A Westerner’s Tales of PR in the Wild, Wild East

Ni hao! Fellow Milwaukee Communicator Matt Wisla has written two articles related to his PR experiences in China for the PRSA national publications The Strategist and Tactics. Check them out here (you’ll need your PRSA membership login & password to log into the national site):

http://www.prsa.org/Intelligence/TheStrategist/Articles/view/10387/1084/the_china_challenge_best_practices_for_the_world_s

http://www.prsa.org/intelligence/tactics/articles/view/10411/1085/what_you_need_to_know_about_your_first_china_relat#.UoZptF_napo

Wisla is a Marquette Journalism graduate and spent some of his early career in Milwaukee at Bader Rutter and Nelson & Schmidt. More recently he worked with Fleishman-Hillard as a vice president at that agency’s Beijing office, and has also served as the vice president of Communications at the American Chamber of Commerce in the People’s Republic of China.

Chinese Dragon

Xie xie (pn. “shay-shay”) for the very interesting articles, Matt! We’re betting you’ve got some great cocktail hour anecdotes about your experiences in China beyond what’s in these articles! Looking forward to hearing more when we see you at PR Palooza in a couple of weeks!

You can contact Matt Wisla at matt.wisla@yahoo.com

 

2013 Paragon Awards–An impressive display of PR Prowess!

The majestic Empire Room at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center was THE place to be on Tuesday, May 21, as we celebrated the 2013 Paragon Awards and more than 50 area communications professionals were honored.

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Laughlin Constable was honored with the Best in Show award for the agency’s work with the Wisconsin Department of Tourism (even the Governor tweeted his congratulations). The Best in Show award-winning submission – “Travel Wisconsin Helps Keep Wisconsinites Warm with ‘The Big Bundle Up’” – served to promote the Wisconsin Department of Tourism’s annual community relations campaign to collect warm clothing items for needy families. The campaign – spearheaded by Lisa Todd of Laughlin Constable and Danielle Johnson of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism – utilized multiple communications platforms resulting in a 550 percent year-over-year increase in the total number of items collected. Judges, comprised of a panel of PR experts from around the country, were impressed with the project’s excellent results on a relatively small budget and its solid, measurable objectives. 

 “We had many outstanding submissions this year,” said Don Klein, chapter president. “It’s truly a testament to the quality of communications work going on in the region.”

This year’s Communicator of the Year is Jeff Sherman, president and co-owner of OnMilwaukee.com. A vital part of OnMilwaukee.com since 2000, Jeff uses his love of sports, community building and all things Milwaukee to bring colorful stories and content to the site, which has become a Wisconsin institution over the last 15 years.

This year’s winner of the Dorothy Thomas Black award is Dale Brown, APR. Dale led the firm Brown and Martin for more than 30 years before his recent retirement. His use of ventriloquism as a serious communications tool has gained him national attention. Dale is a past president of the chapter and brought out his dummy for a truly memorable acceptance speech.

So who else received awards for their hard work? Lots of people, lots of agencies. Far too many to name here (you don’t want to read a blog post that long, trust me)! 

Congratulations to ALL the award winners. We’re so proud of the Chapter’s members’ accomplishments. And a special thank you to all those who worked diligently behind the scenes to get this event happen. Excellent job! 

We’re looking for event planners to help with next year’s Paragon Awards–great experience and a terrific way to give back to the Chapter. If you’re interested, please contact President-Elect Samantha Andrews, APR at saandrew@froedterthealth.org. 

See a few photos from the event in the PRSA Facebook gallery.