Scott Hettrick
The Arcadia Chamber of Commerce wants to thank the local news media for helping us generate the most publicity yet for any Special Olympics World Games Host Town announcement, nearly 1.5 million impressions in just the first few days. This is not only terrific for the Special Olympics and the community, but also for Chamber members.
One of the growing roles of the Arcadia Chamber is to generate publicity and supplement the marketing efforts of its members.
This week’s announcement does that by creating very positive mentions for three member hotels in prominent stories of multiple print and online newspapers in English and Chinese. This was the result of capitalizing on one of many unique opportunities to the Chamber, this time leveraging the opportunity of supporting a community initiative for Arcadia in July 2015. In a major win-win-win, Santa Anita Inn General Manager James Tseng and owner Andrew Chang, Hilton Garden Inn Arcadia General Manager Esequiel Munoz, and Embassy Suites Arcadia General Manager Luis Plascencia all responded generously and quickly to the Chamber’s request to provide discounted lodging on a collective 50 rooms and 150 overnight stays, plus 300 free breakfasts, for the benefit of 100 World Games athletes of another country, and in turn the Chamber was able to generate tons of publicity surrounding the announcement, all of it mentioning the generosity of the hotels (copies and details at right and below).
This kind of Chamber-produced publicity is becoming one of the most primary member values as we are creating more and more innovative ways for members to get their branding and messaging out to consumers.
- Direct mail pieces are going out soon to 50,000 and 100,000 households in the San Gabriel Valley featuring Chamber member ads with Chamber ads for Taste of Arcadia, at a fraction of the cost for the member business.
- Same thing for an upcoming half-page ad for Taste of Arcadia in the new Los Angeles Register newspaper to more than 125,000 readers in Arcadia, Pasadena, and the Crescenta Valley. (We will soon be notifying you about a partnership in which we promote members every month in an advertorial with the Register).
Your Chamber also promotes your businesses every day on Facebook, Twitter, on the Chamber web site, and in weekly e-mail newsletters to thousands of readers.- We share your posts and tweets.
- We digitally promote any of your awards and accomplishments and community endeavors.
- We include photos and captions and links to your company in every story discussing a Chamber activity.
Here is a summary of the exposure provided this week to the benefit of Chamber members for the Special Olympics World Games Host Town announcement, including the hotels as well as members Santa Anita Park, Westfield Santa Anita, and the Los Angeles County Arboretum (data and links collected and provided by FleishmanHillard and Chamber):
Print/Online in-person follow-up coverage
Pasadena Star-News May 30- Los Angeles Register (Circ: 800,00) May 29
- Sing Tao Daily May 29 (below right)
- Mountainviews News (still to come)
- ArcadiasBest.com June 1
TV in-person coverage
- Skylink TV
Press Release Pick-up
- Arcadia Weekly (Circ: 7,000)Front Page May 29-June 4
- Monrovia Weekly May 29
- Sierra Madre Weekly May 29
- Temple City Tribune May 29
- Pasadena Independent May 29
- Azusa Beacon May 29
Online coverage
- Arcadiasbest.com June 1
- Pasadena Star-News with video (UVM: 147,393), May 28
- Tout.com with video (UVM: 613,335), May 28
- Nixle (UVM: 343,277), May 28
- San Gabriel Valley Tribune (UVM: 60,159), May 29
- Los Angeles Register (UVM: N/A), May 28
- Epoch Times (UVM: 85,002), May 30
- Arcadiasbest.com May 26
- Arcadia Chamber of Commerce May 26
- Arcadia Chamber of Commerce June 1
Below are photos of Chamber members who participated in Wednesday’s announcement, all taken and provided by Chamber Ambassador Glenn Oyoung, who also benefits with photo credits in several of the publications, including the Los Angeles Register:
R-to-L: Chamber CEO Scott Hettrick & President Denise Weaver with hotel partners from Embassy Suites Arcadia, Hilton Garden Inn Arcadia, and Santa Anita Inn. All photos by Chamber Ambassador Glenn Oyoung.
Embassy Suites Arcadia General Manager Luis Plascencia (2nd from left), George Papavasiliou (l), and Sales/Marketing Director Naomi Briones with Chamber President Weaver and CEO Hettrick.
L-to-R: Santa Anita owner Andrew Chang, General Manager James Tseng, and Sergio Martin (center) with Chamber President Weaver and CEO Hettrick.
Hilton Garden Inn Arcadia team under General Manager Esquiel Munoz with Chamber President Weaver and CEO Hettrick.
Mayor John Wuo (red tie), Council Member Sho Tay (2nd from left) and Police Chief Robert Guthrie with Chamber board members Vicki Knight (2nd from right), Sylvia Ramos (center), Mark Ramos (left), and Chamber President Weaver and CEO Hettrick.
Santa Anita Inn team at announcement.
Hilton Garden Inn Arcadia team at announcement.
Embassy Suites Arcadia team at announcement.
