to incorporate a fun, interactive approach that would attract audiences untapped by traditional efforts. We researched the most effective types of personality quizzes and crafted a short online experience that would encourage users to share with a network of friends across multiple platforms, hence organically expanding the festival’s visibility.

“How Spicy Is Your Personality?” Quiz!

Rather than settle for traditional promotions, Clairemont turned up the heat to design an interactive social media quiz that piqued viewers’ interest with a play on words: “How Spicy is Your Personality?” For an unexpected twist, we crafted seven short questions that had little connection with festivals, food, peppers or Briar Chapel. Instead, the quiz featured queries like “What’s your getaway vehicle?” or “Pick Your Poison” – a question followed by four beverage choices ranging from wine to milk with cookies. The quiz posed other clever questions like “If your pants were on fire, you would …” and “your favorite hot spot is …” to emphasize the heat theme of the event. Clairemont peppered the content with twists of wit and humor along with themed verbiage connected to spice, fire and heat commensurate with the Pepper Festival.

The Spicy Personality Results

Once users took the quiz, they found results that stretched beyond the expected, standard “mild, medium or hot” descriptions. Instead, Clairemont crafted five positive personality types that featured popular phrases or song lyrics related to heat, fire and smoke. These descriptions told people if they were a Mild Child, a Sweet Heat, a Spiced Just Right, a Firecracker or a Flamethrower, which contributed to our goal of unexpected and quirky content.

Participants could then share their prescription and accompanying image on Facebook, encouraging friends to take the quiz as well. The quiz also included an opportunity for viewers to enter for a chance to win tickets to the 2016 Pepper Festival, along with details and links to the festival.

Results

Clairemont exceeded each of its objectives of quiz shares, visits and entries, boosted attendance by 10 percent and rolled out the largest festival to date.

The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Briar Chapel earned an Award of Excellence for Creative Tactics and an Honorable Mention for Social Media from the North Carolina Public Relations Society of America. We are proud that this campaign represents two 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? Vita Vite Creates “Raleigh’s Sunday Spot”

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Two Decembers ago, Lindsay Rice opened Vita Vite, a wine bar and art gallery in downtown Raleigh’s warehouse district, and the concept quickly became a hotspot for locals to gather for a glass of wine after work or to sit by the fireplace on a date night. While Vita Vite attracted steady traffic throughout the week, especially on Fridays and Saturdays, the typical Sunday crowd was smaller. Clairemont Communications help designed a creative approach that would bolster the number of Sunday Funday guests at Vita Vite.

Strategy

Targeting downtown Raleigh businesses and residents, Clairemont devised an events-based campaign, leveraging Vita Vite’s event space to host fun happenings on Sundays and position the wine bar as “Raleigh’s Sunday Spot.” Clairemont’s goal was to increase guest traffic on Sundays by the end of 2016 by planning and executing community events that would attract at least 50 people on-site. We planned to share engaging content from these events as a part of a larger strategy to increase followership on Vita Vite’s Facebook page.

Execution

Since Vita Vita is located in a vibrant downtown location, Clairemont identified a ready-made audience all within walking distance of the wine bar’s front door. Our research revealed that downtown Raleigh residents enjoy exercise, value social activities (that include their pets) and believe strongly in supporting local businesses. As a result, Clairemont crafted an event series that creatively targeted each of these preferences. We decided to push the boundaries and combine several favorite activities into a few key events to “pack a punch.” The best part? The soirees would be just a short stroll from their own homes and businesses!

Sweat and Sip: To tap into the active lifestyle of this demographic, Clairemont partnered with Barre3, a popular Pilates studio, to host an exercise-meets-wine experience in Vita Vite’s event space. After class, participants received a complementary glass of wine, bubbly or beer to allow them to experience the wine bar and socialize with friends. The first Sweat and Sip filled to capacity and was such huge hit that we immediately planned additional events with other downtown Raleigh fitness studios, such as Core Power Yoga and Cirque de Vol. This event also gave Vita Vite a chance to showcase its large event space behind the main bar area. Many attendees commented that they were very impressed by the space and had no idea it was even there.

Pooches on the Porch: We let Vita Vite’s porch go to the dogs on Sundays –literally. Vita Vite partnered with Unleashed, a healthy minded pet store located nearby, to set up a treat table where guests and their dogs can create “doggie bags” of natural and organic snacks. Pet owners lounged on the porch with wine and took selfies in the pet photo booth with their pooches, and the dogs played with wine-shaped dog toys. We encouraged guests to share their puppy portraits on social media and tag Vita Vite to increase online reach and visibility.

Results

In direct correlation with our stated objectives above, we helped bring more people to Vita Vite on Sundays by planning and executing events that attracted approximately 100 people on-site. We were able to increase our Facebook followers by almost 200 percent, as well as engage additional followers when partners shared on their channels. Clairemont’s creative events program boosted business on Sundays, and Vita Vite continued to developed business relationships and gained new regular customers.

The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Vita Vite earned an Award of Excellence for Creative Tactics from the North Carolina Public Relations Society of America. It also won a Silver Award in Event Marketing from the Raleigh Public Relations Society. 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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