Pierce Communications Blog

Our friends at Unity House need some help as they prepare to open the new domestic violence shelter in Troy in March.  Would you please consider buying and donating one of the items listed below?  How simple would it be to pick up a package of socks or pajamas, a set of sheets or some potholders or towels the next time you are shopping?  Your help would be greatly appreciated by the Unity House staff, and by us!

Some of the needed items include:  twin size sheets, comforters and bed-in-a-bag sets; bath, hand and face towels; dish towels and dish cloths; potholders; ladies pajamas, sweat suits and socks; children’s pajamas, socks and underwear; toaster ovens and coffeemakers.

Donations can be dropped of at Unity House’s Development Office at 33 Second Street in Troy.   Or, if you would like to conduct a drive for these items at your place of work, or with your club, team, book group or group of friends, Unity House will gladly pick up your donations.

Questions?  Please call Diane Cameron Pascone in the Unity House Development Office at 518.274.2633, extension 356 or email her at DCameron@UnityhouseNY.org

Quick facts about the Unity House Domestic Violence Program: In 2011, Unity House sheltered 106 women and 56 children.  Because of space limitations in the old shelter, they were forced to redirect more than 340 additional victims and their 428 children to distant shelters or motels.  With the new 33-bed shelter, they will double the number of women and children served each year.

To our clients who were able to attend our holiday open house on Friday, thanks for joining us.  We were happy to show off our cool office space and to share some laughs with you.  To all of our clients, know that we value your business and your friendship and look forward to another productive year working together.

Happy Holidays!

Our new logo sign greets you as you leave the elevator and enter our offices

Tools of our trade

Not quite the smartphones we use today, but a tribute to the past

Thanks to our good friend Mark Duffy, we have some really cool artwork hanging on our walls these days.  We asked Mark to create some paintings that illustrate the tools of our trade and he did a fantastic job.  And just today, he came by with the latest installation — a large sign depicting our logo that you’ll see as you step out of the elevator into our offices.  Come visit us soon!

And now a word from our president on the occasion of Pierce Communications’ 8th anniversary:

Eight years ago, when I started Pierce Communications in the attic of my house I never would have dreamed that in 2011 I would be sitting at a desk in an office with my name on the door, with phones ringing and computers chirping throughout the day and night.  I also never dreamed that eight years later I would be looking at websites on my phone, worrying about social media crises and engaging in twitter wars with Michigan fans.

But, I am.

So, happy anniversary to us!  Many thanks to all of our clients, partners, friends and colleagues who have helped us make it to this day.  Special thanks to Jo Ann and Penny for all of their hard work and dilligence to getting results for our clients and keeping things running around here.

For the last seven years, Thanksgiving week has meant several things to me:  the anniversary of this great adventure, the Ohio State-Michigan game and, of course, being thankful for the many people and things who have contributed to the success of Pierce Communications.

So, if you’re reading this, thank you too!

Being a native Ohioan, this time of year reminds me of more than the greatest rivalry in sports (good vs. evil or, as you probably know it, Ohio State vs. Michigan).  Every year, Thanksgiving also reminds me of this classic television episode from my youth.

“As God is my witnesss, I thought turkeys could fly.”

Here’s to another year of trying to fly better than the turkeys.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

ION (Independent Optical Network) Holdco, a new Pierce Communications client, has just completed installing 3,300 feet of fiber optic cable (part of a 53.5-mile network build) across the newly opened Lake Champlain Bridge, bringing state-of-the-art broadband service to these rural communities. Read what the Times Union reported about the project here:  http://bit.ly/v5erSB

Pierce client Adirondack Small Cap Fund is sponsoring a competition for student teams from 18 colleges and universities that is generating interest from the media and some healthy competition among the students.  Student teams get to manage a hypothetical $1 million portfolio of stocks, making only two trades between now and when the contest ends in April.  Go to  http://www.adirondackfunds.com/adirondackCup.html to learn more about the contest and see which colleges are participating.  Local favorite UAlbany is leading the race after the first week!

Check out the Times Union article about the contest here:  http://bit.ly/u5Op35 and the Business Review article here:  http://bit.ly/volrBN

At last night’s Empire Awards for public relations excellence, presented by the Capital Region chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, Pierce Communications won two awards for client work.

Our work to raise awareness locally, regionally and nationally for the 2010 Windham World Cup of Mountain Bike Racing won the Empire Award for Public Relations Campaign for Non-Profits.  This world-class event was put on by a team of Windham volunteers and resulted in more than 15,000 people visiting the event and worldwide media attention.

Our efforts for the Adirondack Small Cap Fund also won an Empire Award in the Regional Media Relations category for for-profit firms.  Earlier this year, Adirondack’s fund managers were presented with the prestigious Lipper Award as the best small cap fund in the nation and we helped them leverage this into a series of regional and national articles which has helped contribute to an unprecedented growth in the fund.

So…we were two for two!  Two entries and two winners! 

Actually, though, we were three for three because our very own Penny Vavura, who currently serves as the PRSA chapter president, did an amazing job putting the evening together (with the help of Jo Ann and several other dedicated volunteers).  Congratulations to Penny for all of her hard work, which has resulted in an amazing year for our local chapter of PRSA.

We’re so pleased to continue to get this kind of recognition from our peers in the public relations industry (including the Outstanding Practioner Awards that Jon and Jo Ann have won, we’ve now won eight Empire Awards!), but we’re more pleased with the recognition and appreciation that we get every day from our wonderful clients.

As we get ready for tomorrow’s announcement of the winners of PRSA’s Empire Awards, we wanted to share some more recent successes with you.  In the span of about 10 days we helped orchestrate three major community announcements and received tremendous media coverage at each.

First, we helped National Grid with a major announcement.  In front of virtually every media outlet in the area, Bill Flaherty, National Grid’s director of customer and community management, announced that natural gas prices this winter should be lower than last year.

Later in the week, Price Chopper and WNYT presented a check for more than $125,000 to the American Red Cross to help the Red Cross work with flood victims throughout the area.  The money was raised by Price Chopper’s teammates and customers and represents the largest such month-long campaign in Price Chopper’s history.

Last week, Price Chopper announced that it would be donating all of the turkey needed for the annual Equinox Thanksgiving Day Community Dinner — approximately 9,000 pounds of turkey.  In addition, Price Chopper and Equinox launched an innovative new program — Project Soup — which takes the leftovers from the dinner and gets them, along with Price Chopper gift cards, to local organizations to use in making soup to help continue to feed the community well beyond Thanksgiving Day.

The great thing about what we do?  Every day it is something different.  But, it is (almost) always something good.

We’re very proud to share that we have two projects named as finalists for the 2011 Public Relations Society’s Empire Awards.  Each year, the Capital Region chapter of PRSA presents its Empire Awards to showcase outstanding public relations programs, projects and people that strengthen, promote and sharpen the public relations profession in the Capital Region and beyond.

This year two Pierce Communications projects are finalists for an Empire Award:   The Windham 2010 Mountain Bike World Cup & Festival in the PR Campaign (non-profit) category and Adirondack Small Cap Fund Announcement in the Media Relations/Regional (for profit) category.  We’re really proud of the work we’ve done for these two clients and have invited them to join us at the awards event on Oct. 27.  We’re hoping we leave with some trophies!

Congratulations to the other finalists who have been chosen.  We applaud your work and the role it plays in elevating our profession!

The MicroKnowledge Team at the Van Rensselaer Awards Dinner.

Congratulations to our good friends at MicroKnowledge on being honored with the Van Rensselaer Small Business Award by the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce in recognition of the company’s outstanding contributions to the quality of life in our region.

Since 1986, MicroKnowledge has been a pioneer in technology learning, providing high-quality training, consulting and documentation services to businesses, government, and non-profit organizations.  The company’s core values include giving back to the community.  As a result MicroKnowledge and its team members donate time, talent, creativity and treasure to many organizations throughout the community to help those in need.

We applaud MicroKnowledge’s owners Kathleen Pingelski and Lisa Ryan, and its founder Beth Coco — and the entire MicroKnowledge team — on this well-deserved recognition.