2011 was a momentous year for those in the spotlight. Some celebrities used finesse and talent to work their way into the public’s good graces, while others made disastrous PR moves and crashed and burned as a result.

Sam Chapman, CEO of Empower Public Relations and crisis communications expert, shares his list for the best and worst PR moves of 2011:

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The Best PR Moves

Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Emanuel served as President Obama’s Chief of Staff during the onset of the economic crisis, and offered a heartfelt resignation when he set his sights on Chicago’s mayoral campaign. Despite facing ballot setbacks, Emanuel’s team helped secure a successful election campaign.

Final numbers are in, and voters of San Francisco have shown overwhelming support for current interim Mayor Ed Lee, elected to his first official term.  The first Asian-American to be elected mayor in San Francisco history, he walked away with 61 percent of the vote in San Francisco’s “instant runoff” voting system, the closest competition being more than 25 points behind.

AKPD produced the media for San Franciscans for Jobs and Good Government, an Independent Expenditure campaign supporting Interim Mayor Ed Lee’s campaign for Mayor of San Francisco.

“We were proud to support Mayor Lee’s campaign for a full term, based on his strong record of job-creation, balanced budgets and pension reform,” said John Kupper, AKPD Senior Partner. He noted that this was the firm’s third IE campaign in California in the past year, including work in support of Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris.

CHICAGO–AKPD Message and Media congratulates Mayor Anthony Foxx on his resounding victory in Charlotte, North Carolina, where last night he was elected to a second term.

In what was the largest margin of victory in a Charlotte mayoral race in over a decade, Mayor Foxx garnered 67 percent of the vote.  Charlotte voters rallied behind the Mayor’s record of creating jobs, reducing crime and expanding opportunity for young people, even in these difficult economic times.

AKPD Message and Media served as campaign strategists and ad-makers for Mayor Anthony Foxx. AKPD partner John Del Cecato said, “In 2009, Charlotte voters broke with the status quo and elected Anthony Foxx to lead their city. Because of the Mayor’s leadership in protecting education, improving after-school programs, enhancing public safety, and working to create jobs, they have re-elected him by a historic margin. We’re proud to be associated with the Mayor, and look forward to his continued leadership in Charlotte.”

Mayor Anthony Foxx and the city of Charlotte will play host to the 2012 Democratic National Convention, spotlighting the city and its leaders prior to the 2012 general election.

AKPD also produced the media for San Franciscans for Jobs and Good Government, an Independent Expenditure campaign supporting Interim Mayor Ed Lee’s campaign for Mayor of San Francisco. Lee received 31 percent of the vote in a 15-candidate field and holds a double-digit lead over his nearest opponent. The final outcome will likely be determined late-Wednesday, after second-place votes are counted under San Francisco’s “instant runoff” voting system.

Lee would become the first Asian-American elected mayor of San Francisco.

“We were proud to support Mayor Lee’s campaign for a full term, based on his strong record of job-creation, balanced budgets and pension reform,” said John Kupper, AKPD Senior Partner. He noted that this was the firm’s third IE campaign in California in the past year, including work in support of Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris.

CHICAGO–AKPD Message and Media congratulated Rahm Emanuel tonight on his resounding victory in the Chicago mayor’s race.

Chicagoans gave Emanuel 55 percent of the vote in a 6-way race, providing him the majority needed to avoid a runoff and win outright. Voters rewarded Rahm’s focus on the issues, including his detailed plans to boost Chicago’s economy, improve schools and put 1,000 more police officers on the beat.

Most impressively, Emanuel unified the city by attracting a diverse coalition of supporters from every neighborhood and among all ethnic groups across Chicago.

AKPD client Illinois State Representative Will Burns also won a sweeping victory Tuesday night, capturing 65 percent of the vote to become Chicago’s 4^th Ward Alderman.

“Chicago has a bright future with Rahm Emanuel as mayor and Will Burns as alderman,” said AKPD partner John Kupper. “Their vision and leadership will be critical in making Chicago’s streets safer and its schools stronger.”

AKPD served as lead media strategists for the Emanuel and Burns campaigns, creating and producing their television and radio advertising.

The economy was sour, the unemployment rate was too high —and then came along Scott Brown, the Republican state senator who used his pick-up truck to out-work, out-hustle and, ultimately, out-campaign Martha Coakley to win the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of Ted Kennedy.

The national GOP was just tickled — and boldly predicted that Brown’s victory was just the start of more frustrated Americans voting against democrats in general and President Barack Obama in particular. They were half-right — as the mid-term elections saw Republicans gaining an edge in the U.S. House of Representatives and cutting the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate.

But that didn’t happen here in Massachusetts for one reason — Deval Patrick. Understandable, he was in a very good mood to discuss his historic re-election and his plans for his next four-year-term. “It’s been a good year,” Patrick said. “It hasn’t been without its challenges and we haven’t fully recovered. But we are recovering.”

That’s saying it mildly.

Patrick defeated Republican Charles Baker, a former health care executive, Tim Cahill, the state treasurer and independent candidate and Jill Stein, the Green-Rainbow Party candidate.

He also withstood The Republican Governors Association, which had hoped to knock off Patrick by spending millions on anti-Patrick and anti-Cahill ads. Patrick ran on his record, and given the national economy, he had a pretty good one to out — despite more than $4 billion in budget cuts.

Quiet as it’s kept, it was Patrick who led a grass-roots campaign during his first election in 2006 that broke a 16-year run of Republican governors that included William F. Weld, Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift and Mitt Romney.

Since his inauguration in January 2007, Patrick has constantly pushed education. He knows of its benefits. He rose from childhood poverty, attended Massachusetts’ prestigious Milton Academy, Harvard College and Harvard Law on scholarship, and then went on to serve in the Clinton administration Justice Department.

After a corporate law career, he made his first bid for elective office in 2006 with the help of Chicago political consultants David Axelrod and David Plouffe, who would go on to run Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Of particular pride is his education reform bill that became law last year. In a vote Patrick called “historic,” Massachusetts lawmakers gave a final approval to an education bill that is designed to close the achievement gap between schools in richer and poorer communities.

The bill made it easier for the state to help struggling schools. It also lifted the cap on charter schools in the lowest performing districts. “This will give our neediest students more options and holding charter operations accountable for reaching the students left behind,” Patrick said at the time.

The bill also strengthened the state’s application for $250 million in federal funding through the Obama administration’s Race to the Top initiative. Massachusetts had the highest score among the nine states and the District of Columbia that won grants totaling $3.4 billion in the second phase of the Race to the Top competition.

Patrick knows that he has more work to do. But for now, he said it best during his most recent campaign.

“I’m grateful, and all I’m trying to do is give back the same better chance that I got,” he said.

He faced a formidable opponent in Republican insurance executive Charlie Baker, whom state Republicans considered the perfect challenger. But Patrick also got an assist from state Treasurer Tim Cahill, a former Democrat who drew votes as a center-right independent candidate.

The governor won by 6 percentage points, giving Democrats — including the consultants he shared with Obama — the rare encouraging sign for 2012.

AKPD Clients Overcame Historic GOP Wave Election in Key Gubernatorial and Congressional Races Across America

AKPD Message and Media congratulated its clients today on hard-fought victories across the country, headlined by the historic re-election of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

Voters rewarded Gov. Patrick for his work steering Massachusetts through the national economic crisis, with his state leading the nation in job growth and student achievement.

Other AKPD clients made national headlines Tuesday, including:

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S RACE

AKPD led TV and online advertising efforts on behalf of California Working Families for Jerry Brown, providing Brown critical support as he faced an unprecedented advertising onslaught by Meg Whitman. California Working Families’ efforts allowed Brown to save his resources for the Fall and beat back Whitman’s unprecedented spending of more than $140 million of her own fortune.

Throughout the Fall, AKPD was instrumental in the Million More Voters project led by the California Labor Federation, targeting union and union-friendly households and helping turn out key support for Jerry Brown and the Democratic ticket.

CEDRIC RICHMOND–LOUISIANA’S 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

State Representative Cedric Richmond was one of only two Democrats to oust Republican incumbents Tuesday, defeating popular Congressman Joseph Cao by 30 points in the New Orleans-based district. Richmond’s record as a state legislator—passing tax breaks for companies to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina and working to keep guns off of New Orleans’ streets—stood in stark contrast to Rep. Cao’s votes with the Republican leadership in Washington.

BRUCE BRALEY–IOWA’S 1ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Congressman Bruce Braley held on to his Eastern Iowa seat despite being attacked by over $2 million in outside spending by the Chamber of Commerce and the American Future Fund, one of the shadowy groups funded by anonymous donors. The race was the subject of a New York Times editorial highlighting the insidious role outside groups have played in this election. Both the New York Times and Politico noted that Braley was one of the few Democrats in competitive districts to run proudly on his votes for health care reform and the economic stimulus program, which was critical to softening the impact of the financial crisis on his district.

CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL

Responding to a late wave of attack ads against Democrat Kamala Harris funded by outside groups, AKPD led an independent expenditure advertising campaign through the Million More Voters project to strengthen Harris during the final week of the campaign. The positive ads illustrated Harris’ record as a crime fighter and a leader who had taken on predatory lenders and corporate interests, helping propel her to a small lead in the yet-to-be-called California AG’s race.

TOM DiNAPOLI—NEW YORK COMPTROLLER

Tom DiNapoli beat back a stiff challenge from Republican Harry Wilson to win a full-term as New York State Comptroller, despite being outspent 3:1. A former hedge fund manager, Wilson dumped millions of his own money into the race and had the backing of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the New York Times and nearly every major newspaper. But DiNapoli overcame widespread anti-Albany sentiment across the state, running a strong campaign on his efforts to bring transparency and accountability to the state pension fund and root out corruption

JIM MCGOVERN—MASSACHUSETTS’ 3RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Jim McGovern easily won reelection in the face of a strong Tea Party challenger and spending by outside groups. Rep. McGovern was rewarded for his focus on getting results for his district, highlighting his work to bring new companies and new jobs to Central and Southeastern Massachusetts.

Persad-Bissessar will become T&T’s first female Prime Minister after her coalition won an impressive 29 of 41 seats in Parliament.

The multi-party coalition, comprised of the United National Congress (UNC), Congress of the People (COP), and Tobago Organization of the People (TOP), joined together against the current Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his PNM Party in an unexpectedly powerful rebuke against the status quo.

Manning had ruled the country for 13 of the past 17 years, and called a snap election last month when faced with a potential no-confidence vote in Parliament.

The Miami Herald called Persad-Bissessar’s victory a “crushing rejection” for the incumbent after his team was “hoping to catch the opposition off-guard.”

“Today marks the beginning of a new era of reform in Trinidad and Tobago,” said AKPD Managing Partner Larry Grisolano. “We are proud to have helped usher in a leader who will bring much-needed transparency and accountability to her government.”

AKPD worked with the People’s Partnership to develop campaign message and strategy, oversee opinion research and implement new media targeting. Their new media consulting work included online strategy, social networking (Kamla.tt and ManningMustGo.com), and placing voter-education Internet ads.

AKPD has a long history as media and message consultants to successful campaigns at every level of government. A partial client list is available here.

For press inquiries, please contact Larry Grisolano at (312) 664-7500.

Fisher scored a convincing win over his opponent, earning 55% of the primary vote.

“Fisher handily defeated his primary challenger,” reports today’s Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Ohio Democrats nominated Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher to champion their interests in what will be one of the country’s most closely watched battles for U.S. Senate.”

“By staying focused on his message of standing up for Ohio values and fighting for Ohio jobs, Lee Fisher forged a connection with Ohio voters that sets the stage for a spirited general election campaign,” said AKPD vice president Isaac Baker. “Lt. Governor Fisher’s commitment to ending tax breaks and trade policies that ship Ohio jobs overseas while holding Wall Street accountable speaks directly to the concerns of Ohio’s hard-working families.”

AKPD serves as the Fisher campaign’s media strategists, helping develop the campaign message and generating TV, radio, and Internet advertising. Watch Lee Fisher’s final primary campaign ad here.

AKPD has a long history of serving successful Democratic campaigns at every level of politics. A partial client list is available here.

Foxx will replace Republican Mayor Pat McCrory, who is stepping down after 14 years. Foxx will become the first Democratic mayor of Charlotte in 22 years, the second African-American in history to win that office. At 37 years old, Foxx is also the youngest Charlotte mayor in recent memory.

AKPD Message and Media served as campaign strategists and media consultants to Mayor-elect Foxx. AKPD partner John Del Cecato said:

“Just three months ago, our Republican opponent held a 3:1 cash advantage and a 16-point lead in some public polls. But by staying laser-focused on his message of expanding educational and economic opportunity for all Charlotte families, Mayor-elect Foxx overcame the odds and won a tremendous victory last night. We¹re incredibly proud to be part of the Foxx team.”

Watch the Foxx campaign’s television ad:

AKPD has a long history of serving successful Democratic campaigns at every level of politics ­ including national, statewide, and local races. A partial client list is available at: akpdmedia.com/clients.