Thanks to Cheryl Bruser, Jewish Family Service’s “Project SARAH,” outreach coordinator, for her help in promoting Urban Solace’s recent Urban Seder dinner and her kind words on Jewish Family Service’s blog:
This just came in from Cheryl Bruser, our Project SARAH Outreach Coordinator:
This Passover was indeed different from all other nights…thanks to Urban Solace Chef Matt Gordon and proprietor Scott Watkins! In early March, I learned that Project SARAH would be the beneficiary of Urban Solace’s second annual Urban Seder. I was so touched—I feel it’s especially poignant that they chose our domestic abuse program, with Passover having such strong themes of liberation from oppression, freedom from slavery, rebirth and renewal. The holiday provides a powerful Jewish context of healing for our domestic violence survivors.
I, along with about 60 other guests, attended the Seder, which was led by Sam the Cooking Guy (Sam Zien) and restaurant critic Steve Silverman. They used the “Haggadah for Urban Solace” compiled by Steve.
Chef Gordon served delicious family-style dishes including chicken liver pâté, charoset and house-made gefilte fish. The four-course dinner included Caramelized Fennel and Roasted Garlic Matzo Ball with Jidori Chicken Consommé; Cold Smoked Char with Asparagus/Lemon/Herb Quinoa; Braised Shortrib, Green Garlic Pistou, Sweet Potato-Parsnip Tzimmes; and a special dessert of Lemon Blackberry Cake with Basil/Mint and Cracked Almonds. It was the most delicious Passover Seder I’ve ever been to!
Not only was the food outstanding, but Chef Gordon was a gracious and generous host…a real mensch. It was fun to sit at the long family-style tables, watching everyone engage in conversation with their neighbors, moving from strangers to new friends. Though the highlight of my evening was definitely when 11-year-old Brennan found the Afikomen, and decided to donate $10 of his $20 prize to Project SARAH.
I can’t thank Urban Solace and everyone involved enough—Chef Matt Gordon, Scott Watkins, Jean Walcher, Steven Silverman and Sam Zien. We are so appreciative of their generosity, which will directly benefit Project SARAH clients in their transition to safety. And we’re extremely grateful for the publicity for Project SARAH in the days leading up to the seder, including Project SARAH’s very own Marni Greenberg on San Diego Living.
View photos from the event on Urban Solace’s Facebook Page by clicking here>>
PRWEEK recently interviewed Jean Walcher and Caroline Counihan of InterContinental Hotels Group about JWalcher’s PR campaign for the launch of Hotel Indigo San Diego.
A quote from the client cites our work as informing the company’s “best practices:”
“…the campaign is informing best practices across IHG’s entire portfolio of hotels, which include Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza. The hotel, which has 1,235 Twitter followers and 727 Facebook fans, received coverage in ABC News, Los Angeles Times, and Travel + Leisure.”
Check out the PRWEEK article here: http://www.prweekus.com/ihg-gets-local-for-san-diego-property-launch/article/166630/
WHEN THE MEDIA CALLS, CALL YOUR PR AGENCY! HERE’S WHY:
(This post is dedicated to all of our wonderful clients)
- Clients pay us for media representation!
- We make clients’ life easier, save their time, save their money and mine their media opportunities
- We lighten the reporter’s life too: facilitate interviews, provide background information, stats, visuals, etc. We understand that the reporter doesn’t want us to be our clients’ gatekeeper – and we don’t, unless necessary. We prepare clients for the subject of the interview, the nature of the reporter and media outlet and deadlines
- In representing clients, we routinely contact reporters in the course of what might be an in-progress pitch or a new pitch, and our effectiveness is weakened if we don’t know they’ve called the client directly
- If we don’t know the reporter well, it gives us the opportunity to forge a relationship and to make future contacts on the client’s behalf more effective
- We can often enhance the story when we know the reporter’s angle. We might offer another source, or a fact about the issue neither the client nor the media knows
They say any publicity is good publicity.
Well… Sometimes that is, in fact, true. PR pros can turn even the worst situation, or a major national/international news headline, into a newsworthy opportunity to position a client front and center in the media and make the public more aware of a client’s name or business.
Case in point: the recent Pacific Ocean tsunami warnings after the devastating Chilean earthquake.
The world watched anxiously as tsunami waves headed toward the Hawaiian Islands and the West Coast of the United States.
As I viewed a webcam video from home of an eerily empty, evacuated Waikiki beach, San Diego Bay was being deluged with a powerful tidal surge, seriously damaging a dock belonging to our well-known restaurant client, the Bali Hai on Shelter Island.
Bali Hai’s owners alerted us of the incident, including a digital photo that demonstrated the destructive force of the sea as it surged back and forth, tearing the dock in two.
With photo in hand, JWalcher Communications notified local TV stations and the San Diego Union-Tribune about how this natural disaster did not leave San Diego unscathed.
CBS News 8 KFMB sent a crew out to shoot video of the splintered dock. And the Union-Tribune interviewed one of Bali Hai’s owners who had an opportunity to not only comment on the $50,000 worth of damage that was caused, but also talk about how the iconic restaurant has been closed since January and is currently undergoing major renovations.
Within 48 hours, the Union-Tribune ran a front page photo of the broken dock, with a caption mentioning the Bali Hai, along with quotes by the owner prominently positioned in the article’s introduction.
We successfully turned bad news into headline news for our client, while simultaneously promoting the renovations of this landmark restaurant and its scheduled spring re-opening.
It doesn’t always work that way, but sometimes you’re able to localize or take advantage of a big news story.
Bali Hai Restaurant's dock, damaged by the powerful tidal surge caused by last month's earthquake in Chile.
