I recently attended PR News’ Digital PR Awards Luncheon, the industry’s top honor in the PR and communications digital space, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in NYC. RoseComm was a finalist in the Digital Influencer category for our efforts with a long standing client, Apex Tool Group.
Apex Tool Group is a leading global hand and power-tool company with more than 30 brands in its portfolio. The company has a long-standing reputation for delivering tool innovation to professional technicians. When its Crescent brand created OddJob™, a new tool for light DIYers, RoseComm recommended a different approach: blogger relations. In May of last year, we began to engage bloggers who would create awareness for the new product by reviewing it before it was available at retail. The blogger campaign was part of a comprehensive program that included the development of a product microsite and video as well as online advertising. Our blogger campaign resulted in the following online features, most of which were gift-buying guides for last year’s holiday season:
- MensHealth.com Holiday Gift Guide, “Man Cave” section
- PopularMechanics.com Holiday Tool Gift Guide for 2012
- Primer Annual Gift Guide for Guys.
- The Hardware Connection, “From Tom’s Shop: Hardware Products Review” in the November/December issue, page 25
As the team leader on the account, I’ve always been proud of our accomplishments for this client. Back at the Grand Hyatt, I was exceptionally proud that we earned a seat at the awards table alongside PR professionals from General Motors, Clorox and executives from large global agencies including Edelman, Weber Shandwick, and 360i. I’ve always known that our small boutique PR agency was on par with the big guys but the awards ceremony helped validate my point of view.
In addition, I was pleased to hear a common refrain repeated during the awards ceremony and that is that public relations should have oversight of social media. Numerous attendees explained why after receiving their awards. Many industry trades have weighed in on this topic as well. Among my favorite is from PR Daily – Why PR Pros Should Manage Social Media. Here are some of the highlights as to why:
- We are experienced story tellers
- We are expert communicators
- We always aim to be relevant
- We are experienced in relationship building
- We know crisis communications
- We’ve always sought feedback
Ariel and Tracey at PRNews Awards 2013
Being present in the ballroom in midtown Manhattan reinforced my belief that our work is among the best of the best. I’m glad we took the time to submit our story. As most great agencies, we are often guilty of being laser-focused on client work and sometimes fail to step back and tell our own worthwhile stories.