Nearly 200 public relations, public affairs and marketing professionals attended the PR News Media Relations Forum at the National Press Club in Washington last week. The full-day conference included sessions presented by communications experts from a diverse group of leading organizations, including manufacturing and energy companies Shell Oil Company, Bausch & Lomb, ITT, and US Telecom.

One session, “Marketing Communications: Media Relations that Drive Bottom-Line Results,” featured three speakers with extensive communications experience in the areas of manufacturing and B2B marketing.

In describing a B2B campaign that involved special media events to promote a product ingredient and encourage further adoption by manufacturers, Luke Lambert, President of Gibbs & Soell Public Relations, cautioned communicators against overlooking three strategic details.

(Video: 1 minute, 4 seconds)

Barbara Pierce, Assistant Director of Corporate Media Relations for Eastman Kodak Company, revealed a “game-changing” challenge to which Eastman Kodak responded with a PR-driven product launch. The resulting media coverage reached 1.5 billion consumers and differentiated the company’s technology from the competition.

(Video: 20 seconds)

Stephanie Anderson, Head of PR and Chief Corporate Spokesperson for OSRAM SYLVANIA, addressed a PR effort to position energy efficient lighting as a simple solution to rising energy costs and climate concerns. Here she makes a point about the need to generate coverage not only in major media but also in those relatively obscure trade publications that can really drive sales.

(Video: 17 seconds)