About the Client
The Magazine was founded in Berkeley in 1990 to offer the best in modern furniture and design, from classic pieces to the latest European products. With retail stores in San Francisco and Berkeley, co-owners Brian Ogan and Rainer Lagemann developed a strong following amongst Bay Area consumers for their unique offerings and highly trained staff.

In 2002, The Magazine launched its e-commerce web site at www.themagazine.info. Despite its late entry to the world of e-commerce - or perhaps because of it - the site got off to a quick start with predictions that online orders would soon reach a significant percentage of store revenues. During the same year, co-owner Brian Ogan turned his hobby of refurbishing Airstream motor homes into a secondary business that highlights The Magazine's contemporary design expertise. Using the same manufactures that supply his furniture stores, Ogan converted a 1987 Airstream motor home with a classic rounded silver shell into a prototype for buyers interested in purchasing their own modern, movable design statement (www.moderncoach.com).

PR Strategy
At the same time that Internet sales were taking off and Ogan's Airstream refurbishing project was gaining momentum, sales in The Magazine's two retail locations were shrinking. In the past, The Magazine had relied on full-page Sunday advertisements in the San Francisco Chronicle to attract customers. However, the effectiveness of these ads had declined dramatically. With limited dollars at its disposal, The Magazine was forced to reevaluate its marketing strategy and turned to Galvin Communications for assistance. We developed a plan that used the positive publicity tools at hand, i.e., the e-commerce site and the Airstream motor home, to increase overall awareness for The Magazine and to drive sales in its retail stores.

Results
The Magazine has been prominently featured in Bay Area newspapers such as the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Oakland Tribune, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Alameda Times-Star, Hayward Daily Review, and San Mateo County Times. Articles have appeared nationally in publications as diverse as MotorHome Magazine, At Home in Arkansas, InFurniture Magazine, Small Room Decoration, and Western RV news.

In addition to writing, distributing and following-up on targeted press releases, Galvin Communications helped plan and promote a weekend-long event at The Magazine's Berkeley store. Billed as a "Modern Design Weekend," the event celebrated The Magazine's 12th Anniversary with music, refreshments and, of course, modern design. We recruited Dwell Magazine, a high-end contemporary furniture and design magazine, to co-sponsor the event and to provide a list of 6,000 Bay Area subscribers who were invited to the event with a direct mail invitation that was designed by Galvin Communications. The event attracted nearly 1,000 attendees and generated sales from both new and repeat customers.

In February 2003, we landed a prominent article about The Magazine's annual warehouse sale in Sally Socolich's bargain hunting column that runs in the home section of The San Francisco Chronicle. According to The Magazine's Co-Owner Brian Ogan:

"More people came to our sale as result of this mention than anything else we did. It generated a return far beyond our expectations."

In other capacities, we assisted in the development of www.moderncoach.com, the web site dedicated to Ogan's Airstream project. We also served in an advisory role when Co-Owners Ogan and Lagemann were faced with a sensitive community issue involving their retail location in San Francisco.

Future
The Magazine's success with the local press bodes well for generating attention on a national scale. Looking ahead, Galvin Communications will work with The Magazine to repitch the e-commerce and Airstream stories to national publications and television programs.