Tag: UNC

Mad About Margot!

Dana PhelpsBlog, Raleigh PR Agency, , 8 Comments on Mad About Margot!

Yesterday was a most exciting day as former Clairemont intern, Margot Horgan, officially started her professional career as Clairemont’s newest account coordinator! I think it is fair to say that each of us fell in love with Margot in about the, oh, first 5 minutes we knew her. She is a wonderful testament to all of the goodness that is taught over there in Chapel Hill at the journalism school (following in the footsteps of fellow UNC alum, our very own Josie Butler) and to the power of networking. Margot came to us after interning with Clairemont partner and digital/branding/advertising pro, Gary Towning. Thanks Gary for your professional match-making!

As our intern, Margot impressed us with her blog writing skills, social media savvy, passion for public relations, curiosity about our clients and how our agency operations, creativity and overall enthusiasm. What a great feeling to have so much confidence in making someone a full-time job offer! The members of this Raleigh PR agency are thrilled she said yes!

Margot Horgan joins Raleigh PR agency, Clairemont Communications

In the spirit of keeping our Margot Madness hoopla going for at least a couple of days (weeks? months?), we will be sharing more details about Margot in future blog posts. For now, below is her quick bio. Please join me in welcoming Margot to Clairemont and congratulate her for securing a full-time position PRIOR to graduation (yes, she’s that good) by leaving a comment for her in our comments section. Thank you!

About Margot:

Margot Horgan recently joined the Clairemont team upon completing her journalism and mass communication degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While serving as a Clairemont intern, Margot proved that the combination of her journalism classes, her previous social media internships and her event planning experience allows her to take a comprehensive view to communications campaigns.

With a personal passion for social media and a curiosity for how it works for businesses, Margot’s creative ideas are already turning into brand building and revenue generating campaigns for Clairemont’s clients. Prior to Clairemont, Margot completed an internship with NewCamp Digital at Ogilvy & Mather South, where she participated in a social media audit for LabCorp and served as a video production assistant for the Duke Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP).

As a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, Margot served as the communications and event planning volunteer for the Orange County Literacy Council and was an active mentor to her little brother Brent through the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Triangle. She is in the process of transitioning her membership in the Public Relations Student Society of America to the professional level in Public Relations Society of America.

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More Monday: Team Spirit Aboard the USS Carl Vinson

Josephine ButlerBlog, Marketing, , , , , , 5 Comments on More Monday: Team Spirit Aboard the USS Carl Vinson
Photo by Andrew Dye, photographer/videographer for reesenews.org

In an exciting season opener and a fitting tribute to veterans across the country, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels took on the Michigan State Spartans aboard the USS Carl Vinson, an active aircraft carrier that seven months before was the final resting place of Osama bin Laden before his body was buried at sea.

And who was the brains behind this carefully executed and wildly successful event? Let’s start with Michigan State’s athletic director, Mark Hollis, who dreamed up the event. After roping in Mike Whalen and his team at Morale Entertainment, an event production agency established as a “labor of love and respect to our fighting men and women,” it became a reality. And a wonderful reality, at that.

You wouldn’t believe the logistical undertaking this event truly was. From coordinating dates with the United States Navy (remember, the Vinson is an active aircraft carrier — it’s needed at sea) to figuring out how to pay for the event (advertising, grants and a sponsorship from Quicken Loans did the trick), it took a lot of negotiating between Whalen’s team and the United States Navy to pull off this whole thing.

So why do we, at Clairemont, get so excited when we talk about this event? Aside from it being a logistical challenge and my love for all things Tar Heels and Roy Williams and college basketball, this event never lost sight of the most important team there: our military.

Hosted on Veteran’s Day — 11/11/11 — this event was destined to be extra special for all of the active servicemen and servicewomen aboard. For starters, it was a chance to kick back and relax and enjoy a college basketball game (not to mention it was between two great teams — never forget that fateful night on April 6, 2009). It was also a chance to interact with some of college basketball’s former greats like Magic Johnson, James Worthy and one of my personal favorites, Tyler Hansbrough. Even President Barack Obama was on board for this — he couldn’t miss an epic rematch between the Tar Heels and the Spartans, but he also couldn’t miss being there to support our military.

My favorite quote of the evening came from Camp Pendleton Staff Sgt. Darian Washington in his interview with Julie Watson of the Associated Press. He said: “It’s a bittersweet moment for me. It shows they appreciate us. We haven’t been forgotten. It means a lot.”

How proud we are to have witnessed such a moving event — the celebration of one of America’s favorite sports with America’s favorite team — the men and women who serve and protect this country each and every day.

Now we want to hear from you. What were some of your favorite highlights from the event? What do you think about the PR/marketing efforts and messaging behind all of this? Drop us a line in the comment section below.

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Social Media Audit for UNC’s Kenan-Flagler

Dana PhelpsBlog, Clairemont Client News, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , ,

Today we excitedly announced a social media audit and analysis project that we completed earlier this year for The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Joining forces with our friends at Addressable Media, we assessed the school’s existing social media efforts and made next-step recommendations. What a great assignment! Here’s the release we issued this morning that has more details:

UNC Kenan-Flagler Social Media Audit Conducted by Clairemont Communications

–Clairemont, Addressable Media Joined Forces to Make Phase Two Recommendations–

Raleigh, N.C. – December 1, 2010 – Clairemont Communications has completed a social media audit for The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Clairemont, a public relations agency with a focus on blending traditional communications and social media, partnered with Addressable Media, a leading digital communications firm. The project team conducted an analysis of the social media effectiveness of UNC Kenan-Flagler and its direct U.S. competitors. Considerations included traffic and content, viral scoring, social media mention, share of voice, sentiment, email effectiveness and traffic generated from third-party sources.

“UNC Kenan-Flagler had established a strong social networking presence, as part of phase one of our social media strategy,” said Heather Havenstein, director of public relations and new media, UNC Kenan-Flagler. “The recommendations made by Clairemont Communications and Addressable Media are allowing us to further engage key audiences including students, perspective students, alumni and donors as part of our phase two outreach.” Continue reading “Social Media Audit for UNC’s Kenan-Flagler”

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