Plays of the month: April 2020

Is it possible for a month to go by fast and slow all at the same time? April had that vibe for sure, but we were still able to collect some stellar Plays of the Month across the agency.

We’re still hard at work on COVID-19 and other crisis-related work, but a few other initiatives help round out this month’s list.

Content Marketing

We’re long-time partners of Virginia’s Community Colleges, and as higher education has pivoted towards serving students in a safer way, Casey helped strategize and launch CollegeAnywhereVA.org to help students explore over 10,000 courses offered online across the Commonwealth’s 23 community colleges. On the backend, the website serves as a lead generation tool to help bring more people into the admissions pipeline for associate degrees. Starting soon, we’ll be rolling out our EOP strategy for promotion.

Media Relations

We started the month with a feel-good story for UMFS, a statewide non-profit that provides foster care and other health resources to children, teens and families. With the closure of many retailers, World Market out in Short Pump donated three aisles worth of Easter goodies to UMFS to distribute to children and families within its network. WRIC, Richmond Magazine and RVA Hub ran stories.

The pandemic hasn’t been all bad for golfers, since it’s one of the few recreational activities still in operation! Evans and Sean flexed their media relations muscles and landed placements for The First Tee of Greater Richmond on WRIC, ESPN 950 and the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The First Tee’s Chesterfield location reopened to the public after a renovation this spring.

When an in-person press trip scheduled for March had to pivot, our team (Meg, Cameron, Amanda and Julia) worked with the client to coordinate a series of virtual media tastings for client Virginia Distillery Company around its new flagship American Single Malt whisky release, Courage & Conviction. Multiple tastings have been held in recent weeks, inspiring this story in Bevvy on the positive impact of direct-to-consumer sales on distilleries and a Courage & Conviction mention on The Alcohol Professor site.