Keeping the journalism traditions alive in New Orleans

The Times-Picayune in New Orleans is a household name.

But in mid-2012, it stopped daily delivery and became a three-day-a-week print publication. To fill the void, The Advocate, published in Baton Rouge, announced plans to launch a New Orleans edition.

To let people know about this, it hired Peter Mayer Advertising to bring awareness to the new edition. We award them the prize for Best New Product/Service Launch in PR Daily’s 2013 Media Relations Awards because the new launch helped fill the journalism gap in a creative way to bring in more readers.

The goal was to get 10,000 subscribers within six months of the launch. After six months, the edition had 23,000 subscriptions. Here’s how it happened:

• Team members drafted a letter and video message from The Advocate’s publisher to target the media, community leaders, and organizations to share its commitment to New Orleans and to put out a call to action to subscribe.
• They crafted press releases announcing The Advocate New Orleans Edition’s entry into the market, including the announcement of its New Orleans bureau chief and staff.
• They conducted several press and journalism panels.
• They employed street teams to distribute 20,000 free samples of The Advocate New Orleans Edition to the public.
• They pitched stories to The New York Times, The Associated Press/The Big Story, The Boston Globe, and the American Journalism Review.

Congratulations to the members of the Peter Mayer Advertising team for their winning efforts.

Find out about Ragan and PR Daily’s award programs here.