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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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PR man going out solo, sort of
A LONGTIME local public relations representative and newsman is bringing a
PR Store franchise to Hawaii. David Patterson, whose resumé stretches across local newsrooms and PR and marketing companies including
Team Vision and the old PRWorks, has become a franchisee of the North Carolina-based company.
"I could start up my own boutique, but my prices will have to end up being the same as everyone else's," he said. The PR Store franchising operation offers "the infrastructure to keep it affordable."
While it is called the PR Store, franchisees offer a full range of public relations, marketing and advertising services to primarily small business clients.
"It is an advertising agency that's set up more like a retail store," Patterson said.
He doesn't see the PR Store as "competing with the big guys," since it will focus on project work as opposed to retainer work, and it will operate with a price list.
"Its prime objective is to service small businesses that can't afford the big agencies," Patterson said.
Patterson will greet customers in the store, discuss their needs and work with the creative team in the PR Store's Design Central operation in North Carolina to see to it that the work doesn't look like cookie-cutter mainland stuff, but instead looks "localized."
While the mainland headquarters of the PR Store handles printing for most of its franchisees, "anything that can be done locally, I've gotten permission to do locally," Patterson said.
Shipping costs are one reason, but "I want to include as many local vendors as possible," he said. They will include a company that will do quality broadcast production for a reasonable rate.
In addition to becoming the go-to place for small businesses hoping to get the word out, Patterson is mulling ways to be the conduit for media outlets looking for small business clientele.
Patterson has registered the name PR Store Honolulu LLC and is scouting locations in Kakaako.
Hawaii rates high
THE FOLKS behind the travel Web site
TravelPost.com are jumping into the best-of-list pool, announcing top-ranked hotels of 2006 based on reviews of its users.
One difference is that their list breaks down not just a category, but demographic information.
Female TravelPost users ages 31 to 45 put the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa at the top of the best 11 hotels with spas, above the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort and Casino and way above the Wynn in Las Vegas.
The top 10 hotels chosen by TravelPost's luxury travel-posters that cost $300 or more a night include five in Hawaii -- and not just the usual suspects, either. The Fairmont Kea Lani Maui was No. 2; No. 3 was the Westin Maui Resort and Spa; the Ritz Carlton Kapalua ranked No. 5; Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach came in at No. 7 and the Kahala rounded out the top 10.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com