Journalism and Publicity, A Solid Bond

Hello to you all. I hope you are enjoying your Friday afternoon and head into your weekend with a smile on your face.

I want to touch on the topic of how journalism relates to publicity or raising awareness. I would like to share with you fist hand experiences and how I made this happen as well as what it felt like to create a news story and watch it grow. I will use an example that is very dear to me that really represents one of my major accomplishments. It is about the public relations campaign I created and executed to ensure Frances Bay, a famous actress from Dauphin Manitoba, receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2008 for her 90th birthday.

My husband and I were out for dinner way back when in 2007 and were in a fight. We were sitting in the Boston Pizza lounge giving each other the silent treatment. My husband wrote something on a cocktail napkin to try to get my attention and get out of the dog house. On the cocktail napkin was the best idea that would change lives forever. I remember picking up the napkin to read it as my curiousity got the best of me. The message said, "Frances Bay for Canada's Walk of Fame." Well, my eyes lit up instantly and my husband and I started talking again. We fevereshly started hashing out this awesome idea that would turn out to be the most aggressive public relations campaign that the Walk of Fame office had ever seen.

Bay is my third cousin. She is known for her roles in Happy Gilmore as Sandler's grandma, the Marble Rye Lady in Seinfeld and Fonzie's grandma in Happy Days. She has been in three David Lynch movies and won a Gemini award for her work in Road To Avonlea. You perhaps won't recognize the name France Bay, but you would recognize her face. Fran was also known as the Girlfriend to the Canadian Forces and had her own radio show called Everybody's Program. I have letters going back to 1944 saying her voice kept soldiers alive during the war. Fran is a vital piece of Canadian heritage.

So, now that you have a bit of Bay's career history, let me share how important it was building relationships with the media to get the Frances Bay For Walk of Fame campaign off the ground. I couldn't have made this happen without the media. So, I first want to say thank you to all of the journalists that saw potential in my story and helped me make it newsworthy.
I must admit, I loved creating news. I found it so exciting, and it didn't feel like work. I do remember though scrounging for change in the bottom of my couch to pay for gas money to drive to the interviews at the television studios. Luckily, I made it there and back!

I think because I had so much passion for my subject that I was promoting, the process didn't feel like work and my determination mixed with my passion came through when I communicated the key messages to the public. I did remember though, when it came to providing factual information, I knew that I had to be very careful. A few times, I read wrong information in the paper about Fran's age, or personal information. I had to learn that sometimes, things are just out of my control and I can only do the best that I could. This experience made me think about what would happen if I worked in media relations for an organization and how incredibly stressful it would be if the wrong information did come out in the papers even when you checked and checked with reporters.

Okay, back to the topic at hand. I generated news stories in all local media plus national coverage including all the mediums such as radio, tv and print media. I will never forget how excited I was when Macleans did a full feature story on my campaign. This was especially gratifying for me because I graduated from the Public Relations and Management Program from the University of Winnipeg in 2005. So, to use my skill set towards a cause like this was unbelievable. I also generated media coverage on Entertainment Tonight Canada and CBC Sunday News. If you can imagine, a producer called me from Toronto and said they would like to bring their crew out to interview me about the public relations efforts I did for the campaign. That was a high. CBC coming to my little apartment in River Heights. Yikes. Well they did come, we shot the footage in just a couple of takes. I remember saying to myself, I am born for this. I loved it. I will never forget when it aired on CBC. Wow, was that exciting but daunting all at the same time. I hate seeing myself on camera. This was up close and personal. I got through it though reminding myself that this wasn't about me, it was about Fran.

I will never forget cold calling Morley Walker. He is a tough nut to crack. Luckily, I had a bit of a connection at the Free Press tha panned out. My mom's old time friend is the aunt to Margo Goodhand, the editor of the Free Press. I cold emailed her a few times. Then, Morley Walker's email was in my inbox. I remember Morley saying, "I don't think she is going to get it kid, she isn't big enough." I had to go to the Free press building for a photo shoot. Well, when the paper came out, wow. It was a full page spread with a huge picture of me smiling proudly holding Fran's picture up. I wish I had known the photo was going to take up half the page!

I continued to promote the campaign to the bitter end. I cold called Hollywood in my pj's until late in the evening trying to break through to personal assistants. Well, my determination and passion paid off because I was able to secure letters of support for Fran's nominaiton from Jerry Seinfeld, David Lynch and Henry Winkler. Wowee!

I will never forget when Fran did get the star and how I found out about it. The CEO of the walk of fame called me at my apartment. Now, that was something. He said he had to find out who I was because the work I had done was getting a buzz. He told me Fran was going to be inducted for their 10th anniversary special. Plus, she would be the oldest person inducted. It was awesome. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I did it! I also won't forget having Morley Walker call me directly. He simply said, "Kid, you were right, you did it." Now, that was affirmation.

WIthout people like Morley Walker, or Jon Hendricks for example who is a wonderful person, campaigns like these would not have a voice. I am so thrilled that our efforts paid off.

On September 15 at around 7:15pm in Studio City, California with family at her bedside, Frances passed away at the age of 93. Now more than ever I am honoured and so thrilled I did what I did for her in 2008. It is really overwhelming though when you work as hard and tirelessly as I did over a year to make something like this happen. Now, as I digest that she is gone, I am overwhelmed with knowing how meaningful her star is and what it represents. I never thought I would have these types of emotions. They are difficult to manage.

To conclude, journalists and publicists need each other to share informaiton and tell the sotries of people changing the world and leaving their marks. What a fascinating relationship.
Thank you,
Anrea Zaslov