 By Erin Zaranec How do you rebrand a traditional company that is nearly 40 years old and markets to females age 8 to age 80? For Vera Bradley, this started with one simple question for the company’s target audience - why #ItsGoodToBeAGirl. Holly Wager, a public relations and product placement representative for Vera Bradley, hosted the Why It’s Good To Be a Girl session at National Conference, giving 240 student attendees insights on the iconic company’s rebranding efforts. “It’s been an evolution, not a revolution,” Wager said of the company’s #itsgoodtobeagirl campaign. Launched in August 2016, the campaign encourages Vera Bradley’s fans and customers to share reasons for loving and embracing femininity - which the company believes is a superpower. During the session, audience members across the gender spectrum proudly shared their reasons about why #itsgoodtobeagirl. “I think it’s really kick-ass that women are responsible for carrying and creating all human life on the planet!” “As a female, I get to defy expectations and break barriers for my gender.” “Gender doesn’t equate with the ability to slay.” “It’s good to be a girl because I love my mother and she is the foundation of my family.” The audience laughed, clapped and cheered as reasons rang out loud and proud - one of the most powerful effects of the campaign. “We at Vera Bradley… we say that femininity is not dead and, in fact, it’s a super power,” Wagner said. “We are celebrating everyday reasons why it’s good to be a girl.” The campaign did more than just create a catchy hashtag, it started a new era for the classic brand. Vera Bradley’s rebrand, created by Redscout, had three key goals: to ignite a social movement, inspire creative energy and increase brand visibility. The company opened the first Vera Bradley showroom in New York, opening a SoHo location that creates an exclusive shopping experience that isn’t open to the general public. By partnering with key influencers and hosting a VIP opening event, the company garnered media coverage across print and web platforms, bringing new visibility to the brand. Vera Bradley has transformed from a handbag company to a lifestyle brand. To combat the challenge of marketing to such a large audience, the brand created Amanda: The Day Maker. This persona is your typical joiner - she loves to be busy and takes on any challenge life throws at her, she’s the hostess of the party and is making sure everyone feels comfortable and everything flows smoothly. Amanda represents the girl that Vera Bradley previous lost after college because they struggled to transition the brand into their career and professional life. Vera Bradley’s leather line and other new brand initiatives create “beautiful solutions” to the busy girl’s life and is timeless and classic for any age. To supplement the campaign, the company created an online hub featuring multimedia content that spreads the message of femininity being a super power. Users can go on the website and share their reasons for why #itsgoodtobeagirl, sharing product photos or plain text. Overall, the campaign is still going strong today with strong female partners like blogger Amber Fillerup, actress and professional dancer Julianne Hough and singer Kelsea Ballerini. More than 225 million impressions have been generated online as a result of the campaign. Another reason #itsgoodtobeagirl? Free product at National Conference sessions! All student attendees at the session received a free Vera Bradley makeup bag and everyone received Vera Bradley lanyards at conference check-in. Erin Zaranec is a senior public relations major and is PRSSA Kent's president. Contact her at [email protected].
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 By Francesca Barrett Everyone in the public relations world might know how to pitch a project, but does anyone really understand why we should? Why having the perfect pitch is quintessential for a PR specialist? At the 2016 PRSSA National Convention, Brandon Scott spoke about his experience in the health field with a pitch’s powerful use. Scott is the Digital and Brand Strategist for Ten Adams in the healthcare field focused in Evansville, Indiana. At the PRSSA National Conference, Scott spoke on three topics for how to successfully execute a pitch for the best success. Scott started off with the point that the structure of the pitch is the “ask” and that begins to set the terms for agreed success. Scott states, “When you make that first pitch, you beginning a relationship and a partnership.” Scott spoke about how a pitch usually fails because they don’t answer the right questions. Scott breaks down his speech in three questions for a perfect pitch:
In all three of his questions, Scott uses the pronoun “we”. He explains that by using that simple word you understand your own skill set and what you can bring to the table. Also, by conveying the use of mutual respect of time, energy and work, you show how you can bring success to the forefront of their company. Scott defines reaching success in a pitch is, “Opportunity to succeed regardless of any hurdles that have come in your way.” Brandon Scott concludes by saying that through a strong pitch and answering those questions, we can be a strong generation of leaders. With this simple breakdown and uplifting session, Brandon Scott defines the perfect pitch and teaches the next generation of leaders to connect, collaborate and contribute to create our own successful future in public relations. Francesca Barrett is a freshman public relations major at Kent State. Contact her at [email protected].   By Brittney Prather
Listen up my fellow fashionista’s, if you’re interested in fashion writing and fashion PR, you’re going to want to tune in! Lifestyle writer Leslie Bailey from Indianapolis Monthly Magazine came in and gave a great presentation on how to get your foot in the door and how to eventually take your seat. Previously, Bailey was a Things to Do reporter and applications editor at the Indianapolis Star as well as various other past careers. Currently she oversees the “Good Life” section for Indianapolis Monthly. The section that she covers includes fashion, fitness, food, home, health and other related topics. Her advice to young professionals is to say YES to everything! When saying this, she doesn’t mean to not be smart about your decisions, but rather to be geared towards trying new things. For her, this entailed radio internships, blogging for Indy.com, speaking to college classes, TV appearances, cocktail contests, fashion show judging, charity events, and personal appearances. Although none of these are the same, they all fall under what she called her “personal brand”. With hard work and persistence, she believes that you will eventually get your big break and that once you get it, you need to make sure you know what to do with it. Bailey spoke not only about her past career and trying new things, but also discussed how difficult it is to remember that your job is always going to be there and to not be afraid to take time off or, in her instance, do freelance. Freelance is such a big part of her life and has actually turned into her career. Due to personal issues with her family, she decided to take time off and focus on her personal life as well as adding to her “brand” as mentioned earlier. Freelance is so different from any other career because, for the most part, you are in control of your career as far as the times you are going to work, what content you are going to post and managing accounts on multimedia platforms. As she said at the conference, “ freelance is a scary world because you don’t know where your next paycheck is going to come from.” Do not let this discourage you. Some tips, guidelines, and benefits she gave were as follows:
In freelance, and the professional world in general, you are not always going to be interested in what your client does; however, you still need to make it a priority. Know who your audience is. When in free lance, you need to do this research by yourself. As she mentioned, nothing in this industry is an accident, it is all chosen by the people in it. Bailey discussed the importance of communication whether it be within her past careers or in her present. When she said she worked for the magazine, it was important that the PR professionals and journalist had an understanding of each other and the differences in which they work. In any situation, there is always a possibility of something going wayward. When things go wrong, her tips are to remain calm, keep your client in a good light, don’t burn bridges and communicate with first line of defense (writers/reporters). Although Bailey was focused more towards her freelance career rather than fashion itself, she gave great advice on how to enter the career path and how to communicate within it. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about Leslie, below are various ways in which she can be contacted. o Twitter, Instagram and Facebook: @lesalina o Email: [email protected] o LinkedIn: leslieabailey · Impressionable: Bylines Brittney Prather is a junior public relations major and is PRSSA Kent's vice president of membership. Contact her at [email protected].  By Hanna Moore
As I was looking through this year’s sessions while preparing to attend my third National Conference this October, I was immediately excited to see one was about storytelling. The further I get into my public relations education, the more I realize that this profession is ultimately about storytelling. Whether you are working for huge corporation, a client at an agency or a nonprofit, you want to find a way to tell your brand’s story that will resonate with your audience. This session featured speakers Lindsey Groepper, president of BLASTmedia, and Sabrina List, vice president of marketing and communication for 500 Festival, Inc. After both speakers explained their background in public relations and storytelling, List explained the difference in storytelling from agency and in-house perspectives. In an agency, you work with multiple clients, organizations and industries, so you get to try different things and never have the opportunity to get bored. When working in house, you work only with only one organization, but you work with different stakeholders, so you interact with people from all sides of the spectrum. For example, she said you may work with members of the board, members of a foundation, sponsors and an operation team, but you have to tailor messaging to each group and explain what public relations would mean to them and how it can help them achieve their own goals. Next, Groepper and List explained the definition of public relations. They started off by saying what public relations is not: public relations does not equal press release. They said they believe press releases are used too frequently when there really isn’t news. Instead, they defined public relations as thought leadership, feature stories, inclusion in trend pieces, company features, real announcements and is measured with a soft return on investment. Public relations provides credibility, brand awareness, organic search impact, web traffic potential, feedback and third party endorsements from a trusted source, typically the media. When looking for stories, it is important to get a buy-in from stakeholders. Agree on goals and define what makes a good story. Make this a priority at events and meetings, and ask for stories. Some places to find stories include social media, story mining, CSRs, volunteers and customers. When preparing to pitch the media, here are some questions to ask yourself:
They also offered “pitch pointers” that we could apply to our own internships and future careers:
The session ended with Groepper giving an example of a pitching success story she had. When working for a prep school in Indiana, she pitched a story about Elisabeth Davis, a 99-year-old secretary who was celebrating her 80th “workiversary” with the school. Due to the strong story behind the pitch, she gained coverage in The New York Times, People, “Inside Edition,” “Good Morning America” and the “TODAY Show.” The press she received from this story helped the school from a perception standpoint. I left this session, which was led by two incredible PR #girlbosses, feeling inspired to apply what I had learned to my on-campus job at Flash Communications, as well as my future career in public relations. Hanna Moore is a senior public relations major and is PRSSA Kent’s web and social media manager. Contact her at [email protected]. |
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