Public relations for travel with BPCM…

Sarah Pallack, Director of Travel PR for BPCM (a fully integrated global public relations agency brand building and communications in fashion, beauty, travel, lifestyle and luxury markets – (bio)), joins joins Pavan Bahl , Samantha Shankman and John Matson  at the MouthMedia Network Studios.

Adding travel to fashion, the push to digital, and Twitter vs. Instagram

Pallack shares how she runs travel wine and spirits department, and the work with hotel brands and properties, destinations from regions to islands, primarily working with luxury clients because they have budgets to do interesting things, and the experiences they offer to guests and journalists and stories to tell are interesting. How she came into a fashion house and started a travel arm, and the founders are world travelers. Doing a project for a countries like Morocco, how people talk about traveling as destination-based instead of property-based. Doing creative and edgy things and the way travel is talked about is different, more global. How traditional PR involves a lot of digital, why broadcast is difficult for luxury brands, working with social influencers as a lot of one-offs because of individual travel experiences and why that is preferred, using Instagram a lot because of the visual aspect of travel, and why Twitter can be a challenge due to language, Pinterest is strong, and whether Snapchat will be a “thing” with influencers, how Instagram Stories helps, Snapchat vs. Instagram, and being able to see what happens on Instagram with a map of activity. The way print is still the holy grail of what brands want, while the actual value and malleability of digital is much higher.

Micro-moments, collaborations, and being “woke”

How travel PR is different than PR for products or tangible goods, the nuances in travel, targeting micro-moments, generating excitement in focused timing, and why it is difficult to measure ROI because much of it is simply sharing the news, getting word out to the right people at the right time. Travel brand films, collaboration between travel and fashion, using user-generated content, looking at constructed digital initiatives like in Iceland, government subsidies, how people want to now more and get more info, and being “woke” in travel. Plus, a look at getting ahead of negative travel user reviews.

Travel bloggers, Google Maps, and being informed

Off the Beaten Path personal questions cover what Pallack would do if in another role, about the diva demands of some travel bloggers, those born-and-bread New Yorkers and loving New York, starting college early, the heat-mapped Google Maps as the defining feature of Pallack’s life, allowing travel to become a part of everything you do, and being informed and loving how PR helps propel the trend understanding cultures.

Marcie Allen

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