Public Relations Writing Portfolio

+ Maggie Hallam 1111 Ashland Rd, Apt 100 Columbia, MO 65201 Phone: 314-412-2176 E-Mail: mhallam08@gmail.com

Public Relations Writing Portfolio Maggie Hallam December 2014

+ PR Writing Portfolio Maggie Hallam

Table of Contents Resume Key Messages Memo Lede/Nut Graf Biography News Release Direct Mail Letter Pitch Letter Speech Introduction Feature Story

Maggie Hallam Local: 1111 Ashland Road, Apartment 100  Columbia, Missouri 65201 Permanent: 3424 Haas Avenue  Bridgeton, Missouri 63044 Phone: 314-412-2176  E-Mail: mhallam08@gmail.com

MH

Work Experience GROUP360 Worldwide, St. Louis, Missouri Social Media Intern • •

University of Missouri Residential Life, Columbia, Missouri Desk Attendant • •

May 2014 – August 2014

Collaborated with multidisciplinary intern team to develop and pitch national campaign for Natural Light based on new strategic direction for the brand; responsible for creating social media tactics for campaign.

Assisted with social media management for various Tracker Marine Group and Anheuser-Busch InBev brands.

August 2012 – Present

Assisted residents, parents, guests and MU employees with questions, concerns and procedures.

Managed all paperwork and building operations, including mail distribution, equipment checkout and key management.

Activities & Leadership University of Missouri Honors College Ambassador

January 2013 – Present

• •

Recruited future potential Honors College students via phone calls, emails, one-on-one meetings and fairs.

Served as a student representative of the Honors College.

• •

Collaborated with ambassadors and staff to plan and host events, including a formal and awards ceremony.

Directed group of 30 student ambassadors and interviewed, selected and trained new ambassadors.

Ambassador Tri-Chair

December 2013 – June 2014

Alpha Chi Omega Sorority, Alpha Nu Chapter Webmaster

September 2013 – December 2014

• •

Spearheaded revamping of chapter website and social media sites based on new strategized communication plan.

Managed chapter’s Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and website, which saw continuous growth in followers/Fans.

• •

Led recruitment team in executing a strategized formal recruitment plan for chapter members.

Strengthened Alpha Nu’s overall recruitment process by maximizing efficiency and resolving problems as they arose.

Collegiate Recruitment Information Board

January 2013 – December 2014

Blogging Committee

January 2013 – Present

Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol (GAMMA) Steering Committee Member (On Campus Relations Committee) • •

February 2014 – Present

Responsible for promoting GAMMA events and programs and communicating with Greek chapters on campus.

Served as role model to peers and encouraged responsible management of alcohol in a realistic manner.

College Gloss Mizzou Online Magazine Social Media/Marketing Contributor Content Editor

January 2013 – December 2013 June 2013 – August 2013

Education

Honors & Awards

Volunteer Experience

Bachelor of Journalism Emphasis in Strategic Communication University of Missouri Missouri School of Journalism Expected Graduation Date: May 2015 Cumulative GPA: 3.9 / 4.0 Minor in Business Honors Certificate

School of Journalism Dean’s List 6 out of 6 semesters Excellence Award 4 out of 4 semesters Robert P. Knight Memorial Scholarship Golden Key Scholarship Union Plus Scholarship Desk Attendant of the Month

Relay For Life Team Captain – Spring 2014 Dance Marathon – Spring 2014 STRIPES Safe Ride Program – Spring 2013 Habitat for Humanity – March 2013

+ Key Messages Memo

The assignment: In 2009, the Center for Science in the Public Interest issued a news release stating that it had joined a class-action lawsuit against Coca-Cola. The lawsuit asserted that the labeling of glaceau vitaminwater, a Coca-Cola product, was fraudulent. Coca-Cola then issued a statement to rebuke the charges.

As a representative of Coca-Cola, your job is to develop key messages to support your product line and the labeling of vitaminwater products. Submit a memo to your boss outlining the three most important key messages that Coca-Cola should communicate to the public in order to win the fight for public opinion. Be sure to support each key message with a rationale based on known facts or value statements.

What I learned: • Companies and organizations must strive to communicate messages with a unified and positive voice, and developing key messages can help accomplish this goal.

• Key messages will be repeated and will likely become well-known facts regarding your organization, so it’s important that they reinforce the company’s mission and strategies.

• Each key message should be supported with facts, which should use simple, straightforward language.

•

In order to successfully develop key messages, you must first understand your audience and how to best write to them.

TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT:

Roseanne M. Hatfield, Director of Public Affairs Maggie Hallam, Public Relations Information Specialist Sept. 15, 2014 Coca-Cola key messages for glacéau vitaminwater®

As you know, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has joined a class-action lawsuit accusing Coca-Cola of fraudulent labeling on glacéau vitaminwater®. In light of this lawsuit, it is necessary that we develop key messages to communicate to the public in order to ensure a favorable public opinion of the corporation and of the vitaminwater brand. Below are the three most important key messages for Coca-Cola to communicate regarding vitaminwater and its labeling in order to win the fight for public opinion.

1. Every bottle of vitaminwater contains a nutrition facts panel that is clear, accurate and readily seen. a. The calorie content is clearly displayed on the product label. For example, vitaminwater zero products contain zero calories per bottle and regular vitaminwater products contain 120 calories per bottle. This information is featured prominently on the front of the bottle right next to the name. b. The ingredients list that is located on the label indicates what is in the beverage and what is not. c. The nutrition facts label outlines the essential vitamins that are included in each bottle of vitaminwater.

2. The criticism that vitaminwater is an unhealthy beverage is unsubstantiated. a. Vitaminwater is a hydrating beverage. b. Vitaminwater contains water and essential vitamins. The essential vitamins included vary based on the beverage flavor. c. Vitaminwater zero products, which contain zero calories, are available for consumers who desire the great taste of vitaminwater but with fewer calories.

3. Coca-Cola does not try to conceal the contents of the beverage or mislead consumers.

Rather, the labeling makes it easy for consumers to understand vitaminwater’s nutrition content. a. Information such as “contains less than 1% fruit juice” and “flavored” is printed on the packaging, indicating that the beverage is not composed solely of vitamins and water. b. This information also tells consumers that vitaminwater is not intended to be a replacement for all-natural fruit juice products.

Communicating these three key messages to the public will aid in refuting the accusations made in the lawsuit and will help Coca-Cola remain favorable among the public, despite CSPI’s claims.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please let me know.

+ Lede/Nut Graf

The assignment: As an information specialist for a rehabilitation hospital, you have been assigned to write a mini feature story for a regular column in the hospital’s monthly employee magazine. The magazine features employees who have done something unusual outside of work, and this issue will feature Betty Sutherland, a physical therapist who ran her first marathon at the age of 50. Because it is such a large hospital and departments tend to stay separated, one of your goals is to introduce Betty to other staff members on a more personal level.

First, develop interview questions and conduct an interview with Betty in order to gather any information you will need to tell Betty’s story. After completing the interview, you will write a lede and nut graf for the mini feature. However, you will not write the entire story. The goal instead is to imagine where you would take the story if writing it in its entirety and to stimulate the reader’s desire to read more.

What I learned: • The lede determines whether readers will continue reading your article, therefore it is vital that you use the lede to get readers engaged and interested.

• Identifying and developing a consistent theme for your story provides direction for both the writer and the reader.

Just weeks after turning 50, Betty Sutherland crossed “running a marathon” off of her bucket list.

For 18 weeks, she had trained for the MO’ Cowbell Marathon in St. Charles, Missouri, and on Oct. 6, 2013, she finally tasted sweet victory.

Completing the 26.2 mile race gave Sutherland a new appreciation for her day-to-day work as a physical therapist at Rehabilitation Health. Every day, she works with the human body, challenges her patients to get out of their comfort zone and reminds them that crossing their finish line will be worth the temporary pain. It wasn’t until she completed her marathon, though, that she fully understood what it was like to face a physical challenge that seems daunting.

As Sutherland has found from work and race training, motivation comes in many forms. Every patient is different, and it’s part of her job to understand those differences in order to find the best form of motivation for each patient. Throughout Sutherland’s long and often difficult training process, she found that her own motivation came from God. She sees the mental and spiritual aspects of running as closely tied together, and she found comfort in knowing she wasn’t alone — during training or on race day. “[God] and I did that together,” Sutherland said.

+ Biography

The assignment: Using the given information, write a short biography of Kevin Burkum, a senior food and agriculture executive, for a conference program.

What I learned: • Although biographies are typically short, it is still important to tell a compelling, engaging and cohesive story about the subject. Bios should not simply be a list of facts.

• When writing a bio, you will likely gather a lot of information on the subject, but you must sort through it all to pick out only the most relevant information.

Kevin Burkum, senior vice president for the American Egg Board, is a talented and passionate marketer with a history of delivering quantifiable results in the dairy and egg industries throughout his 25-year career.

In his current role, Burkum has been responsible for overseeing marketing efforts for classic programs such as the Incredible Edible Egg, spearheading a new social responsibility campaign, and arranging partnerships with Sesame Street, Rachael Ray, Feeding America, Scholastic and Discovery Education. These various projects have a common thread of improving consumer education and perception, and together they have resulted in an increase in egg demand.

Before joining the American Egg Board, Burkum held senior level positions for several companies. Most notably, he served as senior vice president for the American Dairy Association, where he led a $55 million integrated marketing campaign that led to an increase in overall U.S. dairy consumption. He also pioneered the “3-A-Day of Dairy” campaign, worked with Nabisco Oreo to coordinate one of the most successful milk promotions ever, and oversaw sports marketing sponsorships with the NFL and NASCAR. Similarly, while working for IGA Supermarkets, Burkum directed efforts for Coca-Cola’s Olympic sponsorship of the U.S. women’s softball team — an effort that resulted in Coca-Cola’s largest ever Olympic-themed promotion with a single retailer.

Burkum graduated summa cum laude from Marquette University in 1989, earning a bachelor’s degree with majors in journalism and marketing. He was also college valedictorian and commencement speaker.

Burkum is married to Karen Bennett, and together they have three children: Luke, Toby and Andy. The family lives in Park Ridge, Illinois, where Burkum spends his free time running marathons and cheering on his favorite team, the Green Bay Packers.

+ News Release

The assignment: Using the given background information, write a short news release announcing the hiring of a new women’s basketball coach at Metro College. The news release will be sent to the Metropolis Evening Sun, a daily newspaper in Metropolis, Illinois, where Metro College is located.

What I learned: • Research and interviews can often yield irrelevant or inappropriate information. As a PR

practitioner, it is your job to judge what should and should not be included and to keep the news release focused and purposeful.

• Journalists receive tons of news releases, so it’s important to make sure your release is timely, relevant and newsworthy.

• The news release serves as a go-to source of information for journalists when writing their own stories, meaning it is crucial for the release to be credible and complete.

May 8, 2014

Contact: Maggie Hallam Information Specialist mmhgg3@mail.missouri.edu (314) 412-2176

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

METRO COLLEGE HIRES LUCINDA SMART AS NEW HEAD WOMEN’S BASKETBALL COACH METROPOLIS, Ill.—On Tuesday, Metro College hired Lucinda Smart as its new head women’s basketball coach, effective immediately.

Smart has a successful basketball history, both as a coach and player. She served two years as assistant basketball coach at College of the Hills in Forest Ridge, Pennsylvania, while earning her master’s degree in sports management. While there, she helped bring the team to two national championships.

Additionally, she played center on the women’s basketball team at Loyola University of Chicago for three years. As captain, she led her team to two consecutive national championship titles.

“We feel fortunate to be able to secure a person who is so highly qualified to lead our outstanding women’s basketball team,” Metro College Athletic Director Luke Hammer said. “We expect great things from Lucinda Smart.”

The Metro College search committee, chaired by Hammer, received and screened a total of 110 applications. The committee invited five of the applicants to the college for interviews and eventually offered the position to Smart.

The NCAA Division III women’s team at Metro College has been nationally ranked for the past 10 years, and it has also participated in four national tournaments. The team reached the -more-

semifinals twice and won the national title in 2013.

“We are proud of the success our women’s basketball team has shown in the past decade, and we are eager for that success to continue under Smart’s leadership,” Hammer said.

Smart is replacing Felice Shofar, previous head women’s basketball coach, who resigned her position at the end of the 2013-2014 season. Shofar has returned to her alma mater, the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, to serve as the head coach of its NCAA Division I women’s basketball team.

“Metro College will always hold a special place in my heart,” Shofar said. “I wish Coach Smart and the rest of the team nothing but the best.”

For additional information, please contact Maggie Hallam or visit www.metrocollege.com/womensbasketball.

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+ Direct Mail Letter

The assignment: The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri, located in Columbia, is “a centralized food collection and distribution facility that provides food and household products to agencies serving people in need.” The Food Bank serves 32 counties in central and northeastern Missouri, and it also has several specialized programs designed to provide food for people who need it. One of these programs is the Buddy Packs Program, which provides kid-friendly, nutritious food for local students in need.

For this assignment, write a letter asking for monetary donations to support the Buddy Packs Program. The letter will be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service to people who have supported The Food Bank in the past, either by volunteering or donating money, and a reply card and return envelope will be included with the letter.

What I learned: • Direct mail is unique in that you use it to make a direct appeal to get a direct response.

What you’re asking the audience to do should be completely transparent.

• To increase your chances of getting a response, you should clearly explain the problem

and how your product or organization is the solution, and then clearly ask for the sale or donation. If readers are confused, they likely will not respond or act how you want them to.

• One of the biggest challenges of direct mail is getting the audience to actually open and read it. To combat this, you should make it personal and relevant, and you should also focus on emotion and/or urgency.

Dear Holly, Meet Josh. Josh is a charming, funny, intelligent young boy in third grade at Fairview Elementary School in Columbia. A happy kid who loves to learn and play soccer at recess with his buddies, Josh is one of 56,000 students in The Food Bank’s service area who qualifies for free and reduced-priced school meals. This means that although he is well-fed while at school, he is often at risk of hunger at home on evenings and weekends. He, along with thousands of other local students, doesn’t know if or when he will receive his next meal outside of school, and he needs your help.

To keep children like Josh happy and healthy, The Food Bank partners with local elementary schools to provide Buddy Packs — backpacks filled with nutritious food — for school children to bring home on weekends and holiday breaks. When they return to school, the children bring their empty Buddy Packs back to be refilled by volunteers for the following weekend.

Last year, the Buddy Packs program helped feed more than 6,800 children each week of the school year. This year, we want to feed even more — and we need your help.

As a past supporter of The Food Bank, would you be willing to make a monetary donation to the Buddy Packs Program to help ensure our local students are well-fed? You can make a onetime donation of your choosing, or you can sponsor a child like Josh through our Adopt A Buddy program. For $15 a month, you can provide him with a backpack full of food for an entire school year.

Thank you for considering this urgent need for our local children. For just $15 a month or a one-time donation of your choosing, you can help these kids receive the proper nutrition they

need to grow their bodies and minds. Your generous gift will keep Josh’s heart and belly happy and smiling throughout the school year, whether at school or at home.

Sincerely, Peggy Kirkpatrick Executive Director, The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri P.S. One out of every five children in The Food Bank’s service area are unsure of where their next meal will come from, but with your help, we can make a difference. Simply fill out the enclosed reply card and return envelope to send your gift today.

+ Pitch Letter

The assignment: After researching and identifying a blogger or reporter to whom to pitch the story, write a short pitch letter to convince her to write a news story about Prion Computers’ new summer laptops, which will be unveiled at Macy’s Herald Square tomorrow. In your letter, be sure to show the blogger how the Prion Carryall Colors laptops you are pitching are relevant to her readers.

You will be pitching to Lynsey, a “20-something designer, web developer, blogger [and] shop owner” with an interest in technology and a love for reviewing products on her blog, Coffee For Mom (http://coffeeformom.com/). She keeps up with current trends, and many of her posts are related to product reviews and/or product giveaways. Coffee For Mom was ranked No. 10 overall

by Top Mommy Blog, a website that ranks and rates mommy blogs.

What I learned: •

When writing a pitch letter, it is crucial to research the reporter or blogger to which you are pitching. To get reporters or bloggers to cover a story, you must make your product or story worthwhile and relevant to their audience.

•

You must effectively tell a story in your pitch letter to keep the reporter or blogger interested and engaged.

•

Journalists don’t have a lot of time to sift through hundreds of pitch letters, so beat the competition by grabbing attention with the headline and being specific. Then, be straightforward and to the point in your pitch letter.

Email subject: Peace of mind for busy moms Hi Lynsey: Given your exclusive focus on lifestyle and product reviews for moms, I wanted to let you know that Prion Computers will be unveiling its new line of Prion Carryall Colors laptops tomorrow at Macy’s Herald Square at 5 p.m.

I get by with a little help from my friends: New PCs offer peace of mind for busy moms Picture this: It’s Saturday morning, and you’re at your daughter’s soccer game. As you’re watching the 5-year-olds clump together on the field, you remember you forgot to order a cake for your son’s birthday party next week. If you don’t order the cake by noon, it won’t be ready in time. Just before you begin to panic, you pull out your Prion Carryall Colors laptop, turn on your mobile broadband and browse through the local bakery’s cake photos in a high definition widescreen display. After finding the perfect superhero-themed cake, you place your order, thus beating the deadline thanks to your Prion Carryall Colors laptop.

Prion Carryall Colors laptops are perfect for the practical, on-the-go consumer, such as busy moms. The laptops are complete with only the best and latest technology, including mobile broadband. With built-in wireless Internet access, you can bring productivity with you wherever you go — from day care to the coffee shop and everywhere in between.

For peace of mind, the new outside cases and keyboards are water resistant, and the laptops come with special cloth towels for easy cleanup. In other words, if your adorable and hard-tostay-mad-at toddler spills his milk on your laptop, you don’t have to fret. Knowing that accidents happen, Prion Carryall Colors laptops were designed with the consumer in mind.

From technology to beauty to entertainment, your devoted online following depends on your product reviews for help in choosing the best products and brands for use in their everyday lives.

We’re hoping you can share Prion Carryall Colors laptops with your community. We’d love for you to review the product, and we’d be more than happy to send you a new laptop in the color of your choice. Please let me know if you have any questions. I’d be happy to put you in touch with Sarah Sweeney, information specialist, if interested.

Thanks, Maggie Hallam On behalf of Prion Computers Maggie.hallam@prion.com 314-412-2176

+ Speech Introduction

The assignment: Dan Pierce, a Missouri Journalism School alumnus, will be visiting the MU campus to speak to a public relations writing class about his experiences in corporate PR. He will be speaking to an audience of about 25 students, most of which are seniors, and 2 professors at 11 a.m. For this assignment, write a brief introduction for Pierce using the background information you have gathered. Be sure to engage the audience and prepare them for the speaker, stating the topic and its importance as well as establishing the speaker’s credibility.

What I learned: • When introducing a speaker, it is essential that you explain why the speaker is relevant to the audience. Without establishing the speaker’s importance, the audience may not listen or be engaged.

• You have limited time to set the stage for a speech, so provide context for the audience but also pique their curiosity.

• Use short, simple declarative sentences and only include information that is relevant to the topic. More detailed and specific information can be explained in a written program.

Today we have the pleasure of hearing from a seasoned PR practitioner who will give you an inside look into the corporate PR world. Like you, he got his start at the Missouri School of Journalism. He credits this exact class as sparking his interest in public relations and ultimately leading him to his career today.

With graduation getting nearer, some of you are probably wondering what exactly you will do with your degree and how you will get there. Today’s speaker will explain how working in the PR industry has allowed him to follow his passions — and it can also allow you to follow yours. He will give you invaluable knowledge regarding the real world, including a discussion on interview tips, resume dos and don’ts and general career advice.

Since he began his career in the public relations industry 15 years ago, he has worked at Anheuser-Busch, Ford Motor Co. and FleishmanHillard, where he currently serves as a senior vice president. From launching Budweiser in China during the 2008 Olympic Games to developing PR plans to unveil Cadillac’s newest vehicles, his experiences have provided him with firsthand knowledge of the corporate PR world, including its benefits and challenges.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce to you Mr. Dan Pierce.

+ Feature Story

The assignment: Throughout the semester, you will be writing a feature story that profiles Dan Pierce, a Missouri School of Journalism graduate who now works as a senior vice president at FleishmanHillard in Detroit. The story will be published on the journalism school’s website as well as the strategic communication website, so it should reflect the ties Pierce has to the school. Part of your assignment will be to develop questions and interview the subject, then write the story, along with headlines, subheads, captions and tweets. You will also be responsible for securing visuals.

What I learned: •

Before conducting an interview, it’s important to be prepared by doing research and developing plenty of questions. You also must actively listen while taking notes in order to recognize when a follow-up question should be asked.

• How to create supplementary material such as headlines, subheads and captions that align with the story’s overall theme to create a cohesive final product.

•

For feature stories especially, you want to be a storyteller and speak to readers in a more conversational and engaging manner rather than a formal one.

•

Identifying a theme for the story helps guide its flow.

Name: Dan Pierce Title: Senior Vice President Company: FleishmanHillard Degrees: BJ ’99, BA ’99 (History) Emphasis: Advertising Whereabouts: Detroit, Michigan, United States HEADLINE: Time at MU School of Journalism Kick Starts Dan Pierce’s 15-year PR Career DECK: Working on Global Brands Allows Pierce to Follow Passions, Takes Him Around the World As a junior in high school, Dan Pierce thought he had the next stage of his life — and maybe even the rest of his life — already figured out. His plan was to go to the Ohio State University, get his degree and eventually become a broadcaster for his favorite baseball team, the Cleveland Indians.

Growing up in Cleveland, going to the Ohio State University would have been a natural choice for Pierce, BJ ’99, BA ’99. Born into a family of diehard Buckeyes fans, he had never considered any other universities. But after attending a summer workshop at the Missouri School of Journalism while he was in high school, Pierce fell in love with MU, and he decided it was the right — and the only — place for him.

Enter life-changing choice No. 1: switching out Ohio State’s scarlet and grey for Mizzou’s black and gold.

Pierce arrived at MU intending to study broadcast journalism, with hopes that the prestigious journalism school would best prepare him to land his dream job as the radio voice for the Cleveland Indians. But in the middle of his junior year, life-changing choice No. 2 redirected his course when he found his true passion: public relations. This realization inspired him to change his emphasis area within the journalism school from broadcast to advertising, a decision he sees as altering his future.

“My decision to go to the University of Missouri is the reason why I am where I am today,” says Pierce, who currently serves as a senior vice president in the Detroit office of FleishmanHillard, a leading global communications firm that specializes in public relations.

He believes without MU’s journalism school, he wouldn’t have been given the same career opportunities, and he may not have found a path to public relations.

“While Mizzou wasn’t the reason I got every single one of the jobs, Mizzou was the reason I got my first job, and my first job was the reason I got my second job,” Pierce says. “So it all kind of fell into place. Who knows where I would have been if I would have chosen to go to Ohio State.”

Sports, Beer and Cars: Every Man’s Dream Working in the public relations industry for 15 years has given Pierce an opportunity to focus on promoting things he is passionate about, which for him includes three things.

“I love sports, I love beer and I love cars,” Pierce says. “Fortunately throughout my career I’ve been able to shape it around things that I love.”

Sports were his first love, so it was only fitting that he began his career in the sports industry.

After graduating from MU, Pierce took a job as an intern in the Cleveland Indians’ advertising and publications department. Keeping alive his childhood aspiration of working for his favorite baseball team, he spent part of the 2000 baseball season at Progressive Field, writing game recaps and news releases.

Pierce continued to follow this passion when he was hired as managing supervisor of marketing communications at FleishmanHillard in Kansas City, Missouri. While there, his primary clients included Visa’s sports sponsorships of the NFL, the Olympic Games and NASCAR, as well as Gatorade Thirst Quencher.

But for Pierce, his favorite project while at FleishmanHillard didn’t come from any of these “big name” clients. As a history buff and passionate sports guy, he found his pro bono work for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City to be the most meaningful and rewarding. By getting stories placed in media, he helped bring attention to the museum and its efforts to honor players of the Negro Leagues, and the news attention then caused an increase in donations to the museum.

“You really felt like you were making a real impact and preserving the legacy of an era of baseball in our country that needed to be preserved,” Pierce says.

An Opportunity Arises When approached by Anheuser-Busch in 2005 with the chance to launch Budweiser in markets all over the world, Pierce jumped at the opportunity. As the company’s director of international communications, Pierce quickly became a self-proclaimed “beer expert.”

In this role, he combined his love for sports with his love for beer, creating and executing public relations plans for Budweiser’s global sports properties, including the 2006 FIFA World Cup, NBA, NHL, and the 2006, 2008 and 2010 Olympic Games.

The 2008 Olympics held in China were particularly memorable for Pierce. Because the Olympics are a global event, the brewing company had the opportunity to build awareness for Budweiser on a global scale. To do so, Pierce’s team threw the biggest, most exclusive parties at “Club Bud,” inviting all of the celebrities and athletes to attend after the games.

Club Bud became a place for celebrating the “spirit of the Olympics,” he says, and made Budweiser a huge part of the social scene in Beijing. The event was a resounding success and a highlight of Pierce’s career.

Completing the Dream Job Trifecta After becoming immersed in the sports and beer industries, Pierce moved on to promoting his third passion — cars.

After spending two years with Ford Motor Company promoting its “green” initiatives and vehicle electrification plan, Pierce’s old firm reached out to him to help establish a new office in Detroit.

Now, back at FleishmanHillard as a senior vice president, Pierce has found his groove in the automotive industry.

Pierce’s position is unique compared to other senior vice president roles at other agencies.

Although he has an office inside FleishmanHillard’s Detroit office, Pierce is truly embedded in General Motors Co. and works on a daily basis from inside the GM Renaissance Center, which is GM’s world headquarters in downtown Detroit.

Pierce spends much of his time leading a team that supports Cadillac’s new vehicle launches, whether they are brand new vehicles being launched for the first time or refreshed models. To identify which parts of the vehicle to talk about with consumers, Pierce spends a lot of time with engineers, designers and marketers, trying to understand all of the nuts and bolts of the car.

Similarly, a perk of his job is bringing home cars for extended periods of time so that he can better understand the vehicle, how it drives, and its technologies and amenities.

But he can’t test the cars until they are unveiled and produced, which is a lengthy process.

Typically, vehicles do not actually arrive on dealer lots for up to a year after being revealed at an auto show. While the vehicle gets a lot of attention at the auto show and when it’s being sold, Pierce’s job is to keep the car in the news throughout the period in between.

Doing that takes some planning. “What we try to do is lay out almost a year’s worth of news stories to talk about the vehicle,” Pierce says.

Constant news coverage helps to maintain conversation among the public, and it also works to give people a reason to hold off on buying a vehicle until the new Cadillac vehicle is available.

Besides launching new vehicles, Pierce’s current job description also includes working with Chevrolet and its sponsorship of Manchester United, an English Premier League soccer team.

Manchester United and Chevrolet have the same key markets when it comes to global growth, so Pierce’s team develops global marketing campaigns to make consumers aware of the sponsorship.

Earlier this year, Pierce helped unveil the new Manchester United-Chevrolet shirt, an extremely important and exciting task because this was the first year the Chevrolet logo was featured on the Manchester United jersey. Pierce led the public relations team, but the launch required help from other departments to make it truly integrated, and Pierce says it was the integration that made it so successful.

Even though the team’s new jersey has been unveiled, Pierce’s work doesn’t stop there. He’s looking forward to traveling to England and Asia in the future to work with local public relations teams to help promote the sponsorship.

“Another nice bonus of working in the PR world is travel can take you really anywhere,” Pierce says. “When you work for a global company, it really opens up the world to you.”

Over the years, Pierce has fallen in love with international travel and has been to various countries around the world, both for work and personally. But as a lifelong U.S. history buff, he has a dream of seeing all 50 states. Currently, he has made it to 48 states and can’t wait to travel to the last two, Idaho and Alaska, very soon.

Being in charge of international communications for FleishmanHillard, however, is not all world travels and car test-driving.

“Working at GM has its challenges, but it’s a really cool brand, and every day that I go to work is different,” Pierce says.

Working with the media is a daily challenge for Pierce because on any given day, he might be completely booked with meetings and tasks, but there could always be that one thing that causes him to abruptly change his schedule. Sometimes, that one thing is a call from a reporter asking for an interview. Other times, it’s an opportunity to launch a new vehicle or host media from around the world at one of GM’s assembly plants. Regardless, the challenge is also part of what makes his job fun.

“I’m always going to keep learning and always hopefully continue to be a better PR practitioner or PR counselor than I was the day before. There’s been a lot of highs and lows in my career dealing with stressful recalls of vehicles or beer,” Pierce says. “But even through those tough days, I’ve come out on the other side having learned a lot, and as a result I can take what I learned yesterday and apply it to today.”

Finding His Way Back Home As Pierce continues to move forward in his career, no matter where he goes or what he does, he will never forget where it all began: MU. He stays tied to his alma mater by actively participating in the Motor City Tigers alumni chapter, maintaining relationships with old professors and guest speaking in various journalism classes on campus.

He has also been a football season ticket holder since the day he enrolled at MU in 1995, and he remains faithful to the Tigers by making the 10-hour drive from Novi, Michigan, to Columbia, Missouri, for every home game. And he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

“I think there’s a saying, and I think Sheryl Crow said it in one of those commercials, which is, ‘while you may leave Mizzou, Mizzou will never leave you,’” Pierce says. “It’s true.”