Media Relations
Managing PR for hotel industry management
Situation: Sioux Falls, SD-based Regency Hotel Management Company & its affiliates own more than 60 properties in 21 states, and Hotel Business magazine has consistently ranked Regency as one of the Top 100 Management Companies. Regency was formed in 1965, has more than 6,000 employees, and operates under various franchises, including Starwood, Radisson, Marriott, [...]
Institutional rebranding via engagement and conversation
Situation: Upper Iowa University (UIU), founded in 1857, is a Fayette, Iowa-based private university providing undergraduate and graduate degrees to 6,000 students at campuses and centers worldwide. UIU in 2005 hired a new president and wanted to build its brand and increase enrollment. UIU sought a public relations firm to help them get [...]
Smashburger sizzles into Iowa
Situation: Smashguys, LLC, the Iowa franchisee of Denver, Colo.-based Smashburger, a fast-casual restaurant designed to be everybody’s favorite burger place, retained Hanser & Associates to manage their day-to-day communication and marketing in Iowa.
PR Action: Smashburger’s first Iowa location opened in September 2009 in West Des Moines. To build pre-opening awareness and word [...]
Express bus service builds explosive sales and profitability
Situation: Paramus, N.J.-based Coach USA, a subsidiary of UK-based Stagecoach Group, turned to Hanser & Associates in 2005 to launch Chicago-based megabus.com, the first company in North America to offer intercity express bus service with fares as low as $1 via the Internet. Megabus.com launched service in March 2006 from its Chicago hub to eight [...]
Hospital mergers improve profitability
Situation: Catholic Health System, a five-hospital healthcare-provider network in Western New York, was under significant financial distress in 1998. Shrinking Medicare reimbursements coupled with shorter patient stays and fewer overnight admissions due to new technologies and therapies had put Buffalo, NY-based CHS at a crossroads.
Management at CHS decided to “retask” three hospitals – providing [...]
Building PR helps build homes
Situation: Habitat for Humanity is a not-for-profit, Christian housing ministry which partners with the community to provide affordable housing for low income families. Each home is purchased by the family for the value of the materials without charge for the volunteer labor or allowance for profit. Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity (GDM Habitat) was [...]
PR transforms University division into fee-based enterprise
Situation: Strategic Marketing Services (SMS), a unit of the Cedar Falls, Iowa-based University of Northern’s Iowa College of Business in 1997 found it necessary to move from a federal grant-funded organization to a fee-based enterprise. SMS’ client base for its market research services was Iowa manufacturing companies. Having very little time to make this [...]
Public input supports community/performing arts center
Situation: Hanser & Associates was retained in 2004-2005 to manage the overall process of forming an advisory committee and supporting all of the work of the committee – to assess the feasibility of a Community Center and Performing Arts Center that would be jointly operated by the City of West Des Moines and West Des [...]
International media relations drives record sales and profits
Situation: Scottsdale, Ariz.-based RSC Equipment Rental, the leading provider of equipment rental services for the construction, industrial/petrochemical, manufacturing and government sectors in the United States, Canada and Mexico, sought to increase awareness of the benefits of rental equipment vs. ownership.
PR Action: Hanser & Associates created an international media relations program targeting national trade and mainstream [...]
PR/labor relations during strike maintains customer relations
Situation: In 1998, Denver, Colorado-based Qwest Communications International (then named US WEST) was faced with a labor strike by 36,000 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). In Iowa, 1,900 workers were off the job. In CWA, US WEST was dealing with a respected, savvy organization. Hanser & Associates was retained by US WEST [...]