The buzz going around in my town right now, Rochester, NY, was yesterday's visit by the Domestic Diva herself, Martha Stewart. Martha came to town to speak at a fund raiser for the Ad Council of Rochester, an impressive organization that connects non-profits to us professionals who donate our time and talents to help with their marketing efforts. This annual luncheon is the organization's biggest fund raiser and has brought in some notable speakers in the past, but yesterday it was a totally sold out event that hit capacity of 760 people at the Downtown Hyatt Regency.
Martha's plane had some trouble with the landing gear on the flight over in the morning which caused her to be a little late, so the agenda was modified a bit to do all the awards and recognitions first. When she got there she kidded about the issue and amazed me as she started speaking to the crowd as if she was having a one-on-one conversation with you in your living room over tea.
She first talked about what she did for Mother's Day and then told us about her connections with Rochester, one of them being her love for lilacs. It just so happens to be The Lilac Festival this week here in Rochester and Martha announced that she was heading over to Highland Park after the event to film a segment on lilacs for her show which will air this Thursday. She had previously visited Highland Park back in 1995 and bought back 20 or so lilac bushes then which have been growing at her Turkey Hill Farm estate in Connecticut. After that visit the park officials named a specific lavender blue lilac growing in the park after her and she had the chance to visit it on her tour yesterday. This photo was on the front page of the local newspaper this morning, The Democrat & Chronicle.
Martha Stewart is quite a business and she jokingly said that it's hard enough to build a business, let alone rebuild one and her business was strong enough to prosper even when she was "otherwise occupied". Her brand name is expanding which she got a chance to share with us. On the retail side she's partnering with Macy's with a very wide assortment of product offerings for the home. She's got a new line of craft products called Martha Stewart Crafts that will be going into Michael's stores. Plus she announced her new line of Martha Stewart houses by national builder KB Home. And of course she spoke about photography and her line of photo greeting cards that is an exclusive to The Kodak Image Gallery.
I took some time last night to look at her brands and company at marthastewart.com. I figured she had to have at least one promotion currently going on through one of her brands and I was right. Martha Steward Living is sponsoring the Dreamers Into Doers Awards where you can enter an essay contest for a chance to win. Martha is looking for the next Martha and wants to know "What's Your Dream?". The presenting sponsor of the promotion is Talbot's.
The judging criteria is based on originallity of the Idea, the success the business has generated or the benefit to the local community that has been made by the endeavor, the person's commitment and passion and also public appeal. Eleven finalists will be chosen from all entries submitted through Talbots stores, as mail-ins, or online here.
All finalists will win a trip to New York to attend Martha Stewart Living’s Dreamers Into Doers Awards Gala on October 23, 2007and will be outfitted by Talbot's with a $250 shopping Spree. 10 finalists will receive $1,000 each and the grand prize winner will receive $10,000. You have up until June 29th to enter. Then we'll have to wait till October to find out who the winners are.
Back to Rochester...I forgot to mention that Mayor Bob Duffy and Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks were both at the luncheon yesterday. They proclaimed in front of us all that May 14th will now officially be Martha Stewart Day in Rochester. The sun was out all day for Martha and the lilacs are just awesome right now. We hear she brought more of them to take home with her. We have to thank our local CBS Station, WROC, for bringing Martha here and you can see their newscast and interview of her day with us here.
So, I'll have to make a note to blog about Martha again on May 14, 2008.
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