Cercone Brown Blog

As an extension of the Boston PR agency’s experiential marketing programs (The Summer House, The Winter House, The Green House and The Cooking Experience, to name a few), CBC is adding a new program to its line-up: The Fall House. Scheduled to be held Oct. 8-22, 2011 in Santa Barbara, Calif., The Fall House will feature new activities geared specifically toward engaging West Coast-based press with companies and their products.

The CBC team is beginning the initial stages of the program, securing the event location (a gorgeous home near Santa Barbara beach) and signing on brand sponsors.

The Fall House in Santa Barbara, Calif.

The Santa Barbara beach

To become a sponsor for The Fall House, contact Noelle Guerin at nguerin@cerconebrown.com for details.

As we gear up for CerconeBrownCompany’s fifth annual Winter House program, feelings of excitement and anxiousness all mix into one as we prepare to head on out and set up in our temporary home of The Canyons Resort in Park City for the next few weeks.

Similar to years past, the weeks leading up to it can be maddening, often leaving you to wonder how everything will come together, with the only reassurance being that you know somehow it will all work out (it always does, right?).

Heading into its fifth year, the experiential marketing program is designed to gather top media from around the country to escape the daily chaos of their lives in New York City, Los Angeles, or wherever they may be, letting them step away from their computers, Blackberries and iPads and live amongst, experience and review brands and products without distractions in their natural and intended settings - hence the “Winter House” theme and experience.

Similar to CBC’s Summer House and Green House, the two-week Winter House program is broken down into four different three-day sessions where we play host to groups of four to six media members at a time. Daily schedules for this year’s program are packed - filled with activities ranging from testing out Lolë’s latest apparel out on the ski slopes to putting together a fashion show competition incorporating the newest trends and designs from fashion footwear company, NAYA.

Other activities include experiencing New Balance’s newest running technology in action during a session at the gym, snowshoeing Park City’s back country in EarthTec’s 2011 outdoor apparel line, trekking through the village for a winter hike to feel BOGS’ comfort, insulation and functionality first hand, and a wine-pairing dinner with some of Wente’s most memorable wines.  Pepperidge Farm, adidas eyewear, ICON, Tribe Hummus, and Veggie Patch are some of the other brands that will be featured at this year’s Winter House.

Our group of attending media this year is one of the strongest groups the program has ever seen.  In fact, the program became so popular among press members that we had to setup a “wait-list” for media members, as the program reached capacity just two days after invitations were sent out.  Our 2011 media attendees include: O, the Oprah Magazine, People, Real Simple, Outside Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Men’s Health, Prevention, The Food Network, American Spa, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, Delta Sky, Snow, Marie Claire, Fitness, Esquire, SELF, The New York Times, ESPN, Women’s Health, SHAPE, Good Morning America, The Huffington Post, and more!

One of the things I personally love about our experiential marketing programs, and Winter House in particular, is seeing the media become fully immersed in a brand and getting to that “aha” moment.  For example, it’s one thing to sit on a media tour in NYC and show a member of the press a ski jacket, talking them through the technology and design, but it’s another thing to watch that same editor wearing that exact jacket during a run in fresh tracks down the mountain in Park City and seeing them truly understand why the seams were made that way and the pockets were constructed with that layout, and how breathable and functional the jacket is, because they are experiencing it first hand and in the conditions that it’s meant to be experienced in.  This type of experience is invaluable for a brand and key to making their product stick out amongst competitors to the media.

With less than two weeks until the program’s official kickoff, we’ll be working at our Boston PR agency to wrap up all of our available sponsorship categories, finalize logistics for each participating brands’ activity and role at the program, confirm editor travel schedules, and, of course, deal with any type of last minute fire drills that we may encounter before we head out West to set up shop and begin preparations in time for the first session’s arrival on January 16.

For those of you who’d like to tune in to see how this year’s program turns out, we’ll be tweeting and Facebooking live from the program with updates, photos and more, so be sure to follow @CerconeBrown on Twitter and “like” the CerconeBrownCompany Facebook page.  In the meantime, we’re looking forward to another successful Winter House program!

Please contact NGuerin@cerconebrown.com or MJackson@cerconebrown.com if you represent a company that is interested in getting involved in one of CBC’s experiential marketing programs.  Limited sponsorship space is still available for the 2011 Winter House.

CerconeBrownCompany is joining OnStar in Miami this weekend as OnStar serves as one of the Miami Music Festival’s primary sponsors.  Kicking off the festivities Thursday evening at local hot spot, Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill, CBC is helping OnStar host a Tweet Up (for more details, follow Twitter@TheReal_OnStar). Taking place from 5:00-7:00 p.m., attendees have a chance to win a FREE three-day pass to the festival and an opportunity to mingle with OnStar representatives, while learning more about the weekend’s events.

Following the Tweet Up, OnStar is hosting a VIP reception on Friday evening from 7:00-8:00 p.m. at Hotel Victor to start off the festival with a bang.  Performances from various artists will continue at the Hotel Victor from 8:00 p.m. up until 1:00 a.m.  A guest list filled with the “Who’s Who” from the Miami area make this event the only place to be on Friday evening.  And if you’re in the area on Saturday or Sunday, make sure to stop by the Bayfront Park presented by OnStar where you can listen to a variety of music throughout the day and into the evening.

The 2010 second annual Miami Music Festival is featured as the centerpiece of “Live Music Month in Miami” and will feature acts from around the world. The festival is emerging as a premier event for discovering and enjoying new music in one of the greatest entertainment cities in the world.

CerconeBrownCompany kicked off OnStar’s powerON (#OnStarpowerON) women’s empowerment media event yesterday in Sag Harbor, NY at the historic American Hotel in the Hamptons. OnStar’s powerON has been empowering women by teaching them ways to simplify their daily lives and exhibiting how OnStar can help a busy woman.

National women’s bloggers participated in session one, which began with a volunteer activity at The Retreat, a domestic and family violence shelter, to give back to the local community.  During their time at The Retreat, the editors read stories to the children and provided a little “pep” talk to everyone’s Wednesday afternoon at the shelter. Following the volunteer activity, The Wolffer Estate hosted a wine tasting for the media where OnStar welcomed everyone to the program and reviewed some of the products that would be demo’ed during the program such as Turn-by-Turn navigation system.

Today our editors began day two of session one with a workout session hosted by fitness guru Andrea Metcalf.  After working up their appetites, the editors experienced a cooking session with Louisa Shafia where they learned how to prepare healthy fall recipes.  As we wrap up day two of session one, the editors are receiving makeovers from celebrity makeup artist, Randy Houston Mercer before they head out to a delicious dinner in Sag Harbor.

Stay tune to hear more on powerON as session two begins tomorrow with six more national womens bloggers and editors.  Signing off from Sag Harbor, New York at OnStar’s powerON.

This past August, Boston PR Agency CerconeBrownCompany, in partnership with consumer research group Kickstand Communications, launched the Green House in Boulder, Colo.  Over the course of two weeks, 22 of the nation’s top editors were immersed into a Smart Living lifestyle, which melds together lifestyle practices that are good for you, your wallet and the environment.

Editors learned about Smart Living to pass these tips along to you. Check out our PR agency coverage about Smart Living on “Good Morning America Health.”

Also check out The Huffington Post, where Scott Gwordz of Kickstand Communications talks about Smart Living with Ashley Koff, R.D. (registered dietitian) and LA’s “Best Nutritionist” three years running.

Start Smart Living yourself! Visit SmartHouseSmartLiving.com for tips and do-it-yourself guides for your home, your planet and your life…all while saving you money.

Since our Boston PR agency opened its doors, CerconeBrownCompany (CBC) has nurtured aspiring public relations and advertising professionals through our internship program. Students from schools around the globe have cut their teeth here at CBC, gaining valuable, real-world experience in public relations, advertising, events, social media, marketing and journalism.

As a way to further our commitment to inspiring young adults in our community, we are proud to embark on a special partnership with the Cristo Rey Network, a group of 24 high schools across the country that provides values-based, college prep education to economically disadvantaged youth. Students in the program work to earn tuition and gain real world experience at the same time.

This school year (now through June 2011), we are sponsoring a student intern from the local Cristo Rey Network school, Cristo Rey High School Boston. We hope to inspire a young individual who is just beginning to explore career options in the communications field by providing a variety of projects spanning all sides of our business. We’ll work with the student on everything from research to writing to building media lists, and more.

With this new element to our internship program, we are giving back to our community by offering high school students real world job experiences. We hope you join us with a warm welcome to all of our new students this semester!

We all love a great media relations agency success story — especially when it happens to great brands. Well, on Monday, just that very thing happened. Rachael Ray, the host of The Rachael Ray Show, which draws upwards of two million viewers per episode, featured a product from our media relations client Doctor Kracker as her official “Snack of the Day.”

If you haven’t tried Doctor Kracker yet, go get some! Each cracker and flatbread is chock-full of whole grains, seeds, good-for-you ingredients that you can pronounce, and fiber and omega-3s that keep you full and satisfied. For the past 10 years, Co-Founder George Eckrich, who started the original Whole Foods Bakery, and his team have been creating these European-style Flatbreads and snacker crackers in flavors like pumpkin cheddar, hummus maximus, seedlander, klassic 3-seed, seeded spelt, cherry semolina and apple crisp.

For this stellar piece of coverage, Rachel Ray chose to highlight Dr. Kracker Seedlander Snackers.

Kudos to the “kracker-jack” CBC media relations team, and happy snacking!

The CerconeBrown & Co. Green House is now underway in one of the nation’s only mutli-family net-zero homes out in Boulder, Colo.

In this one-of-a-kind experiential marketing program, the nation’s top editors are immersed into the most eco-friendly services, products and technology around to gain deep insight on Smart Living, a sensible lifestyle that helps save money and decrease a person’s negative impact on the environment. Some of the most planet-friendly and eco-conscious brands — from Ford to 3M to LG to Tupperware — are combining forces at this distinctive media relations event to revamp press members’ views on sustainability and how they will report to their millions of readers and viewers.

As you might expect, this feat doesn’t come without its fair share of good old-fashioned hard work. The Boston PR Agency crew has been working nearly 20-hour days (wow!) behind the scenes to transform a house surpassing LEED-Platinum certification into a platform for sustainable living. And through undying effort and lots of sweat (but thankfully no blood or tears), the CBC team has hit the ground running — and pretty fast to say the least.

To give you an idea of the kind of energy needed to pull off such an exhilarating event, here’s an inside look at the personal work journal of the CBC crew on site in Boulder:

6:30 a.m. - The day starts bright and early with the team opening the 300th (that’s an understatement) box of Tupperware product to stock the pantry.

7:30 - It’s time to change over the 25th load of laundry (talk about a workout!) in an amazing LG energy-efficient washer and dryer with the new Sweet Sleep organic bedding.

Not too sure how this happened, but cardboard somehow manages to get into the washer machine, and explodes everywhere.  It looks like the Terminator got a little too carried away in a paper factory. Luckily CBC had an LG energy efficient vacuum to save the day and clean up the Terminator’s mess.

Finally, the sheets come out of the wash looking more wrinkled than a shar pei puppy.  Just their luck, there’s no iron in sight.

8:30 - The ever-resourceful CBC team puts their heads together, and calls in a cleaning crew that comes through and goes to town!

8:30 - 10:30 -The architect, realtors, developers, owner, sponsors, mattress delivery crew, contractor, Ford team, 3M sponsors and CBC Green House team are all in and out of the house preparing for the open house to kick off at 11 a.m. (panic mode handled with grace and poise).

11:00 - CBS channel 4 arrives. An interview with the developer and architect commences.

Noon - Super interns Max and Chase head out on a Target run. CBC then meets with the Boulder film crew to do some creative collaborating and document the next three weeks.

1:00 p.m. - No time to rest!  The CBC crew begins drafting the sponsor and editor materials.

3:00 - A Tupperware representative arrives, and more merchandising continues.

4:30 - midnight - CBC continues to set up the house and merch, merch, merch (this stands for merchandising).

This is just a morsel of the effort that goes into creating such an amazing event…stay tuned for more of the CBC Green House frenzy!

Today marks the end of the second session of Summer House 2010, hosted by Boston PR Agency Cercone Brown & Co.  And after beach games, water sports, exploration and plenty of great food and cocktails, we’re ready to do it all over again…

The Summer House (and its Park City-based Winter House) brings the best of the national lifestyle media together with some of the the year’s best new products in a setting that can’t be beat.  They get to really experience these products in a real-life setting, literally living with them for three-day “sessions.”

The second session of Summer House welcomed editors from O, Oprah Magazine, Ladies Home Journal, Glamour and more, kicking off with a sail on the Endeavor and watching the sun set in PF Flyers during a game of Bocce Ball. Their next morning began by taking on the waters of Nantucket, sea kayaking with Columbia Sportswear and continued with a challenging cross-island scavenger hunt, all while outfitted in New Balance, head to toe. A cocktail party hosted by Jambu soon followed along with a delectable dinner with the lovely ladies of Vineyard Vines. The media ended their session with massages provided by Palmers and boarded their planes with an endless amount of product knowledge and the memories of an island retreat.

Next up, we’ll host journalists from NBC Today, Good Morning America, Maxim, Men’s Health, Outside and others.  32 outlets in all.

Time and time again, we hear how unique the Summer House is. Brands and journalists have both continually acknowledged the difference in our approach to experiential marketing. Companies gain the benefit of enhanced personal relationships with press, while journalists gain positive brand impressions and new brand introductions, all while enjoying everything the island has to offer.

Education through real life experience…it works, and the last five years continue to confirm what our vision was five years ago: to create something different, something that truly changes consumer PR.  Here’s to the next five years.

Full Metal Jackasses?  Not exactly…

The Orvis Media Shootout is one of the full brand immersion media relations events we do each year at Cercone Brown & Co. The idea is to give the media an authentic experience that encompasses every aspect of our clients’ brand: the product, the culture, the people … all without hard selling.