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
- 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.
- 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.