TJ WALKER - THE HABIT INFLUENCER - Personal Development | LIVE STREAM

From the studios of Media Training Worldwide in New York, this is INSIDE Communications. And I'm Mike Baco. Through her many years in the PR world, whether it was at Saatchi and Saatchi or almost that two decades at her own firm, Jeanine Gordon has seen it all and she's changed with the times. She joins us today on INSIDE Communic. We're joined today on INSIDE Communications by Jeanine Gordon, president and CEO of her own firm, Jeanine Gordon Associates. Jeanine, thanks for joining us today.

Pleasure.

So after 17 years at Saatchi and Saatchi, you started your own large Boutique firm in 1993. What have you found to be some of the big differences over the last 20 years or so in the PR business?

Well, for one thing, video news releases, which are prepackaged news features, are not as popular as they once were. For another, and probably even more importantly, the Internet, as you know, has become an enormous player. And all our clients are very interested in getting into the digital space that didn't exist back 20 years ago.

So there's a situation where you don't have to do much convincing of clients to do video. They're coming to you. They're seeing what the landscape is out there and they're asking to do these things.

Yes. As a matter of fact, it's been said that Internet television will ultimately become a bigger presence, believe it or not, than network tv.

Well, let's hope so, considering that we're on Internet TV today. Tell us about some of the campaigns that you've worked on. The Wall Street Capitol Grill comes to mind just recently. Very successful campaign. What went into some of the layering of that and how did that become so successful?

Well, that was actually a tough one. We have been for the past five years the PR agency of record for the Capitol GR, which means that we help them open about three to six restaurants a year. They presently have 44 restaurants in 42 markets. In any event, about a year ago, we had to open for them a restaurant down on Wall Street. And the problem was that most restaurant reviewers do not want to do a restaurant review on a chain restaurant, even if, like the Capitol Grill, it's fine.

Dining and has a very good reputation, as you mentioned, all across the nation. And in a lot of place is the place to go to where the power brokers go to. But as you mentioned, some restaurant reviewers probably look down on that a little bit.

Well, only because it's part of a large corporation. In any event, that was the first challenge. The second challenge was that 18 that six months earlier, the Capitol Grill had opened a second restaurant in Manhattan in the Time Life building. So here we were challenged to open a, you know, a new location of a chain, the third location, in fact, in Manhattan, because the very first one was open about six years ago at the Chrysler Center. In any event, we said to ourselves, now how are we going to get high impact publicity for this opening? And the client said to us, the publicity has to involve the Wall street community. You have to think of something to bring in, you know, the movers and shakers on Wall street. Which makes sense because the location at 120 Broadway is literally down the block from the New York Stock Exchange. So we thought and we thought and we finally said we had the answer. The Guggenheim Museum Point had just appointed a new executive director. And obviously many of the people who collect art are from the Wall street community. So we approached the brand new executive director, whom we knew through our own contacts. And we said to him that the Capitol Grill was prepared to underwrite all the costs of a luncheon, a fundraising luncheon to benefit the Guggenheim the week before the 120 Broadway restaurant open to the general public. And so the Guggenheim said to us, well, you know, that sounds very interesting because if we sell tickets for say $150 a ticket, we can clear about $30,000. And we said, yes, that's exactly right. And they said, well, the Capitol Grill is a fine dining establishment, so we're allying two fine brands. We said, yes, that's absolutely right. They said, what do you want in exchange? And we said, oh, not much. We just want you to make sure that Frank Gehry, who is arguably the most important architect today and who there the Guggenheim's museum in Balboa. Great, great. And is now doing the one in Abu Dhabi, we want him to be in conversation with the executive director of the Guggenheim over dessert and coffee. We want them to discuss the marriage of art and commerce. In any event, the Guggenheim delivered Frank Gehry. They sold out the entire restaurant for luncheon. The conversation between the two men was really sparkling. And not only did we get general metro press, but we press in art and enthusiast publications and half the Wall street collectors community had been informed of the lunch and had bought tickets. So we succeeded on every single point with which we were challenged.

And when you set out to do this campaign, were there those check marks that you wanted to get that crossover publicity where you wanted to hit all of these different sectors? How important is it to set a checklist, to set goals for yourself and then to actually meet them during a campaign.

You know, that's a great question because sometimes you can come up with a terrific idea, but it only achieves goals. And to your point, we always write down goal, goal, goal, goal, and then whatever ideas we have, we test them. Will it check there, check there, check there? So, yes, absolutely. That's a very important point.

And does a successful campaign need to hit all of those goals, or will a client be able to say, okay, you know what? Great, you hit our top three. We didn't hit the other two, but you hit our top three. Or is the goal always to hit all of the goals?

Well, I would say one of the things that differentiates us from other agencies is we always hit our goals. That's why we work for clients like Mayo Clinic, the 21 Club Division of Orient Express, Kiehl's, Cosmetics, Time, Inc. We're working for best of breed clients who really demand the best of us.

Speaking of the best of you, you're putting out a new face for the company. You're launching a new website by the time this airs. Tell us a little bit about the progression of your firm over these last few years and why a new website was in order for you.

The reason the new website was in order is because, in effect, what we've realized is that our size, rather than being a liability, is an asset. And the reason it's an asset is because we can provide a level of service that a large agency perhaps cannot provide. And beyond that, we are not process driven. We're kind of like a cigarette boat. We can turn on a dime rather than a flight carrier, which really is labor intensive. And so the new website speaks to the fact that as a smaller agency, I think we have 13 people. We really offer the kind of service that is not typically offered. And we have the involvement of senior management on every single piece of business.

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Did you frame some of that from your previous experience at a large firm like Saatchi and Saatchi to say, okay, I want my firm to be this way. It's certainly been successful over the last couple of decades. But did you have that in mind when you started this?

I absolutely had it in mind. You know, I spent 17 years, which is to say 90% of my career with Saatchi as president of Saatchi and Saatchi pr, which I set up for them. And as Executive vice president of corporate communications and a member of the operating committee. That experience taught me, what are the great things about Saatchi and what are the things about a larger entity which I would change if I had my own firm? So, yes, I took all the good things and I tried to develop the things that I wanted at it. And the result is an extremely collegial, I think, fun place to work that really turns out great creative.

And speaking of creative, tell us a little bit about the website. What new dynamics will there be on the website? What's going to be different from the old website?

The look is totally different. It's been completely refreshed. I will be very interested to see what people think. One thing we're doing when we launch it, which as you know, is coming right up, we're going to say to everybody to whom we announce the website, if you will visit the website, we're going to make a donation in your name to one of two not for profits, that we represent Literacy Partners or the Weizman Institute of Science. That, in effect is our way of giving back. And so that's one thing I don't think has ever been done is the.

Website and the branding of the firm for the clients that might be interested in you, or is it for the general public? What do you hope to achieve with this rebranding of the website?

I think two things. Number one, we want to reinforce the loyalty of all our current clients. And I'm delighted to tell you that our current clients are really our most important, ardent advocates. And secondly, we want to extend and reinforce our presence in the marketplace so that when a potential client is looking for a PR firm, they will seriously consider us.

Let's go back to what we started with as we end. You were talking about how video news releases aren't as easy to place anymore in broadcasting firms. And clients are coming to your firm to say, we want video, we want to use the Internet. Let's talk a little bit about how you actually are doing that. Are you using quick flip cam videos? Are you using more produced videos? What are you using now to get the most penetration for your clients?

Flip cams, basically. You know, Procter and Gamble once said to us that we could stretch a dollar till it screams so. Flip cams, as you know, are inexpensive. And interestingly enough, 3 of the people in our agency are really adept with photography and taping. So, for example, we do the PR for Swan Auction Galleries, which is the world's leading auction house, works on paper. And what we've been doing is flip camming, if you will, their department specialists, the person who specializes in photography or prints or autographs. And then we post those videos on YouTube.

So it's almost a behind the scenes introduction to the people where it's not as produced, but you're seeing their day to day activities, getting an insight into what they actually do.

That's a perfect way to describe it. Yes, that's exactly what we do.

And obviously clients are very receptive to that. Usually people see the high sheen gloss of videos, but more people want to see the real world of what people are going through.

You know, to your point, for Cargo Cosmetics what we did was we did a series of flip cams with their head makeup artist and then uploaded those to YouTube. And in fact the series of videos she was giving makeup tips. And so it was a very inexpensive but effective way to put the message out there and say here are three things you can do to make your eyes more beautiful and here are three products from Cargo that will achieve those looks.

So you're almost getting that cross penetration of publicizing the client, but then also making it widely known for everyone on the Internet that's looking for this information.

Exactly right.

Jeanine, thanks for going inside Communications with us today.

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