Stop the Presses!

As a publicist who has owned and operated a public relations firm for more than ten years, I have become adept at spotting potentially newsworthy clients, and believe it or not, I am more motivated by a client’s ability to generate press than I am by a paycheck. Lots of media coverage for clients equals lots of bragging rights for a PR Firm, lots of great public relations case studies, and ultimately, many more clients. Nobody wants to have a flop on their resume.

My radar when it comes to companies, personalities, products or organizations with buzzworthy potential has become pressty honed over the years, and then there are the code red, jump on this immediately clients where I can feel it in my bones; they have star potential! That doesn’t mean that the paparazzi, the media outlets or reality show producers will necessarily be knocking down our door in the first week, but, I know they will. It’s just a matter of when and not if. And I’ve never been wrong about any of these “stars in the making.”

Case in point, one such client landed a hold agreement and development deal with NBC Universal, another PR client in this rarefied category landed a plum gig on Good Morning America, and someone I am working with now is the darling of a major online web property and my PR radar tells me she is primed for the national spotlight within one year.

No, there is no exact science to creating, launching and achieving a succesful, I mean gangbusters successful PR campaign. It’s all in the gut. It’s about scouting star quality. And, yes, a car wash can be a star, a bakery can be a star, a guy who rides a pogo stick can be a star. It’s all in the spin.

Catalogs.com Forecasts Top Beauty Trends for Spring & Summer 2013

Catalogs.com beauty and personal care retail merchants take lead in offering their projected top selling products for Spring/Summer 2013.

Fort Lauderdale, FL/ — According to beauty and personal care catalogs and e-retailers found on Catalogs.com, the trending retail consumer forecast for Spring and Summer 2013 will focus on more affordable anti-aging, spa and hair enhancing products.

“Sales trends reported by our various beauty, cosmetics and personal care catalog companies and e-retailers suggest that consumers are moving towards anti-aging and pampering spa-like beauty products,” states Catalogs.com co-founder and Vice President, Leslie Linevsky. “People of all different income levels are now feeling more entitled to stress-reducing, age-reversing and beauty enhancing products. This is why we’re seeing more and more affordable beauty and personal care products being brought to market.”

Catalogs.com’s beauty and personal care catalog companies and e-retailers include companies like: As We Change, Time For Me, Caswell Massey, Paula Young and Especially Yours. These companies are seeing increased sales volume heading into Spring 2013 in spa product categories, anti-aging product categories and hair enhancement product categories, respectively.

“Companies like ‘As We Change’ that offer multi-ethnic color cosmetic palates, and fashion forward hairstyle options for all hair types and ethnicities offered by companies like ‘Paula Young’ and ‘Especially Yours,’ are seeing a surge in online shopping activity,” continues Linevsky.

Catalogs.com merchant, “Caswell Massey,” has noticed increased volumes in its sale of pure essential oils and its vegetable-based, biodegradable soaps, particularly among more environmentally conscious beauty consumers.

And according to company reps, the “Time For Me” retail catalog anticipates an increase in sales of their anti-aging and skin-firming creams and serums going into Spring 2013.

“The much-anticipated beauty forecast for Spring and Summer 2013 is revealed in mid-winter 2013. Sales trends among cosmetics and hair care catalogs and e-retailers are an effective barometer for what shoppers are going to buy and wear,” concludes Leslie Linevsky.

About Catalogs.com
Since 1996, shoppers have universally recognized Catalogs.com as a trusted shopping and catalogs portal, attracting more than one million unique visitors each month. The comprehensive Catalogs.com website, newly launched Catalogs.com for iPad, and Catalogs.com online catalogs feature over 740 major and specialty retailers, and provide shopping access via web, iPad and mobile phone platforms. Visit Catalogs.com and Like Catalogs.com on Facebook.

Lee Cotton, owner of Pilates And Your Palate

Healthy Food Chef and Pilates Instructor, Lee Cotton, made a media splash last month, being featured in seven glossy lifestyle magazines in her native, south Florida. Lee was profiled in the January 2013 issues of Atlanic Avenue Magazine, Stuart Magazine, Palm Beacher Magazine, Fort Lauderdale Magazine, Gold Coast Magazine, Jupiter Magazine, and in Boca Life Magazine.

In all seven south Florida glossy publications, Lee Cotton provided helpful tips for getting lean, strong, and healthy through a combination of regular Pilates exercises and a healthy, whole foods, gluten-free and plant-based diet.

Visit Lee’s Stuart, Florida studio at

www.pilatesandyourpalate.com

.

Lee Cotton, owner of Pilates And Your Palate

Allison Dawn PR client, Lee Cotton, has completed a 10-part video series for the website, eHow.com, demonstrating her expertise in organic, vegan cooking and food preparation. An emerging, up-and-coming brand in the health and wellness market, Lee is making great strides with an upcoming Pilates video series, and plenty of print media coverage throughout her region of South Florida!

Here, Lee Cotton demonstrates how to make a hummus wrap for the eHow.com audience:

How to Make a Hummus Wrap —powered by eHow.com

For more Lee Cotton videos on eHow.com, click – http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_12250715_pure-healthy-foods.html

Exhibit "A" Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi

It used to be said that innovation is the mother of invention. I will now venture to say that television is the mother of brand awareness. All of the reality television personalities that the public either finds amusing, loves to hate or mocks, are all cashing in to the tune of six and seven figure multi-tiered incomes that most Americans can only dream of.

Before you decide to remain on your high horse, consider the fact that these days, corporate interests from Hollywood to Madison Avenue are skittish at best about investing their time and financial resources in an unproven or unknown “brand,” and their new go-to gambles are all television personalities.  Just take into account all of the latest celebrity memoirs to hit your local bookshelves (or tablets), and a large majority have familiar television faces on the front cover. Why? Because book publishers look for something called a “built-in platform.” Put in plain English = they want turn-key authors whom they know can move six or seven-figure units of books. No one in this 21st century economy is willing to take a gamble on talent, alone. But they will gamble on notoriety, no matter the source of that notoriety. If you have a built-in fan base, you are a publisher’s dream. Same goes for cosmetic endorsements, nightclub and restaurant promotions, and just about any other corporate interest. Business owners care about the bottom line, and television makes people familiar to the public; that elusive combination of familiarity and pseudo-celebrity is very alluring to the public, and potentially very lucrative to corporate brands who use these TV celebs to promote and sell their wares.

What does this mean for me as a publicist and for anyone who embarks on a public relations campaign to get themselves, their product, or their service noticed in the media? It means that television and all of its fame-producing splendor is indeed the brass ring for many of my clients and for their public relations campaigns.

My company, Allison Dawn PR, is currently pursuing multiple television opportunities with various television production companies for PR clients, as that magic tube (or flatscreen) holds such power to introduce someone to the public and powerfully position their brand to a wide demographic of consumers. The one thing I do try to do, however, is to provide quality, meaningful television content, which means taking on quality, meaningful public relations clientele.

But the bottom line, before you go hating on the Kardashians, the Jersey Shore gang, the Teen Mom cast, or any other people who hit it big through reality-based television programming, take into consideration the ambition, innovation and long term goals set forth by people who you might have been quick to dismiss as dimwits. Think again!

Kathy Hilton on Family, Fashion &
Her New Collection of Special Occasion Dresses
By Allison Kugel

Dresses from The Kathy Hilton Collection

PR.com (Allison Kugel): Since you grew up in a home filled with girls how did that affect your personality and your style sensibilities?

Kathy Hilton: I would say growing up with two sisters, and my mother, who I loved and adored, and who was so elegant and loved fashion, we all love fashion yet we all have different tastes and style.

PR.com: What did you learn from your mom, and what do you emulate about her sense of style to this day?

Kathy Hilton: She was very glamorous. There are times I like to dress glamorous but then there are times I like to just be a little bit more… a little simpler. I have many different personalities, as you’ll see in my collection (The Kathy Hilton Collection).

PR.com: I’m not much of a fashion person. I’m usually in sweats and a tank top (laughs), but when I saw your dresses I wanted to reach through the computer and grab them. They are so beautiful! Your collection doesn’t show too much skin. The dresses are just very feminine and ethereal.

Kathy Hilton: They are very lady-like and feminine, and there are some that are very sexy. But I’ve also traveled a lot and I understand different styles. This all started because we have to go to a lot of events, and going into the stores and seeing the prices and how expensive things are; everybody is cutting back from this economy. I really wanted something for me, for my nieces, for my sisters, for my daughters, for all of their friends and for women that love beauty [and] quality. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to travel and wear all of the very wonderful designers and go to all the shows, and so I really love fashion. But I wanted something for everyone.

Read more of the interview with Kathy Hilton at PR.com

Allison Kugel Interviews Henry Louis Gates Jr. From PBS’s “Finding Your Roots” for PR.com

by Erica Teller

Social Media Buzz

My recent interview with Cougar Town star and comedic actress Busy Philipps has generated a lot of social media PR buzz for both, PR.com  and for Busy.

During my interview with Busy for PR.com on February 2, 2012, Busy Philipps discusses her love of Twitter as a means of controlling her own voice on the Internet and setting the record straight about her work and her life. During our chat I asked Busy who convinced her co-star Courteney Cox to finally join Twitter, and Busy told me it was her and Cougar Town‘s creator Bill Lawrence, along with Cougar Town fans who finally convinced Courteney to start Tweeting.

Using PR.com’s strong online presence in teh search engines and our media contacts within the online entertainment space, PR.com gained public relations media coverage at the following entertainment news blogs for this celebrity story:

http://www.contactmusic.com/news/busy-philipps-pestered-cox-to-join-twitter_1290512

http://www.busy-philipps.org/tag/busy-philipps

http://culdesaccrew.net/ – scroll through

http://www.new-magazine.co.uk/latestnews/view/38155/Philipps-pestered-Cox-to-join-Twitter/

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/300659/Philipps-pestered-Cox-to-join-Twitter/

http://www.star-magazine.co.uk/breakingnews/view/37513/Philipps-pestered-Cox-to-join-Twitter/

The actress even tweeted about her interview with PR.com, emphatically stating, “Allright dudes- Read this: http://www.pr.com/article/1197 THAT is basically who I am.”

This story was brought to you by Allison Dawn PR