An award-winning digital marketing, UX and content creation leader, Christopher’s Parr Interactive projects include working with Amazon, Google, eBay, Nest, Ring, Sub-Zero and Wolf, AmFam, Lexus and more… Christopher Parr’s digital projects have been featured in the New York Times, Wired, USA Today, Business Insider.
When he’s not creating amazing digital solutions for Fortune 500 companies and cool startups, Christopher is traveling the world and reviewing luxury hotels, restaurants, spas and luxury cars.
He’s the Editor and Chief Content Creator for Pursuitist, an award-winning luxury and travel blog, and a contributing writer to USA Today, Business Insider — and the on-air host of Travel Tuesday on Live at 4 CBS.
USA Today has named him one of the “Top 10 Luxury Travel Bloggers” — and Madison Magazine honored Christopher as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential People in Madison.”
For his latest Travel Tuesday segment, Pursuitist’s award-winning travel editor Christopher Parr visited Live at 4 CBS and shared the Best California Trip Ideas.
UPDATE: This segment was filmed on March 3rd. Since that time, we no longer recommend flying domestically or internationally. Be safe and smart. Do not bring home a virus to others.
It is Travel Tuesday and we’ve set our sights on sunny California. Today we’re going to spotlight four unique properties in Southern California.
United Airlines is offering direct, non-stop flights from the Dane Country Airport to LAX. The cost is only $330 round trip.
In only three hours you can go from snow in the Badger State to palm trees in Los Angeles.
I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Southern California, where I visited four unique hotels.
Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel. This is an iconic and legendary hotel in the heart of Beverly Hills. You’re surrounded by spectacular shopping, restaurants and sometimes celebrities.
For families, there’s Disneyland Hotel. This is one of the original hotels on the property and they’re celebrating their 65th anniversary this year. The quaint Disneyland features the original Toad’s Wild Ride, Peter Pan and it’s a small world — but take a left turn and enter the all new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
A short, 45 minute drive southwest brings you to beautiful Laguna Beach. We visited two very different and memorable resorts along the coast.
The Ranch at Laguna Beach
This resort features cozy lodges nestled in a green canyon just off the Pacific coast highway and a short walk to the ocean. This historic property features golf, dining and spa services. But the real allure is the calm, welcoming vibe. It has been designated as a Unique Lodge of the World by National Geographic due to their commitments to sustainability and connection to their unique environment.
Our last resort is one of the most luxurious hotels in California — and one of my favorites, The Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel.
White sand beach, world-class surfing, fine dining and a world-class spa — all in the lap of luxury at this beach front resort.
Perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, this is the place to see spectacular sunsets, from balconies, restaurants and rooms.
This resort is located near Dana Point harbor, where you can go on dolphin and whale watching tours.
All four resorts are only 4 hours away on an affordable direct fight from United.
For his Travel Tuesday segment, Pursuitist’s award-winning travel editor Christopher Parr visited Live at 4 CBS and shared Wisconsin’s Best Wellness Destination. Full story.
Influencers event for the launch of the new Lexus LY 650 Yacht. The top bloggers and auto journalists spent a luxurious weekend at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, A Waldorf Astoria Resort for the launch of the all new Lexus LY 650 Yacht. Content creation, shared on YouTube, Instagram, blogs and more social channels.
Major League Baseball legend Alex Rodriguez, A-Rod, was in Boca for the maiden voyage of the Lexus yacht (And generously snapped a selfie with Pursuitist)…
The entertainer and former New York Yankee player, 44, was at the LY 650 launch as a personal guest of Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda. A-Rod toured the new luxury yacht, chatted with Lexus executives and posed with guests and journalists.
Christopher Parr was on deck to experience Lexus’s latest dedication to become a diverse luxury lifestyle brand with the launch of the amazing Lexus LY 650 yacht, which featured exceptional performance and quietness befitting a maritime flagship. The brand’s first luxury vessel is an ocean-capable 65-ft flybridge cruiser, promising up to 31.4 knots.
Parr Interactive creates social platforms to encourage brand evangelists. It’s complex, to create an engaged social media community, so work with experienced social media pros. We’ve been there, from forums, blogs, YouTube to Facebook and Twitter. From organic campaigns to paid Facebook strategies, we can get your users engaged and create buzz for your brands. Even Facebook has written a case study on Christopher Parr’s social media expertise. Links below:
Christopher Parr, CEO of Parr Interactive and Pursuitist was featured in the New York Times, discussing the award-winning luxury travel website Pursuitist.
It’s the country club come to the Internet: Pursuitist, the website about all things high-end, is getting ready to unveil a new social layer for those who live the good life.
“As we’re able to serve up a targeted audience, luxury brands love our platform,” said Parr. “Pursuitist is truly a targeted online destination for luxury advertisers to connect and engage with affluent consumers.” Parr rattled off a dizzying list of labels Pursuitist has worked with so far, including Burberry, Coach, BMW, Gucci, Hermes, Chanel and many, many others.
“As we only focus on premier brands and destinations, we are selective of the brands we feature,” he concluded.
Christopher Parr of Pursuitist and Parr Interactive presents at Social Media Breakfast Madison: Be A Chief Content Officer with Your Social Media. Christopher Parr is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief for Pursuitist, the leading travel and leisure blog with over 725K Facebook fans. The site engages and interacts with the top luxury brands, from Ritz-Carlton, Marc Jacobs, Gucci, Four Seasons Hotels, Robert Mondavi and more. Parr shares his content-focused strategy to captivate readers with wildly compelling content that drives traffic and grows social media users. Christopher Parr is also operates the award-winning Madison web design company Parr Interactive.
It’s not Facebook, it’s not Twitter, it’s not Instagram. Your most important social media channel is YOU! That was the message at the May Social Media Breakfast Madison from Christopher Parr, who has turned his Pursuitist website into one of the world’s most respected sources for all things luxury, from cars to hotels to handbags.
Social media channels serve as vehicles to tell your story, Parr said, but it is YOU who tells the story and connects with your audience. It is YOU who builds trust and turns readers into customers.
“People connect with people, not brands,” Parr said in recommending that you make a point of highlighting your blogger personalities and use their experiences to humanize your brand.
But you will only connect with your audience if you know them, he said.
“What excites them? What are their aspirations? And how do they want to be identified? Create content that is highly contagious and sharable for that audience you know,” Parr said.
In doing that, he said, be a storyteller, be authentic, and be real. “Find that spark and make your marketing message connect with that audience.”
Parr emphasized that it is important that you don’t base your marketing success on properties you don’t own, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
“No matter what social media channels you use, make sure you have a blog or website that is your ‘landing pad.’ There you can connect with your potential customers, engage with them and have a conversation. It’s always about driving them back to your site,” he said, adding:
“While they’re on your site or blog, become a trusted and valuable resource to your customer or perspective customer. … Engaging content is the hook: content that adds value to their days.”
The goal, Parr said, is to cut through the clutter with meaningful content, such as photos that inspire, enlightening interviews, and contests that generate excitement.
“Ignite your audience,” he said. “Static corporate websites are dead. We need to innovate and disrupt. Create content that your customers actually want to consume.”
Parr talked about his site, Pursuitist, which is “a curated list of good things in life.”
Pursuitist’s eight to 10 writers are professional guest contributors who share their favorite luxuries and write reviews of everything from cars to hotels to handbags. They each have their own beat, or topic, and they are usually part of the stories they write. The site also interviews thought leaders, such as chefs and wine experts, and covers fashion, arts and entertainment. Advertisers have included BMW, Ritz-Carlton, Gucci, Rolls Royce.
Parr said Facebook has been his main social media channel with 738,000 fans. Twitter, he said, is fantastic for on-the-go storytelling such as posting a quick photo and description of wherever he is. Although Parr does not actively share content on LinkedIn, his readers do, and that helps increase his exposure.
The website is built on WordPress, and stories are automatically pushed to Google+ and Tumbler, and Parr manually shares them on Facebook and Twitter, with rich media including images and video.
Parr offered these tips for corporate content creators:
Publish content that is worthy of your customers’ attention.
Pay to play. (Advertise on Facebook.)
Encourage customers and employees to share your posts.
Build communities from other social networks and create a forum on your own site.
He said organizations should ask themselves these questions:
What’s the business objective of your blog?
What’s the name and URL of your blog?
What are the categories?
What’s your voice? Are there many voices?
Who’s your audience? Is there more than one?
What type of content will excite or inform your audience(s)?
And, finally, he offered these Chief Content Officer Take-Aways:
Engage your community with questions.
Share amazing photos.
Create content that can be easily consumed on mobile devices.
Keep it human. Don’t be a bland corporation.
The best posts or videos come from the frequently asked questions people have.
Interviews make great content.
Share original, behind-the-scenes photos of you and your team.
Create interesting, brief product and service demos with videos.
Testimonials are great, especially if you can highlight the hero, your customer, and not your product.
Point out the great people in your community with videos and interviews.
Deliver instruction and teach someone how to do something. Create a “how to” series.
Keep publishing, keep creating great content. Don’t give up.
Influencer Christopher Parr and his family were featured in Disney Park’s “Let the Memories Begin” campaign, showcasing real families on TV, YouTube, social media, banner ads and more.
Beyond the advertising campaign, Disney also incorporated family videos and photos into its theme parks with its “Let the Memories Begin” nighttime experiences. At Disney World in Orlando, Parr’s videos and other guest photos were projected against the spires of Cinderella’s Castle in the Magic Kingdom (the photo above is Christopher’s daughter featured on Cinderella’s Castle).
Social media content that Christopher created of his daughters were featured in a new Walt Disney Co. ad campaign that aired across networks and cable stations. The videos were selected by Disney from among hundreds of Disney-themed postings on YouTube and other Internet sites to launch the company’s new “Let the Memories Begin” campaign.
Rick Sylvain, print and online media director for Walt Disney World Resort, said it was “the sheer joy of the kids and the parent-child interaction” that drew Disney to the Parrs’ videos.
The “Let the Memories Begin” campaign encourages people to share their park videos with others online, as the Parrs did, with Disney selecting clips and photos to include in ads and to show at Disney parks. Sylvain said this gives those who have visited Disney parks a way to let others know what the experience was like.
“Disney guests have always loved sharing their vacation memories with us and each other and we saw in social media channels the perfect vehicle to extend that sharing,” he said. “We are making consumers like (the Parrs) become the stars this time around.”
Christopher Parr managed product placement for Sub-Zero and Wolf, where he worked with Hollywood set decorators and designs to integrate Sub-Zero and Wolf products in movies and TV shows, from Something’s Gotta Give, Modern Family, Ellen, Martha Stewart, HGTV and much more.
Most notable was the appearance of Sub-Zero and Wolf products in Marvel’s Iron Man I & II. The Sub-Zero Glass Door Refrigerator was featured in images, trailers and ads with star Robert Downey, Jr. The film also featured Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges.
Viewers also spotted the Sub-Zero in Tony Stark’s lab in a Dr Pepper/Iron 2 TV ad and many other scenes.
