While some brands are smarter and more savvy than others (@Zappos and @VirginAmerica I’m talking to you), there are still some brands that don’t get it. Brands need to go beyond simply having a Facebook and Twitter account. This is obvious. In fact, brands need to go beyond the infamous social media catchphrase “engagement.” Talk with me, not at me. Engagement is crucial but once achieved, what’s next? Well, social networking has redefined the consumer—and has clearlycreated a new breed of brand advocates. Studies show that at least 40% of a brand’s consumers are advocates and 90% of consumers trust recommendations from advocates (Zuberance, 2011). Brands need to start turning their social consumers into their loyal brand advocates. It’s one of the most powerful ways a brand can stand out.

This now brings me to my recent consumer experience with Best Buy. Before this experience, I have to admit, my interactions with the retail giant were pleasant. Sure, no brand-consumer relationship can be entirely perfect, but it was nonetheless positive. In fact I considered myself as someone who usually liked and was loyal to shopping at Best Buy (I’ve bought a washer, dryer, and two televisions there). And after much research, thought, and consideration, my husband and I purchased a wall mount for our television from Best Buy.

Without being too long-winded, a quick recap of the events that followed

• We bought the mount, brought it home, and then a couple of days later Geek Squad came to install it.
• Upon installation, we were told we had purchased the wrong wall mount (the wall mount we were instructed to buy). We’d have to buy another, more expensive one. Lucky for us, Geek Squad has one on their truck.
• During installation we were told we would need an electrician to put the electrical cord through the wall, which was the first we had heard of this throughout the process. Didn’t someone at the store tell you, you would need one? Nope.

Even at this point, I felt okay. Things happen. People get confused. It’s fine. We’d figure it out.

It wasn’t until I lugged the old wall mount back to the store to return it that I ran into some issues. There were some financing and coupon issues that made the return tricky. The customer service associate who was very nice made photo copies of my receipts, credit card, and took down my number saying his manager would call me back once it was all straightened out.

Great. Sounded good to me.

I waited all day. No call. I followed up that night at 8:00 pm. I waited on hold for 15 minutes before I got a “live person” at the store. She transferred me to customer service where the phone rang, and then I was transferred back to the same person. She transferred me again. And then I was on hold. Again. At some point I hung up and called back. Got the same “live person.” She transferred me. Again. On hold. This cycle lasted for nearly two hours. I finally hung up and tried calling back. The store was closed.

Now I was frustrated. Not only did I waste cell phone minutes, but I wasted my night trying to follow up to see if the billing situation was taken care of. I wondered when it became okay to ignore customers? I tweeted my frustrations to @BestBuy and got a response from @Coral_BestBuy saying she hoped the store picked up and answered my questions. And then the following day, I got a tweet from the actual store @BestBuyDanvers blaming their phone systems, which I didn’t fully believe. Upon receiving this tweet, I called the store and spoke to the person who had tweeted to me from the store. I then had to re-explain the entire situation. He apologized. Said the “live person” I spoke to was new. And that they were understaffed. He said he would call me back in a half an hour with some answers.

In less than half an hour he called me back, said sorry, and put me on the phone with another customer service agent who then sorted out the situation. Issue resolved.

The whole experience left me feeling used and annoyed. A “sorry” just didn’t feel good enough. And when I finally did speak to that person from the store the next day, re-explaining the situation, I pointed out to the associate that up until the night before, I appreciated how nice everyone at Best Buy was to me.

Even when I had to return the wrong mount. Even when no one told me about needing to hire an electrician. Even when the sales associate couldn’t fully process my return. Even when no one called me back. Even when I waited on hold for almost two hours. Even after all the missing information and empty promises, I did appreciate the kindness of the gentleman who sold me the mount, the Geek Squad technicians, and the customer service associate who tried to do my return.

But to my surprise, the associate told me it didn’t matter how nice people were, because these events during this transaction should not have happened.

He was right—they should not have happened. Although I did appreciate Best Buy’s quick response to me on Twitter and “engaging” with me, I did tweet back saying I’d have to rethink other retail options for future purchases, to which I got a reply:

It was yet another “sorry” which, I didn’t respond to because I was ready to move on.

But a couple hours later @Coral_BestBuy tweeted me—she wasn’t about to give up on me as quickly:

I sent her my email. And we’ll just see what happens next.

I understand companies, large and small, are going to disappoint their consumers at times, but it’s how the company reacts to those failures which ultimately determines which consumers will stay loyal and which consumers will go.

So my fellow social consumers— I want to know about your negative retail experience and how a company successfully handled it?  How did they win you back? What did they do right? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

UPDATE:

@Coral_BestBuy called to follow up with me. She appreciated my tweets and blog post about my shopping experience. Coral asked me if she could use them to share and educate the Best Buy corporate team about how to handle future transactions and issues that may arise. I, of course, agreed because after all—the purpose of this outreach was to help Best Buy while alerting my fellow social consumers.

She then offered me a $75 Best Buy gift card which is a nice sentiment, considering it will force me to have to enter Best Buy again and make another purchase. Or maybe, just maybe– I will save myself the frustration and gift it to someone else.

http://www.facebook.com/perkettpr

Today, you can catch PerkettPR’s Claire Russell presenting “The Power of Reel” at 1 p.m. EST at IMS. She’ll be partnering with Bettina Hein, Founder & CEO of Pixability, to showcase how easy and powerful video is – and how it can help you to not only tell your story but create stronger relationships and impact in your social marketing efforts. Case studies will include work and campaigns from businesses such as Old Spice, Livestrong, St. Louis Children’s Hospital and more.

Not in Boston at IMS today? Then considering joining me at 1 p.m., along with the American Marketing Association, Conduit (a PerkettPR client), John Jantsch, Author of Duct Tape Marketing and Sally Falkow, as we present “5 Must Dos for Social Media Holiday Marketing.” Focused mainly on how SMBs can use social media to successfully – and easily – expand their holiday marketing efforts. Not convinced social marketing is for you? Check out these facts from the press release:

• More than 50% of the 500 million Facebook users log on to Facebook every day.  In total, they spend over 700 billion minutes per month on the service.
• People are watching 2 billion videos a day on YouTube; every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to the service.
• Users spend 22.7% of their time online on social networking sites.

I hope we’ll see you either at IMS, FutureM or on the webinar today. Looking forward to sharing insights, learning from others and continuing to merge our online and offline relationships.

Happy marketing!

I, on the other hand, was hoping for a real look at the behind the scenes world of celebrity publicity —which is seemingly chic and glamorous and something I’ve always been interested in. Instead of getting insight I could sink my teeth into —I got shallow, poorly acted Hollywood drama queens. I can’t help but feel let down as I was, in fact, hoping that this show would stand apart from its predecessors and really dive into celebrity promotion, publicity strategies and best practices.

I wanted to see how the firm handles big name events, the ever-changing celebrity social media landscape and maybe a crisis or two (and we know there’s plenty) for their superstar clients.  I wanted to see the day-in-the-life of a tireless PR maven — who would share new ideas and insight into the inner workings of the Hollywood PR scene.  But the more I watched, the more frustrated I became. The show loses complete focus of what PR truly is— connecting with others in a valuable and meaningful way—and who PR is truly about—the client. Instead Command PR chooses to take us down a rat hole of wasted money, poor self-images and bad attitudes.

Aside from the lack of PR focus—the show portrays one of the most ridiculous work environments I’ve ever witnessed. 99.9% of those of us in PR have never been exposed to anything like the office environment or behavior this show depicts. In the first episode, Cheban makes and pays for a lip injection appointment for one of his new employees—and when she refuses to get the permanent procedure—he bluntly states “you’re homely — no offense. But this is, like, Hollywood. You need to step it up.” Cheban also spends part of the episode stressing over his own physique — ultimately trying to “freeze” his back fat off.  Absolutely ridiculous. I guess when there isn’t enough drama in your reality show you have to create it and that’s seemingly what they are doing with The Spin Crowd.

PR industry outsiders they wonder — is this what PR is all about? An industry so far removed from reality, common sense and respect? An industry where your looks count for everything, you don’t need to be professional, respect others, work hard, think on your toes or strive to impress your clients? Let me answer for all of my fellow colleagues and the other 99.9% of PR professionals out there – THIS IS NOT PR. At PerkettPR, we work tirelessly for our clients – we know it’s about them, not us. We think. We listen. We ask questions. We constantly look for more ways to innovate. We challenge ourselves with new projects and ideas. We consistently measure our worth in how happy our clients are, how much respect we garner from the press and how our results stack up at the end of each quarter. And we work in a healthy, encouraging, and motivating environment.

So fellow PR professionals, if you had the bad fortune of tuning in and wasting a half-hour of your lives— tell us what you think about the show. Please share your thoughts so we can dispel some of these complete myths about our profession. We are especially interested in hearing from other celebrity PR firms. Do you think this is the way celebrity publicity should be depicted on TV? Are you offended or OK with it? Is there any truth to this? Anything redeeming about this program we missed behind the self-tanner?

PerkettPR employees seem to manifest this thinking and we have several marathon runners among our ranks, in addition to hot yoga addicts, belly dancers, skiers, Karate and Taekwondo enthusiasts and triathletes.    

This particular community post by Olive, who is spending 30 days living the Lululemon manifesto, made me pause – and then take action.  Olive writes, “Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself (for real this time).”

Maybe a certain client or reporter has you questioning your value and ability despite your best efforts. Maybe you’re still beating yourself up after eating another slice of pie. Maybe you’re too busy to work out, sleep enough, read a book, and grow a garden.

Add your (probably too long) list here of the things that sap your positive energy – that you’re not good enough at, or that you wish you could do better at.

That’s enough of that. To be successful at our lives, as well as our jobs, we have to start by accepting ourselves – a never-ending process – but one that’s worth the time and effort.

Here are a few things Olive has learned that are worth sharing:

• Loving yourself means committing to participating in your own life.
• Learn to forgive and grow from perceived failures (we often forget that these feelings pass).
• Identify flaws and what you are doing with or about them.
• Learn to interrupt my inner voice, especially when it starts going on those long-winded rants about you not being good enough, or in control, or perfect (you know the usual cycle of darts you throw at yourself).
• I learned that I can talk myself in or out of anything. Someone once told me that you can rationalize and justify all day long, all life long and do nothing to live a better life. Or, you can begin to realize that you actually hold the secret within you to take your life or at least your attitude towards life in any direction you choose.

After realizing only you can empower yourself, the next step is about goal setting. In PR we’re all about this – we develop a thoughtful, forward-thinking, strategic PR plan that aligns with our clients goals. We benchmark against is regularly and make adjustments as those goals or strategies change. Why don’t we all do that for ourselves in our personal lives? Maybe you do. But if you don’t maybe now is the time to start.

Write down your short and long-term goals four times a year. Two personal, two business and two health goals for the next 1, 5 and 10 years. I am in the process of setting these goals for myself. I ran my first ½ marathon in June and completing it has inspired me to keep running and to formalize some other goals I have. I’ve heard people say that running is a mental sport and I agree. In my experience, my body will do what I ask of it if I train properly, and fuel it well. It’s my head that keeps holding me back saying: you can’t finish this run, you’ll never be fast enough, you’re crazy to try this, you’re not good enough, etc.

This video, Jessica’s Daily Affirmation, always gives me a boost. I especially like when she says, “my whole imagination is greeeeeat!”

I’m pretty sure most things in life are “mental sports,” so setting goals and checking in on them is a good way to keep those negative thoughts at bay. Do you already set goals? How do you track them? Do you keep them private or share them? We would love to hear your thoughts on how you empower yourself in the workplace and beyond.

“Social media is still media – it’s not anything new.” Watch the video to learn more, and be sure to check out Part 1 of the interview if you haven’t seen it yet.

Thanks again to Ilena for sharing her time and insights with us – and you!

NOTE: We continue our interview series of influencers, media and entrepreneurs across industries such as tech, fashion and healthcare. If you have an interesting subject for us to consider, please email blog [at] perkettpr [dot] com!

Ilina is a firecracker. That is the word that most use to describe her. She is the definition of a straight-shooter and that is what I love about her. Your classic Type-A, she is a self-proclaimed ‘neat freak’, die-hard Democrat and mother of two boys. In her ‘spare’ time Illina runs her own marketing company, iFactor, and also finds time to write for multiple blogs including Foodie Mamma and Deep South Moms and is a regular contributor to WRAL’s GoAsk Mom column. Talk about an effective multitasker!

In this first of a two-part series, Ilina sat down to talk to PerkettPR about her gritty – and sometimes controversial – blog Dirt and Noise.  In this interview, she shares background on what inspires the content for her blog, what postings garner the most attention – both positive and negative – and offers sound advice for others who are thinking about dipping their toe into the blogging pool.

NOTE: We’re reviving our interview series of influencers, media and entrepreneurs across industries such as tech, fashion and healthcare. If you have an interesting subject for us to consider, please email blog [at] perkettpr [dot] com!

While Robert now has a corporate job as a video blogger for Rackspace – where he is building a community for people fanatical about the Internet called building43, he has long been a technical evangelist. Also a published author of Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers, with Shel Israel, Scoble is probably best known for his blog, Scobleizer, which came to prominence during his tenure as a technical evangelist at Microsoft and is now unarguably one of the top tech blogs around. Scoble also used to work for Fast Company as a video blogger, where he learned his fair share of dealing with PR people.

PerkettPR sat down with Scoble recently and asked his opinion on everything from how kids influence his perspective to what his favorite sites are (hint: tweet, tweet) and how he uses them, to what he wanted to be when he grew up. Here, in Part I of our two-part series, you get to know a little bit about how he got started (there were only about 200 blogs around when he did!).

Each MVP is clear an example of the many top-notch, talented individuals we have at PerkettPR, and sharing the announcement here is a way for you to get to know them a little better. So without further ado, here is PerkettPR’s MVP for April 2010:

Johanna Cappello

What is your role at PerkettPR?
I am an Operation Assistant—I assistant the Account and Executive teams with research, coverage reports, or managing speaking/awards databases. Also I help with the PR for PerkettPR and more recently have spearheaded a few client driven design projects.

How long have you been with the company?
Over 2 years.

What do you like best about your job?
The variety—each day is different. The work is always fresh, and I love being part of such a motivating, inspiring team—who are continuously pushing me to work harder.

Who inspires you?
Boma (my grandmother) and my Mom—independent, passionate, resilient women.

How do you inspire others?
I am an eternal optimist— and in moments of adversity have used my ambition, my motivation, of course, my optimism to rise above.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not working?
Writing. Cooking. And beach-ing.

What did you want to be when you were little?
Singer on Broadway

How do you stay motivated?
I surround myself with positive, honest, and inspirational people. Also, I love reading and considerate myself a lifelong student. Learning more (and more) is continuously fueling my motivation.

What’s your favorite quote?
“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: not going all the way and not starting.” (Budda)

How did you go above and beyond to win this month’s MVP?
I worked diligently on a client project involving designing numerous materials, coordinating estimates, and delivery for a client product launch at a conference.

Editor’s note: Johanna is being modest here. In every company, there are people who stick to their To Do list and then there are employees who proactively go above and beyond. Johanna has some talents that she isn’t required to apply in her every day job. However, when she saw a need for these talents, she proactively stepped up and stepped in – surprising us all by unveiling additional strengths that we weren’t aware of, and working above and beyond what she’s required to do in her current position. Not only did she provide some new ideas and content, but she showed managers her ability to grow in a way we hadn’t thought of before in regards to her future here at PPR. Today, she’s MVP, but she also carved out a new path for her career here – one that will benefit our clients from both the PR and content creation and design perspective – and benefit her by allowing her to do what she loves. Johanna is a great example of how stepping up and stepping in can benefit both your employer and you!

Connect with Johanna on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

PerkettPR employees receive 40 paid hours of community service time a year, in addition to our regular paid time off. 40 paid hours to get out of the office and use our talents, passion and energy to support an initiative that’s important to us! I love it.

Most of us already spend personal time doing volunteer work but when we have busy jobs, families, professional development commitments, etc., it can be hard to find the extra time to contribute where and when we want to. I’m excited to have this opportunity to supplement the work I’m already doing and I hope you’ll be interested in hearing about what we’re all doing with our #CommunityService time here and on Twitter.

We have found that giving back to our communities makes us better people and provides a sense of accomplishment that is different from what we achieve at the office. How do you strike a balance? Where do you find time to give back? Who supports you?

How I’m Spending My Time

As a two-time Melanoma survivor the work of the Melanoma Foundation of New England is close to my heart. The programs they support, like the monthly support group I attend, are vital to cancer patients in the region. For the last three years I have volunteered my time and energy to help raise money for the foundation and awareness for our cause.

Since January, we have gathered 5,000 signatures from high school students across New England, for the Your Skin Is In program, who have pledged NOT to tan before their prom. I will personally be out speaking at high schools and colleges – sharing my own struggle with Melanoma and encouraging young adults to think about beauty and health as one in the same. Last week I spoke to 50+ female athletes at Wheaton College, my alma mater. As a collegiate lacrosse player, I wanted to convey the life altering events that happen when you go from being an athlete to a patient, facing months of recovering from surgeries where you’ve had tumors and lymph nodes removed. Melanoma is the most common cancer among women aged 25-32. I want these young women to hear my story and see the face of skin cancer – mine and theirs.

People who use tanning beds once a month, before the age of 35, increase their melanoma risk by 75%. This additional 40 hours of paid community service time means that I can speak to more students, educate more young people, and save more lives. I take this advocacy work seriously and I’m proud to say my employer supports me in my mission.

Here is a video the foundation just released – it’s a powerful teaching tool about how indoor tanning causes skin cancer. Won’t you watch it and consider sharing the facts with those you care about?

Tanning Is Out: Your Skin Is In:

Some of the PerkettPR crew at December’s holiday party

Because of you, our amazing community, we’ve been voted a finalist in the list for “Best Tech PR” from TechCrunch’s “The Crunchie’s Awards.” Thank you for voting us to the finalist list! Now, our friends, family, clients, prospects and partners can vote once per day until January 6 to help us win this prestigious award. Think of it as the tech industry’s own Oscars! Winners are announced during the Crunchies award ceremony in San Francisco on the 8th of January 2010. For more information, visit the Crunchies homepage.

If you’ve seen or experienced our work and been impressed, we would love your vote/s. Please click here to vote for us for “Best Tech PR” - you can click next to our name, no registration required, and be done in less than a minute. You’ll see lot of other exciting categories to vote on as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog, vote for us and for being such a fantastic community. We wouldn’t be here without you! Happy New Year!

We are on our last few days of collecting clothing and donations for Rosie’s Place in Boston. If you live in or around Boston, we will pick up your clothing donations over the weekend or on Monday, December 14. Please contact us via the email below or Susan at 781.267.8849 to coordinate time and location. In a time where donating money can be difficult, please consider looking through your closet this weekend instead. That old sweater you haven’t worn for five years might not mean much to you, but can brighten 2010 for a woman in need.

If you would like to donate monetarily, please use our ChipIn button below. We’ll be delivering a check and clothing to Rosie’s on Monday, December 14.

Thank you!

2009 has unarguably been a year of many ups and downs, not only here in New England, but across the globe.  In Massachusetts alone, we have witnessed the unemployment rate rise as high as 9.3% (October 2009) and my guess is that we all know at least one person who has been laid off this past year or been adversely affected by the struggling economy.  As the holidays approach this year, I asked myself and my employees “What can we do as an organization to help others who are less fortunate than us?” We may gripe about changes we’ve faced, but focusing on others who are facing even more challenging times can help us to keep perspective.

The answer came to us quickly. We could utilize our “virtual” expertise to benefit a local organization – bonding together to focus on helping others whose lives have been far more challenging than anything we’ve had to face. And so, we are thrilled to announce the kick off of our first-ever “PerkettPR Virtual Clothing Drive.”

PerkettPR has teamed up with Rosie’s Place – a local Boston shelter for women — to help raise clothing donations in our first – of what we hope will be annual – virtual clothing drive. Since 1974, Rosie’s Place has been an oasis of hope and nourishment for poor and homeless women. The mission of Rosie’s Place is to help women maintain their dignity, seek opportunity and find security in their lives. Rosie’s Place has evolved from providing meals and shelter to providing permanent solutions through advocacy, education and affordable housing. And with your generous clothing donation, we hope to make the holidays a little warmer at Rosie’s Place.

How You Can Help – Boston and Beyond
Please help us to share the warmth by donating new or gently used/clean winter items for women. Items can include hats, gloves, scarves, twin-sized blankets, etc. Take a look through your closets at what you no longer wear, or grab an extra gift during your holiday shopping. It’s easy to do and will make a huge difference to a woman in need.

You can either send items to us via UPS, or collect items at your office and the PerkettPR team will come pick them up the week of December 7th (for Boston-area companies). Simply email rosies@perkettpr.com to indicate your desire to donate and to coordinate details with our staff (shipment or pickup).

An alternate way to donate
You may also make a non-deductible monetary donation via the ChipIn widget below as an alternative method of participating in our drive. Every dollar counts and is very appreciated!

How Generous is Your Company?
If we receive a positive response, PerkettPR will name one company as “Most Giving” and feature them on our blog this December. So gather your colleagues, put a box at the front desk or in the lobby and start piling up that winter warmth.

Thank you in advance for helping us to help others.

Happy Holidays,

The PerkettPR Team

Are you a PR 2.0 expert with proven experience in both traditional programs and new media? PerkettPR is recruiting!

PerkettPR is seeking Account Strategists who can demonstrate the proven ability to run traditional PR programs such as media relations, customer/partner programs, speaking engagements, events initiatives and grassroots campaigns, as well as new media and digital production: social media campaigns, video, podcasts, etc.

Specifically, you must:

• have a minimum of five years related experience
• demonstrate results or case studies in PR and new media as well as client service
• be comfortable – experience preferred – working from a home office
• have experience in technology but demonstrate a willingness to work in industries such as healthcare, fashion, travel, entertainment. If you have specific experience to bring to the table, please highlight it
• have an entrepreneurial spirit
• show us why you are a standout – what will you teach us?
• do your homework – communicate your understanding of who we are, our culture and how we are unique in the industry

Ideally, you will:

• have a sense of humor – for fun and for sanity!
• be in or near Boston, NYC, San Francisco or Detroit
• not lead with “why I want to work from home”
• have PR agency experience or client service experience
• be creative in how and where you apply/show us your work
• understand the bigger picture and give us an idea of how you will not only help deliver the best client service but help our organization grow and innovate

BIG HINT: if you follow @PerkettPR on Twitter and DM us that you have sent a resume, it will be more noticeable…

Submit your details to careers(at)perkettpr(dot)com and in the subject line, please indicate the position (Account Strategist) and location, (Boston, NY, Detroit or San Francisco). Visit our website for more details. Thanks for reading.

Watching a live taping of WineLibrary.TV is a rare treat, and it truly captures the raw and seemingly endless energy that Gary brings to each and every show. Gary has taken a traditional business – a retail wine store – and expanded its community and fans beyond its New Jersey origins to a worldwide audience – all through the power of the Internet, online community and social networking. Gary now spends the majority of his days communicating with and building his online community.

The antics got off to a fast start when host Dmitri Gunn presented Gary (a die-hard New York Jets fan) with a Patriots-branded spittoon to use during the taping. The hilarious moment set the tone for the show, and Gary continued to entertain throughout the night. Even with the large numbers in attendance, Gary has the amazing ability to keep constant focus on the camera at all times while still being able to make the entire audience feel included in the experience.

After the taping, the wine tasting began – sponsored by Boston’s Wine Gallery – while fans lined up for a personal meet-and-greet book signing. A short while later, the night rolled smoothly into the after-party at the Commonwealth’s Foundation Lounge where the digerati and wine enthusiasts continued to mix and mingle.

Special thanks to Dmitri Gunn and our own PerkettPR team for organizing the event and securing the sponsors who included: Barnes & Noble – Boston University, Mzinga, Matchmine, Pour Favor, Select Wine Imports, and Beautiful Things by Charise.

For those who couldn’t attend, here’s a recording of the live stream (pardon the audio quality) compliments of Laura Fitton:

Also be sure to check out Gary’s appearances on Nightline, Conan O’Brien, Ellen DeGeneres, The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch and Mad Money with Jim Kramer.

Photo credit: Steve Garfield

In other exciting news, our client, Constant Contact also won a Stevie in the “Best Customer Service Team“category! Congratulations to both Christine and Constant Contact!

Hailed as “the business world’s own Oscars” (New York Post , April 27, 2005), The American Business Awards are the only national, all-encompassing awards program honoring great performances in business. More than 600 executives from across the U.S.A. are expected to attend tonight’s gala event at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. The ceremonies will be broadcast on radio nationwide by the Business TalkRadio Network and hosted by Liz Claman of FOX Business Network.

This announcement, along with the potential of being selected as a Stevie award winner, is the icing on the cake with 2008 marking PerkettPR’s 10 year anniversary. Christine’s passion for tech PR, business prowess, and innovation in creating a successful, virtually run agency with an all senior staff has proven to be a winning model, and this achievement marks her well deserved recognition from the industry. Congrats Christine!