PR Partnering Case Study: The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) sought to prove their members' skill at problem-solving difficult interior spaces. The Ansonia, a once grand apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, was converting to luxury condominiums. Both ASID and the Ansonia were clients at Rubenstein Associates and we brought them together to produce an extraordinary month-long designer showcase that featured ingenious designer solutions in beautifully staged model apartments. Results: Outstanding media coverage for 21 ASID designers and brisk sales activity for newly motivated real estate brokers and prospective buyers.

1. PR inbrief
ASID Showcase at the Ansonia
Marketing PR/Events Partnership
Gerry Casanova
Rubenstein Associates – NY, NY
Ready to re-launch as a luxury
condo the Ansonia was a century-old
Our agency was retained by two unrelated architectural jewel in Manhattan that
organizations: The NY Metro Chapter of had suffered years of neglect and a
the American Society of Interior Designers reputation for eccentricity.
(ASID) and The landmark Ansonia
apartment complex on Manhattan’s Upper
Westside.
Each needed to raise their profile and
change public misperceptions. Neither had
much in the way of news or budget.
The American Society of Interior
Each had resources that could be used to Designers represents professional
interior designers. ASID’s New York
tell each other’s marketing story.
Chapter struggled to get the public to
see them not as decorators but as
So we partnered ASID-NY and the skilled problem solvers.
Ansonia and produced an extraordinarily
successful marketing public relations
program.

2. PR Goals
Key Messages
Both ASID and the Ansonia ASID and the Ansonia each had different target audiences, but it was possible to convey their
needed public relations to: respective marketing messages in parallel.
Create Buzz
Raise Awareness Professional design is
an affordable investment
Inform & Engage
Designers are ‘solvers’ ASID designers are industry
Drive Business TARGET accredited
Homeowners
& Renters
Fix Misperceptions
TARGET
Prospective
Buyers & Real
Estate Agents
Rare condo opportunity Luxury landmark
Legendary floor
plans and design
details
PR inbrief

3. PR Strategy
The Big Idea: Produce a major
interior design showcase at the
newly renovated Ansonia and for
four weeks use the venue for To generate foot traffic at the Ansonia we invited the
consumer and trade events. public and members of the real estate community to tour
The Ansonia is one of Manhattan’s
an interior design showcase produced by the New York
grandest, yet most curious residential
Chapter of ASID. buildings; formerly the home of Babe
Ruth, Igor Stravinsky, Florenz
Ziegfeld, Jack Dempsey – and more
Most designer show houses are devoted to opulent recently, Angelina Jolie and Natalie
decor. ASID’s Showcase was unique because its focus Portman. People interested in
was design solutions for apartment-dwellers. Four fully architecture, real estate or interior
renovated apartments – at total of 18 rooms - were on design jumped at the chance to visit
view for one month. the Ansonia and tour ASID’s designer
Showcase.
To promote professional design services we
simultaneously produced NY Interior Design Week -
seven days of free seminars and design consultations at
the Ansonia and hosted around town by our design
industry sponsors.
To understand what interior designers
do it helps to see examples of their
work. At the Ansonia a team of 20
ASID designers showcased ingenious
and affordable interior solutions.
PR inbrief

4. Sponsorships
Funding, products and
PR Tactics services, events, and
promotional support from
design industry sponsors
There were six tactical modules.
Integrating them enabled us to
break through in New York’s
cluttered media space.
ASID Showcase at the Ansonia
4-week open house; Four apartments; 18 rooms
by team of 20 ASID interior designers
NY Interior Design Week/
Consumer Education
ASID pros were onsite for seven days
conducting ‘solutions’ seminars and
design clinics Media Relations
Multi-phase publicity: Tour listings; Press
preview; Features/Exclusives; Onsite
interviews; Photo/ story syndication; Books.
Onsite Marketing Events
Afterhours the Showcase was
used for real estate agent events Charity
Proceeds from tour sales were donated to
Ronald McDonald House
PR inbrief

5. ASID Showcase
at the Ansonia
This campaign would have Provided by the ANSONIA
Four apartment units renovated to ASID plans
been prohibitively expensive
Budget for permanent materials and appliances
had it not been for the perfect Construction engineer
dovetail in resources. ASID NYC building licenses and permits
and the Ansonia were indeed Property and liability insurance
24/7 onsite security
ideal partners. Signage exterior/interior
Water/electricity /building services
Evening use for private tours and events
Provided by ASID-NY
Showcase Executive Producer
Design Team- 25 ASID design professionals
Design Team Manager
Architectural and design plans
Furnishings contributed, lent and purchased
Decorative services – painting/carpentry
Sponsors
Room Installations/maintenance/removal
NY Interior Design Week seminars/clinics
Professional photography all rooms
Publicity
Ronald McDonald House
Charities
Meeting space
Showcase staffing and promotion
PR inbrief

6. ASID Showcase
at the Ansonia
Though showcase apartments
were created for fictitious Unit 12G / 1-bedroom
residents, our designers’ work Single Mother & Daughter
was based on detailed ‘client’
profiles that read like typical New
Yorkers.
Design teams received
lifestyle notes that included
specific challenges and
mandates. Unit 11D / Studio
Wired Bachelor Pad
Unit 12E / 2-bedrooms
Growing Family/Twins
Unit 11A / 1-bedroom
Empty Nesters/ Seniors
with Disability
PR inbrief

7. Unit 12E
Growing Family
Solutions: One of the Ansonia’s famous round rooms was
made into a beige and white parlor complete with rounded
furnishings of kid-tough materials. Solution: Sliding shelves in the kitchen
Dual-parent converted inner wall space to a hide-
family with away pantry.
Instead of floor and table lamps, sconces and track
7-year old
lighting on dimmers were used.
twins; two-
bedroom
A built-in entertainment unit made it easy to tuck away
unit.
monitors and equipment. Space-saving bookshelves were
built into twin platform sofas.
Design Challenges/Mandates
Seamless, space-efficient storage
areas throughout
Sophisticated living room with family
room amenities and durability
Family/Epicure’s kitchen Solutions: Posh details in
the master suite provided
Luxury/Privacy features in master the adults a 5-star refuge.
bedroom /bath .
Maximum open floor space. Recessed Solutions: Lots of space-
ceiling and wall-mounted lighting. doubling tricks in the
compact bedroom.
Durability throughout
PR inbrief

8. Unit 12G
Single Mom
Work-at-home
Solutions: Built-in bed and cabinetry adds storage and
mom and ‘tween
floor space. Seating, desktop and lighting solutions
daughter; one-
double-duty for school and play.
bedroom unit.
Solution: Cabinet wall divides large living
room into areas for sleep, work, dining
and entertaining.
Design Challenges/Mandates
Mixed-use space. Living room is
mom’s workspace and bedroom.
Open galley kitchen.
Extreme sunlight and heat from large
southwest-facing windows.
One bathroom must be easy to clean
and uncluttered; must be suitable for
business visitors.
Convert bedroom into a self-contained Solutions: Fabric-covered walls,
girl’s space for sleep, study and play. windows and floors reduce noise
Invest in cabinetry and window treat- and sunlight glare.
ments; Make it easy to change out
decorative elements as child grows.
PR inbrief

9. Unit 11A
Empty Nesters
Solutions: Higher seating and tables
minimize bending and reaching.
Retired couple
coping with
arthritis
disability; one-
bedroom unit.
Design Challenges/Mandates
Downsized from suburban home: Solutions: In the kitchen soft
maintain mature tastes and comforts. easy-clean surfaces plus fixtures,
tools and appliances that work
at the touch of the wrist or palm.
Partner with severe arthritis has
limited hand strength, dexterity and
mobility.
Requires easy-access
furnishings, closets and storage. Solutions: Touch-operated solutions
blended seamlessly with décor.
Uncluttered, easy-clean surfaces and Solutions: Designers sought expert advice
appliances a must. from the Arthritis Foundation regarding the
special needs of arthritis suffers.
PR inbrief

10. Unit 11D Solution: Compact bathroom based on
Bachelor’s Studio one designed for a yacht’s stateroom.
Urbane technophile;
dark, compact, Solution: A pair of folding screens
viewless studio unit obscured a dressing area
with built-in valet.
Design Challenges/Mandates
One-room living with exposed kitchen
Dark interior; Large viewless windows
Need for durable double-duty
furnishings
Use touch-tech solutions throughout:
lighting, media; appliances; decorative
amenities.
Solution: Modular
kitchen design is
super space efficient.
Solution: Double-duty design: Folding sofa is also a bed;
Lampshade and digital fireplace are functional art.
PR inbrief

11. Campaign Results
This program met its goals and
exceeded all expectations:
Showcase Traffic 5500 visitors over a four week period.
Media Coverage 23 editors and reporters attended the press preview at the ASID
Showcase at the Ansonia.
Multiple features about interior design solutions ran in the
New York Times; NY Post; Daily News; Newsday; Observer.
Various weeklies. TV coverage on WNBC; WCBS, WABC; NY-1;
WPIX11; Associated Press; 1010 News; Radio; The Cooperator; Photos
from the Showcase appeared in national design magazines House
Beautiful and HG; A promotional flyer was inserted in the New York
Times ‘Home” section. The Showcase was featured extensively in the
design book Showhouses: Signature Designer Style (PBC Int’l).
Design Events 400 people attended design seminar s and/or scheduled a
professional design consultation.
Real Estate Events 150 real estate agents attended any of six cocktail receptions/showcase
tours hosted by the Ansonia. ASID-NY received 75 requests for designer
referrals.
Sales Prospects 30 visitors to the showcase also visited the Ansonia’s onsite sales office.
Two showcase apartments were sold – one fully furnished.
Charity Donation Ticket sales and donations raised $4000 for New York’s Ronald
McDonald House.
PR inbrief

12. Social Media
If this campaign was executed Goal
today digital and social media Attract, activate and funnel qualified prospects to sales operations at ASID-NY and
would be hugely important. Our The Ansonia Condominium
approach to using social media
might look like this:
Objectives
Reach 90% of estimated 10,000 active residential real estate agents who sell luxury
property in NYC. Engage 500 VIP brokers in tour of the Ansonia property and
Showcase. Generate 5000 website visits and register 250 followers on Facebook and
. Twitter. Achieve 85% ‘would recommend’ in post-event broker poll.
Reach 60% of web users in the metropolitan NYC area who create and/or follow home
design content.
Generate event publicity and links on 250 most read home and style websites and
blogs. Register 1500 fans on Facebook and 2500 on Twitter. Achieve 5000 click-though
to ASID-NY’s consumer information and referrals page.
Confirm 7000 paid visits to the ASID Showcase during four week open house.
Confirm 800 attendees at onsite design seminars during NY Interior Design Week.
Capture 10,000 opt-in contacts.

13. Social Media
A variety of web platforms, tools and
practices would be used to inform,  Monitor social conversations to understand how our target groups are using social media and to
engage and motivate our target identify their interests, influencers and best points of contact on the social web
audiences to action.
 Create compelling, relevant multimedia content tailored to make the best use of each social
media platform
 Optimize web pages for search engines; Optimize geo-targeted advertising and email
campaigns
 Integrate social sites to give users a richer multimedia experience
 Use actionable content and short, deliberate click paths
 Establish reciprocal links for publicity and SEO
 Monitor social media for insight and use analytics to manage and measure success

14. Social Media
A variety of web platforms, tools and
practices would be used to manage Search Engine Optimization
Update and optimize profile listings on search engines, wikis, online directories and maps. Edit text, photos,
event planning, logistics and all PR maps and links to PR and partner links into Ansonia and ASID-NY profiles on Google Local Business Center,
communications. Bing Maps, etc. Create a Google Profile page as a central landing page with links to the campaign’s social
sites. Optimize all web sites and pages with keywords and inbound links. Optimize for local search engines
as well.
Marketing & Event Management
Use collaborative wiki such as Zoho Projects Program to centralize team-driven planning and management.
Outsource Showcase and event ticket marketing to Eventbrite. Get events indexed by event search
engines and regional listings sites. Use ChimpMail for geo-targeted email campaigns and for capturing opt-
ins for mailing lists.
Solicit 250 volunteers using links and searchable social platforms such as Meet Up, Facebook, Twitter,
VolunteerMatch and Craig’s List. Edit a video using MS Moviemaker and post it on YouTube.
Support sponsor solicitation efforts with a multimedia presentation posted to the web and linked to industry
publicity and ads, and posted to professional social networks such as LinkedIn.

15. Social Media
Content Production & Management
Our blog; sponsor presentations; electronic press kit, promotional landing pages; a NY Interior
Design Week ezine published using BuddyPress/WordPress. A variety of plug-ins would provide
interactive blog content: GoDaddy for polls; Discus for the forum, and more.
Media Archives: Flickr for photos; YouTube for videos; BlogTalkRadio for podcasts. All materials
would be tagged for search engines and contain link-backs to our social networks.
Team Tweet would manage Twitter centrally from a Hootsuite account. Select tweets and blog
posts would be shared across our other social platforms using ping.fm
Edited videos would be distributed to via Tubemogul to sites such as YouTube; Daily Motion;
Metacafe, etc.. Branded demos and video comments powered by Viddler.
Mobile video would be uploaded using Posterous and Ustream would be used for livestreams.
Audio podcasts would be created using BlogTalkRadio.

16. Social Media
Press Relations
Our electronic press kit/EPK would keep bloggers top of mind with downloadable text, photo, video, graphic,
audio material, RSS, and pertinent links. This site would be optimized for search engines and updated
regularly. Social press releases would be posted and distributed electronically via PR Web, Pitch Engine
Influential bloggers would be invited to exchange links and guest posts within our social network. Also,
articles and multimedia would be created and syndicated to blogs and social networks.
Our PR team would track key media: blogs, websites, offline print and broadcast media and participate in
discussions, mentioning our events.
E-Commerce
An e-store with designer-recommended books and products would be run via Amazon.com; Specially
branded merchandise such as Ansonia coffee mugs and ASID totes would be produced and sold via
Zazzle.com. Profits would be donated to the Ronald McDonald House of New York .

17. Social Media
Communication
RSS, micro-blogs, forums, posts, and email would push news and drive conversation. Twitter hashtag
would aggregate tweets and tweetmeme to prompt retweets; Hootsuite/iPhone and Backtype to
manage Twitter activity
A Facebook Business Fan page and LinkedIn would serve as social networks for community-building
and promotion. Groups would be engaged and/ or otherwise created.
Event details would be posted to local listings and events search engines such as Eventful and
Upcoming. Eventbright.com would place event listings to promote advance ticket sales.
The Ansonia would use real estate blogs, websites and search engines such as Google Real Estate
Listings and Pycasa to engage agents and buyers. ASID would do the same across professional, trade
and consumer networks. Ronald McDonald House, too.
Sponsors would run web ad campaigns using GoogleAdwords and Facebook Ads, and crosslink with
our social networks and optimize their web and publicity materials.
Viral publicity would be facilitated bookmarking/sharing tools such as ShareThis, Delicious,
Stumbleupon, Mixx and Digg. Stories, photos and videos would be pushed to bookmarking sites.
Marketing PR would be directed to resources such as e-how; About; Answers.com; AllAnswers.com;
WikiAnswers; AllAnswers.com. Post campaign presentations might be posted on Slideshare and
Scribd.
Our PR team would monitor and participate in multimedia social discussions

18. Social Media
Collaboration
Several contests would be run using a multimedia wiki platform such as Wetpaint. Existing social network
groups on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others would be engaged and new event-specific groups would
be created. All would link back to our central landing page.
Mobile
Location-based interactive social networks such as Foursquare, Google Places/Maps; Bing Maps;
Gowalla and Brightkite would be utilized to generate buzz about the Ansonia and the ASID Showcase and
special offers from the event’s local retail, dining and entertainment partners. Mobile enabled users of
Facebook and Twitter would be incentivized to share comments with friends and review sites such as Yelp
and Trip Advisor.

19. Social Media
Our use of and participation in social
media would be guided monitoring Monitoring
tools that track online content and
Viral Heat for benchmarks; mentions and sentiments; real-time trends; community insight; web traffic
conversations, and provide analytics analytics
about user traffic and behavior on our
social sites. Technorati/backtype for monitoring online mentions; Rank blogs and bloggers by influence;
FriendFeed for dashboard aggregation of social media mentions
Hootsuite/ Twitterfall for tracking real-time tweets; Compiles follow lists, Twitter analytics.
YT Insights for insights on YouTube viewer traffic
Google Analytics for managing SEO; web site traffic; marketing and user data
Google Adwords for SEM analytics used to manage display ad and email campaigns
Google Alerts/Alltop for tracking racks online news mentions
Google Business Center for data insights about local search engine traffic

20. Social Media
A variety of tools would be used to
Metrics
measure social media activity and
impact.
Web Mentions Quantity; Quality; Sentiment; % Sharing
Followers/Groups Community Size; Growth; % Active Participation; % Retention;
Accept promotional offers; Use links to program’s other social platforms.
Traffic/User Data User analytics for individual program websites and blogs; Volume;
Growth;
Participation; Click to action.
SEO Page Rank; Clicks; Links;
SEM Ad Clicks/Ticket Marketing; E-store sales
Email Results data: open rate; conversion rate, etc.
Social Engagement Attendance; industry buzz; agent/buyer prospects ASID-NY designer
queries and referrals;
Media Coverage; Influence; Inbound links; Bookmarks