PRSA-NY Big Apple Awards: Keith Green

Interview transcript below:

DOUG SIMON: We’re going to move next to Keith Green. He is a vice president of marketing and commercial sales for Guinness World Records. And additionally he is part of the Big Apple sponsorship team. He’s going to talk about some of the unique sponsorship opportunities that we have this year. Thanks so much for joining us.

KEITH GREEN: My pleasure. Thanks for having me here.

DOUG SIMON: Great. So we touched on it. There are these different categories of awards. How is that changing things in terms of opportunities for sponsors?

KEITH GREEN: Well I think it’s a few things. First of all it’s engagement right. It’s pre-event engagement, it’s engagement during the event itself with the opportunity to have a video done during the course of the awards and then I think one thing that’s very cool and exciting and different is sponsors for the top levels can get up there and talk about a specific interest or practice area that is very relevant to their business and provide some tips to folks. It’s very brief but a different way and I think it’s very clever to get involved with the Big Apple awards.

DOUG SIMON: You know one of the bits of feedback we got as we were speaking around to different people who’ve participated in the past is they wanted to actually hear from more of the industry leaders and that includes the people who are sponsoring and it also includes the award winners. They’re going to get a chance to share a tip. All of the winners will be a part of it. That’s going to be captured and it’s going to be shared on social media as well because the goal is that the Big Apple’s 2018 mean business and that means it’s growing your organization, it’s contributing to career growth and it’s also doing well and I think that was something and this was my bad for not following up when Sharon was here. One of the important bits about her diversity and inclusion initiative is increased diversity actually helps organizations grow. It’s about doing well by doing good it is very important those are very much aligned. You’ve also at Guinness World Records been fortunate enough that a number of winners have been involved in setting records. Given your expertise in the record setting world, any advice for people that are looking for records in terms of dominating the Big Apple awards this year?

KEITH GREEN: Yeah I think a couple of things. Sarah touched on some really excellent points earlier, but just to add on that. She talked about results the results are important. But one thing specifically on the results side that having judged some of these different awards in the past is that if you’re able to demonstrate not just the media impressions and the social engagement impressions which we know are extremely critical to winning these awards but what kind of sales lift did you have on the sort of consumer marketing or consumer PR side. Are you able to take a product from point A to Point B if you can demonstrate that that’s something that judges look for.

DOUG SIMON: Yeah that’s great. And you’ve also applied to become a judge and the process here we’re hoping that will be approved. I don’t want to get political so I won’t share the names of people who did not get the security clearance to be approved for that we’ll just keep that as a separate piece. Number of categories, obviously there’s media reputation and brand management and we touch on the in-house teams being honored. There’s actually an interesting award this year which will honor the best relationship at the senior level between agency contact and their client. Is it important that PRSA recognizes and helps people nurture those kinds of relationships?

KEITH GREEN: I mean 100 percent especially these days as you know that relationship has the opportunity to get fragmented for a lot of different reasons. Right so a client is asking many different things of of one particular agency. Or in some cases they’re spreading out the wealth that you might have communications issues that can arise because of those things. So 100 percent super important.

DOUG SIMON:  I think one other tip both for sponsors is things are often looked at different silos. Even with these categories. But in terms of the award winners this year it’s unlikely that they’ll just be like a pure social play or a pure broadcast play or a pure marketing play. It’s really all coming together to generate business results for your clients and organizations and we’re also anticipating a significant increase in participation from end clients on the awards both with the nominations the new categories and obviously that will generate interest from the agencies as well.

KEITH GREEN: Absolutely. And one of the things I’ve seen over the years not just judging these events but actually attending them is really how much fun that night can be. Whether you’re what you work for an agency and you’ve been nominated for an award you want to bring your team out that made that possible or in the same sort of aid you can invite your client to be part of that experience as well. So there are a lot of different reasons to come to attend or you know a sponsor of the Big Apple Awards as well.

DOUG SIMON: Awesome and as we look to keep this moving, any final thoughts?

KEITH GREEN: No listen it’s a terrific night. I’ve been a PRSA member for more than ten years involved in the PRSA board in the past and I’ve attended just almost the same amount of Big Apple Awards. So it really is a fun night, terrific night. Great way to again sort of celebrate your team’s accomplishments and maybe if you’re a service provider to the PR industry get yourself involved in front of some decision makers and people who are there to have a very enjoyable night.

DOUG SIMON: And hopefully if you’re a service provider or an agency or anyone in the industry you’ll be on the receiving end of a call from you suggesting how they can grow their business by getting involved with the Big Apple awards and sponsoring and there’s also some great opportunities to sponsor the programs an organization that’s out. So thanks.