Bartges Communication
We'll take your message to the world
Jonna Rae Bartges
Creative Catalyst
When Disneyland opened the Indiana Jones attraction in 1995, Entertainment Tonight's Leonard Maltin interviewed George Lucas while both men held on to the careening ride vehicle for dear life.
As Sea World in San Diego was rehabilitating J.J. the orphaned baby gray whale in 1997 and 1998, the story became an on-going international news event. It was featured on the TODAY SHOW seven times, with additional coverage by National Geographic, PEOPLE magazine, the BBC and all the TV stations and newspapers in the nation's top 50 markets. The dramatic release of the whale was transmitted live by CNN and picked up by hundreds of broadcasters around the globe.
LEGOLAND California, the family theme park geared towards youngsters ages 3-12, captured more than one billion documented media impressions the year it opened in Carlsbad in San Diego County.
The award-winning communications professional behind all these headline-grabbing events is Jonna Rae Bartges. Unlike most PR practitioners, Jonna Rae kicked off her career in print and broadcast journalism. During her years as a newspaper feature writer and editor, then an executive TV news producer, she developed an unerring ability to know what made a person, place or thing "newsworthy."
When she made the jump to public relations and marketing, Jonna Rae drew on her hard news experience to create the pitch and the copy to capture the interest of reporters, editors and producers. As a result, she creates campaigns that not only earn praise -- they get results. With her experience on both sides of the camera, the EMMY and ADDY advertising award winner is a sought-after consultant, media trainer, lecturer and PR crisis preparedness coach. She is an accomplished writer, and her feature stories have appeared in numerous publications.
Her services also include book writing and editing, and advising on publishing options.
Respected as a creative catalyst, Jonna Rae brings together a consortium of associates to provide the best in graphic design and illustration, video production and website development, delivering big agency results at attractive rates.
In her autobiography, Psychic or Psychotic? Memoirs of a Happy Medium, Jonna Rae shares her story of growing up psychic. She’s featured in the books, “The Marketer’s Guide to Public Relations in the 21st Century” by Thomas L. Harris and Patricia T. Whalen, "Afterlife Connections" by Dr. Jane Greer and "The Future is Yours -- Do Something About It!" by Raymon Grace. She also co-wrote "Gut Feeling, Creating a Healthy Balance in the Ileocecal Valve" with Dr. Gary Richer and edited, "BOOM Thinking: The Gutsy Guide To Breaking Out of Old Mindsets" with Speaker/Author Cheri Britton, and "LoveLink, Heart to Heart Communication with Animals" with Animal Communicator Brigitte Noel. You can contact Jonna Rae at jonnarae@bartges.com.
| Excerpt from Psychic or Psychotic? Memoirs of a Happy Medium
Right out of Lehigh University I worked as a reporter, then national editor, at the Allentown Morning Call newspaper. At this point I was doing regular readings for friends, and it became a pretty normal routine for all of us. One particular evening a girlfriend called in a panic. The guy she was going out with hadn't shown up for their dinner date, and she was concerned. I immediately "went to level," and received a vivid, appalling image. When I dissolved it, it sprang back into my consciousness with crystal clear detail. "Sandy," I told her slowly, "I'm so sorry! I see the body of your friend in the cab of a green truck. He's been shot, and he's dead. The truck is at a construction site, somewhere they're building a bridge." She and I were in tears, and frantically tried to figure out if we should call the police. Since we were both reporters we hesitated to do that, and decided to wait. The next day the guy showed up -- he'd been out drinking with buddies, and completely spaced his date with Sandy. I was glad he was alive, but I was horrified I had received such an incorrect image, and such a gristly one at that. Three years later both Sandy and I were in different jobs, in different states. She was an editor at TIME LIFE books, and I was Advertising and Promotions Manager at WTVJ in Miami. I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from her out of the blue -- until she explained why she called. "I just thought you should know," she said. "They've found the body of my friend, in the cab of a green truck. He'd been shot dead at a construction site, where they were building a bridge." (Copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved)
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