Jennings agency gets three CVAs

CHAPEL HILL -- Jennings, the Chapel Hill-based public relations, branding and advertising agency, received three CardioVascular Advertising (CVA) Awards for a campaign it created for the East Carolina Heart Institute at Pitt County Memorial Hospital.

"We are honored to have won these awards," said Bob Kochuk, creative director. "We set out to develop advertising that had an authentic quality. I believe we were able to bring the voice of the patient into the campaign, making it a success and earning us this recognition"

This was the CVA Awards' inaugural year. The program is an exclusive competition recognizing the nation's most talented healthcare marketing professionals for outstanding excellence in advertising for the specific service lines of cardiology and/or vascular services.

Jennings won Gold for Billboard Design and Magazine Ads as well as a Silver Award for its Total Advertising Campaign.

The CardioVascular Advertising (CVA) Awards is an elite medical marketing awards program allowing healthcare organizations and advertising agencies to compete against similarly sized competitors from across the nation and world.

Booze Bait: Save your corks, caps

CHAPEL HILL -- The Booze Bait Fishing Lure Company is calling for restaurants, bars and individual consumers to save their discarded wine corks and beer bottle caps and to send mixed quantities of 75 or more to the company in exchange for a hand-crafted Booze Bait "Cork & Cap" fishing lure.

According to Page Skelton, creator of Booze Bait "cork & cap" fishing lures, "The exchange program offers folks a fun incentive to recycle items that are normally thrown away. Plus, it's a great way for people to try our fishing lure or pass it along to the fisherman in their lives!"

To participate in Booze Bait's recycling program, simply send mixed quantities of 75 or more used wine corks and beer bottle caps to:

The Booze Bait Fishing Lure Company, P.O. Box 4901, Chapel Hill, NC 27515.

For more information about Booze Bait cork & cap fishing lures, log onto www.BoozeBait.com or call (919) 967-4992.

Crossroads gets four-star rating

CHAPEL HILL -- Carolina Crossroads at The Carolina Inn is one of only four restaurants in North Carolina to receive a Forbes Four-Star rating for 2010.

This is the 10th straight year that the Carolina Crossroads has been awarded four stars by the Forbes Travel Guide (formerly the Mobil Travel Guide), a respected source in travel ratings and expert reviews since 1958.

Carolina Crossroads specializes in cuisine that Executive Chef Jimmy Reale describes as "new American with distinctly Southern undertones."

"Laced throughout the menu are traditional Southern items such as succotash, collard greens, country ham and corn muffins," Reale said. "We continue to create unique menu items and interesting flavor combinations. We try to make the menu exciting, but in a way that is genuinely pleasing and doesn't insult the guests' dining intelligence." The key to great service, Reale said, is meticulous attention to detail and striving to exceed each guest's expectations.

Last Unicorn closing doors

CHAPEL HILL -- The Last Unicorn at 536 Edwards Ridge Road is going out of business after 17 years and will be offering a 23.9 percent fall sale discount through Dec. 1.

In a written statement The Last Unicorn said the decision to close was due to the recession and owner Gaines Steer's age.

The Last Unicorn "will host an absolute auction on all of the architectural antiques and other pretties," the release stated.

The Hillsborough Auction House will announce the auction date in the early spring of 2010.

The doors to the business will close for cash sales at 5 p.m. Dec. 1. After that date, until the final sale date in April 2010, customers may view the inventory and make sealed auction bids on any items.