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This video was created for the 2012 Reality Check Hampton Roads event, held at the Ted Constant Center in Norfolk.
Rubin Communications Group was involved in one of the most unusual real estate projects in Hampton Roads history. When ABC’s popular Extreme Makeover Home Edition announced it was coming to Virginia Beach in February 2011, the local builder asked RCG to provide public relations services, on a pro-bono basis, again because of our agency’s well-known media relations and event planning skills.
Several weeks of preparation and then intense work on the ground produced a house for Beverly Hill and her family, and thousands of memories and experiences we will never forget. Together we did what seemed impossible at the start, tear down one house, build a much larger one in its place in five days and create a stronger community at the same time.
After the house was built for a deserving local family, the executive producer of the show wrote to Joel Rubin, telling him “we could not have done this without your firm’s involvement.”
From our office we:
- managed media relations, including all press releases and news conferences
- designed and printed materials – ads, tickets, passes, banners, billboards, on-site signage, t-shirt designs and more
- generated ongoing content for websites and Facebook pages,
- created a theme (“It’s Our Time to Make a Difference”) and had an official song written and performed by Lewis McGehee,
- developed and conducted fundraising events (including one, the wildly popular Extreme March, out of thin air),
- coordinated the Extreme Food Drive with all three local Foodbanks, raising more food than EMHE or Hampton Roads history
- secured TV/Radio/Print media sponsors and coordinated freebies and ads, well over $1 million in free advertising for the build
- Sold tent sponsorships as well as recruited restaurant sponsorships to furnish every meal and snack for volunteers,
- planned a Wrap Party and emceed news conferences and rallies,
- staged a raffle and printed and sold t-shirts, which brought in thousands of dollars for the all-critical Build Fund
- connected producers with community assets like ODU, Lynnhaven Mall, Entercom Broadcasting and more.
In May 2012, Urban Land Institute’s Hampton Roads District Council embarked on the most ambitious effort in its history. Reality Check is a ULI-conceived program that brings 300 individuals from across the spectrum of business, government, military, environmental and other sectors together to determine guiding land use principles for the region and a vision as to how to incorporate 350,000 more citizens over the next 25 years.
This highly complex effort involved major regional players – Old Dominion University, the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and the Hampton Roads Partnership – along with many more organizations from the seven cities. To stage Reality Check, they turned to Rubin Communications Group, figuring RCG not only had the event planning skills but also the political and civic connections to attract a high quality turnout and recruit facilitators to keep the exercise flowing. They were right.
Thanks to the dedication of our staff and volunteer committee, Reality Check, held May 17, 2012 at ODU’s Ted Constant Center, was a successful undertaking. Working around 30 tables covered with maps that included no city borders, the citizens drafted guiding land use principles and positioned LEGOs and string to represent future homes, businesses and transportation options. One of the participants, TCC economics professor Peter Shaw, said it was “a game changer for the region.” For RCG, according to Joel Rubin, it was proof that “we can take a big assignment, break it into parts, marshal the necessary resources and keep all parties, including the client, on track.”
ULI District Chair John Peterson said RCG was critical to the event’s success. “You deserve a lot of credit for navigating the, political challenges of this region and making sure we had the right people at the tables and that they had a meaningful experience. We really appreciate your efforts.”
Due to last year’s successful event, Reality Check Hampton Roads “Advancing the Vision” will be held on May 16, 2013 to hear results from Reality Check 2012 and see the developments that have taken place since that landmark event. It will also feature a live interactive presentation and Q&A with Robert Grow, the founding chairman of Envision Utah, the non-profit public partnership created nearly 20 years ago to involve the public in addressing land use, transportation and environmental challenges presented by growth.
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