Chris Sullivan
Managing Director
MacMillan Communications
Length of PR career (so far): 17 years
Your most memorable campaign: One of my first, for USA Luge. If you want to learn just how challenging this business can be, represent the sport of luging… in August… during a non-Olympic year.
Favorite journalist to work with: It’s a long list, but I’d include the funds team at Barron’s, Jackie Noblett at Ignites, Rob Copeland at The Wall Street Journal, Aparna Narayanan at Investor’s Business Daily, Cinthia Murphy and Heather Bell at ETF.com, Liz Moyer and Alex Stevenson at The New York Times, and many more. They all ask good questions and I look forward to reading their work even if it doesn’t involve my clients in the slightest.
Number of 2 a.m. calls from a client this month: 0, thankfully. Now, the number of 2am wake-up calls from my baby daughter, that’s a different story…
Biggest complaint about social media: The echo chamber. Many people use social media. Many, many people do not use social media. Don’t mistake social media consensus for social consensus.
Best thing about working at your agency: I’d have to pick three things—the people, the flexibility and the clients.
Last time you didn’t do any work all weekend: Too long ago.
Most misunderstood thing about PR: We’re not advertising (we’re more effective).
What got you interested in a PR career? An internship after my junior year of college. I had no idea what PR was or what a PR person did, but I was very lucky to work for a great boss who gave me interesting stuff to do. There was the usual intern grunt work but I also got to write press releases and, most importantly, call reporters.
Most interesting thing about your job: How fast financial services moves. As big and as regulated as this space is, it evolves a lot faster than I think most people realize.
Number of meetings you were in last week: 10, leaving almost enough time to get some work done.
Best advice to a PR student: The people you’re going to be reaching out to with your pitches owe you nothing. They don’t owe you a call back. They don’t owe you a return email. They don’t owe your client a place in their stories, even if they conducted an interview. If you go at things from a different angle, where you try to be helpful, you try to be respectful of their time, and you make the effort to understand what it is they cover, you will produce better results, have happier clients, and last a lot longer in this business than most of your peers. Oh, and pick up the phone. Call people.
What do you read daily? The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Barron’s, InvestmentNews, ETF.com, Institutional Investor, Pensions & Investments and The Onion.
The moment you realized PR is more important than you thought it would be: It was early in my career when I was sitting down with a client to talk strategy. We got to discussing how PR tied in with their advertising and marketing approaches and the client made a funny look and said, “You are our advertising and marketing approach. We’ve got the budget to do one thing and do it well, and PR is going to be it.” That put the pressure on but it drove home just how important good PR can be.
Worst PR crisis in the news this year so far: Based on the notes and calls I get from my friends overseas, I’m going to say “America, 2016 Election Cycle.”
Favorite non-work hobby: I don’t know if it’s my favorite, but I’m going to be running the New York City Marathon this fall, so “running” is high on my list, at least in terms of time commitment. I’ve never run more than a 5K before, so if things don’t go well, Bulldog Reporter might want to be prepared to turn this PR PROfile into an In Memoriam.
Last book you read: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. My seven year old is a voracious reader, and we took turns reading the chapters to each other.
Cocktail of choice: It changes frequently. Every Friday my wife and I take turns as the in-house mixologist, responsible for coming up with a new drink for that week’s “Cocktail Friday.” Last week’s was a variation on something called an Old Pal that I made with Rye, Campari, Dry Vermouth, Cointreau, grapefruit bitters and a touch of maple syrup. It was amazing.
Favorite movie this year: Die Hard, which is my favorite movie of this or any other year.
Your first “real” job: When I was 12, I got a job making trophies. Did I make myself one that said “Best Trophy Maker”? You know it.
Childhood “dream job”: Starting pitcher for the Oakland A’s.
Your ideal Saturday: My kids let me sleep past 6:30am, I make pancakes for the family, soccer practice with the kids, lunch out somewhere sunny, an evening in with a good book or a movie (perhaps Die Hard?). And at some point, I walk by a newsstand and see all of my clients on the cover of Barron’s. It’s one of those group shots where everyone is standing with their arms folded while a cartoon bull and bear ride a seesaw or something, and it is glorious.