While most sane people were waiting out Hurricane Floyd from the safety of their home or a comfortable bomb shelter, PR folks were, as always, on the job.
While most sane people were waiting out Hurricane Floyd from the
safety of their home or a comfortable bomb shelter, PR folks were, as
always, on the job.
One smart troupe of Floridians, the Orlando Entertainers, bailed out on
their home state for the malls of Dallas, where they canvassed shopping
malls in spandex costumes while making balloon animals for the kiddies.
The group is one element of a campaign jointly developed by the Orlando
Convention and Visitors Bureau and Cramer-Krasselt to increase awareness
of Orlando’s tourist draws in cities like Minneapolis and Washington,
DC.
The troupe, consisting of seven singers and dancers whose shirts spell
out O-R-L-A-N-D-O, will spend three weeks in each city, ostensibly not
ducking cyclones, tsunamis or other forces of nature.
Stanton Crenshaw Communications, on the other hand, bunkered down in its
New York offices while promoting The Weather Channel’s weather.com web
site, which received an astonishing two million unique visitors during a
single day of Floyd’s approach.
Though New York ’only’ received an intense lashing of wind and rain, the
combination of increased media attention - including nods from The New
York Times, all major networks and NPR - and paranoia about the storm’s
approach made for an unusual day at the office.
’It didn’t feel so fun at the time, but there was definitely an esprit
de corps,’ said president/principal Dorothy Crenshaw. She added that
none of the firm’s staffers ended up risking life and limb in the name
of PR: ’At around 8 pm, we put on our Weather Channel ponchos and headed
out into the night.’ Spoken like a true disciple.
