Last Thursday, MoDOT went a long way toward calming angry drivers who were stuck in hours of traffic because of a mere half-inch of snow. Past storms have dropped much more snow on St. Louis and didn’t cause nearly as many problems. What went wrong this time? MoDOT’s Director Kevin Keith told the [...]

So, you want to have a press conference.  Once you have your subject set and your speakers lined up, it’s time to alert the media, right?  Not before thinking through strategy and some best practices. TVG has facilitated press events, large and small, and we have a few tips to help you make your event [...]

Russian delegates from the Community Connections Program (CCP) visited the Vandiver Group this afternoon to learn about public relations and communications practices for non-profits. CCP is managed by the Bureau of Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Agency for Information Development (USAID) and is run locally by the World Affairs Council of St. Louis.
The Community [...]

A recent article on PR Daily discussed why some clients feel the need for a big agency to handle their PR and marketing efforts, most likely one headquartered on either coast, and why that’s not always a good idea. As a smaller agency from the Midwest, we tend to agree with that argument.
The article, “Midwest [...]

Happy Friday everyone! Here’s what we’ve been buzzing about this week:

St. Louis Children’s Hospital was the first in the nation to successfully implant an artificial lung this week.  Doctors from Washington University say the lung saved the life of 2-year-old patient Owen Stark, who is the youngest person in the world to receive an artificial [...]

The unexpected happens most every day in our lives. It could be a nice surprise, like your significant other cooking dinner after a long day at the office. It could be trying something “old,” that is “new” again, like Pepsi Throwback and having that taste bring back memories of when you were younger. [...]

A colleague recently sat in on a Vocus Webinar and shared her notes with the rest of us. The Vocus Webinar was called “Does Traditional Media Still Matter?” And of course in order to comment on this subject, I’m relying on new media. Irony. Discuss.
One of the themes presented was [...]

An excellent example of the power of PR to follow advertising and marketing efforts can be found in the February 9, 2009 issue of the Wall Street Journal. Yes. I said it. The Wall Street Journal. And it is a crystal clear demonstration of the power of staying on YOUR message [...]

I’m sure many of you have heard about Oprah’s annual Favorite Things Show. It’s like winning the lottery if you happen to get lucky enough to get a ticket to that show – as demonstrated by the hysteria that ensued following the announcement of this year’s show.
Well, the other day I came across an [...]

Recently, the chief executive officers from the nation’s Big 3 automotive companies were in Washington, D.C. to ask Congress for a $25 billion bailout to save the failing auto industry. Their proposal failed, and not necessarily because of the staggering amount of money that was being requested. The executives didn’t have a very effective plan [...]