Over the last six months, Coffee Talk has taught me and hopefully you, about the many sectors of public relations. We’ve learned about agency and corporate life, entertainment, and consumer PR, juggling careers and a family, and how to go solo and much more. PR is so diverse that we can learn something new about it everyday, but what about the rest of our communications professionals? We work with media professionals on a daily basis, yet we never really get the chance to see what a day is like in their life. So I’ve decided to open Coffee Talk to media professionals too. I will interview hard working professionals from all different levels to give us an inside look at their daily life. First one to bat, Rob “Stats”  Guerrera, production assistant for ESPN’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning”.

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One of the things I love about the communications profession is the fact that while walking down the street, it’s often difficult to immediately pick us out from a crowd. Let’s be honest: You can usually tell with one quick glance when someone is a real-estate agent, lawyer or an account (perhaps because each requires significant training and/or licensing in their respective professions that often gives them a bit of an aura of being . . . different from the rest of us, but I digress). But when walking down the street, you can’t really immediately pick out a communications pro. We just come in all shapes, sizes, demographics and personalities. Read the rest of this entry

We love our sports heroes. Oh, do we LOVE our sports heroes! Babe Ruth, Joe Montana, Magic Johnson, Roger Federer, Mia Hamm, Cal Ripken, LeBron James, Peyton Manning – the “good guys” of sports are beloved by fans and marketers alike.

These stars win championships (or compete for them every year), donate money, work in the community, sponsor brands – they do everything heroes should do.

Heck, Drew Brees has helped rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina with time, effort and money – and just last night brought the Super Bowl trophy to his adopted hometown. It didn’t complete the economic and social recovery, but it gave the city something wonderful to rally around.

But you know what? Read the rest of this entry

As a former sports PR guy, a career I immensely loved and was extremely passionate about, but also grew out of for many reasons (to understand a majority of those reasons, check out my friend Jeff Esposito’s excellent PRBC post about working in sports PR from Friday here), I have both fond memories of that profession, and a sense of understanding now that moving on from it nine months ago was the right thing for me to do.

Jeff gave an excellent rundown of what it is like to work in PR in the sports world. Yes, it can be incredibly exciting, and yes, you do get to work around some amazing athletes. And there are many other benefits and fantastic qualities to working in that profession. But it has its downsides— Read the rest of this entry

Choosing a profession is one of those things in life that everyone does, some taking longer than others, for one reason or another. The journey from point A to B is what makes us stand out from every other mammal standing in line at the coffee shop. Most PR folks I’ve spoken with have jumped into the field after college or transferred from a marketing or journalistic role. I took a different route and fell into the field during my sophomore year in college.

That year I landed a spot as a marketing intern with the Jersey Devils.  Next, I interviewed with the New York Knicks, where the hiring manager let me know that I was a great communicator and that the skill would be wasted in marketing. Read the rest of this entry

Mike Schaffer

It’s a bird; it’s a plane, it’s Michael Schaffer for this week’s coffee talk. This non-coffee drinker (gasp) was a former DJ that uses music to “pump up the volume” for his day.  He’s a savy PR/ Social Media professional working in the entertainment/sports world as social media director for Brotman-Winter-Fried Communications. To get through his crazy days Mike turns to songs from Glee, the Cupid Shuffle, Ingraham Hill and the Beastie Boys for motivation. Not one to name drop, he did admit to losing his cool when he met  Jaleel White, who played Steve Urkel.  Also be sure to check out Mike’s blog: The Buzz.

And so I give you, Mike Schaffer, shedding light on the sports and entertainment world of PR. Read the rest of this entry