Who We Are

Ruskin International is a communications agency specializing in clients in the food, beverage and hospitality industries. Philip Ruskin founded the agency in June of 2002. He possesses over twelve years of experience developing and implementing consumer marketing and public relations campaigns for clients such as: Pepsi, Beaujolais Wine Bureau, Anheuser Busch, Champagne France, Ecce Panis, HBO, and more than a dozen renowned restaurants. In addition to successful public relations campaigns, Philip has created and produced high-visibility consumer events and promotions such as The Chocolate Show, the nation's largest chocolate festival. This three-day festival features 65 culinary demonstrations and draws over 25,000 attendees. For The Chocolate Show, he created strategic partnerships with Barnes & Noble, KitchenAid, Starchefs.com and the New York City Visitors and Convention Bureau. Philip is also an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University where he teaches Hospitality Marketing at the Graduate School of Business.

The agency has developed extremely strong relationships with consumer and trade media, as well as leading culinary professionals. These relationships, combined with strategic planning, creative thinking, and good old-fashioned hard work enables the agency to assist brands to reach both their consumer and trade marketing objectives.

Ruskin International has a reputation for working with quality products and restaurants. Clients past and present include: Hass Avocados from Mexico, Zócalo Restaurant, Tintol Restaurant, Martine's Chocolates, Chef Anthony Bourdain and Brasserie Les Halles Group, Chef Scott Campbell and SQC Restaurant, The Israeli Dairy Board, Ciao Bella Gelato, Maple Leaf Farms Duck, New York Wine and Grape Foundation, and Spiegelau Crystal.

How We Work

The agency is an extension of the clients' team, remaining in constant touch by phone, email and fax. We schedule regular conference calls and meetings in which to discuss opportunities and strategies. Working very closely with a client enables the agency to fully understand, share and effectively communicate the message points and achieve the goals of the brand.

Journalists know that they can rely on Ruskin International to understand their needs, meet their deadlines, and provide compelling information about high-quality products.

Agency Services

Public Relations

We implement strategic public relations for our clients with carefully planned media exposure. PR is about getting press coverage, but coverage alone is not the goal. It's about communicating messages that support the building of a brand and generate greater lasting awareness among media and consumers. To achieve this goal, Ruskin International will create brand identity message points, write press and marketing materials, pitch story ideas to the media, and coordinate press events.

Special Events & Promotions

In today's hospitality and media environment, being extraordinarily good is often not good enough. The media looks for what is "new" to put in the news. Our job is to keep our clients on the media radar by continually bringing to their attention items that are exciting, new and noteworthy. This does not mean "gimmicky," but rather creating appealing items that are not only of interest to the journalists, but also of value to the consumer.

Marketing

The agency does marketing in a variety of ways and will work with you to develop, produce and implement effective materials and campaigns. We can assist you with brochures, email blasts, newsletters, stationary, menu design, cards, and endless other materials to convey your message effectively. We have relationships with first rate printers, designers, photographers and stylists and manage production from start to finish to ensure that your finished products reflect your taste and vision.

Product Introductions

We are poised to launch new products, restaurants or services to the media and the public. We will help you to reach your target audience and build awareness prior to and throughout the launch with media placements and events. Some examples of product launches handled by the agency are: Spiegelau's first ever tabletop collection: Light and Strong; Maple Leaf Farms' Duck A L'Orange and Peking Duck; Ciao Bella Sorbet's wine flavors: Blackberry Cabernet, Blood Orange Champagne, Apricot Chardonnay, Port and Fig, along with Tequila flavors; Les Halles' specialty food market; Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook.

Product Positioning & Strategic Planning

Together with the client we ask: What are you about, what are your strengths and attributes, what sets you apart? Also: Who are your consumers/customers now, and who would you like to attract? How would you like to grow? This helps us to come up with a strategic plan on where to position the client and to communicate the key message points effectively to the right audience.

Culinary Events & Demos

We coordinate events both large and small for our clients, ranging from culinary demos and seminars, to consumer and trade tastings, to festivals and street fairs. Some examples of events we have held include: Israeli Dairy Board cheese tastings and seminars, New York State Wine trade tastings, in-house restaurant demos at Zócalo, and the Bastille Day Liberty Festival, an all-day street festival open to the public.

Advertising, Concepting, Copywriting, and Placement

We develop creative content for advertising campaigns ranging from print, to internet media and radio. We will also recommend and custom-design media plans for your ads. Examples include print, radio and internet ads for Hass Mexicos from Mexico, and print and radio ads for Spiegelau Crystal, among others.

Results

Ruskin International has strong relationships with national as well as regional media in the top markets, regularly placing clients in the following media outlets:

• New York metro press: food, wine, entertainment, lifestyle editors of The New York Times, New York Magazine, Time Out New York, In New York, New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Sun, New York Resident, Newsday, South Shore Record, Star Ledger, Sun Bulletin, Bergen Record, etc.
• Regional food, lifestyle and business journalists
• Syndicated press - Reuters, Associated Press, Gannett
• Top market daily and weekly press: San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, LA Times, LA Weekly, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Herald, Dallas Morning News, Texas Monthly, Boston Globe, etc.
• National food and wine magazines: Gourmet, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Saveur, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, etc.
• National news and lifestyle magazines: Newsweek, Vogue, GQ, Esquire, Elle, "O" The Oprah Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Departures, Travel + Leisure, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day, Gotham, Avenue, Paper, City, Details, Essence, Jane, etc.
• Electronic media: Starchefs.com, Daily Candy, ivillage.com, etc.
• Radio and television: National and local networks
• National food trade magazines: Food Arts, National Culinary Review, Nation's Restaurant News, Chef, Restaurant Business, Specialty Food News, Restaurants and Institutions, Hotel Business, Hospitality News, Food Industry News, Slammed, Sizzle, Culinary Trends, Gourmet News, Gourmet Retailer, Progressive Grocer, etc.

Case Studies