Alumni Spotlight – Daryl McCullough ‘82

When you see a news article or story about Duracell Batteries, Ivory Soap, Old Spice, Sony Electronics, or Suzuki, chances are Daryl McCullough and his agency had something to do with it. As a managing partner and CEO of PainePR, one of the top public relations organizations in the country, Daryl plays a lead role in helping myriad Fortune 500 companies put on their best public face. And the thrill of living in this frenetic and competitive world is what makes this Warrior tick.

As Daryl explains it, “Public relations is different from advertising, and more difficult to get right. In advertising you pay the media to deliver your message. In public relations you get them to deliver it for free. To succeed, you must be more creative.”

While at Susquehannock, this creativity was displayed in the performing arts, including participation in the Warrior marching band, orchestra, and chorus. And it was expected to see him in leading roles in school musicals and plays.

He was also an outstanding athlete, helping pioneer boy’s club volleyball in York County, the precursor to the YAIAA interscholastic program, now recognized as among the strongest in Pennsylvania. In Daryl’s senior year, the Warrior volleyball squad came in 2nd in the District tournament and was very competitive at States.

Success in the classroom was no stranger to Daryl either. He was a consistent honor roll student and member of the National Honor Society. He was active in AFS and hosted Dan Smith a domestic exchange student from California his senior year. The two are still as close as brothers.

After graduating from SHS in 1982, Daryl attended Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English/Communication Arts. While there, he remained active in the performing arts by participating in college and community theatre as an actor and director. As a student he worked in the alumni affairs office, and upon graduation, he was offered a full-time position. Within a year he was appointed to the position of Director of Alumni Relations.

Looking for additional challenges, he moved to California in 1990 to earn a Master of Arts degree in Communications Management from the prestigious Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California. While attending classes, he began a career in public relations in Los Angeles, leading to a position with PainePR where has been for 15 years, helping the company grow from $1.5 million in revenue to more than $16 million over those years.

His early and rapid rise to success was highlighted by the notoriety he gained with the Taco Bell April Fools Day promotion, still regarded as a benchmark “buzz event” in the industry. Charged with creating an image for his client as a company that has “nothing ordinary about it” Daryl’s team coordinated a publicity campaign announcing, on April Fools Day, that Taco Bell had purchased the Liberty Bell from the U.S. government and was moving it to Taco Bell headquarters in California where it would be renamed the “Taco Liberty Bell.” The national media were invited in on the hoax, and they played along, giving Taco Bell million of dollars worth of free publicity. NBC Evening News even did a tonguein-cheek closing segment on the “purchase,” and the Clinton White House got into the act by praising Taco Bell’s efforts to reduce the national debt. Sophomoric fun? Maybe, but in the public relations it’s known as genius.

Daryl’s creative team also helped transform the radio industry by introducing the nation to satellite radio for, as Darryl describe it, “a little company called XM Satellite Radio.” For his success, he was awarded the “Best of Silver Anvil Award,” the equivalent of best of show at the Oscars for the PR industry.

With offices in Los Angeles and New York, Daryl spends much of his time far from home, but he has never forgotten his Glen Rock roots. He attributes his success to his work ethic, which he learned from his parents and the character and ability to work in team settings, which he learned in the auditorium and gymnasium of Susquehannock High School. He also recognizes the teachers who inspired him to dream and reach, naming Elwood Ruth, Phyllis Krumrine, Carolyn Adams, Dee Stauffer and Kathy Yeater among the many.

Daryl knows that in public relations, you’re only as good as your last campaign and it’s a constant battle to stay on top. But you can be sure that Daryl is up to that challenge. He sees it as part of the fun.

Thanks Daryl McCullough ’82 for making us “Warrior Proud.”