Recent Campaigns
CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
For the Second City Theater teacher's union, Ruane PR worked with the head of the group and wrote a press release announcing a potential strike by the teachers if the new owners of the legendary institution did not return to the bargaining table with a fair offer. The teachers had been working without a contract for more than two years and were severely underpaid in comparison with all of the other major theaters in Chicago. Conducting an aggressive media relations campaign, several television news stations in Chicago contacted the owners representatives at the theater who were quite surprised. This resulted in a return to negotiations. However, a terrible offer was made, the teachers rejected it and a strike date was set. Another round of media relations was conducted and a great deal of media coverage followed, resulting in another return to the bargaining table where this time the teachers received a fair offer and the strike was averted.
PM360 MAGAZINE
Pitching and securing byline articles is a strategy we recommend to many clients, who want to make certain their investment is receiving a media return. For client OneWorld, an expert article was pitched to PM360 about creative strategies at health care conferences to generate awareness for new treatments. Once approved by the editor, Ruane worked with the client to compile the necessary facts and information to write the article. After the CEO's review and final changes were made, the article was submitted and published reaching 228,000 readers.
TRUTH Media Relations
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On June 22, 2022, the FDA banned all vaping products made by JUUL, which present a variety of health risks and were being aggressively promoted to youth. For client Truth Initiative, Ruane pitched several national media outlets with a statement from Truth CEO, Robin Koval, about the importance of this FDA decision in saving lives. The statement was included in reporting by the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, ABC News, Reuters and Associated Press. Here is the Reuters story.
Content Campaigns
PediaVision is the client that helped Ruane PR set the standard for conducting a highly successful content marketing campaign. Working directly with the vice president of sales, Ruane PR developed a monthly editorial calendar with topics and physicians to build stories around and distribute on the national newswire. Within two months, this campaign was generating an average of 20 calls per press release to PediaVision from optometrists interested in learning more about the $10K Spot Vision screener. For the first six months of the campaign, PediaVision sold an average of 25 SPOT vision screeners per month or $250,000 specifically from the calls generated from the content marketing campaign. The total monthly cost of the PR campaign, including production, was $7,500.
In another approach to a content campaign for client WuXi Apptec, Ruane PR established a blog editorial calendar with four topics to be covered each month. The objective was to promote the preclinical expertise of WuXi Apptec to their target audience - sponsor pharma companies conducting preclinical trials. For each blog, Ruane conducted extensive research on each topic and worked with preclinical research scientists for expert quotes to include in the blog articles, promoting their experience and expertise. The SEO and brand awareness for each of these articles was dependent purely on the strategic keywords placed in each blog article. According to a lead researcher at the company, this was a highly successful campaign that opened doors with research decision-makers at pharmaceutical companies.
Award-winning Campaigns
Over the past two decades, Ruane PR has created and implemented several award-winning public relations campaigns, often identifying, securing and media training celebrity spokespeople to gain national and local market media interviews, generating record-breaking media coverage.
COPD Day at Yankee Stadium
Ruane PR created COPD Day at Yankee Stadium producing a screening event on the Yankee Stadium concourse prior to the game followed by Bess Clemens throwing out the first pitch. This one event was incredibly successful, generating more than 80 million media impressions, preparing the market for the launch of a new blockbuster treatment, Spiriva. Five years later, our event was included in USA Today's Top 25 Most Memorable Moments in the History of Yankee Stadium. Here's the full story.
Securing "THE GREATEST" Spokesperson
Two years after the entire world watched Muhammad Ali exhibit his battle with Parkinson's disease at the 1996 Olympics, Ruane PR was able to secure "The Greatest" as spokesperson for Pharmacia & Upjohn's launch of Mirapex to treat the debilitating disease. Ali and his wife, Lonnie, participated in a major press conference in Washington, D.C., exclusive interview with Bryant Gumbel on NBC's Today Show and launch event in Chicago which drew every media outlet in town. Media coverage went global and created an 8-week back-order for the new Parkinson's treatment.
Best-Seller Launch Strategies
After Michael Jordan's first retirement from the NBA, author Mark Vancil worked with Jordan to produce his first book, Rare Air. Ruane PR managed public relations for the launch, including an appearance on Oprah and interviews with Larry King on CNN and Bryant Gumbel on the Today Show. To gain maximum coverage, Ruane PR produced and managed a packed press conference at Jordan's Restaurant. Within a few days, the book was number one on the New York Times Best-Seller's List. Ruane PR also managed public relations for another Jordan book, For the Love of the Game, My Story, when Jordan was transitioning back to the NBA. With no participation from Jordan who knew media questions would be centered on the MLB strike, Ruane PR conducted a midnight launch event outside a Barnes & Noble Bookstore with spotlights filling the night sky and a large crowd lined up to purchase the book.
The event drew several Chicago television crews, which generated newspaper stories over the next few days. In addition, Ruane PR pitched and booked Vancil on radio stations to further promote the book, which once again rose to the top of the New York Times Best-Seller List.
COPD Dream Team
In 1999, for client Boehringer Ingelheim, maker of Combivent, Ruane PR secured Loni Anderson as the first-ever spokesperson for COPD. Both of her parents suffered from the lung disease and she shared her personal story with more than 200 million Americans during media tours conducted over five consecutive years. Her involvement set media coverage records for COPD that remain to this day. Following Anderson's success, Ruane PR brought in a second spokesperson, Robert Klein, who was a smoker and suffered from COPD. Klein's ability to communicate his story in combination with key COPD messaging while adding his great sense of humor made the campaign highly successful over a four-year period. Both campaigns won several PR industry awards. Between Anderson and Klein, Boehringer Ingelheim had a COPD spokesperson dream team generating awareness for the disease and driving sales for Combivent.
Creative Disease Education Campaigns
As a child Florence Henderson suffered form otitis media (ear inflammation) and had surgery to correct it. Ruane PR secured her as spokesperson for Upjohn, maker of Vantin, to treat otitis media. She was highly effective being booked on national and local market media interviews and driving sales of Vantin.
One of Major League Baseball's greatest pitchers, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, suffered from diabetes. Upjohn, maker of Micronase, assigned Ruane PR to conduct media relations for Hunter's appearance at a White Sox game and promote his cook book with recipes for people who suffered from diabetes.
NFL great, Earl Campbell, suffered from panic disorder. Ruane PR conducted several media tours with him for Upjohn, maker of Xanax, to educate men about the disease. To generate further awareness, Ruane was enlisted to write a book about Campbell's life story, focusing on his mental health battle.
For client Purdue Pharma, maker of Senokot Brand Wheat Bran, Ruane PR secured Kim Alexis as spokesperson for a national media tour. The strategy was to pair a beautiful spokesperson to address a not so beautiful topic to draw the attention of the target audience. This proved successful, generating 40 million media impressions, including an appearance on Sean Hannity's show on FOX News, where he interviewed Alexis and held the product up on the air.
In conjunction with client Upjohn's Rogaine 5K, Olympic Gold Medalist, Flo-Jo, was secured to lead the Rogaine 5K Charity Challenge to raise money for the Mercy Home for Boys & Girls. She and her husband, Al Joyner, ran a 5K along Chicago's lakefront to set the challenge time, which runners could compete against by making a donation. Her efforts generated national media coverage, promoting the brand, and raised more than $50K for the charity.