HVS International

11/30/2001 

How to “Create Your Own News” – Public Relations After September 11th

Written By:  Leora Halpern Lanz

Just recently, I had the privilege of speaking at the Delaware Governor’s Conference on Travel and Tourism.  Nearly 200 industry officials from throughout the state attended.  I was asked to speak on the topic of “how to create your own news.”  It was meant to be a crash course in public relations and special events for travel- and hospitality-related organizations.

But I found myself discovering something humbling as I wrote my presentation:  the way in which our industry “makes the news” has in fact, to some extent, changed in the past two months alone.  Today, to truly make the news, we need to share positive and successful travel and occupancy stories.  Promoting the types of things that we used promote simply does not work today.

For instance, if today were September 10th, I would give you some examples of how the use of special events to "get into the news" could be accomplished.  We “created” our own news:
 

	I would explain that, in 1992, while I served as Director of Public Relations at the Sheraton New York and hosted the Democratic National Convention (Bill Clinton was candidate), we created various patriotic-themed events, designed specialty menus, and created packages and welcome amenities pertaining to the various state delegations who stayed with us.  Our efforts could be seen on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and gaining tremendous local, national, and international broadcast coverage.  And frankly, the purpose of all this publicity was to promote the fact that the Sheraton completed more than $300 million in renovations to reposition the properties.  This more important message is what, in fact, came through in all the publicity.  “We renovated the properties to host the Democratic Convention.”  We simply used our involvement in the Convention to get the word out.
	During my tenure at the Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau in 1989, the City assembled what became the first true Citywide “blockbuster” art event –“Monet in the ’90’s” debuting at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  Hotels, restaurants, and other cultural institutions assembled packages with tickets to the exhibit, offered transportation and meals, and included value-addeds such as gifts and amenities.  The  public relations exposure, due to the very well-planned strategic effort, was truly a success – especially when measured in room nights and dollars generated in the City during a traditionally off-peak period (January through March).  We created a tourism event to make the news and ultimately fill sleeping rooms.
	Just as important (although not nearly as “sexy”) is another marketing strategy in which a hotel feeds New York City cabbies – just to promote the name change of a hotel.  I’ve done this twice, when the Sheraton  Centre became the Sheraton New York, and when the Sheraton Park Avenue was renamed and repositioned as the Sheraton Russell.  On one instance, we fed nearly 3,000 cabbies banana macadamia nut muffins and kona coffee in February, wearing Hawaiian muumuus and shirts! On another occasion, we served coffee, tea, and scones with Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth look-alikes to tell the cabbies that we treat them like royalty!  How silly, perhaps, but how important to get the word out to cab drivers and garner additional publicity in the local New York City broadcast and print media.  “Photo ops” were arranged to get the word out that we changed the names of the hotels.

These marketing strategies are only a few examples of what used to work in the hotel industry; these gimmicky events would not work so well today, November of 2001.  Today, we must publicize the more important concepts to the hospitality public; we must use language such as safety, comfort, security, “close to home,” family, added value, deal, freedom, patriotism, and – let’s not forget – hospitality and service.

Today, we need to create news that is both respectful and intelligent, yet intriguing and successful.  And our challenge, as an industry, is to get the media to publish our travel success stories – the positive travel stories, rather than the negative ones.  We need to use all the marketing and public relations mediums available to us to achieve occupancy successes –  which will, in turn, create the news we need to deliver.  The occupancy successes are certainly the hospitality news that needs coverage; the more the public hears that it is safe and worthwhile to travel, the more they will travel, and continue the positive trend for our industry.

We must be proactive and communicate with the public.  We must:

	Make our security measures visible – on our web sites, etc.
	Partner with our clients to encourage and increase employee travel.
	Consider value-added services and upgrades for clients.
	Make our messages positive, be informative, be visible, and communicate.

And today, when working with our colleagues in the press, we must:

	Stay sensitive – Since most media are based in New York City, many have lost friends and are working under tougher conditions and tighter deadlines.
	Be honest – If your news is not positive, tell the truth.  Or if your news truly isn’t newsworthy, don’t waste the media’s time.
	Be careful when trying to communicate philanthropic efforts – Don’t exploit the situation to garner your own coverage.
	Continuously monitor the news – With the current state of the industry and the world, we need to stay on top of new developments; long-term media planning is simply not possible during this crucial period.
	Concentrate marketing efforts on print and online opportunities – Broadcast opportunities are extremely difficult at this time.

Again, the way to “get your news out there today” is to share your (hopefully) positive success stories, and be sure that you are marketing as aggressively as you can to maintain your market share and achieve the good news.  Do you need assistance with your marketing strategy?  Do you have success stories to share and need the vehicle to talk to the press?  We can help.

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