Located in the heart of Austin on the University of Texas campus, AT&T Hotel and Conference Center is the university’s grand hotel and event facility, offering over 85,000 square feet of event space, 297 guest rooms, and four on-site dining options. Partnerships with university assets, such as its new world-class multi-purpose arena Moody Center, Texas Executive Education, and cultural institutions like the Blanton Museum of Art and Harry Ransom Center, make the award-winning property a truly unique offering in Central Texas. We work hand-in-hand with the marketing team to find compelling ways to expose the property to target B2B and B2C audiences through earned media, influencer engagement, and community partnerships.

In advance of the company’s 30th season, Austin Opera (formerly Austin Lyric Opera) brought us on to build awareness and interest, especially among the next generation of opera-goers. When Austin Opera hired new executive director Annie Burridge from Opera Philadelphia, we secured several features in the local media on Burridge, including in Austin Way and in the Austin-American Statesman, which directly led to a $1 million endowment from local philanthropists.

Dinner and bar service at The Carillon, the fine dining concept at AT&T Hotel and Conference Center and a gathering spot for the capital city’s decision-makers, thought leaders and tastemakers, resumed in the Fall of 2022 after a two-year hiatus during the pandemic. We relaunched Happy Hour and dinner service with a series of media and influencer dines and continue to promote the restaurant and its special event programming with ongoing earned media outreach and targeted social media campaigns to drive awareness of and traffic to the restaurant. Since service has resumed, we’ve secured hundreds of thousands of media impressions and extensive influencer reach.

After celebrating 40 years in business, renowned architect Dick Clark, FAIA, turned to us to leverage founder Clark’s lifetime of achievements and larger-than-life personality to set the firm up for long term success as he eyed retirement. We simultaneously showcased Dicks legacy of work and philanthropy while highlighting the firm’s studio model, securing features on projects designed – with Dick’s oversight – by the next generation of talent. Over the years, we shifted the focus toward the firm’s deep bench of talent. Now, five years after Dick’s passing, the firm, recognized for its studio of talent, is busier than ever, still producing award-winning commercial and residential work. Feature coverage has included Western Art & Architecture, Luxe, Austin Home, Tribeza, Texas Monthly, Modern Luxury Interiors Texas and many more.

Dodie Wilson launched Dodie’s Beer in Wine in 2021 so she could share her passion for hard to source wines from smaller growers. Her selections reflect a keen nose for hidden treasures with a focus on women owned vineyards and local brewers. Next door to her daughter Rebecca Masson’s bakery, Fluff Bake Bar, in the Heights neighborhood in Houston her no nonsense approach complements her daughter’s wildly popular baked goods. AT SMN we work with them to secure media, engage the neighborhood and lead social media management and content creation efforts.

In 2022, the team at El Segundo Brewing hired Say My Name to helm the launch of their sub brand Broken Skull’s new lager at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth in conjunction with Wrestlemania. Broken Skull is a partnership between El Segundo’s founder Rob Croxall and wrestling icon and beer lover Stone Cold Steve Austin. Our team created a campaign in the Dallas Fort Worth area to attract media and influencers to the event that included an invite package with beer, branded gear, and a Steve Austin bobblehead. We connected with national media, securing a hit in the New York Times among many others about the lager launch. On-site we worked with the El Segundo team to organize the well-attended media and influencer meet and greet with Steve before the event and ultimately surpassed expectations for media coverage and influencer shares. SMN has been retained for the brand’s next event in California.

Fluff Bake Bar’s whimsical interior design and downright delicious daily offerings of seasonal tarts, pastries, pies, cookies and more are a reflection of the playful pastry chef behind them, Rebecca Masson. This must-visit sweet spot is constantly touted as a top destination by local and state media and Rebecca’s participation in food events has taken the Fluff name far and wide. SMN is working with Fluff to build on Chef Masson’s already amazing reputation through national pitching, influencer and event connections. So far we have secured local press as well as upcoming hits for Garden & Gun and Good Morning America online.

As the agency of record for the Austin-based award-winning Asian-inspired powerhouse, Hai Hospitality, for sixteen years, our focus was to weave together the brand elements of their culinary talent, outstanding service, thriving culture, and impeccable design and tell those stories through the lens of media, social media, social influence, and events. During our time leading the PR and marketing for the brand, Uchi and subsequent concepts Uchiko, Uchiba, and Loro, received numerous accolades including two James Beard Awards, National “best” nods from Bon Appetit, and Food and Wine among many others. Our team created and maintained their social media platforms; launched ten locations in four markets; promoted the launch of Uchi the Cookbook; and created successful media and influencer events and campaigns that elevated awareness and guest acquisition across all markets. Our team garnered feature recognition in the New York Times, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, The Wall Street Journal, Garden & Gun, Vice Munchies as well as multiple appearances on the Food Network, Bravo, Hulu and many others garnering billions of media impressions worth hundreds of millions of dollars in media value. We initiated numerous launch events, media dinners, influencer meet and greets and campaigns throughout our sixteen year tenure with the brand.

Houston culinary favorite chef Ryan Hildebrand picked up stakes and moved to Wimberley to open his passion project Hildee’s Dine Inn in 2022. Our team at Say My Name was brought on board to help launch the restaurant to media as well as launching their social platforms. We invited media to dine family style at a pre-opening community dinner series and instituted a social strategy that saw the social platform grow to 1200 followers in four months with excellent engagement. We secured featured coverage in Texas Monthly, The Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express News, Houston Chronicle among many others

After years of collaborating with the Foundation on behalf of our clients, we began our official client/agency relationship with the James Beard Foundation in 2017 when we were hired to produce and promote the first Austin edition of the annual Taste America national culinary series. Since then, we have worked together on numerous events in Austin, Houston and San Antonio ranging from galas to tastings to pop-up dinners. In addition to full-scale event production, our scope includes sponsorship and media partner procurement and management, as well as Marketing and PR. These events have raised over 200k for the non-profit organization.

Award-winning Meanwhile Brewing is the passion project of Will Jaquiss who came to Texas from Portland to build Meanwhile Brewing Co. from the ground up. He hired Say My Name to lead the PR charge for the launch and subsequent promotion of the brand. Our team teased out the stories, focusing on beer and the “all day” vibe of the place. Open from the morning for coffee and breakfast tacos and throughout the day until live music and tons of programming all week long. Their beer, design, and general approachability immediately struck a chord with media and influencers in Austin as well as regionally and nationally. The result so far is hundreds of stories with millions of impressions and comprehensive coverage for Meanwhile across multiple media and influencer platforms

San Antonio-based Local Coffee selected Cultivate PR to launch their first cafe in the Austin market, a city booming with independently-owned cafes. Re-branded as Merit – to allow for authentic market expansion and to further align with the company’s roasting facility, Merit Roasting Co., Cultivate had to introduce the concept to consumers while simultaneously educating them on the quality and success of Local Coffee.

One Medical, the national modernized primary healthcare company, initially hired SMN in 2020 to introduce the company to the Austin market. We leveraged our relationships with earned media, influencers, local brands and community organizations to tell their audiences about the company’s accessible and inclusive primary healthcare model and the company reached membership goals in record time. As One Medical expanded its hybrid in-office/24-7 virtual care model to Houston, and most recently Dallas, we were named Texas Agency of Record. In addition to XXX impressions, our efforts continue to meet and surpass the company’s customer acquisition cost goals.

Shape Method Founder and former Rockette Jennifer McCamish utilizes her vast professional experience and training to incorporate elements of Pilates, ballet, yoga, and circuit training into a unique method to help clients efficiently achieve their optimal goals in the effective total body workout. Say My Mame has worked in many capacities over the years to promote Shape Method that include media outreach, influencer campaigns, social media management resulting in millions of impressions, follows and engagement.

Side Eye Pie is a wood-fired, Austin-bred food truck posted up at the Meanwhile Brewery and helmed by Chef Tony Curet. Their pizzas begin with cold-fermented, small-batch dough made fresh on-site then topped with hand-crafted organic sauces, house-grated cheese, Slow Food-approved organic meats, and veggies and then they slide into a searing hot wood fired oven. SMN leads the launch efforts for Side Eye as well as social media management and content creation.

Stephanie Moore and Jason Waller are a creative couple whose careers span costume design, retail, drapery design film and music. Stephanie, through her company Cush Cush Design, has produced drapery and window coverings for some of Austin's most iconic spaces including the Hotel St. Cecilia, Uchi, and numerous corporate and residential clients. With her new venture, Stephanie Moore Studios, she envisions and creates resin casts and mixed media sculptures. Jason is a visionary filmmaker and creator whose talents span film, video, photography, and music. Together they share a home and property in New Sweden, Texas that reflects their shared unique design perspective in a beautifully assembled space filled with sumptuous textures, fabrics, and collections. Our team pitched their space to media as a way to showcase their style and their collective talents. Their home appeared as a feature in Texas Monthly, both digitally and in print.

Texas Keeper Cider is one of the region’s premier cidermakers with innovative techniques and seasonal releases that reflect an adventurous approach to the craft. Say My Name was hired to promote the brand’s offering to media, “tapping” into the cidermaking process, the releases offerings, how they pair with food, and happenings at the cidery. We created content for social and managed Instagram and initiated Pinterest for their subscription service entitled The Good Cider Club. Since being with Texas Keeper our team has secured two broadcast segments and coverage across multiple local and regional outlets including the Austin American-Statesman, Austin Chronicle, Culture Map, Eater, and Tribeza among many others.

Texas Tribune festival, known familiarly as Trib Fest is the signature event of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, non-partisan digital media organization that focuses on Texas politics, the festival is held over three days downtown each fall.
We worked with the festival from start to finish, including promoting the festival regionally and nationally to drive ticket sales and sponsorship in the months leading up to it; coordinating hundreds of interviews before and during the festival; creating suggested talent posts for social media; and organizing media onsite; We secured hundreds of millions of media impressions for Trib Fest allowing for year over year record tickets sales.

Since we began working on the annual Austin Trail of Lights in 2019, the most beloved – and longest-running holiday tradition of its kind in Texas’ capital city, we have secured almost 5 trillion media impressions. In addition, we’ve expanded our scope of work beyond earned media to include influencer engagement, as well as media partner management, maximizing the impact of the relationships.

Soon after we were engaged in 2019 as the Agency of Record for Austin Trail of Lights, Forefront Networks (the production team behind the event) brought us on to promote its newest initiative, Run to Brunch, a 5.12K ending in a feast of a finish line festival. Since then, we have done media relations for a variety of the company’s ticketed consumer events.
 

In early 2021 Harrison Pearson hired our team to spearhead their social media, specifically Instagram. As longtime Austin fixtures on the residential and commercial real estate scene, they were looking for overall direction and management consistent posting, and a new direction for their content that was focused on leveraging the ever-changing algorithm. Since taking over SMN has seen an 81% improvement in its engagement rate and their follower growth rate increased 4.73%.