Creative Corner
In 2010, Maroon PR launched Maroon Design, an in-house creative services capability dedicated to enhancing and aiding each client's branding and graphic design needs. Below are examples of some of the work created by Maroon Design this quarter.
Featured Employee:
Kristen Seabolt
Kristen, or "Seabs" as she is commonly referred to around the office, joined the Maroon PR team in January 2011 as an Associate Account Executive. In her role, Kristen assists with daily activities related to various clients and is a member of several account teams, including Baltimore’s Classic Five Golf Courses, Sagamore Farm, the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and TriColumbia (CTA). Kristen also assists with the selection of Maroon PR interns and is a member of Maroon PR’s “Happy Committee.”
This year, Kristen has played a vital role in the planning and execution of several client events, including the Shane Victorino Foundation’s All-Star Celebrity Fashion Show, TriColumbia’s EagleMan and Iron Girl Triathlons, and Baltimore’s Classic Five’s “High Heels for Hope” longest drive contest to benefit the House Of Ruth.
Before Kristen joined Maroon PR, she served as an intern on the healthcare team at Edelman Public Relations and also participated in the Assistant Associate Program at Warschawski Public Relations in Baltimore.
Kristen graduated from the University of Maryland – College Park in May 2010 with a Bachelors degree in Communication and an emphasis in Public Relations. During her time at UMD, Kristen interned at Under Armour and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.
Kristen is originally from Millersville, Maryland, and currently resides in Bethesda with two college friends, their rabbit, BunBun, and two dogs, Saki and Bowser. She is a fan of all things related to Baltimore, including the Ravens, Orioles, Terps, Natty Boh, Old Bay and steamed crabs! Away from the office, Kristen is an avid runner, a hot sauce connoisseur, and enjoys playing soccer and snowboarding. She will participate in one of our clients’ events this spring, the Athleta Iron Girl Columbia Half Marathon, produced by TriColumbia!
What Do Your Parents Think You Do At Work?
Often times, we encounter people who don’t quite understand the extent of what we do. In terms of PR, this can be a challenge to explain since PR professionals take on many different roles throughout the course of one week. So while some businesses might not understand the intricacies of the industry, at least our parents do—right?
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The Insider Q1 2012
Maroon PR Corporate Retreat at Sagamore Farm
Scott Van Camp
Editor
PR News
Scott Van Camp is editor of PR News, an executive-level, reader-supported publication that helps enhance the business impact of PR. Scott has a rich background in both journalism and PR/marketing. He has more than 15 years of experience as a writer/editor at various consumer and trade publications. Scott was with VNU Business Publications for five years, including stints as managing editor at IQ News and Technology Marketing magazines and senior editor at Brandweek. In the PR/marketing sphere, he has served as corporate communications manager at MarketBridge, a marketing and sales consultancy, and as editorial director for the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council. While at the Council, Scott led several high-profile marketing research projects. He has also operated his own communications and media consulting firm, SVC Communications.
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How did you get in to your profession?
I liked writing from a young age, got involved in my high school newspaper, and was really hooked into journalism with the whole Watergate scandal (I’m showing my age!).
Give us a quick description of your job?
As editor of PR News, I’m responsible for planning, writing and editing the weekly issue, which is a print and online product. I contribute frequently to the PR News blog and tweet when I can. I’m also involved with our many events throughout the year as a moderator.
What skills are needed to be great at your profession?
The most important thing is to have curiosity about a wide variety of topics—not just PR. You need to be able to cultivate good sources of information and build relationships with people in the industry. A sense of humor helps too!
What advice would you give to someone entering your field?
Do a lot of reading and writing on your own; stay up on current events—know at least a little about a lot of things; and this last piece is something really couldn’t do when I started: develop a personal brand via social media so you can stand out from other struggling journalists.
What things have changed about public relations and what will always remain the same?
I think PR is being challenged right now because the public has immediate platforms in which to voice their opinions. Hence the social media crises that seem to pop up daily. What hasn’t changed—and shouldn’t—is the relationship building done face-to-face with stakeholders.
By Gerry Sandusky
When the former Penn State assistant coach whose name sounds exactly like mine got arrested on charges of child molestation, I felt like a hurricane of confusion had blown into my life. I am not related to Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State coach. I’m Gerry with a G. Always have been. That said, as soon as he became headline news, my world became populated with only three kinds of people.
1. Those who know I’m not related to him
2. Those who thought I was related to him
3. Those who wondered if I was related to him
I also realized early on in the process that of those who wondered if I was related, only a very small percentage had the courage to actually ask me. The rest just whispered and mumbled and treated me like I had a highly contagious disease.
I point all of this out because the name of your organization means as much to you as my name means to me. Sometimes we can’t control what drops into our life or our business, but we can control how we respond.
I have done, and continue to do, interviews on TV, radio, print, and the Internet, every week. I blog, I tweet, I post on Facebook. And I do it all aimed mainly at those who wonder if I’m related to Jerry Sandusky.
In the coming weeks, months, year, something may happen that leaves people wondering about your business. A crisis, a miscommunication, a confusion, a major issue. Don’t wait for your staff, your clients, your marketplace to ask questions. Only a small percentage will have the courage to ask, but they will all have questions.
The more proactively you communicate answers to people who have questions, the more positive connections you can make and the more relationships you can build. Look at this little exchange. I’ll bet half of the people who read this will think, “Hmm, I was wondering about that.”
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Gerry Sandusky is a communications consultant, TV & Radio sportscaster, and the Voice of the Baltimore Ravens. His company, The Sandusky Group, is on the web at www.SanduskyGroup.com. |
In 2010, Maroon PR launched the "Maroon PR Blog" in an effort to voice our opinions about public relations, marketing, sports, social media and more. Each quarter we track the number of impressions each post generates and present the most viewed blog in our e-Newsletter.
With 843 impressions in seven days, our "Spotlight Blog" for this quarter is "Measuring Your Social Media Influence", written by Associate Account Executive Eve Hemsley.
You can view all of our blog posts from last quarter at maroonpr.blogspot.com.
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For those of us working in the PR world, measuring the reach and impact of the messages we send out is a big part of the job. Finding values for traditional media outlets can be a challenge, but when you add social media marketing into the mix, measuring our effectiveness becomes even harder. But it’s not just public relations firms that have to deal with such a quandary, every company from Ford to Joe’s Backyard BBQ is on Facebook these days trying to promote their services and spread the word about their products. Companies are creating entire departments dedicated to the strategic upkeep of their social media networks, and, when managed correctly, can use social media as an effective tool to increase their company’ visibility and influence. But how does anyone really know that they are making an impact and achieving their desired results? What percentage of posts, pics and tweets are actually reaching your audience in a productive way?
While an exact science for figuring out these questions has yet to be discovered, a few sites have popped up that are a good first step in measuring how effective your social media accounts are. Social Media Examiner put together a list of the top five tools that offer easy ways to keep track of your influence. Among the more well-known is Klout, a resource that uses data from your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Foursquare accounts to evaluate user’s behavior and analyze content to measure a user’s influence. Klout’s influence score is based on a user’s ability to drive action through tweets, mentions, etc. Similar to Klout is TwentyFeet. TwentyFeet analyzes much of the same information while also giving a quick overview of your activity and influence over a period of time as well as in-depth information about your followers.
My Web Career gathers information from your various social networking accounts as well as web search results to determine the size of your network, your overall social media presence, and the strength of your connections. It also provides insight into exploring your connections and taking advantage of your network.
Number four and five on the list are focused on a user’s Twitter account. Crowdbooster, which I find extremely interesting and potentially quite useful, determines when your posts will receive the most interaction and have the most influence. It can recommend the best times for you to tweet and shows stats for your account like your number of replies, retweets, likes, comments and the number of people that have been reached.
Last but not least is TweetStats. TweetStats provides a general overview of how you use Twitter and can even compare your account to others. Generally focused on your Twitter activity, TweetStats creates graphs, timelines and ‘clouds’ detailing which days you are most active, whom you interact with the most, which interfaces you use most regularly, friend and follower growth and finally what user names and hashtags you use on a regular basis.
In 2007 Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. was named a Public Diplomacy Envoy by the U.S. State Department. That year he traveled to China in that role and in 2008 he visited Nicaragua.
This year, November 7-16, Ripken toured Japan on a goodwill mission and Maroon PR was there every step of the way. The purpose of this trip was to spend time with the children and the people in the areas of Japan that was most devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Ripken brought former teammate Brady Anderson with him to assist in a number of baseball clinics across the country. They also teamed up with Sachio Kinugasa, the “Iron Man” of Japan.
Maroon worked closed with the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Japan to secure extensive media coverage in Japan and the result was over 65 Million impressions. In addition, Maroon worked with Ripken on a daily blog that was picked up by the Huffington Post, Baltimore Sun, MASN Sports, Comcast SportsNet, Press Box, the State Department and more. In addition, the Associated Press ran stories prior to the trip and near the end of the trip that had pick-up across the country, including on ESPN.com, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle among others.
The next trip will most likely take place in the fall of 2012 and many options are being looked at including South Africa and India.
Maroon PR had the honor of serving as the public relations agency for the Brooks Robinson Statue project in Baltimore. On October 22, a longtime dream of Henry A. Rosenberg, a friend to Brooks Robinson for over 30 years, came to fruition with the unveiling of a statue on the Plaza at Washington Boulevard & Russell Street.
Throughout the course of the project, Maroon PR was charged with raising awareness of the statue’s construction, informing the public about opportunities for supporting the project and managing all media coverage for the ceremony attended by more than 1,000 people.
Maroon PR garnered coverage prior to the event with USA Today, all major Baltimore TV and radio stations and The Baltimore Sun.
For the unveiling, Maroon PR garnered local and national media coverage that included segments on Baltimore network affiliates, the Associated Press, a cover in The Baltimore Sun and mention of the statue dedication in the national telecast of Game 4 of the 2011 Major League Baseball World Series on FOX on October 23.
After two decades with various sports teams and leagues John Maroon opened Maroon PR in April of 2006. We opened our doors with two clients, Ripken Baseball and the Babe Ruth Museum, and we are proud to say that they are still with us. We now manage over two dozen active clients that include sports properties, non-profit organizations and small businesses. Our Vision Statement is "We Drive Growth Through Relationships" and it is so much more than a statement, it is the way we do business each and every day to help our clients. Visit the Capabilities section of our site to learn more.
Maroon Public Relations
Columbia Corporate Park
8825 Stanford Blvd, Suite 145
Columbia, MD 21045
(p) 443-864-4246
(f) 443-864-4266
(e) info@maroonpr.com
Visit Us: www.MaroonPR.com
We drive growth through relationships
Read All About It!
This quarter, Maroon PR employees were asked to pick their favorite article from the last three months. Click on the image below of the person whose article you would like to read. Have an opinion? Send us a message at info@maroonpr.com and tell us about it!
Tweeting Without Fear
How Three Companies Have Built Their Twitter Strategies
By Elizabeth Holmes
The Wall Street Journal
Social Media Predictions For 2012
By Avi Savar
Forbes.com
6 PR lessons from Santa Claus
By Joe Vasquez
Ragan's PR Daily
PR Daily readers’ choice: The top 10 PR blunders of 2011
By Michael Sebastian
Ragan's PR Daily
Retweeted!
This section provides a special look at some of the Maroon PR employees' favorite tweets from 2011. Have something you want say? Send us a tweet @MaroonPR and speak your mind!
@PRSA 12 trends that will change #PR in 2012 bit.ly/skTHma — as picked by our panel of experts #PRin2012
@joefav Kudos to @philly.com editor Larry Platt, on his upfront explanation and approach to the Bill Conlin situation... philly.com/philly/news/20…
@richarddeitsch An incredibly cool year-in-review video through the lens of Google: http://bit.ly/vzh6Qk (ht @Turk0219)
@marcandangel 30 Things to Start Doing for Yourself bit.ly/ttEwrb
@AugensteinWTOP My 4 year old may have a nose for news. Told her I'm working on a story. "What's it about, Daddy? Is it about the Grinch?"
@TheMediaTweets Press release fail bit.ly/vet65a
@charmcitynews 10 Things PR Pros Do Right ow.ly/84NPP
@PeterShankman Hey @Mortons - can you meet me at the newark airport with a porthouse when I land in two hours?"
@BBCBreaking See the moment the Eiffel Tower was struck by a huge bolt of lightning during a thunderstorm in Paris j.mp/nD0AvE
Welcome to Maroon PR
Maroon PR is proud to announce the Fire Suppression Systems Association (FSSA) as a new client this quarter. FSSA is a not-for-profit trade association made up of manufacturers, suppliers, and designer-installers who are dedicated to providing a higher level of fire protection. FSSA members are leaders in their field, employing existing and new technologies to safeguard people, high-value assets and the environment. Maroon PR will work to showcase FSSA’s mission and members as well as their history, growth and innovative strategies over the 30 years they have been in existence.
Client News
Maroon PR Assists with Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation’s Hall of Legends Inductions
Maroon PR assisted the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation, who owns and operates both Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards and the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum, with their annual gala and Hall of Legends inductions.
“A Legendary Evening: Celebrating our Baltimore Colts Hall of Famers” took at Martin’s West on December 6, 2011 and honored Baltimore Colts’ Art Donovan, Lenny Moore, Gino Marchetti, Raymond Berry, Weeb Ewbank, John Mackey and Jim Parker.
Maroon PR worked closely with the Foundation to help design event sponsorship packages and secure media partnerships with WBAL Radio and PressBox. Maroon PR also secured media coverage prior to the event on a number of local radio and television stations, as well as for the night-of “A Legendary Evening,” including the Baltimore Sun, FOX45 and ABC2.
SGT Stripes Wants YOU!
SGT Stripes, the Official Spokesball of the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman, benefiting the USO, shared the spotlight with many of the Baltimore/Washington region’s brightest stars this fall. Debuting on October 21, 2011, SGT Stripes served as a unique social media character meant to help promote the Military Bowl and bring awareness to the bowl’s mission
During his tour of the region Stripes was photographed with Raven’s wide receivers and Military Bowl alumni Torrey Smith and LaQuan Williams. Other Ravens players and coaches who struck a pose with the Sergeant included running back Ray Rice and head coach John Harbaugh.
He travelled up and down the Eastern seaboard as Military Bowl personnel visited potential teams and was spotted with Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom and trainer Graham Motion.
SGT Stripes was even on-hand when MASN interviewed famed actor, and Toledo, OH-native, Jaime Farr of the television-show M*A*S*H to help promote the Military Bowl.
In November, the Sergeant set off for his biggest mission yet, a tour of Afghanistan. After leaving Cal Ripken, Jr. in Japan, SGT Stripes headed off to the Middle East to tour with the 121 Expeditionary Fighter Squadron from the District of Columbia Air National Guard, Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
When all was said and done SGT Stripes garnered attention from many of the nation’s leading publications including The Washington Post, ESPN’s “Page 2”, Yahoo! Sports and the Chicago Tribune, amongst others.
SGT Stripes’ unique concept and quirky personality provided the Military Bowl another forum to reach fans, varied from the traditional forms of media and expanding upon the increased opportunities social media allows.
Brigance Brigade Cultivation Event
Maroon PR organized a cultivation event for the Brigance Brigade on Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at the Baltimore Ravens training facility, nick-named The Castle. Guests enjoyed an educational program about the foundation along with food, drinks and a silent auction. A few of the Ravens players, including Ray Rice, Matt Birk, Jarrett Johnson, stopped by. Maroon PR secured WBAL's Gerry Sandusky as emcee for the evening and, through preexisting relationships, also arranged for the flower decorations to be donated.
The Brigance Brigade sold customized footballs featuring a photo of O.J. with the Baltimore city skyline as a backdrop. Various Ravens players signed the footballs for the Brigance Brigade cause. Guests could choose from Ray Rice, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Joe Flacco, Terrell Suggs and more. The Baltimore Ravens Official Store also sold Brigance Brigade T-shirts. Many of the auction items were procured by Maroon PR.
The highlight of the event was when the Brigance Brigade donated medical equipment, including two Dynavox Communication devices and a wheelchair, to three local ALS patients. Many of the guests were moved to tears as each of the donation recipients spoke and explained what the equipment meant to them.