Elizabeth Christian & Associates Public Relations Blog

Bursting at the Seams

Our client list is growing and so is our team! The ECPR gang is expanding and we are happy to welcome two new ECPR team members.

Former intern, Krysten Kim, joins the team as an account associate. Krysten comes to ECPR with experience working in media relations, social media communications, community relations and event coordination. She did such great work as an intern that we couldn’t let her go!

Seattle’s own Savannah Peterson made a move to ECPR and Austin, and we sure are glad she made the switch to the Lone Star State! Prior to joining ECPR, Savannah founded her own marketing firm. She has diverse experience in social media marketing, web content generation, brand development, event fundraising and planning, and guerrilla marketing. Savannah joins the team as an account executive and we’ve already enjoyed putting her to work!

Krysten and Savannah are a great fit for the ECPR team and are already helping our clients reach their goals. We are excited to have them onboard. Their bios and lovely pictures will be on the website soon, so keep an eye out.

And Savannah, we know that you’ll love our great city just as much as we do, if not more! 

Welcome to the team, Krysten and Savannah!

- Erika

You Can't Stop the Heat

The “hottest” topic in Austin lately has been the early appearance of temperatures in the high 90s (pun completely intentional). However, even though most people are staying inside to get out of the heat, our PR jobs must go on—outside events and all!

On June 3, we helped organize a groundbreaking event in Pflugerville at the construction site of the St. David’s Emergency Center. Needless to say, the event would be outside, and we had a near guarantee that it would be hot.

Thankfully, we had prepared for such weather and secured a tent early in our planning. Since we were in the midst of a construction site with loose gravel and dirt, fans were not optimal—lest we make our guests even dustier—but we ordered plenty of water and ice to help keep everyone cool. The key was to make our guests as comfortable as possible in the heat—no easy task during a midmorning in June—and keep the event brief, but still worthwhile.

What resulted was a successful celebration to mark Pflugerville’s first full-service emergency care facility that was attended by integral Pflugerville city officials, St. David’s HealthCare staff and local media! 

Sometimes, the public relations profession resembles that of the postal service. Rain, extreme heat or breaking news, the show must go on!

~ Levente Smith

St. David’s HealthCare and St. David’s North Austin Medical Center broke ground on the St. David’s Emergency Center in Pflugerville— the first full-service 24/7 emergency care facility in the city.

 

ECPR Welcomes Summer Interns!

We have recently welcomed three new interns who are studying to be communications professionals to the ECPR team for the summer.

Ask any communications or public relations professional about one of the most invaluable experiences you can have in order to land a job in this field, and they will undoubtedly say – an internship.

We applaud these students for taking time this summer to learn more about our industry, and hopefully have fun along the way!

For interns, it is our hope that they will leave here with valuable public relations skills that they can use to build their careers. We work to expose them to a variety of necessary industry skills from writing press releases and observing media interviews, to building media lists and monitoring for media coverage. 

I look back at my PR internship experiences and I am thankful for the learning opportunities that these agencies and organizations gave to me. I know for a fact it is one of the reasons that I was able to land my first public relations job out of college.

Classroom learning is, of course, vital to learning the necessary skills of our industry; however, hands-on experience through an internship provides important insights that cannot be gained by taking college courses alone.

Help us welcome our wonderful summer interns - Amy, Michelle and Rachel! We look forward to working with you this summer!

TPRA Silver Spur Awards

This past weekend I was lucky to have the opportunity to attend the Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA) Silver Spur and Best of Texas awards ceremony. The event was held at the Dallas World Aquarium, which is a very unique venue, and was perfectly organized and executed. Thank you, TPRA, for hosting this fantastic event.

I am also proud to report that Elizabeth Christian & Associates Public Relations won the following Silver Spur awards:

• One-Time Event: Budget Under $50,000 award for “Samsung Celebrates Expansion with Charitable Gift”
• Advocacy/Public Affairs award for “Austin Voters Approve Construction of Boardwalk Trail at Lady Bird Lake”
• Corporate Relations/Corporate Image award for “K&N Management and the Malcolm Baldrige Award: How to Boost Your Corporate Image with a Prestigious Award”

Congratulations to everyone who worked on these programs!

- Lindsey Gehrig

Here I am looking impressive with ECPR's three awards!

The surprise guest was well behaved during the awards ceremony!

History in the Making!

This week, our client, The Trail Foundation, unveiled a new sign on the Pfluger Bridge detailing the history of Lady Bird Lake and the Hike and Bike Trail along the lake.

The sign is a gift to the public and features a detailed timeline of the Trail’s history that spans from 1940 to 2006, as well as words from Lady Bird Johnson about the formation of the Hike and Bike Trail at Lady Bird Lake.

Mrs. Roy Butler, former first lady of Austin and charter member of the Town Lake Beautification Committee, talks about her role in helping to make the Hike and Bike Trail at Lady Bird Lake the centerpiece of Austin.

Attendees got the chance to hear from Mrs. Roy Butler, former first lady of Austin and charter member of the Town Lake Beautification Committee, about her role in helping to make the Trail the centerpiece of Austin, as well as Susan Rankin, executive director of The Trail Foundation; Griffin Davis, past president of The Trail Foundation board of directors; Sara Hensley, director of the Austin Parks and Recreation Department; and Will Meredith, of the MFI Foundation, which funded the new sign through a generous challenge grant from the MFI Foundation—along with the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

Susan Rankin (executive director of The Trail Foundation), Griffin Davis (past president of The Trail Foundation board of directors), Mrs. Roy Butler (former first lady of Austin and charter member of the Town Lake Beautification Committee), and Will Meredith (MFI Foundation) unveil the new sign on the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge on May 17, 2011.

It was so gratifying for me to meet some of the heavy hitters who were instrumental in giving us the beautiful Hike and Bike Trail at Lady Bird Lake, which many people take for granted. Let’s be honest—how many of you really knew how it became what it is today?

More than anything, though, it was inspiring to see what can happen when city leaders, philanthropists and members of the general public work together to achieve a common goal.

Looking back on the first 40 years brings added excitement to what the next decade will bring—specifically, another historic project that is in the works. The Trail Foundation is currently working to raise the private portion of the funds for the Trail Completion Project, known as the Boardwalk Trail at Lady Bird Lake.

You may remember, this project was part of the mobility bond package passed by Austin voters in November of last year. It will close the southeastern gap of the Hike and Bike Trail around Lady Bird Lake—extending the Trail more than one mile from the east side of the Austin American-Statesman building to Lakeshore Park.

It is truly an honor to be a part of history in the making. In the coming decades, when I walk or bike along the Boardwalk Trail at Lady Bird Lake, I know I will remember this day and the role we all played in helping to enhance Austin’s crown jewel!

--Erin Ochoa

PR Gone Wrong

Every so often, someone asks me what public relations is and what I do. It’s usually easier to give examples of recognizable PR work and unfortunately, lately there are a few notable instances of PR gone wrong that can help explain the industry.

The BP Oil Spill

The first of these examples is last year’s BP oil spill in the Gulf. The worst oil spill in our history, this event recently recognized its one-year anniversary. A year later is long enough to reflect on what went wrong, what went right and what should have been done differently.

As any PR professional will tell you about crisis communications, the three most important messages should be:

1.    We’re accountable and genuinely sorry
2.    We are concerned about the welfare of those involved and are doing everything we can to ensure safety
3.    We have a plan to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and to ensure that it won’t happen again

BP failed on all three counts, and on top of that, its executive management teams had consultants that gave poor advice.

To allow top management to wear suits while doing media interviews on the beach made them look callous and unaware of their surroundings. To spend millions on advertising while the livelihood of thousands along the spill’s path was in jeopardy made BP look uncompassionate.

BP’s public relations efforts surrounding the Gulf oil spoil were not executed properly and the reputation of the company has suffered as a result. NPR recently did an excellent analysis of all that went wrong in this situation.

“Googlegate”

Another more recent example of PR gone astray is “Googlegate,” the term used to reference the smear PR campaign against Google executed by Burson Marsteller on behalf of its client, Facebook.

Burson broke the cardinal rule of PR—transparency.

Beyond a violation of ethics for distributing inaccurate information about Google, Facebook’s competitor, Burson initially didn’t disclose its client when it pitched negative stories to media about a Google product. Lack of transparency is guaranteed to get any company into trouble. When in doubt, honesty is the best policy. USA Today and many other outlets have covered “Googlegate.”

Strategic and smart PR is an important component of protecting a company’s reputation. Recent examples of PR gone wrong further underscore the need for a strong PR team that will give sound advice in times of crisis, when it is more important than ever to effectively communicate with your key audiences.

-Lindsey Gehrig

Customer Service Starts at the Top

ECPR has been fortunate to office on the top floor of the 823 Congress building for more than 10 years. Prior to moving to this building, our office was located at the other (South) end of Congress in a newer—some might say, more glamorous—building, but we had quite a hike to the Capitol when working on legislative efforts.

We love working in this building and recently renewed our lease. We have a lovely suite of offices, with a knock-out view of the Capitol from our conference room, but what makes this building most special to me are the folks that manage it—the staff of T. Stacy & Associates.

These people truly know customer service. Quite a few of them have worked for this building and/or the garage across the street for many, many years. They treat every tenant like we are truly special. They know our names. They go out of their way to be sure that routine issues that come up in any office building are resolved quickly and efficiently.

The long-time parking garage attendants never fail to say hello in the morning and good-bye in the evening. The security guard at the building entrance holds the door open with a smile and pushes the button for the elevator as we come in every morning…definitely service beyond the call of duty.

When circumstances beyond their control inconvenience their tenants, the T. Stacy staff goes the extra mile to try to make things a little easier on us. For example, there has been extensive road construction on Brazos for what seems like (and probably is) YEARS. The construction has finally made its way to the Brazos-side entrance of our garage, so every morning this week we’ve had to wind our way through the construction zone to get into the garage. This morning, Fred Cornelius from T. Stacy was out in the middle of the chaos waving us into the garage.

This culture of caring and service that is well beyond the norm starts at the top—Tom Stacy sets the example and clearly has instilled in all the folks who work for his company the importance of treating others as you would wish to be treated yourself. And for that, we thank him and the entire staff of T. Stacy & Associates—the best landlords in Austin.

-Meg Meo

Passing the Baton!

ECPR typically distributes news on behalf of our clients. Today, we have our own news to share!

Andre Lenartowicz has been a valued member of the team for more than two years. During that time, he has progressed from intern to account associate and finally, social media coordinator.

Andre has played a key role in developing ECPR’s social media presence. (Check out our Facebook and Twitter accounts, below!)

www.echristianpr.com/socialmedia/facebook.php

http://twitter.com/ECPRAustin

With his interest in technology and social media, it makes sense that Andre has taken a position doing public relations for a San Antonio-based tech company. This is a terrific opportunity and we are very happy for Andre.

We are also pleased to announce the addition of Account Associate Krysten Kim to the ECPR team!

As well as serving as an intern at ECPR, Krysten has experience in public relations at Austin-based Ciarla Designs and event coordination at Nuriel Fellowship Church in Carrollton, Texas.

In addition to her strengths in public relations and media outreach, Krysten brings a new skillset to the firm—she is fluent in Korean.

So as we wish Andre the best in his new endeavor, we welcome Krysten to ECPR!

-Kristin Marcum

If You Build It, Will They Really Come?

We’ve spent a couple of ECPR blog posts talking about events and what makes an event newsworthy. In other words, how do you get media to attend? For this post, let’s imagine that media attendance is completely secured for an upcoming event. With that task checked off your list, your job is done, right? Wrong.

Media attendance at an event is only one part of our job. We also have to ensure there’s an audience. Whether it’s a gathering of hospital staff to recognize the work of nurses, a group of business leaders gathered to celebrate the launch of a campaign or the targeted audience of your client’s product that will be highlighted at the event—if the audience isn’t there, who are you doing it for? Let’s be honest, it feels better to stand behind a podium and deliver a message to SOMEONE, in addition to a couple of cameras.

Here are a few ideas to generate an audience at your event.

1. Provide refreshments. It sounds simple, but it’s worth it. Offering some type of refreshment is not only a benefit to an event attendee, but it also gives them something to do before and after the main part of the event and will encourage mingling.
2. Give away a prize. I know this is another incentive to entice people to attend, but a person’s time is precious to them. An incentive to attend, in addition to learning about an issue, product or campaign, will give them another reason to be generous of their time.
3. Make follow-up calls. People are inundated with electronic and print invitations to events, and sometimes one or two get lost in the shuffle. Follow-up calls to invitees (as well their secretaries, if they have one) will help you make a more personal connection. You will also be able to tell them more about the event and answer any questions they may have. Polite persistence can be a wonderful thing.
4. Make it worth their while. Similar to making an event newsworthy for media, we need to make events newsworthy to the audience. You want to be sure your invite list is targeted to people who will truly care about the event specifics. For example, if you are hosting an event that features the latest designs in dog houses, you wouldn’t invite cat owners. Be thoughtful in regards to who you invite.

Even if audience attendance is low, it is up to us as PR professionals to create additional opportunities to relate our messages to our target audiences through media coverage. The ultimate goal, however, is for a successful PR event to be supported by media. Hopefully for your event, the two will go hand-in-hand.

-Levente

Working as a Team

In public relations, it’s important that you are able to work with others. In a PR agency, every client has an account team that is composed of executives with various skill sets that best suit that account. Having a cohesive team that is in sync is the first step to successfully servicing a client. If the account team can’t work together then the client will be in trouble!

Thankfully, at ECPR the importance of a cohesive team is not overlooked. We recently had the wonderful opportunity to bond as a group while working on our rowing skills during a wonderful afternoon at Lady Bird Lake—an Austin treasure.

Austin Rowing Club, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the sport of rowing, was kind enough to host the ECPR crew at its site located on The Trail at Lady Bird Lake.

A group shot of the ECPR crew before heading out to the lake.

They showed us the basics of rowing and how to successfully work as a team. There are a lot of commands in rowing so it’s very important to pay close attention not only to the coxswain, the person in charge of the boat, but also to your team members around you.

The wonderful folks at Austin Rowing Club showing the ECPR gang the basics of rowing.

After practicing the basics, we were ready to hit the lake. The sport literally takes a “sink or swim” approach. We’re happy to report that no one fell in the lake!


The ECPR crew rowing at Lady Bird Lake.

Not only did we learn the meaning of a coxswain and how to “feather” and “square” an oar, but we also learned that we’re a competitive bunch ready for any challenge.

A big thank you to our fearless leader, Elizabeth Christian, and to the wonderful folks at Austin Rowing Club for the fun team building exercise.

To learn more about Austin Rowing Club, visit www.austinrowing.com

-Erika González