Coakley Brothers is a Milwaukee-based company specializing in premier business services including commercial relocation, self-storage and office interior design. Following the successful launch of the company’s business interiors division, Brothers Interiors, Coakley began the process of a significant historic building renovation at its longtime headquarters in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood. Additionally, the company’s leader commissioned a unique watertower art installation on the building’s roof to set the tone for the transformation of the company and the facility, and to position the company and building as a “gateway to the city’s design district.”

 

To support the evolving company brand, and to help announce the renovation project and art installation, Coakley engaged Mueller to devise a multi-phase public relations plan to maximize earned and social media coverage of the company. The objectives included:
 

• Developing key messaging around the building renovation, design partnerships, and watertower art commission and installation.

• Commencing three distinct media relations efforts (the renovation; the “lift” event; and the lighting ceremony) including targeted list development; interview facilitation between executives, the artist, and reporters; and media recap reporting.

• Increasing awareness of Coakley Brothers and Brothers Interiors, and the company’s full service line to current and potential customers.

 

In August 2017, Mueller released the initial building renovation announcement, which garnered significant business coverage across the City’s major publications. To generate excitement and interest in the watertower art installation, Mueller Communications planned and executed an informal “lift” event, inviting media professionals to view the watertower installation.

 

Ahead of the event, Mueller scheduled interviews between Coakley executives and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, for an exclusive first story on the art installation project. The story headlined digital content online on September 6, 2017 and made the front page, above the fold, of the September 7, 2017 print edition of the newspaper.

 

Following the story’s initial publication, Mueller conducted a second round of outreach to maximize the media opportunities around the highly-visual “lift:” — the 20 foot tall mosaic water tower was raised by a crane more than 10 stories in the air and fastened to the buildings rooftop platform. The highly successful event drew nearly a dozen media outlets to the scene including print, radio and broadcast stations, and was captured live by several drones, on Facebook live, and recorded for publication by all local  print and broadcast outlets, also resulting in significant coverage online: 1.7 million online views and nearly 500 article shares.

 

The buzz carried over to the official watertower lighting ceremony, where Mueller facilitated one-on-one interviews between Coakley executives, the artist, and reporters. The resulting significant media coverage underscored Coakley Brothers as a business leader in Milwaukee, and positioned it as a creative leader in the local office design and furniture industry.

 

We look forward to 2018 where we will be engaged to assist in additional company announcements and ongoing executive profiles.