I had lunch the other day with a former client in the travel sector. He was complaining that it is so hard to measure PR effectiveness. I responded that it was just as easy as measuring advertising campaigns. Grudgingly I brought him round, and then he grumbled that with online ads he could immediately track sales. This from the manager of a five star hotel.

While PR can certainly be demonstrated to influence sales, it can do so much more, particularly in the tourism and hospitality sector where it can be a key brand driver. So often the cache for a certain hotel or destination hot spot is determined by media enthusiasm.

We are just completing 2014 client result reports. Once again we had some exciting activity in the travel and tourism category. Canada is the only country in the Americas where Lufthansa launched two new routes — Toronto/Munich and Montreal/Frankfurt. The media response was absolutely terrific. The Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) discouraged any attempt to get media out to the airport for a launch but the Jesson team demonstrated once again that hard work and strong relationships deliver!

The team has also had some stellar results for Kempinski Hotels — the company opened a number of new properties and the coverage was spectacular in upscale publications such as The Robb Report. And boutique London hotel, The Stafford in tony St. James drew coverage in prestige travel publications such as Travel & Leisure. Even the start-up cruise company Rainforest Cruises experienced some awesome reporting in Fodor’s, LA Times, New York Times, The Washington Post and more!

But the real stand-out for me is the work we did for the InterContinental Toronto Centre. For this 35 year old hotel with great spirit that competes against a roster of new five star properties in Toronto, the Jesson team delivered almost four hundred stories and more than 260 million media impressions. Now that’s how a PR team really shows its mettle. It starts with creative newsworthy ideas, a great reputation with media contacts and hours of diligent hard work. This is what our clients know they can count on!

Congratulations team Jesson on another outstanding year!