Raleigh Public Relations Society

The Raleigh Public Relations Society (RPRS) aims to advance the art and science of public relations and to strengthen communication, understanding and cooperation among the diverse individuals, groups, and institutions of the Society.

Raleigh PR Society

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Karl Sakas Releases Pocket Guide for Managing Marketing Types & Creatives

We’re starting off 2017 with a special shout out to Karl Sakas, president of Sakas & Company, agency thought-leader, and all around marcom good guy. Karl kindly provided a few copies of his latest book, Made to Lead: A Pocket Guide to Managing Marketing & Creative Teams, and shared a few (autographed!) copies with us that we sent lucky winners home with after our December holiday social last month.

What is “Made to Lead” about? The synopsis:
“Managing people is tough, but it doesn’t have to be so hard! Leading and managing comes more easily to some than others, but anyone can improve—agency leaders are made, not born. In this book, you’ll learn concrete tips to make your work easier when you lead marketing and creative teams.”

If you weren’t lucky enough to win a copy back in December, you can order yours today from Amazon.com for the stellar price of just $4.95. We’ve been reading this ourselves between meetings and love the realistic and actionable tips Karl shares… which are all based on real-world experience.

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Member Spotlight: Cara McLeod

We are pleased to feature one of our active RPRS members Cara McLeod as our Member Spotlight this month. If you’ve attended any of our monthly lunch meetings, you’ll definitely recognize this friendly face!

Cara is a Marketing Communications Coordinator at City of Raleigh and specializes in the Raleigh Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources department. Love the abundant and diverse outdoor offerings in our vibrant city of Raleigh? Tell Cara about it on Twitter – we know she’d love to hear from you!

Raleigh Public Relations Society board volunteer and membership chair Glenn Gillen (APR, Senior Account Manager – S&A Communications) offers the following Q&A with Cara:

What do you like about RPRS?

I love the opportunity to network with other members and learn from everyone.

What is your favorite book?

The Lorax.

What is your favorite part of the job?

My favorite part of my job is social media. I love all things social.

How did you get into PR/communications?

I started my career in communications at the YWCA. It was a great experience. I got the opportunity to work with Raleigh Parks and have been with them for the past 10 years. Time flies when you are having fun.

What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

Find a mentor and be a mentor.

What is something that others would be surprised to learn about you?

I love to run Disney half marathons. I have a coast to coast medal for running a race in Disneyland and Disneyworld in the same year.

What three dinner guests (current or historical) would you like to have dinner with?

Vivian Howard from the Chef and the Farmer because she knows so much about food. Anthony McLeod, my husband, because he is always entertaining. Neil Armstrong because he was the first person to walk on the moon.

Growing up, what profession did you think you’d go into?

That was so long ago, I can’t remember 🙂

What song pops into your head most often?

Steep Canyon Rangers, Stand and Deliver

What is your favorite place to travel?

Asheville. The city has a really great vibe and wonderful food.

Keep your eyes on your email, members… Glenn just might reach out to you for our next member spotlight!

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2016 RPRS Awards Banquet in Review

We loved getting to celebrate excellence in communications with so many of our Triangle-area peers in the public relations and corporate communications fields last week at our annual awards banquet. Our thanks to Charlotte Agenda (and Raleigh Agenda) Co-Founder and Creative Director Katie Levans for serving as our keynote speaker and guest emcee for the evening, as well!

Many local organizations took home Sir Walter Raleigh Awards for Excellence in Communication and one very deserving professional received the Watt Huntley Award for Lifetime Achievement.

2016 Watt Huntley Award for Lifetime Achievement Winner: Pamela Meek – SAS

Pamela Meek, Senior Director of External Communications at SAS, has come a long way since her first job at Record Bar as a newly minted UNC-Chapel Hill journalism graduate. She began her career in internal communications at Record Bar, a Durham-based music store chain. Except for two years there and a five-month stint at the Duke University News Bureau, she has spent her entire professional life growing and developing the corporate communications program at Cary, N.C.-based SAS, the world’s leading analytics software maker.

In 30 years – 25 of them in leadership roles – she has influenced almost every aspect of SAS’ internal and external communications program. Her fingerprints are on everything from narrative on www.sas.com to the nuances of executive speeches to SAS’ presence on social media. She leads product and workplace culture public relations initiatives that cross company divisions and involve colleagues in other countries. A capable corporate spokesperson herself, she counsels executives to represent SAS in media interviews and speaking engagements at highly visible venues.

She built a world-class team whose accomplishments include producing the entries that won SAS an unbroken streak of 19 appearances on Fortune magazine’s elite list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. At a recent celebration of her three decades at SAS, co-founder and CEO Jim Goodnight lauded her success, describing her and her teams as innovative and crediting them with establishing and expanding SAS’ reputation as analytics leader.

2016 Sir Walter Raleigh Awards for Excellence in Communication Winners

Division 1: Total Campaign
Category 1 – Promotional Campaign
Honorable Mention
French|West|Vaughan – Wrangler Honors Greensboro’s Textile History
Clairemont Communications – Briar Chapel Adds Heat to the 8th Annual Pepper Festival
Clairemont Communications – Papa Spuds Delivers Farm Fresh Food to Your Doorstep
Fleishman Hillard – Cree + Abby Wambach
Fleishman Hillard – Baby+Co. Grand Opening

Silver Winner
French|West|Vaughan – Showcasing the Best of the West- Dude Ranch-Style

Gold Winners
French/West/Vaughan – Meet me for Midnight
North Carolina Art Museum – Reaching Millennials at M.C. Escher

Category 2 – Organizational Identity/Promotion
Honorable Mention
French|West|Vaughan – PSCU Goes Back to the Future

Silver Winners
Clairemont Communications-Unveiling New Digs: II Palio Revamps and Renews
Fleishman Hillard- Sirtex-SIRFLOX Study

Gold Winner
French|West|Vaughan- NC State ISE Rises to No. 2 National Ranking

Category 6 – Miscellaneous Special Events
Honorable Mention
French|West|Vaughan- Riders by Lee Shines New Light on Body Positivity with “Mirror, Mirror” NYC Media Event

Silver Winners
French|West|Vaughan – Feed the Force: Moe’s Exclusive Premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens
S&A Communications – Second Annual Triangle Oktoberfest

Gold Winners
Clairemont Communications – Raising the Barn- Wendell Falls Grand Opening
Clairemont Communications – The Lincoln Apartments Ribbon Cutting

Best in Division for Total Campaign:
North Carolina Museum of Art- Reaching Millennials at M.C. Escher

Division 2: Publications
Category 8b – Brochure, Handbook or Guidebook with Three or More Colors
Silver Winner
Largemouth Communications-Eaton: There’s More to Our Story

Category 10b – Magazine with Three or More Colors
Gold Winner
S.T. Wooten Corporation- Beyond the Specs

Best in Division for Publications:
S.T. Wooten Corporation- Beyond the Specs

Division 3: Public Relations Writing
Category 13- Opinion/Feature Writing
Gold Winner
S&A Communications- Smith Anderson Article on Entrepreneur.com

Category 14- News Release
Gold Winner
Clairemont Communications- Growers Reinvent Farming Practice with New Technologies
Best in Division for Public Relations Writing
S&A Communications- Smith Anderson Article on Entreprenuer.com

Division 4: Digital Communications
Category 16 – Website
Silver Winner
French|West|Vaughan – Wrangling Multimedia Content for the Western Lifestyle

Category 17 – Social Media
Gold Winner
French|West|Vaughan – Pendleton Midnight Launch

Category 19- Video and Film
Honorable Mention
Fleishman Hillard – Cree Abby Wambach Tribute Video

Silver Winner
French|West|Vaughan – Pendleton Midnight Launch

Gold Winner
Clairemont Communications- Clairemont Communications Celebrates Six Years with Good to Be Alive Video

Best in Division for Digital Communications
Clairemont Communications – Clairemont Communications Celebrates Six Years with Good to Be Alive Video

Division 5: More Bang for the Buck
Category 21- Special Event/Campaign
Honorable Mention
S&A Communications – Cary Family Dental’s Fourth Annual Dentistry From the Heart Event

Silver Winners
French|West|Vaughan – Carolina Beach Kicks Off Beach Season with Boardwalk Grand Opening
Fleishman Hillard – The St. Baldrick’s Foundation- Childhood Cancer Awareness Month Campaign

Gold Winner
French|West|Vaughan – Golf Driving PTSD Road to Recovery

Best in Division for More Bang for the Buck
French|West|Vaughan – Golf Driving PTSD Road to Recovery

Photos from the Awards Banquet

Our thanks to photographer Guillermo Delgado for providing these great snapshots from our event!

Click here to view all of the images from this event on our Facebook page!

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Member Spotlight: Caleb Fernandez

Learn more about our member Caleb Fernandez for the April Member Spotlight. Caleb is an Account Executive at FleishmanHillard.

Caleb FernandezQ. What is your favorite part of the job?
A. Seeing my work come to life is probably my favorite part of being a publicist. You craft a story and work with the media to tell that story, and to see that coverage come fruition is brilliant.

Q. How did you get into PR/communications?
A. I have to thank my alma mater, N.C. State for this one. I started doing community management for several fashion shows and events within N.C. State’s textiles school, which led to other local community management opportunities in the area. That allowed me to gain invaluable experience, ultimately setting me up for success after graduation.

Q. What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
A. The CEO of my former agency used to say at company meetings, “Always have a bottle of champagne in the fridge. You never know when you’ll need to celebrate.” I feel like in this industry, we can often get pulled down by day-to-day stresses. This taught me and my team to live in the moment and celebrate the wins, even if they are small successes.

Q. What song pops into your head most often?
A. Recently, Work from Home by Fifth Harmony. Not sorry about it.

Q. What is your favorite place to travel?
A. New York, NY. I got my first job in PR after graduation in the city. Always love going back to experience the city, see what’s changed, eat myself silly and catch up with friends.

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Member Spotlight: Ginny Talley

Our Raleigh Public Relations Society Member Spotlight for February is Ginny Talley. Ginny is an Account Executive at Largemouth Communications. Our Membership Chair Glenn Gillen asked Ginny a few questions to get to know her better.

Ginny TalleyQ. What is your favorite part of the job?
A. I love that every day is different, requiring me to apply my expertise in a wide variety of arenas. One day I may be uniting local news anchors for a charitable triathlon competition. On another day, I’ll be knee deep crafting engaging social media content and accompanying imagery.

Q. How did you get into PR/communications?
A. I enrolled in an introduction to PR course at UNC-Chapel Hill, and it immediately piqued my interest. To see if it was really something I was passionate about, I decided to join the UNC Student Government PR Team.

Q. What three dinner guests (current or historical) would you like to have dinner with?
A. King Arthur, Dean Smith and Beyoncé

Q. Growing up, what profession did you think you’d go into?
A. For Career Day in the third grade, I didn’t know what I should wear. My classmates were all dressing up as doctors, firefighters, athletes and nurses. I went to school wearing jeans and white shirt and nobody could figure out what my career was supposed to be. When it came time to present, I said something along the lines of, “I’m going to be a writer. And to do that, I don’t need a uniform, just my imagination.”

Q. What is your favorite place to travel?
A. I’m always itching to go to new places and experience new cultures. So far, a few of my favorite adventures have been studying abroad in Italy, road-tripping across Ireland, and stomping my boots in Nashville.