Summer 2024 Headliners: Keeping up with the trends and landing coverage across industries

What do Kamala Harris, Charli XCX and The Martin Group’s public relations and public affairs teams all have in common? We have one word for you: BRAT. 

Our colleagues have been working with clients to maximize each moment over the last several months. We’ve made headlines and landed huge wins in publications across the country, all while tuning into the Paris Olympics, enjoying family vacations and memorizing the words to “Pink Pony Club.” 

From honoring the iconic 59FIFTY fitted from New Era Cap to sailing next to the Statute of Liberty and following a big bridge as it made its way down the Erie Canal, we’ve helped our clients celebrate huge moments this summer.  

Want to see what we’ve been up to? Check out some of our biggest summer coverage wins for our clients, including Beard Club, Student Transportation of America, the Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy, FIA World Endurance Championship, Com’Over, the New York State Restaurant Association, M&T Bank and Phillips Lytle. 

Country Music Superstar Dustin Lynch Teams Up With The Beard Club as the Company’s New Equity Partner – Billboard 

Multi-platinum recording artist Dustin Lynch has one of the songs of the summer with “Chevrolet.” He also has a new partnership with our client Beard Club—but announcing product partnerships can be tricky. Our team worked together with Beard Club to send VIP product samples ahead of the announcement to high-value media and then leaned into Dustin’s star power to land coverage by Billboard, WWD and SiriusXM’s “The Highway,” among others. We also collaborated closely with Dustin’s publicity team to amplify the news to the Nashville scene, ensuring this partnership reached his most enthusiastic fans.

And bonus: the same Billboard reporter included Beard Club’s products in a “best of” article for Rolling Stone the following week.  

New Era Cap’s New Documentary Tells the ‘59FIFTY Story’ –Hypebeast 

New Era Cap is celebrating a big milestone this year: the 70^th anniversary of its 59FIFTY fitted cap. Over the last several months, our team has worked alongside New Era to amplify this historic moment, which included the release of a short documentary directed by Set Free Richardson. The film was narrated by former MLB pitcher C.C. Sebathia and focused on the cultural impact of the iconic design, featuring interviews from some of the most influential people inside the brand, including New Era CEO Chris Koch, Spike Lee, Carmelo Anthony and Jayson Tatum.  

Student Transportation of America grants special wish for man who loves buses – First Coast News Jacksonville 

This summer, Gwnell McGrath, a single mom from Ohio, reached out to STA to see if there was a way she could charter a bus to surprise her 21-year-old son, Logan. Logan, who is on the autism spectrum, turns out to be hyper-focused on school buses. In 2023, he and his mom had the opportunity to attend the Daytona 500 and during that trip, Logan fell in love with STA Bus 905, driven by a woman named Dorothy. In that moment, Dorothy managed to connect with Logan, and he has been asking to go back to Florida ever since. In a matter of days, our team and partners at STA arranged for Logan to fly from Ohio to Florida for his birthday and ride his favorite bus to the Daytona Speedway free of charge—and yes, Dorothy was right there with him. 

Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Park Welcomes a New Pedestrian Bridge After a Journey Across the Atlantic – Architectural Record  

After years of planning, soliciting community input, bidding and manufacturing, the city of Buffalo and the Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy (RWPC) were ready to bring Ralph Wilson Park’s long-awaited signature element home to Buffalo in June 2024. The delivery: a 266-foot-long pedestrian bridge, designed by a world-renowned firm, manufactured by a top bridge fabricator in Italy, and promised to Western New York as a jaw-dropping, safe, accessible entryway to their soon-to-be transformed park. The Conservancy sought a media splash and community engagement effort to build excitement for the $110M park project. It was a coincidence that RWPC and Carver Companies, hired to transport the bridge, both engaged The Martin Group to support their PR efforts.

The result: a campaign highlighted the rarity of commercial traffic on the canal, and a community relations effort that led to massive engagement of communities across New York State, with large gatherings of people at points along the canal. The campaign generated significant media attention, including a hit in Architectural Record, a top national source for news and information on architecture and design. In total, over 240 media mentions were secured with a total publicity value of over $4 million. 

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Iron Dames bring the power of pink – The Athletic / New York Times 

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the most prestigious events on the motorsports calendar. This year, we worked with FIA World Endurance Championship and Com’Over to amplify one of the race’s best stories: The Iron Dames, a team whose movement “to prove that women can compete on the same level as men in motorsports” has captured the attention of fans the world over. We offered The Athletic a chance to speak with the all-women’s team ahead of Le Mans, which turned into an inspiring story about daring to dream. The profile was featured on the New York Times’ sports page throughout Le Mans weekend, bringing more attention to this incredible story.  

A round-the-world sailing race will collect valuable ocean data – Axios 

Imagine sailing around the world, alone, unassisted, without stopping, for three months. That’s a great story—one that sailing media have been telling since the first edition of the famed Vendée Globe. But how to reach mainstream audiences in the United States? We needed a story with crossover appeal.

The perfect angle emerged when we learned of a partnership with UNESCO in which sailors, as they’re racing along the Vendée Globe route, will collect climate data from parts of the world that have been inaccessible to researchers. We connected Axios with the president of Vendée Globe and a French skipper to talk about this extremely important initiative. Our team also supported the Vendée Globe’s showcase in New York City, an exhibition in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, earning considerable media interest for both the sport and its climate-data efforts in the nation’s top market. 

LA28 signs New Era as headwear provider for Team USA – Sports Business Journal 

Ahead of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, New Era Cap announced they have joined an elite group of licensees in creating exclusive sportswear for Team USA. The new agreement meant that New Era would be designing product for the 2024, 2026 and 2028 games – representing Team USA’s first-ever official product deal with a headwear-focused brand. While working through the timing of the announcement, our team collaborated with New Era, USOPC and LA28, focusing on national pitching efforts as well as regional stories for each of New Era’s Olympic and Paralympic ambassadors, including fan favorite and bronze medalist, Ilona Maher. 

Reservation Fraud Is Real, and These New York Lawmakers Are Looking to Make It a Criminal Offense – Food & Wine Magazine 

In 2024, restaurants began reporting an increase in no-show reservations at the same time diners began to encounter reservation resale platforms selling coveted tables at exorbitant prices. Next, media reports began popping up of individuals making six figures in their dorm rooms by reselling reservations for profit.

The Martin Group got to work and brought this issue to the forefront for the New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA). Through our own research, we uncovered the rapidly emerging issue facing New York restaurants, along with diners and authorized third-party reservation platforms like OpenTable and Resy. The Martin Group, NYSRA and their government affairs partners decided to act quickly and introduce legislation with less than month left of the New York State legislative session. In just 18 legislative days, the Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy Act was introduced and passed, an ambitious timeline given the complexity of the issue.   

M&T Bank’s Small Business ‘Spotlight Shop’ at Jazz Fest – Rochester Business Journal 

As the longstanding presenting sponsor of the Rochester International Jazz Festival, M&T Bank has been continuously finding creative ways to leverage their sponsorship and make a difference in the community. This year, our team and partners at M&T worked to bring the bank’s mobile “M&T Spotlight Shop” to the festival to promote and empower local businesses. The Spotlight Shop made its first appearance in Rochester this summer and featured two small businesses; Hedonist Artisan Chocolates and Katboocha, each given the opportunity to set up and connect with new customers, sell their products and grow their brands. Along with the Spotlight Shop, M&T Bank again partnered with the Rochester Education Foundation (REF) to host a musical instrument drive during the Jazz Fest. The bank donated its high-profile, high-traffic booth space to promote the drive and all instruments collected were then distributed to kids in Rochester City Schools. 

Can Employers Fire Workers Over Political Posts? – Buffalo Business First 

Our team partnered longtime client Phillips Lytle to help a journalist who needed insightful commentary for employers managing politics in the office amid this heated election cycle. James O’Connor, a partner with Phillips Lytle, was the ideal subject matter expert — providing nuanced perspectives and breaking down legal considerations when situations arise in the workplace or online. The article offered timely guidance for employers, reinforcing Phillips Lytle’s work as a go-to resource for navigating employment issues and providing value to the publication’s readers. 

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