ITHACA, NY: The Johnson School at Cornell University named Coyne PR its AOR, focusing on raising the graduate business school's brand awareness.
Coyne is targeting its effort to groups including potential students, corporate recruiters, and alumni via media outreach focusing on national financial media, said Kevin Lamb, VP at Coyne.
“We are really focusing on emphasizing curriculum, research, and the departments [at the Johnson School],” he added.
Although media outreach is Coyne's priority, the agency is also conducting internal communications and Web-based initiatives for the Johnson School, including promoting webcasts and faculty members on the school's Web site, said Deirdre Snyder, PR officer at the Johnson School, who led the AOR search. Additionally, the agency will assist the school's internal PR staff in its preparation for a winter event titled “Business Of,” which will feature panel discussions and expert speakers, Snyder added.
Coyne is conducting the bulk of media outreach, but the Johnson School's internal PR staff is handling pitches to business school trade publications, Snyder said.
The ongoing financial turmoil has provided the school's faculty and experts a unique opportunity for appearances in the financial media, Lamb added.
“The Johnson School has been a very valuable resource for the media to comment on what is going on, the packages that Congress is acting on, and those sorts of things,” he said, adding that the university's internal PR staff is handling media training for Cornell officials.
The Johnson School selected Coyne after a two-round RFP process during which Snyder narrowed a field of six New York-based agencies to two finalists. Snyder declined to name the other firms that competed for the one-year account, which has an undisclosed budget. The school previously worked with a Los Angeles-based firm, which Snyder declined to name, but she said that hiring an East Coast agency with proximity to the school was a priority.
