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

http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2008/09/27/check-out-my-new-friends/

Last night (Thursday) was a long night with a great deal of uncertainty. We got back to the house at about midnight and Liza was back on campus for a 5:00 a.m. interview with Fox and Friends Friday morning. The exhilaration associated with any long-planned, important event is a fleeting feeling. It’s hard to bask in the glow of a great event while sweating every detail until the event is over.

Yesterday (Thursday)

Much of the morning was spent as a continuation of the night before. What is our response to every possible scenario? As the host of the debate, Ole Miss is really in the same position as a wedding planner. We can plan the most grand event in the world, but we can’t make the bride and groom exchange vows. And if they don’t get married, it’s not a poor reflection on the wedding planner, it’s the couple’s fault. You keep telling yourself stuff like that, but in the back of your mind you’re trying to measure the institutional and personal embarrassment of no debate. Would we get the benefit of national sympathy or would this be one more thing that would bring Mississippi shame - through not fault of our own?

It’s difficult not to have those thoughts - so you have them - and then you move on to something you can control. Like our messages. Assembled in the war room were all the people needed to pull the trigger on our statements to the public and plan our internal strategy. There were no additional briefings needed, no C-level white papers for review. Things were happening too fast and the stakes were too high for internal filters.

We would develop our messages and stick to them - and we did. We executed multiple media events throughout the day - none of which had anything to do with whether or not there would be a debate. From “Racial Reconciliation” to “How to Win the Youth Vote,” we executed media events that had been on the schedule and in the works for months.

At 9:00 p.m., we turned out the office lights and left the building with no idea if we would have a debate.

I will have to continue this next week. The other reason why Liza nor I wrote anything yesterday is because Liza’s father, Rip Cirlot, passed away Thursday night. He was a great man who knew his time was short. Liza honored his wish from earlier in the week, that she complete the project that had been a great source of pride for him. We have completed this project. We will drive to Moss Point in the morning and celebrate his life with our family and friends Sunday.

Liza

The university is the center of the political universe tonight, showing the world how amazing this institution truly is. Oh, and our own Liza Looser is in the audience in the Ford Center! Read tomorrow to see how that came about.

And talk about star power. We met Tom Brokaw, John Grisham, Greta Van Susteren, John Kerry, Tammy Haddad, etc. Kristin actually bumped into Rudy Guiliani and didn’t realize it was him at first!

We would also like to give a big Cirlot shout out to our most loyal blog reader, Dr. Carolyn Staton, Ole Miss Provost extraordinaire!

Media Tent during debate

So after the debate, the pundits will run across the street to this tent, where they are immediately interviewed about the debate and the candidates’ successes or shortcomings. I understand it’s a scene like the running of the bulls in Spain. We’ll take photos and video and upload later. Congratulations to Ole Miss that this amazing day has taken place.

Tom Brokaw with Jim Lehrer

We are sitting in the audience for “An Evening With Tom Brokaw.” He just said he believes the debate will happen tomorrow. I am posting a picture from the event. Also, we do know that both parties’ “people” did a final walk through the debate hall today, along with the moderator, Jim Lehrer. That is great news for our debate, which should take place in 24 hours.