According to a recent LinkedIn report, 70 percent of American workers are disengaged at work. This means that they aren’t working to their fullest potential. Even worse, this results in almost half of all hires failing within 18 months.

Last night, 5W Public Relations’ Food PR & Beverage PR and Restaurant & Hospitality Division hosted a thought leadership and insight-sharing event, “Growing Gourmet,” at the close of the Specialty Food Association’s Summer Fancy Food Show.

With over 40 guests in attendance, the event featured a panel discussion with industry experts George Duran, celebrity chef & author of “Take this Dish and Twist It,” Charles Passy, writer for Wall Street Journal & MarketWatch.com, Jaclyn London, MS, RD & CDN, Nutrition Director for Good Housekeeping Institute and Stephanie Cain, contributor to Brides, Esquire and Specialty Food News.

Many public relations specialists are realizing that they need to update their skill set and services to remain competitive in an intense, crowded market. Here at 5WPR, we recognize the importance of maintaining a cutting edge, contemporary outlook towards the world of public relations. As a result, we’ve integrated numerous new strategies and techniques to ensure that we can offer our clients the most current, relevant services available on the market.

Here are just a few of the skills we’ve successfully integrated into our praxis and implore all PR Professional’s to think outside the traditional PR box to generate results for their clients!

For anyone who wants to excel as a marketing professional, there are several areas you can work on that will increase overall success and will help advance in your career.

Business acumen encompasses a range of skills, but, ultimately, it has to do with understanding a client’s business and knowing how to help the company achieve its goals. That said, you need to have knowledge beyond the area that you touch in an organization and therefore have a grasp on the financial, accounting, marketing and operational functions of that business. This awareness enables you to strategize and lead meaningful conversations with key stake holders in a business from the C-suite and other top decision makers.  You become integral in corporate planning strategies and can better explain how the results you have achieved impacted the client’s goals.

The technology revolution has turned the marketing and public relations world upside-down. In today’s world, traditional PR strategies and models no longer gain the traction they once did. However, this is not a bad thing for those businesses and PR firms that are able to think laterally and re-adjust their approach. When you consider the fact that many of the more modern approaches, such as social media, blogger influence and PPC campaigns, are efficient and cost-effective tactics, it is easy to understand why so many companies are integrating these services into their approach to PR.

The rapid advance in communications technology has created a situation in which news travels at nearly the speed of light. Where once there was a time in which the traditional media was able to control what went out on the wire and when, today’s news often reaches the public at the same time, or sooner, than it reaches mainstream media. This creates the opportunity for “real-time” engagement. Meaning that, during or within minutes of an event occurring, a company can literally engage their customer base or target audience on the subject. By adding modern PR tactics like social media to their communications strategy, a business can send out a relevant and responsive tweet in a matter of seconds after a relevant event has taken place.

A fascinating statement was recently made for those who are environmentally conscious about their clothes. Essentially the mindset is “Stop washing your jeans, save the world” – turning not washing your clothes into a PR Stunt. If you wear clothes, then it is safe to say that you are aware they require maintenance. Part of the normal maintenance process for taking care of your clothing, is washing and drying them. However, a recent admission by Chip Bergh, the CEO of a major jeans manufacturer, Levi Strauss & Co., caused some uproar among the attendees of a recent Fortune’s Brainstorm Green Conference held on May 20th of this year. Mr. Bergh stated that the jeans made by his company do not require washing. In fact, the very jeans that he was wearing at the conference was said by Mr. Bergh to have “yet to see a washing machine” for approximately a year.

May 20th actually is the 141st anniversary of the Levi’s 501 jeans product. Mr. Bergh exclaimed at the conference that “If you buy them, they will last a lot longer than most people’s waistlines”. Some are referring to the jeans as sustainable fashion and to encourage this line of thought Levi Strauss & Company are releasing a new line of products that are created from fabrics that are much easier to recycle by comparison to other jeans and actually require less water and energy known as “Wellthread”. The Wellthread line is currently available only in the United Stated online and in retailer locations throughout Europe.