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 Pictured: John Frazier, executive vice president, Q&C; Shana Pereira, regional director for the Americas, Tourism Queensland; Melissa Braverman, account supervisor, Q&C; Florence Quinn, president, Q&C. 

It was a big night at the HSMAI Adrian Awards for Quinn & Co., as we celebrated Tourism Queensland’s Best of Show Public Relations win for Best Job In The World.

The blockbuster campaign swept last night’s black tie awards gala. Q&C took home two golds for our work – one for the Reuters exclusive that triggered Best Job’s media explosion around the world, and another for a feature segment on ABC’s “World News Tonight” covering the announcement of Ben Southall as Island Caretaker.

All of us at the Quinn & Co. table stood up and cheered when it came time to announce Best of Show, excited and proud once again to be a part of the Best Job juggernaut.

Afterward, Quinn & Co. president Florence Quinn, Quinn & Co. executive vice president John Frazier and I joined Tourism Queensland’s regional director for the Americas Shana Pereira for celebratory drinks at NYC’s Marriott Marquis hotel.

In reflecting on the whirlwind journey we’ve all experienced with Best Job, we talked about something that’s a big part of our culture here at Quinn & Co. – the power of visioning.

Shana said it was our great passion for working with an Australian client that made us Tourism Queensland’s choice for Best Job’s North American launch. It had been a dream of mine for years to have an Aussie client, and everyone at Quinn & Co. rallied behind me to help make that dream become a reality.  Last night was a great reminder that when you work hard and have a vision, amazing things can happen.

A special shoutout to Laura Davidson of LDPR who got the ball rolling by recommending us to Tourism Queensland.  Thanks, Laura!

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Exciting week ahead.  Today through Fri., Social Media Week New York will be taking place at different sites across the city.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with the conference or haven’t caught wind of all the buzz, the second annual will feature events taking place simultaneously in cities across the globe (i.e. NYC, San Fran, Toronto, Berlin, Londo, and São Paulo).  The aim of these events is to advance the use and understanding of social media in the corporate, public and non-profit sectors. 

The main Social Media Week Web site describes the week-long, international conference as consisting of the following:

“The conference is designed as a series of localized events, which city partners are responsible for organizing. Over the course of the week and in each city, programs will span a variety of formats, ranging from talks, presentations and panel discussions, to interactive workshops, seminars, networking events and drinks receptions.  Each event, including the live stream and backchannel conversations will be hosted on the Social Media Week Web site, allowing for participants from around the world and across multiple cities to take part in the conference.”

That being said, we’re proud to announce that Danielle Culmone, an account supervisor here at Q&C and member of our digital media team, along with a few other quinnlings, will be out and about over the next few days.  We invite you to join us and if interested, be sure to check out the comprehensive schedule or follow them on Twitter for updates.  Danielle will also be hosting a session at the conference’s Media Camp event on Fri. entitled, “Building an Integrated PR Strategy Using a 2010 PR Arsenal”.  She’s slated to go on at 5:00 p.m. at the SAE Institute of Technology  (1293 Broadway b/tw 33 & 34 St. on the 9th Fl.).

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Dr. Lalia Rach, divisional dean and HVS International chair of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management at New York University (whew), said at an HSMAI luncheon in NYC earlier this month that tablets will replace smart phones.  I believed her. 

The dawning of that day arrived yesterday when Steve Jobs, co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc., introduced the iPad in San Francisco.  Yesterday afternoon several people in my office were buzzing about it.  Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, placed the iPad story at the top of the cover page next to coverage of President Obama’s State of the Union Address with another full-page of coverage in the paper’s technology section.  (Got to love the mega free PR.)

While the iPad lacks some features (it has no camera and Flash does not work on it), I appreciate the benefits of its reader features for books, newspapers and magazines.  It is useful to someone like me, a PR person and someone who works on the train, at home, in hotels room, and sitting in the car outside my son’s school.  It is lighter than a laptop and bigger than my Blackberry.  Woo-hoo.

The only bummer is: What will become of the bookshelf?  My husband and I are house-hunting and I find myself drawn to the homes with rooms that are made warm and intimate by handsome bookcases. 

In our office we have a wall of maple bookshelves which house our library of newspapers and magazines.  What will we put on its glossy, smooth shelves when all the print publications are gone? 

All ideas are welcome.

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 This post comes from Senior Account Executive Li Wang, Q&C’s new “Media Criticism” monthly columnist.

In 2006 I was teaching English to rural, Chinese students in a village called Baojing in Hunan Province.  One night while hanging out at a local café, with waitresses periodically breaking into karaoke song, a muted television screen showed bodies being carted off and President Bush taking to the podium.

Concerned that another terrorist attack had occurred, I went to the local cyber center where teenagers locked into screens playing first-person shooter games.  I crawled into the back row of PCs and found my way to Google.com and CNN.com to find out what was going on.  It turned out the news footage I had seen was taken from a heat wave in France and Dubya was pushing some sort of war escalation initiative.

I had heard of the Chinese government’s Web censorship, so I tested it.  Of course, I couldn’t find the iconic image of the protester in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square, the first image that pops up in an American Google image search.  But I could find everything else that I imagined the Chinese government wouldn’t want its people to see.  Anti-Mao essays, free Tibet sites, Halle Berry’s top-less stills from “Swordfish.”

So now that Google has announced its retreat from China for the government’s hacking into Chinese dissident’s and certain corporate e-mail accounts, applause from human rights activists has been plentiful.  Certainly Google has made great strides in its PR push to quell the notion that it’s a soul-less entity taking over the world.  The company wants to be perceived as a champion of human rights.

Well, Google, get over yourself.

Bill Gates said on Good Morning America, “The Chinese efforts to censor the Internet have been very limited.  It’s easy to go around it, and so I think keeping the Internet thriving there is very important.”

Google said last week it wants to remain in China, but wants to end censorship of search results.  Good luck with that one.

Withdrawing from China will simply allow your competitors like Bing.com to gain more ground there.  The move would also hurt China’s development towards becoming a global tech leader.  The World Wide Web is too infinite and malleable to be stopped.  Pulling out of China will just hurt the average Chinese citizen, who has been finding ways to get around government restrictions long before Google was around.

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Twitter wants to know, “What’s happening?” while Facebook asks, “What’s on your mind?”  With a few keystrokes, it’s all too easy to share your innermost personal thoughts without thinking about the consequences.  Who is really listening anyway?

If you’re the vice president of public relations for a mobile phone company, the answer is Robert Scoble. A well-known tech blogger, Robert recently called the PR rep out on a late-night tweet about her distaste for men, sparking a fury of attention.  While her Twitter profile clearly states that it is a personal account, the situation left me wondering if she overstepped the fine line between personal and professional.

So where do we draw the line?  If you’re active on social media sites like I am, you know the importance of being authentic but it can be a challenge to strike the right balance.

This recent blog post from Web Worker Daily helps to put it into perspective and I’ve come up with a few tips of my own:
 

-Think before you type.  A recent study found that over 40% of tweets are just “pointless babble.”  Do you really want to add to the noise or do you want to be a part of the conversation?

-Avoid stream-of-consciousness updates.  It can be tempting to use these mediums to share your every thought or vent frustrations but don’t forget SOMEONE IS ALWAYS LISTENING (and it may be your boss, client, or colleague).

-Don’t be afraid to show your personality.  Whether you love music, fashion, sports or needle pointing, sharing your passions with your friends and followers makes you genuine and worth listening to.
 

-Consider separating your social networks. While it may be easier to link your status updates between networks, it’s not the best approach. Take control by adjusting your Facebook privacy settings or limiting your friends to those you actually know and trust. For business professionals, LinkedIN is a great place to network with others in your industry and build connections without getting too personal. 
 

-Always be smart. Be cautious with the amount of information you give out.  Recently, one Twitter user shared real-time updates about a vacation which may have lead to their home being burglarized.

Tell us, where do you draw the line between personal and professional?

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I was sitting at NYU listening to David Meerman Scott giving a presentation for his new book World Wide Rave last March 11th, when “The Best Job in the World” campaign popped up on the screen.  I actually yelled out in the middle of the presentation.  Quinn & Co. was the U.S.-based PR agency for Tourism Queensland’s campaign that traveled around the world so quickly that it became one of the biggest social media case studies before the campaign was even over and there it was in David’s presentation. 

During the break, I spoke to David and later connected him with John Frazier, an EVP here at Quinn & Co., so that David could get first-hand information about the continuing results of the campaign.  Less than one year later, John is quoted in David’s The New Rules of PR and Marketing talking about the landmark Best Job in the World campaign, which was created halfway around the world by Brisbane-based CumminsNitro.

I think back to the multiple levels of communication that got us here. 

-First, in the room I was sitting in someone pointed me out to David (WOM) and made sure that we connected (in-person networking)

-Then I connected with @dmscott (Twitter), followed by (email) discourse and an introduction to John.

-Next John and Melissa Braverman, an AS here at Quinn & Co., submitted material for David’s blog.

-Finally the book .

Bringing this whole chain of events full circle, the first edition of The New Rules of PR and Marketing was one of the books that inspired me to pursue digital media and social media.  After an incalculable amount of work, learning and time spent with some of the best social media minds out there (both in person and virtually), I am now a member of the digital media team at Quinn & Co. and focus most of my time on digital pr.

How amazing is it to be able to connect in so many different ways?  Or to be able to meet people online and in person who have truly influenced you? The irony is, how many rules did we have to break to get to this point?

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Check out the great byline by our digital media team’s Danielle Culmone in this month’s O’Dwyer’s…

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In PR, we frequently talk about the value of PR over advertising, and so, I wanted to give credit where credit is due.

On the subway ride to and from work each day, my head is down. I’m getting through emails or reading a book. (Since my new year’s resolution is to read at least one book a month, I’m trying to put down the blackberry when commuting!)

No matter the morning activity, my eyes peer up and I scout the banner ads across the top of the train. I rarely remember which school advertised their higher-education services, if the detergent series was for Tide or Downy or if Absolut or Stoli had some clever train campaign.

Then, a few months ago, I was struck by the Brooklyn Museum’s ad for the “Who Shot Rock & Roll” exhibit through January 31. How had I not heard of this elsewhere? Did I miss the exhibit (phew, no!) When can I go? (easy, dates are on the ad, and my calendar on my blackberry.)  On the spot, I looked at my calendar and emailed my family, fellow rock & roll fans, to set a date. We couldn’t make it for a couple of weeks, but the subway ads were there each day to remind me.

Why did this ad work? It was simple – a targeted, informational ad about a local activity with all the information to set a date and make it happen. To boot, it had the repetition factor, reminding me day-after-day to get to the Brooklyn Museum before the exhibit closed.

If you haven’t seen the subway advertising, the exhibit runs through January 31.

Some of my favorites included:

• Madonna walking in the East Village before she was famous
• Puff Daddy (when he was Puff Daddy) and Jay-Z text-messaging (take note of the date and phones!)
• Leopard-faced Mick Jagger
• Young Bruce Springsteen surrounded by adoring teen fans
• The Ramones posing for a photo on Extra Place, minutes from where I live
• The Beatles in 1960 before Ringo was even a band member

PS: Only now, when I found a photo of the ad, do I realize I got to the exhibit, but I forgot the 2-for-1 admission when presenting your MetroCard. Shame on me; better for them!

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The following post comes from Suzanne Rosnowski, partner and head of Quinn & Co.’s real estate division.

“Getting back to great — head up and visioning forward”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to look back at 2009 to write this blog post, because it was such a tough year.  But you know, surviving the mayhem really did make us stronger.

We survived through well-intentioned clients who didn’t have the ability to pay us and ill-intentioned people who never intended to pay us.  We worked with start-up clients who evolved out of the downturn, hoping to present new solutions, but we all found, there was no solution to the overall problem:  the downturn.  We’re working with more corporate clients, since it is either the big and/or truly innovative that can afford PR nowadays.  We’re excited to have clients who fit both bills.

The real estate industry evolved and embraced digital media last year, which I am not so sure would have happened so rapidly if the market were still going strong.   It was sad to lose some of our great print publications and reporter friends to the downturn, but I do hope the digital platform presents new opportunities.

The entire Quinn & Co. staff was truly amazing in 2009.  We banded together and everyone helped the company work through the madness. The culmination of the tough time has brought us back to our roots for 2010, as we are visioning again.

As we start 2010, we’re kicking it off with an allstaff vision, which we haven’t done for a few years now, because when you’re rockin’ and rollin’, you stop visioning and just tackle the present and can be quite content with that. 

While in DC accepting my PR News award for being on the country’s Top 15 to Watch list in 2009, I was asked in my acceptance speech to give one piece of advice.  So I talked about the power of visioning, as Grace Andrews, our corporate coach and very good friend has taught us. 

“Dare to dream without limits,” Grace says.

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The following post comes from Carla Caccavale Reynolds, partner and head of Quinn & Co.’s travel division.

“Growth not in the traditional sense, but important growth nonetheless”

While 2009 was not the best year in terms of revenue, it taught us some lessons that were more valuable than any monetary figure.  There were lessons in trust, loyalty and flexibility that will not soon be forgotten.  We learned who would stick with us, even when the going got tough, on both the client and the employee side. 

We had clients who bet on PR and who put the majority of their marketing budgets in our hands.  They were trusting us at a time that would prove to be the most difficult of any year many of us have experienced in our career.  There were others who asked us to tighten our belts with some modest cut backs.  When those calls came we breathed a sigh of relief.  We were happy to stay along for the ride, although uncertain of how deep the dips would go or when the tide would rise.  And there were some who were hit especially hard by the AIG collapse, had to go on hiatus, but remained on our client roster and call upon us for project and crisis management from time to time.  To all of our 2009 clients, we thank you, for believing in us and giving us a seat at your table.     

Our travel division also had to say goodbye to several close media contacts last year, as an unprecedented number of magazines and newspapers closed.  The silver lining in this was that it forced traditional media outlets to get online and further encouraged PR professionals like us to dive into the digital world and develop relationships with influential social media personalities.  Peter Shankman immediately comes to mind.  He continues to amaze with his ability to connect publicists and journalists via Help a Reporter Out (HARO), his revolutionary company; Twitter (@helpareporter or @skydiver) and Facebook.

As for the entire team at Quinn & Co., 2009 reinforced that there are no better people I could ask to work with.  They worked harder than ever for clients and did more with less during the economic downturn.  And they did it with a smile.  With uncertainty looming around many corners (after all, we specialize in travel and real estate, two of the hardest hit industries), they kept their heads in the game and focused on the task at hand.  To all of my colleagues, I thank you.    
 
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