Public Relations . Freelance Writing

On Saturday, Aug. 29, Smashburger lovers throughout the Treasure Valley can help raise funds for the St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital by purchasing an Idaho Smashburger or Idaho Smashchicken.

Smashburger is celebrating the grand opening of its first Idaho location at 3223 East Louise Drive in Meridian—just north of St. Luke’s Medical Center—by donating $1 to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital from each Idaho Smashburger or Idaho Smashchicken sold. And, here’s a bonus – anyone ordering these items will also receive a FREE order of Smashfries, tossed in olive oil, rosemary and garlic, courtesy of McCain Foods.

The Idaho Smashburger and Idaho Smashchicken are unique to Idaho and specifically created for the market, which features a one-third or half-pound 100 percent Angus beef—fresh, not frozen—smashed, seared and seasoned on a hot grill, topped with potato chips, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo on an artisan potato bun. The Huckleberry Shake made with Häagen-Dazs ice cream is also an Idaho-exclusive menu item.

“We’re pleased to be supporting the St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital and the Treasure Valley community,” said Smashburger Founder Tom Ryan. “We recognize the good work that the hospital does for its patients and families in one of their greatest times of need. We’re also proud to partner with McCain Foods for this event.”

St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital is a member of The Children’s Miracle Network, which raises funds for more than 170 children’s hospitals throughout the world. Donations provide medical care, research and education that save and improve the lives of 17 million children each year. The Children’s Miracle Network also ensures that children’s hospitals have the resources they need by conducting special events and grassroots fundraisers year-round.

Smashburger’s menu provides something for everyone. Patrons can order a variety of delicious Smashchicken, Smashdogs and Smashsalads, with sides like veggie frites and rosemary and garlic-seasoned Smashfries. Burger lovers can also enjoy Häagen-Dazs shakes and root beer floats with their meal.

To learn more, visit www.smashburger.com.

August 26th, 2009
Tags: Idaho, Murphy Media Services, Smashburger, St. Lukes Childrens Hospital
Posted in Client news, News
Posted by Patti

Perfect Order, a Boise company which specializes in helping people organize their homes and offices, has launched “Senior Moves,” a new service designed to help older adults and their families with the emotional, mental and physical aspects of relocating, downsizing, or aging in place

Professional organizers with the Senior Moves program are trained to help people sort and categorize items, and decide what to what to keep and what to let go of. The service is designed for people who must relocate quickly, people who can no longer maintain their home, people with declining health who have little or no surviving family, family members or people grieving from a recent illness or a loss of a loved one, people dealing with a build-up of belongings, families struggling with age-related illnesses and conflict, and adult children that need help moving their parents or family members.

This is a very important service, as one of the biggest challenges for older people is not knowing where to start. Senior Moves director Lori Davies told me, “When faced with a lifetime of treasures, memories, belongings and papers, it can be emotional and overwhelming.” But Senior Moves can break the process into manageable pieces that can be divided up between family and friends, or they’ll handle the complete process from beginning to end.

Here’s some of the services they offer:
• helping people sort belongings into groups to keep, pass down to family, give away, or sell;
• Arranging to ship, store, sell, or donate belongings;
• Pre-packing non-essential items to make a move easier;
• Paring down stored paper records, and shredding confidential paper;
• Helping plan a new home’s layout to determine what furniture to move;
• Helping a person get settled in a new home;
• Sorting, dispersing and preparing an estate for sale after a family member has passed away.

Another unique service is that they work with “aging-in-place” professionals to help a person remodel their home so they can continue to live there safely as they age and their lifestyle changes.

This program is the only local senior moving service certified by the National Association of Senior Move Managers.

For more information call 208-323-6761 or visit the website at www.perfecttransitions.com.

May 15th, 2009
Tags: Boise Idaho, Murphy Media Services, Perfect Order, Senior citizen, Senior Moves
Posted in Client news, News
Posted by Patti

The Summer/Fall 2008 issue of Sun Valley Magazine (which included two of Patti Murphy’s articles on the sport of falconry and on the Peregrine Fund) has won the 2009 Maggie Award for best Semi-Annual Consumer Magazine! The Maggie Awards are the most prestigious national publishing awards in the Western United States (presented by the Western Publications Association), considered the “Oscars of the magazine publishing industry.”  Sun Valley Magazine is in good company, as other winners have included Shape, Sunset, Arizona Highways, Western Interiors and Design, Backpacker, Yoga Journal, Sierra, Mother Jones, and San Francisco Bay Guardian.

And this same issue was also the proud recipient of a 2008 Ozzie Award for “Best Use of Photography” and a 2008 Eddie Award for Best Editorial Content (including Murphy’s two feature stories). The incredibly prestigious Ozzie and Eddie awards are open to all nationally-distributed magazines and are given in recognition of excellence in magazine design (the Ozzie) and editorial content (the Eddie). It is the largest national competition for magazines, and we are proud to have been able to contribute to this wonderful honor.  

May 5th, 2009
Tags: falconry, Maggie Award, Murphy Media Services, Peregrine Fund, Sun Valley Magazine, World Center Birds of Prey
Posted in Agency news, News
Posted by Patti

Murphy Media Services owner Patti Murphy received two Excellence Awards from the Idaho Press Club on May 2 in recognition of her freelance writing and her media campaign and public relations work on behalf of her client.

Murphy received an award for the Media Campaign she developed for the National Diving Dog Tour sponsored by Oust and Purina. Murphy partnered with FusionSet, Inc., another Boise, Idaho marketing agency, on the program which was designed to gain media and community awareness of a nationwide traveling Diving Dog competition during the Summer of 2008.

Murphy also received an award in the category Magazine Writing-Light Feature, for her article, “The Elegant Barn,” which she wrote for Sun Valley Home Magazine. The judge, commenting on Murphy’s article, wrote, “The opening of this story set up the rest of it beautifully, not an easy feat to accomplish when writing about anonymous owners.”

Previously, Murphy won the 2005 First Place award for Crime and Courts Reporting for Weekly Newspapers for her reporting on a double murder trial. In 2004 she won a Second Place award for Media Campaigns; a Second Place award for Script Writing; and Third Place for News Release Writing. To see a complete list of 2008 award winners, visit the Idaho Press Club.

May 2nd, 2009
Tags: Idaho Press Club, Murphy Media Services, Patti Murphy, writing awards
Posted in Agency news, News
Posted by Patti

When I got my first job in public relations in 1981, it was industry standard to get in a car, drive all over town and hand-deliver news releases to the reporters on our media list (guess who got to do it?). Time consuming, yes. But it was important to have that personal, face-to-face interaction between us PR “flacks” and the media “hacks.” We also mailed our releases, and after giving the U.S. Postal Service a few days to deliver them, we’d follow up with a phone call to maintain that personal connection with reporters and chat about our story ideas. In the late 80s and early 90s the fax machine became the new, fast way to deliver our media information. With a touch of a button, swoosh! a fax could be blasted to everyone on our list in a matter of minutes. No more stuffing envelopes or driving around looking for a parking space. Then came e-mail and sending out a news release was instantaneous, although in those early days, many news organizations had somewhat unreliable e-mail programs and our our releases often got sucked into their spam mail. But, this wasn’t so bad because it gave PR folks a good reason to continue making follow up calls (”Hi, I was just calling to see if you received the news release we e-mailed you”) to maintain a personal connection. Even if it wasn’t face-to-face, it was still voice-to-voice.

My point? No matter how technology has changed, it has always been important for PR professionals to figure out the most efficient way to connect with their counterparts in the media and get information into their hands. Today, with newsrooms growing leaner, media migrating online, and news being delivered and received by way of blogs, social networking sites, text messages, and yes, news releases, finding the right connection becomes an art, if not a science.

“Hacks and Flacks in Transition,” is an event being hosted by the Southwest Chapter of the Idaho Press Club to discuss how PR professionals can work better with journalists in this new era of news.  As newsrooms shrink and the dynamics of the news industry change, the working relationship between journalists and PR practitioners has a potential for being impacted, either positively or negatively.

The event is open to the public and even people who don’t work in PR or journalism might find it interesting.

Panelists: John Miller, Associated Press; Brad Talbutt, reporter, Idaho Statesman; Rachael Daigle, editor, Boise Weekly; Lisa Chavez, managing editor, KTVB News Group; George Prentice, morning show host, NPR.

Moderator: Marc Johnson, president, Gallatin Public Affairs

When: 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008

Where: Water Cooler, 1401 W. Idaho

Cost: $8.00 Press Club members and students, $12.00 non-members

RSVP to the Idaho Press Club, (208) 389-2879 or idpc@mindspring.com

November 30th, 2008
Tags: Idaho Press Club, media, Murphy Media Services, public relations
Posted in Industry news, News
Posted by Patti

The May, 2008 issue of Sun Valley Magazine, which carries two of Patti’s articles on falconry, just won TWO of FOLIO Magazine’s prestigious awards − the EDDIE Award, which recognizes editorial excellence, and the OZZIE Award for best use of photography. The publication won Bronze in each of those categories and competed against other national magazine with circulations of up to 250,000. As an award winner, Sun Valley Magazine now shares the company of such giants as Bon Appetite, Billboard, Travel & Leisure, Architectural Record, Harper’s Bazaar, National Geographic, Forbes, INC, Time, Fortune, SELF, and other respected publications that have also been honored with this coveted industry award.

According to FOLIO, this year’s competition drew more than 2,800 entries, and more than 100 expert judges spent weeks evaluating the entries and selecting the winners.

September 24th, 2008
Tags: EDDIE Award, FOLIO Magazine, Murphy Media Services, OZZIE Award, Patti Murphy, Sun Valley
Posted in Agency news, News
Posted by Patti

The Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival, (Sept. 19-21) is featuring an impressive list of 30 films from around the world that will uplift us, help us think and remind us why the human spirit is worth celebrating. If you are lucky enough to be attending the Film Festival, I encourage you to also consider going to the special presentations by speakers Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. and David Shlim, M.D.

Embracing the Mystery: Learning to see with new eyes
Dr. Naomi Remen

Limitless Compassion, Dr. David Shlim

The Doctor and the Soul: The Art of Healing
Panel Discussion, Dr. Remen and Dr. Shlim Moderated by Britt Udesen

September 4th, 2008
Tags: David Shlim, Murphy Media Services, Patti Murphy, Rachel Naomi Remen, Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival
Posted in Client news, News
Posted by Patti

More than 30 films from around the world that celebrate the human spirit, champion humanitarianism, and explore different spiritual traditions, will be featured at the 4th Annual Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival, Sept. 19-21 in Sun Valley and Hailey, Idaho.

The film fest is not religious gathering, although spiritual beliefs from around the world are explored through the films. It’s more about strength of character, celebrating the human spirit, and exploring the ways in which we humans all “rise to the occasion” as we tackle life. Humorous, touching, inspirational films and thought provoking speakers will fill the weekend. For more information go to www.svspiritualfilmfestival.org.

August 20th, 2008
Tags: film festival, Murphy Media Services, Patti Murphy, spirituality, Sun Valley, Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival
Posted in Client news, News
Posted by Patti