MILITARY MAKEOVER - THE HIXON MAKEOVER

Since 2018, Kristen Rose Agency has worked on an on-going basis with Brandstar, a leading multi-media and TV production company based in Florida. We were engaged by Brandstar to handle PR for several of their programs, including Military Makeover; a reality show which enlists the help of expert home improvement professionals such as designers, contractors and suppliers to renovate the homes of military veterans and their loved ones. 

Most recently, we were honored to be tasked with getting the message out about a very special home renovation that the Military Makeover team would be undertaking. It was for the family home of Debbi Hixon, the widow of Chris Hixon, a US Navy veteran who lost his life while bravely leading students to safety during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on 14 February, 2018.

It was incredibly important for us to do this remarkable story justice by reaching out to media outlets who we knew would treat it with respect, and help us give it the attention it deserved.

How did we start SPREADING THE WORD?

The show was filmed in December 2019 with a broadcast date of 14 February 2020, the anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. We reached out to local press and invited Jim Varsallone, sports and business writer at the Miami Herald to cover the event, spending two days at the house. He did a great job showcasing the heart and soul of Military Makeover in his article, as well as filming a number of ‘behind the scenes’ interviews with the cast and highlighting our client Brandstar as the driving force behind the production.

Second of all, we secured coverage by Inside Edition, America’s longest running and top-rated syndicated news magazine which boasts an audience of approximately 5 million viewers per day, while it’s digital network has 415 million video views per month.

We were joined on the production days by Senior Correspondent Les Trent, who covered filming of the renovation and interviewed the cast and crew. The video was then uploaded to Inside Edition’s official YouTube channel and shared on their website and social media platforms.

Results

• In the run up to the show’s broadcast, throughout December 2019 and January 2020, there were 75 pieces of individual press coverage. All local news covered the story as well as several national outlets.

• The story was featured on Military.com which has 6 million unique visitors per month.

• The feature on Inside Edition had a massive impact and was far-reaching. As well the exposure to Inside Edition’s 600K unique visitors per month, there have been 97K views of the YouTube video so far and through syndication the story was picked up and published by huge international media outlets such as Yahoo Entertainment and MSN.

• Veterans of Foreign Wars featured the story and it also made the cover; their print readership is 1.3 million and their website has 200K unique visitors per month.

• US Veterans Magazine featured the story on their website, with a reach of 128K unique viewers per month.

• Locally, the story was featured by The Sun Sentinel who published two articles as well as a video. Their reach is 2.8 million unique monthly viewers plus a 79K print readership.

• The Miami Herald also published two articles and a video, which were shared with their unique monthly reach of 7.8 million, and print readership of 79K.

• WSVN (7News Miami), NBC6 Miami, Local 10 News ABC and CBS12 also shared the story.

• There were also features in various wrestling publications (due to the show being co-hosted by WWE superstar Lacey Evans) such as Wrestling World, Wrestling Inc, eWrestling News and The Inquisitr.

• Business Insider which has more than 131 million unique visitors per month ran a feature.

• ABC News picked up the story and included it in their documentary.

• Associated Press visited the Hixon home to interview the family and within hours the story was shared by a number of media outlets such as US News, CBS42, Times Union, The Gazette and The Charlotte Observer.

SOCIAL SHARES & total REACH

On the day of the broadcast, The Miami Herald published a second article which was picked up and retweeted by news stations and journalists all over the country such as CNN, Tampa Bay Times, News Service Florida, The State and McClatchy Newspapers, further increasing our reach.

During the month of February 2020, when the episode aired, there were a total of 4,526 social shares and a journalist reach of 1,058,860. In addition, there were a total of 204 articles published about the show in February alone on websites with a total UVM (Unique Visitors Per Month) of 595,571,108.

Get in touch

Do you have a message that you need to share with the world? We are a team of PR experts with a proven track record in securing unbeatable press for our clients. Book a free consultation today to learn more about how we can get your brand the awareness that it deserves.