Media Relations
Hamlet & Ghost is a downtown Saratoga Springs, N.Y. restaurant that focuses on exceptional cocktails and seasonal dishes. Co-Owner Brendan Dillon approached Baker Public Relations when the restaurant had exciting news about its Executive Chef, Michele Hunter. Chef Hunter was scheduled to compete on Food Network’s Chopped on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 and Dillon wanted to host a watch party in support of her. He contracted our team to generate media coverage, hoping to gain attention for the watch party, the restaurant and the incredible talent of Chef Hunter.
Baker Public Relations began its efforts by posting information to community calendars of local media outlets, which included: NewsChannel 13, Times Union, Spectrum News, Saratogian, and Spotlight News.
The Baker Public Relations team then created three social media posts to promote the watch party. The posts were strategically drafted and posted before, during and after the watch party to ensure continued publicity for the event.
To begin the process of officially releasing the news about Chef Hunter being on a nationally televised cooking show, our team reached out to News10 ABC for a weekend morning segment. Baker Public Relations secured the segment, which included anchor Mary Wilson interviewing Chef Hunter and Dillon. Our team drafted and distributed talking points for the participants, provided images, and attended the live interview on Sunday, March 1, 2020. The interview was then posted on the station’s website. That resulted in 264 shares on social media.
Baker Public Relations drafted and distributed a pre-watch party press release to all local media outlets, which included Saratoga Springs reporters and food writers. Several reporters and outlets picked up the story and published content. This included: Steve Barnes of The Times Union, Saratoga Living, The Saratogian, and New York Upstate.
The day of the watch party, Baker Public Relations followed up with the media regarding their attendance. This resulted in securing coverage just hours prior to the watch party from CBS6 (WRGB) and Spectrum News. Baker Public Relations attended the interviews and footage accumulation, which took place at Hamlet & Ghost.
During the watch party, Baker Public Relations was in attendance and worked with Spectrum News to coordinate additional coverage. The team also drafted a post-event press release and captured photographs and video to send out to the media once the episode aired. Keep in mind that no one in attendance knew how far Chef Hunter would advance in the competition, which she ended up winning.
As the buzz that night was growing and fans were cheering Chef Hunter on, Baker Public Relations was ready to send the email and capture reaction video. As the results were announced, the crowd grew loud with excitement. That was the moment the post-event press release went out and Baker Public Relations introduced Chef Hunter, once again, to Spectrum News for a celebratory interview.
The following morning, another handful of publications included news of Chef Hunter being crowned Food Network’s Chopped champion. Our team also secured a follow-up interview with News10 ABC to give the station a full-circle experience since it also had the story first.
Overall, Hamlet & Ghost was featured on television and radio and in digital content. More than 16 pieces covering the event were posted digitally, resulting in over 6,700 social shares and a UVM of 4.58 million. Hamlet & Ghost came out on top as Chef Hunter won Food Network’s Chopped competition and got to share the news with more than 100 Capital Region residents in attendance at the watch party.
