About

This blog is a response to or send-up of the entertaining tidbits tech journalist Rafe Needleman dishes out at http://proprtips.com.  “I’m Nafe Reedleman…” was how I was originally going to position the creator/about page, but that seemed kind of lame, so…

I’m Steve Lunceford, a communications professional who’s been practicing journalism and PR since 1989.  In 1991 I began cutting my PR chops pitching stories to hospitality beat reporters at major dailies and trades for Choice Hotels International.  I also did a ton of work with various TV outlets that followed the B-List celebrities who popped out of suitcases in advertisements for Choice brands (“celebrities” is used loosely — we’re talking folks like Tip O’Neil, Deion Sanders, Dennis Rodman, Tom Landry, Evel Knievel and Tim Conway to name a few).

In 1996 I moved to Sprint supporting consumer products, including the Candice Bergen “dime lady” campaign back when long distance was actually a product that consumers and media cared about.  For nearly a decade, I drove a number of campaigns at Sprint that ran the gamut of technologies, from the (not so successful) Sprint ION broadband play, to the launch of 3G and other wireless services during CES keynotes and other high-profile tech events (ask me sometime about landing the Jetsons spaceship in the middle of Times Square — we were goofy for “stunt PR” for a while).

I left Sprint in 2004 after leading its Enterprise, Small Business, Government and International PR efforts, and just before it’s ill-fated merger with Nextel.

For the past four years I was flacking for BearingPoint, a management and technology consulting firm spun out from KPMG.  As Director of Global Communications, I promoted the company’s $1.5 billion public sector business and pitch in on overall corporate positioning efforts as well.  I’m now with another large consulting firm, focusing on the use of new media within government (please note that the perspectives/opinions here are personal in nature and *do not* reflect the official views of my employer).

I’ve pitched a lot of reporters in my time, so I hope to provide tips that will entertain or generate good discussion.  But I can’t pretend to know it all, so I invite my fellow PR practitioners to weigh-in with ideas, and I’ll be sure to credit (or protect anonymity if requested).

You can reach me here or on Twitter (as Rafe says “if you dare.” )