They say all good things must come to an end and thus it is with a bittersweet heart I announce that today is the final post for Valley PR Blog. I know, don’t cry.

Valley PR Blog has been a true labor of love for us over these past 4 1/2 years, but truth be told we’ve all moved on to new jobs, new families and new priorities and we seem to have lost the spark. Our first post was actually on Dec. 10, 2006 about some new hires at a local PR agency, and over the years I think we’ve been pretty true to our mission, which was to “bring us all together.” In that time we’ve had 1,943 posts and you’ve made 4,992 comments!

The original team was myself, Dan Wool, Charlotte Risch and Angelo Fernando. Soon after Linda VandeVrede joined us and our little quintet had a nice run. We’ve had a lot of great guest bloggers over the years, from Barry Kluger to Abbie Fink, Tyler Hurst and David Eichler. And there were many more.

Thanks to everyone who made Valley PR Blog a part of their life. Maybe one of you will pick up the flag and carry on?

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Name:

1. What are your main daily duties?
To deliver quality content with a focus on exceptional locally owned businesses.

2. What kinds of stories are you looking for?
Hyper local events, locally owned businesses with an inspired living slant for example stories related to dining, shopping, art, culture, yoga, healthy living, music, pets, kids, holidays, seasonal, destinations. Please visit our Categories page for more detail.

3. What’s the best way to approach you with a pitch?
Email us at submissions@locallily.com. To ensure we only include the most interesting, independent local businesses, we visit each one to experience it for ourselves. We’d love to add your submission to our list and will notify you if it is featured.

4. What recommendations do you have for PR professionals?
We typically write about brick and mortar businesses that are not part of a larger franchise and that are local and independently owned.

5. What’s the strangest/weirdest pitch you’ve ever received?
Nothing immediately comes to mind.

At Crosby/Wright Tuttle will manage public relations campaigns for multiple client accounts.

For the past 18 months, Gretchen had been a publicist with the Phoenix PR firm, Orca Communications. Prior to moving to the PR side of media , she spent 10 years producing newscasts for various networks. Gretchen worked in a few media markets including Las Vegas, NV, Portland, OR and Phoenix. Gretchen is an Emmy-nominated producer, and Women’s in Communications award winner for her coverage of the one-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

Blufish Design Studio

“We are seeing an influx of small and medium-sized businesses starting to increase their marketing dollars, and they are focusing on putting their money toward an online strategy with companies focusing on going social,’ said Matt Hasher, principal of Blufish Design Studio. “By expanding our offering to managing Social Media campaigns we are looking to capitalize, particularly among small businesses, who are in need of a partner to fully manage and execute year-long campaigns.”

Bluefish’s new team members are:

• Daniel Moran, Jr., social media and communication manager—joining the Blufish team as a seasoned PR, marketing and social media professional, Daniel will be spearheading Blufish’s marketing and manage select client’s development and execution of their social media campaigns.
• Renee Griffith, junior designer—the Valley’s latest Phoenician, Renee joins the agency as its newest designer. Renee will be leveraging her background to develop eye catching designs to help brand and promote Blufish’s clients within their respected market.
• Stephanie Childers, office manager—the heart of the Blufish operations, Stephanie is the Operations Manager and manages day-to-day activities to keep the group organized and operating efficiently.

For more information about Blufish Design Studio visit www.blufishdesign.com.

Daniel Moran, Jr.

Renee Griffith

Stephanie Childers

Over the past year, Odell and his team have achieved some significant successes including his support of UTI’s government affairs and corporate compliance efforts, the grand opening of a brand new UTI campus in Dallas, and the company-wide 45^th Anniversary Celebration.

Odell joined UTI in November of 2008, as Director, Internal Communications.  Prior to UTI, Odell spent almost two decades in communications roles with Motorola and Philips.

If I can be of any help to those of you wondering what to do today, here is a great post I saw about what PR Pros can expect following Bin Laden’s death.

Fantastic advice. If you have more ideas or thoughts to share with the readers of Valley PR Blog, please comment. What are you doing in PR today?

The group meets the first Thursday of every odd month. The May 5th meeting will be a noon luncheon centrally located at a pizza joint in the Old Town section of Scottsdale (location sent with your RSVP). This month come share and hear ideas on how to grow your business. The meeting is free to PRSA members; $5 for all others. For more information or to RSVP (deadline noon May 4), contact Jeff Pizzino, APR at (480) 606-8292 or e-mail.

“With the support of our loyal team and long-time clients, we can confidently say that we’ve built one of the best creative agencies in the Southwest,” said Eichler.
Some of David and Sam PR’s highlights include:

• Re-launching Dunkin’ Donuts in Phoenix in late-2008, creating buzz for more than 40 store openings with marketing, social media and public relations campaigns.
• Being recognized as a 2011 OBIE Awards finalist by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) for My Sister’s Attic’s “One Night Stand” billboards, a continuation of the brands iconic “Sell Your Sole” campaign for My Sister’s Closet.
• Development and launch of a Facebook application, Digeez’s Vacation, for Cox Communications Arizona aimed at building more personal engagement from customers. The local Cox division is leading the way in social media for the national brand.
• The creation and build-out of its signature “Treehouse” office space in Phoenix, which has become recognized as one of the city’s most dynamic work environments.

Nice work guys!

Bill Kircos

The 2011 IABC Phoenix Copper Quill Awards banquet and ceremony will be held Wednesday, May 18, 2011 from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Desert Botanical Garden.

The keynote address will be by Bill Kircos, General Manager, Marketing at Intel. Bill Kircos manages the marketing efforts for Intel Corporation’s Netbook and Tablet Group, overseeing customer sales and support, product feature planning and introductions and communications worldwide.  He has been with Intel for almost 15 years, and has more than 20 years of experience in the marketing and communications fields.  Kircos was a lead communications manager for the company’s initial social media foray in 2004, and managed that effort until assuming his current role.
 
Kircos will share case studies and talk about how Intel has shifted its marketing, employee communications and public relations efforts to focus more around innovation and technology leadership, versus just a specific product during his keynote presentation.  He will walk through how Intel created a marketing theme and built what the company calls 360 degree, integrated communications plans to ensure every audience – from employees and financial analysts to consumers and customers – receives a consistent message about the Intel brand promise, which then “lifts” its product portfolio.

For full details, pricing and to reserve your seat visit www.iabcphoenix.com.