Ground breaking events are always dicey.  Its difficult to persuade people to leave work to go to an outdoor event in Florida, especially in summer.  And its even more of a challenge to coax the media to cover such events unless its a ground breaking on a project of major importance to the economy of the region.  The ground breaking of Donte’s Den, an animal sanctuary located on 50 acres miles away from the closest two cities presented those challenges and more.  However, what Donte’s Den offers is an irresistible and unique proposition for dog lovers; it is the first of its kind of sanctuary.  Its market is dogs that have become displaced, either by becoming abandoned, by their military owners being deployed, or their owners moving on to assisted living or passing away.  The building plans call for the latest in kennel management - no  chain link fencing which traumatizes both dogs and humans, for example.  These unique and interesting facets of the project were pitched aggressively to the local media.  Our goal was to place stories without having the reporter finding it necessary to attend the ground breaking.  We teed up the architect for interviews, primed the founded similarly.  We ensured that there would be photos available as soon as possible for both broadcast and print. 

The result of our efforts were about 3 million impressions in the Tampa Bay market, including two front page stories in the local newspapers as well as a cover story in the business tab.  Print earned media, the cost in advertising of the amount of space taken by editorial coverage, came close to $10,000 - an outstanding amount in this smaller media market.  

Lesson learned: Make it very easy for the media to cover a story, and, of course, make that story very interesting to cover. If you are interested if getting your organization more editorial coverage, connect with Kristine at 941-928-5572 or email her at [email protected]

Check out some of the awesome coverage here: 

Sarasota Herald Tribune: https://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20140707/article/307079994

Bradenton Herald: https://www.bradenton.com/2014/06/30/5233865/dontes-den-ground-breaking.html

Bradenton Herald: https://www.bradenton.com/2014/07/01/5234411/dontes-den-myakka-community-for.html

Our very own Creative Director, Lindsey Nickel-de La O, showed Ignite Tampa Bay the power of MORE a few weeks ago at the Cuban Club Theater in Ybor City. She delivered a powerful five-minute presentation to a sold-out crowd of around 350 people.

Lindsey spoke about the “I AM More” educational platform, which she helped develop last year with Girls Inc. of Sarasota. The curriculum can be used to empower girls of all ages and directly combats negative media messaging, bullying, eating disorders and challenges girls face at home.

Lindsey’s emotional presentation sparked real-time responses from the crowd via Twitter. 

“It was an honor to present at Ignite Tampa Bay on a topic so close to my heart— empowering girls to ‘be more’ and to be their best selves,” said Nickel-de la O.

Lindsey and Girls Inc. of Sarasota hope the “I AM More” curriculum will be implicated in schools across the country. “This program has the potential to increase self-esteem, courage and community in girls across the country,” said Lindsey. “Presenting at Ignite helped broaden the reach of this program and hopefully made some people consider contacting Girls Inc. of Sarasota or myself to get involved.” 

About Ignite:
Ignite started in Seattle in 2006 and debuted in Tampa Bay in 2006. Brady Forrest, Technology Evangelist for O’Reilly Media, and Bre Pettis of Makerbot.com, formerly of MAKE Magazine, started the international community. Each speaker is given a very strict five-minute time limit to present with only 20 slides that advance every 15 seconds. 

Nickel Communications brought home three major honors Saturday night from the 4th District American Advertising Awards in Tampa.

Nickel won three District ADDYs — more than any other agency in ADFed Suncoast, which includes Sarasota.

Our team was honored along side Ringling College of Art and Design and many of Nickel interns and Lindsey's students including Paige Caruso, Jessica Kuykendall and students Jack Dess and Cristina Hernandez pictured with Vivian Owen and Lindsey. 

Winning campaigns include our Home Resource Television campaign, and the Girls Inc. of Sarasota County “I am More” campaigns public service announcement and song.

“It’s such an honor to be recognized for our work at this level,” said Kristine Nickel, president and managing partner. “It’s a testament to the great creativity of our team.”

“It might seem crazy what we’re 'bout to say, but this year Nickel’s come a long way. Because we’re happy!”

The past few weeks, people in cities around the world have filmed music videos for Pharrell Williams’ hit song, “Happy” as part of the United Nation’s celebration of the International Day of Happiness on March 20^th. The team at Nickel Communications decided that it was Sarasota’s turn! Lindsey, our very own Creative Director, planned, filmed, and helped edit the video to show the world why our city is so unique.

We recruited help from local performers from Asolo Repertory Theatre, the Players Theater, girls from Girls Inc. of Sarasota, students from Ringling College of Art + Design, and several other Sarasota residents and visitors. Most of the filming was done one Sunday, March 23, at locations including Siesta Key Beach, Five Points Park, the Palm Avenue Garage, Bayfront Park, and the Ringling Bridge. The end product, “Sarasota: Destination Happy” showcases just a snippet of what makes Sarasota unique.

Since uploading the video to YouTube on Thursday, March 27^th, we’ve had over 4,300 views and over 75 likes! Over 70 happy people have also shared the video from our Facebook page and we were even featured in This Week in Sarasota. Check out the article here: https://www.thisweekinsarasota.com/2014/03/sarasota-joins-international-scene-gets-happy/

We might need more room on our wall! This past Saturday night at the 2014 American Advertising Federation Suncoast ADDY Awards, Nickel Communications took home some prestigious awards, earning three gold awards, three silver awards, two judges awards, one AMY award, and the coveted People’s Choice Award. 

Our three gold awards were all for aspects of the Girls Inc. “I AM More” campaign, including the campaign as a whole, the television public service announcement, and the exclusive song written and recorded for the campaign. We also are credited for the Adfed Suncoast’s Gold ADDY for the “Through the ADDY Glass” video we wrote, directed and produced for the 2013 ADDY awards. Silver ADDYs were awarded for our Top Dog event promotional material, a Home Resource commercial, and a look book for TreborStyle, which also won the AMY award, honoring the best work in an award category. Our commercials, both for Home Resource and “I AM More”, won the judges awards. And “I AM More” took home the People’s Choice for us, as well! If you haven’t seen our work, you can find it www.nickelcommunications.com or on the ADDY Underground Winners Gallery at https://www.behance.net/ADDYUnderground.

“These new awards will join other successful campaign recognition on our wall of client achievement in the Nickel office,” said Kristine, our President and Managing Partner, “We’re thrilled to have our work endorsed in this way by an independent panel of industry leaders.” We want to thank everyone who contributed to our awards and we’ll thrive to continue making successful, powerful, and engaging work!