Just days ago, I celebrated a milestone at Marx Layne—my 18^th anniversary at the agency. Two years ago, my tenure was old enough to drive, and now my tenure is old enough to vote, something I don’t take lightly in an election year.

Over the years, I’ve educated clients, family and friends about my role as a public relations professional, promoting and protecting my clients’ brands. It can be challenging for some to comprehend the many types of work we do: conceptualizing and executing communications campaigns; writing press materials and pitching media; providing on-site support at press conferences, product launches and client events; managing crisis communications; overseeing graphic design and video projects; social media content development; managing client budgets; and the list goes on.

One of our clients is McDonald’s, a globally recognized brand. Locally, we represent the approximately 230 McDonald’s restaurants in southeast Michigan. A recent project of which I’m particularly proud is a video campaign we conceptualized for McDonald’s $1 Any Size Freshly Brewed Coffee, available at participating Michigan restaurants. It’s a great cup of coffee and a tremendous deal at only a buck.

Our PR team sampled coffee at Run Wild for the Detroit Zoo on Sept. 11. That morning when 4,600+ metro Detroiters were at the Zoo for the 5k/10k/fun walk, our video production team interviewed “real people,” asking them how they feel about coffee, how they prefer to drink it and any special memories associated with coffee.

As the public relations agency representing McDonald’s, our focus was on “loving up” the product in an engaging way. No paid actors. No scripts. We closed each video with the $1 Any Size Freshly Brewed Coffee graphic to ensure consistency with the advertising agency’s local campaign. Our videos show real people loving McDonald’s freshly brewed coffee. What they say is honest and sincere. And because it’s not an ad with actors, the message is very compelling.

The result: Beautifully filmed videos capturing the morning light with folks talking about coffee in an authentic, genuine manner.

Where can you see all the videos? Here on our website. We’re also in the midst of sharing via social media platforms in addition to hosting a campaign on iHeart (the video plays as uninterruptible video pre-roll when streaming local/custom stations via the iHeart app or on computer desktop). This is a nice complement to the advertising and merchandising elements in the marketplace via the ad agency, and importantly, we’re pushing out video through owned and purchased platforms, including social media, to reach the audiences that are most meaningful to our client.

Happy viewing and enjoy your cup of McCafé Coffee!