Approximately once a quarter, Zapwater Communications sends out an electronic newsletter to clients and business associates highlighting everything from our recent initiatives, campaigns, events, and even placements.

Our summer newsletter will be hitting email inboxes this week, so be sure to keep a look out for it! Contents include details about our new corporate client Graycor, a campaign spotlight about fine jewelry designer, Dana Rebecca Designs, and a list of upcoming events.

Would you like a copy of this quarter’s newsletter? Feel free to email me at jenn@zapwater.com and we’ll be sure to add you to the list. We promise that you won’t get spammed if we add you to our list, but it will give you an inside look into how our office works and how we take public relations to the next level. We look forward to your feedback!

In the meantime, you can get a sneak peak of the newsletter by clicking here.

Jenn Lake
Creative Director

One way that Zapwater continues to separate ourselves from other PR agencies is that we put a large emphasis on co-branding and partnerships for our clients. A perfect example of this was a recent promotion and event for our fashion client, GAVIN Boutique, a women’s apparel and accessory store based in Evanston, Illinois (www.shopgavin.com).

Together with GAVIN’s owner, Lauren Cavallo Runzel, we developed three goals for the partnership:
1. Drive new shoppers and foot traffic into the store
2. Encourage city shoppers to come to the suburbs to shop
3. Elevate awareness of GAVIN Boutique as the ultimate destination for one-of-a-kind finds

In order to achieve these goals, we organized a partnership for them with a vintage collaborative called Lipstick Dinosaur (www.lipstickdinosaur.com). Lipstick Dinosaur scours secondhand stores around the country to find one-of-a-kind apparel and accessories.

Between Lipstick Dinosaur’s vintage accessories and GAVIN Boutique’s apparel, we knew that this could be a successful partnership. Therefore, our team strategized a variety of tactics including:

1. Organizing an in-store appearance and trunk show for Lipstick Dinosaur at GAVIN Boutique featuring vintage necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches, and more. The boutique also offered special discounts that day.
2. Instead of just a one-day trunk show, we also worked with GAVIN to create a Lipstick Dinosaur “pop-up accessory shop” for the month of July featuring vintage accessories paired with GAVIN’s apparel.
3. We organized a high-profile “GAVIN Boutique & Lipstick Dinosaur Launch Party and Runway Show” in Chicago at the stylish, Vertigo Sky Lounge at the dana hotel & spa.

The partnership was an incredible success and received a lot of media acclaim with a full-page spread in the Chicago Sun-Times, and features in Chicago Magazine, Cheeky Chicago, Time Out Chicago, NBC 5 Chicago, Chicago Social, and much more. Also, within a week of the launch of the pop-up shop, Lipstick Dinosaur had to replenish new accessories since everything had sold out.

Seeing the increase in sales and traffic, GAVIN Boutique is also planning on extending the relationship beyond the one-month pop-up shop. Lauren Cavallo Runzel is planning to carry Lipstick Dinosaur accessories in the boutique for the rest of 2010.

Experts in cause related marketing, Zapwater continues to work with GreenLaces, a socially conscious organization dedicated to giving back to the Planet through “promises” and funding environmental initiatives.

GreenLaces was founded by Chicago Red Stars player, Natalie Spilger. A Stanford graduate, Natalie believes that athletes should not only serve as role models to youth, but also give back to the Planet. GreenLaces confronts this challenge through pop culture and individual reform providing an immediate and viral impact. GreenLaces inspires the masses to make “green” promises to the Planet whether it’s showering in a shorter period of time, using cups instead of plastic water bottles, and then purchasing green laces to serve as a reminder to that promise.

Zapwater continues to help secure media coverage for the organization like the NBC segment above. By helping promote GreenLaces, Zapwater is showing its support for the Planet and sprucing up its kicks at the same time. We’re usually thinking orange, but Natalie is helping us think green.

Third generation fine jewelry designer, Dana Levy of Dana Rebecca Designs joined the Zapwater family in early 2010. This diamond and gemstone jewelry collection is greatly inspired by two things – the designer’s travels around the world and the people in her life. Each piece is named after a family member or friend of Dana’s, and the gemstones and color combinations are inspired by the exotic locations she has visited from India to Hong Kong, Israel to Italy, and more.

The luxury jewelry world has a lot of competition, but Dana’s collection has found a niche as a modern collection of heirloom-like accessories that will be treasured for many years to come. Celebrities have gravitated towards the collection for countless red carpet appearances including Taylor Swift, Salma Hayek, Faith Hill, Leighton Meester, Blake Lively, and even Oprah Winfrey.

Be on the lookout for this collection in numerous national women’s consumer publications this fall including People StyleWatch, Shape, and Self Magazine.

To see the full collection, visit www.danarebeccadesigns.com

We work with clients to build social media strategies that work, drive traffic to your businesses, and increase buzz about your overall brand. From Four Square to Twitter, Facebook to YouTube, we are always active on these websites trying to find ways increase exposure to our clients.

Be sure to follow some of Zapwater’s team on Twitter for updates, event invitations, and more!

Zapwater Communications @zapwater
David Zapata @davidmzapata
Jenn Lake @jenniferlake
Susie Schrieber @susiepr
Sarah Marseille @spin_city
Deanne Daneck @deannecd
Kassy Reiff @kassyreiff
Megan Lagesse @megan_l
Michael Corrigan @billieholligay

Keep tabs on the team to learn more about how we think, where we are checking in on Four Square, and more.

Save the date! Mark your calendars for these upcoming Zapwater client events. If you want your name added to our invitation lists, please send your information to rsvp@zapwater.com.

July 21, 2010 – Rick Bayless Live Cooking Demo at Cooper’s Hawk at the Arboretum of South Barrington

July 23, 2010– GAVIN Boutique & Lipstick Dinosaur Party at Vertigo Sky Lounge at dana hotel & spa

July 24, 2010 – SAX Chicago White Party with Conjure Cognac, and Grab Magazine in support of Vital Bridges Chicago

July 25, 2010 – Chicago Red Stars Game vs. Boston Breakers at Toyota Park

July 30, 2010 – Kid Rock Soldier Field After-Party at Crimson Lounge at the SAX Chicago

August 11, 2010 – Chicago Red Stars game vs. Philadelphia Independence at Toyota Park

September 16, 2010 – Launch of GAVIN Boutique’s E-Commerce Website, ShopGavin.com

September 19, 2010 – Arboretum of South Barrington Antiques Market

Zapwater worked with RA Sushi to develop an event that would create buzz around local personalities and the creativity of their sushi rules. The team created an event titled, “Meteo-RA-logy Madness,” a contest that featured a line-up of Chicagoland’s favorite weather people. Each meteorologist was picked to create a signature sushi roll and partner with non-profit organizations to raise money for a good cause.

Their sushi rolls were prepared by RA Sushi’s expert sushi chef, then sampled and judged by a panel of local media personalities, as well as the crowd in attendance. Each roll was judged based on creativity of name, ingredients, presentation and most importantly, taste!

The 2010 Meteo-RA-logy Madness contest featured:

• Mary Kay Kleist, CBS2’s lead meteorologist for “Monsters & Money in the Morning,” created the “Maximum Vorticity” roll. Mary Kay played for The Randy Salerno Foundation, which assists bereaved children and families in McHenry County.

• Amy Freeze, from FOX Chicago News, developed “The Freeze Front” roll. She partnered with March of Dimes whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

• NBC5’s very own Ginger Zee developed the “Hurricane Ginger” roll. Ginger represented The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which works towards finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and melanoma and improving the quality of life for patients and their families.

• Last and certainly not least, Duffy Atkins from WGN/CLTV coined the “Fujita-Toro Roll.” Duffy played for In Concert Chicago, an organization that arranges for Chicago-area student and professional musicians to perform for senior citizens at nursing homes, retirement communities and assisted-living centers.

Duffy Atkin’s winning roll was featured on its own menu from May 1 through May 15, 2010 at all three Chicagoland RA Sushi locations (Chicago, Glenview and Lombard.) A portion of the proceeds generated from the sale of the roll will benefited In Concert Chicago.

The media that covered the event included CBS 2 Evening News, WGN-CLTV Morning, NBC 5 Evening, CBS 2 Morning, FOX Chicago, WGN-CLTV Evening, CheekyChicago.com, RedEye, and Time Out Chicago to name a few.

Zapwater has been tapped as public relations Agency of Record for Graycor, a leading construction services firm based in the Chicago area.

Since 1921, Graycor has been providing a wide variety of industrial and commercial construction services as well as industrial maintenance technologies to clients across the Nation and beyond. Through its family of companies – Graycor Industrial Contractors Inc., Graycor Construction Company Inc., Graycor Blasting Company Inc., Graycor International and Graycor Services L.L.C. – the company offers pre-construction, agency construction management, construction management at risk, facilities management, general contractor and design-build services across a number of verticals.
In this role, the agency will be responsible for managing ongoing trade and business media outreach, assisting with various aspects of corporate and internal communications and offering ongoing tradeshow marketing support.

The addition of Graycor to Zapwater’s corporate client roster adds to an already impressive list of clients that have retained the award-winning agency over the past 12 months. Zapwater continues to emerge as a go-to-agency for corporate communications and business-to-business public relations.

As Zapwater continues to grow into the premier boutique public relations agency in the Midwest, its body of work in sports and entertainment continues to expand. Zapwater recently began a relationship with Killerspin, the global leader in table tennis equipment and sports apparel.

As a part of the continued relationship, Zapwater worked with International sports icon, Killerspin spokesperson and table tennis champion, Biba Golic. Biba recently visited the FOX news-team and educated the audience on the rise in popularity of table tennis, in addition to touting Killerspin’s upcoming initiative of Buy-One-Give-One. Through this program, corporations and businesses who purchase a table can have another table donated in their name to a worth non-profit or association. Check out www.killerspin.com for more information on the company and the Buy-One-Give-One program.

On Friday May 7, 2010, the Publicity Club of Chicago celebrated its 51st Annual Golden Trumpet Awards. Zapwater Communications won three Silver Trumpets for outstanding work in the categories of “Marketing,” “Special Events and Observances” and “Institutional.”

This was a wonderful honor for the agency which has now won a total of eleven major awards for public relations excellence since 2008. Awards won include two Bulldog Awards, three Adrian Awards and six PCC Silver Trumpets.

In addition, Zapwater was recently awarded Julib.com’s 2010 Style Award for Marketing/PR Agency of the Year (Midwest). Julib.com is Modern Luxury’s digital e-newsletter that covers fashion, design, and more. This reader’s choice award signifies our agency’s continued expansion in the lifestyle, design, and fashion fields.