Chimaobi Amutah being interviewed by Michelle Kosinski

The Ole Miss Teacher Corps story is scheduled to air tomorrow, Friday, October 17th on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.

The story was shot back in August about a teacher from the Mississippi Teacher Corps program, which trains people with non-education degrees to teach critical needs subject areas in poor Mississippi schools.

Chimaobi Amutah, a Harvard grad who went through the program, now teaches at Humphreys County High School in Belzoni. We pitched the story to national media back in July to help Ole Miss with publicity prior to the debate and it is just now airing, so please tune in to your local NBC station at 5:30 (Central Time).

The story should air towards the end of the show in the “Making A Difference” segment tomorrow, Friday, October 17!

Chimaobi Amutah being interviewed by Michelle Kosinski

NBC Nightly News will finally air a story they shot back in August about a teacher from the Mississippi Teacher Corps at Ole Miss.

Chimaobi Amutah, a Harvard grad who went through the program, now teaches at Humphreys County High School in Belzoni. We pitched the story to national media back in July to help Ole Miss with publicity prior to the debate and it is just now airing, so please tune in to your local NBC station for NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. In the Central time, it airs at 5:30.

The story should air towards the end of the show in the “Making A Difference” segment tomorrow, Friday, October 10! The picture posted is from the NBC shoot that day with reporter Michelle Kosinski.

First Presidential Debate Garners $34.5 Million in PR for Ole Miss

Jackson, MS – The first presidential debate held at the University of Mississippi and the events leading up to it earned the university the advertising equivalency of almost $35 million in publicity. Ole Miss is enjoying the media spotlight and its glow after the tremendously successful presidential debate last Friday. The university became the center of the media universe beginning last Wednesday when Senator John McCain announced that he was delaying his campaign because of the U.S. economic crisis.

“From Wednesday’s announcement that Sen. McCain would not attend the debate until the coverage and analysis of the debate ended Friday night, Ole Miss enjoyed 72 hours as the political news epicenter of the world,” said Rick Looser, COO of The Cirlot Agency in Jackson. Over the last year, The Cirlot Agency has assisted the university with marketing and public relations for the debate. The Cirlot Agency’s media and public relations experts, along with the university’s media and PR department, were on hand at the university last week to assist with the 3,000 media representatives who flooded the Oxford area.

That dramatic announcement caused media to focus more on the debate at Ole Miss. Cable news networks even broadcast live the “Welcome to Mississippi” press conference with Chancellor Robert C. Khayat and Governor Haley Barbour, which was planned weeks ago. While awaiting word on the likelihood of the debate taking place, hundreds of reporters, producers and photographers attended various other media events, which highlighted Ole Miss’ faculty, students and alumni.

That three-day intense focus on the debate has skyrocketed public relations values for the university. From June through September 30, the value totaled more than $34.5 million. The number of stories mentioning “Ole Miss and debate,” “University of Mississippi and debate,” or “Oxford and debate” totaled 11,409.

“The media coverage of the presidential debate does not include the actual presidential debate broadcast, only the stories about the debate at Ole Miss,” said Looser. “The media response was tremendous. From crew members to some of the best-known journalists, all complimented Ole Miss on its hospitality, facilities and set-up,” said Looser. “I anticipate that additional stories and coverage over the next few weeks will push the final public relations value to $50 million.”

The Cirlot Agency used Cision to monitor debate media coverage. Cision, the leading global provider of media monitoring, research, distribution, and evaluation services, utilizes information from over 135,000 media outlets worldwide. Each story includes one of the following key phrases: “Debate at Ole Miss,” “Debate at the University of Mississippi,” or “Debate in Oxford, Mississippi.” There are other “generic” mentions of the key phrase “Debate in Mississippi,” which were not included in the statistics below.

State, National, & International Broadcast Coverage:
Total Hits: 6,663
Total Audience: 642,973,530
Total Publicity Value: $29,106,798

State, National & International Print Coverage:
Total Articles: 727
Total Circulation: 163,701,984
Total Publicity Value: $2,195,475.95

Internet Coverage:
Total Articles: 4,019
Total Publicity Value: $3,240,875.65

The total media coverage is combined below:
Total Stories (Print, Internet, Broadcast): 11,409
Total Circulation/Audience: 806,675,514
Total Publicity Value: $34,543,149.60

Cision uses audience metrics to determine publicity values of broadcast, print and Internet to determine the figure. Broadcast Publicity Value is an estimate of the implied value of a news mention based upon segment airtime. The Cision proprietary broadcast value is generated based on an algorithm using estimated impressions, stated ad rates, estimated running time and an industry standard multiplier. Rates are based on published rate cards and do not reflect negotiated media buys. Newspaper, magazine and other print publications use audited circulation figures. Online articles use Nielsen NetRatings, which is the global standard for Internet audience measurement. NetRatings provide the number of unique visitors to that website over a particular period. Taking into account the number of impressions using specific media figures above, Cision factors in the average cost per impression and the length of the article/segment to derive the publicity value.

The Cirlot Agency, a Mississippi-based, full-service, marketing, public relations and corporate communications firm, represents accounts on a national and international basis ranging from Fortune 100 companies to some of the world’s largest privately held corporations. www.cirlot.com

Paul Gallo Interviews Chancellor Robert C. Khayat

The Gallo Radio Show morning interview with Chancellor Khayat at the Union on the Campus of Ole Miss.

Media Frenzy During McCain Announcement

What an afternoon here when McCain announced he wanted to delay the debate. The media tent finally started hopping as many journalists and more photojournalists flooded into the Filing Center to shoot photographs of everyone gathered around the hundreds of TV monitors here.

We assisted the University in issuing a statement to media and distributing that statement worldwide. The university is ready for the debate. I’m posting a photo of some of the frenzy in the tent in the last hour. Thanks to Kristin for helping me blast information to tens of thousands of journalists. She’s a pro.

Inside the Debate Hall as the Lighting is Prepared for Friday Evening

Today began with planning meetings for everyone working with PR and Media for Ole Miss. The group toured the area around the Ford Center to point out work stations for networks and local media. We spent a good deal of time getting acquainted with the Media Filing Center, which is where reporters will work in one giant, temporary office. It seats 800 journalists, with 30 booth spaces (also called spin alley).

I was lucky enough to receive a hug from the Chancellor today while we worked part of the time in his offices at the Lyceum building on campus. He’s so excited about the debate … much like my kids on Christmas morning.

This afternon, Mary Stanton and I walked through the network office area, which is about 10 temporary office trailers brought in to the Ford Center parking lot. (These will house CNN, CBS, C-SPAN, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and the BBC.) We will work with the network producers on possible stories about Ole Miss and the faculty/student community. In PR, this is our Super Bowl. I’ve worked with network TV folks for years, but usually as one of “them.” It is a unique opportunity to use my background as a journalist to potentially affect the stories which will be broadcast around the world. Millions of people will watch debate-related network coverage of stories that we will have helped made possible. We get the unique opportunity to give the “Did you know that Ole Miss …” pitch in person, molding the impression of the university for years to come.

We also got a peek at what’s going on inside of the Ford Center (debate hall) today. I’ll post those pictures, as well. Stay tuned, much more excitement in the hours ahead!

The reaction to my abbreviated lecture was what I’ve come to expect. Many of the students were engaged and animated – a couple fell asleep. But I will say that they all listened a little closer when I made the following statement: “Katrina was the single best PR event that ever occurred in Mississippi.” And in my opinion, it was.

Millions of people from across the world saw Mississippi endure the brunt of the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. But they also saw our reaction. Even in the worst circumstances, they saw the spirit and determination of people who would not wallow in self pity and who had no intention of standing around waiting on the federal government to take control of our destiny.

More importantly, hundreds of thousands of volunteers poured into the Magnolia State. People who would otherwise have never in their lifetime traveled to Mississippi made the trip and lived among us. A little over three years later, the most vocal supporters of Mississippi are the volunteers who never imagined they would find themselves working side-by-side with our people who had just lost everything. In the worst circumstances imaginable, they saw us at our best.

The parallels of this debate are similar. Over 3000 members of the media will be in Mississippi over the next 72 hours. Most of those journalist, tech crews and support personnel would never travel to Mississippi were it not for this assignment.

The Presidential Debate, unlike Katrina, offers Mississippi a chance to control our own destiny. But like Katrina, this event offers a chance for the rest of the country to see Mississippi in a whole new llight.

Our day today began with a 9:00 AM formal tour of the media filing center, which is the area where the media (majority print media) will file stories. During the course of each day, I will be working with the Ole Miss staff to help the media set up interviews, navigate campus or just to offer tips on the best restaurants in Oxford. Whatever the media need, we are there to take care of them and help position Ole Miss in the best light possible.

Within the media filing center is spin alley. I discovered today that I will be in charge of logistics in this area, which is reserved for use by broadcast media after the debate for conducting interviews with public policy experts. Spin alley allows political experts and representatives from each political party a specific space to make statements to the press that are most often referred to as “spin,” or highly biased propaganda.

We then moved on to the broadcast area, where we discussed specific roles and responsibilities in an effort to be sure all broadcast media is taken care of appropriately. Mary Stanton, Ole Miss’ Broadcast Communications Manager, will be heading up those efforts. While I was introducing myself to print media and being sure they were well taken care of, Mary spent much of her afternoon introducing herself to broadcast media around campus to begin building important relationships early in the week. We also had an opportunity to tour the debate hall (Gertrude C. Ford Center). Things are definitely coming along as the final lighting was being hung in the debate hall and additional furniture was being brought inside. What a beautiful venue for such an historic event.

Our day ended with a low-key dinner at one of Oxford’s most famous restaurants, Ajax. Ajax is located on the square in Oxford and offers some of the best Southern cooking I’ve ever tasted. A plate of homemade chicken ‘n’ dumplings, green beans and sweet potato casserole was the perfect ending of The Cirlot Agency’s second day behind the scenes at Debate ‘08 in Oxford.

Check back tomorrow for Day 3.