Allison Kugel interviews Mike Tyson for PR.com:

Mike Tyson Shares His Undisputed Truth & Unrelenting Humor with PR.com By Allison Kugel – April 12, 2012

Allison Dawn PR Client, Flexfit, Announced as Official Headwear for Two Clubs

Long Island Ducks, Bridgeport Bluefish to wear Flexfit brand exclusively in 2012

Central Islip, NY, January 24, 2012 –(PR.com)– The Long Island Ducks and Bridgeport Bluefish, members of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, today announced a partnership with world renowned headwear manufacturer Flexfit/Yupoong, making the company the official on field headwear of the Ducks and Bluefish, as well as the first choice for all retail sales at the Waddle In Shop and Bluefish Gear Shop throughout the 2012 baseball season.

“We’re excited to be able to partner with Flexfit, a company whose values are in lockstep with ours on providing our players and fans with cutting edge, high caliber headwear,” said Ducks President/GM and Bluefish Senior VP Michael Pfaff. “Flexfit has established itself as a world leader in the category and we’re working on some exciting new looks and designs for all to enjoy this upcoming season.”

In addition to providing the teams with all on field headwear, including spring training/batting practice headwear, special event headwear and potential playoff/championship caps, Flexfit will enjoy exposure through team marketing platforms. Along with the new look and feel, players and fans will enjoy sleeker, more streamlined designs with moisture-wicking performance and cutting edge styles during the 2012 campaign.

To be a level above, Flexfit implements set routines of Research & Development. Through the years, Flexfit has introduced new products that have revolutionized the headwear industry. From the famous Flexfit sweatband to the company’s cool & dry technology, Flexfit is always staying ahead of the curve. Flexfit is constantly searching for new product innovations that can bring joy to hat bearers and improve the welfare of the communities they are involved with.

“Flexfit is excited to be the official 2012 headwear sponsor of the Long Island Ducks and Bridgeport Bluefish professional baseball teams,” states Flexfit LLC President, Thomas Cho. “We look forward to both teams enjoying the comfort and performance that only Flexfit hats can provide.”

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Contact Information
Allison Dawn PR
Allison Kugel
516-942-0264
Contact
www.AllisonDawnPR.com
www.Flexfit.com

Juicy Couture, My Favorite!

Fashion public relations is a lot of fun for us publicists! Seriously, what woman wouldn’t want to work with gorgeous fashion apparel, picking out the stars of that season’s line and pitching them to the media? Everything from designing the press kit to writing the promotional copy and seeing the results of your fashion pr efforts in magazines, it makes me feel like a kid in a candy store.

Fashion public relations is visual and fantasy-based. It’s all about presenting a certain image. When I work with a fashion client I usually break the brand down to its foundation and re-make it from the ground up. Does that sound weird? Here’s what I mean, and these are just a few fashion public relations tips that anyone can use to achieve media coverage and consumer buzz for apparel and accessories.

In all of my career I have never seen an industry quite as saturated as the fashion industry. High end couture and celebrity-driven lines seem to reign supreme in fashion pr and everyone else is forced to fight for the remaining showroom and retail floor space.  But here are some fashion public relations strategies that can still stack the public relations and marketing deck in your favor.

How are you presenting your fashion line? Every fashion designer needs a website, that is an obvious point, and assuming you have a professional looking website, how is your line being displayed? I will never forget one particular client who I worked with a few years ago. When we first began working together she was displaying her clothing on headless mannequins and photographing her clothing that way. I didn’t understand how a fashion designer could allow her creations to hang pitifully on headless mannequins. Where is the fantasy and intrigue? Clothes are meant to be worn by people, beautiful people who carry themselves with flare and have a sparkle in their eye = confidence. Display your apparel properly… on human beings. Look at your entire line for the upcoming season and pick the stand-out pieces. Find a model or models who wear your designs well and project the fantasy you want to convey. My public relations firm, Allison Dawn PR, puts together photo shoots for fashion clients, but anyone can do this on a relatively small budget. There are many photographers, makeup artists and models vying for a chance to build up their portfolios. You can create images that will capture the attention of media, consumers, buyers and the entertainment community if you adhere to your vision. I have created lookbooks, start to finish, for $2000.00.

Be strategic with your samples. Don’t give out samples to every Tom, Dick and Harry. Samples are valuable and should only be given out with imminent purpose. Distribute samples with care to the following sources:  wardrobe stylists, editors and celebrity publicists. BUT, this should be a relatively short list. Sit down and make three lists:

Which celebrities fit the body type, lifestyle and image that reflects the image of your fashion line

Which magazines and blogs write about fashion and accessories that seem to fit the same demographic as your own line. Remember this includes the look of the apparel and accessories but also the retail price point. If there is a particular magazine or page in a magazine where the editors seem to consistently include pieces that look similar to your but the average price point of what they cover is $50.00 to $250.00 and your pieces average from $500 – $1000 then that is not the right venue for your line.

Research talent agencies that represent wardrobe stylists (yes, they have agents) and invest in a Hollywood Creative Directory to contact TV and film products directly to inquire about presenting your link to their costume designers.

Know how to use your bragging rights appropriately. When it comes to Fashion PR, it’s all about “who is wearing your line?” Retail buyers and sales reps for that matter are shaky at best about trying out new lines. However, they love to see glossy pictures of celebrities out and about wearing your line in the celebrity weeklies, or in fashion magazines. They also love to see your pieces on the red carpet, or to hear how much so and so actress just loves that sweater or scarf from your latest collection. Don’t be shy about announcing these exciting developments in press releases and in email pitches to editors and fashion reporters.

Stay tuned for more on fashion public relations in upcoming blogs.

Beauty Branding and PR

First, Beauty products are like candy to me, I can’t get enough and I am always on the lookout for the latest skincare, scrubs, color cosmetics, bronzers, self tanners. I love to be exfoliated, bronzed, blushed and glossed. Lately I am wild about SUN self tanner for my face and body, Zorica of Malibu skincare, NARS blush in Orgasm (I use it on my cheeks and sometimes on my lips with a little clear shimmer gloss!). And Victoria’s Secret makes the best mascara, better than Maybelline or just about any other mascara brand I have ever tried (my opinion of course).

I wish I could say that when it comes to beauty public relations, the content of the product is what is most important, and to me it most certainly is. However, from my PR firms own personal first hand experience, it is all in the sizzle and the actual steak could be over cooked and loaded with gristle. The name, the packaging, the retail price point, and who is wearing the beauty product are all that seem to matter when obtaining a Lion’s share of press these days in beauty public relations.

My entire life breaking the typical rules of how to get ahead, “make it,” or achieve a career goal as always suited me best. Perhaps it is my personal destiny in this lifetime to have to find innovative ways around conventional rules, but that is how I have always lived. The road less traveled… that is the story of my life!

What I can share in this blog entry is that breaking the rules, whether it has been in my public relations career within my pr firm or when it comes to my journalism career, it has gotten me where I am today. I didn’t go through the normal channels that most do to get to the point of placing public relations clients in some of the world’s largest media outlets nor have I gone through normal channels and career protocol to have achieved conducting more than 100 in-depth interviews with some of today’s most well known newsmakers and legends from entertainment, politics, and publishing. I was never some editor or reporter’s assistant, I never worked for a large publication, I never earned my wings and built my rolodex slowly over a number of years all while toiling away doing grunt work in someone else’s office. I am not putting that down, and many people have gone that route and gone on to wonderful careers, both as a publicist and as a journalist, it just was never for me.

I am not afraid of hard work, quite the contrary. I work my butt off my days, but I do it on my terms, not someone else’s; that is the main distinction. I am completely self-made. I think that whether you are trying to publicize your company or yourself (which is why you may be reading this blog), or whether you are simply trying to reach a dream in some other profession outside of the realm of public relations, breaking rules and doing it your way can always apply. Don’t get me wrong, you need to study the proper protocol if you are to be taken seriously within the culture of a specific industry, but try going off of the main path a bit and see where that less traveled road leads you, you may be pleasently surprised.

As I have recounted many times, with my public relations firm I set up shop after some success as an entrepreneur who found great success in publicizing myself to promote my businesses at the time. I then transferred that self-taught knowledge to helping others get their businesses off the ground and gain media coverage. I began doing celebrity interviews for a newswire with no formal journalism education and no contacts to speak of, but rather through countless hours of self-imposed study of how celebrity interviews are booked, orchestrated, conducted, written up and edited. I went to the University of Allison Kugel. I was pretty gutsy and presumptuous and just started going after interviews as if I had been doing it all my life and it was as natural as breathing. More than 100 major interviews with headlinemakers later, it proved to be a good tactic.

If you are searching for a publicist or a larger public relations firm to help promote your business or if you are simply trying to make your way on your own, I encourage you to think outside the box, leave the conventional thinking to others who prefer to spin their wheels in an overly saturated marketplace. Be creative, be spontaneous, take some risks and really put yourself out there. The worst that can happen is that you will learn what Not to do and need to re-group and go back at it again, but no one ever died from hearing the word “no.” Don’t be afraid of that word. I, personally, have disciplined myself to be imperveous emotionally to the word “No,” no matter how harsh the delivery from the other party. You have to do the same. Not being afraid to fail spectacularly will actually help your chances of succeeding. Ironic, yet very true.

Beauty (PR) Public Relations and getting media exposure for a beauty brand is all about what sets a beauty brand or beauty product apart, not what makes the product fit into the fold of other beauty products that are currently on the market.

If you take a moment to think about what makes it into the news in general, it is not the norm. What makes a beauty product newsworthy? The same thing that makes any product, service or person newsworthy – something about that product that is the exception to the rule. A beauty product can be the exception to the rule because of its price point, its ingredients, packaging, customer base, owner/creator. But, there must be something about it that is different, thus making that beauty product worthy of news coverage.

The news, in general, is all about too much, too weird, too expenseive, too cheap, too pretty, too sexy, too out of reach… the news is never about run-of-the-mill. The beauty industry is never a place where you want to fit in. With every account I handle I learn just as much as the client does, and with one beauty public relations campaign in particular I remember that the retail price point and the packaging were both so over the top and ludicrous that every major media outlet as well as every minor media outlet just had to blab about how crazy and ludicrous it was. They couldn’t help themselves. the more they blabbed the more the phone rang and it just kept feeding on itself. That was a lightbulb moment for me as a publicist and believe me, I have ad many!

Many of my public relations clients throughout the years have tried to insist that I sell their steak because their steak just tastes so good, but they don’t always understand that I need to sell the sizzle, not the steak. It’s the sizzle that sells in the media. Media is not about reality. It is about fantasy and selling an image. The quality of the product will sustain the attention once that attention is achieved.

I said in my last blog post about political public relations that I would give feedback on my experience interviewing David Plouffe, the mastermind campaign manager who led President Barack Obama to victory last year.

One thing that certainly gives me an advantage as a publicist and marketing consultant that most of my colleagues do not have is my direct access to some of the most famous, brilliant, and innovative minds of our time. I don’t take this opportunity lightly or ever take it for granted. I am grateful for this every day!

That being said, President Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe was one of those meetings of the minds that left a huge impression on me, mainly because he was one of the greatest teachers of grassroots marketing and public relations that one could ever hope to learn from. As I read his book, The Audacity to Win, in preparation for our interview together I couldn’t help but soak up the invaluable playbook by which David Plouffe and his partner David Axelrod ran Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign. Some of the things that jumped off the page the most were the following strategies:

1. Rather than simply competing with your competition for existing customers or clients, create new customers in areas where your competition may not have looked. I use this tactic to my clients’ advantage when I work now.

2. Don’t be above canvasing at the most grassroots level. If it’s good enough for our President, it should be good enough for your company or organization. This could include making phone calls, door to door, newsletters, flyers, attending conferences, visiting private clubs or schools… anywhere you can reach people in their own familiar environment to get your message across one person at a time. The catch: You better have a solid and concise message. Practice and polish before you hit the “field.”

3. Be above anything petty. Don’t get “down in the muck,” as President Obama would always say to David Plouffe during his campaign. Forget negative message public relations strategies or retaliation. Stay a cut above by displaying integrity. Announce what sets you apart in a positive way rather than cutting down your competition. Don’t retaliate against your competition with a counter negative attack. That is so 20th century, no? Be more evolved. Instead, clarify why they are incorrect and go on to communicate your authentic message.

To read my interview with David Plouffe – http://www.pr.com/article/1137

To visit Allison Dawn Public Relations and read more about how I work with my own clients click – www.allisondawnpr.com

Being that I am a journalist who does celebrity and political feature interviews it has taught me quite a bit about the politics of political public relations as funny as that sounds.

The very first political public figure I interviewed was Ralph Nader who is known for being a Washington outsider and exceptionally open with his opinions and views. He doesn’t need to worry about pissing off the establishment. Those horses have already left the stable. So, in short, he was quite open and very in-depth with his thoughts and views. Essentially a cake-walk in that regard and also extremely kind.

My next political interview for PR.com was with Ron Paul, another Washington rebel of sorts and someone who actually left a pretty indelible thumbprint on the 2007/2008 Republican Presidential primary race. John McCain may have earned the Presidential nomination for his party, but Ron Paul became a pop culture cult hero among conservative independents the world over. His answers were a bit more packaged than Nader’s but they were in-depth, and he was not afraid to take sides on issues including abortion, taxes, healthcare reform and welfare.

Dennis Kucinich was the next Congressman to cross my path and I interviewed him for PR.com as well. The complete antithesis of Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich is at the extreme left, more so than even President Barack Obama. If people think President Obama is liberal, they would have been in for quite a ride had Dennis Kucinich won the 2008 Presidential Primary race. Dennis Kucinich created a high profile platform for himself as well when he ran in the 2007/2008 Presidential Primary race, trying to nab the Democratic nomination. Problem? He tipped his hand too fast and all his cards spelled “bleeding heart liberal.” Dennis Kucinich was a mixed bag during our interview. Public Relations-wise he was able to muster the courage to answer some questions with a great deal of personal opinion and emotion, and didn’t hold back. When it came to questions regarding how he would vote on various bills brought forth by President Obama he became a little repetitive in his answers, not wanting to go into too many specifics, which I understand. Those fights are often best left to the House floor. He also did not want to directly address his opinions on Rahm Emanuel who had just recently been appointed White House Chief of Staff at the time of my interview with him.

My interview with Howard Dean shone a spotlight on a politician sticking to their talking points and staying on message at all costs. To his credit, his message was to be a vocal advocate for healthcare reform and for a public option that would resemble what Congress enjoys in their own privileged healthcare benefits. Though his message was clear, well thought out and on target with current news headlines, he was clearly not comfortable veering off topic or message at all and did not wish to step outside his book’s talking points to reveal any other thoughts drifting through his mind as it pertained to any downsides of a public option in healthcare or to discuss any other topics unrelated.

Last night I had the privilege of conducting an interview with David Plouffe, President Barack Obama’s campaign manager and the now legendary figure who many credit with making the impossible possible and creating history in ushering Obama to the White House. Stay tuned for my thoughts on David Plouffe…