Good week: WSJ, Fox and now New York Times

7/31/09 -- Nice triple play this week. Client hits earlier in the week in the Wall Street Journal and on Fox Business, and today Alex Kurkin of Kurkin Brandes was quoted extensively in the New York Times blog The Lede. Alex, an auto dealer attorney, discusses the state of the Cash for Clunkers program. Here's one of his quotes along with a great piece of writing about how some cars are being disabled. Link to the full text at the bottom.

Alex Kurkin:
“There is absolute frustration across the board,” Alex Kurkin, a lawyer based in Miami who represents several car dealerships, tells The Lede today. “As of this morning, they’re not really confident about any deals, and no one can give them advice about what they should be telling their customers.”

How to kill a car:
Nick Clites, who is in charge of used cars for the dealership, was prepping a 1988 BMW 535IS, with 214,000 miles on the odometer, for its death. He drained the oil, then donned a silky blue protective suit, goggles and gloves and poured a sodium silicate solution into the engine. He revved the car, and within a few seconds, the solution hardened into a glass-like substance, the engine seized up and the car was dead.

Great stuff. Full article here: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/dealers-race-to-get-their-clunkers-crushed/?hp

--John

Update: New York Times Blog Hit Turns Into Story in Sunday Edition

The story mentioned in this post that we landed auto dealer attorney client in The New York Times “The Lede” news blog on Friday, July 31, also appeared in the Sunday national print edition of the newspaper on page A15. It is a fantastic hit for our client Alex Kurkin, whose quotes are used at the very beginning and end of the article. It comes as a result of our moving quickly to offer a highly informed expert source on the breaking news of the problems and confusion with the Cash for Clunkers program to the national news outlets that are covering it. A simple pitch that we were able to develop with Alex’s help and quickly distribute to the writers who were covering it did the trick.

Chris Hurn of Mercantile Capital on Fox Business

7/27/09 -- Chris Hurn of Mercantile Capital Corporation appeared on Fox Business today discussing the state of small business lending in the wake of the CIT Group collapse. Among his points, Hurn said that the government could add billions of dollars into the system by modifying existing SBA loan programs like the "504" loan program that traditionally leaves "money on the table" that could go toward growing small businesses.



--John
http://www.miamipublicrelations.com/

Ernie Cambo of AVE Aviation and Commerce Center in Wall Street Journal

7/27/09 -- We put Wall Street Journal reporter Dan Fitzpatrick in touch with Ernie Cambo of AVE Aviation and Commerce Center last week when the paper told us it was looking for borrowers frustrated by the current lending environment. We have done work with Ernie in the past and his brother Robert is a friend and was a longtime client. Today, our client Capital Commercial Group reps the relatively new AVE park. (Sometimes it does feel like everyone's related in Miami.)

Here's the link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124865259057482435.html

--John


http://www.miamipublicrelations.com/

Behind the Scenes at SouthFlorida.com/LIVE

7/15/09 -- Marisol Gomez, an attorney with our client Gamba & Lombana was interviewed this morning on SouthFlorida.com/LIVE, a local news/morning show on the CW Network and produced by the Sun-Sentinel newspaper.

The television interview focused on the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Gomez, a litigator for Gamba & Lombana and a member of the Puerto Rican Bar Association, said that the Hispanic community is following the hearings very closely.

Here's some behind the scenes footage:



--John

Miami Daily Business Review Publishes Our Marketing Article

7/8/09 -- The Miami Daily Business Review published our marketing article "Overlooking the Basics: Businesses Neglect Referral Source Communications in Search of Magic Bullets" in its current e-newsletter.

Here's a little bit of our piece and a link to the article. Thanks to Gina Davidson and Chris Mobley for including us.

While lacking the obvious appeal and ego-boost of landing a major media opportunity, direct communications to core business contacts has been and will continue to be one of the most vital and effective marketing and public relations tactics. By using the latest online applications to conduct impactful e-mail campaigns, which include comprehensive and photo-rich newsletters as well as brief alerts and announcements, organizations can efficiently build and maintain the positive awareness and reputation that ultimately leads to success.

--John

http://www.davidgarciapr.com