Interview with Josh Hafer, December 6, 2018

Interview Summary

Josh Hafer talks about how his time as an undergraduate student at the University of Kentucky influenced his current career in communications. He discusses his first job working a municipal election in his hometown of Evansville, Indiana. He then talks about working for a public relations firm, Keller-Crescent, afterwards and how this jump-started his current career. He talks about his writing process when figuring out messaging and public relations for a company or client. He talks about the effort to bring a minor league baseball team to Evansville, Indiana, crisis communication, and applying learned communications skills to this experience. Hafer talks about how he secured a position working for Heaven Hill Distillery. He talks about his responsibilities at the distillery. He talks about the skills and techniques necessary to write a successful press release. Hafer talks about expanding the inclusivity of consumer audience and how Heaven Hill Distillery and other distilleries market to broader, more diverse audiences. He talks about the ways in which communications has had to adapt to the Digital Age.

Interview Keyword

University of Kentucky Minor league baseball Careers. Municipal government. Press releases Rhetoric. Consumers. Minorities.

Interview LC Subject

Public relations. Public relations firms. Writing. Writing skills Family-owned business enterprises. Distilleries Marketing. Bourbon whiskey Distilleries--Kentucky Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc. Whiskey industry Whiskey industry--Kentucky Whiskey. Alcohol industry Communication Distillers

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.