Create a Story to Fall in Love With
/Happy Valentine's Day! This has always been one of my favorite holidays — whether I'm with my vals, my gals or my pals — because what other day of the year is exclusively devoted to celebrating the connections we make with others? In the 20 years I've been in this industry, I've seen the ways in which people become lovestruck by the ways brands expand and evolve: from the old-fashioned courtship of traditional media; to the speed dating of scrolling and reels; to consistent follow-through; to the building of a lasting and meaningful relationship through a strategic combination of all of the above. When a great story is told in a compelling way, people can't help falling in love over and over again.
When the National College Athletic Association implemented its Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) policy, enabling college athletes to enter financial partnerships with brands, it set the stage for not one, but two (and counting) matches made in heaven between Borsheims, a nationwide luxury jewelry store based in Omaha, Neb., and elite women athletes. In 2021, University of Nebraska-Lincoln two-time All-American volleyball player Lexi Sun became Borsheims' first-ever NIL brand ambassador with The Lexi Sun Edit, Sun's handpicked line of simple, elegant gold pieces that complemented her busy life as a student-athlete with classic style.
CSPR partnered with Borsheims to launch this first-of-its-kind collaboration, resulting in 931 million media impressions across regional and national channels including The New York Times, the Today show, the Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, The Omaha World Herald, and The Lincoln Journal-Star. The following year, Borsheims launched a line with Rachel Balkovec, the Omaha-born-and-raised manager of New York Yankees minor league team, the Tampa Tarpons (and the first woman ever hired as manager of an affiliated professional baseball team). For this campaign, which includes a line of bar necklaces featuring inspirational phrases for women and girls, and a charitable partnership with Omaha's Women's Center for Advancement, CSPR proudly generated 186 million media impressions, including those in targeted key jewelry industry publications JCK, IGI Gem Blogs, Instore Magazine, and Centurion Jewelry, while BYB produced a series of videos to celebrate the launch. As the mother of two young women athletes — and a lifelong fan of Borsheims — I have loved being able to shine a light on how this brand supports these young women.
I am honored to have recently to be interviewed by Victoria Marcouillier for the BrandWell Podcast about the evolution of influencer relations and the future of influencer marketing. We covered everything and anything, including the key question: “Is your brand ready to react to the potential influence an influencer could have on your business?” If the answer is yes, let's talk!
I know I'm incredibly fortunate to have never burned out or second guessed whether branding and public relations is the right niche for me. What keeps the romance alive? It's a combination of loving what I do and working with the best people: both my team and our clients, who are constantly showing us how much they value what we do. Here are a few of the lovely things we've heard lately:
“Awesome! I'm continuing to see affiliate transactions come in from this hit!” –Anna Brakefield of Red Land Cotton about a brand mention we secured in Garden & Gun magazine.
“Carolyn, Kelly and Stacie were PHENOMENAL! I've worked with plenty of media professionals, and this was by far the best experience I've had. They were SO efficient, they did all the leg work for me and had incredible attention to detail during the shoot!!!” – Tampa Tarpons manager Rachel Balkovec on the shoot BYB produced for her Borsheims brand ambassador partnership.
“These are beautiful assets - I am especially drawn to the ones of Rachel sitting on the red bleachers and the b-roll of her walking through the hotel…so powerful. I'm just so in love with all of it!” – Jaci Stuifbergen, Borsheims marketing manager, on the Rachel Balkovec partnership photo and video shoot produced by BYB.
“Our team absolutely loved every minute of the training. Thanks so much for customizing it to them, and for so thoughtfully answering all our questions. I've passed all this info along to them and I know the recording may be revisited often.” – Jennifer Jenkins, president of JJ PR Agency on a CSPR pitch training masterclass.
“This is awesome. Thank you so much, Carolyn. They put myself and MindHandle in a great light. Can't wait to share this with our network and get some eyes on the agency. I can't believe they got seven pages out of that :30 interview! Appreciate you guys lining this up.” – Eric Harris, CEO of MindHandle on an eight-page feature about MindHandle feature story in Texas CEO magazine.
