Buzz About a Better Burger Brings Home Gold

May 11, 2011 - PRLog -- Andy Richardson, 35, vice president of Ginny Richardson Public Relations (GR-PR) received the Golden Trumpet Award for outstanding achievement from the Publicity Club of Chicago (PCC) on Friday, May 6, at a luncheon and awards ceremony for 600 public relations professionals at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago.

He accepted the award from celebrity presenters Dean Richards of WGN-TV and Peter Sagal of National Public Radio.

Richardson won the PCC’s top honor in the category of marketing for his work on the grand opening of Tom & Eddie’s, a new gourmet burger restaurant which opened in Aug., 2010, in Lombard, IL.

Tom & Eddie’s was founded by two former executives from McDonald’s – Tom Dentice and Ed Rensi - who dreamt of starting a burger restaurant from scratch. They brainstormed: “If we could do anything at all …” They originated recipes, set up shop at the culinary kitchens at College of DuPage, and began taste testing by offering free meals in exchange for written questionnaires.

GR-PR was retained in May 2010, and expectations were high. The firm was responsible for social as well as traditional media and charged with building anticipation, then maintaining interest. The launch would be primarily social media and publicity driven; there would be very little advertising.

Some media highlights include a review on opening day by Chicago Tribune food critic Phil Vettel; and a review by Chicago Sun-Times food critic Pat Bruno. Suburban coverage was rich with feature stories, reviews, event listings and column mentions. Four and five star Yelp reviews streamed in, and Facebook had new friends every day. As a result of the initial campaign, stories and TV segments are continuing to this day.

The ROI for the grand opening campaign was 840 percent.

“Everyone at GR-PR, especially me, is proud of Andy’s achievement,” said Ginny Richardson, president of GR-PR. “Andy’s tireless energy brought stellar coverage from print, internet, and electronic media.”

In 2004 and again in 2005, Andy Richardson received the Golden Trumpet Award. In 2006 he received the Silver Trumpet Award, and he was honored as one of Today's Young Executives of 2004 by The Business Ledger and Elmhurst College Center for Professional Excellence.

For more information, call 630-789-8899 or visit: http://www.gr-pr.com

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Ginny Richardson Public Relations is a Hinsdale-based public relation firm specializing in social media and media relations for hospitality, business, healthcare, not-for-profit, arts and entertainment. This is the thirteenth PCC Trumpet award GR-PR has won.