MSR Communications Honored With Magellan Gold Award

(SANEPR.com) February 18, 2009 -- SAN FRANCISCO, February 19, 2009- MSR Communications, an independent public relations firm specializing in providing communications management services to emerging growth technology and consumer companies, has been awarded a Gold Award from the League of American Communications Professionals’ (LACP) in the overall 2008 Magellan Awards Communications Campaign Competition for its media relations campaign on behalf of AirBedandBreakfast.com. MSR’s campaign was selected for the agency’s exceptional ability to leverage breaking news to help create a brand.

The 2008 Magellan Gold Award recognizes MSR’s “superb quality” and extraordinary results achieved for AirBedandBreakfast.com in response to the breaking news of hotel shortages in Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul for both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention. MSR developed creative pitches to demonstrate the AirBedandBreakfast.com site as a travel solution that would enable convention goers to attend the conventions affordably and in the comforts of a home, as well as to incite local residents in these cities to post their homes as lodging options during these events.

“MSR Communications’ campaign entry, ‘Harnessing the Election Craze to Create a Brand,’ proves to be remarkable in light of tremendous competition,” said Christine Kennedy, LACP Managing Director. “The LACP believes the measurable results of this campaign to be excellent, demonstrating the success of this project in connecting with the right people and delivering a highly applicable and persuasive message.”

MSR’s campaign resulted in major media coverage of AirBedandBreakfast.com is such business, broadcast and regional media as Newsweek, The New York Times, USA Today, and U.S News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, The Denver Post, The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun Times and on the coveted NBC Today Show. The results elevated AirBedandBreakfast.com’s status from obscure Web site to major player in the online travel industry. When MSR began working with AirBedandBreakfast.com, the site offered about 100 listings in 20 countries. After MSR’s two-month media relations campaign, the site was populated by thousands of listings in 637 cities and 69 countries worldwide.

“We are extremely honored to receive this esteemed award,” said Mary Shank Rockman, Principal and CEO of MSR Communications. “This campaign demonstrates MSR’s overall ability to achieve high-level visibility for our clients by associating and marketing them relevant to the important issues of the day. It is very gratifying to be validated in such a respected forum.”

LACP was established in order to create a forum within the public relations industry to facilitate a discussion of best-in-class practices within the profession while recognizing those that demonstrate exemplary communications capabilities. The award marks the 8th major recognition of MSR's achievements in outstanding communications campaigns in the past 12 months.

About MSR Communications
MSR Communications is an independent public relations firm that offers a unique brand of creative intelligence to provide superior communications management services to emerging-growth technology, B2B and consumer lifestyle companies. The firm has practice areas in media and analyst relations, speaker placement programs, corporate positioning and messaging, digital marketing communications, and crises and reputation management. Based in San Francisco, MSR was named one of the Top 5 Small PR Firms in the nation in 2008. For more information, please visit www.msrcommunications.com or call (415) 989-9000.