Case Studies

Bringing Back New Orleans

We put together an award-winning media campaign to celebrate the return of the French Quarter post-Katrina, by planning, executing and following up a holiday kick-off media event and follow up events and packages at New Orleans’ legendary Royal Sonesta Hotel. The program featured a traditional New Orleans “Second Line” parade, more than 10,000 Christmas lights strung along the legendary balconies along Bourbon Street, Speeches by the Mayor and local sports celebrities, and an “after party” that no one will ever forget. The events and packages garnered widespread local and national media coverage, sold countless room nights, and was a milestone in the return of tourists to the Quarter in 2007/2008. We followed it with a NYC-media tour that secured coverage in Travel + Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler and the New York Times, among others.

Hutton Hotel, Nashville

MFC PR has represented the hotel since it opened in January, 2009 – at the low point of the worst economy since the Great Depression.

Through a combination of onsite events and aggressive media relations, we positioned the property to receive national accolades, and move aggressively into the recovery. We brought the TODAY Show’s Peter Greenberg to the hotel, where he did a live national radio broadcast. We helped solidify the hotel’s hosting Al Gore’s Climate Project’s international summit meeting, which was covered in media around the world. We placed articles in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, American Way Magazine, and the hotel was name to the Conde Nast Traveler’s “Host List” of new hotels. Plus much more.

And that was just in the first year.

St. Ermin’s Hotel, London

MFC PR announced the acquisition of the historic St. Ermin’s hotel, Westminster, London, by American real estate developer Amerimar Enterprises, in May of 2010. Shortly thereafter, the company’s COO appeared on FOX Business, and we publicized the redevelopment and reopening of the hotel throughout the American trade media and in group and MICE publications in Europe. The COO was soon interviewed by Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, and Hotel Business magazine.

In cooperation with our London-based partners, we have secured high-level placements in the American and European consumer media to help drive traffic – and with the hotel opening in April, 2011, the best is yet to come!

Opening New Hotels — Launching Hospitality Brands

In 2004, we planned and executed a grand opening marketing campaign, ribbon-cutting ceremony and charity event for the Hyatt Regency Jersey City.  We managed the press outreach, “run of show” and the guest attendance and logistics – with guest list that included the Governor of New Jersey, the Mayor of Jersey City, one congressman and several local celebrities. The event drew coverage from NBC and ABC-TV in New York, as well as New Jersey’s two statewide cable news channels. It was also featured on CBS Marketwatch, one of the most widely watched national program in its Saturday morning time slot.

The following year, we planned and executed a similar program for the launch of the Hyatt Regency Boston, with similar results – all local TV, radio and newspaper outlets covered the launch event, which was emceed by local tourism officials, and attended by Mayor Thomas Menino.

Group and meetings bookings following the events were tremendous, as were transient guest reservations. We were credited with generating better than $70,000 in incremental guest revenue as a results of the two campaigns.

Soon after, we launched mobilcompanion.com, an innovative travel planning service powered by our long-time client, Mobil Travel Guide. We conducted “pre-launch” interviews, created innovative B-Roll packages, conducted a coast-to-coast media tour, and wrote and distributed  a launch press release – resulting widespread international media coverage and publicity.

Quechee, Vermont

MFC PR was engaged to launch and publicize the building and sales outreach effort for hundreds of luxury homes and townhomes in the quaint Vermont village of Quechee, Vermont.

With a limited budget, we targeted media in the major “drive” markets that were likely to produce sales, placing feature stories in the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, New York Times, and Washington Post, among others. Feature coverage soon followed in the Boston Magazine, Robb Report, and Travel + Leisure Golf, and other luxury publications.

To take it over the top, MFC PR arranged to have the  building and furnishing of a “smart home” in Quechee, chronicled in twelve episodes of “Home Again,” a national television show hosted by celebrity builder Bob Vila, on CBS. The Response was overwhelming, as website traffic spiked, and visits to the home sites increased dramatically.

La Quinta

MFC PR has represented La Quinta’s franchising program since its inception – in 2001 – through the present.

At inception, there were “zero” franchised properties, and today there are more than 400 . . . an achievement, drawn to scale, that rivals the growth of brands like McDonald’s, Subway and other franchising icons.

We were and remain an integral part of the marketing communications effort that helped spread the world and build the brand. We have placed hundreds of articles, equivalent to millions of dollars in advertising, in trade, consumer and financial media. We made the company’s CEO a regular guest on CNBC, in the period when La Quinta was a public company. We placed the company’s management in more than three dozen cover stories in the lodging trade media.

And we’ve made sure that every step in the franchise’s growth, development and expansion – including, now, international expansion – has been recognized, chronicled, and publicized, in leading publications around the world.

Elite Meetings International

With a vibrant and highly optimized website, we have successfully cross-publicized EMI, via the trade media (online and in-print); via live events and webinars; and through social media. Each press release we send, is distributed through the most efficient internet engines and distribution services, with maximum SEO; gets pitched for placement to social media sites like plannerwire.com and hospitality1st.com; and gets Tweeted, Retweeted and made viral wherever possible.

The company’s biannual Elite Meeting Alliance (EMA) conferences are not just great gathering places for buyers and suppliers – but also vibrant online events, with constant news flow in the social media, which keeps our ever-growing audience of fans, followers and partners, engaged.

Our integration of social media with traditional PR tactics has been an unmitigated success for EMI.

Audemars Piguet

MFC PR was engaged to develop a new market for the ultra-luxurious Swiss watch brand, Audemars Piguet.

In addition to a national watch tour celebrating the brand’s 125th birthday, we helped arrange and publicize a partnership with one of the world’s top “boy bands,” resulting in the commissioning of a special series of watches, proceeds to charity, that were released exclusively by the band at the 2002 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. The press release we organized at the event drew coverage from E! Entertainment, all major TV networks, and Hollywood Tonight, among others.

The subsequent press release announcing the partnership and  charity contributions were publicized around the world – including major American newspapers, TV and  online outlets.