Last weekend, over 15,000 shoppers jammed into Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia for the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival – the first of Sugarloaf’s 11 shows this year. Lots of media coverage, including a great video story by Chantilly Patch, helped attendance grow 8% over last year.

The weekend before, hearty boaters and fisherman braved the first “weather incident” of the year to dream of warm weather at the Baltimore Boat Show. There was some great press for this event, as well, including features in the Baltimore Sun on Friday and Sunday.

Our clients are off to a good start this year. So are we.

I’m a self-professed Trader Joe’s junkie. I make a trip to my local store on a weekly basis to stock up on my favorite items and check out their newest products. One of my favorite hobbies is swapping Trader Joe’s product recommendations with friends. For someone who thinks grocery shopping is a hassle, I surprisingly look forward to shopping at Trader Joe’s.

While filling up my cart over the weekend, I started thinking about the specific reasons why I love Trader Joe’s so much. Is it the fragrant seasonal plants and flowers that greet customers as they walk in the door? Or the reasonably priced and yummy prepared foods? It could be the samples and free coffee, or the always helpful and cheery employees who go out of their way to check if there’s any more pesto pizza, candy cane tea, trail mix, olive oil, yogurt, etc. in the back.

I’m mostly impressed by the company’s ability to attract customers. From what I’ve read, customers flock to the openings of their newest locations with little to no marketing. And even though they would probably be welcome and become profitable in any city, Trader Joe’s adheres to a restrained business strategy—they only open a handful of new stores a year.

As is the case with many companies, word of mouth and referrals is the strongest form of marketing for Trader Joe’s. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad thing said about the chain, except for complaints about small aisles and parking lots at some locations. Yes, the stores are usually packed with people, but even when I’m stuck behind a slow-moving senior citizen or a crying child, I still enjoy shopping there.

It’s a good example of what really works and what we practice at Himmelrich PR—it’s not necessary to spend a lot of money on a marketing campaign if your brand’s strength is good people and good products. And for us, good thinking.

Himmelrich PR has two openings we are looking to fill as soon as possible: Account Executive and Associate.

Account Executive: The AE will take a leadership role in generating media coverage for our clients, developing creative promotions, and managing relationships with some of our largest clients. The ideal Account Executive candidate will have at least 3-4 years of public relations and media experience, including developing and pitching stories, and creating media relationships. He or she should be a strong and quick writer for all types of media and have experience managing projects and staff teams, preferably at an agency or within a communications department. This position includes some occasional travel.

Associate: The Associate will support our client teams by conducting internet research, developing media lists, distributing media materials, tracking media activity, responding to media inquiries, maintaining schedules, and preparing reports. The Associate will also participate in the development of marketing strategies and plans, and will manage office functions. Qualified candidates should know all Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, is exceptionally well organized, and is comfortable handling multiple projects and working with many people at once.

Both positions offer a unique opportunity to be part of our growth. We have some great new clients and will be working on some pretty exciting projects. The vibe in our office is fun and collaborative. We are always learning and trying new things. And we produce award-winning work that achieves success for our clients. As the firm grows, so will you!

To apply for either position, please send a resume and cover letter to jobs@himmelrich.com. Please indicate in the subject line of your email which position you are applying for.

But not all our clients are based in Baltimore, even though our work for them is here. A good part of our time this Monday morning has been spent explaining the nuances of local media. We are helping our clients understand why local television producers are saying things like “if it’s not about the Ravens, we can’t confirm coverage,” even for stories that have been planned and confirmed for weeks. We’re explaining why published photos from their events this week will include lots of purple shirts, and hats, and jewelry, and feather boas.

So on this Monday morning, we are reminded that as successful as we think we have been (or will be), we can’t control everything. And we are reminded that while we may understand the nuances and reasons of media, we appreciate having understanding and reasonable clients.

Go Ravens!

While checking out the post-holiday sales at Best Buy this past weekend, something stood out to me – not the promotions for shiny new iPads or the sale tags on giant 80” flat-screen televisions, but rather the signage requesting old electronics. Several Best Buy locations in Baltimore are taking part in the electronic superstore’s e-recycling program. Customers can bring in almost any electronic device they no longer use (or no longer know how to use… that’s right, they accept VCRs too), and Best Buy will take care of the rest.

Every part of every electronic is sorted, cleaned and recycled to be used in new products – plastic could be used for park benches and playgrounds, parts of old batteries are used to make new batteries, and so on. It doesn’t matter where the device was purchased – Best Buy will take it.

I appreciate the program for its environmental impact. The improper disposal of electronics can release toxins into the environment and have detrimental effects on our health. By recycling over 300 lbs. of e-waste for every minute it’s open, Best Buy is providing some serious support to the solution to a very serious issue.

Best Buy’s e-recycling also has a positive impact on their bottom line and is good marketing. The initiative gives both new and returning customers a great reason to come into the store. This type of public service effort is just what we as PR professionals like to see – an organization carrying out their social responsibilities and increasing good will while boosting revenue.

As we like to say here at Himmelrich PR, good thinking.

Internships at Himmelrich PR give college students public relations experience and an amazing opportunity to contribute and grow professionally, as well as earn academic credit. Our interns work directly with our staff on client projects – researching, writing, brainstorming and producing good work. Our internships are unpaid, have flexible hours and they’re fun!

So, why not impress Mom and Dad over winter break by showing them you’re doing something related to school and/or preparing for the “real world” (not the TV show, we mean life… not the cereal)?

If you want to build your portfolio, get some solid PR experience and learn a lot from some pretty nice people, give us a shout – or better yet, a resume! Email it to Garrett Berberich at garrett@himmelrich.com.

Ho ho hope to hear from you!

After working on the coordination of our client’s title sponsorships of four holiday events across the country, I find myself noticing and appreciating once-overlooked details of these kinds of agreements. Whether it’s a sporting event broadcast, a restaurant promotion or the lighting ceremony for our local holiday celebration, I have suddenly noticed all the businesses and organizations promoted through a sponsor relationship.

This past weekend, I was struck by the names and logos conveniently dropped into the broadcasts of some Sunday sports. The Chevrolet intermission report of the New York Ranger game and the Bud Light Halftime Show of the Baltimore Ravens game drew my knowing nod for the effort required to manage those sponsorship agreements.

Rather than thinking about how well a Chevy must drive, or how refreshing a Bud Light must be, I was thinking about how many emails, phone calls, messages and spreadsheets it took to coordinate each sponsorship deliverable. Rather than change the channel or ignore these mentions, I was jotting down notes with ideas for ways to apply that kind of exposure to our clients.

Sponsorship organizers, this is my salute to you. No longer does your effort go unnoticed.

Now, what was I saying about that Bud Light?

The final Sugarloaf Craft Festival of the season was this past weekend in Chantilly, Virginia. Lines of eager shoppers extended out the door to get into the show, and once inside, they were buying! Local media seemed to be buying it too, especially the online outlets important to local craft lovers. Check out these features on the Kingstowne Patch site and DC Metro Mom blog. And an even better holiday present was that attendance was up 20% over last year!

Also this past weekend, we concluded the holiday events we coordinated around the country for one of our financial clients. We were in Frederick, Maryland, to see the Kris Kringle Procession - and the thousands of residents at the event.

Today feels a little like the day after Christmas. And we got everything we asked for.

Ask Me Anything is a section (subreddit) of Reddit where people with interesting professions or life stories answer user-submitted questions. It’s anonymous, although administrators on the site privately verify the authenticity of the “AMA” writer. This weekend, a woman who plays princesses at Walt Disney World offered her knowledge to the Reddit community. Some interesting nuggets I learned included:

1) Women play multiple princesses (and kids are none the wiser).
2) “The majority of Mickey Mouses are little Hispanic women.”
3) “75% of the entertainment cast members are gay, and yes, a lot of
them are incredibly flamboyant.”

I have nothing but fond memories of my trips to Disney World, so was fun to get some harmless, inside “dirt,” but once I put my PR persona back on, I realized the incredibly problematic nature of AMA. Employees can spill the beans about any corporate secret - anywhere. The deterrent to this type of behavior is the infamous non-disclosure agreement, but how can it be enforced against an anonymous internet commenter?

I wonder if corporations have caught on to the threat of employees offering their insider knowledge in an AMA. Hopefully, Disney PR monitored this weekend’s AMA.

I loved the Muppets as a kid. I used to run around the house in pink pajamas with a Muppets keyboard and pretend I was Miss Piggy. Needless to say, I went to see the new Muppets movie over the weekend for nostalgic purposes, expecting to find a theater full of families enjoying the cast I loved so much as a kid.

Instead, I found a theater full of 20-somethings. Not a single family or cute laughing baby.

It wasn’t because the movie was inappropriate; it had less “adult” humor than any of the Shrek films. So where were all of the families at this expected family-friendly flick? The film actually clearly illustrates the reason behind the demographic shift; the Muppets are just not famous any more.

So when selling tickets to a kids movie with a cast of characters over 40 years old, whom do you target? In my theater, at least, the target audience was the not-so-grown-ups who remember the joy and laughter that the Muppets brought to them long ago. Hopefully, new generations will catch on to the wit and innocence of the Muppets gang, but for now we will have to enjoy the Muppets surrounded by our childhood friends, who still appreciate a good whoopee cushion joke.