Just two weeks before “Live With Regis & Kathie Lee” was scheduled to debut, Disney’s Buena Vista Television recruited Foggia Public Relations to take over the national publicity campaign to launch this daily talk show into national syndication.
During the next four seasons, Foggia worked closely with executive producer Michael Gelman and BV’s senior VP Mary Kellogg to take “LIVE” from the ratings basement to the daytime television institution that it is today.
The dramatic turnaround included the creation and marketing of a series of groundbreaking “events” – from the annual “LIVE” wedding to a variety of ratings-boosting contests and a national network of morning drive deejays to promote program line-ups. At the same time, Foggia strategized and negotiated Regis Philbin’s and Kathie Lee Gifford’s first-ever magazine covers – over a dozen in 15 months – which included People, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, Ladies Home Journal, McCall’s, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Family Circle and Parents.
The end result: a tidal wave of media coverage that would play an instrumental role in turning skeptics (including TV critics) into loyal daily viewers.
When the science fiction primetime series, “Babylon 5,” faced imminent cancellation on the WB Network, the producers recruited Foggia to mount an emergency national campaign to raise the ratings during the critical May sweeps. The challenge: overcoming viewer stagnation due to the show’s five-year story arc, then in its third season. Add to that the fact that not a single press release had ever been issued.
With the clock ticking, Foggia developed a media kit for “B5” that properly positioned the weekly series for major press attention. Then, in collaboration with publicist Sandi Serling, pitched the 11th-hour campaign that resulted in such crucial coverage as an Associated Press profile of the show’s creator and a feature in TV Guide, as well as major stories in local papers and TV news shows where fans were concentrated. Mission accomplished. “Babylon 5” was not only renewed, it went on to air two more seasons and led to a spin-off series and two-hour movie on TNT.
Other television projects Foggia Public Relations has handled over the years include the two-hour world-wide live broadcast of “Return to the Titanic…LIVE” from Paris – which continues to rank as the 2nd highest-rated syndicated television special of all-time. When the producers of the reality series, “30 Seconds to Fame,” suddenly needed contestants, Foggia made their city-by-city auditions the talk of morning drive radio. And as a vice president for SSA Public Relations, she blanketed the country with coverage for the ABC primetime special, “Walt Disney World’s Summer Jam Concert”; played a key role in launching the original “Cheaters” series with an out-of-the-gate TV Guide feature; and cooked up a new way of bringing much-needed media attention to the lifestyle series, “Martha Stewart Living,” “Ron Hazelton’s HouseCalls,” “B. Smith,” and “Donna Hanover’s Famous Homes & Hideaways.”
Whether you’re launching new programming or need a ratings boost, Foggia Public Relations has you covered.
Contact us for...
