Kaplow

Kaplow took its first field trip to visit new client, Camp Bow Wow. Camp Bow Wow is a doggy day camp where doting owners drop off their dogs in the morning and pick them up in the evening, or board them for an extended stay. On the trip, the Kaplow team took a dog’s eye view of the campers at the facility in Midland Park, New Jersey, one of nearly 200 opening across the country. They enjoyed watching the furry campers “ruff”-housing with their doggy counselors. Social interaction among the dogs is a key component of their stay at Camp Bow Wow. The Kaplow team was amazed to learn that doggie cliques form among the canine campers during their stay. “It was great to see how each dog was treated with a lot of care and we had so much fun playing with the pups all day,” said Kaplow’s Colleen Cleary.

The puppy passion of the Camp Bow Wow staff members was evident. And with all the Kaplow dog lovers on site, it was hard not to plan a field trip for the following day!

In PR, we are storytellers. Many think that this practice will be lost as technology changes the way we absorb and react to the media. But whether we’re speaking with a fashion blogger, an evening news producer or the person sitting next to us on a plane, it is the way we tell the story that gives it legs.

I remember when I had my “Aha!” moment early on in my career. I was sitting with a client who distributed very fine pantyhose that sold for $40 a pair. He spoke with such passion and knowledge about his product, owning a pair seemed to become as core to one’s existence as the very water we drink. He was so convincing that no matter if you worked every day on a farm or at the White House, you wanted to own a pair. He had the passion to change the conversation about the way women thought of and valued a commodity as common as pantyhose. In essence, I knew he had a story to tell and I thought it was worthy of Forbes. After the two-page spread in Forbes appeared, I remember thinking that the best PR can change the conversation about a product, brand or industry.

Today, the media landscape requires that we use many more tools to change conversations for our clients. By taking risks in the digital arena, we can talk directly to the consumer and influencers and inspire them to participate in the conversation. This past year Kaplow launched a team of specialists dedicated to reaching the consumer through new and different channels tapping into blogs, podcasts, social networking sites, viral contests and online games. But even while there are more vehicles available to us to have conversations, the goal is the same: connecting people to one another and to the brands they care about. This “new era” of PR is less about technological takeover and more about using technology smartly to really open the door to the consumer.

The media landscape could evolve to a place where it’s completely unrecognizable from the way it was ten years ago, but if you can still get to know your client as well as they know themselves and be able to translate their message for the masses targeting the right audiences, you remain invaluable to the conversation.

Kaplow and eBay kicked off the holidays with a fete for bloggers at the hot Bowery hotel styled for the evening as an eBay lounge. The lively, intimate cocktail party connected this influential media set to eBay’s fabulous Style Squad experts: Fashion Director, Constance White; Design Director, Shawn Henderson and Gadget and Toy Director, Cat Schwartz. Twenty-six top-tier bloggers, representing a cross-section of fashion, accessories, lifestyle, home design and technology blogs, joined the festivities.

At the party, the Style Squad showed off their favorite holiday picks from eBay and guests also browsed the site, flipped through eBay’s virtual Holiday Look Book and enjoyed tongue-in-cheek Style Squad How-to-Videos. News of the evening hit the Internet instantly on blogs such as ApartmentTherapy.com, CrunchGear.com, FashionTribes.com and GeekSugar.com.

When Good Morning America needed a retail partner for a holiday coat drive, they quickly contacted Burlington Coat Factory. Kaplow had just completed publicizing a successful coat drive spearheaded by Burlington along with its charity partner, One Warm Coat. Both partners were eager to work with GMA to launch a second effort—the Warm Coats and Warm Hearts Drive. Kaplow was asked to help facilitate this media partnership, and contributed ideas for a kick-off segment that aired the morning of December 6, 2007.

The Warm Coats and Warm Hearts Drive began in style. Ben Affleck appeared on the show to donate one of his own coats as well as a coat from his wife, Jennifer Garner, and his daughter, Violet. Burlington executives were on-hand to donate 300 brand-new Burlington coats for of all shapes, ages and sizes. GMA fans inside the Times Square studio in New York handed their own coats to host Diane Sawyer—pictured here with Burlington Coat Factory’s Audrey Shapiro and Wendy Siskind, and Kaplow’s very own Laura Byrne!

The drive runs through January 31, 2008. GMA posted a call-to-action on their Web site encouraging consumers to submit their own plans to donate coats, which may earn them a mention on-air. Click here: . Burlington, GMA and One Warm Coat hope to collect as many coats as possible this Holiday Season! If you’d like to donate a coat, you can find a Burlington Coat Factory store near you at www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com.

Update: in an incredible outpouring of generosity, over 125,000 coats have been donated to date – and the drive continues on through January 31!