“For Never Was a Story of More Woe Than This of Juliet And Her Romeo”

At JS2, we are constantly pushing ourselves to be better PR professionals and to that end, we recently instituted a bi-weekly creativity project. For our first project, the staff teamed up in pairs to develop a story pitch around William Shakespeare’s classic love story, Romeo & Juliet. Once the creative was in, we were thrilled to realize that each team had used a different angle to pitch – Gina and Christina suggested plant-based natural remedies as an alternative to expensive doctor visits, offering Friar Lawrence as spokesperson; Liz and Amy used the opportunity to talk about the alarming statistics of teen suicide and what we as a nation can do to combat the epidemic, Chris and I promoted To Be or Not To Be Nurses, tailored childrearing services for Elizabethan parents and Carlos and Amanda provided a crisis communications statement from Ye Olde Dagger Company, unfortunately caught up in the tragedy as the weapon of choice for poor Juliet.

Click on the link below to view all entries:
http://www.docstoc.com/batch/oOTBAwOM19Z9LTCTXRf-WA==/vanessa-kristal/2009-03-27

Posted by Vanessa Kristal, Account Executive

New Product = Funny Times

In April, our client Trigg Laboratories, Inc., the leader in personal lubricants and sexual wellness products, will debut a new product, Wet® together™. With the understanding that two is better than one, Wet together offers couples a titillating experience that benefits each person in its own unique way. Intended to enhance a couple’s intimacy, his warms and hers cools but when they come together, couples experience an amazing tingling sensation.

The photos above show Carlos and me testing out Wet Together on our hand – not how the product is intended to be used, but surely in a way that is office appropriate!

Posted by Amy Fuller, Assistant Account Executive

New Horizons Honors Douglas A. Pick, Founder of DAP World, Inc.

On Friday, March 20th, New Horizons, a non-profit organization that helps adults with developmental disabilities, honored our client, Douglas A. Pick, President of DAP World, for providing jobs to over 220 clients in New Horizons’ workshop program at its 55th Anniversary Gala. Typically, New Horizons recognizes volunteers and staff members for their endless hard work at these annual galas but this year, for the first time, a customer was honored for his exemplary commitment and dedication to the program.

The theme for the evening, held at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, was the roaring 50’s! The room was filled with laughter and excitement as scenes from classic movies played on the big screen. A highlight of the evening occurred during dinner when New Horizons’ Bright Lights, decked in 50’s attire, hit the dance floor to perform several dance routines. Finally, the time came for the honorees to receive their awards.

Doug Pick: Partner of Independence Award
Susan Stearns: Fredrick J. Weitkamp Service Award
Rose Weiss: Dignity, Love and Compassion Award
Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes: Partner For Brighter Futures Award

Doug Pick’s career as an entrepreneur began in 1992 with the inception of his HEAROS line of ear plugs and since that time, his company has grown to become the national leader in retail ear plug marketing. By efficiently tapping into the multitude of resources of New Horizons, Doug services the nation’s largest retailers with remarkable precision and execution as a “one man show.”

“I’m thankful and appreciative of the long standing relationship DAP World has established with New Horizons. It’s a total win-win!” says Doug Pick. “As I’m living my entrepreneurial dream, I’m proud to be able to embolden the lives of so many special needs adults to help fulfill their dreams.”

Congratulations, Doug!

Posted by Carlos Torres, Senior Account Executive

Welcome To The Great Pit Ball Las Vegas

The Great Pit Ball, which took place this past Saturday, March 14 in Las Vegas, was an amazing charity event to benefit the Villalobos Animal Rescue Center, the largest rehabilitation and placement facility for abused pit balls in the world.

Our client, Ralph Perrazzo, an award-winning pastry chef formerly of Bradley Ogden and Jean George, who recently founded his own restaurant group, Rare Concepts Group, organized the event with his friend Brandon Bond, who is a world-famous tattoo artist. Both are huge dog lovers and Brandon had in fact just filmed a documentary called Vicktory to the Underdog, a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of rescued Pit Bulls, which premiered at the Great Pit Ball.

The all-day event featured an art show, musical performances and VIP parties but the stand-out was certainly the chef’s dinner headlined by Ralph and some of his favorite Las Vegas chefs. Joining him for the dinner were Rick Moonen of RM Seafood (Mandalay Bay), Joe Elevado of Social House (Treasure Island), Gene Bernardo of Nove, Barry Dankake of N9NE Steak House and Kerry Simon of Simon Restaurant & Lounge, all at the Palms Hotel and Casino.

Animal Planet even filmed the event as the season finale for “Outlaw Dogz,” a program currently in production scheduled to air in 2009. The six episode series, based on Villalobos Animal Rescue Center and its work saving Pit Bulls, is being filmed on location at Villalobos with its operator, Tia Maria Torres, and her family. It also features celebrity cameos and many of the more than 200 Pit Bulls who call Villalobos home.

We are still waiting to hear exactly how much money was raised but early reports say the turnout was amazing!

Posted by Gina Sisco, Account Executive

Restaurant Bargain Dining For Savvy Recessionistas (Recessionistos)

On the bright side of the downward-spiraling economy, many local restaurants are thinking creatively and giving extra perks for their guests to take advantage of. I like to think of them as “the toy in your cereal.” It’s a small surprise, makes you smile and starts your day with a spring in your step. Savvy recessionistas (and recessionistos) can wine and dine at Los Angeles’ best restaurants for a major bargain if you can keep track of all the recession deals and plan accordingly.

Our restaurant clients are thinking outside of the menu to help everyone get through this downturn and drive business. Fortunately for us, it works out in our favor. Recession or not we still need to eat and eat well! I recommend keeping a Google Calendar of drinking and dining deals, that way you can keep all the various deals organized and know where to save your bucks on any given night. Here are some of my favorite recession-friendly dining deals from our restaurant clients that help save moo-lah while filling your bell-lay:

Grilled Cheese Workshop at Patinette at MOCA – Craft your own gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches for only $5. Choose your bread, cheese, extra and sauce. Choices include whole wheat bread, rye bread, walnut currant brad, fresh mozzarella, chipotle cheddar, Fontina, goat cheese, grilled onions, bacon, dill pickles, basil pesto, yuzu aioli or garlic aioli.


Pot Roast Sundays at Tender Greens – Old-fashioned pot roast dinners for $10 every Sunday. Coleman Farms beef short rib “roast” braised in red-wine sauce with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and your choice of side salad or vegetable.


Free passed appetizers during happy hour at RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen – If you can snag a seat at the bar for happy hour, Chef Mohan will send out a selection of passed appetizers for you to nibble on and try. The lacquered bqq ribs are worth fighting for.


Free valet during lunch at Maggiano’s Little Italy at The Farmer’s Market at The Grove – Everyone in LA knows that the parking situation at The Grove is bumper to bumper during lunch time, so Maggiano’s at The Farmer’s Market at The Grove offers their lunch diners free valet between 11:30AM and 3PM. Slip in a little lunchtime shopping while you’re at the Grove or catch a movie and woohoo free parking!

Bottomless mimosas during brunch and bottomless wine carafes everyday $15 at Ivan Kane’s Café Wa s – Bottomless = all you can drink! That’s $15 for all you can drink mimosas and wine carafes, best deal in Hollywood. Throw in a few canapés to soak up the drinks and meander over to ArcLight Hollywood afterwards to catch a matinee flick.

Hobo night on Mondays at Café Wa s, grilled cheese and French fries for $10 at Café Wa s – More grilled cheese and crispy French fries, my favorite comfort food. Another cheapo deal for delicious, gourmet grilled cheese. Add $15 bottomless wine carafe and you’ve got yourself a recessionista party.


Buy one entrée get second entrée for $1 at La Grande Orange Café in Pasadena on March 23 and 24 – $1!! I can’t even buy a pack of gum for $1. A dinner for two is basically half off for a delicious, fresh, organic meal.


Late night happy hours at CASA from 9PM to 12 midnight – Happy hour typically ends by 6:30 or 7PM and I never actually make it there before then. At CASA, their late night happy hour offers night owls a chance to take advantage of their discounted made-from-scratch margaritas. Uno. Dos. Tres. TEQUILA!


No corkage fee at all Patina Restaurant Group properties and at La Grande Orange Café – Corkage fee be gone. Another pesky fee that has been banished by the good folks at Patina and LGO, go ahead and enjoy your special bottle of wine without having to shell out extra bucks.


For more recession busting deals around town, check out the Los Angeles Times Food section’s Daily Dish blog and search for “recession busters”
(Link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/ )

Posted by Christina Wong, Account Executive, Foodie

JS2's Own Alissa Pinck Judges The PRSA Silver Anvil Awards

This past Friday, I had the pleasure of judging the PRSA Silver Anvil Awards, one of the most prestigious awards in the PR industry. While it was a long day in a land far away (Tribeca), it was well worth it for the people I met and the insights I gleaned.

I had no clue what to expect, hoping only to get an inside peek at what some of the best and brightest in the industry were doing on behalf of their clients. What I learned is that while most of the tactics are the same (“there are no new ideas, only new ways of making them felt”), the campaigns that stood out did so because of their research. Whether it was an industry behemoth undertaking a multi-year study or a smaller agency issuing a Zoomerang survey to its target demographic, the research was invaluable in setting a baseline with which to measure a campaign against. Without knowing how your demographic thinks and feels at the beginning of a campaign, how can you know if public relations truly made an impact? The industry constantly talks about the difficulty of measuring ROI yet this seems like the strongest and easiest way to demonstrate it. Beyond the bottom line, did you change perception – is your consumer more willing to try your product or service, more likely to recommend it to a friend, more favorable about the brand? If the answers are yes, then your campaign has to be considered a success.

Now, I can’t wait to judge the upcoming PRSA Bronze Anvil Awards, although I wish it would again be in the company of my Silver Anvil team (Jeff Davis, Principal, Sawmill Marketing; Patrice Tanaka, Co-Chair, Chief Creative Officer, CRT/tanaka; and David B. Rockland, Partner & Managing Director, Global Research, Ketchum). Although I will be creating my own team for these more tactical awards, I look forward to the powerful professional development they will without question provide me.

Posted by Alissa Pinck, GM/VP

Kao Pao Shu and JS2 Take It To The Streets

Last night, Kao Pao Shu fashion designer Naida Begeta and JS2 staffers (Amy Fuller, Chris Bess and Vanessa Kristal) teamed up to take it to the streets and enjoy the monthly Art Walk in downtown Los Angeles. Tooling their way in and out of art lofts and raw undisclosed galleries made for a perfect evening of art, culture and visual inspiration! Kao Pao Shu Visual Art Director, Marco Schillaci captured a perfect moment at the end of the evening (image posted above) when the decision needed to be made as to where to go next.

The Kao Pao Shu collection is truly an eclectic combination of black and white designs, rich colorful pieces, comfortable textiles and effortless forms- that exude an elegant intricacy and classic style.

Posted by Vanessa Kristal, Account Executive

Honduras Close-Up! JS2 President Joins UNICEF In Their Champion For Change Program

I recently returned from a trip to Honduras with our client UNICEF where we visited several programs that are funded by UNICEF in collaboration with Change for Good, an American Airlines sponsored giving campaign. This program is powered solely by individual American Airlines flight attendants (Champions for Change) who feel passionately about giving back to the children of the world through UNICEF. On international flights and now transcontinental domestic flights, the AA Champions show an in-flight video on how money collected by American Airlines and disbursed through UNICEF can literally make the difference between life and death for many of this world’s children. Change for Good, a very apt name, encourages passengers to donate any left-over currency from overseas travels, or whatever spare pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters or $20.00 bills find their way into the UNICEF bag!

For me, this trip was life altering. As a business owner and a mother of two, I have been desperately trying to put our current economic downturn into perspective and give it some context. It is very easy to let our economic state-of-the-union and overall national depression color and control our lives. With this trip to Honduras, where 30% of the children are malnourished and so many have no running water; I quickly remembered how fortunate I am. It is up to people like me to become advocates for the children of the world who deserve so much and receive so little.

Fabiola, Julia and Hector, our Honduran UNICEF leaders, are superstars. I learned so much from Fabiola in particular. We spent a great deal of time discussing the rights of children and how essential it is to engage and encourage them to be involved in their own destiny. The respect with which Fabiola and Hector approached each and every child made me understand how nuanced and deep UNICEF’s work truly is.

And then there were the children, who are beautiful, moving, funny, intelligent, motivated and resplendent in their promise! Football for life, the schools, the clinics, the water and hygiene programs – all incredible!! One program in particular that is funded by Change for Good, Arte Accion, knocked my socks off! The founder and leader of the program, Douglas, a former gang leader, heads up this brilliant arts program where gang kids can find a safe place to blossom into artists. He literally plucks the gang kids who have been “green lit,” or targeted for death from the gangs, out of harm’s way and gives them tools with which to express their lives. I cannot speak about this place without being moved to tears because this program, for me, is symbolic of all that UNICEF does. I personally silk screened a t-shirt for my 13 year old son with their logo and tried to explain to my two children how lucky they are and how much they take for granted. We talked well into the night when I returned to Los Angeles and I felt, for the first time, that my son and daughter began to understand why UNICEF is so important and why I am so committed.

On the way back from Tegucigalpa I was able to see the Change for Good program in action. We raised $250.00 in less than 10 minutes on the flight from Tegucigalpa to Miami and then Franck, one of the AA Champions, raised another $160.00 from Miami to Boston. When I think of what that $410.00 can buy, I get so excited!

On my trip to Honduras I became empowered to make a “Change for Good,” and have fully committed JS²’s resources to this incredible program. I cannot wait to take this to the next step and am thrilled to be working with this tremendous group of people with whom I just spent four days. I feel that with this trip I have become a true UNICEF activist and cannot wait to do more. I hope that I will have the opportunity to go on another UNICEF trip in another part of the world sometime soon, but in the meantime this trip, which is so alive inside of me, will feed our work together moving forward.

Jill Sandin

President

Posted by Jill Sandin, President

Bedford’s Grand Opening Weekend

Bedford, our Houston restaurant client, celebrated its grand opening weekend with a charity dinner on February 28 followed by a VIP friends & family party on March 1. Through ticket sales and auction items at the sold-out dinner, we were able to raise several thousand dollars for Boys & Girls Harbor, a local organization dedicated to providing a safe harbor for child victims of family violence, and the Houston Heights Association, a nonprofit organization formed in 1973 for the purpose of encouraging and promoting the enhancement of the Houston Heights community. The unforgettable dinner event featured a special guest: Bedford chef Robert Gadsby’s good friend, Food Network star and author Jeff Henderson. Gadsby and Henderson worked together to create an elaborate feast in the restaurant’s second level event space and Viking exhibition kitchen for 130 of Houston’s most generous foodies.

On Sunday, a slew of local politicians, socialites, and media sipped champagne and enjoyed passed hors d’oeuvres at the Grand Opening VIP event and watched on as Gasby was given a declaration from President Barack Obama by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. It certainly was a night to remember!

SIRCUIT® Cosmeceuticals Introduces New Anti-Aging Treatment Serum

The secret to perfect healthy skin is finally out! SIRCUIT® Cosmeceuticals, the all natural Chirally Correct skincare line, debuts a powerful brand new anti-aging regeneration complex to address the specific needs of aging skin.

Oraia is a powerful serum that uses a full spectrum of 22 potent vitamins and antioxidants that work synergistically to control the many different types and causes of free radical damage and aging. When used daily for six weeks, it is clinically proven to provide proper nutrition which stimulates collagen production and the growth of new healthy cells. Benefits include:

95% more youthful
90% more hydrated
86% texture improved
61% wrinkles lessened
90% firmness improved
81% quality improved

“Oraia is unlike any other product anyone may have seen and tried,” says Michael Wolfgeher, president and founder of SIRCUIT® Cosmeceuticals. “It is a Chirally Correct product to ensure the best possible results while virtually eliminating adverse reactions.”

Oraia has high concentrations of anti-inflammatory, skin strengthening, healing and skin perfecting ingredients. Featured anti-oxidants include:

D- Quercetin - Has anti-cancer, anti-ulcer, anti-allergy, and anti-inflammatory activities. It protects skin cells from oxidative and chemical pollutant stress
D-Boldine - It has strong free radical scavenging activity and it is an effective anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial ingredient
L-Superoxide Dismutase - This super antioxidant helps to prevent aging by eliminating the chain reactions that are caused by free radicals
L-Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) - It stimulates collagen production and it’s a powerful antioxidant
D-Alpha-Tocopherol - It helps to reduce the damage caused by sun exposure and limits the production of cancer-causing cells
Resveratrol and Polydatin - An anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, vasodilator ingredient that stimulates cellular proliferation and collagen synthesis
Aminoguanidine - Helps to preserve the protein structure by preventing collagen fibrils from becoming brittle, thereby maintaining soft and supple skin

Oraia’s powerful moisture rich, natural ingredients are perfectly blended for absolutely beautiful, healthy skin.

Oraia retails for $225 for a 1.7oz. bottle and is available online at http://www.sircuitskin.com/.

About SIRCUIT® Cosmeceuticals

Founded in 2001 by Michael Wolfgeher, SIRCUIT® Cosmeceuticals offers a complete line of professional, high-performance skincare products using the latest in Chiral Technology. Based in Los Angeles, CA, SIRCUIT® Cosmeceuticals blends the best of both science and beauty to produce super-charged, super-concentrated skincare products that are free of artificial colors, fragrances, parabens, chemical preservatives and always cruelty free. With both retail and professional lines, SIRCUIT® Cosmeceuticals is sold to dermatologists, cosmetic surgeons, resorts, medical spas, day spas and is shipped to retail customers worldwide.

Posted by Carlos Torres, Senior Account Executive