Sunday, December 6, 2009

Cindy Hamilton: Nike PR Manager


I wish these blog posts weren't so far apart, but the semester is coming to a close and that means FINAL EXAMS!! I just have to share who else I learned from over my Thanksgiving break.

I met with Cindy Hamilton who is the PR and Community Relations Manager at Nike, Inc. at the Chicago headquarters. The building was a little hard to find at first because it was just a tiny door on the street. Don't judge a book by its cover because it opened up to a multi-level, spacious headquarters. They even had a floor dedicaded to showrooms, which was very interesting.

Hamilton said she spends most her time dealing with the media. She follows media outputs on Nike, processes requests for journalists, pitches to the media, and responds to the public and journalists.

One of her favorite tactics for reaching out to the public and media is through press kits. She showed me an interactive press kit Nike put out for the Nike Lunarglide+, a new running shoe they had launched. The image to the left shows different parts of the Lunarglide+.

Hamilton said the biggest thing she learned the hard way was that you can't please everyone. Some people will just prefer other brands over Nike and she can't try and make them change their mindset. She also said that in media outlets, she would choose quality over quantity.

I learned a lot of other very interesting things from her and was glad she took the time to meet with me. I found it very beneficial talking and learning from someone with so much experience in a field I'm extremely interested in! Thanks Cindy!!

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