Prelude to a Chapter
If I ever had a true mentor in the corporate world, it was my former boss at Sports Illustrated, James Ferris. It was he, who took a chance on a free-spirited, eager, young girl, who never made a single dollar writing, and hired her as a promotional copywriter at Time Inc., one of the biggest media companies in the world. Apparently, he saw something in me that made him believe that he could mold me into a bona fide writer, and he did it in the most patient and generous way.
The only condition I struggled with was the dress code. Open-toed pumps were ok. Even sandals were ok. However, toe rings were not! After much agonizing, I reluctantly slipped mine off and took the job. That’s how, with some modicum of confidence, I’m able to recount this story for you now.
With every new venture, every investment of time, energy and money, I gained, not only business experience, but a better understanding of myself; my fortes and failures, what I was good at, and what I was not, what I was capable of achieving, and what I was not. One thing I did know was that I was far more interested in beauty balls than footballs and that the field of public relations needed a makeover.
Chapter 8
Evolution of an Innovation
Throughout my years in the beauty business, I’d been a manager of public relations, a director of public relations, overseeing the activities of such iconic agencies as Howard Rubenstein and as account manager at independent agencies specializing beauty, fashion, and lifestyle. In every case, these agencies charged substantial monthly retainers for their services with no explicit guarantee of the media exposure they paid for. A well-worn marketer’s lament goes, “Advertising you pay for. Publicity you pray for. “
I had been on the receiving end of some of the frustration some our clients expressed when their campaigns fell short of the results they anticipated. Results, we need results! , they chanted, but all we could do was try our best.
Suddenly, my years spent in the promotion department at Sports Illustrated took on new meaning. In a support team for the magazine’s advertising sales reps, I learned to view advertising through their window. Rate cards defined and justified the rates that advertisers paid for exposure to their vast, sports and bikini-clad cover model-obsessed audiences. Companies selling men’s fashions, sporting equipment, cigarettes, watches, automobiles, spirits, and other male passions, ponied up serious sums to appear on their pages.
Combining my learned experience with a penchant for invention, a new PR agency paradigm was born. Reveal: Results Only Communications, the first public relations agency to use the rate card model for fees. Instead of a monthly retainer, ROC used a pay-per-placement model, which at the time, was highly controversial, wildly well received – and generated plenty of publicity of its own.