A Letter From Atticus President

Friends:

On this day ten years ago, we opened the doors of Atticus Communications, Inc.
Our idea at the time was to apply modern public relations techniques to the promotion of farm products and issues.

We started on a folding chair and an old school desk in a tiny, stuffy office on Main St. in Greenwich, New York.  Our tools were a new Macintosh computer and Brother fax machine.  Our office line was my cell phone.

We had one client, the New York Apple Association, a group that took a big risk by contracting out its PR to a brand new company with a staff of one.

Since then, we've grown like all successful businesses do.  But slow and steadily.  We've been careful to stick to our niche-farming.  That's what we love.

We could have applied our talents anywhere. We chose agriculture because, as a colleague once said to me, agriculture is cool.

Promoting agriculture and farm products is actually pretty easy. The public has a certain romance for farmers.  So the media appetite for information about our industry already exists.  Our job has simply been to feed it to them effectively.

While we're good at what we do, I think the key to our longevity so far is luck.
Luck in finding incredible clients over these years to bust our backsides for.

Here's the list:
The New York Apple Association, New York Farm Bureau, Cargill Animal Nutrition (our newest client!), the New York Vegetable Growers Association, New York Farm Viability Institute, New York Farm Show, New York Bold onions, Agricultural and Community Development Services (ACDS, LLC), New York Wine & Grape Foundation, U.S. Apple Association, New York Beef Industry Council, Upper Hudson Maple Producers Association, International Fruit Processing North America New York, Inc., New York State Agricultural Society, Agricultural Stewardship Association, Washington County Farm Bureau, New York Cherry Growers Association, Christmas Tree Farmers Association of New York, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Northeast Dairy Producers Association and the Washington County Fair.

More luck in bringing in and working with an incredible staff:
Scott Keyes (our rock), Stephen Dravis, Kim Briggs, Linda Quinn, Laurie Jean Britton, Rebecca Schuelke Staehr, Sherry Galbraith, Molly Morgan, Lisa Lehman, Darrell Beebe, Leah Carroll and Donna Frank.

And the client staff and management personnel we work with every day:
David McClurg, Joan Willis, Cathy Jadus, Ellen Mykins, John MacAleavey, Jeff Williams, Kelly Young, John Tauzel, Nicole Willis, Cathy Mural, Dawn Perreault, Fred Perrin, Alan Knight, Liz Dribusch, Patti Dugan, Pam Rafferty, Sandy Prokop, Kevin Cook, Michele Bates, Jeff Kirby, Eric Ooms, Dean Norton, Kurt Ruppel, Dave Horn, Mike McClay, Terry Batchelder, Justin Howes, Steve Shaw, Rob Sheffer, John Lincoln, Tom Sleight, Chris Reed, Jeff and Lindy Kubecka, Scott Grigor, Mike Hill and David Campbell.

Luck working with our clients' inspiring board of directors to guide our activities.
And luck in reaching thousands of loyal subscribers to The Maple News, The Christmas Tree News, our two newspapers.

And still more luck in having such great advertisers-approximately 300 or so- to support our two newspapers and the ones we publish on behalf of our clients, Core Report, Grassroots and the New York State Vegetable Growers News.  And our advertisers to the Morning Ag Clips, (which will resume tomorrow).

This venture has brought into my life a vivid fabric of experiences. All the farm tours and visits, the press conferences, the fairs, the meetings and conferences. Everything that makes agriculture agriculture.  The lush beauty of it.  The seasonality of it.  The traditions and heritage.  The values.  The work ethic.  The people.

Here is where I must give a special thanks to Scott Keyes in our office, who works as hard as any farmer I've ever met and whose persistent good nature has been the foundation to every workday.

And to Julie Suarez at New York Farm Bureau, who has been truly wonderful to work with and consistently generous with praise.  And her predecessor Patrick Hooker, who hired us into Farm Bureau six years ago.  Thanks Commissioner.

Special thanks too, to the thousands of family farmers who we hope have benefited much by our labors.  I'm a businessman like you so please keep in mind that in the back of ours, we know our job is to help you prosper.  Bottom line.

Now I come around to Jim Allen, president of the New York Apple Association, the 2000 NYAA board of directors (chaired then by Jim Verbridge and Bruce Kirby; thank you both) and the 695 apple growers they represent.  

In early June of 2000, I was driving across Canada on summer vacation with my wife and dog.  I called Jim Allen from a rest stop pay phone in Ontario, Canada, checking on the status my proposal, which would launch the company.

"So Jim, did we get the job?" I asked him.

Jim put me on hold for a minute, then conferenced in the whole office staff, and announced, "Pete, welcome aboard!"

A life changing moment I will never forget.

Jim, my eternal gratitude for taking that chance on me.

I got back in the car, exchanged a couple high fives with the wife and gave my dog-his name was Atticus-a big hug.  I decided to name the company after him, thinking it would be good luck.

Glad it worked...
 
--Peter Gregg, President
Atticus Communications, Inc.
Greenwich, New York
 

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