Luxury Public Relations and Communications| The Lilian Raji Agency

LILIAN M RAJI
President

Read The Business of Luxury, Lilian's Weekly Ruminations on the Luxury Industry

Lilian Raji began her career in public relations as an intern at a local boutique agency, where she was quickly retained as a contract account executive to manage accounts including The Palm Restaurant, Q100 Radio, The Hamilton Crowne Plaza, IndeCorp Hotels Group and Vespa Motor Scooters. Major accomplishments on behalf of the agency include coordinating a national book tour for Simon Property Group’s sponsorship of the acclaimed veteran’s book “Ordinary Heroes”; executing a promotional event for The Palm Restaurant and the Atlanta Financial Center that increased lunch traffic at the Palm by 35%; successfully negotiating feature placement of Raffles International Hotels & Resorts’ Beverly Hills property on Live with Regis & Kelly, W Magazine’s coveted anniversary spa issue, and Spa Finder magazine; organizing a media tour of several Raffles properties in Latin America; and generating interest of both the Oprah Winfrey Show to have Raffles’ Chicago property become a preferred hotel and the Style Network to shoot programs at their Beverly Hills property. She left the boutique to begin freelancing while working simultaneously at Tourneau, the largest luxury watch retailer in the world.

Lilian first learned what motivated luxury purchases while working at Tourneau. The second highest producer in the Atlanta store, she routinely sold expensive Swiss timepieces to an elite clientele who saw these purchases as necessary luxuries. Her interim at Tourneau placed her at a great vantage point to study why buyers indulge in luxury purchases and learn how companies should communicate their brand message in ways that resonate to the buyers.

In January 2005, Lilian left Tourneau to launch The Lilian Raji Agency, a company defined by her passion for helping luxury brands better communicate with luxury buyers. A year later, she was named the International Emerging Leader of the Year by the 500,000 member organization, eWomenNetwork.

Lilian has worked with Girard Perreguex and Tourneau in their sponsorship of the 2004 Ferrari Challenge at Road Atlanta, where a significant number of the Challenge attendees later visited her at Tourneau. She managed promotions and publicity for InterContinental Hotels Group “Win a Trip to Tuscany” Raffle, securing $13,000 in raffle sales in less than six weeks; chaired a subcommittee for the American Heart Association’s 2005 Atlanta Heart Ball, where she personally raised $260,000 in donations for the live and silent auctions; opened lines of communication between Mark Edge and the Elton John AIDS Foundation for Mark Edge to become a signature Foundation designer; and increased ad sales by 165% for the southeast chapter of the National Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences 2005 EMMY Awards while decreasing expenses by securing sponsors.

She's served on event committees for Ted Turner’s Captain Planet Foundation; UNICEF; Southern Center for International Studies; American Heart Association; and American Cancer Society’s annual Cattle Baron’s Ball. Her proudest accomplishment has been helping a disabled young man raise $60,000 in four weeks for The Emory Ataxia Center at Emory University School of Medicine through the “Swimming for Ataxia” Fundraiser.

Lilian continues to be submerged in studying the buying habits of luxury buyers, and discovery of how better communication strategies can influence their purchase decisions. She routinely meets with the French Trade Commission to advise on best marketing practices for French companies looking to enter the American market. Her insights have resulted in measurable ROI for clients of The Lilian Raji Agency.