LeGrand Hart Solidifies the Prominence and Prestige of the Rocky Mountain Region Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award Program by Leveraging Business Leader Contacts and Executing Solid PR Strategies

Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of a healthy economy, and LeGrand Hart knows the importance of creating relationships with entrepreneurs, growing businesses and established corporations. In October of 2004, LeGrand Hart began a relationship with the Rocky Mountain Region Ernst & Young office that continues today. Ernst & Young was seeking a public relations firm with close ties to the local and regional business environment and an established track record of successful client engagements. This firm would help support and promote the yearly Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award program. After speaking with LeGrand Hart only a few times, Ernst & Young was sold on LeGrand Hart’s extensive network within the local market and its in-depth knowledge of local media. LeGrand Hart partnered with Ernst & Young as the public relations firm of record for the awards program and a key event sponsor.

The regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award brings together and recognizes innovation across all industries and serves to position the Rocky Mountain region as an epicenter for new business and economic development. This program is critical both to Ernst & Young’s business development and branding efforts in this market, and any effort to increase awareness of the event would have a positive impact on its ability to grow the Rocky Mountain office. As Ernst & Young’s PR agency of record, LeGrand Hart is responsible for increasing program participation of top-tier companies, including new judge and nomination referrals, and also increasing the awareness and prestige of the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards program among business leaders and influences in Colorado .

LeGrand Hart has engaged with Ernst & Young media relations and networking activities from 2005 through 2008. During this time period, LeGrand Hart has secured Frontier’s President and CEO, Jeff Potter, as a judge of the awards program and introduced nine new top-tier companies to the nomination process from a variety of industries. Of those companies, five were named finalists and three were named winners. These companies included CoBiz, Inc., a $1.9 billion dollar financial services company; the Baxa Corporation, a medical device and systems manufacturer; Intrado, a communication provider for the core of the nation’s 9-1-1 network; Archstone-Smith, an S&P 500 company recognized leader in apartment investment and operations; and LeftHand Networks, a leading iSCSI SAN data storage provider. LeGrand Hart also secured interest from other premiere companies for involvement in the 2006 Entrepreneur of the Year awards program.

In addition to securing participation from top-tier regional companies, LeGrand Hart also increased media coverage and the prominence of the awards program in the local market. 

Highlights from the 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year PR plan, include the following; LeGrand Hart established new key relationships with local media, increased media coverage by 64 percent from 2004 to 2005, and garnered over one million unique PR impressions within the regional and local markets.