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Below are stories about our clients and the successful PR campaigns that we launched for them and their results.
Launching a Retail Game-Changer:
The Mall at Millenia
Brand Introductions | Consumer Products and Services | Events
Bisbee and Co. partnered with The Forbes Company and RM Resources to develop and execute a public relations program to build awareness among local and travel markets and generate immediate visitation to The Mall at Millenia, a world-class super regional shopping center in Orlando anchored by Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s and Burdines-Macy’s.
Results: The program was instrumental in generating 500 news placements locally, nationally and internationally, helped drive 267,000 visitors during grand opening weekend (a record-breaking opening for a Florida retail center), and earned the team a Florida Public Relations Association/Orlando Chapter Golden Image Award. Bisbee and Company collaborated with mall leadership for five subsequent years to help establish the center as a community-leading organization, a position that flourishes to the present day.
“Bisbee and Company played an integral role in positioning The Mall at Millenia as one of the top shopping centers in the country. Jennifer worked closely with the mall team since the pre-opening stage. She guided the development of relationships with media and community partners to establish The Mall at Millenia as a good neighbor. Jennifer delivers one hundred percent, always staying ahead of the curve and thinking out of the box.”
— Brenda Lounsberry, SCMD, Marketing Director, The Mall at Millenia
Creating a Home Run for Home Improvement:
Orlando Home Show / Central Florida Home & Garden Show
Brand Introductions | Consumer Products and Services | Events | B2B | Social Media Engagement
One of the world’s leading exposition companies hired Bisbee and Company to design and implement a PR campaign that would create a strong brand identity for, and drive traffic to, the inaugural Orlando Home Show in September 2003. Bisbee also designed and executed a PR program to establish a new identity for the spring 2014 Central Florida Home & Garden Show, which the client had recently acquired from the Home Builders Association.
Results: The successful PR program, fully integrated with paid marketing initiatives, resulted in a record-breaking attendance; the Orlando Home Show became, and remains, the largest-attended consumer event in the history of the Orange County Convention Center, exceeding the client’s attendance projections by 70 percent. Bisbee and Company’s campaign for the spring show
Helped to increase year-over-year attendance by 150 percent and the pace of exhibit space sales for the fall show by 50 percent; and improved visitor satisfaction by 14 percentage points.
Celebrity appearances are a key strategy for every home show, and Bisbee and Company has conducted successful media tours with some of the most prominent home, garden and lifestyle television celebrities of the last two decades, including Ty Pennington (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), Carson Kressley (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy), Josh Flagg (Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles) and Angelo Surmelis (Rate My Space), among dozens of others.
Another key strategy is community relations engagement. Our firm has partnered the show with numerous non-profit organizations, including Habitat ReStore, Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida and Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Bisbee continues to manage PR programs for both annual shows, now under the ownership of Marketplace Events. The company produces 39 consumer shows in the home and garden category in major US and Canadian markets, among the most successful and longest-running shows in North America.
“We’ve achieved many objectives and project successes with Jennifer Bisbee’s PR efforts and results. She continuously rocks it! Working with Bisbee and Co. has allowed our shows to build and grow with each cycle. Jennifer’s energy and passion are surpassed only by her wealth of ideas – in both show content and PR outreach, keeping us relevant to traditional and social media.”
Shelly Gepfert, Marketing Director, U.S., Marketplace Events
Positioning a Digital Marketing Innovator:
.Com Marketing
B2B Products and Services | Entrepreneurs | Social Media Engagement
Hillary Bressler established .Com Marketing in April 1997 after identifying the need for websites to be marketed. She quickly drew attention in the Central Florida business community, not only as an online marketing innovator and visionary, but for her relative youth as a company CEO in a hot new field. In 2000, .Com Marketing hired Bisbee and Company to raise its corporate profile and to establish Bressler as a national expert in interactive marketing.
Results: Bisbee and Company designed and launched a PR program including a speaker’s bureau, aggressive publicity, bylined article submission and award applications, securing placements in such outlets as CNN/fn, Fox News and Entrepreneur Magazine, among many others. In addition, Bisbee and Company booked speaking engagements for Bressler at significant regional trade events and business incubators. These activities contributed to .Com Marketing’s success and helped the company weather the dotcom downturn. Bisbee and Bressler continue to join forces on marketing innovations that drive results for their respective clients.
“Bisbee and Company has proven to be an essential partner in developing and maintaining a positive corporate image and in helping .Com Marketing have an important and impactful presence in a large, competitive and volatile industry. Jennifer Bisbee and her team are hard-working and professional and take the time to know and stay tuned with our business.”
— Hillary Bressler, Founder and CEO, .Com Marketing
National Media Placements: From Cocktail Napkin to Corporate Buy-Out
Schools At Work
B2B Products and Services | Entrepreneurs
Mary Anne Ward established this consulting firm to help corporations implement work-site public schools. Ward hired Bisbee and Co. to develop a PR program to build awareness for her firm among corporate, legislative and education audiences; introduce the novel concept of work-site partnership schools; and to be positioned as a leading authority on the topic.
Results: The program included a speaker’s bureau and an aggressive trade and national media relations campaign, yielding interviews on the Today Show and CNBC, and in USA Today and The Christian Science Monitor, among dozens of others. Ward built awareness solely on earned media; no money was spent on paid advertising. As a result of her success and national exposure, Ward’s firm was spotted and purchased just three years after conception by a publicly traded company with annual revenues of $75 million.
“Bisbee and Company was the best investment I made in an effort to gain national exposure and recognition for Schools At Work. The purchase of Schools At Work by a publicly traded company was a direct result of Jennifer Bisbee and her company’s outstanding job of positioning me as a national expert. I cannot recommend Bisbee and Company highly enough.”
— Mary Anne Ward, Founder, Schools At Work
An Orlando Launch for a Venerable Brand:
Kiehl’s Since 1851
Brand Introductions | Consumer Products and Services | Events | Social Media Engagement
Kiehl’s Since 1851, the 161-year-old venerable New York-based purveyor of fine quality skin and hair care preparations, engaged Bisbee and Co. to develop and execute a PR program to support the opening of its first Orlando location and third in Florida. With a twin objective of building awareness for the brand and driving immediate traffic into the store, the multi-faceted PR program included publicity into traditional and non-traditional outlets; outreach to local mom and beauty bloggers; execution of a store opening event; a media tour for Kiehl’s President USA, Chris Salgardo; and a non-profit tie-in. We leveraged the motorcycle riding, charismatic CEO’s personality for additional coverage and exposure into niche angles and markets, including men’s beauty and LGBT community.
Bisbee and Co. also linked Kiehl’s with the Hope and Help Center, a non-profit whose mission is to save lives by treating and preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in Central Florida. Kiehl’s pledged a percentage of all purchases made at its Orlando store in subsequent months, and a check was presented during the event with charity leadership in attendance. Hope & Help added further awareness-building by communicating to its constituents through E-blasts and social media posts.
Results: Bisbee and Company generated significant publicity results and social media buzz for Kiehl’s, with more than 30 high-profile, positive placements in traditional and social media, including FOX 35, Orlando Sentinel, Orlando Business Journal, WHERE Orlando and Orlando Magazine; and helped the newcomer establish valuable relationships with local media, bloggers and community leaders. Kiehl’s reported a smashing grand opening week and holiday season that exceeded its sales projections.
Meet, Eat and Tweet! Blogger Event
Events | Social Media Engagement
Bisbee and Company is building the Orlando Home Show’s social media program on the local level to engage with exhibitors and consumers and drive sales. While the firm had previously worked with bloggers in the past through ticket giveaways and onsite visits during the show, we sought a way to engage with them in advance to drive more online buzz.
We conducted a “Meet, Eat and Tweet” tasting and exclusive pre-show party, attended by 15 leading food and lifestyle bloggers at Marlow’s Tavern Restaurant 10 days prior to the home show. Bloggers mingled with Emily Ellyn (known for her appearances on The Food Network’s “Next Food Network Star” and “Cupcake Wars”) and met with chefs and fellow foodies, as well as sampled tastes to come on the Orlando Home Show’s cooking stage.
Results: The meetup generated blog posts and hundreds of tweets combined in just five days reaching more than 20,000 online fans and followers. The meetup contributed to significantly increasing online engagement for the home show and contributed to an increase in online sales.
We’ve achieved many objectives and project successes with Jennifer Bisbee’s PR efforts and results. She continuously rocks it! Working with Bisbee and Co. has allowed our shows to build and grow with each cycle. Jennifer’s energy and passion are surpassed only by her wealth of ideas – in both show content and PR outreach, keeping us relevant to traditional and social media.”
Shelly Gepfert, Marketing Director, U.S., Marketplace Events
Building New Audiences for a Treasured Family Tradition:
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey®
Consumer Products and Services | Events | Social Media Engagement
Feld Entertainment hired Bisbee and Company in 2008 to develop and execute a proactive PR campaign to reintroduce the brand to the Central Florida market and drive attendance to its shows. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is a treasured family tradition; however, with no locally-based PR professional, the brand was receiving only modest “over the transom” news coverage and consumer awareness levels had fallen.
Results: Bisbee and Co.’s media relations and community relations program, which integrated with Feld’s paid ad/promotional schedule, resulted in more than 70 placements in print, broadcast and online media – compared to approx. 15 hits in the previous year – and established relationships with 150 news media outlets and more than 10 new community partners, including Second Harvest Food Bank, Orange County Public Schools and Florida Hospital. Bisbee and Company continues its work as Feld’s Orlando partner, providing media relations, community relations and blogger engagement services for Ringling Bros. and other brands, including Disney On Ice, Nuclear Cowboyz® and Monster Jam®.
“Bisbee and Company has consistently exceeded our expectations with communications programs that build brand awareness and market share for our numerous live touring family entertainment experiences. Jennifer is one of the most creative, dedicated and energetic PR professionals with whom we work nationwide. Her small but mighty team accomplishes more in a week than do larger agencies in a month. Simply put, Jennifer delivers.”
— Melinda Hartline, Director, Communications Event Marketing & Sales, South Region, Feld Entertainment, Inc.
What Central Florida Residents Crave:
CRAVE Orlando
Consumer Products and Services | Events | Social Media Engagement
CRAVE, one of the fastest growing restaurant concepts in Minneapolis, debuted its award-winning food and vibrant atmosphere to Orlando in 2010. The Orlando restaurant marked the company’s first location outside of its hometown, and CRAVE leadership tapped Bisbee and Company as its Orlando PR partner. Scope of service included development of a targeted community opinion leader list for the VIP party; identification of promotional partners and leveraged ad buys, full-court publicity into food, beverage, entertainment and tourism/hospitality media outlets, celebrity coverage and social media.
Results: Working in collaboration with her client, Bisbee generated more than 40 media hits from television, print and online media outlets for a total of more than 136 million impressions and an advertising value of nearly than $5.5 million.
“Bisbee and Company has been an extremely effective partner for CRAVE in the Florida market. They were instrumental in the communications surrounding our Orlando location opening, and have been integral in helping us establish the CRAVE brand in that market. Jennifer and her team are creative, fun, and dynamic, and most importantly, they get results. I would highly recommend working with Bisbee and Company to anyone with PR, communications and strategic social needs.”
Zach Sussman, Marketing Director, CRAVE
Ready. Set. Bowl. Introducing a Classy Bowling Joint to Orlando
KINGS Bowl Orlando
Consumer Products and Services | Events | Social Media Engagement
KINGS Bowl, the Boston-based, dining, bowling and entertainment venue that pioneered the upscale bowling revolution in 2003, opened its first Florida location in April 2013 in the I-Drive 360 project on International Drive in Orlando. KINGS hired Bisbee and Company to develop and execute a grand opening public relations and constituent relations campaign to introduce its first-class, memorable dining, bowling and entertainment experience to the Central Florida market; build brand recognition and drive traffic among target audiences; and establish valuable, long-lasting relationships with local opinion leaders and influencers.
The PR campaign focused on traditional media and blogger relations to generate multi-dimensional editorial coverage with diverse story angles, expert positioning and multi-media assets. Preview events for media and bloggers, including pre-construction tours and tastings, were instrumental to the program. The Bisbee team also provided valuable linkages to community contacts that could drive immediate traffic upon opening.
Results: The KINGS/Bisbee and Co. partnership generated more than 125 positive print, online and broadcast placements and millions of impressions in just 90 days, plus significant social media buzz driving additional constituent engagement. Bisbee and Co. helped to establish valuable relationships for KINGS among Central Florida news media, bloggers and community influencers.
“Bisbee and Company hit a strike for KINGS Bowl Orlando! Jennifer and her merry band of hard-working PR professionals are on top of their game. Their PR campaign for our Central Florida location launch put us on top of our game, too. I highly recommend Bisbee and Company for your next launch effort.”
Doug Warner, Director of Marketing & Business Development, KINGS Bowl America, LLC