It’s getting very tiring to pretend here in San Diego; the fake snow, the scarves and sweaters making us sweat, Christmas trees from dirt lots and Target Garden Centers. It’s time to stop pretending and embrace San Diego’s true holiday spirit.

So while we don our flip flops, tanks and T’s, so will Seaport Village’s Santa Clause, because you know, nobody likes rockin’ all that red fur in 70 degree weather. Even Santa needs a break. He’ll make his arrival to Seaport Village this Sunday, 12/14 by sailboat on the San Diego Harbor. Then he’ll pose in his board shorts on his giant surfboard and wave for free pictures with the kiddies from 12 - 4 p.m.

So if you’re from out of town, or you’re a local and want to rub it in to the out-of-towners, grab a free picture this Sunday then go online to http://blog.seaportvillage.com to send it to your cold family out in the Northeast. They’ll reek of jealousy!

As you’ve read here before, we are thrilled to be handling the PR for Setai San Diego, the new 184-room premier luxury hotel located in downtown San Diego’s financial district, which opens next month (Dec. 2008). As Setai San Diego nears completion, the hundreds of design, art and custom-made features are being installed and really bringing the property to life. It is definitely unlike anything San Diego has ever seen and we think it will blow people away.

More pictures to come, but this gives you an idea of a standard room.

Setai San Diego has also just announced its dining and bar partner is Suite & Tender Bar, Lounge and Restaurant.  It will feature the cuisine of James Beard Award-winning Chef Christopher Lee, and will be a softer, more sophisticated take on the typical steakhouse. Suite & Tender is based on a gastro-tourism concept where diners have the chance to create an experience that is completely their own and will focus on choices, not rules. In addition to table-side cocktail service, it will offer a wine selection that gets this Napa Valley native very excited: guests will be able to sample various wines from a distinguished American-focused wine list, and create their own flights, deciding between a sip, a taste or a bottomless glass. Take a guess at which option I’ll be choosing from when dining or hanging in the Lounge…

We can now officially announce that we have been retained by the Setai San Diego to manage public relations for its grand opening. Slated to open at the end of the year in downtown San Diego, this is the first Setai to open on the West Coast. The brand is better known on the East Coast due to its luxurious So. Beach property. But pretty soon, the left side of the country will understand what all the buzz is about.

The hotel is located on Fifth Ave. in the Financial District just outside of the Gaslamp Quarter.  The ultra-chic property was designed by the Rockwell Group (and they really do rock). We did a walk through yesterday and I couldn’t stop touching the walls. I lost count of how many wall finishes there are from floor to floor, but truly it was the most touchable hotel I have every experienced. The installation art is gorgeous (and there’s quite a bit of it). The 184-room hotel, will feature a spa, rooftop pool, restaurant, lobby bar, luxe suites and the largest, most exclusive three-story penthouse on the West Coast.

Needless to say, we are stoked to be representing this luxury brand and bringing a new level of hospitality to San Diego.

Public relations is easy when you have something to say: the first, the only, the biggest, the best, the unusual, etc. But after a client gets through that initial announcement, what news do you have left to tell? Sometimes very little, and in a competitive market, that can be a scary ailment.

Our team faced a similar predicament this year with the 69th season of the Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego. While there’s always a lot going on with the track, we didn’t have a compelling answer when media asked, “What’s new?” Instead of letting that hinder our ability to garner news, we used a few PR tools to keep the community buzzing about Del Mar.

Here are my two favorite from this year’s meet:

1) Build your reputation with the blogging community– While this should always complement your PR campaigns, use slow news periods to expand your online conversations into new (and still relevant) categories and dig deeper into the blogger list. Not only will you see instantaneous results, but these results will continue to work for you through the long term.

With Del Mar, our team continually communicated with family, mom or dad, travel and “scene” bloggers. This year we expanded our list, spoke with them more often and extended free tickets to the track.

Not only did we earn coverage from this, but we even developed strong sponsorships with editorial-for-link exchanges.

2) Look back– Measuring impact and comparing “then to now” often make great pieces for media, but writers may not know enough about your product or service to put it together themselves. Lucky for us, Del Mar compiles economic impact figures every year, and we get to use them. Instead of pitching local media on “look at what Del Mar is doing this year,” our team pitched “look at what they’ve done.” We discovered that many writers didn’t know this, and we got to help several of them “discover” the facts.

Here’s an abstract from a Rancho Santa Fe Review article:

A strong public relations team should look at your product or service and see it from every angle possible. It is this creative thinking approach that will maximize your coverage in media, especially through the news droughts.

What creative angles have you used to garner media?

I’m way to tall too be a jockey.

I don’t look nearly as awkward as Shaq racing a thoroughbred, but I certainly don’t look natural.

How would I know? The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club just released its “Jockey Yourself” e-blast to promote the start of its season and its new website that we helped create. I couldn’t wait to see how I’d look on a horse and wanted to share that fabulous experience with you. You can watch me here (I recommend using sound…there’s nothing like Trevor’s voice to help bring about the excitement of the race meet).

This is Del Mar’s first interactive program to promote the season. Latching onto the area’s excitement for Opening Day that seems to explode after the 4th of July weekend, we expect this individualized treat to quickly sneak its way into everyone’s inbox.

So go ahead….Jockey Yourself.

Exciting news! We’ve added five new people to agency, rounding out our creative team.

Ian Graham is executive creative director (most recently CD and senior partner at Ogilvy, Los Angeles). He’s worked on Cisco Systems, ARCO gasoline, am/pm stores, Nestle, e*trade, the California Lottery, Dewar’s Scotch, A&E, NBC, and MGM Mirage Casinos in Las Vegas. Ian’s been responsible for pretty amazing work here, heading the creative team, and our literal integration of offices and workstations, giving a much-needed (literal) volume pump-up.

Art Director Nik Helgaas and Copywriter Lindsay Cliett form the newest creative team. Both attended Miami Ad School and are from out of market. Not only are they concepting smart work for our clients - they’re funnier than heck.

Francis Floro has been hired as a designer. This guy has not only taught at the New York School of Visual Arts, he was also a dancer for Malashock, and a truck driver (who are you?!).

Callan Green is an advertising and public relations account coordinator. She’s rocking our social media efforts, especially for Vet-Stem.

You can officially consider Bailey Gardiner a creative agency.

I can’t declare enough how essential relationships are to the success of pr - and ultimately garnering for clients (positive) press. I can rattle off a baker’s dozen of examples - or just show you this one:

Freelancer Ericka Chickowski and I began working together in early 2007, as she was compliling lists of the best places to wine, dine, see, play, stay at in San Diego for the 2008 edition of Moon Handbooks travel guide.

After more than a year of dining, talking, offering (non-client) suggestions, and courting, a bright image of our very own Del Mar Racetrack was featured on page 16 of the lengthy guide, among other pages.

Talk about beach-front property!

Shameless plug: Del Mar Racetrack’s Opening Day is one month away - Wed., July 16. We’d better see you there - you know your boss’ll be there too.

It is our personal mission to create marketing messages with impact. We want our clients to standout from all the clutter and competition. A recent onsite campaign for Seaport Village has garnered more pictures than a Kodak Photo Spot.

And now it lives on the blogosphere.

While I was going through security in San Diego last week, I wasn’t surprised to see that someone had finally branded the shoe bins. And it was Zappos (who could be more perfect!). However, while the media buy is a perfect fit… I really thought they could have done more conceptually to benefit them from a business perspective.

Long have I struggled with a stubborn lace while the security line backs up embarassingly behind me. What about creating a section on the Zappos site that features fly-friendly shoes? Slip-on sneakers and other shoes designed to make your flying experience easier?

I checked their site and right now they only have a section that features “steel free” shoes (sadly outdated considering all shoes have to be taken off at most airports these days). 

Noticing these bins makes me wonder what airport standby will be the next big media buy space. We’ve all seen the branded tray tables and air walkways. My guess? I think the tourism industry will soon be all over those in-flight follow me maps. After all, there is no better audience than a captive one. 

The San Diego Zoo is one of our town’s real heritage brands. They have invested many years and millions of dollars to create a recognizable brand that is known all over the world. A few years back the Zoo’s board decided that it was time to do an agency review and perhaps freshen up the advertising. They selected an out of town firm which didn’t go down too well with local firms that offer plenty of talent. Ouch.That firm kicked off their first campaign with this ad  which was a complete departure from its 20 year investment. Some people liked it, some didn’t.  Now they have launched a new campaign and I am concerned. This campaign has absolutely nothing to do with the first campaign and once again nothing to do with the brand’s heritage. So what I see is that they are creating new campaigns because they are funny or clever and they are not really building any kind of brand positioning.  The Zoo should be building its brand for the long haul, in a recognizable way.  I agree that advertising needs to stay fresh. But random campaigns that don’t build the brand do only one thing - they build the portfolio of the agency. The Zoo deserves better.