Iris on the Bay

Description of Services & Results:               
Iris on the Bay is a new residential community located from 25-135 North Shore Drive, in Miami Beach’s North Beach neighborhood. The developers, The Spear Group and Braddock Financial, launched sales with Douglas Elliman in 2014. The private development consists of 43 four-story townhomes, with prices starting at $350 per square foot. The townhomes were offered fully finished, with amenities including private elevators, broad balconies and rooftop terraces.

At the time, there was a lot of competition in the way of new residential construction. According to a Cranespotters.com article dated December 2014, 300 new condo towers were in development in the current real estate cycle. We wanted to breakthrough the clutter and showcase that Iris was distinctive and offered great value. One of the biggest obstacles facing the sales team was selling the neighborhood. Prospective buyers hadn’t heard of Normandy Isle, and were unfamiliar with North Beach. They didn’t know what to make of the area, which was not as polished or celebrated as its neighbor to the south.

 

  • Kicked-off the campaign by producing a media tour of the neighborhood, showcasing key points of interest and organized city officials, business and community leaders to speak on North Beach.
    • Five reporters and bloggers attended the tour including Mundo Fox, Daily Business Review, Tropicult and MetroCitizen. We were also successful in generating placements from the aforementioned.
    • Produced video of tour with prominent speakers and beautiful backdrops that favorably positioned the neighborhood. Sales team said the video was a great tool for dispelling doubts.
  • In our three years of engagement, we stayed creative as did our storylines. Iris was regularly in the news, in outlets like Curbed Miami, The Real Deal, South Florida Business Journal, World Property Channel, 9Fi5th, Ocean Drive Magazine, North Beach News and Aventura Magazine.
  • In the spirit of Carl Fischer, who took to the waters to sell Miami Beach, we took to a pontoon boat to promote North Beach. We organized a boat tour for media, prospects and real estate agents. We procured none other than famed historian Dr. Paul George as our emcee, and Debris Free Oceans was included (not only as a benefactor) but to inform attendees of the marine life found in the area.
    • Media in attendance included South Florida Executive Magazine, CBS 4 and Bisnow.
    • A contract was signed for a unit as a result of the tour.
    • Albán Communications was nominated and won the Most Innovative Marketing Award from the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Kristi House

Description of Services & Results:               

Kristi House, a Miami-based non-profit that provides treatment, advocacy, and coordination of services, launched a new program “Child Safety Champions” and needed to get the word out.  The new initiative targeted low-income and multicultural groups throughout Miami-Dade County. The public education and prevention campaign included information and resources for various types of abuse – physical, sexual, bullying and cyberbullying.

Our goal was to build awareness and engagement with The Child Safety Champions Program among target groups in Miami-Dade County while presenting Kristi House as a trusted authority through a multifaceted campaign which included a complete rebrand, development and use of multimedia elements such as videos, social media & influencer outreach, associative marketing and partnerships, public affairs, community outreach and events as well as both general market and Spanish-language media outreach. All the while keeping to a non-profit budget, seeking whenever possible pro bono partners and opportunities.

Launched in 2018, the program was rebranded “In Your Hands” and “En Tus Manos” and included child cartoon characters, an educational video, posters and postcards that were distributed throughout county schools and utilized for various presentations within community settings. We made introductions, developed, grew and/or supported partnerships with local banks (Regions Bank), community organizations (Miami Community, Women’s Fund), influencers (Alberto Sardiñas), and generated a steady stream of media placements and interviews resulting in an advertising value equivalency of $232,254.35.  Additionally, we helped with the organization’s annual fundraiser and presented the campaign enlisting all attendees to promote “En Tus Manos” resulting in dozens of posts from high-profile leaders such as the Mayor of the City of Miami, and a fundraiser that netted more than $225,000.

Boat Show Communication

Show Management

Description of Services & Results:               

Frances Albán was hired by the then PR firm of record, Pierson Grant, to oversee global and multicultural PR efforts from 2012-2014. She also developed strategies for growing the brand’s presence throughout Florida amongst diverse audiences. Show Management produced and hosted the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Palm Beach International Boat Show, Miami Yacht and Brokerage Show and St. Petersburg Power Sailboat Show previously. They brought together the biggest boats and marine businesses contributing to billions to the state’s marine industry.

Attendance and revenue numbers for the boat shows were strong but plateauing. We recommended Show Management tap into the growing global marketplace and better connect with international residents, part-time residents and tourists that frequent Florida. Our strategy included collaborations with tourism organizations such as the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, media partnerships with prominent Russian, Brazilian and Mexican news and lifestyle outlets and clever on-the-ground activations to drum up interest from key groups in advance of each show.

As a result of our efforts, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show increased its attendance to more than 110,000 from 52 countries. We also helped the company’s portfolio of boat shows throughout the state experience steady growth and more diversified attendees. Our international PR effort resulted in high-profile coverage in the world’s top outlets such as Brazil’s O Globo, Mexico’s La Reforma and prominent Florida-based Russian outlets to better connect with the Russian-speaking community in Florida, which is the second largest in the USA. We brokered in-kind media partnerships with outlets like Venice Magazine and Univision, further expanding the boat shows’ reach and cache.

Churromania

Description of Services & Results:             

Frances Albán was hired to produce a multifaceted PR campaign for the launch of the franchise’s Calle Ocho location in 2019.  She quickly ramped up and coordinated with both the franchisees and corporate to produce a multicultural PR initiative targeting English- and Spanish-language audiences and the Miami foodie community. In short order, she created an authentic brand narrative, coordinated photo and multimedia initiatives, and developed news hooks which captured the attention of F&B, business, lifestyle and local reporters.  The Little Havana shoppe was the first to experiment with a café concept and had a bigger footprint then the chain’s mostly kiosk and in-mall locations, so it was important to educate customers and generate excitement. Equally important was promoting the brand’s incredible growth trajectory over recent years.

With our creative storytelling, we saturated the local media market and successfully secured placements in all media formats – radio, TV, print and online. We also secured a barter media partnership with The New Tropic, which heavily promoted the new Churromania via their daily newsletters. Below is a sampling of our Earned Media efforts: 

Filarmónica Joven de Colombia

Description of Services & Results:               
The Colombian Youth Philharmonic (Filarmónica Joven de Colombia) was invited to perform at the iconic New World Center in Miami Beach on July 26, 2013. The performance was part of Colombia’s Promotion Plan Abroad, and was coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Colombian Embassy to the United States and the Consulate of Colombia in Miami.

To get the word out about the concert, and generate interest amongst both English- and Spanish- language audiences. The client wanted a full house, and coverage in all the major local media outlets. Most important to them was to go beyond just securing calendar placements, but to get features that spoke to Colombia’s Promotion Plan Abroad and interviews with the program’s sponsors, organizers and concert conductor.

  • Over 33 press placements secured, generating impressions upwards of 23MM through radio, TV, print, blogs, and social media.
  • Agency collaborated with Miami.com, Miami Herald’s online counterpart, to promote the concert via a unique raffle giveaway of 10 tickets, which generated immense social media buzz.
  • Earned media included interviews or features with key spokespeople appearing in Huffington Post, Miami New Times, El Tiempo, MundoFox 8, Actualidad 1020, Semana.com, Univison.com, El Nuevo Herald, Miami Clasica, Diario Las Americas, Miami City Social, Ocean Drive Magazine and CBS 4.
  • Event was the talk of the town, and the concert hall had not a seat empty!

Douglas Elliman

Description of Services & Results:               
The prominent New York brokerage, Douglas Elliman, launched its Miami operations in January 2011.  The full-service real estate firm specializes in exclusive residential sales and leasing, retail brokerage, property management, mortgage services, and new development marketing and sales. Appointed to head the Florida operations was former attorney Vanessa Grout.

In a cluttered marketplace and during the national housing crisis, Douglas Elliman opened its doors in what was considered “ground zero” for the crash. Being sensitive in approach and verbiage was critical. At a time when agents were fleeing the industry in mass, Douglas Elliman needed to recruit. Our approach was to create a thoughtful campaign that positioned the New York firm’s entry as an optimistic indicator while distinguishing it from other major brokerages with long-established histories in the local market.

  • In the first six months, our proactive media outreach resulted in 56 press clips, which translated into over 130MM impressions when viral distribution was accounted for. We averaged nearly ten press hits per month and were able to secure local, national, and international coverage (within key feeder markets).
  • Prominent earned media included The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Real Deal, Yahoo! News, US News & World Report, Calgary Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Haute Living, National Post and Achei USA.
  • Our promotional efforts positioned the firm for growth. In our first year of engagement, Douglas Elliman grew from one office to six and recruited more than 200 agents.
  • Nominated and secured award nominations and recognitions for the Florida Brokerage’s CEO Vanessa Grout, including being named one of South Florida Business Journal’s 40 under 40 and later, the Urban Land Institute’s Young Leader of the Year.
  • Co-developed and launched prominent sponsorship opportunities, as was the case with the University of Miami’s annual Real Estate Impact Conference.
  • We became the agency of record managing the account for nearly three years.