Strategic planning| Market Research| Media Relations & Media Training| Company & Product Launch
275 Hill Street Suite 250, Reno, Nevada 89501 *(775) 323-2977 * www.abbipr.com
Our Approach The Abbi Public Relations, Inc. (APR) approach revolves around a great brand story – developing the brand story, communicating the brand story and protecting the brand story. We begin each campaign or project with a strategic plan and tactical outline, as we strive to ensure that each campaign contains the following attributes:
Integrated – includes public relations, marketing communications, advertising and activities highly integrated to complement and support one another
Targeted – evaluates concepts and initiatives on their availability to reach target audiences
Focused – supports the company’s business goals and objectives
Measurable – has built-in benchmarks for success
SERVICES AND AREAS OF EXPERTISE Abbi Public Relations (APR) is a full service public relations agency specializing in b2b, b2c, travel & tourism, food & beverage and product launches. The agency maintains an office in Reno but operates on a virtual contractor model hiring top tier public relations professionals from across the nation to work on accounts that best fit their experience, knowledge and areas of expertise. The APR philosophy revolves around what’s best for the client and each account team is customized to address the client’s need and objectives beginning with the writer (most often a journalist) and ending with the account manager. We believe no client is the same and therefore no single account team can address every clients needs. Abbi Public Relations is headed by Abbi Whitaker (bio below). Whitaker served as Vice President of Lyman Public Relations before she created Abbi Public Relations. As VP for Lyman she managed all of their travel and real estate accounts including Mammoth Mountain, The Village at Squaw Valley, MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas, Centex Destination Properties, The Trump Ocean Resort Baja, The Westin Verasa, The Westin Monache, Moody’s Bistro & Lounge, The Related Group, Playground Destination Properties, Intrawest, Punta Dominical, Palmetto Bay Resort, Tranquillo, Kiana Resorts, Artown and The Fairmont Tamarack.
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BIOGRAPHY OF PRINCIPAL Abbi Whitaker Abbi Whitaker has more than a decade of experience in creating and managing public relations programs that are innovative, effective and measurable. Abbi understands the media — how they work, what they’re looking for, and how to craft pitches and story ideas tailored to today’s multiplatform media environment. While vice president of Lyman Public Relations of Napa Valley, Abbi organized more than 15 media tours that brought leading journalists to client locations throughout the United States, Mexico and Central America. Abbi also met one-on-one with leading journalists in London, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas on behalf of Lyman clients. At Lyman, Abbi created and implemented media relations strategies for The Village at Squaw Valley USA, Mammoth Mountain, MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas, The Westin Monache and The Westin Verasa, among many others. These campaigns involved partnerships with commercial tenants at each destination to promote their stores and restaurants, as well as extensive efforts to promote destination-wide events like Brews, Jazz & Funk Fest, Art Bark Festival and Mammoth Life & Wellness Festival. This first-hand knowledge of event, visitor and sponsorship marketing makes Abbi and APR invaluable to clients and potential clients seeking to expand their local, regional and national media presence. For instance, while working with the Tour de Nez cycling race for the past three, APR garnered more than $3 million worth of media coverage in USA Today, CNN.com, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Yahoo.com, ESPN.com and other first-tier media outlets. APR has helped the Big Blue Adventure series become the largest adventure race on the West Coast through repeated coverage in outlets like the New York Times, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Men’s Journal and Oxygen magazine. Odyssey Teams, a company melding corporate social responsibility with team building activities, hired APR to help brand it as the leading team building firm in the United States. Within the first four months of the campaign, Odyssey Teams received more than $500,000 worth of media coverage, including a news wire feature story that ran in more than 40 media outlets nationwide. The company is currently being considered for a segment on the final season of the Oprah Winfrey Show. The media relationships Abbi has cultivated and maintained over the years — especially with travel, lifestyle, business, adventure sports and outdoor journalists — enable her to quick-start public relations programs and to begin generating media coverage within the first month.
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Below is a fuller list of clients for whom Abbi has managed public relations programs or provided substantial media outreach counseling. If the work involved only specific public relations targets as opposed to an overall campaign, those targets are indicated in parentheses. Travel
Kiana Resorts Costa Rica Mammoth Mountain MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas (meetings, travel) Mt. Rose Ski Area National Automobile Museum Ski Lake Tahoe The Village at Squaw Valley (meetings, travel) Westin Monache (meetings, travel, real estate) Westin Verasa (meetings, travel, real estate)
Artown Big Blue Adventure Race Brews, Jazz & Funk Fest CANFEST Jabra-X Jam Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival Raley Field Speed Technologies Subaru Primal Quest Tahoe Arts Festival Tour de Nez
Events
Real Estate
Centex Destination Properties The Chateau at Heavenly Village Fairmont Tamarack ICON Vallarta/The Related Group Limoncito, Costa Rica Palmetto Bay Resort Playground Destination Properties Streamline Tower Tranquillo, Costa Rica Trump Ocean Resort Baja Wildhorse Meadows
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Meetings
Copper Conference Center Odyssey Teams
Food and Beverage
Buckbean Brewing Company Bistro 7 Bison Organic Beer iMetabolic La Toque, Napa Moody’s Bistro & Lounge Obesity Prevention Foundation Rancharrah Tahoe Creamery
Business-to-Business
Ancora West Investment Advisors CSG Direct City of Fallon DiggersList Legends at Sparks Marina Motor Cars of Hollywood Fast Wrap 5050BIZ.com Green Pro Systems Odyssey Teams Torchmate Understand.com ShortstackLabs
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AGENCY TEAM Krystal Tingle Krystal Tingle has been in the media business since graduating in 2004 from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. She began as a news writer for the FOX television affiliate in Miami, then moved to the NBC affiliate in Reno to become a broadcast reporter. One day, Krystal decided to trade her microphone for her cell phone, first as the publicist for the Eldorado Hotel Casino, and now as an account executive for APR. As a former journalist, Krystal both creates media-friendly pitches and has a wealth of media relationships to draw on. In her spare time, Krystal travels, runs marathons, pitches former media colleagues and hits the restaurants. Constance Aguilar Constance Aguilar, a native Nevadan, is the social media and online media specialist at APR, a perfect fit for a techno-savvy twentysomething. Constance specializes in beer industry public relations and athlete and sporting event coverage. This work has taken her to New York City several times for deskside media visits, as well as to events like the Great American Beer Festival and South by Southwest on behalf of APR. Constance has garnered placements in outlets like USA Today, Playboy, San Jose Mercury News, AOL.com, Food & Wine, Beverage World Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle. Constance also conducts social media seminars for Northern Nevada businesses and entrepreneurs. Outside the office, Constance enjoys consuming, creating and commenting on music, camping and desert exploring; she has a soft spot for old Disney movies. Adam Porsborg Adam Porsborg is an account coordinator for APR. Adam oversees client mentions in Wikipedia, a frontier area of public relations practice. He also has worked on local, regional and national media campaigns for DiggerLists.com (home improvement classifieds), the local investment firm Ancora West Advisors, the Tour De Nez cycling race in downtown Reno, the Johnson and Jeffries centennial celebration boxing event, Bistro 7 restaurant and Buckbean Brewing Company. Adam consistently places clients in the first-rank of national media. Patrick Ty Whitaker Ty is the calm center of APR. He is the bridge between clients and the crazy creative types loose in the agency. Ty captures the big picture, keeping abreast of client competitors and developments in client industries. That monitoring allows APR to deliver better, more nuanced and more focused pitches. Â
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REFERENCES & CASE STUDIES References Johnathan Wright Food & Drink Editor Reno Gazette Journal "I have worked for the past seven years with Abbi Public Relations in my capacity as food and drink editor of the Reno Gazette-Journal, taste editor of RENO magazine, and as a key contributor to Gannett Co. Inc.'s national features wire. They are unfailingly professional and responsive; with APR, there are no typical publicist evasions, runaround or canned replies. Nor does APR waste my time with pointless or generic pitches (something journalists detest). If they pitch me, I know it's something worth listening to. As a journalist, I probably shouldn't admit this, but in my time, I've taken a story idea or three from APR."
Kathleen Jay Travel Writer San Francisco Examiner "I have worked with Abbi for several years now -- and she has been my point person for several stories. Filled with creative ideas, she has helped me in countless ways -- whether it is looking for a new story angle, getting accurate information, or following up on details. Abbi's professional style is exactly that -- professional. She understands what journalists need, she is deadline-driven, and she is easy-going and very clear in her communication. And above all, she never comes across as being pushy. More than once -- Abbi has helped me connect with other colleagues in her field -- and I've always used her as a resource for working on stories." Doug Booth Co-Owner Buckbean Brewing Company “We trust what Abbi thinks is best for Buckbean Brewing Company, and she has not steered us wrong. She has so many great connections that have helped Buckbean Brewing Company, that we would not be where are today without her. It is amazing how she will always go the extra mile for Buckbean Brewing Company.” Tim Healion Owner and President Tour de Nez “Working with Abbi is inspiring as being around someone with the passion for their profession really makes you step up to the plate yourself. She really charges into her world with more enthusiasm and spirit than anyone I know. There is such a feel of clarity and on purpose with her interactions and work. I have never known anyone that gets as much done in a day in my 30 years of being in my various businesses.”
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 Mel Shields Sacramento Bee, Reno Tahoe Entertainment Writer "I have been covering Northern Nevada events and entertainment for 37 years. There is little in my profession I more value than professionalism on the part of the public relations firms and people with whom I work. Abbi Public Relations is one of the very best. They are prompt, accommodating, informative, knowledgeable, and efficient. They are also extremely personable, good people to work with all around."
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REFERENCES & CASE STUDIES CONTINUED Client Case Studies
Business 2 Business
Fast Wrap: Fast Wrap launched in early 2008 as the only shrink wrapping franchise in the United States offering mobile shrink wrapping to businesses and individuals. APR realized that the most effective way for Fast Wrap to expand during the current economic downturn was to position them as a business offering services to those affected by the slump and also offering to protect people’s valuable assets from harm. APR launched a campaign focused on “businesses that boom during a recession.” The initial campaign highlighted Fast Wrap’s recent 40% growth spurt, the immediate need for asset protection and the slowdown in the construction industry as the main selling points of this campaign. Realizing the typical “close rate” for franchise leads was 2% APR was tasked with generating quality placements that would boost Fast Wrap’s lead generation to 5%. Fast Wrap’s CEO Mike Enos was immediately featured in the Washington Post Small Business Blog as a “serial entrepreneur” and the company found itself profiled in Fortune Small Business, Forbes, Entrepreneur, MSNBC “Your Business” and American Way Magazine as a “booming” business. The company was also the focus on an Associated Press story that ran in over 40 newspapers nationwide. Fast Wrap is currently being considered for a reality TV show and has grown over 300% over the past year. APR was not only able to help Fast Wrap close an average of 14% of their qualified leads – unheard of in the franchise world.
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Corporate Social Responsibility
Odyssey Teams: Odyssey Teams has always been a leader in corporate team building, but in recent years many “copy cat” companies have adopted similar programs and have tried branding themselves as the industry innovators. Additionally, we’ve seen corporate social responsibility quickly becoming a buzz word with large corporations and Odyssey Teams needed to make sure that they were at the forefront of this trend. APR and OC were brought on to help cement Odyssey Teams as the industry innovators of the renowned “Life Cycles” program and its newly designed “Helping Hand” program. APR and OC started out the campaign by securing bylined articles for the CEO focusing on how corporate social responsibly could be partly achieved through philanthropic team building events. The first team building session that APR and OC promoted for Odyssey Teams resulted in a front page business story in the Sacramento Bee as well as three segments on the local Sacramento TV stations and a story in the Sacramento Business Journal. The Sacramento Bee story was picked up by the newswires and ran in over 30 newspapers nationwide. Within a month Odyssey Teams was getting calls from across the United States about its new Helping Hands program. The agency went on to secure numerous other corporate social responsibility stories in publications such as Entrepreneur Magazine, The Arizona Republic, Smart Meetings, Yahoo! News, FOX 5 San Diego, CW San Antonio, Prevue Magazine, FOX Austin, NBC Atlanta, Meetings West, Corporate Meetings & Incentive Travel and The Meeting Professional.
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Event Marketing
Tour de Nez: The Tour de Nez is a 17-year-old bicycle race taking place in Reno, Nevada and Truckee and Lake Tahoe, California. APR began managing the public relations for the race the first year it was awarded points on the National Racing Calendar. Realizing that the Tour de Nez was one of the only bike races that embraced the lighter side of cycling, APR decided to brand the race as the West Coast premier “Celebration of all things Cycling.” The team took the approach that there were enough bike races and they were just that – bike races, but that spectators, riders and cycling enthusiasts were looking for much more than your typical bike race. They wanted bells, whistles and a party type atmosphere. APR immediately began promoting the event for its festivities, while also ramping up efforts within the cycling world to let riders know that this was no normal “sano” bike race. The Associated Press quickly picked up on the Tour de Nez story and the race found itself on CNN.com, MSNBC.com, and Forbes.com and on the cover of the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle and over 40 other newspapers throughout the US. That year the Wall Street Journal singled out five top races in the United States and the Tour de Nez was one of those. The San Francisco Chronicle sports section dubbed the festival an “A list cycling event” and within two years The Tour de Nez was able to nab a title sponsor and grow from two days to over five days of cycling merriment.
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Beverage/Product Launch
Buckbean Brewing Company: Buckbean Brewing Company launched in April 2008 in Reno, Nevada. The company is the largest production (meaning its beer is bottled or canned) brewery in Nevada and the first in the Reno area. Instead of using bottles to package its craft beer the owners of Buckbean decided to use 16 ounce environmentally friendly cans. Buckbean Brewing Company hired APR to launch its product and also to help the company overcome the negative stigma associated with canned beer. Realizing the trend of canned craft beer Abbi PR developed a campaign and placed Buckbean as an industry leader within this trend and helped them create the popular CANFEST event – the only canned beer competition in the world resulting in numerous top tier media placements such as The Los Angeles Times, Draft Magazine, Food & Wine and The San Francisco Chronicle. APR also created an aggressive blog campaign continually sending out beer to over 100’s of beer bloggers resulting in continued industry coverage. APR also created the “Where have you been with your Buckbean” contest encouraging fans to send pictures of all the outdoor adventure places they took their canned beer – places that bottles couldn’t go. This resulted in pictures from all over the world including the Great Wall of China and a sense of pride and ownership for Reno’s first production microbrewery. Buckbean was also awarded three and a half bunnies out of four by Playboy.com as well as being featured in Bon Appetite “Best of” issue as one of America’s top 10 artisanal craft beers and an A rating from Draft Magazine.
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Please contact Abbi or Ty for additional Information Ms. Abbi Whitaker Abbi Public Relations Mr, Ty Whitaker Abbi Public Relations 275 Hill Street, Suite 250 Reno, Nevada 89501 Office: (775) 323-2977 Mobile: (775) 722-2254 abbi@abbipr.com ty@abbipr.com www.abbipr.com
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