The 65th annual CIAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament returned to Charlotte, NC, February 23 thru 27 at the Time Warner Cable Arena for its fifth consecutive year. Excitement filled the air as fans filled the Queen City for this weeklong event. New events that took place at this year’s Tournament included: Yolanda Adams Morning Show brought to you by Lowe’s, Food Lion Women’s Health & Wellness Symposium hosted by Nationwide Insurance, the CIAA Championship Concert featuring national recording group En Vogue, and the CIAA Day Parties at the Time Warner Cable Arena.
The CIAA encompasses relationships, fun and pride within its Tournament. It's about the ultimate camaraderie for one week out of the year that draws fans from all across the country to experience non-stop basketball action, concerts, celebrity appearances, reunions of all kinds, and much more. This is what separates the CIAA from any other event of its kind. Because of its popularity, the conference has worked hard to create activities for CIAA fans, many of which are free to the public and designed to give fans a true CIAA experience. Once you attend a CIAA Tournament, you will be hooked for life.
For every great event, there is a great team that works behind the scenes for countless hours planning, developing, and executing tactics and strategies to ensure a successful event. The CIAA team consists of organizations with a can-do spirit that propels this Tournament forward. The CIAA Conference staff and member institutions, French/West/Vaughan, Charlotte Local Organizing Committee, Urban Sports & Entertainment Group, and the CIAA’s corporate sponsors are the core members of this great team. Without everyone’s hard work and dedication, this event would not be as successful as it has been.
With the Charlotte as the host city, the CIAA is marked for continued success. Charlotte’s captivating cityscape and ever-increasing amenities have added to the Tournament’s success over the years, making it a not-to-be-missed event that lights up Center City each February. The Southern hospitality provided by Center City, with more than 4,100 hotel rooms, 150 dining and nightlife destinations, 45,000 parking spaces, and 850,000 square feet of meeting space within Charlotte Convention Center, has equipped the CIAA with the necessary tools to build the Tournament’s fan base and event offerings. The city is committed to the CIAA’s growth and achievement as well, pledging over $1 million in scholarship funds to the Conference’s General Scholarship Fund. For more information about the city of Charlotte, visit www.charlottesgotalot.com
The CIAA corporate sponsor retention rate is a phenomenal 93 percent over the past 20 years. Corporate partners have enabled the CIAA Conference to secure $12.03 million in scholarship money for the member institutions and an additional $23 million for other championships and television. Although the CIAA is a marquee cultural event recognized nationally, the primary goal of the Tournament is education. The corporate sponsors help to provide current and future students with the opportunity to attend an institution of higher learning through their continued support of the Tournament.
With the addition of TV One as a new television partner, who showcased the men’s quarter and semi-finals, over 50 million African American households was able to get a piece of the CIAA Experience. For more information about the CIAA Tournament, visit www.ciaatournament.org. For more information about the CIAA Conference, visit www.theciaa.com.
The newest member of the CIAA, Chowan University, enjoyed their first Tournament experience. The historic move to welcome Chowan into the conference was a vision of the CIAA’s Commissioner, Leon Kerry and the President of Chowan University, Dr. M. Christopher White. Chowan proved to be a perfect match for the CIAA in terms of historical foundation, geography, educational synergies, and commitment to its student athletes.
Chris Shigas sits down for a Q&A with FWV’s Jack Glasure:
CS. What did FWV do in Miami during the Super Bowl?
JG. FWV attends a number of large-scale events each year to activate fans and showcase our clients. Our first Super Bowl presence was back in the mid 90s. Since then, the Super Bowl has become an important service to our clients every year. This year in Miami, we drove a special event trailer from our Tampa office 30 days before the big game. We established a central location for our mobile office and client hospitality center.
CS. Which clients were you promoting at the Super Bowl?
JG. To name a few: we met with Hall of Fame Quarterback Jim Kelly and worked on his Hunter’s Hope Foundation. We participated in the NFL Celebrity Fishing Classic with Nick Schuyler whose book is being published by Harper Collins. We also served Melitta coffee and met with a prospective client looking to launch a national magazine.
CS. What brands did a good job with guerilla marketing at the Super Bowl?
JG. Tide had a clothesline running down Ocean Boulevard with interesting laundry attached and samples of the brand’s detergent. Pepsi distributed credentials. If you were spotted wearing the credentials, you had an opportunity to win prizes such as concert tickets and VIP party invitations.
Best of all was Bud Light. They rebranded an entire hotel on Collins Avenue as the Bud Light Hotel complete with façade, signage and lighting. They leveraged their investment by allowing key accounts to host parties at the hotel. For example, Hooters restaurant chain hosted their event at the Bud Light Hotel, as did Maxim Magazine and several other well-known brands.
CS. Any thoughts for someone interested in Super Bowl marketing next year?
JG. Arrive early. It will lower your costs as the final weekend approaches. Build relationships with concierges, doormen and service providers in advance for your celebrities and clients. It is also really important to get an early lay of the land and know where to park.
Every year, the Wrangler Western brand challenges French/West/Vaughan to come up with an innovative program to leverage the brand’s title sponsorship of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (Wrangler NFR). This year, recognizing the need to grow the Wrangler brand’s presence online, FWV proposed a strategic digital marketing campaign to build momentum leading up to the Wrangler NFR, increase online brand exposure surrounding the event, and convincingly demonstrate the potential of social media. The “Wrangler Race to the Rodeo” promotion was born, launching Wrangler Western into the social media scene. FWV identified key objectives for the brand in social media, including:
create an environment to engage and interact with fans
grant exclusive, behind the scenes access to brand endorsees, events and news
position Wrangler as the authority on rodeo and the western lifestyle online
The social networking site Facebook was the ideal outlet for this campaign. FWV created a Wrangler Western fan page that acted as the launch pad for an enticing consumer sweepstakes, and an online hub of activity surrounding the event. FWV concepted the “Wrangler Race to the Rodeo” sweepstakes to be executed Nov. 14, 2009 through Dec. 6, 2009, offering one grand prize winner a trip for two to the final performance of the 2009 Wrangler NFR in Las Vegas.
By strategically designing a sweepstakes focused on known consumer interests and access to a sought-after event, FWV increased the Wrangler Western Facebook fan base from nearly non-existent at 84 fans to 26,103 fans in less than one month at the rate of 1 fan every 90 seconds. The online promotion was a huge success!
Now the promotion is behind us and the rodeo excitement is cooled, FWV is faced with a new challenge: keep fans engaged and interacting. To continue the momentum, strategic, compelling communication takes the form of status updates including videos, photos and endorsee commentary tied into brand messaging. For example, one status update leveraged the brand’s relationship with George Strait and received more than 400 interactions from fans in the form of comments and likes with more than 58,000 impressions.
Months after the initial “Wrangler Race to the Rodeo” sweepstakes propelled the Wrangler Western brand into social media, the Facebook page continues to grow acquiring new – and very active – fans every day. Fan Wrangler Western on Facebook to see what FWV is doing to keep consumers engaged.
In the height of foreclosure and commonplace delinquency, investor-owned homes became cheap rentals or vacant houses and owner-occupants fell victim to heavy HOA fees and the aesthetic nightmare left behind. The Bridgewater Community Association, comprised of 760 homes in growing Wesley Chapel, Fla., looked to the Tampa office of French/West/Vaughan for help.
The goal was to increase sales of owner-occupied homes. The challenge was to provide strategic public relations counsel for the association, positioning Bridgewater as a community leading the way out of the soft housing market by taking proactive measures to improve real estate value. We wanted to heighten awareness of the good things shaping the neighborhood’s future and share factual information and inspire hope with the residents by maintaining a consistent presence in the media. The campaign highlighted community events and programs, the neighborhood’s ample park and recreation space and its proximity to schools and shopping, among other things.
We were confident that the board members’ dedication coupled with our professional support would shape a strong future for the neighborhood. After all, the community had all the elements of a great place to live. In just five months, FWV was able to generate over 1,400,000 earned media impressions in target outlets and approximately *$173,000 in estimated PR value.
As of January 1, 2010, the board reports that in less than one year, Bridgewater’s financials went from near bankruptcy to a balance of over $325,000; collection rates rose from 25% to 55%; HOA dues were reduced from $170 to $70 per quarter; owner-occupancy rates increased from 40% to 65%; and the stats are looking stronger every day.
*The chart below shows the Bridgewater board members’ property value changes from December 1 – 31, 2009 compared to other homes in the same area code; Wesley Chapel; Pasco County; the State of Florida; and the nation. Bridgewater is moving the needle in its favor.
When Mother Earth Brewery, a local microbrewery in Kinston, NC, decided to open up their bohemian-inspired beer business, they knew they needed to stand out from the crowd. They needed a look, feel and brand personality that made an impact on shelves -- screaming “Buy me, I taste as good as I look!” but also reflected their values. So, they turned to FWV and our ridiculously-talented creative department to find the solution. Central to this was how important it was to create a look and feel for the brand that, while reflecting the handcrafting and local nature of the product, didn’t look amateurish.
Once the initial research was completed (all great branding and marketing starts with research, right?), a personality emerged. Kinda granola, kinda rock and roll -- but all personal and handcrafted. With that, came very distinct creative.
The clean, modern logo depicting the beauty of the Mother Earth came first. Vibrant colors, a sense of motion and interesting plays on positive and negative space. From there, the packaging and Web site www.motherearthbrewing.com evolved, bringing together elements of those key influences, environmental responsibility, rock and roll spirit and really, really good beer. Bottle labels and six-pack cartons came next…all done with a simultaneous nod to classic vinyl rock and rolland sophisticated design to catch the attention of thirsty shoppers.
Since it’s launch, Mother Earth’s site has been featured on a number of influential design blogs, including Smashing Magazine's blog post titled "Showcase of Beautiful Textured Web Designs." (Smashing has 170,000 RSS subscribers and 750,000 monthly unique visitors.)
Design-related blog posts have generated more than 20,000 visits to ME in the last month. So, the net is that great design, even at the local level, DOES, in fact, help Web traffic -- and in turn sales.
I attended “Meet the New Media” with a few colleagues at the beautiful Angus Barn Pavilions in Raleigh this week. These events are held every few months bringing together local business people, PR folks and media “celebrities” in the Triangle. We heard from a TV anchor, radio host, reporters with the News & Observer and Triangle Business Journal, and a mix of social media specialists. Like most people, I go to these events for the networking and face-to-face interaction with reporters who hold the fate of my clients in the palms of their hands.
One thing I’ve found during my years in PR is the importance of building personal relationships with reporters. Some of my best stories ran after working with a single reporter for months, or years, because there was a strong working relationship. When a great story breaks, I know exactly what they need and can provide the right information, photos and interviews to make the story happen. Anyone in this business knows it’s an awesome feeling when a plan comes together.
The presenters reminded us that they receive thousands of press releases every day, many of which have nothing to do with their beats or are completely wrong for their audience. As PR professionals, it’s our job to make sure every pitch is well-written, relevant and most of all, newsworthy. Reporters are regular working people just like you and me and don’t like to have their time wasted. The face time you get at these “Meet the Media” forums is invaluable. I find it easier to pitch someone after meeting them in person and this morning I got to see a glimpse into the panelists’ personalities and sense of humor -- little details that will help me craft a pitch in the near future. I think I’ll definitely try to make the next event, especially if it’s held at the Angus Barn.
Republicans always say “this is our year” however it rarely pans out. There are a handful of competitive districts in the state and in those districts Democrats simply outspend Republicans.
While Tom Fetzer, the new chairman of the N.C. Republican Party, brings a lot of youth, energy and new ideas, it's offset by the party's same legislative leaders (Stam in the House and P. Berger in the Senate) who simply cannot come close to matching the fundraising prowess of state Democrats.
NC House – If speaker Hackney (one of the smartest men I know) says he can pick up more seats, I believe him.
NC Senate – While Basnight's power is waning, he still has enough campaign funds to make the world go round. Democrats maintain their majority, Republicans might make a few gains: Boseman’s seat in New Hanover Co., Hoyle’s in Gaston, (both swing/Republican districts), etc.
CONGRESSIONAL RACES
Our state’s history teaches us its voters are oddly dichotic when voting for the United States Senate. Food for thought: Jesse Helms and John Edwards represented N.C. at the same time (Helms the bastion of Southern conservatism and Edwards the second-most liberal Democrat in the Senate by the time he ran for the White House in ’04).
Since the split of Southern conservatives from the Democratic Party during the 1960’s, N.C. has seen six Democrats (Jordan, Ervin, Morgan, Sanford, Edwards and Kay Hagan) and six Republicans (Helms, East, Broyhill, Faircloth, Dole and Burr) fill the office of US Senator.
When sending folks to D.C., North Carolinians like a good mix. Of our delegation to the U.S. House: 7 D and 6 R. To the U.S. Senate: one and one. Don't expect much, if any, turnover of the state's congressional delegation in 2010.
US Senate – Burr wins by 2-6 points, doesn’t matter who the candidate is.
US House – The only one in true contention is Kissell’s (NC-8). A swing district, able Republican challengers and an upset base of Democrats will make for fun watching. No matter what polling says, this one is too close to call. Expect a heated general election with lots of mud slinging.
As I ducked under the crime scene tape, the flashing lights from the police cars nearly blinded me. I entered the nursing home just two hours after a gunman murdered eight innocent people inside (WRAL: Eight Dead in Carthage Nursing Home Shooting). Walking softly through the building, I overheard an employee whispering the Lord’s Prayer. The staff was still on duty and taking care of patients amidst the carnage of the crime scene. Inside the office, the nursing home CEO had his head in his hands. He looked up at me and said “I am so glad you are here.”
My career has led me to a unique specialty of crisis communication that I call Disaster PR. In recent years, I have responded to manufacturing plant explosions, employee deaths, terrorist threats and flu outbreaks. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. You will not know how you will respond in a disaster until the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, The New York Times, Larry King Live and Oprah are calling your cell phone.
My most significant advice to leadership in a disaster is a reminder to “do the right thing.” Let it guide your judgment. Lawsuits will likely come. News media will pose biased questions with the clarity of hindsight. But, do the right thing. Your leadership will be judged on the actions you take after you became aware of the problem. Make personal phone calls of condolence to the victims’ families. Offer travel expenses for family members to attend funerals. Bring crisis counselors into the workplace. You can follow a checklist, but ultimately do the right thing.
The very nature of a disaster is that it is an unplanned event. So how do you plan for the “unplannable?” At French/West/Vaughan, we offer crisis communication planning as a service for our clients. The plan will designate corporate emergency response teams. We will work with management to brainstorm possible crisis scenarios and identify target audiences such as key stakeholders, internal employees, customers and the public. FWV will draft key messages and identify the tools necessary to deliver those messages (sample press releases, statements to the media, Web site updates and Q&A/fact sheets). Ultimately, the plan will give you a direction to turn when you have no idea how to make your next step.
At the nursing home, the families arrived to pick up the belongings of their lost loved ones. The CEO was relieved that he had personally called each one. It was the most difficult thing he ever had to do. But, it was the right thing to do.
I met with North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue two weeks ago and it was clear to me that the mental health care system was an issue at the top of her agenda. 2009 saw huge blows to funding – about $75 million in services were cut, coupled with a loss in Medicaid dollars pushing the total shortfall to around $400-500 million (yes we don’t know the exact damage, it’s that bad).
Revenue woes aside, the system is broken. Legislators have been happy to throw money at mental health care, however the situation has gotten steadily (if not rapidly) worse. The switch from state-provided services to local community providers is not working out.
Spurred by the Governor, legislators will take a look at the system and some semblance of a plan should emerge. North Carolina has one of the best hospital systems in the country. Why don’t we incent them to take on more?
The CIAA encompasses relationships, fun and pride within its Tournament. It's about the ultimate camaraderie for one week out of the year that draws fans from all across the country to experience non-stop basketball action, concerts, celebrity appearances, reunions of all kinds, and much more. This is what separates the CIAA from any other event of its kind. Because of its popularity, the conference has worked hard to create activities for CIAA fans, many of which are free to the public and designed to give fans a true CIAA experience. Once you attend a CIAA Tournament, you will be hooked for life.
Best of all was Bud Light. They rebranded an entire hotel on Collins Avenue as the Bud Light Hotel complete with façade, signage and lighting. They leveraged their investment by allowing key accounts to host parties at the hotel. For example, Hooters restaurant chain hosted their event at the Bud Light Hotel, as did Maxim Magazine and several other well-known brands.
The goal was to increase sales of owner-occupied homes. The challenge was to provide strategic public relations counsel for the association, positioning Bridgewater as a community leading the way out of the soft housing market by taking proactive measures to improve real estate value. We wanted to heighten awareness of the good things shaping the neighborhood’s future and share factual information and inspire hope with the residents by maintaining a consistent presence in the media. The campaign highlighted community events and programs, the neighborhood’s ample park and recreation space and its proximity to schools and shopping, among other things.
Once the initial research was completed (all great branding and marketing starts with research, right?), a personality emerged. Kinda granola, kinda rock and roll -- but all personal and handcrafted. With that, came very distinct creative.
One thing I’ve found during my years in PR is the importance of building personal relationships with reporters. Some of my best stories ran after working with a single reporter for months, or years, because there was a strong working relationship. When a great story breaks, I know exactly what they need and can provide the right information, photos and interviews to make the story happen. Anyone in this business knows it’s an awesome feeling when a plan comes together.
