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.

VP@rprs.org

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JOB ALERT: Director of Communications and Engagement

Thank you to David Dean and the A.J. Fletcher Foundation for sharing this opportunity with the Raleigh Public Relations Society. Learn more about the Director of Communications and Engagement role and find the link to apply below!

Director of Communications and Engagement

Job Description

The Director of Communications & Engagement will lead an effort to share the good work of the Foundation and its grantees with relevant constituencies, including nonprofit and community leaders. If you have a passion for turning insight into big, bold ideas and are willing to both strategize and execute communication plans in service of non-profit organizations, we need you. We’re looking for a communicator and creator who understands how to use digital tools to gain and validate audience. The best candidate will also be adept at marrying the digital realm with in-person events to increase engagement with AJF grantees.

Our Director of Communications & Engagement will develop and implement communication and brand awareness strategies to increase the visibility of the Foundation and grantee organizations. This position will require a combination of online communications (social media, web presence), public relations, event management, and brand building expertise.

Primary Responsibilities

Develop regular, original web content to engage a targeted audience regarding AJF’s work
Manage AJF’s website, grantee portal, and social media platforms
Develop a relationship management system that tracks relevant AJF constituencies
Manage press releases, media availability, and regular communications (newsletter, podcast, etc.)
Develop and execute a robust schedule of AJF events and convenings designed to support AJF grantees and create a sense of community
Lead complex projects with minimal supervision, while providing appropriate context for internal stakeholders
Play an active role in internal brainstorm meetings and challenge convention by creating, innovating, and presenting new ideas
Provide counsel to AJF grantees in the form of meetings, memos, and presentations
Utilize analytical tools to track impact and engagement of AJF’s audience
Work cross-functionally with other colleagues and partners
Maintain self-driven passion, creativity, and curiosity to stay abreast of current trends affecting nonprofit organizations, AJF grantees, and digital communications
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in a related field from an accredited college or university
Minimum 2 years of experience in communications with experience working in a digital environment, ideally in content creation and strategy
Event planning and project management experience a plus
Demonstrated ability to apply research insights to strategy development
Successful track record of developing thoughtful and strategic projects that deliver measurable impact
Strong verbal, written, and analytical skills
Demonstrated experience and passion for the digital media tech landscape, including social media platforms and digital analytics, as well as monitoring and research tools

The Director of Communications and Engagement will be compensated with an annual salary between $65,000-$72,000 (based on experience) plus a generous benefits package that includes health insurance, retirement contributions, and paid time off.

Interested candidates should upload a resume and one-page cover letter to this link. A.J. Fletcher Foundation is an equal opportunity employer that values a diverse and inclusive workplace. No phone calls please.

DETAILS

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2019 Awards Banquet Recap & Photos

Many thanks to all of the guests who joined us at Transfer Co. on Tuesday, October 29, 2019, to celebrate the best in professional communications that Raleigh-area practitioners have to offer!

The food provided by many of the food hall vendors was delish, our local celebrity MC Hayes Permar brought lots of laughs and industry stories, and our 2019 President and Awards Chair Lindsay Priester and Carolin Lehmann handed out many, many awards to YOU, our submitting organizations.

The Winners

CAMPAIGNS

Crisis Communications
French|West|Vaughan – Wilmington and Island Beaches Invites Visitors to Comeback Post-Florence with Integrated Campaign – SILVER

Integrated Communications
Largemouth Communications – Ascom Breaks Through the Noise at HiMSS – SILVER

Media Events
Largemouth Communications – Stewart Takes The Dillon – SILVER
French|West|Vaughan – PSCU in NYC: The Launch of Inaugural Payments Research Study – SILVER
Clairemont Communications – Vita Vite Midtown Hosts a Toast-Worthy Preview – SILVER
French|West|Vaughan – Wrangler ICONS at the Austin Motel – GOLD

Organizational or Branding
Clairemont Communications – Who Says? Journelle Forces Lingerie Conversations into Limelight – Honorable Mention
Clairemont Communications – Western Governors University Builds a Brand in North Carolina – SILVER

Bang for the Buck
North Carolina Museum of Art – Cocktails for O’Keeffe – Honorable Mention

Sports Program
French|West|Vaughan – Moe’s Southwest Grill of the Triangle Shows its School Spirit – Honorable Mention
French|West|Vaughan – Certified Angus Beef Super Bowl LIII (53) Takeover – GOLD

Special Events
APCO Worldwide – How EPRI Electrified 2018 – Honorable Mention
French|West|Vaughan – PSCU Goes “Beyond Limits” During Member Forum 2019 – Silver
Tompkins International – Supply Chain Leadership Forum (SCLF) – Silver
Clairemont Communications – Theodore Alexander and Charles, 9th Earl Spencer Debut Royal Furniture Line – Silver
French|West|Vaughan – Certified Angus Beef Super Bowl LIII (53) Takeover – Gold

Sustainability / Corporate Social Responsibility
French|West|Vaughan – Wrangler’s Sustainability Goals are Rooted in Traceable Cotton – Silver

Social Media
French|West|Vaughan– Influencing Millennial Parents and Fitness Enthusiasts with Healthy Sweetpotato Recipes – Silver
Clairemont Communications – Reimagining Holiday Traditions with Riceland – Gold
French|West|Vaughan – The Super Bowl of Rodeo Right At Your Fingertips – Gold
Benecomms – Marketing On Pointe: Shining a Spotlight onOne Community’s Local Ballet – Gold
French|West|Vaughan – Influencing Holiday Comfort & Joy for Wrangler – Gold
French|West|Vaughan – Cowboy Up: Wrangler Launches Branded GIFs – Platinum

Cowboy Up: Wrangler Launches Branded GIFs
With innovation at the core of the brand’s business strategy, Wrangler introduced the first-of-its-kind branded GIFs during the Super Bowl of rodeo, the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. To align with the brand’s biggest event during the 10-day rodeo, French|West|Vaughan developed a video tutorial showcasing how Instagram users can share the GIFs, and distributed the tutorial to Western influencers, cowboys, and cowgirls ahead of Wrangler’s “Magic of Rodeo” party and the Wrangler NFR.

Before the rodeo began, the GIFs received 847K views – making it the most creative engagement and awareness tactic by the brand in years at their largest event.

Community Relations
Media Partners, Inc. (MPI) – RAYSAC “Be In The Picture” Campaign – Honorable Mention
Media Partners, Inc. (MPI) – Horizon Behavioral Health “Off-Opioids” Campaign – Honorable Mention
French|West|Vaughan – Teamwork, Timing and Rock: Roll Magic: Bringing the Teen Cancer America Story to Millions – Silver
Clairemont Communications – Lighting a Fire for Everyday Heroes – Platinum

Your house is on fire. You call 911. The bell rings at the closest station but no firefighters suit up and hop on the truck. It’s unimaginable yet, all too familiar in some NC communities due to the critical shortage of volunteer firefighters. The North Carolina Association of Fire Chiefs (NCAFC) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) tapped Clairemont Communications and The Felice Agency to launch a communications campaign in an effort to recruit volunteer firefighters across NC. Clairemont’s work resulted in 17 news stories, a surge in online traffic and an increase of approximately 170 new volunteers.

TACTICS

Magazines
Tompkins International – MonarchFx Ad – Honorable Mention

Media Kits
French|West|Vaughan – J. Peterman Media Kit – Gold

Videos – Long-Form Productions
Coastal Credit Union – Coffee with Chuck – Silver
North Carolina Museum of Art – “Art + Nature + People: Find Yourself at the NCMA” – Silver
APCO Worldwide – Bringing the GRE to Life – Silver
French|West|Vaughan – Wrangler Legends- Gold

Websites
Clairemont Communications – Your People Are Here – Briar Chapel’s Website Refresh – Silver
French|West|Vaughan – North Carolina SweetPotato Commission Gets a Sweet New Look – Gold

Social Media
APCO Worldwide – Elevating Patheon by Thermo Fisher Scientific at DCAT Week 2019 – Honorable Mention
French|West|Vaughan – Wilmington and Beaches Invites Visitors to Comeback Post-Florence Through Authentic Social Storytelling – Silver

Publication – External or Internal
Coastal Credit Union – Community & Member Impact Report – Honorable Mention

Multimedia – Streaming or Podcast
Largemouth Communications – Eaton Battle of the Holmes Livestream – Silver

Writing – Op/Ed
Clairemont Communications Writing – WGU North Carolina Takes Higher Education to Another Level – Silver

Writing – News Releases
Clairemont Communications – Transfer Co. Food Hall Hits the Downtown Scene – Gold

Writing – Blog or Feature
Largemouth Communications – Forbes Series: CloudFactory on “AI, Data and the Future of Work” – Silver
Clairemont Communications – Briar Chapel’s Four Great Gains of Going Green – Silver

Media Relations

French|West|Vaughan – Racing for the Future: ABB Helps Pave the Way for E-Mobility with Formula E Racing – Silver
French|West|Vaughan – Wilmington and Island Beaches Encourages Visitors to Comeback Post-Florence with Earned Media Campaign – Silver
Largemouth Communications – Fork & Salad Brings “Aloha Spirit” to the Mainland – Silver
Clairemont Communications – Royal Media Affairs with Lord Spencer and Theodore Alexander – Platinum

Imagine hanging out in Toronto, one of the greatest cities in the world, with Charles, 9th Earl Spencer, the brother of Princess Diana, just five days after Prince Harry’s royal wedding. This is exactly what Clairemont Communications got to do when hired to promote a furniture collection that Lord Spencer designed in partnership with North Carolina-based furniture manufacturer, Theodore Alexander. Clairemont’s noble efforts generated royal results, including a feature story on Canada’s most watched morning show, several lifestyle magazine articles and placements in The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail.

Word of Mouth
French|West|Vaughan – Wrangler Claps Back – Lil Nas X Collection – Platinum

Wrangler Claps Back – Lil Nas X Collection
“Wrangler on my booty” captured the ears and hearts of millions and after rapper Lil Nas X launched his hit, “Old Town Road.” The single landed in the number one spot on Billboard Hot 100 for a record-breaking 14 weeks in a row (and counting), and the attention led Wrangler to capitalize on the famous lyrics and launch a limited-edition Lil Nas X-inspired capsule collection. Within a lightning short period of just 10 days, a fully integrated marketing campaign launched Wrangler into viral excitement resulting in 2B+ earned media impressions, 16.7M social impressions, 1.7M social mentions, 133K public content engagements and 11.3K new social media followers.

PR Professional of the Year

Kat Harding, NC Museum of Art

“Kat’s dedication to the Museum has brought international attention to the NCMA, front-page newspaper placements, trackable revenue through social media, and some of the largest increases in new social media followers since the Museum channels were started. In the last year, key achievements include seven front page and cover placements; viral marketing campaigns like the Art in Bloom trash cans and Georgia O’Keeffe-inspired cocktail program; announcement and coverage of the hiring of the Museum’s new director, Dr. Valerie Hillings; and promotion for special exhibition You Are Here and its featured new acquisition by art superstar Yayoi (YAH-yoy) Kusama, which became the fourth most-attended exhibition in Museum history.” – Karlie Marlowe, NC Museum of Art

PR Team of the Year

Clairemont Communications

Inside a historic home nestled in downtown Raleigh is an energetic, creative, passionate PR team: Clairemont Communications. When the Clairemont team members aren’t strategizing in the brightly appointed office, they are facilitating media interviews with Lord Spencer, the brother of Princess Diana, hosting a beloved chocolatier at Charleston Wine and Food Festival, conducting deskside briefings with the chancellor of WGU North Carolina or meeting with a fashion client in New York City. As Clairemont approaches its 10-year anniversary, founder Dana Phelps said, “I follow the advice of ‘hire people smarter than you,’ and it is my privilege to work each day with the smart, kind, caring and funny women who make Clairemont Communications what it is today.”

Watt Huntley Award for Lifetime Achievement

The Watt Huntley Award for Lifetime Achievement is presented to an individual who has made lasting and meaningful contributions to the field of public relations over the course of a career. It is given in memory of Watt Huntley, who served as public relations chief at Carolina Power & Light in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Huntley also served as President of the Raleigh Public Relations Society, and so the organization’s highest honor bears his name.

This year we’re excited to honor Dana Phelps from Clairemont Communications.

The Pictures

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RPRS Speaker Nets $6 Million in Funding for Software Business

Back in February, we had the pleasure of hosting Jesse Lipson, founder of Real Magic and its contact-based app Levitate, for our monthly lunch and learn program.

According to the brand’s LinkedIn page:

“Real Magic builds SaaS products to help make the world a more creative and entrepreneurial place. Our first product, Levitate, helps small and medium-sized businesses manage their professional relationships to take their business to the next level. You can learn more at www.levitate.ai. Real Magic was founded by Jesse Lipson and some early team members from ShareFile (now part of Citrix), an award-winning business file sharing and document workflow tool that is used by millions of business people around that world.”

A Snippet from Lipson’s Presentation

At the lunch, Lipson shared with us some of his learnings from his earlier career successes at Sharefile (now part of Citrix) and how he took his observations to heart in building Levitate, a tool that helps professionals overcome the hassle of “keeping in touch consistently with your network [as it] is way too much to manage in your head or on a spreadsheet.”

“Levitate helps you build and maintain authentic relationships, which drive more organic referral and word of mouth business,” is the selling point listed on the brand’s website. I implemented the free version for low-volume users just a few days after Lipson’s presentation at my company, Raleighwood Media Group + Raleighwood Event Group. It’s easy to use and doesn’t require much effort to make part of your regular workflow.

More Than Ideas, “Real Magic” Offers “Real Action”

Just a few weeks after activating Levitate, I reached out to an industry peer and past client that I had lost touch with in recent years just to say “Hello!” and ask about how work was going for him lately. We met up for coffee after a few email exchanges and he shared with me lots of new (to him) commercial ventures he had become involved with over the last year and that his bandwidth for in-housing marketing efforts had become taxed from the additional commitments. As the primary marketing decision-maker for these businesses, he asked me to put together two separate proposals for new lines of work for our boutique agency. One came to fruition and we onboarded within 30 days. The other is still open, but very much alive and well.

A Major Milestone for Real Magic

In mid-June, it was announced that Lipson netted a major round of funding from various investors to continue to grow the Real Magic offerings.

WRAL TechWire Jesse Lipson lands 6M in funding

That came as no surprise to me given my very brief but valuable interaction with one of their product offerings.

My Takeaways

  • Attending that one-hour RPRS lunch at my $20 member rate introduced me to a new way of working and new-to-me software. (Renews RPRS membership. ✔️)
  • Levitate facilitated real sales impact for my business almost instantly. (Justifies $6M in funding secured. ?)
  • Begs the question… if you’re reading this and you’re not a member of RPRS… what are you waiting for? (Sign up today! ?)

Lisa Jeffries Raleighwood Media GroupMy goal in writing this blog wasn’t to publish a several-months-late recap of the lunch but instead, to praise Lipson’s recent success in securing funding to grow his latest venture, “Raleigh startup exec Jesse Lipson lands $6M for Real Magic app startup“, and to share the impact adding this to my toolbox at Raleighwood has had on my business.

Whatever your reason for considering membership in the Raleigh Public Relations Society, I am proof that our group delivers many opportunities to grow as a professional and for business as a whole. Our lunch events through the remainder of 2019 are all posted online – I hope to see you at another impactful lunch soon!

Cheers,
Lisa Jeffries
RPRS Vice President 2019

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Video: Melinda Jackson – Thought Leadership – How to Position Your Client as a Thought Leader, Even When Their Field isn’t “Sexy”

Thank you to local publicist and PR practitioner Melinda Jackson for delivering this month’s lunch and learn topic: How to Position Your Client as a Thought Leader, Even When Their Field isn’t “Sexy”.

Were you out of town, had a conflict, or just on vacay mode and couldn’t make it? We’re happy to share this month’s speaker presentation, exclusive for our current members! View the video below or click here to view on YouTube.

We look forward to seeing you next month for lunch! Reserve your space at rprs.org/events/.

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How She Works: Sharing My Favorite Resources for Working Smarter, Not Harder

We could all use a little help from time-to-time, right? If you’re at an agency or an in-house marcom team, you’re probably cranking out multiple deliverables daily and when working at warp speed, it’s nice to have a few tools at your disposal to make sure those deliverables arrive polished and as error-free as possible.

I started this blog post by checking my capitalization (“For”? “for”?) at CapitalizeMyTitle.com. This free sanity check is a game-changer during a long day of varying styles and format requirements.

In real time, Grammarly (available free and with a pro/paid edition) checked my spelling, use, and general grammar. It puts any browser’s built-in spell check to shame and the best part is that it’s trainable and sends you weekly performance reports. I love seeing each week how many different words I used the past week! To really get the most coverage, be sure to download the desktop program as well as the Chrome browser extension to check as many of the pieces you produce for errors.

Speaking of the Chrome browser, have you used its built-in strong password generator? I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t have to sign up for something and concede to said site’s secure password demands. Chrome makes it easy to use something beyond your standard “pet name plus exclamation point” configuration and then, like magic, will remember it across all of your devices – if you’re logged in to Chrome.

Continuing the Team Google theme, our office utilizes several Google Home devices to sync up our playlist tunes across our workspaces. We switch up the playlist daily but ever since last week’s RPRS lunch where Membership Chair Olivia Easly asked us to share our favorite “pump up”/motivation song, we’re totally digging the compilation playlist that came out of that gathering.

Spotify Playlist: RPRS Motivation Mix

Lisa Jeffries Raleighwood Media GroupLisa Jeffries

Raleighwood Media Group + Raleighwood Event Group

2019 RPRS Vice President