PR is so rewarding when this happens

Every once in a while, PR lets you watch someone’s private, no-way-this-ever-happens dream come true. As we head into Thanksgiving weekend here in the States, I want to share one of those stories with you.

It starts with Dan DeBaun, a PR manager at Life Time, the luxury athletic club company.

He was dutifully working his media relationships and came across a novel opportunity: The team at Oprah Daily needed a fitness expert for their Oprah Daily Insider paid membership program. It’s not the same as a splashy placement on the site or in the newsletter, but Dan stayed open-minded and was happy to work with the producer to make something happen.

Now meet Kenny Ferrer, the digital fitness trainer Dan tapped to lead Oprah’s Insiders through stretches and some light exercises.

The collaboration led to strong Life Time-branded visibility behind the paywall and great social media promotion in front. A solid PR win.
But that’s not the coolest part.

Dan didn’t know this, but it turns out Kenny was a diehard Oprah fan. I mean, most people think they are, but Kenny has actually been screaming for her at her live events to prove it.

He attended her 2020 Vision tour before the pandemic hit, soaking up her messages of inspiration and noticing the signs life is putting in front of you. At lunch in the cafeteria, he was astonished to see a startling coincidence on the digital billboard:

One ad was for Oprah’s tour, and the other must have been for an attorney – an attorney also named Ken!

Kenny took it as a sign – at that moment, he set a goal that one day, he would “make something for/with Oprah.”

He snapped the photo above and made it his phone wallpaper, where it remained for five years until . . . he got a call from the Life Time PR department.

Isn’t PR great? Yes, we’re the first ones they call when someone screws up and we need to clean up the mess. Yes, there’s a lot of highlighting executives more because of their job title than actual accomplishment or grit. But we also get to spotlight the inspiring stories, the valiant rank-and-file employees . . . the Kennys of the world.

Dan passed along Kenny’s fandom to the producer. She replied: “I happen to have Oprah here for a taping for her podcast next week. Would Kenny want to be in the audience?”

And that’s how this happened:

Dan’s just out here making people’s lifelong dreams come true.

And here’s the part I don’t want you to miss: You’ve done something similar, if not at the same scale. You’ve helped someone get seen. You’ve given them a platform they never thought they’d have. A clip they’ve sent to their mom. Neighbors asking if that was them on TV the other night.

This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for you, my newsletter subscriber, and all the hard work and expertise you apply to shine the spotlight on deserving people associated with your organization – all while you stay off-stage. 😊

P.S. Thanks to Inner Circle member Dan for submitting this win as part of our Best Nontraditional Pitch of the Year program. Here’s a sweet Instagram post where Kenny tells his story.