Obsidian hopes to cut wide swath in PR market

by Cathryn Stout, Memphis Commercial Appeal

November 28, 2006

Obsidian is five times sharper than steel.

The sable-colored volcanic glass has been used in everything from ancient arrowheads to modern surgical blades.

And now Courtney Liebenrood is harnessing the power of the dark gem to give her the cutting edge in her new business, Obsidian Public Relations.

Liebenrood latched on to the name after hearing a line in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption."

"They said that obsidian had the power of insight, and that's really what PR does, it provides insight," she explained.

Liebenrood, 31, has been offering her brand of insight to such clients as Luminetx and the Collierville Chamber of Commerce since she founded Obsidian in February. Her approach is not to wow potential clients with elaborate pitches, but to listen to their business goals and then create an action plan.

Liebenrood has almost a decade of experience in the communications industry. She was a journalist at The Commercial Appeal for a few months before spending eight years as a part of, and eventually head of, the public relations department at Baptist Memorial Hospital.

On any given day, her schedule at the hospital ranged from publicizing a company fundraiser to answering questions about a high-profile trauma case.

"There's so much more to PR than making great headlines," she said. "A true PR strategist spends a lot of time on planning and issue management and all of those things that aren't very glamorous."

She calls Baptist the best training ground for a public relations professional, but after a lifetime of working for others the divorced mother of two young children wanted to control her own destiny.

"My tenacity was my safety net," she said. "I wasn't going to allow myself to fail."

Kim Kimbrough, who worked for the advertising agency that handled the Baptist Hospital account, remembers Liebenrood as a well-versed and determined executive.

"I think Courtney will do well because she knows the business well," said Kimbrough, who now works as the public relations manager for Signature Marketing Solutions.

"It's the perfect time to open a PR agency because there's a huge demand for PR by companies," she added.

That increasing demand spurred Signature to launch a public relations division earlier this year to accompany its multi-media and advertising services. Unfazed by the competition from Obsidian, Kimbrough said that "there's plenty of business to go around."

 

Nationwide, companies spent $3.3 billion on public relations in 2005, and the projection is $5.7 billion in spending by 2010, according to Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a private equity firm that specializes in media and communications companies.

Since she started her firm nine months ago, Liebenrood has landed 30 clients, whom she works with on a contract or project basis. She's aiming to have a six-person staff and become a player in the regional public relations market by the end of 2007.

Currently, she works out of her home in Collierville while she remodels an office in the EmergeMemphis building Downtown.

The first two images clients will see when they walk through the door of her future office is a shiny chunk of obsidian and a woman just as sharp and just as strong.

 

Obsidian Public Relations

Owner: Courtney Liebenrood

Background: Named public relations director of the year in 2005 by Memphis

Advertising Federation

Company opened: February

Address: 516 Tennessee

Phone: 240-5365

Website: ObsidianPR.com