PR firm’s old-style media relations turn professors into leaders in economic policy debate

RF|Binder, a New York City PR firm, is the co-winner of the Best Traditional Campaign category in the 2013 PR Daily Awards for its superb work in establishing NYU Stern School of Business faculty as authoritative interpreters of the chaotic, unpredictable, post-2008 economic scene.

RF|Binder aggressively pursued op-ed and essay opportunities in the biggest, most prestigious U.S. magazines and newspapers for both technology and traditional academic faculty at NYU using the following tactics:

• RF|Binder’s plan centered on thought leadership coupled with vigorous, timely reaction to economic news by NYU faculty.
• The agency helped NYU professors stay in regular contact with business editors at major publications and introduced the technology faculty to the media.
• A calendar of economic indicators, including the Department of Labor employment report and consumer confidence analyses, was created to plan for NYU experts’ availability with national business media for on-deadline commentary.
• RF|Binder created an editorial calendar, based in part on regulatory meetings and congressional hearings, that put Stern’s team on top of breaking economic news.
• NYU faculty research was spotlighted to generate news stories and interviews with reporters from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
• RF|Binder conducted an unrelenting, successful campaign to place op-eds by NYU faculty in the top-tier Financial Times, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The New York Times, and Financial News.
• The Stern team worked with RF|Binder to hold a series of panels and speeches on urgent economic issues. The most prominent of these events was a panel discussion featuring Stern professor William Silber and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
• RF|Binder pursued and got numerous local and national TV and radio appearances for NYU faculty, including Bloomberg TV and Radio, Fox Business, and NBC News.

Most importantly, RF|Binder advised a clear, jargon-free, popular style for every piece of writing from the pens of NYU professors. RF|Binder achieved a remarkable consistency of the best kind of popular economic prose from every single NYU academic. This feat by itself deserves the highest PR kudos for the RF|Binder supporting staff.

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