As the story goes, Michele Litzky sent out 200 resumes when she graduated from American University in 1975. If she did not accept a job in the publicity department at Bantam Books, she would be casting TV commercials (well, at this point in her career, perhaps feature films).
Bantam led to her first agency job at New York’s Softness Group – a medium sized shop that enabled Michele to get a taste of sports marketing as the Media Director of the Colgate Women’s Games. From Madison Square Garden she headed south to Winston Salem, NC as the new (and first) PR manager at L’eggs Hosiery; it was a lot more sports (the company had embarked on a 15 city road racing circuit for women only that culminated in the L’eggs Mini Marathon in NY’s Central Park) and publicizing what at the time was still a revolutionary product – stockings sold in grocery stores.
Her next stop was Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance where she ran UConn’s Connecticut Mutual Classic holiday basketball tournament. But insurance was just not her thing so when she had the opportunity to return to a New York agency to handle the Hasbro business, she jumped at the chance.
She later joined Griffin Bacal Inc., Hasbro’s ad agency and started its first in-house public relations and special events department. (She also ran Mr. Potato Head for Mayor of Boise, Idaho but he came in 4th out of six so we seldom talk about it. She’ll tell you the story if you ask.)
She left the agency in 1986 to become the Media Director of the Ralston Purina Meow-off. (It’s another great story that she’ll be happy to share.) In 1987 she became the VP/creative director of Van Vechten & Associates, a pharmaceutical PR agency that was looking to build its consumer package goods business.
Michele did that for about a year and decided she wanted more accountability. She founded Litzky Public Relations in 1988 with one client, Matchbox Toys. She’s never looked back. Her client roster grew. So did her team
Today, LPR is a thriving, award-winning, boutique agency on the Hoboken waterfront. Known for its nimble approach, attention to detail and impeccable client service, LPR has a proven track record in business verticals that cater to children and family entertainment. Among them iconic brands like Monopoly, NERF and PlayDoh and other Hasbro toys, National Geographic, Disney Publishing, The Carter’s Company. Oshkosh B’gosh, MENSA and Schwinn, to name a few.
Finding and keeping talent has always been a mainstay of her agency philosophy. As an adjunct professor at New York University, she met Josslynne Welch, the agency’s president (who started as an intern), who now runs the day-to-day and continues the tradition that LPR has become known for. Josslynne was the creator of the agency’s grant program, LOVE, Litzky.
Looking back, Litzky never imagined she’d be at the helm of a 30+ year old agency with an amazing view of the New York skyline from her conference room and a team of rock stars who honor her by calling themselves Litzky Ladies.