The Top Digital Podcast – Episode 9

Opening a new museum in a new city is hard enough. When the Croatia-based Museum of Illusions wanted to open a new museum from across an ocean, in a different country, a different language, and a different culture, they knew they would need the help of a local agency. They used TDA to find Charlotte North Carolina’s Rein Communications. This episode features Nicole Peternel, founder and CEO of Rein Communications and PR professional.

Nicole spoke with us about how she successfully worked with the Museum of Illusions to launch in Charlotte. She also discusses the state of PR today, and tells her story of going from working in the big agencies in Chicago to starting her own in Charlotte.

Interview Highlights:

On the differences between American cities:

“Every market is different in the US. Charlotte, for example, we’re notorious for buying tickets last minute. So we’re not going to get these big acts that are international or Beyonce is not going to come to Charlotte if we’re not buying tickets. So I definitely had to walk [the Museum team] through it a little bit, talk a little bit off the ledge. But it would be sold out the first weekend and every weekend, I think actually every day after that. So I knew it would happen. It’s just, again, every mark on here in the US a little bit different.”

On adjusting to the challenges of putting together a launch event:

“There are a lot of moving parts and if you want to be able to have kind of balance in your planner, I’m a planner, right? So it’s all about contingency planning. PR you have to be able to play on but also be able to move at the drop of a dime. But we really kind of lay our best plans forward and knowing at the last minute whether it’s because we had that fight and it’s raining, or there are some technical difficulties that we have to kind of have that contingency and backup plan.”

On creating a flexible workplace:

“It was important to me with Rein that I do have opportunities for women who maybe they want to work on one client, you know, or they have gotten 10 hours to copywrite and they’re wonderful but they can’t bring those skills to other places. This was five years ago when you know, I started I said this is something that’s really important to me, that if I’m going to hire and build out a team, that I do it with the intention of flexibility.”

Related Links:

• Rein Communications on TDA
• The Rein Communications Website
• Rein Communications on LinkedIn
• Museum of Illusions – Charlotte

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