Last month, Sharp team members were invited to speak about PR, social media and brand building at a range of interesting industry events. Sharp experts brought energy, excitement and unique perspectives to conversations from the role of publicity in elevating the sport of Squash in the United States, to leveraging social media to drive interest for non-profits, to the role of PR when launching a brand in the food category.
Jaret Posmentier was a speaker at U.S. Squash's 2015 Squash Summit in Philadelphia, addressing squash club owners, teaching professionals, and professional event promoters. His remarks encouraged attendees to find a human-interest storyline behind their local events to connect on an emotional level and encourage attendance, even among those unfamiliar with squash. Jaret presented results from Sharp's work with the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions as a case study to demonstrate how creative angles can help a subject with low awareness land on the pages of magazines and websites that have never covered the topic before. Sharp is currently underway promoting the 2016 Tournament, which takes place in Grand Central's Vanderbilt Hall January 7-14.
Gina DeCandia joined the first Brandstorm™, hosted by the United Fresh Produce Association in San Francisco, CA. The conference brought together produce marketers to share and learn innovative ways to achieve marketing success. In the session entitled, "how to win a brand launch," Gina focused on how to effectively make an impact using PR and social-- from understanding your audience to measuring success targeted to the fresh and natural food space. The audience spanned a wide range of well-know brands in the produce space to up-and-coming companies.
Laura Mortensen attended the annual Jonas Center Scholars Conference in Washington, DC, where she presented to this year's cohort of more than 300 scholars. The Jonas Center, a Sharp client, is the nation's leading philanthropic organization focused on supporting the educational development of new nursing faculty and doctoral candidates. The presentation centered about the role of online media in driving awareness for the Jonas Center and in telling the stories of each of the Scholars, and culminated with an interactive social media experiment, raising more than $1,000 on the spot in support of the Jonas Center.
*Featured image courtesy of Josh Michael Photography, Flickr