By Lianne Wiker Hedditch
As September comes to a close and we have officially entered our fifteenth year in business here at Heron Agency, I can’t help but to reminisce of some of the biggest moments of our agency’s history, especially the ones in the ten years while I’ve been here. While many of us have blocked out most of the crazy moments, it was so much fun realizing the challenges we’ve all had freak out moments over, and can now laugh about together. Here is a sampling, from many of us here at the agency, of the top highlights (and bloopers) in Heron Agency history.
The opening of the office on Fullerton. I’ll never forget the day Noreen got the keys, after months of searching for the perfect, creative space for the agency. She surprised the team and brought us in to see the raw space, complete with a picnic set up on the floor with goodies and champagne to celebrate the occasion!
Representing BARNEY, LIVE!, and arranging for Barney to do the weather on WMAQ TV. Sounds great, right? Easy and fun? Somehow all the PR pros here, and all the talented folks at the station forgot that Barney has a green stomach, and when you are doing the weather, you are working with a green screen. The weather was forecast on Barney’s stomach, which sent everyone at the station into a tizzy and terrified children watching at home. The costume challenges didn’t stop there. From there, we headed to WGN TV where we had lined up kids in studio to dance to Barney performing “Hey, Mr. Knickerbocker.” Well, anyone that has a child that watches Barney may know the lyrics: Hey Mr. Knickerbocker, boppity-bop I like-a the way that you boppity-bop I like-a the way that you boppity-bop with your hands. It’s an animated song. Noreen had brought 3 year old Connor. Barney has a blind spot and couldn’t see that every time he “boppety bopped” with his hands he would hit Connor in the head. The entire segment was Connor getting bopped, hilariously. Poor Connor!
The 70-seat Chicago Dramatists had a hit and four star reviews with their production of A STEADY RAIN. Legendary NYC Producer, the late Frank Gero, was interested in presenting the piece in a commercial run in Chicago as he wanted to take the show to Broadway. He partnered with the respected NY based Producer Ray Gaspard, and they hired us to represent the play at the Royal George Theatre. It became a massive hit, and remains one of our most successful campaigns. Around that time, Noreen decided that she would try to sell a tour to NYC that we would promote at the agency, with every employee receiving the trip and its outings as a gift. One of the highlights would be seeing A STEADY RAIN starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, complete with a talkback with Producer Ray Gaspard following the performance. (We did miss our wonderful Chicago cast of Randy Steinmeyer and Peter DeFaria who were so tremendous). I will never, ever forget this trip. Our group also enjoyed seeing BILLY ELLIOT, dining at the fabled Tavern on the Green the last month before it closed, and reveled in some fantastic sightseeing and shopping. We created memories that will last a lifetime. Frank later gave us one of our favorite testimonials:
“A STEADY RAIN turned out to be a smash hit in NYC. Your agency should receive accolades for the excellent work you did on promoting the play in Chicago. As a result of your PR efforts the play attracted the attention of major Broadway producers and two big film stars, Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman. I have worked with many ad and PR agencies in my 37 play-producing life in NYC and London; I must say I was somewhat surprised by your enthusiasm for ‘spreading the news’ and dedication to every detail of promotion and publicity, which made working with your company a pleasure. You may be in the 2nd city, but you are second to none in your work.”
Blooper two probably goes down in history as my biggest TV freak-out moment- learning that art doesn’t always translate to TV. We secured a television spot for one of our former clients (who shall remain nameless) on a national TV program. Everything went smoothly through the set up and coordination process with the producers- until I arrived on site and learned that the fantastically visual demo I was told about and had been pitching- was actually an artists’ routine featuring two men sitting and staring at each other without speaking. I was mortified. The performance was cut off by the producers who cancelled the segment right then and there and I was left to reiterate to the artists why visuals and audio are so important for TV!
As the cherry on top of learning that we would be representing the entire city of Branson, MO, our client invited all of us for a complimentary whirlwind 24 hour trip to experience some of the amazing attractions. I had never been before, and couldn’t get over how beautiful it is there! We were able to take a hardhat tour of Silver Dollar City’s newest attraction “Outlaw Run”, which is the most daring wooden roller coaster in the United States (complete with the steepest drop of any wooden coaster), enjoy dinner at one of the wonderful restaurants in town, and experience a sampling of five shows in one night (yes, FIVE)! Our wonderful tour guide took us to see segments of SIX, The Haygoods, Legends In Concert, The Acrobats of China and Presley’s Country Jubilee! The bug definitely bit me and I can’t wait to go back for more!
A Chef demo is one of the most exciting “gets” for a publicist! Our clients love TV opportunities, so it is important to make sure that they highlight one of their best recipes since they have just 3 or so minutes to do so. So when your client, which happens to be a Mexican restaurant, shows up with no avocados for their guacamole segment? No Bueno.
Our focus here at the agency has always been on winning awards for our clients, and not for ourselves, so when we were nominated for an industry award by PR News, Noreen was unsure about taking time away from the office, and especially spending the money to go when we weren’t even sure if we were going to win. We had all worked so hard on the campaigns though that we were nominated for, so we convinced her to go to the Awards luncheon at the Grand Hyatt New York. I can’t begin to explain the screams of joy in the office when we got the picture above texted to us when we learned that we were named the 2014 Agency Elite Award Winner our first time ever entering, competing against huge, legendary agencies. The recognition was for three campaigns that we had handled PR on: The Fellowship for Performing Arts (Screwtape On Stage and The Great Divorce); the Jean Banchet Awards at Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park (which are basically like the Oscars of the Chicago restaurant community); and former PGA Tour player and CBS correspondent David Feherty’s Troop’s First Foundation Wounded Warrior Day.
One of my favorite events each year is representing the Chicago Scots’ Highland Games and Scottish Festival. I love going to this event every year, as it is a blast. It benefits Illinois’ oldest charity, and the team that organizes the event is so lovely to work for which is an added bonus. So when a protest at the Thompson Center conflicted with our long-planned, scheduled publicity stunt (we had staged a Knobbly knees contest, featuring men wearing Scottish kilts), what was I to do but debate with the protestors to hold off for a few minutes so we could finish and get the coverage from the TV stations that we had secured! This is exactly what happened and it also accounts for a VERY memorable moment!
Two amazing opportunities that we have had since the launch of the agency are getting to work with the management teams of the two biggest influencers on Noreen’s career, Candlelight Playhouse and Hyatt Hotels. We have repped many commercial productions for Candlelight’s founders, William Pullinsi and Tony D’Angelo, and worked on several projects for Candlelight’s former Marketing Director, Eileen LaCario, for Broadway in Chicago. Candlelight created a unique bond and a highlight here was staging a reunion party for Candlelight Dinner Playhouse’s employees. We also have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to represent the Central and Eastern divisions of Hyatt Hotels (52 hotels), working for Jerry Lewin, Paul Daly, Dave Jacobs and more.
Often, as publicists, there is so much effort and energy that goes into planning a pitch presentation, or an early morning television segment, it is hard to sleep the night before due to the anticipation of it going off without a hitch. Once you arrive to the location of the big event most of the work has finally come to a culmination and it is time to enjoy and watch your hard work pay off. However, sometimes it doesn’t always go as planned and…
- After I presented at a board meeting at a large law firm, a board member erroneously led me to an exit door that gave me no access to the elevator bay. I had to go down 48 flights of stairs to get back to my car. – Noreen
- I was locked inside of a service elevator while assisting a Chef with getting demo items out of their car. – Holly
- I received a call at 3 a.m. from a producer cancelling a 4 a.m. segment due to breaking news, and subsequently had to call 52 festival participants to let them know – no need to show up! Try doing that at 3 a.m.! – Lianne
- Noreen, Lianne and myself were chatting and charging our phones at the airport gate neighboring ours (only spot with open chargers!) while waiting for our flight back from a long day trip/pitch meeting in Minneapolis. After two-and-a-half hours of waiting for our flight to board, we decided to ask the attendant the status of our flight, only to hear they had been calling our names for the past 30 minutes, and that the plane was about to take off! We ended up making the flight just in time, but only to the dismay and death stares from the 3 passengers who were waiting on standby and ready to board when we arrived. – Ellen
After months of pitching, we landed a feature and front cover story for the driving force behind Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, Brian Posen. We were so thrilled when the issue came out and to see Brian on the front cover. The only problem? He ended up with a triple chin due to a glitch in the printer the morning the paper went to print. At that point, 200,000 copies had already been printed and distributed… and we received the following email, from the cover star himself: “I look like I have a weird growth or elphantitis or tumor or something. Eeeeeeeew!” – Ellen
As a little girl, my mother would always have competitive gymnastics on the TV. It was one of my most favorite events to watch every Olympic year. So imagine my excitement when, coming off of the 2008 Olympics, we had the opportunity to represent the World Tour of Gymnastics Superstars, featuring Olympic Gymnasts from both the Men’s and Women’s teams such as Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, the Hamm Brothers, Justin Spring and more. An incredibly memorable experience!
Our sports representation didn’t stop there! We have represented many athletes and even a professional sports team, but a highlight has been representing the Harlem Globetrotters, garnering one of our favorite testimonials (“It is not in the DNA of anyone who works for Heron not to work hard” – Frank Klaus, Marketing Director of the Harlem Globetrotters). Hanging out with the athletes and hearing their stories while transporting them to and from interviews and segments is always a kick. However, when setting up their appearances and interviews, one doesn’t necessarily think about how they will physically fit into a two door Honda coupe. Imagine the visual of fitting two, 7 foot tall Globetrotters into my – what felt like a clown car that day?! One had to sit lengthwise across the back seat while the other had the passenger seat pulled and reclined all the way back! They were amazing sports about it (no pun intended)! -Amy
Publicity stunts are very scary for publicists, but they are also very rewarding when successful! One of my favorite events we have staged in agency history is the “Office Hottie” contest, inspired by a character in a production we represented called THE WATER COOLERS. We were able to tie in with Red Hots Candy, Palm, Motorola, Hyatt and more to stage this amazing event in Daley Plaza that garnered very successful impressions!
A client that we have represented for over a decade, that we have all grown to love as more than just a client, is the legendary fondue restaurant Geja’s Café. We’ve had a lot of fun in a lot of creative ways representing them. We marked their 40th anniversary by staging a massive publicity stunt: invited guests enjoyed over 40 tons of Cheese Fondue from an enormous vat that was lowered in front of the restaurant by a giant crane (creating a Guinness World Record) with the remaining fondue being donated to the Chicago Food Depository. We celebrated their 45th anniversary by bringing together 45 couples who had gotten engaged there in a renewal of vows ceremony complete with a minister. We’ve done rainbow colored fondue for Gay Pride and green fondue for St. Pat’s. We take pride in the fact that they were just voted by USA TODAY readers as the most romantic restaurant in the country, and we have all celebrated many life moments with them (including my own engagement)!
We spent months planning the perfect grand opening for our hotel in the historic Chicago Motor Club Building, when at the very moment of the ribbon cutting, a wandering 7-year-old child sucking on a lollipop walked right in front of the camera, getting in the shot and photobombing the owner of the hotel, John Murphy. – Ellen
