Meet Scott Sobel, President of Media & Communications Strategies in Washington, DC
"I'm always trying to break news and that's what I want to do for clients."
Scott Sobel is the president of Media & Communications Strategies, based in the District. He founded the public relations firm two years ago out of a desire to take advantage of his years of government and media relations experience. Although he has spent many years in public relations and communications, Scott often points to his background as a news anchor, investigative reporter and journalist as a driving force. His interest in news often dictates his approach to helping his clients. “I’m always trying to break news, and that’s what I want to do for clients.” he says. “I want to be imaginative, and when appropriate, aggressive. My goal is to guide clients in making decisions that will get results.”
Scott primarily represents law firms and their clients, promoting them in the media and arranging speaking engagements and publishing opportunities. He also helps clients develop short- and long-term communications strategies, provides media training, speech writing and coaching, and writes internal and external corporate communications. Scott is often asked to be involved as a crisis manager, helping clients prepare for interviews or speeches or for giving testimony to Congress or to regulatory agencies such as the FAA or FCC.
Before starting his own firm, Scott spent five years with Levick Strategic Communications in the District, where he was a crisis and media expert and a vice president of the company. Before that, he was the communications regional director for AT&T Broadband. AT&T Broadband had acquired Telecommunications, Inc., the multimedia cable company where he had been responsible for media, public and government relations, created a media training program, and routinely worked with the White House and Court TV.
In creating Media & Communications Strategies, Scott assembled a team of professionals with an understanding of how business, government and media work. “I wanted to do the right thing and have more control over the types of clients I worked with,” he says. “Successfully achieving clients’ goals and managing image issues depends upon understanding how everything works together.”
“I’m excited by the work we do for our clients, from small businesses to large international corporations” Scott says. He is currently working with international partners in China, Egypt and Dubai, but also does a lot of domestic travel for his clients.
Scott’s experience with the media began while he was a student at the University of Miami. Scott did internships for local public television, NBC News, UPI, and the Miami Herald. “I wanted to get into mainstream journalism,” he recalls. After graduating, he started his career in major market television journalism, working primarily as an investigative reporter in Tampa, Denver and Boston for the majority of his 25 years in journalism.
Scott manages to be in the office about 50 percent of the time when he’s not traveling for his clients, but spends most of that time on the phone. “My goal is to employ as many people as I need to keep clients delighted with the work and keep employees happy in that process,” he says. “I don’t think our firm has ever failed on any client project. I want to hit deadline, not miss my slot and get the story on the air every single day.”
Profile written by Elaine Clem, principal of Noble Pursuits, a graphic design and branding firm in Alexandria, Va.