Throwback to 1993 – What Was Going On in the World When Our Agency Was Founded

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Throwback to 1993

30 years is a long time & we’ve enjoyed all the ups and downs along the way, in business and life. 1993, the year our agency was founded, was a big year for Felber PR & Marketing, but there were a few other big things going on that year…

 

USA News

President William J. Clinton was sworn into office.

A bomb exploded in the basement garage of the World Trade Center, killing 6 and injuring at least 1,040 others.

In Los Angeles, California, Rodney King was called as a witness in the trial against the four police officers who were caught on camera beating him in March 1991. Two of the officers were found guilty of violating King’s civil rights by “willfully and intentionally using unreasonable force.”

President Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, mandating federal background checks on those purchasing firearms in the United States. The Act also enforced a five-day waiting period on firearm purchases.

President Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement removing trade barriers between Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

 

Entertainment

A few of the most popular movies of 1993 were “Schindler’s List,” “Jurassic Park,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “The Fugitive” and “Sleepless in Seattle.” “Schindler’s List”, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Fiennes, went on to win the Oscar for Best Film in 1994. Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” was the highest-grossing film to date, including a record $502 million in its opening weekend alone.

Michael Jackson was sued by screenwriter Evan Chandler for molesting his 13-year-old son. Jackson vehemently denies the charge. The two parties reach an out-of-court settlement as the singer was deemed by his legal advisors as not well enough to endure a lengthy trial.

Eric Clapton took home the Grammy for Album of the Year for his album “Unplugged.” “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton was named Song of the Year.

Whitney Houston entered the record books with her single “I Will Always Love You” as it entered its 14th week at number 1 in the US. This made it the longest-running number-one single at that time!

 

Science

Following a rise in deaths related to the disease, tuberculosis was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO). They predicted that tuberculosis threatened to kill more than 30 million in the next decade. 

The FDA approved using the synthetic hormone BST (bovine somatotropin) to increase milk production in dairy cows.

The first human cell cloning took place by using cells from defective human embryos to be discarded in infertility clinics and growing them in vitro. This process successfully developed up to 32-cell stages.

 

Sports

The Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl, making the Buffalo Bills the first team to ever lose three consecutive Super Bowl games.

The Toronto Blue Jays took the World Series victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The NBA Championship battle between the Chicago Bulls and the Phoenix Suns ended with the Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, becoming the first team to secure a three-peat since the Boston Celtics in the 1960s.

 

It’s fun to reflect on the past & see how far we’ve come. A lot has changed in the last 30 years, in our lives, in the marketing and public relations industry, and in the world. We’re especially grateful for everyone who has supported us & our agency since 1993. Here’s to 30 more years!

Our Agency’s Transition to Public Relations

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30th Anniversary - Felber PR & Marketing

For those who grew up in Northeast Ohio, we cherished those steamy hot days spent at Geauga Lake amusement park and sister property SeaWorld. Getting cooled off by Shamu while trying to keep your Dippin Dots dry was great fun.

When Six Flags took over the amusement park, they hired our agency to develop promotions for events and rides. Whether it was a postcard with a plastic spider promoting HalloWeekends or a printed roll of toilet paper indicating the ride would scare the–, well you get the picture, Six Flags had recognized the power of dimensional promotion. For our “origin story” see our recent blog The Road Less Traveled: Agency Skills Forged by Opportunity.

Our next fortuitous turn on the road less traveled came when we asked the question, who are these promotions targeting? The answer and the group we would soon come to know and love were the media. Why the media we asked? The answer then, as it still stands today, is the media are the folks that buy ink by the barrel and hold the keys to a much larger audience. If Six Flags could get reporters to attend a special media day preview event, they knew that photos, videos, and stories would abound. 

Around the early 1990s, I was also a civilian volunteer with the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. At one organizational meeting, a division officer said to me, “so you’re in advertising, how would you like to be the public relations officer?” I remember thinking, “whoa what did I get myself into?”, just like the famous stuffed lion story, again, in the above-referenced blog. 

Mark Norfolk, president & CEO of Fabrisonic, LLC., & long-time client of Felber PR & Marketing being interviewed by the media at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) 2022. The Felber team conducted media research & contacted media personnel to schedule this and other interviews ahead of time to take place during the show.

Immediately, I called an older brother who had worked in PR and asked what a press release was and how to write one. I soon found myself writing responses to our local editors and being interviewed on the docks by local TV reporters, telling the story of the rescue volunteers that patrolled Lake Erie. This transition, from a simple roll of toilet paper to working with the media was the birth of Felber PR and Marketing’s public relations practice. 

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We learn by doing, and experience is the best education. We were thrust into the world of advertising when we started creating media promotions targeting advertisers for the trade media. And now, by working alongside editors and their publication marketing directors, we inadvertently learned the tricks of the PR trade, including how to use editorial calendars to understand what content worked with which industrial trade media publications. 

Terrence Mathis, Manager of Engineering-Cable Protection for PMI Industries Inc., being interviewed at the 2022 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas. He was asked his opinion of OTC2022, its value to young professionals, and what advice he would give to other young professionals about future OTC events. This at-show media interest in PMI Industries was in part generated by the Felber team’s public relations and trade show marketing efforts.

Armed with this knowledge, we built a skillset in targeting publications that cover countless manufacturing sectors. In a future blog, we will tie it all together, from pitching stories and factory tours, to trade show media interviews and building out a deep press room for our manufacturing clients. 

The Road Less Traveled: Agency Skills Forged by Opportunity

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30th Anniversary - Felber PR & Marketing

The last three lines in Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken,” has always resonated with me. Consciously or perhaps subconsciously, this poem has framed my life and especially our agency.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Our evolution and the ever-changing business landscape have sculpted us into the focused agency we are today; well, at least for today!

When we started, we were trying to be everything and anything to anyone that would listen. And, often to those that would not listen. When I was young, my father had a manufacturing company that made sample books for the wallpaper and fabric industry, which branched into sealing and screen printing three-ring binders. This family history may have influenced Felber PR and Marketing’s print-production focus during our first few years. My brother and business partner were well-versed in printing and we became very focused on printing laminated folders, boxes, kits, and loose-leaf binders. 

The next step in our evolution came when our customers asked, “if you can print binders and folders, can you get us mugs, pens, shirts, etc.?” Tackling this question is how we established ourselves in the promotional products industry. I may be dating myself, but they were called advertising specialties back then. 

Our first adventure with promotional products started with a question from our client Crain’s Plastics News. “Can you get us stuffed animal lions with an imprinted t-shirt?” Of course, our answer was yes. “Can you place them in a printed box with jungle graphics, some decorative packaging, and a printed literature card and mail them to our list?” Sure, we’re on it. “Oh, and by the way, we need 1,000 pieces.” Whoa, what did we agree to? 

We made the graphics and learned how to handle the production graphics, and the logistics of assembly, packaging, and shipping. This was our breakthrough project, which pushed us down the road less traveled, beyond catalog orders and squarely into dimensional promotion. Our knowledge of packaging and shipping made all the difference in differentiating Felber from those that were middlemen in selling products. We became very proficient in design, copywriting, and countless print methods. 

Here are a few of our early and most memorable dimensional promotions.

In 1994, Contracting Business Magazine was celebrating its 50th anniversary by looking forward 50 years in the mechanical systems industry. As an editorial promotion, we chose the iconic magic 8 ball to represent predicting what the next 50 years would hold for the industry.

“Many more years ago than I care to admit, I worked with Rob Felber on countless editorial promotions,” said Gwen Hostnik, former Contracting Business Magazine marketing manager and long-time friend of Rob Felber. “Rob’s creativity, professionalism and dedication to service were an incredible resource for me as marketing manager for several of Penton Publishing’s industrial publications.”

In order to encourage advertising about indoor air quality in Heating, Piping & Air Conditioning Magazine, in 1995 we designed this snow globe to overexaggerate a poor air quality environment. This promotion won a coveted gold pyramid award from The Promotional Products Association International.

Believe it or not, our entry into public relations came courtesy of Six Flags of Ohio. You don’t want to miss that story! Stay tuned for our next 30th Anniversary Series blog for more.

Felber PR & Marketing is Celebrating 30 Years!

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30th Anniversary - Felber PR & Marketing

 

Party like it’s 1993… with your Sony (radio) Walkman for $29.98, listening to redneck humor from Jeff Foxworthy and obsessing about finding the hottest Beanie Babies. Yes, that was 1993, and the founding year of Felber Public Relations and Marketing. 

In recollection, it was more like rubbing two nickels together, driving through downtown Cleveland in my 5-speed Chevy Cavalier with practically no heat, parking in the snow and walking blocks to pitch our services to prospects. I was thrilled if my pager went off indicating I had voicemail which meant I’d be looking all over the city for a payphone and quarters to hear that precious message.

I can hardly believe 2023 is our 30th anniversary! I still get excited about client voicemails. I no longer carry rolls of quarters. However, I do regret letting the dog chew up those collectible Beanie Babies. If you are one of those precious customers who have supported us for the past 30 years, thank you!

In January, we will start our year-long review of PR and marketing through the decades and the evolution of our company. You might even see a throwback to one of your own promotions or campaign from those early years. 

While “Jurassic Park” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” were the box office favorites, your PR and marketing campaigns were the lifeblood of our company that kept us from going extinct. Together we grew, became friends, and learned how to “get mail” and pronounce GIF. On top of the billboard charts was “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston. We are immeasurably grateful and we, too, will always love you and our journey together through the last three decades.

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