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Challenge
To attract and keep a high-quality workforce in the greater Washington, D.C. area, Rockville’s economic development organization sought VE PR’s help to create awareness about the “brain drain” of post-doctoral fellows. Arguably among the brightest job candidates, up to 4,000 “post-docs” leave the Washington, D.C. region upon completion of their studies each year.
The economic development organization sought VE PR’s help to create awareness of the issue in the region by promoting the first-of-its-kind Post-Docs Conference, which brought together the post-doctoral fellows with hiring companies, federal labs, and even exposed them to exploring entrepreneurial career options.
Solution
VE PR contacted major regional news media outlets, including organizing editorial board meetings to encourage leaders at major news publications to join the organization in supporting the effort to keep the post-doctoral fellows in the area’s workforce.
Results
The conference and issue was covered by national and local media outlets such as The Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, Rockville Gazette, Business Gazette, Federal Times, Washington Times, Washington Examiner, and NewsChannel 8.
The organization maxed-out registration for the conference and brought the “brain-drain” issue to the public by reaching more than 1.6 million people through media placements with an estimated ad equivalency return on investment of at least $40,000. |
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Challenge
To position the owner and broker of the largest woman-owned, independent residential real estate company in Washington, DC, as an industry thought leader in residential real estate.
Solution
VE PR provides ongoing public relations counsel to the owner and broker of the Washington, DC residential real estate firm to develop story ideas and position the CEO as a credible industry expert. In addition, VE PR assists the firm with creating awareness about new office openings, unique home listings, new hire announcements and other important company news and promotions.
Results
The company’s CEO regularly appears on local and regional television shows, on radio stations, and is regularly quoted in local, regional and national publications. In addition, the CEO writes regular columns for the Washington Business Journal and Washington Life magazine—publications which her target audience reads. The owner is also regularly sought out by the media to give insight into a wide range of real estate topics, and is well known in the Washington, D.C. region.
The company enjoys ongoing company awareness (brand recognition) and regularly attributes VE PR for landing new listings, and help with selling listings.
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Challenge
To increase attendance at DesignDC 2007 and position the event as the premiere regional conference for architects, designers and those interested in design to learn about the latest techniques in green building design.
Solution
VE PR contacted regional architectural firms and trade and consumer publications and bloggers to promote the event directly. Information was disseminated and the organizations were encouraged to write about the conference in newsletters and articles.
During the week before the conference, Washington, D.C.’s mayor, Adrian Fenty, testified on Capitol Hill about the importance of green building design and how the City is requiring the community to adopt green building techniques. VE PR capitalized on this timely news event to educate the public on ways to meet the new green requirements.
Results
DesignDC ’07 attendance increased from the previous year to more than 450 attendees, with 40 vendors participating in the trade show.
The conference was successfully positioned as the premier regional event for green building design through media coverage including live coverage from local broadcast news organizations. Other event coverage included stories on Washington’s top rated radio station and architect and design-focused magazines and blogs. VE PR’s efforts resulted in the conference and issue of green building design reaching an estimated 2 million people and a significant return on investment.
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Challenge
VE PR was asked to help fulfill a local economic development organization’s mission to support women-owned businesses by increasing awareness of an annual Women’s Business Plan Competition to bolster support for female start-up entrepreneurs in the area.
Solution
In addition to communicating basic information about the year’s program, VE PR creatively identified the best spokesperson and “story” from previous winners of the competition and encouraged reporters to follow a participant in the program from the start of their business plan to the time when the winners were selected.
In addition, VE PR promoted additional sponsorship monies for the program to help attract new participants.
Results
Entries to the program increased by more than 50 percent in 2007, and the competition received media placements in major business and community-focused media outlets.
The effort reached more than 1.6 million people with an ad equivalency of several thousand dollars over the organization’s return on investment.
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