PilmerPR is pleased to represent Brent Brown Toyota, a quality dealership that not only helps get people on the road, but helps children throughout the Utah Valley community. Brent Brown has made children’s education a top philanthropic priority throughout his years of business, which made Wednesday’s event very special for him.

Brent Brown Toyota participated in Toyota’s “100 Cars for Good” program – an initiative that started in March to award 100 cars to 100 non-profits in 100 days. The national public got to choose which charities received the cars, and they chose the local Boys & Girls’ Club of Utah County  to be among the recipients (the only Boys & Girls’ Club in the nation, and the only non-profit in Utah). Brent Brown handed them the keys to a new Toyota Sienna, and threw in an agreement to service the car for free if ever needed.

You can read more about the heart-warming event at the Deseret News and Daily Herald.

See this video by the Boys and Girls Club of Utah County that helped them win:

We at PilmerPR has make corporate social responsibility (CSR) a cornerstone of our business. Brent Brown Toyota is the latest client to exemplify that vision, joining a list that includes the Boy Scouts of America, Humless, ElectraTherm, US Synthetic and more. Contact PilmerPR today to learn how we can assist your CSR efforts.

GoodOil, US Synthetic, ElectaTherm, Tasco Engineering, Illumra, and now Humless. PilmerPR has a proven record of success with energy-related clients (particularly clean energy) going back to its early years.

We have working relationships with hundreds of magazines, newspapers, broadcast shows and blogs hungry for news about innovative energy products, and have placed our clients on Popular Science, Fox Business, TreeHugger and countless other news outlets across the country.

In addition to publicity, we also help our energy clients bring customers to the sales funnel through event/trade-show assistance, social media and expanded CSR efforts.

Don’t just take our word for it. Hear what many of PilmerPR’s energy clients say PilmerPR did for their business:

“PilmerPR did in [the first] three months what it would have taken us a year to accomplish.”

Glenn Jakins
CEO, Humless

“The press relations campaign driven by PilmerPR has brought new top tier investors and customers to our door. It has created a foundation for building major press momentum going forward. PilmerPR has assisted greatly in driving publicity that has moved the needle for our strategic objectives.”

Bill Olson
VP of Business Development, ElectraTherm

If you are in the CleanTech or Green Energy industry, and want a public relations firm with proven results, contact us today for a free 30-minute PR consultation.

Humless LLC recently joined the PilmerPR firmament of clients seeking to clean and green the world. This thing is, Humless has really “evolutionized” how we look at green power for home use–especially for emergency preparedness.

Imagine your power goes out because you live in Joplin after the tragic tornado. Your  house is still standing, but the community is a wreck. It may take days to get power back on and the gas lines are getting long and your gas can is empty making your gas generator useless. You need to run the fridge/freezer long enough to save the food. Your cell battery needs recharging and the Internet is used only sparingly because the battery on the laptop is low.

Now enter the hero, the Humless Sentinel–a totally silent, portable power system that acts as a solar generator and beefy power supply (1000w expandable). It charges during the daylight while it’s running your fridge & electronic devices. Fully charged, it runs your grandpa’s CPAP machine at night without waking the neighborhood and it has enough power to run some lights so you can function after dark.

Cool huh!? Sling it over your shoulder and take it in the car to make your office equipment mobile. Take it camping. Jump your car battery. Hook up your hydro-electric power source to recharge it or use the hand crank. 110 A/C or 12v D/C or USB connections on your stuff need a power source? No problem.

The Humless Sentinel has been spotted next to the NASA space shuttle powering a photo crews lighting system. One just left with a group re-enacting a pioneer handcart trek.  It will be used to charge cell phones, power lighting, and audio equipment in an area where no noisy generators are allowed after dark. Where will it be sighted next?

Green, Clean, Versatile, and pound for pound the Advanced Lithium+ technology delivers more power, longer than older Lead Acid  or Lithium battery.

Here’s some of the press they are garnering:

Provo Daily Herald

Daily Universe

Dr Prepper

How would you use such a ground-breaking, versatile system?

Earth Day feels a bit more meaningful this year for PilmerPR. We’ve worked hard to practice what we preach, building a sustainable business model that minimizes staff and client travel, as well as maximizing online collaboration which yields an almost paperless operation. However, the news of President Obama’s visit this week to our past client ElectraTherm is deeply satisfying given the results of our 2 years of work launching that company.

We love cleantech and green energy, and the ElectraTherm Green Machine is as green as it gets. Translating industrial waste heat above 170 degrees into fuel free, emissions free electricity, ElectraTherm’s patented technology is rapidly catching on with expansion both domestically and internationally. When I was first introduced to the company, few knew who ElectraTherm was. We changed that from the ground up. A new communications plan, website, launch event, partner development, and press releases yielded astounding results:

• More than 25 to 1 payback on ElectraTherm’s investment in PilmerPR
• Approaching $2M in advertizing equivalency
• Total media audience exceeding 400M
• Green Machine awards from the Wall Street Journal and Popular Science Magazine
• More than 100 press articles & coverage by Dow Jones, Fox Business News, Red Herring, etc.
• And on and on…

Well, now they have garnered some Presidential love, based on their early success with investors and a market crying for energy efficiency solutions. Using Obama’s Jan 2010 Time Magazine commitment to “energy efficiency,” we discussed alignment with the President’s strategy even at that early point. Now, it feels like the company, now graduated from PilmerPR, is “all grown up.” Way to go ElectraTherm! Great technology and visionary leadership.

Our work for ElectraTherm and other energy clients was noticed internationally. I (John Pilmer) was asked to meet some months back with a Ukrainian Energy Delegation to discuss communications issues around that countries enormous energy issues and their transition to more sustainable solutions. That was an honor. I also presented on Green PR at the recent MiaGreen cleantech conference in Miami to an international group of green business and government leaders. We’ve also provided feedback to Ted Wilson and the Governor’s Energy Task Force working on the state’s 10 year energy report.

Much communications work remains to be done to implement the vision of this Utah effort, and state leadership must get on top of pressing environmental and energy issues if it is to maintain its leadership in tourism and quality of life.

I have been tagged this week to present in Salt Lake City on effective promotion of clean technology to investors, partners, prospective customers, and the public. More to come on how to get into that event.

Gotta love Green, Clean Technology, and the Corporate Social Responsibility they represent. Now that we celebrate Earth Day, perhaps we can get holidays for the other two legs of the 3-legged stool or Triple Bottom line of Green & CR (People, Planet, Profits). How do you think a People Day or a Profits Day would go over?

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Get help with Corporate Responsibility or Green PR

Nuclear Fallout On The Move

(Let me preface this blog entry with clarification on my thoughts on nuclear power. As a clean energy proponent, I think nuclear power has a place in our more sustainable future. This is based on years of weighing the upside/downside of known alternatives and the fact that there is no one single power solution without a downside.)

Now I feel better. On with the show. The media frenzy around Japan’s still unfolding tsunami/earthquake tragedy has the public riveted on “breaking news” and the human horror and attendant heroes surrounding the sad scene. As soon as the nuclear power plant failures began to cross the wire, I told my friends this is going to be used by extreme opponents to kill nuclear initiatives for a decade to come. That tsunami of negative news is just beginning to grow.

In this rush to headlines, Japan’s government must consider it’s words carefully. Transparency is the watch word for effectively handling the crisis communications without use of inflammatory comments. If they try to hide information or fail to tell the complete story, the whiplash will be severe on Japan’s credibility, as well as the nuclear industry.

Other governments (and companies) including my own state, Utah, as well as Japan could take a lesson from past failures in transparency like Watergate. Utah lawmakers are now taking flack for fast-tracking House Bill 477 which protects legislators from public scrutiny of text and e-mails.

Our thoughts and prayers and charitable contributions go out to the people of Japan. And, my hope goes out to that country’s government to be transparent on the unfolding nuclear crisis. Though painful, it is expected in today’s hugely connected age.

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Next Thursday, environmentally-friendly businesses, leaders and publications from around the world will converge in Miami Beach for the MiaGreen Expo Conference (March 3-4). The event coordinators asked that PilmerPR President John Pilmer present on the need for outstanding Green PR and CSR PR to the attendees.

His presentation, “Standing Out in a Sea of Green: Reaching Stakeholders through Effective Public Relations,” will help business leaders distinguish themselves in a market saturated with hype and greenwashing.

PilmerPR believes being “Green” is just one element in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The other elements — including community involvement, philanthropy, transparency, and accountability — are all essential to gaining credibility in the eyes of the public. Without it, a press release touting an environmentally friendly product will only be as strong as the cloud of similar press releases. As John Pilmer puts it, “Be good, THEN talk about being good.”

From the session description:

Many businesses claim to be “green,” often proving to be little more than hype. A good company’s message can get lost in the crowd before reaching stakeholders like investors, the media, or customers. The solution, as Pilmer explains, is to “Do good. THEN talk about doing good.” You must prove you have a successful business model, and prove your ability to make social change, then investors, media, and customers will take notice. The news media is often the gateway to stakeholders, so it is key to build a relationship with the right people, and strategically tell the company’s story.

Attend John Pilmer’s presentation, Thursday, March 3 at 3:30 p.m. in Exhibition Hall R2 to learn how your business can rise above your competition.

If you cannot attend the MiaGreen conference, you can still receive a free personalized consultation by contacting PilmerPR.

Yesterday, I attended the Big Business & Technology Expo at UVU. I went specifically to hear Zappos Product Manager Robert Richman talk about  company success landing them as #6 Best Places to Work by Fortune Magazine.  Mildly interested to be there at first, what I discovered was amazing. As a student of Corporate Responsibility (CSR), I would have to give Zappos high marks for the People component of the triple bottom line of CSR: People, Planet, Profits.

Zappos oozes with “happiness” in the workplace, everyone’s “main driver” according to Richman. The company’s secret, communicate with culture. The DNA of culture according to Zappos is “core values.” Contrary to other companies that define values as honesty, integrity, team, responsibility, and quality, this disruptive, happy place outlines 8 core values and communicates them with every move:

1. Deliver WOW! through service
2. Embrace/drive change
3. Create fun & a little weirdness
4. Be adventurous, create open environment
5. Pursue open & honest relationships
6. Do more with less
7. Be passionate & determined
8. Be humble

Richman quoted the legend Peter Drucker when he stated, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

If you missed the presentation, no worries. Zappos has a free book on corporate culture that I just ordered at www.culturebook.org . Cool!

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In my swan song event as 2010 Chairman, the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF) today announced winners for itss 2010 Annual UVEF Awards. The annual event recognizes Utah companies and leaders for innovation, business growth and contributions to the entrepreneurial community. Award recipients were honored today at ceremonies held at the Provo Novell Campus.

Keith McCord addresses 110 attendees at UVEF Awards Program

“Successful entrepreneurs seek out mentors, looking for guidance to chart the road ahead,” said UVEF chairman John Pilmer. “UVEF Award winners are worthy of emulation as each represents the best of what each aspiring new startup wants to become.”

Award recipients will be named in the following categories:

Most Innovative Product: Nate Alder, Klymit

Ron King Social Entrepreneur of the Year: Fraser Nelson, Community Foundation of Utah

Greatest Contribution to Entrepreneurs, John Richards

Utah Valley’s Best Kept Entrepreneurial Secret: Brad Caldwell, Security Metrics, Inc

Entrepreneur of the Year: Susan W. Preator, Imagine Learning, Inc.

It was recently my pleasure to meet Hal Wing for the first time in my role as Chairman for the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (www.UVEF.net). In my work in PR,  I have worked closely with CEO’s from numerous industries and Hal personified the dynamic personality I’ve come to expect from executives at the top of their game. I saw a tremendous lifetime contributor to the economy, an energized entrepreneur, with his first wife of many decades at his side. Employing 200 factory workers in Utah and some 400 or so globally in more than 20 countries, Little Giant Ladder continues to make a difference.  Watch this video and see if you agree.

Those who follow PilmerPR know we place an emphasis on social responsibility, including Green PR. We were recently recognized by the U.S. State Department and Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy as one of the foremost experts in environmental communications. Other awards have spoken to our work, as well.

But what do you think?

StartupNation, a popular website for entrepreneurs, is looking for the “Greenest Home-based Business,” and has placed PilmerPR among a host of other nominees. You are allowed to vote for one/multiple companies once per day, every day, through October 31st. Judges will use those votes to help choose what they believe is the Greenest.

Read about our environmental efforts on the nomination page, then vote for PilmerPR and spread the word! Help other business leaders understand the benefits of socially responsible communications.
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