Making Public Relations Accountable

Marketing campaigns that advance clients’ business plan objectives.

  • Smith Public Relations was brought in to help a technology company develop a new strategic public relations and marketing campaign to increase the sales of its learn-to-play piano. The agency advocated for redirecting the packaging and advertising “theme” from technology to learn-to-play (a lifelong dream), and working with a small town, promised that every child between 8-14 could learn to play the piano within 30 days. With Grammy award-winning artist Herbie Hancock serving as our spokesperson, the technology company was able to sell-out its inventory and migrate the product to new hardware platforms. Within 18 months, the company was acquired by a British holding company for more than $400 million. The CEO credited Smith Public Relations’ public relations and marketing campaign as a pivotal point in helping to turn the company around.
  • The agency created a nationwide marketing campaign for an international athletic shoe company to highlight the shoes’ attributes in the boating marketplace. The campaign dramatically demonstrated the water displacement superiority of our client’s product through a side-by-side comparison with the dominant brand viewed through Plexiglas shooting the soles of both shoes. The cumulative campaign led to double digit sales growth for the next three years and increased distribution at two national retailers in the first year.
  • Smith Public Relations introduced two consecutive number one products for a new toy company against better known companies. The outreach was so successful that the agency was followed by “NBC Nightly News,” featured in Harvard Business Review and honored by Advertising Age as one of the top marketing and PR campaigns of those two years.

Contact Us

14415 Benefit Street, Suite 202 Sherman Oaks, CA. 91423

Phone: 310.849-5573

Fax: 818.849-5696

Web: www.smithpr.com

Testimonials

Articulating the broad-based philosophy and passion of the founders of a truly revered product requires a skill set that is much more strategic and complex than a traditional marketing campaign. Steve Smith and his team were selected to craft and implement just such a program for Cakebread Cellars which would persuasively convey the family’s commitment to community, education and the joy of wine and food. The quality and demand for their premium wine was the foundation for communicating the Cakebread’s ideals and values to a high end audience through a flow of ‘backend’ stories by top-tier media and through proprietary events. This included the American Harvest Workshop, which brings together leading chefs and journalists and Cakebread U, which provides a three-day educational program for students from leading universities about the world of wine. The agency focused on the most powerful non-wine press continuing to build on brand cache and the vision of the founders. There aren’t many agencies that get it but Smith PR does.
Cathleen Burke Visscher, Founder, Wine Works & Co., Former senior vice president and director of corporate development at Kobrand Corp., a leading high end wine and spirits company with interests in California, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and more
We brought Steve onboard to help us define our position in the marketplace and provide a marketing strategy to take us to the next level. He performed a comprehensive audit of our senior staff, board members and other key parties to provide a positioning for our business model, searched for a branding agency overseeing all elements of the RFP, and conducted an advertising agency resource review with equal skill and professionalism. He handled these challenging tasks with enthusiasm and efficiency that made our senior staff’s time effective throughout this process. Following the completion of the branding and advertising searches, Steve supervised a number of other marketing programs including a public relations outreach which resulted in highly positive exposure in USA Today, CNNRadio, ABC television, CBS Marketwatch and many more placements for our new brand. He has become an important part of our team and I would recommend him without reservation as a professional who is a quick study, able to drive a marketing campaign to successful goals and is focused on providing tangible ROI for his clients.
Gary Brahm, Chancellor & CEO, Brandman University, part of the Chapman University System, Former EVP & COO, Chapman University