EMSI Public Relations

EMSI Public Relations, originally known as Event Management Services, Inc., is a public relations firm headquartered in Tampa Bay, Florida. It was founded in 1990 by Marsha Friedman, who was subsequently joined by Steve Friedman (her husband) as partner. EMSI Public Relations delivers performance-based PR services for client from industries including publishing, health, food, fitness, software, finance, entertainment and politics. Per the EMSI Public Relations website, the company focuses on promoting clients as celebrity experts in their respective fields.

PR Case Studies

Michael Uslan – Producer of Batman Films: During the California wildfire crisis in October 2007, SS PR went looking for work in the area.

In the mid 1970s, Michael Uslan bought the film rights to a comic book character no movie studio cared about – Batman. For more than a decade he labored with writers and producers, pitching his darkly elegant vision of this movie. Finally, in the late 1980s, Michael was able to assemble a team that included director Tim Burton and stars Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson to create the landmark movie Batman. After its premiere in 1989, it became the highest grossing movie of all time at that point in movie history.

Since then, Michael has been the co-executive producer (along with partner Benjamin Melnicker) of the Batman franchise of films, including the recent blockbusters Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. He has also been involved in other films, such as Constantine, National Treasure and upcoming film versions of The Shadow and Shazam.

Yet, few people know Michael’s name. So we set out to change that. We started in July 2009, with more than 70 radio interviews and a solo panel at Comic Con International arranged by EMSI. That panel drew 1,000 people, despite being scheduled at the same time as the panel which would show the first footage from James Cameron’s future hit Avatar.

Our goal is to make Michael the go-to guy for top tier media when it comes to topics or stories concerning movies or popular culture, and make him recognizable as not only the initiator of the Batman movie franchise, but also as an entertainment guru with industry knowledge and experience that’s helpful and interesting to consumers as well as those in Hollywood. Towards that end, EMSI has steadily booked Michael in electronic media such as Fox Business News, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and BBC Worldwide, as well as print articles including the New York Times, Forbes, The Christian Science Monitor, USA Today and many others.

Darlene Quinn – Author, Winner of the 2009 Indie National Excellence Award for Fiction: Darlene Quinn came to EMSI with a unique challenge – use PR to promote a novel. While non-fiction books are a perfect match for the media because their authors provide valuable information about their areas of expertise, there are very few quality media outlets for fiction authors.

Keep in mind, there are over 400,000 new books published each year, and every one of those authors is clamoring to get air time and ink to push their books, as well.

One of the reasons Darlene chose the retail fashion industry as a setting for her book was because she was once a senior executive at the Bullocks Wilshire chain of department stores in Illinois. It was her experience there, and her friendships with top executives there and at Macy’s, that gave her a deep knowledge of what went on behind closed doors.

That gave us a strategy we knew would work.

Here was a woman who knew the inner workings of the retail industry at a time when major chain stores were filing for bankruptcy and stores were closing by the thousands all over the country because of the recession. In addition, because she was now an author instead of a retail executive, she could be completely candid about what was going on in retail, without fear of recrimination. Our team knew what to do.

EMSI began booking her for interviews on radio, on TV and in print as an expert commentator about the recession as it was affecting the consumer retail business. So far, Darlene has had more than 100 radio interviews and several national TV interviews. In addition, she has appeared in a variety of print and Web publications with a combined circulation/impressions level of more than 100 million. This national media exposure has accomplished two key goals: 1) it positioned her as an expert on the inner workings of the retail industry, and 2) at the same time afforded her the opportunity to promote her book.

Clients

From the firm's website and other sources, as indicated below:[1]

• Dr. Harold Katz
• Howard Ruff
• YourSphere.com
• Dr. Earl Mindell
• SoyNut Butter Co.
• The Temptations
• Jimmie Hoffa, Jr.

Personnel

From the firm's website:[2]

• Marsha Friedman, CEO & Founder
• Steve Friedamn, President

Contact information

EMSI Public Relations
1127 Grove Street
Clearwater, FL 33755
Tel: 1-800-881-7342
Fax: 1-727-443-0835
Web: http://www.emsincorporated.com
Blog: http://emsincorporated.com/pr-education/pr-insider-articles/

SourceWatch resources

• Public relations firms