Media relations. It’s (still) at the heart of what we do as public relations professionals. While PR and marketing programs have evolved immensely over the years, there remains one simple truth: Clients and brands often still want to see “clips" and garner media impressions. This session will show you how the media landscape is changing and what can we as PR practitioners do to ensure those traditional earned media placements still keep coming.  We’ll discuss how work with media evolved beyond just "clips" alone, including how media has evolved into earned social coverage as well. Finally, we’ll also cover “fake news” and some paradigms in the state of the newspaper industry. From the new political climate to the emergence of social media running rampant we’ll discuss ways we can overcome these challenges and still get the print/broadcast/online stories our clients/brands crave to help reach their target audiences.

About Michael Schiferl:
As executive vice president of Weber Shandwick, Michael Schiferl says he never has a dull moment at work. From the excitement of working day-to-day with ALDI and Budweiser to launching new consumer products like Microsoft’s Xbox, celebrating Oreo’s 100th birthday, or revealing countless Super Bowl ads, to the not-fun-at-all work of crisis communication.

Schiferl is on the job when people are abuzz about a topic, brand or issue that Weber Shandwick had a role in shaping. Michael currently leads many of the communication industry’s most widely-recognized and award-winning campaigns across a diverse array of industries ranging from food, retail, healthcare and corporate social responsibility efforts at Weber Shandwick, a global agency powerhouse consistently ranked as an Ad Age “Top 10” firm.

He focuses on strategies to garner both earned and social coverage and conversation for PepsiCo, Mars (M+Ms), Harley-Davidson, as well as global CSR efforts for Yum! Brands’ (KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) annual world hunger relief effort with the United Nations. Michael also serves as an Effie Awards final judge of breakthrough ad campaigns and is a veteran moderator of the New York Festivals.  Michael earned his BA from the Brian Lamb School of Communication, Purdue University, in 1989.