Remember, the BuzzLine is a weekly contest that challenges PR, marketing, media and communications pros to deliver a smart, witty, creative or humorous six-word commentary – or BuzzLine – in response to a question about a recent news story or media topic.

Last week we asked for a six-word commencement speech to the Class of 2013. Some of the BuzzLines we received included “Work to live, not the reverse,” “In reality, your education begins now” and “Treat your career as a journey.” See all the other six-word gems from last week here. And thanks to everyone who participated.

Now for week 4… Just put your six-word culinary recommendation in the comments below, and you could win an iced skinny mocha to wash it down.

OK, get the tabasco and buzz off on this:

You heard about the cicadas, right? The bugs emerging from a 17-year slumber this spring? “They’re Here!”, reported the Washington Post earlier this week, and billions more are expected on the East Coast over the next few weeks.

What better way to deal with billions of noisy bugs than to…eat some of them? The Today Show, National Geographic, Huffington Post and others explored cicada munching this week. Yum.

In six-words, tell us how you would prepare or prefer cicadas as part of a main-course meal or a satisfying snack.

GO.

(If you like the BuzzLine, please share it! #BuzzLine, #PR, #marketing)

A few weeks ago, the Trustees of famed college Cooper Union voted to begin charging tuition in the 2014 school year. To an outsider, the decision might look like a no-brainer. The school is desperate for cash to keep its doors open, and who could make a fuss about a college charging tuition? That’s what they all do, right?

Well no, actually. In fact, Cooper Union has never charged tuition. For more than 150 years, Cooper has weathered every financial storm to remain free of charge for every single one of its students. The school’s founder, Peter Cooper, believed education should be “as free as air and water”, and the commitment to  “free education for all” is the college’s most distinguishing feature and an abiding source of pride for students and alumni.

It’s not surprising the change wasn’t taken lightly. Immediately after the announcement, students began protest efforts, including painting the entire lobby of one of the school’s buildings black and peacefully occupying the president’s office. And like-minded institutions around the globe are starting to stand in solidarity with the protesters.

After three weeks, there is no sign that this issue is dying down; in fact the hostility seems to be escalating, with the protesters demanding the resignation of president Jamshed Bharucha.

So what did the board and administration do wrong? Their decision reflects a failure to fully grasp the attributes that were most valued by their constituents.

Despite sophisticated research tools and well-staffed public affairs departments, we continue to see a rash of organizations that suffer from self-inflicted wounds to their brands.

• JC Penney ignored what was important to its loyal customers and suffered a collapse so significant that the CMO and CEO were both fired.
• Apple stock has plummeted, as the company seems unable to release the kind of innovative new products fans have come to expect.
• Carnival Cruise Lines has gone from providing ships for vacationers to escape to, to having ships their passengers must escape from.
• University of Virginia, a bastion of transparent governance attempted a behind-closed-doors coup, which ended up being toppled by students, faculty and alumni.
• And the University of California faced a similar revolt after attempting to change a logo and look that had lasted for 144 years.

If UC students staged a successful revolt over a logo, and UVA did the same over the fate of one president, how is it possible that Cooper Union is caught by surprise by the angry reaction to plans that will cost students tens of thousands of dollars and violate the school’s most fundamental values? What we have here is a failure to communicate.

What enlightened marketers need to understand about brands and the organizations they represent, is that before you plan for change, you must understand what your core audience values most. If you don’t, those same people will become your most vocal, even vicious, critics.

When we see groups of people become outraged critics, like the students and alumni of Cooper Union, we should understand that dissent is more valuable than indifference. Criticism may be hard to take, but it often comes from the audiences that care the most.

Fortunately, all of us have the power to avoid these disasters. All it takes is rethinking the responsibilities of our jobs  as marketers. Good communication starts with listening. Seeking honest input, as often as possible, is the secret recipe behind every great communicator and every great leader.

So what should the leadership of Cooper Union do now to turn the tide from criticism to cooperation? Learn from examples like New Coke, JC Penney, Netflix, UVA and hundreds of others. Swallow your pride, suspend your current plan and start listening.

And as an alumnus of Cooper Union, I hope they do it fast, before one of our nation’s most respected educational institutions collapses under the weight of poorly informed decisions.

What’s Best for the Group Comes First

There is a fundamental cultural difference between Japan and the U.S. characterized by a focus on the success of the group over the individual. This principle is near and dear to my heart as it is one of CRT/tanaka’s shared values, so I have seen firsthand the success and collaboration that comes from this practice. For example, in Japan a doctor doesn’t seek an extra certification to improve his own standing but to further contribute to the success of the group. It’s like having aligned incentives as the norm, rather than a strategic goal.

Talk the Talk

In Japan, CEOs are required to have an MD after their name. They assume that if a CEO is a brilliant business person but can’t gain the respect of the physicians by talking their language, then they can’t lead a successful hospital. As marketing and PR professionals, we often speak a different language than our clients. We focus on things like engagement, impressions and reputation while business executives often speak in corporate-eze and the bottom line. As communications professionals, it’s our responsibity to talk the talk of the target audience, whether health care executives, technology experts or food and nutrition professionals. We have to speak their language in order to build credibility and engage with them in a meaningful way.

Stay A While

In the U.S., hospitals are not known for their hospitality when it comes to the duration of a hospital stay. In ironic contrast, Japan’s average length of stay is seven to nine days, which is three to four days more than the average stay in the U.S., yet the cost of health care in Japan is significantly less than that in the U.S. What’s more, their outcomes are better. Once patients are discharged from the hospital, they are called within 24 hours of discharge, one week after discharge and, again, 30 days after discharge. Their longer stays and impeccable discharge procedures lead to lower infection rates and a virtually nonexistent rate of readmissions. In 2008 in the U.S., it was estimated that preventable hospital readmissions cost the health care system $25 billion in wasteful spending. And current laws have recently been passed that tie a hospital’s reimbursement to its readmission rates. Maybe if we focused more attention on quality care and thoughtful follow-up, we would not need new laws and financial incentives to reduce unnecessary readmissions so common in the U.S.

The Ultimate EMR

Imagine walking into the hospital, handing the staff your electronic social security card and having them pull up your entire medical history from the day you were born, regardless of where you sought care. In Japan, this idea of the ultimate electronic medical record is a reality. All of the hospitals and clinics in Japan, whether private or government owned, are connected by a single system, allowing them to share patient information with the click of a mouse. Patients no longer have to rack their brains for the date of their last tetanus shot or bring in a list of all of their medications. And physicians are aware of any ED visits, tests, allergies or procedures that a patient has had, making diagnosis and treatment more timely, more effective and more cost appropriate. Surprisingly, their doctor-to-patient ratio is almost half that of the U.S., but their efficiency is such that patients rarely wait longer than an hour to be seen by a doctor for a non-emergent admission, and in an emergency, patients are seen immediately.

It Really is All About the Patient

Customer service is key in Japan. From the moment you walk into a hospital in Japan to the moment you leave, a staff member escorts you to ensure your visit is exceptional. Managing everything from the lighting and temperature to making sure you receive your medications, the staff are fully focused on the patient experience. Everything from the room décor to the materials handed to you at discharge is impeccable, with every single detail being deliberate and planned. Every patient is treated as a VIP guest. Japanese hospitals would get full credit for patient experience.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not hating on the U.S. It’s just that if we can leverage what other countries like Japan have done well in health care, why not take advantage of it? As Kelly O’Keefe shared in his branding presentation, it’s often important to step outside of your comfort zone for inspiration. Japan is doing something right in health care, so why not search outside our borders for a little inspiration. Business as usual is not an option if we want to improve health and decrease the rate of health care spending in our country.

For the wine professional, this chasm in awareness presents a rare opportunity: a clean branding slate that allows ownership and brand leadership in a category with few leaders and open waters.  In the beverage industry, we salivate over these types of moments.

As Matt Kramer recently pointed out in Wine Spectator, the U.S. wine lover has more choices than ever before.  And if the success story of prosecco evolving into many American consumers’ sparkling wine of choice is any indication (for example, the ubiquitous La Marca, who was depleting 5,000 cases just four years ago, reached a whopping 260,000 cases last year), our collective palates are ready for more.  Brands that can deliver high quality and value should be poised to jump in.  But how can these brands make sparkling more approachable and clarify the misconceptions, thereby growing the market?  Five key elements could help pave the way:

1. Bubbly is a lifestyle:  Wine is now a part of everyday life in the U.S., we are the largest wine market in the world and even Rupert Muroch is getting in on the action.  Sparkling wine has long been synonymous with luxury, because of its French heritage and association with nobility.  Sparkling brands moved into the lifestyle space quickly, even for occasional wine drinkers with brand loyalties unrelated to value or quality.  Wines with the added benefit of both these qualities are at an advantage.

Want to live the bubby lifestyle? Unbutton the shirt and give your fedora a tilt. Photo Credit: http://www.champagne.us/

2. There’s more than just champagne:  with a rich and diverse group of selections from regions beyond Champagne in both the Old World and the New such as Cava, sparkling wines produced in the often-superior méthode traditionnelle of secondary fermentation in the bottle should tout this fact at every opportunity.

3. A great sparkling doesn’t have to be expensive:  as with still wines, there’s a rampant misconception that you have to spend a lot to get a great bottle of bubbly.  This is simply not the case, and leaves great opportunity for brands to dispel the myth.

4. It’s something you can drink anytime, with almost anything: just ask your favorite sommelier.  Those impossible-to-pair spicy, salty or vegetal flavors typically work beautifully with sparkling wines, even Indian food, asparagus and artichoke. When in doubt, think bubbly. It’s hard to go wrong, and as far as occasions, sparkling wine is perfect for any moment, event outside of celebrations. Just ask Lily Bollinger!

5. Look to Millenials: it’s no secret that Millenials (myself included) crave what’s best and what’s next.   Those of us on the older end of the millennial spectrum may bring more disposable income to the table to spend on beverages.  Do you have a fantastic and authentic bottle in that $30-$40 sparkling sweet spot that outshines one of those everywhere-brands for the same price?  We want it, so tell us about it.

My love affair with Whole Foods started in college, when I would drive 20 minutes to their nearest store just so I could get my pick of the juiciest grapefruits, creamiest avocados and crunchiest granola in town. Since then, my fondness for the brand has only grown, and while this has a lot to do with the quality of its product (always fresh, flavorful and abundant), and its in-store experience (never fails to delight), there’s an important third factor at play.

Whole Foods’ commitment to social responsibility inspires its business strategy in a way that keeps the brand in lock-step with customer expectations and places it in a league above its competitors. It’s not the student content to slide by with a B+ in corporate responsibility – it’s the charismatic over-achiever who raises the bar for the rest of us, and makes us aspire to great things.

Here are 10 cool ways Whole Foods is raising the bar in CSR:

- Growing Greens – A few years ago, my colleagues helped RVA’s Whole Foods open a community garden to act as a learning lab and stock greens for the store’s salad bar. I was impressed. Even more impressive? The retailer announced this spring it’s partnering with NY-based Gotham Greens to build the first-ever commercial-scale grocery rooftop greenhouse for its Brooklyn store. In the 20,000-square-foot greenhouse (pictured below), they’ll grow pesticide-free greens to be sold in the Brooklyn location, as well as other Whole Foods stores in the area.

- Taking a Stand on GMOs – In March, Whole Foods became the first U.S. retailer to require the labeling of all genetically modified foods sold in its stores by 2018. Rather than getting embroiled in the debate raging over government’s role in regulating food labeling, the brand put a stake in the ground that many expect will have a ripple effect throughout the industry.

- UpCycling – Whole Foods encourages its team members to have fun and get creative with upcycling – converting old or discarded materials into nifty, useful things. In addition to urging innovation and reducing waste, this process can rally communities by tapping local pride. Shoppers in Charlottesville, for example, are thrilled to find retired floorboards from UVA’s basketball gym lining the snack aisle, and old bleachers acting as picnic tabletops.

- Exploring Energy Savings – About 18 months ago, Whole Foods announced several of its California stores were undergoing high-efficiency, refrigeration retrofits to quantify how much energy each store could save. Working with California’s EnergySmart Jobs program and energy conservation nonprofit PECI, the retailer installed energy management systems and data loggers to offer a before-and-after picture of how much energy the refrigeration systems used.

- Investing in Suppliers – You can’t walk through a Whole Foods without realizing the company believes in supporting local food producers. But what you might not realize is that it also puts its money where its mouth is, offering low-interest loans to small food producers looking to expand. To date, the company’s local producer loan program has provided $8 million + loans to groups like Maine’s Own Organic Milk, Sticky Toffee Pudding and Willie Green’s Organic Farm.

- Encouraging Diversity – For generations, African-American farmers in the Alabama Black Belt have faced a challenging political, economic and physical climate that’s made it hard to compete. But, thanks in part to support from Whole Foods and other retailers, many of their marketing barriers are slowly breaking down. In a pilot program to demonstrate the potential of the Black Belt farming community, Whole Foods has begun to purchase and market watermelons, peas and other crops from small farmers like Demetrius Hooks (pictured right), showing support for diversity in agriculture as well as in their own supply chains.

- Urging Transparency – As evidenced by its stance on GMOs, Whole Foods vows transparency to customers, and demands it from suppliers. It also offers a high level of financial transparency to its employees, all of whom can access detailed reporting on employee salaries for the previous year. According to co-CEO John Mackey “This kind of salary transparency quells the gossip mill and exaggerations over who is making what, and leads to ‘greater justice’ in compensation.”

- Caring for Employees – It’s no coincidence that Whole Foods has been named among the top 100 places to work by Fortune magazine for the last 16 years. The company offers its employees some of the best health care benefits in the U.S. and up to 30 percent off store purchases if they meet certain health criteria. It also holds regular employee appreciation days with celebrations and store discounts, and lets workers apply for six weeks unpaid sabbatical for every 6,000 hours logged.

- Supporting Local Communities – Individual Whole Foods stores can tailor their approach to community giving in order to reflect the local flavor. Several times a year, all locations hold “five percent days,” where five percent of store sales go to a local nonprofit or educational organization. Many also run “Nickels for Nonprofits” programs, where, for every paper bag you save by bringing your own into the store, Whole Foods gives you a nickel to either keep or donate to a local charity.

- Giving Back to the Global Community – Last but not least, Whole Foods works to alleviate hunger and poverty around the globe by offering microloans to entrepreneurs in the communities of its suppliers. The Whole Planet Foundation, a partnership between Whole Foods Market and Nobel Prize winners Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank, provides grants to microfinance institutions in Latin America, Africa and Asia, which provide loans, training and other financial services to the self-employed poor.

Just like the relationships we have with friends and family, the ones we have with brands are built on trust. While Whole Foods is not without its shortcomings, and will surely do something that ticks people off one day, it’s setting itself up for success in the long haul. By building a foundation of goodwill based on genuine support for its employees, communities and society at large, Whole Foods has cultivated a brand that’s easy to love … and one that will be tough to stay mad at for long.

Photo credits: Whole Foods Market, Jamie Ross/Daily Yonder, Whole Planet Foundation

01. Mobile internet usage is projected to overtake desktop internet usage by 2014

The facts and numbers around mobile usage is pretty staggering. Over 1 billion mobile devices are currently in use, and the number keeps on growing. We use and rely on our phones on a daily basis and if you don’t have a mobile friendly website you will get lost in the shuffle. By 2014 mobile internet usage should outpace desktops. This stat varies by source but 2014/15 is right around the corner. 2013 is the year to think about how your website caters to the mobile market.

Remember, the BuzzLine is a weekly contest that challenges PR, marketing, media and communications pros to deliver a smart, witty, creative or humorous six-word commentary – or BuzzLine – in response to a question about a recent news story or media topic.

Last week, for example, we asked what six words you would use to help Sir Richard Branson sell tickets for a ride on a Virgin Galactic spaceship. “Four minutes of infinity and beyond,” “Explore the cosmos! Home by dinner,” and “Your own Star Trek, not Hollywood’s” are just some of the BuzzLines we received. You can see all of them here.

Ready for Week 3? Just put your six-word masterpiece in the comments. You’ll have fun and you could win an extra hot, triple shot, organic whatever on us (and punch your ticket to the quarterly playoffs!).

OK, buzz off on this:

If you listen closely this time of year, you may hear a few bars of “Pomp and Circumstance” as newly minted college graduates take their seats before commencement speakers take the stage.

According to the Washington Post, Bill Clinton gets the podium tomorrow at Howard University. Oprah will speak at Harvard May 30th. And Michael Bloomberg is headed to Stanford. They will undoubtedly have more than six words to say, but you won’t!

If you were to deliver a six-word commencement speech to the Class of 2013, what six words would you share?

GO.

(If you like the BuzzLine, please share it! #BuzzLine, #PR, #marketing)

Enter the health reform era of the 2010’s, where unprecedented mergers, acquisitions, and new care models have prompted hospitals and health systems to redefine themselves— whether they want to or not. And, as a natural extension of this redefinition, many hospitals have engaged in rebranding efforts to better reflect who they are and what they do, and several have pursued a formal name change.

A recent Becker’s article featured 10 hospitals and health systems undergoing brand and name changes in 2013.  While some, like Greenville Health System, simplified its name, others created an entirely new name, like UnityPoint Health, formerly known as Iowa Health.

So, what’s in a name, anyway? Hopefully a brand. At its core, the brand is about the experience people have with your hospital or health system. The name on the building only has meaning when it’s associated with that experience. Simply changing the name on your website, letterhead and facility signage is not sufficient or advised. Plus, it’s expensive! But it can be worth the investment, since the life and benefit of your brand name should last for years.

Take Dignity Health, for example. Formerly Catholic Healthcare West, the fifth largest healthcare system in the nation decided that a name change was necessary to reflect a new governance structure and a broader scope of services and affiliated hospitals, including both Catholic and non-Catholic facilities. The name change also reflected its “corporate severance” from the Catholic Church (though its Catholic hospital affiliates will still adhere to the church’s ethical and religious directives). And lastly, the name change dropped the geographical moniker that may no longer align with Dignity’s future growth strategy beyond the western United States.

While a name change for hospitals is not a requirement for succeeding in the era of health reform, a brand refresh probably is. When it comes to determining whether or not your brand refresh should include a name change, here are five guiding principles to consider:

1. Don’t be a lemming. Just because a well-respected health system or the one across town changes its name doesn’t mean you should change yours. And just because you’ve acquired a new hospital doesn’t mean that you should pull the trigger on an immediate name change. Naming and renaming organizations needs to be thoughtful and strategic and a true reflection of your brand.
2. Identify the strategic reason for a name change. If there isn’t one, then don’t go down this road. Is the core identity of who you are, how you do it and what you offer different than it used to be? Have you already done the difficult inside work of nurturing and building your brand such that it is now time to unveil a new brand name to punctuate your efforts and raise awareness externally? Does your hospital name have a negative legacy? Whatever it is, have a strategic reason to pursue a name change. It will require an investment and does not have a direct 1:1 return on investment –it may be more, or it may be less, depending on your ability to deliver on your brand promise.
3. Consult the experts.  Full disclosure, I happen to work with one of the premier brand gurus in the country. But that’s not why I’m advocating this. I’ve been in your chair, and I’ve experienced some of the pitfalls and nuances of creating and implementing a name change, and there is more to making a meaningful, brand-building name change than most people –including your boss and Board Chair –generally appreciate. When you partner with people who do this for a living, you get objectivity, research, education, a thoughtful process, and a depth of experience and insight that you probably don’t have. In addition to these specialized knowledge and skills, partnering with experts will help you rise above some of the internal politics, emotions and opinions associated with identifying and selecting a new name, as well as ensure that you don’t decide on a name only to discover that you’ve infringed on an existing business trademark.
4. Develop an implementation plan with a budget and a timeline. It sounds basic, I know. But many people don’t realize the ripple effect and real cost of a name change. There is both an art and a science to launching a name change, and for it to be successful, you need to have identified all of the people, places and things that will be impacted. It is also important to consider that the roll-out is not purely linear, and that a multi-channel strategy is necessary for both internal and external audiences. Without a solid, well-articulated, budgeted roll-out plan, a name change can put brands at risk of losing equity, consumer loyalty and even market share –none of which hospitals can afford to lose…right now, more than ever.
   
5. Communicate the name change to internal audiences first. Most people think of a name change as something external. Employees like nothing less than to read about major changes in their workplace on the front page of the Sunday paper. And since your employees should be some of your best brand advocates, they should be equipped to explain the name change to those outside the organization. Whether you have 10 employees or 10,000 employees, communicating the change to them will help to ensure that it is more than just new ink on a business card or a signature line in emails.

What lessons, questions or stories do you have about naming (or renaming) hospitals?

DuPont’s Spruance plant just south of Richmond manufactures specialty fabrics and materials, such as Kevlar® (bullet-resistant) and Nomex® (flame-resistant) polyaramid fiber as well as Tyvek® spunbonded olefin. In April Governor McDonnell announced that the plant was a

What is the environmental sustainability program at the DuPont Spruance Plant?

It’s a comprehensive approach to reduce our environmental footprint. It includes a number of highly effective components to reduce energy, water consumption, waste and emission. Specifically, the program includes recycling/reuse initiatives, pollution prevention, and energy efficiency programs that are integrated to support our overall business objectives and align with our corporate commitment to environmental sustainability. It’s really all about people engagement. Together, they drive the plant to continuously reduce and eliminate waste and emission. When you look at sustainability, it really is felt in so many aspects of our operation. It has to be fully integrated into just about everything.

How do you communicate about the program internally, and win the support of your colleagues and get them engaged?

We email employees. We have intranet sites presenting news and information. We have video monitors displayed throughout the plant site with information that keeps people up to speed. We have new employee orientation sessions, too. That’s really valuable. New employees coming in see things differently. They may see things that we’ve missed because we’re so used to seeing things done a certain way. We also have safety, health and environmental fairs that consist of a number of displays and booths. We use social media, too. You’ve got to communicate in a way that’s effective and motivational.

When was the program introduced and what drove its development?

The program officially began in 1999 when DuPont launched its Sustainable Growth initiative, which challenged us to achieve environmental excellence and grow our business. The focus is “commitment to zero,” which engages each individual to take personal responsibility for environmental excellence.

What results and benefits is it achieving?

There are many. For example, we’ve enabled one of our scrubbers (used in the manufacture of Nomex® fiber and paper) to run longer and reduce emissions by 2,000 pounds annually. It also saves $500,000 annually in terms of reduced labor costs and longer scrubber life. That’s one example. Another project achieved a significant decrease in the amount of water returned to our solvent recovery process. This provided both an energy savings and a reduction in water usage of 600 gallons per hour.

Why is environmental sustainability important to DuPont?

Our strategy is to create shareholder and societal value while reducing our environmental footprint along the value chain in which we operate. We’re really embedding sustainability into the way we do business. We’ve set ambitious sustainability goals that help us advance our performance, both financially and environmentally, and it really results in a positive impact up and down our value chain.

How do your efforts compare to those of other companies in your industry?

DuPont is a leader in employing sustainability principles and practices. And, really, we continue to be on the leading edge. There is a growing movement among others in the manufacturing sector as more success stories are communicated.

What made your program a 2013 gold medal winner?

To be a gold medal winner you really need to have a broad-based program that engages people at all levels. Our site employees are engaged. They’re committed and have a positive impact both on the overall sustainability of the Spruance site and on the safety, health and environmental protection and overall welfare of the community-at-large.

The BuzzLine is a weekly contest that challenges PR, marketing, media and communications pros to deliver a smart, witty, creative or humorous six-word commentary – or BuzzLine – in response to a question about a recent news story.

Last week, we asked what six words of advice you might give Apple to help it regain its shine as sales slow. “Bolster your genius, not your stock,” “Quickly eradicate the Android fruit fly,” and “Put bottle opener on iPhone Six” are just some of the BuzzLines we received. See all of them here.

Ready for Week 2? Just put your six-word masterpiece in the comments. You’ll have fun and you could win a grande, no-whip, iced whatever on us (and punch your ticket to the quarterly playoffs!).

Now. Buzz (err, blast?) off on this:

This week, Virgin Galactic successfully flight tested SpaceShipTwo, making $200,000 rocket rides to four minutes of weightlessness a closer reality.

If Richard Branson gave you six words to sell a ticket for the inaugural launch, what six words would you use?

GO.

(Like the BuzzLine? Please share it! #BuzzLine.)

According to a recent survey by Ascend2, some of the top marketing objectives for both audiences are similar.  B2B marketers cited the quality and quantity of sales leads at the top, while lead conversions and driving website traffic were most valuable for the B2C marketer. Both cited email marketing as the most effective marketing tactic.  While there are similarities in both groups, there are still key differences to learn from to help drive business growth.  And because the question was asked of me as a B2C marketer as to what can B2B marketers be doing to make their business more appealing to the B2C audience, take these tips in mind:

1. Ensure organic and paid search are included in your tactics.

B2B marketers especially value content creation and lead management, so it only makes sense that creating an SEO-optimized campaign can enhance the accessibility of that content and generate additional leads.

2. Further embrace social media.

It’s not going anywhere any time soon and the survey reported that B2B marketers feel less confident in social media than the B2C marketers. What’s great about social media for the B2B marketer is that there are so many opportunities to further drive sales leads as a result of engaging on social media. The beauty is that there are already brand advocates to help easily spread the word to their networks as B2B marketers look to enhance their sales opportunities. Further, these channels are a great medium for content, which B2Bs cite as one of their top tactics.

 3. Measure your reputation awareness.

From the survey, only 26% of B2B marketers measure this, whereas 41% of B2C marketers include it as part of their key metrics.  Knowing where you stand with your customers and public is key to moving your business forward and understanding the most effective ways to do so based on how your brand is perceived.

At the end of the day, we can be doing more and learning more from each of these perspectives. After all, apples and oranges are really both fruit. And let’s face it – learning how to be an effective marketer is never out of style.

Image source: Higher Ground Creative.

Here are four free tools businesses can use to keep track of their Instagram success:

1. SumAll – I just started exploring this tool and it looks like the perfect tool for businesses looking to track their social success, find out which network is reaping more benefits, and how it’s affecting the bottom line. I’ll have to explore it some more but I definitely think this tool is worth trying out, for Instagram and more.

 2. Statigram – This tool is solely for Instagram and provides statistics such as the amount of photos you have, likes received, comments, followers, and more. I like how it shows you the photos with the highest engagement, the day and time that your users are most engaged, your most engaged followers, and your growth and loss in followers as well. You can even manage contests using this tool!

3. SimplyMeasured – This tool allows users to download analytics on different profiles for free as long as you agree to share a tweet to promote the company. You can download a detailed, and I mean detailed, Excel document that even shows you the engagement your photos have had outside of Instagram. The free analytics report is definitely worth sharing a tweet!

 4. Nitrogram – This tool shows engagement rates, statistics per photo, follower count, and the number of photos shared.

Regardless of which tool you choose, I think it’s important to measure and track your brand’s Instagram success. Tracking your account’s metrics and the engagement of your community can help you learn more about your audience, grow your existing followers, understand what your audience values, and convert your followers into loyal customers.

Do you use Instagram for your organization, brand or business? If so, what type of success have you had? Are there any other tools you’d recommended or important statistics you think brands should be tracking on Instagram? Please share!

A version of this post originally appeared on WaxingUnlyrical.com.

There has always been a “special relationship” between the US and the UK – in everything from politics to music, and most recently, to beer. Good beer. Musically-speaking, the influence moved to the west in several waves. From the first British Invasion (think The Beatles and The Rolling Stones), to the second (on to The Police and Wham!), to perhaps even the third (Amy Winehouse and Adele), Americans have long had a love affair with British musical genius. Iconic bands like Led Zeppelin influenced entire genres of American music and culture…70’s hard rock, 80’s heavy metal, and everything to follow.

As for influences in the other direction, Led Zeppelin’s lead singer Robert Plant, one of the most significant singers in the history of rock, credits American rock n’ roll (Elvis) and the blues as his inspiration. This taste (pardon the pun) for American culture, specifically that of the Deep South continued on to the next generation in his soccer-player-turned-musician-turned-brewmaster son, Logan Plant. Influenced not only by his father, but through the U.S. tours with his former band in Brooklyn, NY, Logan found what he now believes to be his true calling…craft beer. He has since brought his love of American flavor back to London, turning his home-brewing hobby into the popular Beavertown Brewery and Duke’s Brew & Que barbeque joint, leading the way in London’s craft beer renaissance.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Logan during the recent Craft Brewer’s Conference, hosted annually by the craft beer industry’s biggest champions, the Brewers Association. I caught wind that he was in town through his brewing collaboration with Dogfish Head and Dieu Du Ciel on Twitter (nerd alert, I know). I actually felt a bit like a beer groupie, recognizing him from the brewing pictures. Logan was, in fact, the first person I saw at the conference. Without collecting myself long enough to think of a cooler opening line, shouted “Hey Logan!” across the room. Smooth. He handled it in stride, despite the early hour, and the many late night parties hosted around town the night before (hey, it is a beer conference, after all!).

Thanks to Logan for sitting down to chat with The Booze Bin about Beavertown, the U.K. craft beer movement, his inspirations and his dad’s favorite beer. Here are a few excerpts from our conversation.

“There’s a feeling I get when I look to the west” ~Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven

Why did you choose to collaborate with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head?

“Looking west to our inspirations, particularly my inspirations with America itself in food and beer, Dogfish Head is a key player. Their ethos and the way they push their recipes, and just their whole thinking top to toe; they seem like a really good, organic company making great beers.”

Newfound Art Form

How did you find the transition from music to beer?

“They have a lot in common actually. [Beer] is an art. Brewing is an expression, as was being a singer in a band. It’s really similar. To be able to pour your own beer, serve people, and for them to be turned on and give you feedback…and, most of the time, enjoy it …it’s a really good feeling.”

Source of Inspiration

Which other brewers do you admire?

“We make a porter (Smog Rocket, his flagship smoked porter), and I found inspiration from one of the first to make this style, Stone Brewing Co., as well as other American craft breweries, like Bear Republic, Flying Dog and New Belgium.”

Who’s Drinking Craft Beer in the UK?

Logan thought there was a “wide demographic” of people “really into their craft beer, who have some disposable cash and want to buy things they’re passionately into – things that stimulate them with flavors.” He continued to say, “The scene in London is very happening at the moment, so there are a lot of people jumping on that. We were actually recently voted one of the best new breweries in London [by The Telegraph].”

For more on the raging London craft beer scene, check out this recent article in The New York Times.

The Voice of Beavertown

Do you believe in social media?

“It’s a massive part of what we do and it’s great to keep people informed. It’s almost like a story. Every day in a brewery is like a story, and it is fascinating stuff, I think.”

 What is Your Death Row Beer?

After reflecting for a while, he replied “the beer that I always go back to when I go home is a very simple, traditional English best bitter. It’s brewed in the Midlands where I’m from. We brew a certain way, keeping quite a bit of sweetness in there. It’s quite hoppy, but there’s this sweet, hoppy thing going on. It’s like drinking honey. It is delicious!” Influence or not, I guess we all want to come home for our final sip.

Nerd Question!

I ended my interview just as smoothly as it began. So, what’s your Dad’s favorite beer?

“Banks’s Best Bitter” he replied, without missing a beat. I guess the only thing better than your son becoming a professional soccer player, or following in your footsteps, is for him to find his calling making really good beer.

Cheers!
Stay tuned for more beer musings as we continue our special Booze Bin Craft Beer series over the next few months.

Photo credits: All About Beer, The Telegraph, Chew the Dirt, Twitter and Vegas Seven.

For now, these laws and standards apply only to Federal and State agencies. However, more recent events, such as the class action lawsuit brought by the National Federation of the Blind against Target Corporation in 2006, suggest that website accessibility requirements could soon reach a broader constituency. If that were the case, would your website hold up to these standards? Doesn’t it make sense to make your website accessible to a broader audience even without the compulsion of law? Making your website more accessible isn’t as difficult as you might think.

What Is Website Accessibility?

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. This encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including:

Cognitive & neurological disabilities

These types of disabilities involve disorders of any part of the nervous system and can impact how well people hear, move, see, speak and understand information.

People with these types of disabilities require:

• Clearly structured content that facilitates overview and orientation.
• Consistent labeling of forms, buttons, and other content parts.
• Different ways of navigating websites, such as through a hierarchical menu or search option.
• Options to suppress blinking, flickering, flashing or otherwise distracting content.
• Simpler text that is supplemented by images, graphs and other illustrations.

In order to access the Web, they require:

• Text-to-speech software to hear the information while reading it visually (typically screen readers such as JAWS or Window Eyes).
• Captions to read the information while hearing it.
• Tools that resize text and spacing.
• Tools that customize colors to assist reading.
• Grammar and spelling tools to assist writing.

Physical disabilities

Physical disabilities include weakness, limitations of muscular control (such as involuntary movements, lack of coordination or paralysis), limitations of sensation, joint problems, pain that impedes movement or missing limbs.

People with these types of disabilities require:

• Ergonomic or specially designed keyboard or mouse.
• Head pointer, mouth stick, and other aids to help typing.
• On-screen keyboard with trackball, joystick, and switches to operate it.
• Voice recognition, eye tracking and other approaches for hands-free interaction.

In order to access the Web, they require:

• Large clickable areas.
• Error correction options for forms.
• Visible indicators of the current focus.
• Mechanisms to skip over blocks such as page headers or navigation bars.

Visual disabilities

Visual disabilities range from mild or moderate vision impairments in one or both eyes to blindness. They can include color blindness or increased sensitivity towards excessive brightness in colors.

People with these types of disabilities require:

• Tools for enlarging or reducing text size and images.
• Custom settings for fonts, colors and spacing.
• Text-to-speech synthesis of the content (typically screen readers such as JAWS or Window Eyes).
• Audio descriptions of video in multimedia.
• Reading text using refreshable braille.

In my next post I’ll provide some tips for improving your website’s accessibility.

Don’t worry about character limits! But your sentence or phrase must have five spaces. No more, no less. For example:

Recently the stock market made big news with the DJIA reaching new heights. How would you comment on that story in six words? Maybe…

• “Filling gas tank with stock profits.”
• “Bulls leave bears to clean up.”
• “Nothing inflates bubbles like irrational exuberance.”

Just put your six-word masterpiece in the comments. We’ll pick a winner on Tuesday, tweet the winning comment widely on Wednesday (#buzzline, #PR) and reward its author. (Starbucks on us!) And we’ll start over with a new BuzzLine challenge next Friday.

Ready to have some fun? Stick with the stock theme and buzz off on this:

To bolster its first quarterly profit decline in a decade, Apple said this week it would open its vault and return $100 billion to shareholders. But shares of the stock, they did not pop. And sales of i-this and i-that continue to slow.

In six words, what do you think Apple needs to do to regain its shine?

GO.

So what does this mean for marketers? A blog conference sponsorship can be the starting point of many valuable partnerships that can have a lasting impact on the success of a brand’s marketing program.

Here are my five key points to ensuring a brand gets the most from its blog conference sponsorship.

1. Set goals.

Are you looking for bloggers to review your product or service? Do you want them be part of a focus group? Are you looking for longer-term integrated marketing partnerships? Be sure you know what you want your sponsorship to generate. Goals keep you focused on your marketing objectives, which likely have social media as a success metric, as well as your company’s overall business objectives. They will lead you to the right strategies – or in this case help you choose the right conference; a smart, cost-effective sponsorship; and an engaging, impactful experience for attendees. And they will ensure you can demonstrate a return on your investment when all is said and done.

2. Know your audience.

And in this case, understand how the audience at a specific blog conference likes to interact with sponsors as well as what they will be interested in sharing with their audience, likely your end customer. Every conference is different, so find out from conference organizers the demographics of attendees, what attendees have said they want to accomplish, what learning opportunities are offered by the conference and what experiences have been successful at past conferences. Having as much insight as possible is crucial to ensuring success.

3. Make an impact.

You’re fighting with other sponsors to get attention, so you must find clever ways for attendees to experience your product or service or engage with your initiative. Samsung offers a good example. At this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW), they offered Galaxy phone owners local freebies and discounts redeemable from their phone, new phone batteries via bike messengers, free pedicab rides and so much more. The activations likely made local businesses happy, were useful to attendees and provided interesting content for them to share with their readers.

4. To swag or not to swag.

That’s become the million-dollar question in the conference world. Cool giveaways can make a brand stand out amongst the rest, but lame freebies can send attendees looking for the nearest trash can. I attended the recent BlissDom ’13 and received a very handy multi-charger travel kit. This was a smart giveaway because I have the need to use it often, so I’m constantly reminded of where I got it. Brands should strive to leave attendees with something useful or valuable information that leaves a door open for future conversation and engagement.  If you think swag is the way to go for your brand, Mashable offers a good overview of how to ensure it gets used instead of tossed.

5. Follow-up is a must.

Just because the conference has ended doesn’t mean your interaction with attendees should too.  Just the opposite – your relationships are just beginning, or growing if you partnered with any attendee previously. Leave a door open at the end of the conference so you have a reason to get back in touch with the people you meet. But remember, online influencers want connections to be personal and meaningful, so make sure dialogue with them is just this and you’ll find that the relationship becomes mutually beneficial.

With a strategic approach and compelling execution, a blog conference can be a goldmine for marketers. These are the top five tips I’ve found useful in getting the biggest bang for my clients’ buck. Have any to add to the list? Share them in the comments section.

Courtesy www.urbandiner.ca

Although the worlds of food and wine are certainly married in many ways, one of the important ways they are not is in the trends that sway each industry in very specific directions. It always puzzled me that, at the height of the locavore movement, at a moment when you had to be careful not to eat your off-season strawberries in front of anyone, that wine lists were still touting libations from far flung corners of the world.  Where were all the local wines?

Well, fast forward a few years later to today and there are plenty of restaurants in New York City and, notably, Brooklyn, with wine lists that either focus on local (or, at least, domestic) wines or are entirely composed of them.

The locavore movement has evolved yet again to the point where savvy restaurateurs are now not only singing the gospel of local, but, in a move straight out of a Portlandia sketch, they’re now listing the farms and purveyors of almost every item on the menu (eggs, kale, beef, flour)

courtesty www.ahalife.com

This is a trend that, for once, echoes the goings-on of the wine world. A wine’s producer has always been important. Could you imagine a wine list that didn’t list producers?

In the wine world, however, a producer is often just a name or even a brand. It can signify a certain expectation of quality, price or both – but it doesn’t evoke an actual human so much as it signifies a legacy. It’s no surprise, then, that often a producer is just a name – an inherited and unchangeable name – rather than an actual person.

Just as the food world has developed an appetite for transparency in bringing to light the hard working farmers, chefs, and artisans who put food on our tables, the wine world is slowly catching on.

As consumers grow increasingly aware of what they’re drinking, it seems inevitable that they will also start questioning what’s in their glass.  With the rise of the organic, biodynamic, and natural wine movements, one could easily argue that it’s already happening. The next step is surely for consumers to wonder, not just how their wine is made, but who is making it.

Courtesy www.cartoonstock.com

It’s time for winemakers to get personal. As consumers become more accustomed to knowing the face and name of their farmers and producers (real or imagined) it makes sense that this particular trend will carry over into wine. Consumers are ready to see behind the curtain, as it were, and meet their winemakers. Impersonal brands are going to start to feel lazy and consumers are increasingly craving the romance of a back story and personality.

The smart winemakers will give it to them.

Designer Lucy Hernandez won the recycle category for her Coca-Cola dress, made of recycled aluminum cans, tabs and plastic grocery bags.

Yep, it’s Earth Day. That means all of the big national brands will be giving out tote bags or planting trees… doing some kind of one-off for a slice of the Earth Day buzz pie.

As we scan the headlines to see what Coca-Cola and Target are up to this Earth Day, we tend to forget that making a difference starts at a local level – with you and me. So in honor of Earth Day, I’ve decided to use this morning’s Buzz Bin post to highlight a few creative and fun grassroots initiatives that are inspiring local communities to take care of their world.

Las Cruces Reuse & Recycle Fashion Show -  In Las Cruces, New Mexico, the chamber of commerce teamed up with local businesses to host the Reuse & Recycle fashion show, which asked attendees to judge the best of two categories: reuse outfits  (garments made from old clothing) and recycle outfits (garments made from recyclable or non-recyclable materials). The entrants paraded for a cheering crowd, and the best of both categories were awarded prizes and bragging-rights… until next year.

San Francisco Naked Bike Ride – Only in San Francisco… right? Hundreds of San Franciscans joined the World Naked Bike Ride, a demonstration against fossil fuel dependence whose slogan is, “Less gas, more ass.” The tone remained light hearted as barely-clad bikers hit the streets.

P’lovers Pedals for Earth Day – For those who like riding bikes, but prefer to remain clothed, P’lovers,  a local environmental store in Halifax, Canada is holding an indoor bike rally that started at 12:01 a.m. on Earth Day. Teams are taking turns riding a stationary bike at one of the company’s stores to power the lights in the building. The Earth Day event aims to raise $12,000 needed to launch a Farm to School program that would provide healthy meals to a local school using food supplied by local farmers.

What did you do to celebrate Earth Day in your local community? If you missed the fashion shows and bike rides, it’s as easy as picking some litter up off the ground.

The women business honorees were chosen from categories including “No Apologies” (Creating whole new business models, industries or marketplace opportunities); “Brainwave” (Changing the way a brand or product is marketed); “Paradigm Shift” (Changing the way a customer segment or target audience is approached);  and “Quantum Leap” (Changing the way an organization is aligned to proactively meet new challenges).

We can all learn to change the game in our own way.  Some of their game-changers?

• Become a leader by heading right into the challenge. – Anna Maria Chávez, Girl Scouts of the USA
• Listen to your consumers for that “aha” moment. –  Leontyne Green Sykes, IKEA North America (She gave an example of mattresses here in the U.S. comparing our needs to those in their European demographic using the size of her award box as an illustration – cool!)
• Be nimble and generous with your thinking.  – Rachel Birnbaum, JWT
• What works for me, may not work for you. Know that not everyone will have your same working style and feel comfortable about that (especially if they’re working for you).  – Julia Stewart, DineEquity
• Think about ways to elevate your brand simply. – Stevie Benjamin, MillerCoors (She discussed how Coors Light worked with The Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” to pitch a post-show, “After the Catch” with beers for the talent).
• Ask for advice from people who know more than you and don’t be afraid to listen. If it isn’t practical, don’t take it, but know that you’ve still learned something.- Rachael Chong, Catchafire
• Leading in a time of change is unlearning what you know. -Alison Lewis, Coca-Cola
• We talk about ROI, but how about measuring ROP, Return on Passion? – Lori Senecal, kbs+

Do you agree? Do you ask for what’s yours?  How are you “changing the game”?

McDonald’s Millennial problem has been the talk of the town with the launch of its biggest product of the year, the McWrap. In an attempt to win over the Millennial generation, the McWrap, referred to as the “Subway buster,” is supposed to offer customization and variety, two highly coveted expectations of Millennials. The problem? Not only is the McWrap missing the essence of customization, this one product offering also fails to address some of the most important Millennial influences. If McDonald’s really cares about targeting Millennials, the company should start following the lead of some of their nutrition focused food brand adversaries.

Here are 5 ways successful food and nutrition brands are reaching millennials.

1.  What’s Your Story?

Millennials care about the story behind their food so much, we’re actually willing to pay more for a product whose story aligns with our values. How is the food made? What is in it? Chipotle is one food brand succeeding in this area. The moment you step into the restaurant the messaging clearly communicates where the ingredients come from, the health benefits provided and the sustainability efforts you help support as a customer.

To win over Millennials, food and nutrition brands need to tell their story and clearly define their brands passion and cause commitment. In fact, the Millennials Cause Study found when a cause message is linked to a brand in an authentic and relevant way, it is more likely to gain the attention and respect of young people today. A shared passion for a cause can foster a strong personal relationship between a brand and its target consumer.

The problem for McDonald’s? They’re missing the authentic story and cause that aligns with Millennials’ core values.

2.  Quality vs. Price

Millennials are more interested in what is in the food we’re buying rather than the brand name on the packaging. To convert Millennials into customers, brands need to focus on building messages around the notion of value and affordability. While Millennials are inherently looking for a good deal (we did experience one of the worst recessions), we are willing to splurge on attributes we value including convenience, freshness, health and variety. In fact, 58% of millennials surveyed said they are willing to pay more for all natural and organic products according to the study, Trouble in Aisle 5. While McDonald’s offers a great deal, it’s unhealthy reputation has me willing to pay a little bit more to eat somewhere with healthier options.

3.  Emphasize the Health Benefits

Clearly demonstrate why your product is a better, healthier option. Millennials are on a quest for products that help them live well for less. For instance, Whole Foods has Pinterest boards to clearly communicate healthy lifestyle choices such as “Eat Your Veggies,” “Greens on the Table” and “Healthy in 2013” (among other boards sharing the store’s sustainability efforts and causes).

Trader Joe’s is another grocery store with a unique and admirable appeal among millennials. By offering easy ideas for eating healthy while appealing to an array of nutrition preferences, Trader Joe’s is meeting a Millennial need. In fact, Trader Joe products contain no artificial colors, no flavors or preservatives, no MSG, no genetically modified ingredients or artificial trans fats and the product packaging clearly communicates this. It’s like music to the health conscious Millennials ears!

4.  Experience

Millennials crave an experience, particularly an “instagrammable” one. We don’t want to hear a brand market to us, we want to interact with a brand in a personal way. We want to experience a product first-hand and if we’re inspired enough, we’ll even share it with our social networks. Part of what we crave in an experience is the ability to customize, connect and try something new. From the rise of the food truck, to the all natural food movement, food has become a personal expression of one’s self and a symbol of life’s moments. Just open up one of your social networks, from Facebook to Instagram to Twitter to Pinterest, people are sharing photos of their food as much as their dogs or children. I don’t know about you, but I don’t find anything inspiring about a seemingly normal fast food chicken wrap from McDonald’s and if I’m not inspired, I’m not instagramming it.

5.  Honesty’s the Best Policy

Millennials have grown up during an obesity epidemic and among a convoluted debate of what causes a poor diet and what consists of a healthy lifestyle. The result? Millennials have increasingly become interested in what exactly is in our food. How unhealthy is it, really? Is it hormone free or farm raised? Healthy or not, we want to know so we can make a conscious decision. Unfortunately, Millennials don’t feel that brands disclose enough information about their food products. It took a new law mandate from the President for fast food restaurants to display the nutrition values openly on their menu. Now it’s obvious why McDonald’s would be adverse to this in the first place, but this is the type of transparency Millennials crave.

That’s a Wrap

Despite the growing obesity epidemic in the United States, many Millennials are taking steps to get fit and stay healthy.  At 80 million strong, by 2017 the Millennial generation will have more spending power than any other generation; and some say we could be the group to catapult the natural food industry into the next generation. If other food chains offer options more in line with Millennial values and harness our taste buds now, I think it’s going to be hard for McDonald’s to catch up (even despite our current lack of brand loyalty). If McDonald’s wants to grasp the Millennial customer, the company should take some lessons from their nutrition food brand adversaries.

What other tips would you offer food and nutrition brands targeting Millennials? What brands have inspired you with their nutritious food options? Please share any thoughts you have in the comments! 

Gone are the days when simply rallying around the elimination of oil spills, toxic dumps and pesticides was enough. Recycling and water conservation are no longer the end all and be all of environmental sustainability. It’s 2013 and our rapidly changing Earth cries out for a greater effort with a heightened sense of urgency. To take your environmental sustainability efforts to the next level and to spread the #GREENspiration, here are eight unique ways to go green this Earth Day (and beyond).

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

1. Dryer lint? That’s for the birds. No, seriously. Rather than throwing away your dryer lint, put it in the backyard for the birds – they use it to feather their nests. (Source: SheKnows)

2. It’s not re-gifting if you’re turning it into something even more awesome! Upcycling is a fabulous new trend which put simply means to “create new things with the stuff you already have” (thanks, eco-lifestyle expert Danny Seo). Here’s an idea – take those Wilsonart Laminate sample chips you picked up from your local hardware store and turn them into decorative accents for a gorgeous new serving tray. (Source: Good Day LA)

Transportation

3. Nonstop flights = a good time for everyone. Unless you’re a huge fan of the widely dreaded take-off and landing, or you get a rush from spending hours upon hours at airports, you’re probably pretty into nonstop flights. Good news – not only are they more convenient, they’re more sustainable. Take-off, landing and ground operations add a significant amount of emissions to a trip.

4. OK, so carpooling isn’t exactly a new concept… But, it’s ever-important. Did you know that carpooling just two days a week reduces CO² emissions by 1,590 pounds a year? Just TWO days per week = 1,590 lbs. saved. Talk to your colleagues who live near you to set up a carpooling system. (Source: One Block Off the Grid)

Energy Efficiency

5. The best things cookies come to those who wait. You know that feeling when your delicious chocolate chip cookies are taking what feels like an eternity to bake? Resist the urge to open the oven door to sneak a peek – every time you do, the temperature drops 25° F and requires additional energy to get back to baking. As it turns out, there’s an oven light for a reason. (Source: We Energies)

Food & Beverage

6. Kill two Earth-polluting birds with one stone. No, don’t actually kill birds. Step 1: start your own backyard compost. Step 2: grow your own produce in your new compost garden. Do this and you’re not only eliminating waste by finding a new use for easily decomposable trash, but you’re significantly decreasing the distance between your food and your table. This makes Mother Earth (and maybe birds) smile. (Source: SheKnows)

7. It’s 5:00 (am) somewhere. In order to better conserve, water your plants first thing in the morning. Mornings tend to be cooler and without strong winds, decreasing the amount of water lost to evaporation. It’s not technically a human beverage tip, but your plants will appreciate having more to drink. (Source: The Daily Green)

Green Competition

8. Who says it’s not easy being green? (Sorry, Kermit.) Get your company excited about Earth Day by inspiring some healthy green competition. At CRT/tanaka, we’re celebrating environmental sustainability all throughout the month of April with our Green Competition. Employees are nominating each other every time they do something green – whether that’s turning off lights in conference rooms when not in use, sharing tips for donating books, toys or clothes, eating meatless meals or powering down laptops at the end of the day – all with the promise of some rad green prizes like Whole Foods gift cards and multi-device chargers for the top-scoring Green Warriors.

I hope these eight unique ideas inspire you to go green this Earth Day. Please spread the GREENspiration by sharing this post and commenting with your Earth Day ideas below.

Why Consider Search?

1. 82% of Internet Users Use Search
With the majority of internet users “looking” for content via search it’s important that your site is showing up on page one of Google. Source

2. Over 100 Billion Global Searches are Conducted Each Month
Even if you think that you’re in an industry that doesn’t have a huge search appeal I can pretty much guarantee that someone out of those 100 billion searches is looking for content on your website. Source

3. 80% of B2B and B2C Marketers Rely on Search
Out of the 500 marketers surveyed in Web Marketing 123’s 2012 Digital Survey, 84% of B2B marketers rely on search and 82% of B2C marketers are relying on search. Clearly there’s a reason why, even then they plan on spending more marketing dollars on search in 2013. Source

Why Content Needs to be Optimized?

4. 75% of Users Do Not Click Past Page One of Google
If you don’t have optimized content you will most likely not be on page one of Google. Not being on page means your website is only visible to 25% of searchers. Page one results should be a goal for any SEO campaign. Source

5. Top Google Result Gets Almost 40% of Clicks
Optify did a study on organic search clicks and the top three spots in Google command close to 60% of all clicks. Spot one takes in close to 40% of clicks by itself. Due to the high click through of these spots, once we get our client’s on page one we then fine tune the campaign to push the site to the top of the page. Source

6. 70%-80% of Users Ignore Paid Search Ads
Paid search is a proven tactic but simply relying on paid search for search engine traffic can be costly and ineffective. With a good portion of users ignoring ads organic search should be the focus. Source

In many cases, it’s not that a brand struggles with its digital experience–it’s that the brand doesn’t even show up for it in the first place.

One of the most disappointing examples of this lack of brand alignment lies with Disney, who has fumbled several attempts at creating a great digital experience, though they seem to have the Midas touch when it comes to almost everything else. In fact, in the fall of 2012 they redesigned their website for the third time in five years. So what’s going wrong? Why is Disney, who in most cases we know to be the master of experience design, struggling to create a meaningful digital experience for their consumers? As the New York Times put it, Disney is “trying to master the Internet the way it has theme parks or animated films.” Trying to master it, maybe—but they aren’t using the same mindset that allowed them to master the areas and products for which they are most lauded.

Visit Disney.com now. What do you notice? At first, probably not much, and the reason is that it looks like pretty much every other well designed, yet basic, website on the Internet. If you have spent time with the Disney brand, you know that the experiences the brand creates are anything but basic, whether we’re talking about their theme parks, their movies, or even the way your bed is made up at one of their resorts. Disney is a brand built on creating magical, amazingly detailed, unprecedented experiences that have the power to draw consumers into and keep them engrossed in, as Aladdin might put it, a whole new world. This is the experience and expectation that Disney’s brand is built on, and their brand didn’t show up when it came time to build their web presence.

This is interesting because Marvel Comics, who is owned by the Walt Disney Company, is doing an excellent job in the digital arena. After only a few minutes of clicking around their site, it’s obvious that though Disney may own Marvel in the grand scheme of things, Marvel is owning Disney when it comes to online user experience.

In comparing the two brands and assessing the gap between what they are delivering, we can learn a few simple rules about what makes for a great digital experience:

 1. Focus on the reason your core consumers love your brand and use it to attract new fans: Marvel’s consumers love their comic books first and foremost, so they announced at this year’s SXSW that they were using their web presence to make more than 700 of their No.1 issues available free through their app and online store. Not only does this promotion appeal to avid Marvel fans, it also attracts new readers, lowering the barrier and pulling them into the Marvel experience. For Disney, that’s not the case. Not only does their website not even scratch the surface of what the World of Disney is like, they are stingy with their content, leaving you to either buy or bounce.

2. Find ways to give consumers more of what they love: If you are using your web presence only as a way to reiterate content your consumers can find elsewhere, you’re not taking advantage of the medium. Your digital presence is a wonderful way to take consumers even deeper into the world of your brand and offer them experiences that could not be delivered through other touch-points. Whereas Disney mostly uses its site as a way to advertise existing content, Marvel is serving up new content. Its Infinite mobile comics, introduced in 2011, feature new stories about Marvel’s best known characters, and the brand is creating comic-related original video content as well.

3. Strive to create a digital experience that adds something to the non-digital one: If you don’t follow this rule, then what’s the point of having a digital experience in the first place? The web is a practically magical place and, considering the exponential rate of technological development, always will be. But at Disney.com it doesn’t become any more magical than usual to watch a movie— in fact, they make it pretty difficult to watch a movie in the first place. Look to Marvel instead for a captivating example. Most of us still love the visceral experience of reading a paper comic, but Marvel didn’t use that as an excuse to call it a day. Instead, they created special technology called Project Gamma that adds a musical score to a digital comic book as a user reads. The music even adopts the pace of the reader and adjusts itself seamlessly if the reader flips back and forth. Why not use the web to add surprising touches to well-played originals and offer your users novel, cutting-edge experiences like Marvel has done?

Your web presence is a way to connect with as many consumers as possible, introduce new consumers to your brand and draw your core consumers even further down the rabbit hole. When we stop looking at a brand’s website as merely another place to deliver information or house content, and start looking at our web presences as touch-points that can reinforce the core of our brand and give consumers another way to dive even deeper into the heart of it, we will create highly successful digital experiences.

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/business/media/disney-struggling-to-find-its-digital-footing-overhauls-disneycom.html

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/marvel-comics-introduces-redesigned-apps-and-new-video-programming/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130311

http://marvel.com

http://disney.com

Guest post by Nancy Cawley Jean, a senior media relations officer with more than 20 years of health care communications experience. Nancy manages social media for the hospitals in the Lifespan health system in Rhode Island and can be reached via email at njean@lifespan.org or on Twitter @NancyCawleyJean.

Johns Hopkins Hospital has a wonderful reputation for providing outstanding health care. They’re also no stranger to the social media world. In 2010, when a shooting occured at the hospital, they quickly turned to social media to provide regular updates. Their efforts were admirable, to say the least, and the effort appeared well-coordinated, even during a crisis situation that was unfolding by the minute.

In February 2013 the hospital faced yet another crisis when an employee reported that a gynecologist had been using personal equipment to take pictures and videos of his patient. Later that same month the gynecologist committed suicide. John Hopkins’ response to the crisis, once again serves as a model for transparency in social media.

Johns Hopkins’ approach? They posted it for everyone to see right on their Facebook page. Short, sweet and to the point. The post described what happened, explained that privacy breaches are not tolerated, and stated what the hospital was doing about the situation. You don’t get any more transparent than that, nor can you approach the situation any better.

As a media relations professional, I’ve experienced the behind-the-scenes efforts during a hospital crisis. In a conservative and cautious industry, a crisis response plan usually isn’t acted on in a matter of minutes, but more likely hours. Yet in today’s world, social media has given rise to the 24/7 news cycle. Media outlets and citizen journalists are posting and reading information and breaking news everywhere, all the time.

At times organizations avoid posting a crisis response or situation publicly on their Facebook page or Twitter feed. In the eyes of some organizations this seems to “air dirty laundy” and make the issue too public; likewise these same organizations often avoid giving statements, except to a select few inquiries. While I understand the thinking behind this approach, I’m here to tell you if the approach isn’t transparent, it simply won’t work anymore.

Transparency is a way to build loyalty and garner advocates for your brand. Being transparent and straightforward in any situation will more likely earn respect, even if your community is offended by the situation.

The result? The comments on Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Facebook page were obviously mixed, especially since some of the comments were posted by patients. Overall, however, there were nearly 90 “likes” on the post — an obvious indication that people appreciated their openness.

Do I think Johns Hopkins built advocates for their brand? Absolutely. I’m personally impressed with how they handled the situation, and I hope we can rise to the same level of transparency when I find our organization in its next crisis.

What about you? Do you agree with their approach? If not, what would you have done differently?

Hot off the tails of the Brewers Association Craft Brewers’ Conference, check out these top trends in craft beer, and always remember, it’s five o’clock somewhere.

1. Feeling that Collaborative Spirit

As mentioned in my last post in this series, there is an amazing sense of camaraderie in craft beer. One demonstration of this is the collaboration beer, which while not new, continues to grow in number and style. One example I recently got my paws on was a beautiful and hop-forward, limited release Imperial IPA called Rhizing Bines, the second partnership between Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and Dogfish Head. On the experimental side, acclaimed chef Grant Achatz’s innovative cocktail lounge, The Aviary, partnered with Belgian brewery Evil Twin Brewing to create a collaborative series of beers based on one base Belgian ale aged in various spirits barrels.

So, why the collaborative spirit? According to New Belgium Brewing’s Media Relations Director, Bryan Simpson, it’s all about respect for the craft beer industry itself, as well as a desire to inspire and be inspired by its peers. “The entire industry is still a sum total of 7 percent of the sales in this country. We are all in this together, and would certainly like to grow that share to ten and 20 percent. How can all boats rise with this tide? We’re looking for ways to be engaged with our peers. The collaborations are coming from a genuine place.” New Belgium has several collaborative beer series, but most recently partnered with Montreal’s Dieu du Ciel as part of their Lips of Faith series to create the hibiscus herbed Heavenly Feijoa Tripel. Yum.

2. Good Beer means Good Jobs

During his annual state of the craft beer industry presentation, Paul Gatza of the Brewers Association noted the 409 new craft breweries that opened in 2012 alone, plus the 1,253 more in planning. This boom in craft breweries is a direct result of the rapidly growing demand for craft beer across the country, and one of the most significant upshots (besides a lot of good beer) will be jobs. Lots of them.

Two of the three biggest players in craft beer, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, will open their second breweries near “Beer City, USA,” Asheville, NC, over the next few years. Not only will these openings mean hundreds of new jobs, but good jobs to boot. Looking for a new career? Maybe it’s time to turn to craft beer! New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, CO, for example, is consistently rated as one of the best places to work, and one might imagine their new brewery will follow suit.

3. Young Women Reach for Brews

Whereas stereotypes would have us twirling our hair and drinking a cold glass of Chardonnay, craft beer has recently taken the lead as a younger woman’s drink of choice. A recently-released Gallup poll defied the men-like-beer/women-like-wine typecast, showing that young women (ages 21-34), in fact, prefer craft beer, overtaking wine for the first time since 1985.

According to Julia Herz of the Brewers Association, these younger women are in craft beer’s “sweet spot,” given “they’re the same quality-minded people who are buying artisanal cheeses and fair trade coffees and who don’t mind waiting for a bartender to shake a craft cocktail.” Hertz also pointed out that “craft beer is an affordable way to buy artisanal. The cost of a bottle of beer, usually less than a bottle wine, affords aficionados a chance to sample several craft beer flavors for a simple trade up in price compared to wine.” If you’re a “quality-minded” gal that enjoys a good pint, check out your local chapter of the Barley’s Angels for some fun events near you.

Stay tuned for more beer musings in our special Booze Bin Craft Beer series over the next few months.

Cheers!

Photos courtesy of Farmer’s Cabinet, Boston.com, Brewers Association and Brewpublic.

Always Wear the White Hat

Mark Raper, Chairman and CEO

I had one boss that I always tried to impress. As I hurriedly addressed each task, he would inevitably caution me by saying: “Slow down. Do you know the ‘why?’ What more could you know to make it even better?” Although it frustrated me at the time, it continues to bring new meaning to my job. That same boss also used to tell me to “always wear the white hat.”  Some pretty solid advice from a pretty great boss.

I worked within an advertising agency – providing PR services to clients. It was a little like being a red-headed step child. One older ad guy once told me: “If you present yourself as only a PR person, you will always be only a PR person. If you diagnose a problem and can explain all the tools necessary to deliver the best solution, you become a valued consultant.”

Be Thankful for the Difficulties

Patrice Tanaka, Co-Chair, Chief Creative Officer and whatcanbe Ambassador

Be thankful for difficult assignments, bosses, colleagues, clients, business partners, journalists/bloggers and others you may work with, because this is where you’ll learn the most. Don’t be afraid of challenges or regard them as annoying obstacles in your work life. The degree to which you can embrace difficulties in your job as valuable learning experiences, is the degree to which you will become highly seasoned PR counselors whose advice is sought by colleagues and clients alike.

For more pearls of wisdom from Patrice, read her book, “Becoming Ginger Rogers: How Ballroom Dancing Made Me a Happier Woman, Better Partner, and Smarter CEO.”

Anticipate a Client’s Needs

Mike Mulvihill, APR, President

My very first boss would always ask me when I brought a draft to him,  “Are you really sure this is ready for me to review?” This would then prompt me to ask myself if I had done the best job I could on it. The first few months, I usually said I would give it one more review and be back. Later, I had already completed that assessment before I came to him. It was my first lesson in anticipating a client’s needs.

Take Ownership of What You Want

Brian Ellis, Executive Vice President/Crisis Consultancy 

A life tip my father gave to me, which has applied to all of my careers: Don’t let life (career) just happen. Make it happen. Don’t expect anyone to hand you everything you want. If YOU take ownership of what you want (career, life’s wishes, friendships and so forth), you usually get what you desire. You just have to be willing to work (and sacrifice) for it.

PR advice: Define your personal brand. Where do you excel? And don’t be afraid to do your own PR.

Think Like a Reporter

Debbie Myers, Executive Vice President/Health Practice Director

I came into PR after 10 years as a broadcast journalist. The best advice I ever got came from the first boss I ever had in radio. He said never stop thinking like a reporter. Always be curious, ask lots of questions and don’t get sucked into the PR talk. I have always tried to keep my reporters hat on when writing messages for clients and when advising them on how to communicate honestly and genuinely.

Be Curious

Michael Whitlow, APR, Executive Vice President/Corporate Practice Director

Be more curious than anyone you know. If your friends are always looking at you with a bemused and befuddled expression that says, “How did he know that,” you are succeeding.

Be aware of the massive importance of business-to-business sales and marketing in the economy. You can learn a lot about what motivates companies by looking into how their products come to market, and there is a lot of business to be done with companies who primarily or exclusively sell to other companies rather than to consumers.

Learn at least one new skill a year.

Happiness Lies Within

For my advice, I leave you with this quote from an unknown author: “You are responsible for your own happiness. If you expect others to make you happy, you’ll always end up disappointed. Happiness lies within your heart and soul.”

To my fellow PR practitioners, what “best advice” can you add for PR newbies?

Also, check out 15 Tips to Land That First Job in PR.

• News releases
• Media/blogger outreach
• Banner ads
• Email campaigns
• Facebook custom tabs
• etc., etc., etc.

And all of these techniques link back to your client’s website, because one of the goal’s you’ve established with them is “to drive traffic to the homepage.” At the end of the campaign, you may want to provide a report for your client showing how well each channel performed.

Google Analytics is the tool for this, but reporting could turn into a nightmare as simply cracking open Google Analytics and trying to figure out how much traffic is coming from each medium could be troublesome. Without any sort of tracking urls getting used in your outreach, you’ll have to accurately keep track of placements and sift through myriad referral data to figure out what traffic came from which tactic. Even then, some tactics will show up as direct visits to the site, which are relatively untraceable and hard to report. At this point, the reporting is tough, and you have no way to see how well each tactic is doing side by side. To solve this reporting dilemma, each digital avenue (email, banner ads, releases, etc.) should be using a customized link relative to the tactic. In doing so, each tactic can target the same page on the website, and you can easily filter traffic from news releases vs. banner ads vs. email campaigns, all in Google Analytics.

Pretty neat? It’s really easy to implement as well. Here’s how you can accurately measure a multichannel digital PR campaign.

1. Plan

Each campaign will have different goals, but knowing what page(s) you are trying to drive traffic to is a must. Setting these goals up front is really important to make sure everything runs smoothly and is accurately reported. Now that you know what pages are targeted, you can begin to figure out what digital tactics are truly needed to drive traffic to the website. Once those tactics have been assessed and approved, you can then create custom urls for each avenue.

2. Create Custom URLs

The core point of this blog post is pretty much this step here. You may be targeting the same page across multiple channels, but creating a custom url for each avenue will make your life a lot easier. These custom URLs are actually called UTM tags, and they allow you to integrate your source (i.e.: email), medium (i.e.: banner ad) and campaign (i.e.: spring outreach) name into one unique url. Using a UTM tag allows Google Analytics to easily filter out visits that use this specific and show you exactly what you’re looking for. By utilizing a unique url for news releases vs. banner ads vs. email, you can easily see how much traffic each medium is providing without the hassle of manually going through analytics data. You can even take this a step further and make more customized tags based on the type of release, etc., to really see what drives the most traffic.

Creating UTM tags is super easy and takes less than a minute to create. Google even has a site that builds them for you. Simply enter in your credentials, and you’ll get provided your custom URL. With a set of tactics in place, make all of the custom urls you need for your campaign. I’d recommend keeping all of your custom urls organized in a spreadsheet for easy access.

4. Execute

With all of your custom urls built, it’s time to work them into the planned out tactics. Just as you would insert a hyperlink into a release, make sure you use the right news release specific url. Nothing about your approach will change just the type of link you are using.

Helpful hint: UTM urls are really long, feel free to use a url shortner to make them more manageable.

5. Measure

The joy of UTM tags is that they are designed to easily work with Google Analytics. To see the traffic for the custom urls you created, you’ll need to set up some advanced segments in Google Analytics. It’s really easy to do and John Haydon from Inbound Zombie has an excellent video below and can walk you thorough this step.

I’d recommend watching the whole video start to finish as well.

Why has water replaced soda as our beverage of choice?  Sorry Mayor Bloomberg, it has nothing to do with your proposed legislation.   Experts credit convenient, soda-style packaging and effective public health campaigns.

Most public health campaigns have been created by non-profits and local health departments.  In a David versus Goliath story, these organizations have managed to beat out the big budgets and pop stars associated with Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola (No need to feel bad for them, though.  Coca-Cola owns Dasani, VitaminWater and SmartWater.  Pepsi-Cola owns Aquafina, Propel and SoBe Lifewater.).

How did water beat soda?  By using five tips that can be applied to just about any public health campaign:

1. Start early:  Healthy habits start early on.  That’s why so many campaigns are focused on school-age children, and specifically, school cafeterias and vending machines.  For instance, the Boston Public Health Commission has created sample policies and materials for use in schools.  California Food Policy Advocates have even researched water dispenser options and associated costs for school cafeterias to make change easier to implement. 
2. Create interactive tools to help people measure their progress: The “Water First: Think Your Drink” website, created by the Tweens Nutrition and Fitness Coalition, offers interactive tools such as “HydroMe” a customized virtual character that gives kids a fun way to see the effects of drinking water.  Kids (and parents) can log what they drink from day to day and the tool will display teaspoons of sugar, calories and caffeine in a journal or graph format.
3. Don’t just educate – engage:  Rapping about water?  One San Francisco teen won a contest by doing just that.  His video, “Drinkin’ That Water”, is one example of how a public health campaign engaged a teen to help educate his peers.  By engaging users in content generation, campaigns develop advocates for their initiative.
4. Solicit a formal commitment to action:  The “Water First: Think Your Drink” campaign features the “Take the Plunge” pledge, which asks people to commit to specific goals.  This includes the number of glasses of water and cutting sweetened and caffeinated drinks to a certain number per day.  When people make a commitment, they are more likely to stick to it.  If people have the opportunity to post their goals and share their progress via social media, it has the potential to increase the effectiveness of the campaign by creating an element of positive peer pressure.
5. Influence the influencers:  Children, especially very young ones, are influenced by their parents and caregivers.  With that in mind, the Soda Free Summer campaign, a project of the Alameda County Public Health Department, distributes free copies of the Drink Water!’ Said the Otter toolkit with letters to parents/guardians, stickers, posters, and activity sheets to preschools, child care centers, caretakers and parents of children 5-and-under throughout the Bay Area.

While increasing water consumption is a huge step in improving overall health and wellness, many proponents encourage taking it one step further and drinking tap water instead of bottled water.  If that sounds interesting, you can download New York City’s Water-On-The-Go app to figure out where to locate the city’s “award-winning, high-quality, great-tasting, healthy tap water” at portable fountains.  Mayor Bloomberg will be glad that you did.

The cool factor of the CBC wasn’t just from the endless beer stations and surrounding events with rotating craft beers from around the country and world (although it certainly didn’t hurt); it was the intense energy and excitement buzzing through the Washington, D.C. Convention Center, held in our Nation’s capital for the first time.

What struck me most about this conference, and the industry for that matter, was the sincere camaraderie between breweries, both large and small. Maybe it’s the social nature of the craft brewing community, maybe it’s a bond over beards, but this is a group that takes the “rising tide lifts all boats” aphorism to heart. Unlike many other beverage industries, craft brewers are collegial, in the best sense of the word. One would think a tiny craft brewer with local distribution would resent a larger craft brewery with national reach encroaching into their region; or a large craft brewer wouldn’t find inspiration from a micro-craft brewer. Luckily, that is not typically the case.

From the highly successful trail blazers available around the country (think Sierra Nevada and New Belgium) to the creative and quirky “crusaders who stand tall and never eat sh*t” (love me some Flying Dog) to newer kids on the block from farther afield (check out the UK’s Beavertown, co-owned by Logan Plant, son of the legendary rock god, Robert Plant, and Canada’s Du Ciel, who recently brewed a collaborative and spice-filled IPA with Dogfish Head), this is a uniquely supportive brotherhood that offers support both up and down the ladder. Thanks to groups like the Pink Boots Society, it’s also a supportive sisterhood, opening up good beer to all.

Camaraderie and the endless pursuit of quality were the main themes of this year’s CBC, reiterated by the Brewers Association director and keynote speaker, Paul Gatza during his “State of the Craft Brewing Industry” report last week. And why not? Given the wildfire growth of the industry, it seems there is plenty to toast.

Here are a few cool stats Paul shared with the massive audience of over 6,000 brewing professionals:

• Craft Beer saw a 15% volume growth in 2012 (vs. 1% by Imported Beer and 0% by Domestic Non-Craft Beer); pricing is up 3.5%
• 409 new craft breweries opened in 2012, making a total of 2,347 with 1,253 more in planning
• Biggest growth in craft beer is on-premise, especially at the high end
• In 2012, craft beer’s share of the segment grew to 6.5% by volume from 5.7% in 2011 and to 10.2% by dollars from 9.1% in 2011

Stay tuned for a special Booze Bin Craft Beer series over the next few months, featuring discussions with the many spirited characters responsible for communicating the ethos of their respective breweries. In the meantime, seek out these tasty brews on your next beer run:

• Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye: Smooth, spicy with a touch of citrus and pine, this brew can be found rapidly disappearing from my refrigerator after my kiddo’s bedtime on any given evening.
• New Belgium Hoppy Bock Lager: Part of the newly released “Hop Kitchen” series from New Belgium, this bit of hop-inspired delight is a springtime German-style lager, crisp with a bit of sweet herbs to pair with the warmer days ahead.
• Flying Dog Snake Dog India Pale Ale: I like ‘em hoppy and Flying Dog doesn’t disappoint with this IPA. Floral with a pleasant touch of bitter lemon, try this one on your next foray into cooking with curry.

Cheers!

Images and statistics courtesy of:

• Houston Press
• Brewers Association
• Flying Dog Brewery
• New Belgium Brewing Co.
• Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
• Craftbeer.com

This is one of my new, favorite go-to websites. I usually use the iPhone app for Pinterest and navigate to Explore : Design. It helps to provide some inspiration especially when I am on the go. As a busy soccer mom, I need to take advantage of those quiet moments when I can quickly go to Pinterest, look around, save pins and explore more at a later date . There is a lot of variety here ranging from corporate identity to printmaking to furniture design. It’s so refreshing to see all of the new pins that appear every day and the variety of design styles being represented. I am constantly pinning and repining new ideas to my boards. What I love about Pinterest is how easy it is to navigate back to some of my favorite pins for future reference. Creating themed boards in categories like color ideas, decor, design/infographics helps me find what I am looking for quickly so I can begin design for a new project without suffering from a creative block. Check out some of my boards.

2. The Dieline

What I love about this site is that even though it focuses on package design and 3-dimensional design, it still provides am excellent resource for overall design inspiration and aesthetics. You can really get your creative juices flowing here. There are so many creative design projects on this site ranging from wine packaging, to beauty products, to pet food. The navigation is very simple and you get what you need very quickly and efficiently. You can sort projects by “Features,” “Industry” or “Substrate”. I like to browse through all of the categories since you never know what can catch your eye and inspire the next big idea.

3. COLOURlovers

The best thing about this website is the “Trends” tab. When I am looking to develop a color palette for a project, I start here. There are so many great ideas and the navigation is very user-friendly because it allows you to select the type of project you are working on (Branding or Websites) and see a how a particular palette was applied. They also include the full palette with the thumbnail image to quickly see what the color scheme is. I also subscribe to their weekly enewsletter that gives great tips and ideas for color ideas and options.

4. Design Instruct

is website for designers that features helpful tips, tutorials and articles related to design topics to keep you informed and inspired. They also have a “Freebies” section that allows you to download vector graphics, photos, editable Photoshop files and more. This site was actually a spin off site from the Six Revisions blog. I have visited this site regularly because of their focus on design as well as website development. They provide great articles and tutorials to help you stay ahead of the curve. Like designinstruct.com, they also have a “freebies” section that is great for downloads of graphics and patterns.

5. Etsy

I love cool stuff and this website has a ton of it. Etsy is an online crafters community where people sell handmade or vintage items as well as art and supplies. There are so many categories to look at ranging from personalized jewelry to milk glass candy dishes. My favorite section of this site is the Printmaking section. Here is where artists showcase letterpress prints and unique decorative art that can inspire a lot of creativity. Sometimes I find that simple quotes or saying created into posters or notecards can inspire creativity.

The study showed that traditional print press releases had much higher appeal when fused with popular social media themes. Categories like baby animals, amateur dancing and babies ranked highest in the survey, followed by car crashes and lip-synching of Lady Gaga songs.

“What the study clearly shows is that savvy marketers who attach pictures of social media subjects to their press releases can increase earned media exposure by up to 37 percent,” said Patrice Raper, an analyst for the company. “In cases where the photo was embedded toward the middle of the release, we saw results as high as 43 percent,” Raper continued.

Media representatives appeared to confirm the results. “Have you ever gone through a stack of print press releases?” asked Armond Smyth of the New York Tribune. “It’s a tedious task, but when you see a little bunny, or a cute baby acting up, it cuts right through the clutter,” said Smyth.

CRT/tanaka officials say a white paper on the subject will be released as soon as they brand the phenomenon and prepare a PowerPoint presentation to share with trade groups.

We operate in a world where almost everyone has a phone equipped with a portable video studio capable of instantaneous global distribution. As distressing as it may seem, we are all being watched.

Whether we like it or not, every customer having a bad experience with your service department is starting to act like Mike Wallace on a sting. Remember when restaurants used to try to determine when the food critic was stopping in so they could put on their best show? Well today every customer is a food critic and reviews don’t last a day, they stay online forever!

Whether your employee is bad-mouthing a customer, your accountant is fudging the books or your CEO has more than a casual interest in the new intern, you’re secrets aren’t likely to stay secrets for long.

What can we do to cope with a world that has gone from a 24-hour news cycle to a newsroom with 300 million reporters? There’s only one choice facing organizations under these circumstances: Do the right thing.

Maybe I’m an idealist, but I think most organizations will have no options other than to tell the truth, treat the customer with courtesy, provide a nurturing habitat for employees and show respect for the opinions and lifestyles of others, because if they don’t, we’ll all be watching. And that’s a good thing.

It’s time to change this thinking. Within each organization, there’s a PR army of ambassadors who are ready to share the good news about your brand. Likely, they are already doing so on their own social media properties. Why not leverage the power of this group to forward the company’s messages? Here are four steps to get you started:

1. Give management a reason to believe
   The notion that social media impedes productivity is flawed. There are many distractions through the work day that impact employee focus – email for one. Plus many employees have smart phones they are using to check text messages from kids and co-workers. Productivity is a management problem, not a social media problem. In fact, a study published by The McKinsey Global Institute, shows that companies that improve communication and collaboration through social technologies could actually raise employee productivity by 20 to 25 percent.
2. Give employees rules to follow
   Healthcare is a highly regulated industry. It only makes sense that social media policies be in line with all other compliance rules. But the approach to creating social media guidelines does not have to be heavy handed, just thoughtful. Begin by involving the key oversight sectors: public relations and marketing, IT and legal/risk management. Mike Langford, a social compliance strategist and financial industry veteran, says in a Harvard Business Review article that the best policies are a collaborative effort. They should empower employees to engage, not impede them.
3. Train Social Media Ambassadors
   Social media does not have to be opened up to all employees at once. Start small with a group of trusted employees who are already engaged in social media. Create a Social Media Ambassadors group and focus on one social media property first, such as Facebook. Have each member of the group begin by “Liking” the organization’s Facebook page and sharing content by commenting on the page or reposting information from the page at least 3 times per week. Have the team participate in a Social Media Ambassadors Facebook Group to learn about guidelines for posting appropriate and useful information and to share ideas and thoughts about how to engage other employees and the community.
4. Provide Sharable Content
   Employees will help a company tell its story if they have good information to share. Content is considered “sharable” if it is topical, relevant, informative and fun. Some of the most sharable content comes in the form of videos, photos and infographics. Create content that employees want to share and host it in the community they’re most active, depending on your group of Ambassadors this may be a Facebook group or an employee microsite. Engage your ambassadors with interesting, stimulating and fun content that inspires them to go out and pioneer your brand.

Have you opened social media to your employees? If so, what’s been successful for your brand? What other tips would you add?

I’m constantly trying new beers and I’m always interested in what new style breweries are throwing out there. In recent years I’ve noticed more easy drinking craft beers hitting the store shelves and tap handles. Beers like Founders All Day IPA and 21st Amendment’s Bitter American have quickly become a few of my favorite summertime session ales.

Creating a session friendly craft ale is interesting as you typically don’t associate “easy drinking” and “quantity” with craft beer. Typically, this mindset has been reserved for American Macro’s as they are marketed as light, smooth refreshing beers that you can consume in abundance. With the majority of Americans still in that mindset and with the craft beer market continuing to grow, a session ale seems like a logical place where the two markets could meet.

I don’t see a lot of breweries pushing their lighter beers as session beers. A few do but I think more can and will begin pursuing this term as more consumers become educated about beer. I feel that no matter what the style of beer, if it’s under 5%, the beer’s packaging should adorn the session ale term as it gives an instant snapshot of what the beer’s purpose and alcohol content is all about. Beyond the stated marketing and packaging opportunities, here are a few reasons why brewers and distributors should consider pursuing the session ale.

Lower Alcohol & Lower Calories

Most craft ales are in the 6+ ABV realm and with more alcohol comes more calories as more malt (sugar) is needed to obtain a higher ABV. I love a great IPA but maybe I don’t want to get wasted off a handful of them or wind up consuming 2,000 calories worth of beer during a cookout. Not that session ales should be marketed as “light” beer, but quality beer under 5% ABV should be explored as we may not need the extra alcohol or calories typically found with craft beer.

Approachable & Flavorful

I used to always carry Victory All Malt Lager and North Coast Scrimshaw when I worked in the industry. These were great gateway beers as I would always recommend them to Macro drinkers or people not too familiar with quality beer. These beers are great lagers but it’s nice to see Founder’s and 21st creating some nice flavorful ales instead of lagers. Even Flying Dog’s Pearl Necklace is very session friendly stout (even though its 5.5% ABV). I see opportunity with beers like these as they are great introductory ales for beginners and interesting enough for seasoned craft beer drinkers.

Highlight the Brewmaster’s Skill

Lastly, if you want to highlight the skill and craft of brewing, try making a light beer. It’s tough. The lighter more delicate ales and lagers can easily showcase any off flavors, poor ingredients or brewing mistakes. A solid brewmaster should be able to create a flawless beer no matter the style. A clean American IPA, a stout from Flying Dog or a Berliner Weiss from Bell’s – these are all perfect examples of quality driven beers that took skill to create and a product that the brewery and brewmaster should take pride in.

I love my high ABV stouts, double IPAs and barleywines but those aren’t necessarily cookout- or boat-friendly beers. For the reasons I mentioned above, I think that every brewery should be brewing and marketing a session-friendly beer.

Cheers!

No question – corporate responsibility initiatives benefit the reputation and bottom line of organizations that sponsor them.

But don’t discount the ROI generated when coworkers rally around a cause.

Community service activities can bring team members together in ways that monthly birthday cake or offsite meetings can’t.

Last Friday, for example, six of us from CRT/tanaka participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters’ “Bowl for Kids’ Sake,” to raise money for a mentoring program. The $750 we raised will help match an adult with a local kid in need of a stable, supportive mentor.

I can’t, however, put a value on watching “KSpicey” (her alley name) take a tiptoeing ballerina’s approach to each roll, a move that entertained adjacent lanes as much as ours. Nor can I explain another colleague’s lack of skill despite having grown up in family that managed a bowling alley.

I just know that the team is stronger because of it.

We had a great time. We laughed. We enjoyed each other’s company. And we know exactly how we’re going to approach KSpicey’s office next time we have billing questions.

CRT/tanaka’s support of Big Brothers Big Sisters will help a local young person facing adversity stay on a productive path.

It also brought coworkers together in a way that will yield dividends the next time the PR workday presents a 7-10 split.

Richmond hosted its inaugural TEDxRVA event last Friday where 500 members of the Richmond community came together to listen and react to a curated host of talks and fascinating stories from a  line-up of innovative creatives, storytellers, entrepreneurs, athletes and community leaders. In this open forum setting, the audience and speakers engaged in a showcase of ideas that stirred actions. With each of the speakers’ unique experiences, the audience was encouraged to step into their shoes and reflect on how their ideas might translate into our own realities. It was a sensory overload – excitement, humor, sorrow and success. The audience laughed, cried, was brought to chills and was challenged to think about redefining themselves as innovators and doers.

For example, James Walker, founder of Dead Bicycles, discovered an often unnoticed object on the streets of Richmond and used it to cause social interaction and local awareness. When no one else did, Walker saw that Richmond streets are littered with bicycles locked to street signs and poles. These bikes left by their former owners frequently had their wheels stolen, leaving the naked metal frames to lie useless. In an effort to call attention to these unnoticed bicycles, he scoured the city shrouding left-behind bikes to show appreciation and love for them. Soon, others noticed the memorials and began leaving flowers and letters of gratitude. One bicycle and shroud was even cremated. Walker noticed a mundane item that many walk past every day without a second thought and created a new awareness for and appreciation of bicycles in the city of Richmond.

Oddly enough, following the TEDxRVA event, I was walking a street in Richmond and noticed a lonely bike frame locked to a pole. I couldn’t help but wonder if I would have noticed it had I not heard Walker’s talk. It caused me to question what else goes unnoticed in my everyday life that I could bring attention to and use to inspire others.

Many words of wisdom and advice on creating and inspiring others were shared at TEDxRVA. These are some of my favorite experiences and tips.

1. To be creative is to be alive. Brian Andreas, artist and writer behind StoryPeople, says that if you are more concerned about working hard to be creative, you’ll end up less creative. Live your life and more creativity will come naturally. Build it from within your bones and encourage others to do the same, because the more you engage, the more creative you’ll become.
2.  If you imagine it, then do it. Just say yes to any idea you have. Elementary art teacher Julie Crowder felt inspired to show love and gratitude for the city of Richmond in light of the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. She asked her students, neighbors and friends to write on a construction paper heart what they love about Richmond and stick it in their yard. It spread like wild fire through the city.
3.  Get out of your comfort zone – vulnerability inhibits creativity. Zoe Romano, runner and philanthropist, says it’s easy to be vulnerable, but difficult to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. With disciplined determination, she set the goal of running across the country and achieved it.
4.  Avoid complacency and predicting the future. Sheryl Connely, global trends manager and futurist for Ford Motor Company, says that by default you’ll be forced to become much more nimble and much more prepared to naturally allow creative to happen.
5.  Suspend judgment and within the chaos, you’ll find genius. Ivy Ross, artist and CMO of Art.com, says allow yourself to play. Many people think the opposite of play is work, but really it’s depression. Understanding the patterns of possibility makes you fearless to express what you really feel.

After attending TEDxRVA and learning from such a diverse group of people, I am newly inspired, moved and encouraged to redefine myself as an innovator and a doer. Taking from these lessons, I plan to pay closer attention to things that I usually pass by and consider ways that I can bring awareness to an issue that is important to me. I also plan to say yes to more ideas that come to mind and opportunities that arise. And, I hope to inspire others by sharing my own experiences and ideas without hesitation or fear of being judged.

If you’re interested in finding a TEDx program near you, visit www.ted.com/tedx.

When I was doing my field work in graduate school, I shadowed a pathologist at a community hospital. He had started his career in primary care, but he eventually became so disenchanted with treating the same conditions and begging patients to make lifestyle changes to avoid these conditions, that he changed tracks to focus indirectly on patient care by diagnosing from the lab rather than the bedside.

And I can understand his frustration. I even frustrate myself, when I fall into ruts of not going to the gym or eating too many things I know aren’t good for me. Theoretically, I’m only half way through my predicted lifespan, so it’s important that I do what’s within my control now, to improve my odds of being healthy for the second half of my life.

Lucky for me, and future generations, we have something that didn’t even exist 10 years ago –mobile health. While advances in medical devices revolutionized our options for care once we had an illness or injury, mobile health is revolutionizing our access to information and tools for disease management and even prevention of illness and injury.

According to the results of a physician survey conducted by eClinicalWorks, more than ninety percent of respondents believe that mHealth apps have the potential to improve patient outcomes, and eighty-nine percent indicated that they would recommend an app to a patient in the future.

Mobile health technology has been an innovative disruption in the healthcare marketplace, with applications for clinicians as well as consumers. Consider the following statistics from a variety of sources, cited in articles posted by EHR Intelligence:

• There are nearly 100,000 health apps currently available in the market
• Within the next 5 years, mHealth is anticipated to have 1.7 billion users
• Over the next 10 years, mHealth tools are projected to save more than $500 billion in productivity, travel, and administrative costs

So, what does this mean for healthcare providers and marketers?

1.  mHealth can increase patient engagement.

If we want patients to be part of the solution in healthcare, we need to engage them through more real-time communication and feedback about their health. While Facebook and on-line support communities play a part in patient engagement, mHealth bolsters it even further by providing data, information and feedback to patients. Many mHealth apps are built on algorithms that monitor users’ progress against a goal or care plan, and some even allow caregivers to co-monitor or integrate the data directly into the patient’s electronic health record. Patient health apps result in greater accountability and motivation by the user, even if just because of the greenhouse effect.

2. mHealth can extend your brand.

AT&T ForHealth^SM has predicted a shift from generic apps to sponsored apps as one of its top 5 IT trends in 2013.  Data has shown that while a number of consumers download general health apps, utilization of the app is limited. Studies on “sponsored” apps, on the other hand, indicate a higher level of sustained engagement and behavior change, resulting in improved health. Hospitals and physicians would benefit from exploring collaborations with mHealth vendors to identify apps for specific patient populations, such as diabetes, where you have a clinician champion. Work with you IT team to ensure security and privacy, and pilot it with a small group of patients and caregivers. If it’s successful, brand the app and promote it. If it’s not successful, pick another one and try again.

3. mHealth can improve health and optimize reimbursement.

And they said that marketing was only a cost center. Here’s your opportunity to show them that marketing can actually contribute to improving patient health and the bottom line! Mobile health apps can serve as an extension of the care team, by providing alerts and other tools to keep patients on track for their optimal health. With the shift to more risk-based reimbursement models, keeping patients healthier will be what optimizes revenue rather than keeping waiting rooms full.

And if that isn’t enough to convince you to explore mHealth as part of your healthcare marketing strategy, maybe I can appeal to your competitive nature:  the Department of Veterans Affairs already has in development over 20 health apps, many of which are planned for testing and launch in 2013.

Have you launched a health care app yet? If not, what do you think your first app might be?

Image Credit: http://greatist.com/fitness/digital-health-mobile-infographic

Once I started working with booze brands, I learned about liquor, what to drink and what NEVER to order (so I wouldn’t come off as a cliché, of course). It wasn’t until I worked with a liquor brand that hosted mixology summits for 100 of the top mixologists around the U.S. that I learned about the “other” side of cocktails. I was impressionable, but they explained to me that there are no-no’s in the bar business and vodka is a big one. Vodka, according to hundreds of mixologists, sucks.

Wait, what? Vodka, the number one-selling spirit in the U.S. is the worst spirit out there? Seriously? How can anyone who prides themselves on mixing cocktails say, “I would NEVER use vodka in my bar menu.”

Vodka is the epitome of all cocktail-dom. I would like to compare the category of vodka to the middle born child: an overachiever yet is stuck with an unshakable reputation for poor taste, hooliganism and inferiority. (One of the children could be gin, having his ups and downs, possibly going through rehab, but always the favorite in the parents’ eyes).

According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), vodka accounts for 32% of all volumes of spirits consumption in the U.S. In 2012, 65.2 million 9-liter cases of vodka were sold in the United States. If so much vodka is being consumed, why do mixologists hate it so much?

The answer I’ve heard is this: Vodka has no flavor and they shouldn’t waste their time with it.

I disagree. Bad vodkas have no flavor are harsh on the senses and don’t contribute anything to a cocktail except alcohol. Good vodkas (and I’m not counting the ones that are “flavored”) do have flavor. Good vodka is clean, easy to drink and happens to be a great base spirit.

The other answer I’ve heard is this: big vodka brands have destroyed the category (case-in-point: Grey Goose).

Well, I get that. Everywhere you look, someone is coming out with a new, gimmicky vodka, from P. Diddy to Dan Aykroyd; it’s never-ending.

Personally, I look to the smaller, artisanal vodkas that are good quality and haven’t oversaturated the market. One of my favorites is Cold River Vodka, made from potatoes in Maine (they also make an amazing gin), Chopin Vodka (Poland), also made from potatoes, 42 Below (New Zealand), and Reyka (Iceland),  both made from grain. All of these vodkas have plenty of flavor.

I also want to mention some heavy hitters – the ones that, while they do partake in over-marketing,  at the end of the day, don’t dilute the quality of the stuff in the bottle. Take, for instance Belvedere (Poland), Kettle One (Netherlands), Absolut (Sweden) and Smirnoff (Russia) – these are the big guns, so to speak, and their products are quite good.

Why all the hate?

Last week, the New York Post ran a story that was picked up in a few outlets, about bartenders (or mixologists) in New York City who refuse to serve paying customers certain cocktails they ask for. Case in point: vodka tonic, rum and coke, and the list goes on.

There are many (and I mean MANY) strong opinions on this subject, especially in the food and beverage industry. My take is this: on the one hand, it’s good to go outside your comfort zone and order an interesting cocktail from a bar’s menu that plays with your taste buds and can be a change. These guys spend a lot of time coming up with drinks that are different, fun and appeal to your senses.

If a customer wants a simple drink, such as a vodka tonic, that person should go to a bar where simple drinks are served – where there is no bar menu or the bartender doesn’t have a handlebar mustache. Compare the situation to food. You wouldn’t walk into a fancy restaurant, such as Per Se, and order a slice of pizza. You have to know where you’re going. If you head to a place that serves drinks at $18 and over, chances are you won’t find your run-of-the-mill cocktails bringing down the house.

On the other hand, these people are paying customers. If they want something specific, they should, get it. I know it’s a crazy concept, but not long ago wasn’t there a saying that the customer is always right? You know, if you want to order something specific, then you should get something specific.  “Vodka has a place on every bar,” says Aaron Gordon, bartender at The Tippler in New York City. “There’s the power of suggestion between a bartender and the customer. But in the end, it’s the hospitality business. It’s not our job to tell them what to drink.”

Wherever you go, vodka should be there. It’s the highest-selling spirit in the world, it’s in most people’s home bars and it really is a great base for delicious cocktails, whether it’s a cheap drink from a dive or an overpriced cocktail (there happens to be a cocktail for $12,916, but that will be for another Booze Bin…).

For the record, I am a bourbon drinker. But, when it comes to a good cocktail, I want what I want when I want it. I won’t make excuses if I want a vodka martini, or even a vodka tonic. After all, I am the customer and my home bar will always have vodka ready and waiting for when I need it.

But have these really changed, and how?

One of the most popular marketing innovation tools that remains is the flash mob. What is it that is so appealing about these for marketers and consumers alike?

The Joy of Surprise

In our era where it’s easy to reach for our smartphones and walk and text without looking up, there is still something special about seeing something nicely unexpected and taken out of our day-to-day routines. According to Flash Mob America New York with more than 8,000 members, “We LOVE to create JOY by surprising people! We are looking for like-minded people who love to challenge themselves, get up and dance (even if they’ve never danced before!), have a great time and meet new people.”

Attention & Awareness

It’s no surprise that when flash mob participants gather, people take notice. And when organized on behalf of a brand looking to gain consumer awareness, this attention can often result in sales leads or new website traffic.  The consumers participating certainly also have a motive – they want to be noticed.  Whether it’s just a fun thing or for a cause, it’s something the participants feel is worthy of taking the time to do.

Celebration

Who says you need intimacy for that special moment to be truly special? One New Yorker made it clear that he didn’t when he called on a flash mob to help him propose in Washington Square Park. Other flash mob moments have included European Transport Company’s “Better Bus Ride” campaign where they sang “Happy Birthday” to the very surprised and delighted bus driver in Copenhagen.

Click here to view the embedded video.

To Champion a Cause

Flash mobs are a great way to help champion a cause.  For example, in support of Haiti’s Earthquake Relief Fund, Flash Mob America organized a Michael Jackson-themed dance party to raise money for the fund.

Take a look at some of the most “historic” Flash Mobs:

“The First”: The first marketing-related flash mob was organized in 2003 by Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper’s Magazine. While his first try was unsuccessful after the retail store where he planned to host it was told about it in advance, he successfully had more than 130 people take to the ninth floor rug department of Macy’s and stand around an expensive rug and note they were shopping for a “love rug” and were making their purchase decisions as a group, if asked.

Oprah’s Kick-off Dance Party with the Black-Eyed Peas: To celebrate her 24^th season and one of the most memorable flash mobs broadcasted to the public, more than 20,000 people surprised Oprah with a piece choreographed to the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Frozen Grand Central: In 2008, Improv Everywhere started one of the most viral flash mobs (more than 32 million YouTube views), with more than 200 people who froze together at the exact same moment at Grand Central Station in New York City. The group also inspired the “No Pants Subway Ride” which happens yearly and consumers are invited to take to the transit in their skivvies.

World’s Largest Pillow Fight: Prompting local pillow fights across the country thereafter, Guinness World Records officiated the world’s largest pillow fight with 10,000 attendees at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So what it is that still drives our fascination with this marketing innovation?  At the end of the day, it’s simply about reaching and engaging our target audience in an interesting way, which is really what we should always be thinking about in order to be true marketing innovators.

Image Source: Flash Mob America (New York).

A few bends in the road later, I skidded to a stop on the wet pavement and continued on foot. The clearing along a narrow trail peaked through the trees. I navigated through the muddy brush onto the trail, following it to my destination. My destination was a historical marker that doubled as an unclaimed portal in the free augmented reality game Ingress created by Google’s Niantic Labs.

Ingress uses Google map data of the world and enhances this data into a massive multiplayer game where players across the world are members of two rival teams. These players search for virtual energy portals to claim for their particular team. The portals are often based on real-life landmarks such as historical markers and locations, and the portals are viewable from within the Ingress mobile app that displays a proximity map based on the user’s current location. Check out the latest portal maps for Barcelona, Rome and Tokyo.

Hoping no one saw how much of a nerd I was becoming, I quickly used the app to hack the portal and claim it for my team. On the map, I noticed a few more unclaimed portals further along the trail. After claiming these additional portals, I stopped to read one of the historical markers associated with the portal. The marker was titled “The Despair of Slavery” memorializing the dehumanizing misery experienced by 18th century Africans kidnapped and shipped to the Manchester docks nearby to be unloaded and led along the trail ultimately ending up for sale in local “human commodity” markets.

On the marker was a quote from Royal Navy Commander Verney Lovett Cameron that ended with the heartbreaking sentence, “And I saw one woman still carrying the infant that had died in her arms of starvation.”

Reminded of the crimes against humanity committed on the very soil I was standing, I almost didn’t see the pair of spandex-clad mountain bikers fly around the bend and almost run me over.

It is fascinating to see how the augmented reality of Ingress can go beyond the game and connect its users with local history in a potentially powerful way. Although Ingress is a niche app, Google is likely using the research and experience gained from the app for future business opportunities using location-aware technology. For instance, a companion app called Field Trip sends the user serendipitous notifications about points of interest based on the user’s current location, along with promotions from nearby businesses.

Image credit MacUser/Martin Hajek, © 2013

As smartphones are becoming smarter and faster, location-based applications are quickly becoming mainstream providing many opportunities to promote brands. Games like Ingress and SVNGR, and the mayor designation of users in foursquare could gamify traditional CRM systems such as customer loyalty rewards cards. At the same time, smartphones are reaching a transitional point from internet-enabled phones to intelligent, resourceful digital assistants like Siri and Google Now. Instead of a person hunched over a tiny screen, it is likely that it will soon be a common site for a person to use a wearable computing device like the Pebble smartwatch or the rumored Apple watch to comfortably interact with her other digital devices such as an internet-connected tablet in her backpack.

These devices along with Google glass and its unique sci-fi heads-up-display enable a convenient, organic interface between the digital world and the real world perfect for the enhanced reality of location-based apps. Currently, many brands are stuck in the “pull” phase of commerce, waiting for customers to initiate transactions, especially online. But with the seamless nature of future smart devices, brands will engage their customers targeted not only just through heuristic analysis of dry customer data but also based on real-time context through location, weather, and a host of other relevant variables.

So what does this have to do with health? As a creative mobile photo app, the misconception is that unless you’re a brand with inspiring products or a visually appealing story to tell, then Instagram isn’t for you. Perhaps you’re a hospital marketer wondering what in the world you could take photos of that people would actually want to see. Maybe you’re a health or nutrition brand wondering how being active on Instagram will actually help you affect one’s health behavior change or grow customers.

If you’re struggling with telling your brand’s story, starting with something as simple as a photo may be exactly what you need to push your limits. Sure, your brand’s visual component may not be staring you in the face like it does for brands like Starbucks or Victoria’s Secret but I challenge you to think outside the box, put your creative photo lense on and try using the app to intrigue and inspire customers.

Here are 5 ways your hospital or health brand can use Instagram to tell your story:

1. Take photos of your staff or brand ambassadors: In the age of social media, your followers want to see authentic pictures of your people. Build trust and loyalty by sharing photos of your staff at work, your fans participating in events or people using your product or receiving a service. Arnold Palmer Hospital is one example of a hospital brand showing off their fun loving staff hard at work. As a children’s hospital they do a good job of sharing their child friendly staff and environment.
2. Share a sneak peek photo: Make your followers feel special by rewarding them with a first look at something few have seen yet. This could include a new product, a future ad, a new building or an event.
3. Behind the scenes shots: When I think behind the scenes, Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta is the first brand that comes to mind. The hospital decided to raise awareness for living donor transplants by providing minute-by-minute updates on their social media networks, including photos on Instagram. As a follower, I felt like I was given a once in a lifetime opportunity to be a partof something that most people never have the opportunity to, unless they go to medical school.
4. Photos that embody the lifestyle your brand represents: If you’re a health or healthy lifestyle brand, it’s time for you to start sharing motivational photos and health tips that educate or inspire your followers to live a healthy lifestyle. With 5,009 photos the Institute for Integrative Nutrition is definitely a nutrition and education brand to check out for ideas.
5. Comical or creative displays of a product or service: Chobani is one nutrition food brand doing just this. From sharingfunny pictures of the dog staring at the yogurt drooling, to the yogurt’s travels to the pool or the city, the successful food brand has made its product cool and fun. They’ve turned being healthy into an adventure, an adventure that begins with Chobani.

I love science, especially when research findings justify my self-prescribed glass of wine after a long day. So far, 2013 has not disappointed with new studies on the health benefits of wine. In February, the New England Journal of Medicine announced that roughly 30 percent of heart disease-related deaths can be prevented by switching to a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, nuts, beans … and seven (!) glasses of wine per week. It gets better! Researchers from Detroit discovered resveratrol in red wine isn’t just good for your heart, but may also prevent hearing loss. It seems that an apple a glass of wine a day does, in fact, keep the doctor away. Beer drinkers have reason to celebrate, too. Researchers at Granada University in Spain found beer can help the body rehydrate after a workout better than water or Gatorade. Cheers to that!

With all this great news for wine and beer lovers, how do you communicate these health benefits without waking up with a major PR hangover the morning after?

1. Use humor: A sense of levity in your news signals to people that you are not taking yourself too seriously and also not trying to sell health findings at face value. In the age of memes and Bluntcards, interesting content communicated amusingly gives you a shot of going viral on Facebook and Twitter.

2. Use moderation: This is a no-brainer, but be sure to deliver the important message point about moderation and responsible consumption when linking your beverage client to health benefits. The moderation message is a good rule of thumb for other industries – tanning, for example.

3. Let others do the talking: Every once in a while (or lately, at least once a month), a very reputable organization such as The New England Journal of Medicine releases new research findings that potentially benefit your client. These scientific findings spread in the news like wildfire because the reputation of these scientific institutions is impeccable. Sometimes it’s best to let others (aka the scientists) do the talking and sit back as a brand. Consumers will hear the message loud and clear and connect the dots the next time they are shopping for a bottle of vino.

[Image credits: Writer Unboxed, Very Hilarious, HLN, My 10 Online]

This is a refresh of a previous blog post. I’ve come up with a few more insights about the parallels between crisis management and college basketball.

Forget the Super Bowl or the World Series. For me, the most exciting time in sports is March. That’s because it’s almost time for college basketball’s March Madness! I love that every team in the NCAA basketball tournament – big or small – has a shot at greatness, at least for “one shining moment.” After all, I am a sucker for a good Cinderella story.

I’m always amazed by how much teams must endure to make it to the Final Four and ultimately win a national championship. It’s like being in constant crisis mode. Which got me thinking, are there crisis management lessons to be learned from March Madness?

Keeping with the theme of five – since five players from each team must be on the court at all times – here are my top five crisis tips learned from March Madness:

1.  Prepare for the Opposition. All great coaches know that in order to beat your opponent, you must prepare for your opponent. The same holds true in crisis management. Organizations should conduct crisis audits to identify all the crises they could face and prepare for them accordingly. Unfortunately, far too many organizations neglect crisis planning in favor of other initiatives. While it can take years to build a reputation, it only takes a few minutes to destroy one. You should never be caught without a good playbook during a crisis.
2. Have a Deep Bench. As part of your crisis management planning, it’s important to assemble a crisis response team that represents every department that may be impacted by a crisis and train them. Simulate various crises and run drills at least once or twice a year. Use these training sessions to determine how your crisis plan should be updated or modified.
3. Control the Ball. During a crisis, it’s imperative that you control the flow of information. For the sake of my March Madness metaphor, I’ll refer to this as “controlling the ball.” Particularly when dealing with the media during a crisis, be very clear about when you will provide updates. This is extremely important for making sure you “feed the media beast” with the pertinent information they need, while not becoming completely consumed with responding to the onslaught of media inquiries.
4. Quickness Counts. In basketball, quickness counts. It also counts in crisis management. The first 48 hours of any crisis are the most critical. The reason many companies fail to manage a crisis properly is because they don’t react quickly, especially with communications. If you don’t communicate quickly, a communications void will be created. If you don’t fill it, someone else will. However, the information they provide may be inaccurate or incomplete. It’s better to say something quickly during a crisis than to say nothing at all. It may be tempting to delay communicating during a crisis by saying “no comment” or just staying silent. All that does is make it easier for the media and the public to assume the worst.
5. Shoot From the Outside. The three-point shot revolutionized college basketball. Former Tulane Coach Perry Clarks said that the three-point shot has allowed the mid-majors to better compete with the big guys in college basketball, because players who shoot from the outside can often offset the size and athleticism of their bigger opponents. In crisis communications, shooting from the outside means seeking an outsider’s perspective. Internal politics tend to take over during a crisis. Good leaders anticipate internal politics and counter that by bringing in someone from the outside who can look at the issues without bias. The outsider’s role is not to call the shots or coach during a crisis, but to provide counsel and give an organization a perspective that few company insiders can offer.

Want more crisis management tips? Check out this white paper by Brian Ellis, CRT/tanaka’s executive vice president and leader of our crisis consultancy.

From both a PR and SEO standpoint pitching and reaching out to bloggers has been a trend over the last several years. With over 77 percent of internet users reading blogs it’s a natural place to pitch our client’s story. “Blogger relations” is a skill set that every PR pro needs and getting bloggers to write about our clients is important. However, bloggers can easily get overwhelmed with the amount of content and maintenance it takes to run a successful blog. To combat this fatigue, one strategy that has seen good results is a guest post approach to blogger relations. Rather than pitching a blogger to write about your client/product/initiative, you pitch a pre-crafted “guest post” for their site. If all goes well, the blogger gets free excellent content and you get exposure for your client. It’s a win-win right?

This strategy helps boost search rankings because the post you pitch can be chock full of links that point back to your client’s website. Links are still a huge factor in determining where your website ranks in Google. Links signal popularity to a search engine and we know that popularity (links) combined with relevancy (keywords) create a well ranking website. The link game has shifted over the years but links are still the backbone of SEO and should be sought after. If your client’s website is optimized for search and you’re trying to promote it, you need to do some research before you start pitching bloggers. Here are a few things to research before you pitch a guest blog post:

1. Blog Relevancy

It’s a no brainer but whatever blog you are pitching needs to be extremely relevant to your client’s niche. Pitching a tech article to a blog about backyard gardening will not go over well. If the blog “needs” your content and they publish your article it will not look right in Google’s eyes. Google wants links to look as natural as possible and the site’s that you pitch need to be relevant to your subject matter. Using non-relevant sites to build back links could look like a link scheme to Google and they could in turn un-rank your site which would kill all traffic from search.

How to: The best place to start gathering a list of relevant sites will be through modifying searches or using customized searches in Google. A lot of SEO research programs offer site finder tools as well but the easiest and most cost effective place to start with is Google.

2. Blog Activity

How often are posts going up on the blog you are pitching? Is it a nice looking site? Decent traffic and participation? Getting an article up on a dead site that has only monthly posts will do little. What you want to look for is a site that someone cares about and actively publishes on. A lot of subjective questions fall into the activity research but site traffic is something that can get measured.

How to: Get a free account with Compete to quickly get traffic estimates. Lots of other traffic estimator tools exist so just poke around the web and see which one you like the best.

3. Blog Domain Authority

This is the one technical side to guest posting that needs to get considered. In short, domain authority is a score of 0-100 that represents how a website performs in search engine rankings. Domain Authority is essentially the “strength” of a website. Over 150 signals are used to calculate this metric into one single score and getting a link from a higher scoring site will “pass more juice” than a link from a lower scoring site. However, getting an article on higher scoring site will be more difficult as there is more traffic and competition on sites with high domain authorities.

How to: Targeting sties with a domain authority in 30s or 40s is a good place to start as these sites could grow and their domain authority can jump prospectively. You can easily check the domain authority of the blogs you are pitching at Moonsy. Drop in the blog’s url and it will give you a domain authority number, super easy.

A spreadsheet will be your best friend to keep track of your urls, traffic and domain authority for the site’s you are researching for guest pitching. Once you have completed your research, filter through your collected data and rank the blogs you want to go after. For a more in-depth look at guest posting for SEO purposes I highly recommend checking out the ultimate guide to guest blogging.

By Missy Neff Gould (@NeffGould)

Here in Virginia the legislative session is coming to an end. This is the time when government affairs professionals go back to their normal offices away from the capital, the time when they all rest up, get reacquainted with their families and take long lunches.  Right?  Wrong.

A good government affairs professional won’t let too much time pass before reaching out to decision makers. Here are six tips to better position your company or organization for next year.

1. Say thank you!

The session just ended. Hopefully a legislator (or five or twenty) helped you or your client. Let them know you appreciated their time and interest in your issue.

2. Tell your story.

Your organization is doing big things. Don’t just tell your story to employees, consumers and competitors. Tell your story to decision makers. Email them a press release or news story. Mail an annual report. Growing the size of your workforce? Make sure your legislators know your business.

3. Hit the road.

Make time to visit legislators in their home office. Planning a weekend whitewater rafting trip in WV?  There are no less than 12 legislators between Richmond and the WV border. Surely one is free for lunch on Friday. When the General Assembly is in session legislators don’t have time to learn about your issues. They just might have time on a random Friday in September.

4. Write a letter.

Yes.  A hand-written letter.  Everyone enjoys getting letters. It shows the recipient that you made a special effort. In a world where the average person gets 147 emails a day, a handwritten note is a welcome change.

5. Do your homework.

Going to meet with a legislator or wonder which legislator would be the best to approach about an issue?  Take the time to learn a bit about them.  Most legislators have their own website that they maintain with a bio, photo, and descriptions of policy issues they care about.  A quick Google search can help you with this.  Go a step deeper and learn about their background and campaign donors using the non-profit Virginia Public Access Project.  You can also take a look at the types of bills they have introduced in the past or how they voted on a specific issue.

6.  Don’t just make contact when you need something.

The time has come and you need to make an ask. If you’ve done items 1-4 you are likely on solid ground. If you haven’t spoken to a legislator since sine die, you may want to re-think your approach.

Not all Facebook fans were one-time patients, so reputation certainly has something to do with this – after all, who wants to be a fan of a health system with a bad rap for all their friends to see?

This is part of a growing trend of like-it-or-not transparency, where it’s not about the scores you reveal or post online, it’s the reviews and recommendations publicly given to you when patients post.  The internet is intercepting conversations that used to take place over the fence between neighbors.  You can see exactly what’s being said, and it’s not always pretty.

Whether your hospital wants a popularity boost or you’re shining up a tarnished reputation, here are three strategies for getting back in front of your reviews and reputation online:

•  Keeping your own website up to date is important, but take third party endorsements seriously. You visit Yelp for dinner recommendations, and you can get the downlow on your doctor from Yelp too. HealthGrades is another a go-to when looking for your physician.What are patients rating on these sites?  They’re not looking at fellowships and credentials. They judge based on how long they waited, friendliness, whether they felt the doctor listened and whether they felt the doctor spent enough time with them. The lesson here is not to lose points for the easy things – a clean, well-lit space, timeliness and engaged staff are as important as a doctor who listens. Take a deliberate walk through your spaces and think about the patient point of view. Everything from screensavers to crisp new magazines speak volumes for the kind of care you deliver.Be in charge of your online reputation.  Instead of letting the chips and ratings fall where they may, ask patients to give you reviews on these sites. Just as you see a TripAdvisor sign in a hotel or a ZAGAT sticker in a restaurant window, seek out a mark of good quality and manage it.
  
• Opt for openness. Not having an open Facebook page that allows people to comment is a major *facepalm* – and a lost opportunity.  Facebook isn’t just a brochure, it’s a social environment where people expect to be able to comment.  Without a social function, it’s like having a phone you never answer or a “no comment” in a news story.  Negative comments are scary, but there are good strategies for dealing with them so you can maintain an open environment, fearlessly.
  
• Be more likeable. If potential fans have to guess whether you have a Facebook page or worse, search for it, you’re making it too hard.  Including the Facebook icon on all your materials isn’t enough either – immerse yourself in the Facebook environment. Post something interesting every day that educates people, but also lets them into your world with images or video.  Facebook advertising is cost efficient, so allocate a spend for “sponsored stories” to jump-start word of mouth. This shows friends of fans that their friend has liked or engaged with your page, so when you show up to prospective fans, you’re doing it with an endorsement from your existing fans.

Lastly, it’s important to create a culture of support for capturing great content for social media and for asking patients for likes and reviews. Get doctors, nurses and staff on board with your strategy, and extending the patient relationship to reviews and social media properties can become a seamless part of your hospital’s culture.

So now we know Facebook is literally a matter of life or death. That doesn’t mean it has to kill you.  There are some straightforward strategies to identify, attract and engage your fans – you just have to reach out.  What’s next for your organization when it comes to assessing, reacting or asking for fans and reviews?

I am a cross-drinker – an equal opportunist when it comes to alcoholic beverages. I love wine. I love bourbon. Oh man, I freaking LOVE craft beer. What I’m drinking depends on my mood, the season, who I’m with, how bad my day was, what I’m eating, whether the Yankees won, or perhaps most importantly, what I can afford.

Now that my disposable income-sucking kiddo has joined the family, my taste has tended more toward the affordable gems than the rare, high-ticket bottles I once enjoyed during my split-second, DINK phase. For a few fitskies, I can get a four or six-pack of 12 oz. craft brews perfect for after-work sipping, or paired with my favorite manchego. THAT is the true beauty of craft beer. I think I have personally kept Sierra Nevada, Bell’s and Dogfish Head in the black over the past decade.

Over the past few days, there has been an uproar in the beer community over an article published in The New York Times, entitled “Craft Beer’s Larger Aspirations Cause a Stir.” The author, largely a spirits writer, makes an observation about the rise in large format beers from “high-profile brewers,” namely the “22-ounce ‘bombers,’ 750-milliliter wine bottles, even three-liter jeroboams.” This trend is something he refers to as the “wine-ification” of beer, or craft beers attempt to be as fancy as wine, so that typical wine drinkers might instead pair one of these large format bottles with their porterhouse.

The controversy comes in claiming beer is trying to be more like wine by being paired with good food and stored in large, shareable bottles. The challenge with this statement is two-fold: (1) Craft beer lovers don’t believe beer is trying, or should try to be anything but itself, as a high-quality, shareable, food-pairable product in its own right. (2) Beer has a long history, in fact, of large bottle formats, and only trended toward the typical six-pack format after prohibition when large brewers invested in these bottling lines because a six pack fit more neatly into the newly popular refrigerator.

The author questions whether large format beers turn customers off, because as he puts it, they are “too expensive and, thanks to their typically higher alcohol content, a challenge to finish in one sitting.” He also points out that the big bottle format is “particularly troublesome for merchants and restaurateurs, who say it can be hard to persuade customers to commit to these big, boozy beers.”

My two cents: if craft beer shops found it difficult to move these larger format bottles, you wouldn’t see “shelf after shelf taken over by giants.” Anyone who has trouble finishing this format bottle on their own can share with a friend, or find plenty of selection in the smaller, 12-oz format to keep them satisfied, as this is still the great majority. Besides, who has trouble finishing what equates to two pints of beer, even if it is a little higher in alcohol? Not most beer lovers I know, and certainly not this equal opportunist, craft beer lover.

Cheers!

Photos courtesy of Beer and Whiskey Brothers and Brookstone Beer Bulletin.

As we roll into March and spring finally feels within reach, the season for outdoor activities begins anew – and with it comes a wider range of volunteer opportunities. From participating in runs/walks for a charitable cause to park clean-ups and more, spring tends to inspire people to get out and “do.”

As we’ve discussed before, employee volunteerism is a critical part of any corporate responsibility program, and activities should be tied to your overall strategy and focus areas. Offering your employees the option to volunteer can boost brand loyalty, enhance recruitment and increase employee morale. And while one-day community service activities like those listed above should certainly be a part of the mix, it’s also important for employees to engage in consistent, ongoing volunteer activities throughout the year.

One example of a valuable, ongoing volunteer activity is serving on community boards. At most companies, this activity is more common among the higher-level or senior executives, who can offer a wealth of experience, expertise and community connections to a non-profit organization. However, community board service shouldn’t be limited to those already established in their career and community. The young professionals entering today’s workforce – namely, Millennials – are giving rise to a new generation of employees who are more focused on community consciousness than ever before.

Research shows that many Millennials actively seek out companies with a strong commitment to corporate responsibility. But it’s about more than simply adhering to these values or participating in volunteer events and activities. According to The 2012 Millennial Impact Report, 77 percent of Millennials surveyed are interested in becoming involved in volunteer leadership with a non-profit, wanting to see more opportunities to lead on boards and committees. However, the report found that only 20 percent of those surveyed currently serve on a board or committee.

As a Millennial young professional who does serve on a community board (the Associate Board for William Byrd Community House, a local non-profit in Richmond, Va.), I highly encourage other young professionals to seek these kinds of volunteer leadership opportunities, which benefit not only the individual but the company, the non-profit and the community as well. Here are five reasons why young professionals should serve in a leadership role with a non-profit organization:

• Development – Serving on a community board can help develop and/or strengthen valuable skills that can be applied in the work place, such as communication, collaboration, time management, multi-tasking, strategic thinking and leadership skills.
• Networking – From junior board members to the board of directors to other members of the community with ties to the non-profit, board service offers a great networking opportunity for young professionals just beginning to build their careers and place within the corporate community.
• Company-Community Ties – Board service is a great way to build ties between your company and the community, and, in some cases, your younger employees may have more time to offer to non-profits than your higher-level executives. Plus, if these company-community relationships are formed early in the employee’s career, they have the potential to last for many years to come as the employee remains at and moves up within the company.
• Setting an Employee Volunteerism Standard – If the young professionals at a company become ingrained with this sense of community service early on, they are likely to carry it with them throughout their careers. As they move into higher positions within the company, they will set a standard for volunteerism and community involvement that future generations of employees can follow.
• Community Engagement – Many young professionals are at a stage of their career in which they can choose to work – and therefore live – wherever they want. Serving on a community board gets them more deeply engaged in the community overall, which increases their likelihood to remain in that city. And as this USA Today article explains, capturing Millennials/young professionals and convincing them to stay is vital to the health of any city.

Which of your employees are more involved in the community – the young professionals or the higher-level executives? Does your company offer and/or support employee volunteerism opportunities? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo credit: alumni.buffalostate.edu

Proof that ex-NBC chief Jeff Zucker has his work cut out for him. Zucker took the reins at CNN just over a month ago, firing talent and, according to the New York Post, calling on reporters and editors “to broaden their definition of news and include a greater selection of topics.”

Good advice, but no wonder ratings are dropping if the results of change are:

• All day coverage February 14 of the Carnival Triumph’s tug to port – that’s eight hours of “poop in plastic bags.”
• Yet another Piers Morgan interruption party with gun rights advocate John Lott Jr. February 27.
• HOURS of coverage and panel discussions on the Jodi Arias trial – umm, who is that again? And panel discussions?
• While others covered political news, CNN covered Beyonce’s Super Bowl press conference where she proved she could sing and lip-sync.

Zucker, halting the ratings slide at CNN will take tightening the definition of news, not broadening it to… this?

Get the CNN brand back to what’s missing from primetime cable news: news for grownups.

How refreshing would calm, measured, professional, unbiased broadcast journalism be for the primetime demo?

On Monday, February 25^th, CNN Money released this article regarding your new HR memo to all Yahoo! employees:

“To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side,” the memo said. “That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices.”

Marissa…I have two words for you: Girlfriend, please.

We all know that by banning telecommuting, you are desperately attempting to rescue Yahoo! from lacking to adapt with growing technology, generate meaningful user content (unless “What one’s favorite color signifies” is what you dub as meaningful content) and the inability to connect advertisers with your audience. (If you need a few other reasons why your company will continue to flounder, you can read all about it on Forbes…here OR here.)

If you are trying to set a new precedent for employees at major corporations in the U.S., in my humble opinion, I feel that you are holding out a giant middle finger to every hard-working parent in this country who is trying to achieve the ultimate work/life balance.

Were you aware that the average cost of daycare is $250 a week for one child, which equals up to $13,000 a year? In some cases, daycare costs exceed the monthly rent. You may want to revise your Yahoo! Family Child Care Program (line #4).

What kind of discount will you now offer those employees who have to suddenly account for daycare costs when they balance their already over-stretched checking accounts? Especially  those who worked from home full time and were successfully managing the work/life balance for no additional cost?

Marissa…it is possible to have it all. This past year, my husband made the move to work from home full time, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Granted, his days are very busy, and he’s usually glued to the home office chair. However, he’s able to be home and provide a watchful eye over our 12-year-old when he gets off the school bus every day at 3:20 p.m. He’s also able to provide at-home supervision on teacher work days, snow days and sick days. This also allows me to focus on my full-time schedule at my job and allows me to save my vacation time for exactly that…VACATION! Not to mention, use the funds for what would otherwise go to daycare costs into other important things…RETIREMENT!

And what about your employees’ salaries? Will they now receive more than the average annual salary increase of 2-3 percent? For those with growing financial responsibilities (such as DAYCARE), what can you give your employees – to retain great talent? And since the entire world is watching, why don’t you set a new precedent for pay increases, since most middle-class family incomes haven’t risen for more than 20 years.

What’s a working gal to do if she can’t ask for a $13,000 pay raise, or can’t afford to relocate (especially during a real estate crisis when most average households lost 40 percent of their wealth during the recession)? Remember, the majority of us working women are not wealthy CEOs and don’t have the support we would need to swiftly return to work two weeks after giving birth or the clout to build a personal nursery next to their office at work.

Marissa…be smart. Revise your new no-work-from-home policy. Your staff will love you. After all, whether they work in their pajamas or in khakis at the office…it boils down to doing one thing.

Do work, Son…do work.

Sincerely,

Another hard-working woman with solidified and flexible workforce rights at a wonderful company.

It started out as a typical Sunday afternoon. My two sons, inspired by the previous night’s bedtime story of the Avengers, transformed into Iron Man and the “Credible” Hulk to fight evil doers in the basement. My wife was at the store rummaging for milk, school lunches and snacks. We take turns making this weekly run, but never with the boys if we want to avoid Lucky Charms down on aisle five and steely stares from those who aren’t sensitive to the mayhem of shopping with six- and four-year-old boys. So with the Avengers fighting as one, I grabbed my cup of coffee and iPad to catch up on stuff.

Ten minutes in, everything tipped. It wasn’t the coffee cup capsizing when Iron Man decked the Hulk beside me (though it was close). Instead the “tipping” was regarding my ritual of catching up on the score of quadrant four emails from the previous week. I rationalize that most of these emails are educational – alerting me to the latest happenings in PR and marketing. They are from our trades, associations and bloggers that I read to stay ahead, and honestly, to feel guilt-free before the Monday Madness begins again. Those emails that multiply like rabbits – accumulating so rapidly that our ex-Marine IT Czar gets in my face about clogging up the server.

So after those ten minutes, the inspiration to continue reading just wasn’t there. I deleted those emails, powered off the iPad and picked up the New York Times.

Wouldn’t you know it; among the articles I ran across was one by Jenna Wortham: “When Emails Turn From Delight To Deluge.” Was it a sign from above? It was Sunday, after all. That’s my email box, littered with seemingly pertinent, educational information – information that comes in all shapes and forms, from white papers, eBooks, webinars and infographics, by-lined articles and even cartoons – always  tactical and cleverly positioned as “best practices.” Emails with subject lines such as:

How Your B2B Content Marketing and Sales Can Work Hand-in-Hand

2013: The Year of Integrated Digital Marketing

Vine: How can brands get social engagement in six seconds?

Oh, and lest I forget the one that pushed me over the edge…

The USPS is Going to Stop Delivering Mail on Weekends, Should You Start Delivering Emails?

NO! HECK NO!!!

My choice to turn it all off wasn’t because the information wasn’t enlightening or useful. Some of it was. Maybe my frustration had been fueled by an Alfred Tennyson quote that I’d heard the day before:

“There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds.”

Sure, Tennyson was talking about religious creeds, but though it was Sunday, it was the PR and marketing creeds (not religion) muddling my inbox that made me question the value of our focus as an industry. It made me doubt that amidst a revolution (really, a repackaging) of the “come and get it” content marketing movement taking place in our industry, we may often lose sight of the strategic and creative side of what we do and how we deliver value. Among the rise of social media platforms that are simply a means to distribute the content, have we become ants marching to the proverbial “this is how you do it?” Are we focused on delivering value or are we just cranking out noise?

We are communicators, engagers and even sometimes, entertainers. But our higher purpose and value to our clients is to do much more than communicate and engage with their audiences. No, what we are in the business of doing is INSPIRING our clients’ audiences. If what we communicate or the ways we engage with our clients’ audiences doesn’t INSPIRE them to an action, well then, it’s just noise. It’s like a status post on Facebook that puts out a plea to like a page in order to reach a milestone of “likes.” If what we do doesn’t inspire or help achieve a business goal (such as to get the public to support a cause, voters to vote for a candidate, employees to be motivated to contribute to their company’s goals, investors to invest in their company, prospects and customers to buy products or services and tell others to do so, etc., etc.), then we have failed.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the noise, and lose sight of the value of inspiration of what we are capable of doing. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) defines PR as “building mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics” along with a set of processes as a management function. The American Marketing Association (AMA) is even more transactional in its definition of marketing as an “activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.” And our industry has gone rabid as well, foaming at the mouth with customer engagement strategies and programs. Some recently even have adopted the ideal of “engage” in their taglines.

The point is that we provide value only when we are able to “fill (our clients’ audiences) with the urge or ability to do or feel something.” That’s the definition of inspiring. I am not talking about getting your client to 1,000 “likes.” Great brands inspire us to do or feel something. Their communications and marketing follows suit – it’s inspirational. It is not simply an exercise of connecting and “engaging.” Inspiration comes through emotion, storytelling, sharing experiences and reminders of our humanity. The best brands make us think and do and dream – all with positive business implications. You don’t have to look far to find those great brands that INSPIRE. They do it with their advertising and content, across their interactions via social media channels and through the customer experiences they create and deliver in-store and online.

The honest doubt I have is that there may be far too much action without inspiration. Our daily media outreach, posts on Facebook and Twitter, mobile marketing and content, may not fill the people with whom we are engaging with the urge or ability to do or feel something. Yes, Seth Godin is correct that we are in the “connection economy,” but without inspiration, our connections are worthless.

We are the professionals who build mutually beneficial relationships with our clients’ audiences. What we have to do is to think beyond the transaction of communicating and engaging, to INSPIRING. We have to switch our mindset from customer engagement to inspirational PR and marketing. PR and marketing that comes in all shapes and forms, but that stirs emotions, rouses spirits and galvanizes conviction. And above all, stimulates action.

So what am I going to do about those emails? I have hope. As one expert noted in the New York Times article, “We might try to keep emails brief, taking inspiration from Twitter’s 140-word character limit.”

Amen.

By Caroline Helper (@forgetburgundy)

Ok, so that’s not me, but she sure does look like she’s musing over some booze, there, doesn’t she?

I started my wine blog, Forget Burgundy, two years ago. After a year of blogging, I was finally starting to pick up work as a freelancer, while slowly coming to terms with the fact that no one in New York actually made a living just being a writer. Getting paid at all was a minor miracle – and not a very lucrative one at that. I was lucky to find an editor willing to pay 20 cents a word. For 500 words and hours of wrestling with my keyboard and tangling with the empty page, I was lucky to get $100. To make rent, all I had to do was compose roughly 6,000 brilliant words a month. To avoid chronic gout from overconsumption of Cup-O-Noodles, all I had to do was string together another 2,000 carefully chosen combinations of verbs, adverbs, and nouns. To make matters only a little more complicated, unlike Hemingway, Fitzgerald, or Hunter S. Thompson, I was a wine writer whose intake of alcohol directly corresponded to a decreased output of creative work.

While trying to figure out what to write for my blog post this week (creativity is a fickle friend who tends to come and go as she pleases) a colleague suggested I write about how I turned my blog into a job. And gosh, what a great post that would have been! But, to be perfectly honest, one had very little to do with the other. I come to work every day borne on the wings of Craigslist – another story for another post.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t things I learned writing my wine blog that translated well to my work in wine PR. Besides a frightening familiarity with wine esoterica and an infuriating need to correct misusage of the word “varietal” (it’s an adjective, not a noun, unless you’re referring to a wine made from a singular grape!), there are quite a few valuable things I learned writing a wine blog that have helped me make the transition from starving blogger to merely broke wine PR pro. Over my next few blog posts I intend to share them with you one at a time. Why not all at once? Because of all the things I picked up during my tenure as a professional writer, brevity was never one of them and I’m a girl who loves her adverbs as much as a good glass of Tempranillo.  And so, lesson #1:

Know your industry and know the players.

Imagine this: You’re invited to a cocktail party by a date who’s really into New Wave French Cinema, where the rest of the guests share a similar passion, and you have one Godard film in your pocket. Sure, it’s not the only thing you’ll talk about at the party, but you can bet it’s something people will be talking to you about a lot. How many times do you think you’ll get away with reciting the smart thing you have to say about that Gordard film before you get bored by your own opinion, resign yourself to nodding silently, and start grasping at straws (“Brigitte Bardot? She’s my favorite!”)? It won’t take long before everyone decides you have nothing to contribute to the conversation and breezes right by you while your date floats across the room to the ingénue with the bangs and beret.

While this scenario may be a bit particular to my own personal neuroses (but come on, high five for knowing Godard was New Wave!), it’s a great illustration of what its like to walk into a room filled with wine industry types. Importers, distributors, retailers, sommeliers, writers – they love nothing more than to geek out about cool new wines, producers, regions, and scandals. To walk into a room of wine professionals without something interesting to say, some insight to share, some tasting note to dole out, or some tidbit of news is to walk right off the edge of the plank into a sea swimming with sharks.  If I paint my fellow wine-soaked compatriots with a vicious stripe, you must forgive me – but one of the reasons I joined their ranks is because the wine folks that have earned those stripes can sniff out BS just as quickly as a taint of Brettanomyces, and have very low tolerance for either.

The wine industry is filled with people who are passionate about something that is as subjective and visceral as it is technical and precise. A good wine is the result of the marriage of intuition and expertise – every glass is the product of an expensive game of chance and exact calculation. Understanding what that means takes time and many many glasses of wine. To be passionate about wine requires a depth of knowledge that demands dedication – anyone can build a cellar filled with the best vintages from rockstar producers. Well, ok, anyone with the cash for it – and most of the time that’s not anyone in a room filled with wine industry folk. Which kind of makes their dedication to this fickle thing all the more amazing.  It illustrates that, perhaps, in a way, they’re much more dedicated to the idea of great wine than to that which they so rarely have access.

And so it comes down to the romance of it – a sickeningly romantic thing to say in the first place. And it also brings us back to those horrid French cinephiles. Yes, they can be snooty and intimidating, but at the end of the day, all they want is to find people who understand the craft, the magic, and the romance of good wine. What they don’t want is someone who thinks they love wine because they like getting drunk. Or dismisses all Chardonnays with a nod to Kendall-Jackson. Or doesn’t know who Robert Parker is. And if there are a few characters along the way who make for interesting cocktail conversation, well, that’s not the worst thing either.

Photo courtesy of David Akin’s On the Hill.

By Kelly O’Keefe (@kellyokeefe)

What a month it’s been for brand blunders. In recent days, the world’s largest cruise line, one known for its luxury accommodations, handed its travelers plastic bags and asked them to use them for their solid waste. That image may revile you, but fear not, Carnival’s owner, Mickey Arison, is made of sterner stuff. He didn’t let the plight of his passengers interrupt his plans to watch the Miami Heat game from his VIP suite.

In a less unfortunate incident, another category leading brand, Maker’s Mark, decided on a great plan to increase production: Just water down the bourbon! They figured that nobody would mind too much if they just poured a little more tap water in the barrels. They figured wrong.

Maker’s Mark was forced to quickly abandon the new recipe after a costly customer revolt, while Carnival is due for years of lawsuits and a brand that’s sinking faster than the Titanic. In both cases, managers responsible for protecting the brand made mistakes that anyone on the outside could see from a mile away. And actually, that underscores the problem.

Instead of looking at the issue from a distance, like the public and the media look at it, most companies are observing from an internal perspective. The voices ringing in their ears are those of the CFO and other managers, eager to protect the bottom line without realizing the significant risk that lies outside their doors.

We may not find ourselves in situations like these very often, but all of us are at risk of falling into the same trap. How often do we make a decision about the best way to address a customer or client issue from the comfort of the management suite, and how much of our thinking is about what’s best for us, not the customer?

The best way to protect our brands and reputations is by looking at situations from the customer point of view. We must work very hard to imagine what they’re feeling and thinking. If Maker’s Mark had really been in touch with the customer’s point of view, would they have watered down their own booze? If Mickey Arison had more empathy for his stranded passengers, would he have jetted in for the game, or helicoptered out to the ship to see how he could help? And if he did spend some time on the ship, among the passengers, how might Carnival’s response have differed? I’m betting he would have moved heaven and Earth to get the travelers some relief.

The lesson for all of us is simple: When faced with business challenges, get out of the conference room and into the customers’ living room. The answers are never hard to find.

Images courtesy of Reuters, Forbes.

On Sunday night, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences continued its quest to appeal to a younger audience. The show enlisted Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane to host the 85th Academy Awards – oh, wait, we mean “The Oscars.” This year, the Academy decided to rebrand the program in an effort to portray a younger, more relevant tone on the heels of a hipper, sharper-tongued Golden Globes.

A declining viewership among ages 18 to 49 prompted the Academy’s desperation to attract younger viewers. The Academy was counting on McFarlane to appeal to young male viewers. As anticipated, he opened the Oscar show with a round of racy humor and one-liners that showcased his juvenile brand of humor. No offense to McFarlane. He did what he does – crass humor. If anything, he was pretty restrained and nowhere near as snarky or mean-spirited as Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes, the Oscar’s fun, younger sister.

But, we think it cracked the façade a bit. In the past, the Academy has been recognized as the “legit” or “high end” awards show. This year’s approach draws back the curtain on a rating hungry group – similar to every other awards show. It’s just one more respected brand trying too hard to get Millennials’ attention.

So, for a brand that is seen as prestigious, when did tradition become a bad thing? Despite the Oscars’ attempts to portray an edgier brand, the song-and-dance-filled ceremony created a disconnect as McFarlane’s bits likely reminded viewers of the days of Bob Hope. In a performance with William Shatner, McFarlane was advised to keep it classy – which was followed by ballroom dancing, soft shoe and musical numbers reminiscent of Busby Berkeley and Broadway’s Ziegfeld Follies.

McFarlane’s envelope-pushing, pop culture-skewing comedy was in sharp contrast to the Academy’s straight-laced theme in years past, yet somehow it tried to blend with old-fashioned entertainment and a respect for Hollywood tradition. Some argue that McFarlane’s inappropriateness was a poor example of the Academy’s celebration of the art of cinema and etiquette that’s appropriate for all audiences. Conservative viewers were not impressed with the show tunes inspired number entitled “We Saw Your Boobs,” which had McFarlane calling out actresses in movies that exposed their chests. We think it seemed more suited for the MTV Movie Awards instead of the pomp and pageantry of the Oscars.

However, amidst all the glitz and glory, the Academy did find a way to reach a younger audience and demonstrate its commitment to growing and fostering the next generation of filmmakers by inviting college students to compete for a chance to be part of the awards show. By involving up-and-comers, the Academy appears to be making headway in building a new base of brand advocates – not just for the students who won the competition and attended, but for all Millennials watching their peers being treated with appreciation and respect. It was a smart move toward the Academy’s goal of engaging a younger generation. Still, the true test will be whether the Academy is committed to this initiative over the next few years. If they drop the ball or discontinue the program it will seem inauthentic, possibly damaging such a prestigious brand.

What did you think of last night’s show?

Image credits: Getty Images

By Kim Blake (@kimkblake)

Each February, we focus on our hearts.  I’m not talking about Valentine’s Day, but rather the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.  The goal of the campaign has been to shift awareness of heart disease as the number one killer of women, which was at just 30% in 1997.  Today, 56% of all women are now aware of the devastating impact of heart disease.

However, a new study shows that we still have room for improvement among African-American and Hispanic women. In particular, this is important because African-American women have the highest risk of heart disease and Hispanic women have the highest risk of diabetes, which is often linked to heart disease.  The new report from the American Heart Association demonstrates that awareness has grown among these audiences (from 15% among African-American women and 20% among Hispanic women in 1997 to 36% and 34% awareness, respectively), but that there remains a significant gap.

Has the American Heart Association tried to do too much by focusing generally on women with “Go Red”?  Probably not, as substantial progress has been made, overall.  However, successful minority health education campaigns require a more tailored approach.

Interestingly, when researching successful minority health education campaigns, I found very few examples.  One standout was Rap-It-Up, a 15-year partnership between BET and the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is the largest public education effort on HIV/AIDS and related issues directed specifically toward African-Americans.  Six years into the program, a survey found that more than half of all African-Americans (58%) and 9 in 10 (92%) African-American 18 – 24 years olds had heard of Rap-It-Up. After reviewing the campaign, I couldn’t help but think of two successful awareness campaigns that CRT/tanaka helped develop on behalf of our clients: Let’s Get Real and Reggae-TONE Your Body/Ponte en Forma con Reggaeton. 

Bon Secours Hampton Roads, a health system, collaborated with CRT/tanaka to create Let’s Get Real, a program to address the high incidence and death rate from heart disease among African-American women in the region it serves.  CRT/tanaka helped develop Reggae-TONE Your Body for client AMERIGROUP Corporation, who manages publicly-funded health programs, with a goal of increasing healthy habits among the organization’s Hispanic members.

Based upon the learnings of these programs, I’ve identified five tips for creating successful minority health education campaigns.

1)      Partner with relevant people and organizations.  Health education campaigns are not generally compelling on their own.  It’s important to bring in key community leaders and organizations to make them relevant to your target audience.  They also help to provide a sanity check to ensure that your program will resonate with the community.  For Let’s Get Real, Bon Secours Hampton Roads partnered with churches, the local chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and a well-respected news anchor to help deliver their message to the community.  Rap-It-Up involved musicians, athletes and actors and had the powerful media platform provided by BET.

2)      Incorporate healthcare professionals in a relatable way.  Healthcare professionals play a critical role in helping people reduce their risk for conditions such as heart disease, but they are not universally trusted.  In fact, a recent study showed that Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to report lack of trust in medical professionals.  With this in mind, Reggae-TONE Your Body and Let’s Get Real each took healthcare providers outside the clinical setting and incorporated them in events where participants could ask questions in a non-threatening group environment, such as a Q & A session or panel discussion.  For non-English speaking audiences, it’s especially important to ensure that the participating healthcare professional is bi-lingual and that all campaign materials are written in relevant languages.

3)      Don’t make your audience come to you.  The beauty of the Rap-It-Up campaign is that it incorporated information with existing BET programming.  There was a mobile element that took the message out to festivals and community events.  People didn’t need to do anything outside their regular routine to absorb the campaign message.  For Reggae-TONE Your Body, we were able to effectively reach Hispanic families by hosting events in local community centers and shopping malls where we knew our target audience gathered.  Similarly, Let’s Get Real hosted events in large churches, often following services.

4)      Inject fun in information.  Heart disease isn’t fun and talking about it certainly isn’t interesting for the average person.  The same goes for HIV/AIDS prevention, but Rap-It-Up managed to make it interesting with a mobile tour, including teen forums, and a short subject film competition.  Let’s Get Real’s Rhythm of Life program wove African dance movements and music into an exciting aerobic workout.  Reggae-TONE Your Body involved participants in an Iron Chef-style cooking competition, judged by a celebrity chef from Telemundo.  At the end of each of these memorable programs, participants would leave with more information about their risk for a particular condition and something that they could do to help reduce that risk. 

5)      Give people something to do.  Information sticks with people when they have to apply it through some kind of action.  Each of these campaigns asked the target audience to participate in some way.  As mentioned before, Rap-It-Up involved participants in a short-subject film competition.  Let’s Get Real’s Tree of Life program showed people how to map out their family heart history using a special family tree.  Reggae-TONE Your Body events taught high-energy reggaeton dances and culminated in a competition, judged by local radio and television personalities.

In healthcare, our education campaigns tend to focus on reducing your risk.  When it comes to creating an effective minority health education campaign, the real risk is taking a one-size-fits-all approach.

by Rebekah Polster (@BekinBklyn)

Wine and liquor brands are bombarded just about every week to sponsor an event, whether it’s an art opening hosted by a friend of a friend’s friend or the Grammy’s. These “intimate” events range in grandeur and product amount, but at the end of the day, what does your booze client really get out of it?

This time of year especially, I’m on high alert – I find myself constantly checking out the brands both listed on the step-and-repeats and sitting on tables being sipped by the stars. I’ve spotted wines being poured at Fashion week and anticipate plenty of Oscar party step-and-repeats featuring liquor brands. But I’m in the biz– it’s my job to notice what’s being poured where.

So, do the normal folk actually notice what Champagne sits on the tables at the Golden Globes every year? (It’s Moët Chandon by the way.)

My clients have mostly been sponsors of low-budget events, such as a store opening, something at Fashion Week, or at a friend (of a friend’s) art show. However, big budget events require booze, too. Not only are those events requesting the wines and spirits, but participation often commands a hefty price for the sponsorship. Now, not only are you on the hook for product donation, but also payment, ahem, I mean donation.

Let’s start with the big guys. To get your brand’s name on the step-and-repeat for one of these larger events, it will cost anywhere from $25,000-35,000. To get your product into a goody bag? That’ll be another $10,000, please. To have your brand’s name in the title of the event? Priceless. But seriously? Somewhere in the range of $50,000. And don’t forget, the bottles upon bottles of booze cost money too. Did I mention, you’re also responsible for POS materials and making sure your brand is looking hot? Ca-ching!

So, what is the return on investment?

For these big-budget events, it’s all about impressions. The sponsors can say that thousands to millions of people will see the brand, and the taste-makers/celebrities will be sipping them. To sweeten the deal, they usually throw in some tickets to the event for the clients and brand reps to attend. Always a bonus.

And think about it: if your brand’s name is on the step and repeat, and celebrities are photographed in front of it, that image will travel the world of online media, make the rounds and get in front of the eyeballs of millions of people. True, they might not necessarily notice the name behind the celeb, but it’s there, it’s in print, er, online, and will be around whenever someone does a search for that celebrity for ever more. For years, Chopin Vodka sponsored the Santa Barbara Film Awards and some of the largest celebrities were shot in front of the Chopin backdrop, from Angelina Jolie, to Penelope Cruz to Sandra Bullock… and when you search for their names, there is always an image of the Chopin logo behind them!

What if a brand is on the smaller side, with a smaller budget, and pouring is the only option. What happens then? Is it worth it?

As someone who has stood at a table and poured during a consumer event, I can say that the feedback is 50/50. Often times you just get people who want their wine and then they’re done with you. However, there is that beacon of hope when someone actually shows interest in what they’re drinking. Many times, this kind of interest in the booze comes from paid attendance – if consumers pay to attend an event, their more likely to be interested in what they’re ingesting. Usually, if it’s a free event they could care less. According to a colleague, about 60% of consumers who attend a paid event where she is pouring a client’s wine show interest in the wine and want to learn more. Where you might lose in impressions, you gain in a person, perhaps, going to their liquor store and asking for your brand.

Like any good marketing event, you need to know your audience. Who is the brand’s key demographic? What are their interests? Would the brand be better suited to Fashion Week? Or an art opening? Whatever the event might be, your message needs to be uniform.

It’s interesting to understand basic sponsorship – where the sponsor is coming from and where you’re coming from. At the end of the day, you want to make the most of any event for your client and get your wine or liquor in the spotlight. The brand needs to be visible and identifiable, in order to grow its following. If you have the cash and happen to spend $50,000 in the process, so be it. At least you get to see some celebs walk down the red carpet.

By Al Davis, VP of Creative Services at CRT/tanaka

As part of branding projects we often have to create a new logo. The client will pronounce the things they would like the logo to portray, which usually reads as a list of positive attributes such as; trustworthy, forward thinking, intelligent, strong, and so on. And although there are some bits of knowledge to pick up from such information, it is essentially missing where the true meaning of logos are derived.

Let’s look at some logos, what the client/designer hoped to represent, and what meanings they conjure up now.

Swastika:

The swastika is an ancient religious symbol of luck and prosperity. Its name comes from the Sanskrit “svasti,” meaning well-being. Unfortunately, one client’s actions have wrapped this geometric shape with a different message that renders further usage prohibitive.

BP:

“Designed in a green and yellow sunflower pattern, the logo represents energy in its many forms.” The symbol itself speaks to the environment and sunny days, however the company’s actions have turned the mark into a symbol synonymous with carelessness, irresponsibility, and not so sunny days for people and planet.

Enron:

“So we tried to develop a new logo that would reflect the dynamic company Enron has become. It will be recognized as the logo of a company leading the energy industry into the next century, into the next millennium.” Kenneth Lay, chairman of Enron. Later to be rechristened the “crooked E,” it now represents the standard for corporate fraud and corruption. Whoops. (Still a beautifully executed design)

Hyundai:

“The ellipse outline indicates the company’s global expansion and the stylized, slanted ‘H’ is symbolic of two people (customer and company) shaking hands.” The Hyundai Motor Company began to manufacture models with its own technology in 1988 and the cars were often perceived as unreliable and undrivable due to their build quality.” A dedication to changing its manufacturing and improving the end product has resulted in a complete turnaround for what the very same logo represents today. “Hyundai Motor Co., … won its second North American Car of the Year award in four years…” to add to a long list of other achievements.

And one of my all time favorites that few may recognize:

Lucas: This is the logo of Lucas Electronics, who today states they are “a leading force in the automotive marketplace, delivering premium quality products throughout the world.” Could be.

I became familiar with Lucas products while working as a mechanic on Triumph and Norton motorcycles in the 1960s, or thereabouts. Lucas had supplied all the electrical components for these bikes for years, and the quality of the components gave rise to an entire new tagline developed by the end-user: “Lucas. The Prince of Darkness.”

A few other monickers that were stuck on the name Lucas: Get home before dark; The patent holder for the short circuit; Inventor of the self-dimming headlamp; and lastly (although there are plenty more), one that unfortunately didn’t come to fruition: If Lucas made guns, wars would not start.

When all these logos were first developed I’m sure the client requested many of the same qualities that people ask for today. But that’s not how a logo works. Paul Rand (one of the century’s greatest designers) states in Design, Form and Chaos, “A logo derives meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around. A logo is less important than the product it signifies; what it represents is more important than what it looks like.”

Indeed. Good design cannot overcome bad behavior.

Infographics took the PR and content marketing world by storm about a year and a half ago. In case you missed it, an infographic is an visually engaging illustration that brings data and facts to life, while telling a story. Essentially, infographics give jazz hands to what could be boring data.  Very social media and blog friendly, they are also easy to share.

Here are a few ways to make sure your infographic stands out from crowd and generates the media attention it deserves.

1. A Story Line – Before you get started with design, you need to map out the story you want your infographic to tell. It needs a beginning, middle and end, supported with compelling factoids and data. One of the most successful infographics we created was this one for Air New Zealand, which tells the story of their 30-year anniversary of their Los Angeles to London route. From the amount of food consumed, to the number of miles flown and top pop songs, we covered the gamut in an engaging way (so engaging, it was picked up by leading travel blog, Jaunted). Here’s just a snippet:

2. Stats, Stats, Stats – At the core of a good infographic is compelling statistical data. Data that is interesting, but might cause your eyes to glaze over if it were presented merely as numbers and graphs. For instance, in our work with Web.com, we do a small business owner survey every year. We recognize that business stats can sometimes be less-than-scintillating. An infographic was the perfect way to bring our data to life. Visit the full infographic on the Web.com microsite.

3. Timely – Like all things in PR, it’s great if you can time your infographic around a newsworthy event. We recently worked with the Hass Avocado Board on an infographic illustrating just how many avocadoes fans consume around the Big Game. Timeliness helps with media relations too, as this infographic was featured in Shape and Fitness. Check out the full version.

4. Facebook-Friendly – One of the best aspects of online content is its ability to be repurposed. Infographics can be  transformed very easily into Facebook posts. Just snip out parts of the infographic into Facebook-friendly sizes: 403×403 for regular posts and 843×403 for highlighted posts. Tip: Be sure to have your logo and a URL at the bottom of each snippet, so if they are shared, your company will receive the credit it deserves.

Check out these Facebook posts created from a Bridgestone Winter Driving infographic. The perfect sizes for sharing on Facebook:

5. A Killer Landing Page – When you are in the early planning stages of creating your infographic, be sure you’re also thinking about where it’s going to live… it will need its own landing page. When people search, how are they going to find your infographic? Be sure to identify SEO keywords about your infographic and include them two or three times in the copy on your landing page. Have share buttons for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest ready-to-go at the top of the page, as well as a download button.

6. Let’s GO, SEO – Infographics are perfect for generating inbound links. But, it’s your job as the infographic’s creator to optimize it properly. You can do this with a simple WordPress plug-in, Embed Code Generator. This plug-in creates an embed code for your infographic, ensuring that it’s easily shared and generating links back to your site.

7. Pitch and Syndicate – Now that you’ve created a very cool, optimized infographic and an amazing landing page, it’s time to make sure it’s seen by your audience! In addition to a targeted blogger and web outreach strategy, we suggest using a distribution service, like BrandPoint. This combination of earned-media and syndicated distribution will increase the reach of your infographic significantly.

Have any extra thoughts and tips for infographics? Share in the comments, below!

February 14^th evokes a variety of responses. For some, it’s a day they’d rather forget, while for others, it means being in the doghouse if they do forget. But for the 117,032 people awaiting an organ, February 14^th is National Donor Day.

Consider these statistics from The National Network of Organ Donors:

• 19 people die every day in this country waiting for an organ transplant
• Every 11 seconds, someone in the U.S. is added to the organ transplant list
• 1 organ donor can save up to 8 lives

And according to Virginia-based LifeNet, a national organ procurement organization, if everyone who could donate an organ did, there would be no waiting list. So, how do we get there?

In a word, millennials.

I’m not suggesting that they are the only eligible donors; rather, they are the perfect audience to jump-start the effort. While most hospital marketers are focused on targeting women, boomers or financial donors –all of which are legitimate targets –many hospitals, and particularly those with transplant programs, are missing a key audience – millennials! They’re socially-conscious activists and highly engaged in social networks. From an organ donation standpoint, they could raise awareness, facilitate new registrants and provide additional “documentation” among friends and family with regard to their wishes, potentially minimizing some of the historical barriers to actual organ donation.

Mark Zuckerberg must agree with me. Last spring, Facebook added an organ donor option to the Facebook timeline. Though more than 100,000 Facebookers signed up to be organ donors within the first few days, the surge dissipated.  Why?

Short attention spans, for one. Organ donation, like most things in health care, is not top of mind for most people, nor is it something they really want to think about. They need a reason. As Brian Solis told Forbes, “Effective social activism must connect online engagement with offline action.” Registering as an organ donor lends itself well to integrating these two things. Solis went on to say that where most brands or campaigns fall short is the follow-up plan after the initial communication to educate and influence. Without it, he says, people are simply “participating as personal avatars without any actual involvement.”

So what can hospitals and other organizations do to avoid using social media simply to create avatars?

1. Start with a strategy. I know what you’re thinking – “duh.” But it happens all the time. A surefire way to waste your limited marketing dollars is to start with tactics. I don’t care how shiny the penny, or how impassioned the request –if you want results, start by defining the desired outcome, develop a strategy and then –and only then –should you identify the best tactics for achieving your goals. Is Twitter the best tactic? Maybe Facebook or YouTube? Perhaps some combination? Even if Facebook is the best tactic, consider how to use it most effectively –should you create a Facebook tab? Do you know the latest rules for advertising on Facebook? It all depends on your strategy.
2. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Did I mention the need for repetition? You will tire of your message much more quickly than your audience. In fact, just about the time you decide you can’t possibly develop one more communication or advertisement with “those messages,” is about the time it will start to stick in the minds of your target audience (assuming you began with a strategy). And it’s not just about repeating your message in one channel –look for ways to repurpose and rephrase your content across multiple channels. This will widen your net while also reinforcing your message with many.
3. Move fast and hit hard. This is one of the must haves for captivating millennials. I realize that for most hospitals, the word fast does not reflect your cultural norms. But if you want to capture an important part of your base, you need to engage with millennials where they are –on social networks –and in real time. You cannot “do” social networking by committee or wait until next week’s meeting to respond. That is not to say you shouldn’t have discussions around strategy , identify those with primary accountability and create “guardrails” for what’s acceptable and what’s not. But once that’s established, you’ll have to pick up the pace. Communicating successfully with millennials should include a clear call to action, allow them to track with you on the progress toward achieving the goal, and include real-time interaction.

So, whether you are a transplant center seeking ways to increase organ donation or a hospital seeking new ways to connect with your community, get to know the millennials who live and work there. And instead of creating avatars, you’ll have the opportunity to create brand ambassadors.

 Are you creating avatars or ambassadors through your social media efforts?

Photo courtesy of WETA ©2007 Twentieth Century Fox

By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)

I’m a bourbon girl. I’ve never been a huge fan of vodka, gin makes me sort of angry and rum leaves a drumbeat in my skull the morning after. I like a range of bourbons, but Maker’s Mark has always been my go-to with its honeyed flavors and artisanal, but approachable feel. It was not a good week for Maker’s drinkers like me.

The Maker’s brand is well-known for its dedicated customer base, but their strongest loyalists, the Maker’s Mark Ambassadors, shed a few tears this week. The family-run company announced a shocking solution to the increasing demand and limited supply, given the ageing process required in its creation. To make sure there’s enough to go around, Maker’s plans to literally water down their brand…by 6.7%. After months of testing, they promised their Ambassadors the change would not be detectable in taste, but unsurprisingly, fans are skeptical.

Joy Perrine, co-author of The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book told Time magazine she is one of the wary. “Will Maker’s Mark sell more bourbon? Probably so. Many people won’t notice. But will it damage its standing among people who love Maker’s Mark and drink only Maker’s Mark — and there are plenty of those people? I think it will.”

Whether or not this move will hurt the Maker’s global brand remains to be seen, but it has certainly ruffled some feathers down in Louisville and among Maker’s devotees everywhere. One could look for a case study with Jack Daniel’s, another whisky brand that lowered its alcohol level in 2004, apparently for taste reasons and without much fanfare. This move seemed to strike less of a chord, perhaps because of Maker’s premium product and respected reputation among serious spirits lovers and bartenders.

From the PR perspective, the Samuels family was smart to make the announcement directly to its most dedicated fans first. As a bourbon lover, however, what worries me most is that Maker’s Mark might have just set a precedent for other top Kentucky bourbon makers looking to meet growing demands and universal supply shortages. The change isn’t happening for a few weeks, however, so now might be a good time to stock up the bar.

Cheers!

Photos courtesy of Someecards and HelloMyNameisRichard.

With over 300,000 mobile applications in existence and downloads in 2013 expected to get close to the 16 million mark it’s impossible to ignore the app market. It seems like having a mobile app for your client’s brand/product/cause/campaign is a necessity but creating a mobile application doesn’t necessarily mean mobile success. Like moths to a flame, PR Pro’s, marketers and clients are still drawn to these shiny new downloadable objects. As you think through solutions for your client an app idea will most likely cross your path. Before you pitch this fantastic idea, ask yourself these three questions to ensure a successful app.

1. Is your app educational, entertaining or resourceful?

Just like a Youtube video, your app needs to fit within one of these rather broad categories. If it doesn’t, rethink your idea as it’s going to be hard to have an app that gets downloaded and used if it isn’t educational, entertaining or resourceful. All three of these categories can share similar elements but an app that’s meant to be entertaining really needs to be a game.

2. How will users know about your app?

An app can easily get loaded up on iTunes or Android Market but how will people find it? Yes, an app can get “optimized” for app store visibility but a clear and concise app promotion plan will need to get thought out and executed. Keep in mind that a educational, entertaining or resourceful app is easier to promote too. Incentivizing an app download is one method to build awareness but not entirely recommended. Incentivized downloads can get costly and users will most likely only use the app once to claim the incentive and never use it again.

3. Does your “app” even need to be an app?

You don’t need to be an app developer to know if your app idea needs to be a full on iOS or Android developed application. With technology ever growing, immersive app-like environments can now get created within your phone’s web browser. If your idea revolves around the motion of the phone, camera or geo-location you will most likely need to go down the app road. For general information, interactivity or if you are trying to leverage web based content a web based app can get created.

The great thing about a web based application is that this one app will work on both iOS and Android devices. No need for two sepereate apps to get created for two separate operating systems. Just as with a native app, a web based app can be downloaded through iTunes or Android Market. The benefits of a web based application are numerous and if applicable should get pursued as it will be easier to update and more cost effective.

One thing that really gets my blood boiling is when someone implies – or, you know, says outright – that PR is nothing but spin. Yesterday I read a great post on the Guardian Sustainable Business blog: Using PR as an agent for change in corporate sustainability. To be fair, I’m probably biased. When someone is arguing that PR professionals can be actual agents of change rather than being seen as “purveyors of greenwash and cover up” …. well, I’m in. Because I definitely want to achieve the former, and I want nothing to do with the latter.

However, one point in the post really struck me:

“Set and communicate a clear direction on sustainability, which liberates people throughout your organization to talk passionately and freely about what you’re doing. They are your best advocates.”

I kept thinking back to that for the rest of the day. With sustainability, it’s easy to get caught up in what your efforts mean to the world outside your doors. But as anyone who’s ever tried to launch an internal program knows, you’re only ever as good as your employees. If they’re in, you’ll find your way to success. If they’re not, you’ll never truly get off the ground. So what do employees need to start on the path to becoming sustainability advocates? Here are a few important – but often overlooked – basics.

Give them a (selfish) reason to care.

Reason 1: we have an obligation to be responsible corporate citizens and do our part to protect our earth. Great! Everyone feels better. Now, give them more. There are many reasons to pursue a corporate sustainability program. Don’t be afraid to share the business objectives and benefits (there should always be some in an effective sustainability program). Make a clear connection with the company culture, and show why the program is a good fit – or a much-needed refresh. Demonstrate that its success is a priority for senior leadership and specify how they will be holding employees accountable (like Intel, Shell and Vancity). Start with the heart – but end with the head.

Give them specific direction.

For those of us in charge of writing stirring themes and one-pagers that make the heart soar, it’s easy to get caught up in the fluff. But at the end of the day, employees need to know what your sustainability program means for them. So after the stirring and soaring, don’t forget to be very straightforward about how it impacts their daily lives. What they need to do, specifically. What’s changing. What might present some challenges and how to move past them. Take all the guesswork out, and leave no questions in anyone’s mind about what their role is. Less confusion = more compliance and less complaining.

Give them a voice.

Keep a pulse on your program – not only through business metrics and outcomes, but by surveys and, depending on your company’s size, focus groups. Identify successful initiatives and see what you might be able to expand or mimic elsewhere. Suss out any issues or frustrations and get to the root causes. Listen carefully and be as responsive as you can. And when you update and evolve your program, share with employees why you’re making changes – and their role in making it better. The only thing better than being heard is being the catalyst for change.

Pretty simple – but very effective. No spin, no greenwashing. (It’s on a 2013 trend list and everything.)

Image: gothick_matt via Flickr, CC 2.0

I remember my first PR writing class. While I enjoyed it, I distinctively remember the painstaking feeling of having the creative joy sucked out of me when I had to write my first news release, and again when I wrote my second, and so on. If I didn’t want to read the thing, I couldn’t imagine why a busy reporter would actually care. But of course, as an aspiring communication professional, I kept these feelings to myself. No one else seemed to question their value. Right about this time, Twitter crept into existence, Facebook was now open to anyone and was thriving like a weed and YouTube was right around the corner.

As I embarked on the “real world” I still didn’t tell a soul about the torture I felt every time I was asked to write a news release. The old feelings of creative brain cells slowly dying crept up, but write them I did. One day a couple of years ago I decided to reach out to a communication professional I admire, one of my mentors, Gini Dietrich. Every week Gini answers a question posted on the Arment Dietrich Facebook page via video. To my delight, Gini wasn’t a fan of the news release either. I let out a sigh of relief; I was not the only one.

She later wrote, “I’ve never been a fan of the news release. I’ll go ahead and put it right out there. I think it makes PR pros lazy and clients too controlling. And it typically has no real effect on whether or not a journalist covers your story.”

Ironically, since 2010 (when I was finally able to publicly acknowledge my suppressed feelings of news release torment) I have come to terms with the fact that as a communication professional I’m going to have to write news releases (at least until everyone realizes just how boring they are). What truly gets under my skin though isn’t the press release anymore, it’s how it’s used.

I was recently sitting in a webinar on news releases with my co-workers when the presenter recommended we tweet our news releases to promote them. I felt like gasping out loud. I tried to hold back and finally I just couldn’t. “I just have to say I do not agree,” I blurted. Our intern looked up curiously and asked why. My reasoning? Would you sit down with your friends and read your press release to them? No. Would you read it to a group of prospective new business clients? Would you pass it out to people as you walked down the street? NO. Or at least I hope not.

I have been asked many times to tweet a news release and every time it makes my blood boil. That’s not social. It’s not a conversation. It reminds me of the annoying person that only likes to talk about themselves, constantly. No one cares. It’s like shoving dry cereal down someone’s throat without stopping to offer them milk. And my favorite reason, “if you tweet it the media could see it.” Oh please, I assure you the media isn’t going to pick up your news release because you blasted it on Twitter.

I do believe as communication professionals we should take the time to repurpose the key messages of our news release and create conversational and inspiring content that resonates with our audience, such as a blog post or video, etc. In this way you could feasibly tweet the information in your release but craft it in a way that’s appropriate for that medium. If I was a reporter, I’d be much more inspired to write about an engaging blog post or a creative video any day.

And because I can’t say it any better than Gini did, I will end with a quote from her blog post, No One Cares About Your News Release.

“Social media, content, blogging…this whole digital place we live in is about engagement and intelligent conversation and community building.

It’s not about you. It’s about them.

By posting your news release on your blog or social networks, you’re making it about you. And there is only one person in this entire world who cares about you as much as you do: Your mom.”

Yes, your mom. And I sure hope your mom isn’t your only customer or you may just end up like Will Ferrell in Wedding Crashers. I will get off my soap box now.

Image: FindYourSearch via Flickr, CC 2.0

 What do you think about news releases? Do you think they have a place on Twitter?

By Laura Petrosky (@chronic_ally)

I am pretty convinced that every PR professional working with an alcohol brand has executed at least one (make that a dozen, for me) “INSERT BRAND NAME and food parings” program. Showing consumers the endless possibilities of how to pair their favorite adult beverage with food makes them want to drink it even more. Heck, who knew that your favorite wine pairs with pizza? Sometimes though, the term “food friendly” makes me gag. Not because I don’t like experimenting with pairings, but because booze and food pairing programs have been executed a gazillion times in even more ways. In a world where cookie dough is the next perfect pairing for Zinfandel (just kidding), which editor with no time on his hands would open an email related to yet another pairings program? If you know someone, please leave his or her contact information in the comments section.

There is one pairings concept, however, if done well, will attract media and consumer attention alike. Since the Oscars are coming up, I’d give it the Academy Award for “Best Hands-On Drinks and Knife Play.” I am talking about meat pairing programs, in which one not only learns how to slaughter and butcher, but what to drink with the meat once your handiwork is done.

Butchering classes are not new per se: Titled “Slaughterhouse Live,” The New York Times published a great article in 2009 about the rising appeal of the chopping block for consumers. “In many cases, the student butchers are sailing the prevailing currents of contemporary food culture — local, sustainable agriculture, farm-to-table eating — to their logical end-point.” Just the other week, The New York Times published another article called “Bacon, and how it came to be,” saying that, while at first the trend was largely confined to the coasts, things have changed and shops in places like Chicago and Milwaukee are opening their doors to carnivores who like the concept of “do-it-yourself meat.”

While a nicely plated pairings dinner on Tiffany china may attract some, butchering and booze are appealing to a growing audience of foodie diehards, particulary dudes who enjoy time in the kitchen. Let’s face it – butchers are pretty darn cool. Plus, who doesn’t want to brag about chopping their own steak over several martinis with said steak cooked to a perfect medium-rare? Bombay Sapphire Gin deserves a shout-out for their “Meat & Gin” campaign first launched in 2008. A partnership with New York City’s rock star butcher, Tom Mylan from The Meat Hook, the brand offers seminar classes at The Brooklyn Kitchen, proving that “real men eat meat and drink gin” and an array of pairing suggestions online for those who cannot stomach the hands-on butchering part, but enjoy a good cut of meat from the grocery store. Tom Mylan just scored his first book deal, yet another hint that the combination of drinking and knife play is far from over.

From a PR perspective, it is important to recognize the appeal of hands-on experiences and the desire of consumers to learn an artisanal skill, even if it involves a bloody knife and elbows deep in entrails. Journalists may actually leave their desks for such an experience too. If the drinks served are strong enough, they will get over the ugly realities of what’s going on behind the meat counter and offer up some ink.

Images courtesy of Groupon, TheNewYorkTimes, Newscom, Daniel Krieger

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

Don’t call it a comeback. We’ve been here for years.

There was a time – not so long ago – when many of my colleagues wouldn’t go anywhere without their BlackBerrys. After all, BlackBerry was THE smartphone of choice for the serious-minded business executive.

Even when the iPhone made its triumphant debut in 2007, loyal BlackBerry users scoffed. While iPhone users were off playing around with apps, BlackBerry users were “handling their business.”

A CNN article from 2010 said it best, “The BlackBerry is the get-things-done phone. It’s not designed to run flashy applications, for playing games or for uploading pictures to Facebook and Twitter. It started out a business-minded device, and RIM has continued to market it as a business-friendly device.”

But a funny thing happened on the way to the boardroom; iPhone found a seat at the table.

And iPhone’s growth has been nothing less than meteoric. In the fourth quarter of 2012 alone, Apple sold a record-setting 47.8 million iPhones, helping the company report a staggering $13.1 billon, the second highest profit ever earned by a U.S. corporation.

And it’s not just the iPhone luring away business users. The first Android-powered phone was sold in October 2008. And now, Android is “the world’s most widely used smartphone platform and the software of choice for technology companies who require a low-cost, customizable, lightweight operating system for high-tech devices without developing one from scratch.”

Back to the Future

But could BlackBerry (formerly known as Research in Motion) be poised for a comeback?

In January, the company announced two new smartphones – the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry Q10. Both will run the new BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system. The phones will launch in the U.S. in March. The BlackBerry Z10 looks a lot like iPhones and Android devices. And the Q10 has the keyboard that hard-core BlackBerry users still covet.

But the question remains, will the new BlackBerrys be enough to lure back business customers who defected to other devices?

So far, the BlackBerry 10 has gotten mostly high marks from early reviews. BlackBerry 10′s features include separate work and personal profiles, time-saving ways to multitask without closing applications, video chat with live screen-sharing and more than 70,000 available apps.

However, BlackBerry has a tough hill to climb.

“(BlackBerry) faces steep challenges in launching the new OS. Accounting for just 4.6% of the smartphone field in 2012, the BlackBerry platform has hemorrhaged so much of its once-considerable market share that there’s little ground left to cede,” writes Michael Endler for InformationWeek.

A Full-Court Press

BlackBerry has put on a full-court press to launch its new phones, even buying air time during the Super Bowl – a first for the company. However, its first foray into Super Bowl advertising was received with a bit of a head scratching from the advertising community.

AdAge writes, “Really, BlackBerry? ‘In 30 seconds, it’s quicker to show you what it can’t do.’ Really!? You’re in a battle to the death against feature-laden phones from Apple and Samsung. You’re releasing a phone that got some half-decent tech-world buzz last week. And you’re going to drop millions on a 30-second spot that doesn’t offer one gee-whiz feature that would separate you from the smartphone pack?”

Take a look at BlackBerry’s Super Bowl ad and judge for yourself.

Even iPhone has had to work to hold on to its coolness factor, trying to fend off advances by Samsung and its Galaxy S III. Some of my co-workers who first defected from BlackBerry to the iPhone have now defected to Samsung.

Not satisfied with just taking pot shots at iPhone, Samsung has now set its sights on BlackBerry’s business customers.

“There are those who make cruel jokes about BlackBerrys. They suggest that people who still use them are the sorts that listen to CDs,” writes Chris Matyszczyk for CNET. “For myself, the only people I still see with BlackBerrys in hand are those who haven’t stopped focusing on climbing the corporate ladder since 2004 – and are still in middle management positions.”

Ouch!

Here’s Samsung’s pitch to business users.

But don’t count BlackBerry out just yet. Some early sales data suggests that BlackBerry may be seeing some strong demand for the Z10.

“According to channel checks conducted by Jefferies & Co., pre-orders in the United Arab Emirates and Canada have so far been ‘solid.’ More encouraging, though, are early reports from the U.K., where Z10 sales are evidently off to a good start,” writes John Paczkowski for All Things D.

For now, I’m holding on to my iPhone 5, but I can promise you, I’ll be keeping my eye on BlackBerry – just in case everything old is new again.

Many of us watched last night’s game in eager anticipation of the latest innovations in the ad industry and a showcase of what its brilliant creative minds are capable of. And, overall, we were a bit underwhelmed by what we saw.

There were some bright spots in the line-up, however – and the mid-game power outage gave some of them the chance to shine even brighter.

Here’s a round-up of our impressions:

- Jeep & Dodge: On the Right Track. We like how Chrysler is working to shape its brands around anthemic stories that resonate with target customers. Jeep’s focus on supporting our troops and Ram’s ode to our country’s farmers were both artfully done, touching and emotional. Their weakness was that both spots left us thinking they were promoting some wonderful non-profit, so when the brand was not revealed until the end of the spots, it was a bit of a letdown. Introducing the brand earlier would have softened the blow. We’ll be interested to see if the Dodge ad makes a difference for Ram sales in big farming states.

- Pistachios Are Still Crackin’. Gangnam Style belonged in this Super Bowl and we’re glad one of our favorite snacks made it happen. By doing so, cracking open pistachios — one of the least attractive characteristics of the product — became fun. Smart.

- Budweiser Black Crown Missed the Mark. These spots were a testament to how little Budweiser seems to understand the target they were trying to reach. When they placed a brewmaster at the head of the long table at which all the spot’s subjects were sitting, it became apparent they were talking to a craft beer drinking crowd, but that’s the only way you would have known. The spot’s subjects wore expensive clothing, danced on bars, and hung out in egregiously hip locations. Did Budweiser ask themselves how the target they were trying to speak to drinks craft beer or where they drink it? Did they ask what activities the target likes to engage in as they are drinking said beers? Did they ask how much money their target makes or why they drink craft brews in the first place? We’re guessing that, no, they did not. Craft beer drinkers do not drink craft beer because they are “loud, savvy, and famous.” They don’t drink craft beer “to match our night.” They drink craft beer because it’s unique, it’s delicious, and it has a story — three things that Budweiser Black Crown decidedly does not have going for it. We applaud Budweiser for identifying areas in the market where they are losing ground and taking steps to remedy that, but the crowd they were trying to reach places great value on authenticity and Bud attempted to reach them through spots that were smug and disingenuous.

- Go Daddy Has Jumped the Shark. We were already TIRED of Go Daddy’s ads and then they took it just a step too far with that interminable close-up kiss. No one needed to see that.

- The “Much Ado About Nothing” Award goes to Volkswagen’s “Get Happy” ad. This commercial caused a stir even before it aired on the Super Bowl, with the media speculating about whether the ad was racist. It features a white guy from Minnesota so happy with his VW Beetle that he speaks in a Jamaican accent. Tim Mahoney, chief product and marketing office at Volkswagen of America said the company consulted with 100 Jamaicans and used a dialect coach to ensure the accuracy of the actors’ accents. And even Wykeham McNeill, Jamaica’s tourism minister endorsed that ad, saying, “this is a very creative commercial, which truly taps into the tremendous appeal that brand Jamaica and its hospitable people have globally.” We agree that the ad isn’t racist. But in the end, it wasn’t very interesting either.

- What Exactly is Samsung’s Next Big Thing? Samsung’s The Next Big Thing commercial featuring Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd did a semi-good job of weaving its brand and slogan throughout the spot. But while their discussion is engaging, relevant and funny, it left us wondering exactly which product Samsung was trying to sell, and what that product brings to the market.

- TIDE Floats to the Top. It’s not easy to make a funny commercial about a detergent, but since we didn’t know until the very last moment that the ad was actually for TIDE, (the late reveal of brands in ads seemed to be theme), it evoked a lot of laughter. Well done TIDE, but the competition was not mind-blowing this year.

If we were not blown away by the work showcased in Super Bowl 47, we can at least say that we had a great time watching and critiquing. Congratulations to every agency and brand whose spots were part of one of the largest media events of the year. Regardless of the ads that may not have hit the mark, we are lucky to work in an industry that values brotherhood, a hardworking America, ridiculous dance moves, and just going for that kiss.

Image credits: Dodge, Samsung, Wonderful Pistachios

What makes a leader? Is it an innate trait within us or a skill that’s learned over time? Is it a carefully calculated risk or merely a happy accident? The answer is yes. All of the above.

True leaders emerge in various ways from various walks of life with various hopes, dreams, styles and personalities. And yet, there are qualities which all leaders possess: a true sense of self, passion, dedication and fearlessness. To celebrate the potential for leaders to emerge around every corner, we bring you a post saluting just a few of our favorites. Thank you for inspiring us.

Nora Ephron: The Uncompromising Leader

I’ve always loved Nora Ephron for When Harry Met Sally. She practically defined the Romantic Comedy genre with that film. She also wrote You’ve Got Mail and Julie & Julia. Before movies, Nora made a career as a prolific journalist writing critically and revealingly about the circles in which she travelled – from the feminist movement of the 1970s to the powerful wives of Washington D.C. politicians and personas (she was married to Carl Bernstein post-Watergate) to her own colleagues in the media.

She was fearless and smart enough to write about her own kind in a way that belied the eager admiration she felt towards her subjects. Often times that hopeful sentiment curdled into stark truths and uneasy admissions. After reading her articles, many of her subjects viewed her as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. But that she was so well-loved and grieved upon her sudden death last year shows the power of uncompromised truth – and not just truth with a capital “T,” but truth as she saw it and spoke it. She was admired and respected, even though she had not always been kind.

Nora’s life was her work, and to become a part of it was to become complicit; to agree to be material for her work. That is a dangerous contract, and yet so many powerful, important and famous people knowingly entered into it because they trusted her truth and her worldview; because they trusted her. She was fearless but not ruthless, she was honest, but not cruel and she was successful without compromising herself.

Jimmy Buffett: The Happy-Go-Lucky Leader

As odd as it sounds, a few months ago Jimmy Buffett became a hero of mine. I find that these days, people spend a lot of time striving – really pushing to make things happen, or even forcing them to. And our society lauds that. We reward people who have overcome the odds, but only after they have worked extremely hard to get there; only if they have pushed past every possible weakness. We rarely laud those who go with the flow, do what they love and let things unfold as they will.

About his work, Jimmy Buffett says, “I still consider it a summer job. So, I try to maintain that summer job as long as I can. But it’s exciting to be able to have the opportunity to do things I always dreamed of as a kid.” Buffett didn’t aim to be famous; he just aimed to do what he loved and those around him saw the value in it and were drawn to his songs and his way of looking at the world. Take a moment to consider creativity. Which attitude or state of being is more conducive to creation? Striving, arranging or forcing the given elements into place will never be. On the other hand, listen to Jimmy Buffett’s advice: “If you go with your instincts and keep your humor, creativity follows. With luck, success comes, too.” When too many of us are apt to look at our faces in the mirrors and see age, hard work, or our own failings, Jimmy says, “Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been.” That’s the way we should aim to work – with joy, love and gratitude. Take a page out of his book. Smile.

Ellen DeGeneres: The Selfless Leader

While comedy and gay rights are both wonderful things and likely associations when one speaks the name “Ellen DeGeneres,” they are not the reasons why I admire this comedian, TV personality and humanitarian. I see Ellen DeGeneres as an admirable leader in the sense that she’s widely respected and loved, honest about who she is and wants to be, selective when it comes to the brands she endorses and a true advocate for the talents of our generation and those to follow.

She began as a stand-up comedian, widened her fan base through her talk show, truly became a household name when she openly admitted to being gay, suffered the trials and tribulations associated with doing so, then bounced back and in recent years has only grown in popularity. Ellen is funny, charismatic, lighthearted and charming. People love her because she’s entertaining, but also because she’s genuine. The fact that she stands up for what she believes in and stays true to herself is inspiring. It’s easy to conform and to get sucked into all the negativity in the world, so her honesty is especially beautiful.

One of the most inspiring traits Ellen possesses is the importance she places in helping others to grow and prosper. You’ve seen six-year-old piano prodigy Tsung Tsung and adorable and multi-talented Sophia Grace and Rosie. When Ellen sees a spark within someone, she goes out of her way to ignite that flame and help them skyrocket to superstardom. To have the ability to recognize the strengths in others and help them to grow into the leader they can be is a strength in and of itself that all true leaders possess. Through helping others, you help yourself.

What leaders do you admire, and why? Share with us your favorite leaders in the comments section.

By Caroline Helper (@forgetburgundy)

Holidays are both a blessing and a curse for wine PR pros – on the one hand, we’re given the opportunity to put a timely and creative twist on our product. On the other hand, most of the time we end up producing a pitch that every other PR pro is either also using that year, or has in years past.

That’s why this, year, I propose throwing out the old horse (not a real metaphor, right?) and rebranding the holidays instead. This Valentine’s Day, for example, may I introduce you to Treat Yo Self Day.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For some, the dawning of February sets off a tizzy of paper hearts and pink glitter. For others, it inspires a visit to the darkest depths of self-pity.

Why don’t we all just admit it? No one likes Valentine’s Day – this “holiday” does nothing but introduce problems, sad feelings, and unmeetable expectations. So let’s stop celebrating Valentine’s Day and start celebrating “Treat Yo Self” day with a bottle of [INSERT YOUR WINE HERE] on February 14 instead.

Ladies, if this isn’t a day to treat yo self to a bottle of wine and a good rom-com on the couch, then you’re not doing it right. If you’re single, invite the girls over and enjoy a bottle (or, who are we kidding, three or four) while treating yo selves to some sweet treats and salty indulgences. If you’re attached, ditch your man and spend some quality time with the girls anyways. Treat yo self.

Alright, so you still want to spend the day with your significant other. You know what’s always better than flowers? Wine! Treat yo self and your sweetie to a bottle of [INSERT YOUR WINE HERE]. It’s like flowers that you can drink! Treat yo self.

This Valentine’s Day, no matter your marital status (or lack thereof), show yourself a little love and enjoy [INSERT YOUR WINE HERE]. You deserve it. Treat Yo Self.

See how easy that was? And wasn’t it fun? And have you ever seen a brand adopt/create a new holiday before? Look, if the Presidential Debates of 2012 taught us anything it’s that creating a thing out of thin air has never been easier (@bindersofwomen, I’m looking at you, kid). I officially declare 2013 the Year of Previously Uncelebrated Holidays. See? Now it’s a thing.

It’s a New Year with millions of college grads preparing to take on the working world. Luckily for some companies, research continues to show that Generation Y digs solid Corporate Responsibility platforms. But if you have one, are you engaging the right employees and communications channels to promote your socially responsible culture and reach these like-minded Millennials? Let’s consider.

Do you have a dedicated Corporate Responsibility (CR) team?

Much like a company establishes brand ambassadors, it’s ideal to identify key staff in supporting and building awareness of CR efforts both internally and externally. The importance of this is nothing to write off; employee (and prospective employee) engagement around CR can be integral in a company’s fiscal growth and in sheer number of employees.

According to a Forbes article, CR has a direct correlation with employee satisfaction, retention and yes, attraction. In fact, it is said that “88 percent of millennials, or ‘echo boomers,’ choose employers based on strong CSR values, and 86 percent would consider leaving if the companies’ CSR values no longer met their expectations.”

So if you don’t have a dedicated team intended to engage and educate the right groups, you’re missing out on an energized, do-gooder workforce that’s ready and waiting to jump aboard.

Do your social media channels speak to your CR platform?

The same Forbes article put it well. “Social media opens a way for stakeholders to interact directly with a company’s CSR program.”

So if you’d like to engage Millennials – the unique subset that eats, sleeps and breathes social media, and even seeks job opportunities on these channels – your community manager should incorporate and elevate messaging that signifies your platform, its goals and your day-to-day opportunities for employee involvement. For instance, if you follow CRT/tanaka, you’ve probably received ‘green tips’ via @crttanaka and noticed Facebook photos and comments about our highly-coveted Community Service Day. For larger companies, like CarMax, you will find that there are separate pages to support their initiatives.

Are recruiting or HR team members in the know?

In most cases, your recruiting team will serve as prospective employees’ first human-to-human interaction. Aside from asking about job roles and responsibilities, compensation and time off, candidates are asking about CR, sustainability programs and what volunteer opportunities are offered. Ideally, your recruiting team should be ready to support messaging not only around the job position and the general company culture, but also around the company’s CR platform and how that informs your business practices.

It’s important to remember that while these team members are essential in growing a like-minded company, all existing employees should have the opportunity to engage in supporting your platform and initiatives, because fostering a culture of social responsibility and environmental consciousness can improve personal satisfaction and your overall business practices and outcomes.

What has worked for your company – small, medium or large – in attracting this next generation of do-gooder team members? Share with us in the comments section below or on our Facebook wall.

P.S. For all you job-seeking Millennials out there, CRT/tanaka internship applications are still being accepted through Monday, February 4.

American Airlines’ new logo generated a lot of press about its “new” brand recently.

Don’t believe the hype!

AA’s graphic design and presentation has changed, and I love it.

The new symbol on the fuselage is a nice evolution of old to new, and the tail graphics definitely say AMERICAN Airlines in a way that would make Team America very proud.

Inside the fuselage, however, I expect the flying experience on American Airlines not to be so… evolved.

Where I typically sit (in the back with Del Griffith), it’s likely to remain cramped, crowded and cumbersome. Even on the 550 new planes American has coming to them.

It will likely still be a little hot (or cold) and sometimes unsettling. What is DRIPPING on me?

That, unfortunately, is the brand of most air travel; a commoditized, uncomfortable experience that leaves most carriers to compete solely on who offers the cheapest ticket.

New logos and paint schemes won’t change that. New ways of doing things at the gate and at 30,000 feet might.

Back in the day, we used to rely on family, friends and old wives tales to diagnose medical conditions.

My sons-in-law married into a family that believes the primary care physician is part of the family. It’s commonly advised that you should visit this family physician every year or so if you need their expertise to help figure out what ails you. While respectful of their mother-in law’s advice, these young men have informed me that they can pretty much figure out what our family doc might have to say by checking in first with “cousin” Google. It seems many folks agree with my sons-in-law.

We’ve known for some time that consumers are not afraid of using the Internet to find health information. In fact, nearly 60 percent of U.S. adults have looked online for health information this past year. We now know that consumers are also turning to the Internet for diagnosis – either as a first stop before going to the doctor, or as an online second opinion. According to a new report by the Pew Research Center, more than one-third of U.S. adults have turned to the Internet to diagnose medical conditions for themselves or others.

When medical professionals hear data like this they get nervous that consumers are replacing “Dr. Welby” with “Dr. Google.” But, I think a deeper look into the research tells a different story.

According to the Pew study, nearly half of those looking for a diagnosis online said the information led them to want to seek the attention of a medical professional. And of those, 41 percent said that their clinician confirmed their findings, which tells me the information people are finding is not far off-target. The survey also showed that, when it comes to serious illness, 70 percent of U.S. adults received information, care, or support from a doctor or other health care professional.  So while referring to the Internet may not always be more reliable, your search will likely take you to trusted sources like WebMD, Mayo Clinic, Medline Plus, familydoctor.org and cancer.gov.

The most important lesson for the medical profession is to be online where consumers are. Some health systems have done this well, such as Nemours, which created KidsHealth.org, one of the most frequented sites for information on children’s health. With the introduction of electronic medical systems, some physicians are embracing email to answer basic questions. I recently emailed my doctor with questions about a new medicine I was taking, and she quickly responded with the answers to my questions. She even sent me a link to some helpful resources. There was another time when I emailed with a more complex question. Instead, my doctor asked me to give her a direct call to discuss.

I appreciate that my doctor is trying to achieve a balance between being available online for general health information and knowing when it’s time to step away from the computer and get face-to-face. We as healthcare consumers need to be mindful of doing the same.

by Rebekah Polster (@BekInBklyn)

With the excitement and flurry of Inauguration Day this past Monday, it was interesting to see what was hitting my inbox announcing the latest celebratory libations. There was an Americano, a slew of cocktails created by the well-known mixologist and historian, David Wondrich and many others. I know that an inauguration only happens once every four years, but it got me thinking, what CAN’T you drink to nowadays?

When Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were slated to host the Golden Globe awards, they came up with their own drinking game that many picked up (and some of us played…)

Click here to view the embedded video.

And with the Oscars around the corner, I’m sure another drinking game will come our way (especially with Seth MacFarlane hosting – every time he walks on stage with a whiskey perhaps?). You have the Super Bowl (February 3 – every time there’s a touchdown?) and the Grammy’s (February 10 – any time someone thanks their god of worship?), and the list goes on, and on and on and on. And will brands be suggesting their own cocktails to mix up at these occasions? Well, of course!

What I’m getting at is that there seems to be a drink for any event or holiday and brands aren’t just making this up anymore – it’s what the people WANT.

Once upon a time, when I began working on a liquor or wine campaign, the first thing we would do is find holidays in the calendar year that we could use for pitching press. Now, you can make up your own holiday at http://www.daysoftheyear.com/(seriously, who comes up with these? I want to work there).

By the way, today is National Pie Day? Pie cocktail anyone?

See what I mean?

With all of these holidays, does it lessen the power of the Hallmark holiday, say like Mother’s Day? Or July 4^th? Your typical holidays are very hard to pitch. Imagine being a journalist around Thanksgiving – every winery, beer and cocktail brand is itching to get mentioned around that time of year. It’s enough to turn a food/beverage writer off the stuff for the following year! Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you get the point.

According to Ragan’s, there are 20 holidays that PR Pros should always keep on the back-burner and plan to pitch for (Groundhog’s Day? Really? Why not Flag Day?). But what about those fun and random holidays? These “typical” holidays are inundated with press releases and product announcements. Why not throw in something a little different? While Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19, and yes, I’ve pitched that!)  doesn’t necessarily call for a greeting card, it might find you some extra press pick up.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And today, Public Relations is no longer just about pitching the classic press; you need to be up to date with social media. Whether it’s a post on Facebook or a Tweet or a picture to Pintrest, you need to engage the brand’s fans and make what you put out there relevant, yet interesting and fun. February 14 is Valentine’s Day, but did you also know it is Ferris Wheel Day?

Whether you choose to celebrate the Sourest Day with your Limoncello client or announce the launch of a beer client on Pig In A Blanket Day, you can ALWAYS find a holiday to have a drink on and celebrate.

And for the record, my favorite day happens to be my son’s birthday: National Bacon Day (December 30)! Enjoy a bourbon cocktail with a slab of bacon!

The possibilities are endless.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

Like many other news junkies and PR, marketing and branding professionals, I’ve watched with great fascination the unraveling of the Lance Armstrong brand over the past several months. His undoing culminated with his admission to Oprah Winfrey that he had, in fact, used banned EPO, testosterone, cortisone and human growth hormone and engaged in blood doping throughout his cycling career, helping him win a record seven Tour de France titles.

While commentators and pundits have speculated about the potential legal ramifications that may come with Lance finally coming “clean” about his transgressions and the millions of dollars in endorsements he’s lost, my thoughts are fixated on the organization that, until recently, bore his name – the Livestrong Foundation.

Formerly known as the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Livestrong is a nonprofit organization that provides support to people affected by cancer. Based in Austin, Texas, the Foundation was established in 1997 by Armstrong, a cancer survivor.

I, too, am a cancer survivor.

In 2009, just one month before my 39^th birthday, I was given a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which is used to screen for prostate cancer. A PSA test usually isn’t given to men until around the time they turn 50. My doctor – on a whim or perhaps through divine intervention – ordered the test during a routine visit for another ailment.

When she called to give me the results and asked if I was sitting down, I already knew the diagnosis. Cancer.

Luckily, the cancer was detected early, and after consultation with numerous doctors over several months, I elected to have a prostatectomy, to have my prostate removed. This made sense for me, because as one doctor put it, “your prostate has figured out how to make cancer.”

Three years later, I’m still cancer free.

This is why I’ve been so interested in the new direction Livestrong must take. For all his deception, Lance Armstrong has done some good by founding Livestrong, which has raised $500 million for cancer research and services and has given hope to many. The organization also has become synonymous with its signature yellow wristbands, with some 80 million sold.

“The $1 bracelets, which are sold at sporting goods and bike stores, have become a cool symbol of either supporting Lance, or a cure for cancer, or both. Businessmen wear them with their suits, cyclists with their spandex, moms with their jeans. Senators John Kerry and Harry Reid wear them, and Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Lindsay Lohan and Tom Hanks have all sported them,” according to an article in the Boston Globe.

But now, what will become of those yellow wristbands? And what will become of Livestrong?

In October, Armstrong stepped down as chairman of the organization after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency accused the cyclist of taking part in a lengthy, sophisticated doping scheme. In November, the Foundation dropped Armstrong’s name from its moniker.

But is that enough?

When I hear Livestrong, I immediately think Lance Armstrong. Removing his name from the Foundation’s official name doesn’t change that. The Foundation, the man and the name Livestrong are inexplicably linked. And these latest revelations about what “living strong” actually meant to Lance, don’t sit well with most of us.

My colleague, Kelly O’Keefe, who is CRT/tanaka’s chief creative officer and professor at the acclaimed Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter, says that a name change is definitely in order for Livestrong.

“The problem is that, now if you see someone in a coffee shop wearing a Livestrong t-shirt, you would assume they’re an Armstrong supporter. And if you’re disgusted by Armstrong’s sociopathic behavior, you just aren’t going to wear the bracelet. So I’d be advocating for a brand overhaul to save the organization and make a clean separation from Lance,” Kelly said.

All is not lost for Livestrong. Nike, which was one of Armstrong’s long-time sponsors, severed ties with the cyclist, but said it “plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer.” Anheuser-Busch, which used Armstrong as a spokesman for Michelob Ultra, also no longer supports Armstrong but continues to support Livestrong.

In the end, let’s hope that Livestrong can face the challenges ahead with the same grace and dignity as the people it supports. And do so without Lance Armstrong, his brand or his name.

By David McNamara

The question of whether or not personal electronic devices (PEDs) threaten planes is a deeply controversial debate with many perspectives. From a general public perspective, their usage is of concern regarding general safety during airline travel. From the FAAs perspective, usage of PEDs also not only could affect general air travel safety, but also interfere with communication between ground facilities and pilots’ navigational abilities. From the scientific community’s perspective, their usage generating electromagnetic fields and radio transmissions could have bearing on radio equipment used for flying planes. From the FCCs perspective, usage of PEDs create a potential for interference with communication infrastructure such as cell phone towers not designed for experiencing signals from PEDs at flight altitudes and speeds.

PEDs potentially used on planes generally fall into two categories, first, ones that emit little or no levels of radio signals such as portable DVD players and even devices with consumer-grade WiFi antennae, and, second, devices such as cellphones that are designed to emit radio signals strong enough to communicate with remote transceivers like cell phone towers. Of the two categories, the long-range devices have more potential for interference with on-board flight equipment, especially sensitive navigational instruments that use technology such as GPS.

In spite of theoretical threats to aircraft equipment through these devices, no conclusive report has proved a positive correlation between PED use and aircraft equipment malfunction. On the other hand, throughout aviation history, there have been incidental reports of PED interference. In the interest of public safety, the FAA has prohibited the use of PEDs during commercial flights starting in 1966 when the agency introduced a ban on portable radio receiver usage. This ban currently is at the aircraft’s operator’s discretion during cruising altitude except for the second category of PEDs that transmit long-range radio signals.

Since PEDs and their usage have become prevalent in the last few years, the FAA recently published plans to revisit the current ban on PEDs. The plans call for a consortium of aviation industry stakeholders and consumer electronics experts to provide comments on the current rules in place. Through this information sharing process, the FAA is hoping to gain information on potential interactions between PEDs and electronic equipment in aircraft. Ultimately, the FAA’s goal is to determine definitive standards that can govern usage of the current generation of PEDs as well as additional protection and shielding to aircraft electronics.

Investigations such as the FAA’s request for comments is a vital step in sustaining safety for  aircraft, not only through governing safe levels of PED usage on planes, but also for improving the quality of aircraft electronics. If consumer-grade electronics has any potential to interfere with equipment, maliciously-designed equipment has even more potential. In December of 2011, an unmanned stealth RQ-170 drone operated by the CIA landed across the border of Iran and was captured by Iranian authorities. Details of the situation are unclear, but the Iran government claimed that it conducted a complex hack of the CIA mission control center and spoofed the heavily-encrypted GPS signal the drone used to navigate back to base in the event of a manual control breach. While Iran’s full claim to an elaborate circumvention of military technology with many failsafes is debatable, the danger to a commercial aircraft without military-grade failsafes is evident. Subversive organizations could take advantage of vulnerabilities to commercial aircraft that rely heavily on electronic equipment to fly safely. With a modified PED that is conveniently-portable and innocuous-looking to security, a terrorist could board a plane and spoof the onboard GPS signal of the navigation equipment to the terrorist’s own ends.

The FAA’s inquiry into PED safety is, thusly, vital to public safety. The investigation hopefully will include improvements to airline equipment to prevent more high-profile disasters caused by individuals engaged in guerilla cyber-warfare. Following a hypothetical tragedy, the zealous Transportation Security Administration may extend their passenger security guidelines to include policies regarding PEDs.

With the current state of passenger security guidelines and their inconvenience to passengers, who would want an alarmist, sweeping ban of all PEDs on planes?

If you are like many Americans, you’re watching the news in a panic because the flu is rampant and you didn’t get your flu shot.  It’s not like this is the first time it’s happened – the flu comes around every year just like birthdays and anniversaries.  But, like a bad husband, many people seem to forget about it every year…until it’s too late. (Note: Some patient populations, like children under six months of age, are not eligible.  All the more reason everyone else should get vaccinated…to protect them!).

While people who have been vaccinated can and do get the flu, your best protection is to get your flu shot every year.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Influenza vaccination, even with moderate effectiveness of about 60%, has been shown to also reduce the following: flu-related illness, antibiotic use, time lost from work, hospitalizations, and deaths.”

Yet, flu vaccination rates remain low.  For 2009-2010, the season when H1N1 became a household term, vaccination rates were 28.8% for adults aged 18–49 years without high-risk conditions and 45.5% for adults aged 50–64 years without high-risk conditions.  Among children, a recent study showed that less than 45% were vaccinated against the flu during a five-year study period.

As a mom and a pregnant lady, I am going to pull out all the stops to protect my child, my unborn child and myself.  But, as healthcare public relations professionals, what can we do to ensure that others do the same?

Some health systems are requiring that their employees get the flu vaccine as a condition of their employment.  According to the CDC, more than 400 U.S. hospitals required flu vaccinations for their employees and 29 hospitals actually fired their unvaccinated employees in 2011.  Why?  To protect their patients from potential exposure.  In fact, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is now starting to require hospitals to report their employees’ flu vaccination rates as a way to boost those rates and will eventually post them to their Hospital Compare website.

Healthcare employers can impose mandatory vaccinations, but how do we encourage the general population to embrace getting their flu shot every fall?  A new game is allowing researchers to study the motivation of individuals to take action such as getting their flu shots.  It found that informing people of their day-to-day risk of getting the flu could encourage them to get vaccinated.

Historically, fear has been the best motivator for vaccination.  The development of two polio vaccines led to the first modern mass inoculations.  At the time, polio’s effects were well-known.  It can cause irreversible paralysis within hours and sometimes death.  More recently, the HPV vaccine was rolled out with a focus not on HPV, but the more fearful cervical cancer, which can result from HPV. 

We don’t want to incite panic, but it is important to remind people of the often devastating consequences of illness.  The CDC produces a variety of educational materials, but they lack compelling messaging.  We tend to wait for the media to deliver these messages when the flu begins to peak.  When it’s essentially too late, since the flu vaccine takes approximately two weeks to build enough antibodies to provide protection.  What should we be communicating in October and November when people need to get their vaccine?

• Roughly 100 children die each flu season.
• According to the CDC, there are between 3,000 and 49,000 flu-associated deaths each year.  After all, vaccination has been cited as one of the top 10 great public health achievements of the 20^th century, increasing our lifespan by more than 30 years.
• The average person with insurance can expect to spend a minimum of $130 on healthcare if they get the flu.  About one-third of flu sufferers will spend between $250 and $1,000 to recover.
• The average person loses $92 a year in wages due to the flu.
• The loss to businesses as a result of the flu is more than $16.3 billion annually.

Inevitably, the flu will come and go every year.  Sometimes, like last season, it will be mild.  Other seasons, like 2009-2010 and 2012-2013, will be associated with a significant number of deaths and hospitalizations.  But, we can help ensure that people have every opportunity to protect themselves and others by communicating the risk associated with the flu both early and often.

By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)

I’ve had engagement on the brain lately. Social media campaign goals might have once focused on growing online communities, but now our focus is mostly on engaging this community. Who cares how many people like you on Facebook if you’re just shouting from the rooftops into the cyber wind every day? It’s inefficient, of course, but also very, very boring.

Here are a handful of examples to inspire you to better engage your own Facebook community. If you’re looking for the perfect recipe, take a few shakes of snazzy infographics, a dash of gold teeth and blend it into a whole lot of dance craze. Allow me to expand.

1. Try Something Different

The last thing you would expect to be cool is a rap about a German wine varietal, but the funny and quirky team at Wines from Germany put this little gem out there for all to see and share. Does it class up the region? Perhaps not, but I bet it’ll stick in your head and randomly pop out the next time you’re in a wine shop! Way to not take yourselves too seriously, guys.

2. Humanize Your Brand

I love when wineries post videos of goings-on at the winery, especially when it introduces the people behind the wine. Knowing more about the winemaker, the owner and even the friendly folks in the tasting room makes me feel more connected to the wine and more likely to remember them fondly when I’m ordering a glass.

The awesome team at Jordan Winery has really let their freak flags fly, allowing customers a peek behind the curtain at their personal style and silly antics, thanks to an in-house videography department producing some awesome video content. You know you have a down-to-earth CEO and winemaker when they star in their own Gangnam Style parody. Is that their viticulturist dancing with two chickens? Now I’m REALLY a fan.

3. Draw a Pretty Picture

Another good way to add intrigue to posts and encourage them to go viral is through appealing and informative branded images, in particular infographics that share some tasty morsel of unique content.

The wine social networking site Snooth does a great job of offering cool infographics that are attention-grabbing and likely to go viral among wine nerds. Here’s a cool one that breaks down the Truth about Wine Prices.

Cheers!

Videos and photos courtesy of Pinterest News, Wines of Germany, Jordan Winery and Snooth.

In late 2011 I wrote a blog post that highlighted 5 web trends that discussed where the digital landscape might end up in 2012. Now that 2012 is said and done, I wanted to take a look back and see if my trend predictions for 2012 were accurately fulfilled. I may not be the next digital Nostradamus full of prophetic speculation but I think I did pretty good with only one blatant unfulfilled prophecy…

Prediction 1: Mobile Continues to Grow

Prophecy Fulfilled

• 2011 Statement: 5 billion mobile devices expected to be in use by 2012 and mobile spending is predicted to grow 39 percent and should come close to the $1.2 billion mark.
• 2012 Reality: This was a pretty easy one as I think it would be relatively impossible to have seen a decline in the mobile market for 2012. None the less, the rapid growth of the mobile market is still pretty extraordinary to see this sector grow with leaps and bounds seemingly overnight. I couldn’t find exact mobile device usage stats but Trinity reported in July of 2012 that there are over 6 billion mobile subscribers worldwide. As for mobile spending? Try a 180% increase over 2011, with mobile ad spend coming in at a little over 4 billion in 2012.

Prediction 2: Quality Matters

Prophecy Fulfilled

• 2011 Statement: With the Panda algorithm update from Google, design, branding, user engagement and social signals all seem to have more weight to a site’s rank.
• 2012 Reality: It’s no joke that to rank in Google you need a “quality” website as Google rolled out another major algorithm update (Penguin) in April of 2012. The Panda update in 2011 attacked low quality, poor content and this most recent “Penguin update” took a deep dive into a website’s backlink profile and penalized websites with unethical low-quality linking tactics. Quality driven, diverse content and legit linking tactics are a must for any website that is looking to garner rankings from Google.

Prediction 3: Pin It! (The Rise of Pinterest)

Prophecy Fulfilled

• 2011 Statement: I think 2012 will be a big year for the pin boarding site.
• 2012 Reality: Pinterest has continued to have explosive growth throughout 2012 and topped in at over 27 million visits. This 1,000% increase (compared to 2011 traffic) has now catapulted Pinterest past Tumblr.com in unique views. With this growth and participation, Pinterest is now viewed as legit social network and marketing channel packed full of Pinterest contests and Pinterest business accounts.

Prediction 4: Google Dethroned

Prophecy Partially Fulfilled

• 2011 Statement: Search results maintained by humans present a socialized search experience that might gain popularity in 2012.
• 2012 Reality: Google still remains king of search with about a 66% – 70% market share. Social search engines like Blekko grew by 400% in 2012 but not to the point to even remotely affect the search giant’s market share. Even though social search did “gain popularity” it wasn’t to the point to over throw Google. So, that’s why I give this prediction a partial fulfillment.

Prediction 5: Filter Bubbles Burst (Defeating Personalized Search)

Prophecy Failure

• 2011 Statement: No matter where the filter exists, whether it’s Facebook, Netflix or Google, the need for the human touch is the future.
• 2012 Reality: Integrating the human element into “search” is still years down the road as their seems to be no solution to breaking filter bubbles and defeating personalized search results. Google, Netflix and Facebook still continue to serve you content that they think you want based on search activity, likes, ratings and recently viewed materials. As annoying as this can be the only way to get away from these types of results is the introduction of the human element. Small strides have been made but not enough to change how content is delivered and filtered to us. Prophecy failure…

Though social media has become an integrated part of virtually all businesses and their communications strategies, it surprises me that some companies are still questioning the value of a blog. Particularly those in the healthcare industry. Just like many who waited until after the Supreme Court ruling, and even until after the election to start marching to the beat of health reform, there are some who are still waiting for a neon sign telling them that blogging really is good for business.

Almost always being late adapters, healthcare providers first convinced themselves that social media was not appropriate for health care – there were, after all, patient privacy issues to consider, legal approvals to obtain and other more important information that we, the experts, needed to push out to our patients, donors, doctors and communities. Then, like the Mayan calendar prediction, healthcare providers passed some invisible marker and realized that perhaps we ought to consider having a dialogue with these various groups of people. After all, hospitals are in the business of healthcare – something very personal that requires two-way communication to be effective. Hospitals also realized that the world around them was evolving, and that technology advances had not only changed what happens in the operating room, but technology also had disruptively innovated the way people talk to each other, research healthcare information and share their experiences and opinions.

In addition to hospitals, there are those in other sectors of the healthcare industry, such as health information technology, medical suppliers and other non-providers who have been reticent to embrace social media, and specifically blogging, even though it’s a low cost, high impact strategy for building awareness, extending reach and gaining new business.

Some of the most unlikely businesses across industries have found successful ways to incorporate blogging into their marketing and public relations strategies. If you are still looking for a reason to believe, here are five good reasons to establish or strengthen your blog in 2013. A blog allows a business to:

1. Publish owned content. Unlike earned media, blogging allows you to write and publish your own content.
2. Provide a platform for thought leadership. Blogging gives businesses the ability to have a voice in their industry – to showcase their expertise. While marketing materials focus on features and benefits to support the sales process, blogging is less about sales and more about demonstrating leadership in your industry.
3. Create real-time dialogue. A blog is an informal way for businesses to invite the opinions and feedback of customers and potential customers. It allows a company’s leadership to make a more human connection with the people who express an interest.
4. Extend reach. Blogging is a critical element of content marketing and one of the key drivers of search engine optimization (SEO). Improving your organic search rankings allows your information to reach not only current customers but potential customers – even those who would not have otherwise visited your website.
5. Become a trusted source. Blogs have become a key source of information for the media to identify stories and experts to interview. By blogging regularly, you become part of the online library being searched by reporters and a potential source to be quoted in their articles. In essence, blogging gives you a 2-for-1 return – the ability to publish content and the potential for earned media coverage from a single post.

While these benefits address the importance of having a blog, it’s more imperative to be consistent. Like expecting the opinion column in your favorite newspaper or the restaurant recommendations in your favorite magazine, establishing a blog carries with it a responsibility to continue providing interesting content in order to build a readership – and more importantly to build relationships. And in the process, you will convert potential clients to real customers and motivate existing customers to become advocates.

What’s your favorite business blog? How has it impacted your behavior?

Image: Kris Olin URL via Flickr, CC 2.0

By Laura Petrosky (@chronic_ally)

It’s a tricky thing with New Year’s resolutions. As a huge fan of making lists (yes, I am that type A personality), I embrace the challenge, year after year, of coming up with just the right amount of quantifiable self-improvements for the New Year. My rule of thumb is that if your resolutions take up more than a sticky note, you will probably not stick to them for the whole year (pun intended).

Image courtesy of amberrisme.com

So this year, I thought I’d share 4 professional New Year’s resolutions with fellow wine PR professionals. What are your goals for this year? And, more importantly, how do you prevent them from waning just after January 31?

#1: Taste more, drink less: A glass of wine with dinner? Sure! But I recently realized that I tried “more of the same” instead of exploring different wines. This year, I will refine my palate and expand my wine tasting journal by stopping by one wine tasting every other month (at least). Beverage Media’s event calendar is a good place to find upcoming tastings in your area.

#2: Read on my commute: Meetings, reports, more meetings and client calls – let’s be honest: Reading wine or industry news at work often falls through the cracks. Lucky for me, I live in Queens and work in Manhattan, so I am dedicating every other morning commute on the subway to reading at least one client-relevant story. Here is a quick list of sources that co-workers and I recommend: Wine Opinions, Shanken News Daily, Wine Business, Eric Asimov’s NYT blog, Dr. Vino, Terroirist, Fermentation, 1WineDude, Palate Press and Vinography, just to name a few. If you crave more, Vintank has published a great list of wine blogs worth checking out.

Image courtesy of TresSugar.com

#3: Follow more influencers on Twitter: Roughly 30 percent of Americans get their news from social networks, according to a 2013 Media Relations Strategy White Paper from Press Feed. Following examples of Twitter-savvy co-workers and fellow wine geeks @piamara and @forgetburgundy, I dedicate 2013 to expanding not only my own Twitter following, but to follow significant industry influencers for bite-sized, real-time 140-character industry updates. Ken Waggoner’s @alawine Twitter profile has great lists of Tweeters to follow for starters, but you can also browse WeFollow or IntoWine.com’s annual list of the top 100 most influential people in the U.S. wine industry list.

#4: Quality over quantity pitches: Yes, it’s a no-brainer to personalize pitches, but I think wine writers are a very particular breed of journalists. It’s not enough to know what they have previously written about, but a big plus to know what wine regions they are personally passionate about, how they like to receive and taste samples, what price point they favor, etc. Here is to digging extra deep into wine writers’ likes and dislikes before reaching out to them in 2013!

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

The good news is that all my 2013 resolutions do indeed fit onto one (large) sticky note! What are your goals for this year? How do you keep yourself accountable, and, more importantly, how do you prevent them from waning just after January 31?

With the convergence of digital marketing tactics, it’s pretty clear that the core to a successful digital strategy is content. Just about every SEO expert, content/digital marketer should agree with the age old “content is king” statement. It’s no secret that if you want to rank in a search engine, generate leads or get the most “likes” or “tweets” you need unique, valuable, and quality driven content on your website.

I continue to push our clients and my co-workers to generate content but the true question is “what type of content should get created?” Whether its a article, infographic or press release, content should fall into one of these three main buckets outlined below. Creating a content plan that varies itself across these silos will help establish your client from a relevancy, expertise and authority standpoint.

 1. Evergreen Content

• Definition: Just as the name implies, evergreen content is “always fresh” (forever green) and not relative to one specific moment in time. Evergreen content is pretty general and will bring visitors to a website for a long period of time. This type of content helps establish the basics that define your business or objectives.
• Content Example: Creating a keyword rich article on a website that isn’t time sensitive. I.E. creating a “benefits of maple syrup” section on purecanadamaple.com
• Establishes: Relevance as the content created is relative to business objectives and searches.
• Ideal for: SEO/SEM

2.Brand Content

• Definition: Content that highlights your companies accolades, work and expertise.
• Content Example: Press releases, white papers and case studies.
• Establishes: Expertise
• Ideal for: PR

3. Industry Content

• Definition: Content that provides insight into your businesses overarching industry.
• Example: Blog posts, infogrpahics and other insightful content.
• Establishes: Authority
• Ideal for: SEO, PR, Social Media

Photo from Scott Meis

I have a short attention span, but I rock at multitasking. I may get bored easy but if you capture my attention, I could become your number one advocate. Please just cut to the chase, there’s no need for lengthy instructions; to me a picture’s worth a thousand words. At about 80 million strong, by 2017 these Americans, born between 1980-2000, will have more spending power than any other generation before us. You call me a millennial, but I prefer Rachael.

Image: NoJo Photo URL via Flickr, CC 2.0

Most of you already understand that in order for your organization to be successful, you need to captivate the millennial audience. Unfortunately, my generation isn’t as easy to fool. It’s hard to find us and it’s even harder to keep us.

The good news? Millennials are generous and we care about giving back. In fact a 2010 survey found that 93% of millennials said they gave to a cause.

What does this mean for non-profits? If you figure out the secret sauce to reaching us now, not only will you execute better fundraising campaigns, but you increase your chances of creating lifelong donors.

Here are 5 things you need to start doing if you want to captivate my fellow millennials:

1. Show Us You’re Tech Savvy

I hope this is a given, but if you’re avoiding social media and technology, you need to come out from under your shell ASAP. Go experiment personally. But please act like a human. And if you really want to understand millennials, you have to learn how to use a smart phone. We don’t know what life is without an iPhone in our hand, and of the 34 percent of us who make direct donations to causes, almost half donate using their mobile device. If you find us where we are, make it easy to give, and are genuine, we may just respond in your favor.

2.  KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)

We don’t love Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest for no reason. The more simple and to the point you are, the more likely it is you haven’t lost our attention to the screaming zombies on The Walking Dead. Make sure you have a clear call-to-action and a simple message. Trust me it works. Oxfam America’s International Women’s Day campaign is a perfect example of this.

3.  Move Fast and Hit Hard

Millennials can send a picture of you sneezing to everyone they know (and don’t know) quicker than you can say “Excuse me.” While we care about causes and giving back, we’re also accustomed to receiving information immediately. If you design a cause marketing campaign that is relevant, has a direct call-to-action, allows us to watch the impact occur in real time, and your responsive, we’ll be all over it!

4.  Trigger Our Emotions

Think about what we care about. Hit our emotions. We grew up with recycling engrained in us to the point where we feel guilty throwing a can in the dumpster. If you appeal to our emotions and create something shareable, we’ve been known to do your marketing for you.

5.  Get Us Involved

We don’t just want to give away our money we want to feel like we’re part of the solution.  How can you make your campaign interactive? How can you create “champions” for your cause?  If you make it important to us, and make us feel involved in helping a worthy cause, we will get involved. A great example of a campaign that’s bound to capture millennials is the Pinterest-based campaign “Pinning for Pets” launched by our client BISSELL . If you give us millennials the opportunity to get involved and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Moral of the Story?

We’re an ambitious and compassionate group, undoubtedly shaped by the worst economic recession since the Great Depression and disasters such as 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina. The result? A socially-conscious generation amplified by technology. Why not join us?

What other tips do you have to help non-profits reach millennials?

The full version of this post originally appeared on Razoo’s Inspiring Generosity blog.

By Caroline Helper (@forgetburgundy)

As is the media’s wont every time the last digit of the calendar changes, they have inundated us with prognostications for the coming year in every industry from tires to protective eyewear and just about everything in between. Well, this PR lady’s got a few of her own to add to the all-consuming wave and, gird your loins, folks, 2013 is gearing up to be a real game changer in the wine industry. Ready or not, here it comes…*

This dude’s gonna drink A LOT of wine in 2013

1. Wines for dudes.  That’s right, girlfriend, looks like your Skinnygirl’s not going to be the only wine in the fridge once your boyfriend gets a look at the manly quaffs 2013’s got in store. When it comes to wine marketing, it’s no secret that women are the key demographic – it seems like every week there are new competitors, slapped with visions of skinny women batting enviable eyelashes or having such a lovely lunch at a café table, or simply bearing an adorable cupcake.  Because women always go for cupcakes. Obvi. 2013 will be the year of man juice – chest-pounding, robust, and bicep-curling wines meant exclusively to pair with manly things like steaks and bacon and whiskey. Wait – whiskey? Psh, you’ll never be like Hemingway if you can’t pair your whiskey with wine and then go shoot a moose. And then eat it. Man up with manly wine this year and look forward to some wine that will show you what The Grapes of Wrath really means.

This guy’s gonna make a lot of wine in 2013

2. Wines produced from foraged grapes. At this point, wine made from foraged grapes is the inevitable frontier. We’ve had salads, jams, and soups (or we haven’t lived!) all produced from foraged greens, sea grasses, and mushrooms – so why the hold-up when it comes to wines? Quantity, namely – you need quite a lot of grapes to make a few bottles of wine. However, I predict that a handful of crafty producers will set out, hiking boots in tow, to scour the countryside for abandoned grape vines from which to procure their wine-making materials. Look, wine-making is hard and it’s not for everyone and a lot of people have woken up and thought, “I like wine! I think I’ll plant a vineyard!” only to go bankrupt in the process. Trust me, those neglected vineyards are out there just ripe for the picking.3. Kim Kardashian will launch a line of non-alcoholic wines for babies. Because, you know – it’s really important to start training the palate early and there’s no such thing as too soon for sophistication. I think Suri taught us all a really important lesson there. Heels at 3? Kimye’s gotta think big. And besides, it’s not grape juice, it’s an untapped market.

4. Wines no one has ever tasted before.  Scientists this year will revive the DNA sequence of long-extinct grape varieties and create ridiculously limited-quality wines that will literally be like nothing even the most earnest wine geek has ever tasted. Don’t believe me? Scientists have gotten, like, Jurassic-Park-scary good at mapping genomes and cloning stuff. It’s not science fiction anymore, kids, it’s just science.

5. Wine and salt pairings. If 2012 was the year of lichens and moss, 2013 will be the year of salt. Artisinal, local, and even rare salts will take over fine-dining menus across the country. These location-specific salts, whether sourced from the black sand beaches of Hawaii or the pink ledges of the Himalayas each have a distinct taste that carries with it a sense of terroir in a way that only wine can rival. So why not pair the two? Just think of the sparks between a robust Shiraz and the earthy nuances of rosy grains harvested from Australia’s Murray River.

6.  House wines from national fast-casual chains. CostCo has its own wine, why not your neighborhood Chilis? Or Applebees? Not sufficed to load you up with 780 hidden calories in an otherwise harmless smoked turkey wrap (“There’s lettuce in it! I can spot a calorie bomb when I see it,” you say to yourself as you sit smugly back in your booth), casual dining chains will start to produce their own branded “house wines” that are loaded with hidden sugar (hello, calories!) and low enough alcohol levels to make you feel like you’ve spouted a hollow leg as you (hah!) down your fourth glass.

  7. Fashion-friendly wines. This year, colored wines are going to make a big impact. White? Boring. Red? Passe. Rose? Eh. While the fashion world made a huge leap in making friends with the wine world when it sanctioned a deep rich burgundy hue christened “oxblood” for fall, the wine world has decided to repay that favor in kind – and a team of dedicated viticulturists have spent the last year working to create truly non-interactive color addititives that the most discerning fashionistas can add to their favored glass of wine to ensure that what’s in their glass matches their outfit. Perfectly. If the 2000’s have taught us anything, its that accessorizing is an increasingly important aspect of any outfit.

8. Twee wines will take over**. If the past few years in wine have taught us anything, it’s that appealing to the consumer of the moment pays off. Whether we’re talking Housewives making wines to appeal to housewives or those so-adorable-I-couldn’t-resist-the-bear-in-the-rowboat-what-do-you-mean-what-does-it-have-to-do-with-wine  “critter wines,” wine is often much more about connecting with your targeted consumer that it is about what’s actually in the bottle.  So this year, I predict, will be the year of the Twee Wines. What is twee? Twee is hipster weddings replete with wildflowers in mason jars, succulent “floral” arrangements, pennants and bare Edison bulbs strung across picnic tables, hand-drawn illustrations of couples with bangs and mustaches, and putting a bird on it (see Portlandia Season 1 Episode 2). Expect your wines to be infused with an almost unbearable sense of charm, quaintness, and old-timey good times.

Yesterday, as I packed my computer up and headed out of the office for the night, the big black letters of one our company’s core values stared back at me from the wall across the room: “Always be open and honest.” I thought about the importance of this statement, not only for me personally, but for my profession. For business.  For society. For the world.

With the year coming to an end, it’s a time for reflection and introspection.  It’s a time for change. An opportunity to start over. And as I look back not only at 2012, but at the last several years, I am reminded of two very different stories, with two very different outcomes, both equally powerful in underscoring the importance of openness and transparency.

In the summer of 2008, Maple Leaf Foods of Toronto had a disaster on its hands after an outbreak of listeria bacteria was found in some of its packaged meat products. There were nine confirmed and eleven suspected deaths attributed to eating the tainted meat.

However, facing one of the greatest PR crises in Canadian history, the company did something few others had ever done: it allowed itself to be vulnerable. It owned up to its mistakes. In other words, it was open and honest.

On August 25, in the midst of the chaos, Michael McCain, Maple Leaf Foods’ CEO looked squarely in the eye of a television camera, and somberly offered his “deepest sympathies” to Canadians whose family members had died or become ill after eating Maple Leaf products. With tears in his eyes and sincerity in his voice, McCain admitted that the outbreak was his company’s fault. The apology wasn’t wordsmithed or spin-doctored to deny culpability and McCain didn’t dodge the issue. He was the voice and the face of the crisis, and of the apology. Delivering one of my favorite lines from a Chief Executive Officer in recent memory, McCain stated candidly: “Going through the crisis there are two advisers I’ve paid no attention to. The first are the lawyers, and the second are the accountants. It’s not about money or legal liability; this is about our being accountable for providing consumers with safe food. This is a terrible tragedy. To those people who have become ill, and to the families who have lost loved ones, I want to express my deepest and most sincere sympathies. Words cannot begin to express our sadness for your pain.” Now, that is honesty. Sincere, unbridled truth.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Amazingly, the Toronto-based company returned to profitability the next year. After spending much of 2008 dealing with the perfect storm: rising commodity prices, an economic downturn and the fallout from the listeria crisis, by the end October 2009, Maple Leaf Foods reported a net income of $22.5 million compared to a net loss of $12.9 million a year earlier. On top of that, McCain was named CEO of the year by The Canadian Press for 2008. That’s right, the man at the forefront of a company responsible for the deaths of at least nine citizens, was named the CEO of the year.

Why? Because McCain publicly apologized. Because the company was proactive—once the link between Maple Leaf Foods and the listeria outbreak was confirmed, the company moved to recall all 220 packaged meats produced at the affected plant. Because McCain stuck to his core values and didn’t hide behind lawyers. And most importantly, because he humanized himself through openness, honesty and empathy. To this day, the Maple Leaf Foods recall remains a paradigm in effective crisis management.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are numerous examples of a lack openness and honesty that showcase a very different result. Whether it’s Lance Armstrong being deemed a liar and being stripped of his seven titles after years of denying doping allegations, or Rod Blagojevich’s attempt to sell a U.S. Senate seat, ultimately ending in his conviction and arrest, we all know how difficult it is to admit fault. We all know how tough it is to be defenseless and vulnerable. And we all know how hard it is to be completely open and accept that we’ve made mistakes. That’s what makes it so powerful. Just ask Michael McCain.

Image courtesy of USA Today.

Your child has come down with a rasping cough. You put on your Dr. Mom hat, jump online and feverishly Google their symptoms, you check social media to see if any of your friend’s children are sick. Overwhelmed by the multitude of potential diagnoses, you decide to wait and see if the cough subsides before scheduling an appointment.

But what if you could connect with your doctor using social media; asking for advice via a quick Twitter or Facebook message? Your doctor responds within 24 hours, offering some quick tips and pointing you in the direction of some credible online resources. As a parent you feel relieved, empowered and thankful to have a doctor that is open to communicating with her patients online, instead of feeling left to blindly search on WebMD.com.

But while a few doctors including Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, author of the Seattle Mama Doc blog and Natasha Burgert, MD, author of KC Kids Doc blog, are using digital communication to communicate better with their patients, according to a 2011 survey by AMN Healthcare only 8% of physicians said they use social media at work to connect with patients.

If social media and blogs in the U.S reach nearly 80% of active U.S. Internet users and represent the majority of Americans’ time online (MediaPost) then why aren’t physicians taking advantage of the opportunity to reach their patients where they already are?

Attending the session “A Dr, Patient & Insurer Walk into a Social Network“ at SxSW last year really opened my eyes to the social media obstacles healthcare professionals face. But more than anything, I was inspired by the overwhelming opportunities social media presents for transforming healthcare.

Here are three social media obstacles health care providers face and the underlying opportunities each present.

1. Risk

Obstacle: Understandably, many health care professionals may avoid using social media for fear of violating regulations like HIPPA. While maintaining patient-doctor privacy boundaries and following regulations is important, avoiding social media isn’t the solution.

Opportunity: I think a safe and easy way for doctors to use social media is to spread good health information, address common medical questions and share interesting developments in the medical world.

You may be prohibited or uncertain about engaging with patients online or via text message but you can still carefully address common concerns and help educate your patients outside of your office.

2. Education

Obstacle: Not knowing how to use social media tools or being overwhelmed by the lingo and regulations can be intimidating.

Opportunity: Providing education and opportunities for health care professionals to learn how to best use and incorporate social media in their work is an important first step to making them feel more comfortable and open to this form of communication. For example, Mayo Clinic, a pioneer in using social media in health care, launched its own Center for Social Media after so many hospitals and physicians turned to them for social media advice.

With health care lagging behind only the oil industry in regards to adopting social media, there’s an opportunity for communication and marketing professionals to pave the way, whether you work inhouse or as a consultant.

3. Time

Obstacle: Social media adds one more thing to a doctor’s already busy schedule.

Opportunity: The doctor-patient relationship (and quite frankly any relationship) relies on communication. New technology is changing how we communicate with each other, just as the telephone and email did, but faster. The sooner healthcare professionals embrace this, the better off their patients and practice will be.

“A tweet here and Facebook post there is part of practicing medicine in today’s technology-saturated society. It’s the evolution of how we communicate with each other. And I have to remind doctors that if they think they don’t have time for this—and if they don’t have instant access to mobile communications—they may be behind the learning curve and behind the times,” said Thomas Lee, MD in a U.S. News Health article.

Benefits v. costs

Overall physicians using social media have found the benefits outweigh the costs. Dr. Swanson uses her blog and YouTube videos to address common questions parents ask, allowing her to focus more time on the unique medical issues of her patients during their office visit.

As Dr. Alice Ackerman, a pediatrician and college professor from Virginia Tech University, discovered, it doesn’t take a huge following to make a difference. After a year of blogging she had an average of 4.5 readers per day.

One day a reader sent her the following tweet –

 “Dr. Ackerman is the person who changed my mind once I read her blog and her links. I had no idea that info existed.”

If you only make a difference in just one person, isn’t that enough of a benefit?

Whether a doctor uses Skype to consult with a patient or creates an educational video or blog, the obstacle is insurers don’t cover the time and energy doctors put into using social media to help their patients.

If social media and technology can create healthier patients and fewer demands on the health care system, then perhaps the key to getting health care providers on board is first tackling insurance buy in.

As a communicator, how do you think social media could help transform doctor-patient communication?

Image: aeu04117 via Flickr, CC 2.0

This post originally appeared in the blog Waxing UnLyrical.

by Cassandra Bianco (@cnbianco)

Shaquille O’Neal announced Monday he is launching his own line of vodka — “Luv Shaq.” The former NBA star plans to launch in 2013 with a sugar- and gluten-free coconut flavored wallop.

And who will have the privilege for this new product PR launch? CRT/tanaka would like to power forward as the No.1 contender. Here are the top 10 reasons why we should get picked:

10. We may or may not have top secret competitor info. One of us jetsetted with rapper [retracted] in [region retracted] France to help him pick out his poison.

9. People will know your coconut vodka is way cooler than Bethenny Frankel’s coconut vodka.

8. We throw awesome parties. (Our office parties are great too, the tree trimming party last week involved homemade spiced rum cider.)

7. This gluten-free vodka will enjoy similar press coverage to our other gluten-free client, maple syrup from Canada, featured in Forbes, TIME and Perez Hilton.

6. Unlike snooty bartenders, we believe vodka is far from being the Lord Voldemort of liquor.

5. Our New York office features a living room, a meditation room and a lunch room decked out with a test kitchen. We promise you will feel right at home, and we make better Shaqaroni and Cheese than yo mama.

4. We are fun. Here is a picture of our press friends after a wine battle in Spain. That’s right. They got to shoot water guns full of wine at each other.

3. We represent a variety of food and wine regions, and will host a personal pairing seminar. Specifically, we would like you to try a Rioja Crianza that pairs magnificently with the Shaqaroni and Cheese.

2. We just got off the phone with Danny Meyer at Shake Shack. They have requested rights to the Luv Shaq Milkshake for the Shake Shack menu. (Steak and Shake did not return our call.)

1. Well, because Shaq, we will hacky sack the competition. (We know) we got skillz.

Like the rest of the country, I watched the news of the Sandy Hook school shooting with shock, sadness and an incredible feeling of loss. I’ve shed many tears for the innocent lives lost. As I have been monitoring the media coverage of this tragedy, the communicator side of my brain began to consider the crisis communications response related to these terrible events. While most organizations will be lucky enough to never experience a crisis of this magnitude, this situation does remind us of some key crisis communications principles. With the deepest respect for the tragedy in Connecticut, I do think it is important to review what we can learn from this event as far as communicating during a crisis.

Control the flow of information

During a crisis, you must take control of the flow of information. We’ve seen this principle in action at Sandy Hook, as Lieutenant George Sinko has been very clear about when he will be providing updates, including the date and time of the next press conference. This is a particularly important tactic for making sure you feed the media with the information they need, while not becoming all consumed with your media response. Controlling the updates allows you time to focus on the important steps to respond to the crisis at hand. And, it makes the media feel they have been heard and that you are being responsive to their needs.

Here’s an article on the Q&A session of a Sandy Hook press conference, which offers some thoughts we can consider.

Never speculate or guess

Especially in the beginning stages of a crisis, there are a lot of unknowns. So when the media, your employees, your customers, your shareholders, etc. start calling, you may be tempted to speculate as to the answers to their questions. It’s this simple: if you do not know the answer, NEVER speculate. Feeding misinformation into a crisis environment will reduce your credibility, the most important asset in a crisis. Instead of speculating, state that you don’t have the information at hand, but that you will work to find the answer. It’s also helpful to give a timeline for when you may be able to get this answer, if possible.

Know that the void will be filled – but by whom?

In a crisis, the media wants information, and they want it now. The 24-hour news cycle greatly contributes to this, as well as the endless drive to scoop a story. The media wants information – where will they get it? Know that if you are not communicating during a crisis, someone else is going to fill the information void. Do your best to fill the void with accurate and clear information. Keep the media engaged appropriately with your organization’s messages related to the story.

As we’ve seen in the Sandy Hook tragedy, the media will follow any and all leads to fill the information void. They will interview bystanders, family members, experts, etc. Depending on the crisis at hand, do your best to provide good sources and interviews for the media so that they are talking to reputable sources and getting accurate information.

Monitor and correct misinformation

As mentioned before, the media will try to fill the void with whatever information they can find. Sometimes this information is inaccurate. We saw this quite clearly in the first day of news coverage related to the Sandy Hook tragedy – the media got so much information wrong in the first 24 hours, resulting in a lot of confusion and rumors related to the events. Even as late as yesterday, a Daily Beast story included a link to a story from Dec. 14, including inaccurate information that the shooter’s mother was a teacher at the school. Social media, in particular, creates an environment ripe for misinformation. Be sure that someone on your team is monitoring all media coverage and social media conversations during and after the crisis. Correct misinformation and become the respected source for information related to the crisis.

Uncover the heroes

During a crisis like Sandy Hook, heroes rise to the top and become a key part of the media coverage. It is a natural component of our society to value and recognize heroic acts.

In other crises, these heroes may not rise to the top as naturally. Depending on your crisis, there may be some heroes you can highlight. Provide these heroes to the media (as appropriate) as part of the story. This helps us focus on the positive, the good and provide hope and reassurance amidst an otherwise difficult time.

Show heartfelt compassion for those involved

We are communicators, but we are above all humans. In every crisis, someone is harmed, and we have to make our compassion for these individuals very clear. This is particularly important in a crisis such as Sandy Hook, where the lives lost and affected are of utmost importance.

If your organization experiences a crisis, take a moment to look at all who have been affected. Who has been hurt? It may not be physical hurt – it could be financial or even their confidence in your organization has been harmed. Be clear and consistent in your compassion during the crisis. Never let this get lost.

Have a crisis communication plan in place

This is the most important learning from any crisis, big or small. You must have a plan in place to effectively deal with a crisis. Without a plan, you will be scrambling for how you will respond during the exact time that you need to be responding. In addition to a plan, key individuals on your team must be familiar with the plan and practiced in crisis response.

Some additional tools:

• Check out Brian Ellis’ 10 rules for crisis management white paper.
• What should your organization do during a national crisis? Should you stop all brand tweets? Stop promoting products? Send your thoughts for those affected? Some advice.
• Onlinecolleges.net developed an infographic detailing how schools deal with crises online, and how to implement an online crisis policy at a school.

What communications lessons have you learned from last week’s events?

Image courtesy of yourthoughtpartner.com.

My post from last week talked about some digital trends and tactics for 2013 but I didn’t really focus too much on SEO. I talked about a few paid search trends but I wanted to dedicate a full post to really cover where things are headed and the perception of search engine optimization.

Crappy SEO is Dead

With the rise of the social web and articles like this one pronouncing “The Death of SEO” one has to ask, is SEO dead? SEO is not dead. Legit, quality content driven SEO is a thriving marketing tactic that continues to grow and deliver a high ROI. What is dead is the crappy, spammy, deceptive “SEO” of the past. The days of buying links, spinning articles and “manipulating” the search results have been killed by Google’s Penguin and Panda algorithm updates. Even the term “search engine optimization” feels a little out dated as SEO is really about content marketing and less about trickery these days. At its core, the goal of a search engine will remain to deliver quality results in a user friendly manner.

Search is Still Young

Search engines are still really basic machines that rely on keyword relevancy and link popularity signals. This is there backbone and hasn’t really changed since the inception of indexing the web. As technology evolves we should see strides in a search engines ability to index other content. The future will bring better technology that allows a search engine to crawl images and video more efficiently. What about voice recognition? A lot can and will happen with voice recognition in the future and search will be impacted by these advancing technologies.

Social Influence & Personalized Search

The rise of the social web has made an impact on search. Social hasn’t taken a piece of the search pie but the pie has now been expanded to include social media. Social is here to stay and it will continue to integrate and evolve with search. The data associated with your social activity may influence future rankings creating a more personalized search experience. Google’s jaunt into G+ pretty much verifies this theory as user are asked to “plus one” websites that they like. Social is a validation technique outside of the web but even on the web more social based search activities may start to sway algorithm based searches. Site’s like Blekko rely on human editors and not algorithms in order to personalize and socialize the search experience. With users maintaining topic tags, search results can be more relative and accurate to the query.

I barely scratched the surface on where the industry is headed but these were some of the concepts that resonated with me that got discussed at SMX East. Search is still an abundant and growing industry and it will be interesting to see where it goes in the future.

If content is king, photos are his favorite little prince. Mark my words, 2013 will be the year of the photo. We were just getting primed in 2012. Facebook acquired Instagram. Photo posts on Facebook get more likes than links, text or videos. Your audience isn’t reading your posts anymore… not unless there is a photo to pull them in.

Take Mashable, for instance. Every single one of their posts on Facebook has a photo. In fact, it can be hard to find the link to the actual article the picture represents, at times.

And – with filters, editing apps and vintage cameras, you can truly make your photos stand out.

So, when I’m snapping photos at events and putting together content for my clients, here are a the top three lesser-known apps I can’t live without (everyone knows about Instagram, after all):

AfterFocus Pro:

You know how when people take really cool pictures with their DSLRs and the person is focused, but the background is blurry? I always was very jealous of that look. Well, with AfterFocus Pro, you can have that effect with just a few keystrokes. Just pick your foreground, midground and background and bam, beautiful picture. It’s available on iPhone or Android.

Rosalie’s Turkey Day before:

Rosalie’s Turkey Day After:

HDR Camera:

HDR Camera is, in a word, magical. Here’s my basic understanding: when you take a picture, it actually takes a few pictures in a row, letting in light at different apertures. This way, your darks become more black, and your colors become brighter, making for striking pictures. Some think you can overdo it with HDR. I just think it’s amazing. You do have to hold the phone very still, because it overlays each of the pictures for the effect. Available on iPhone or Android.

Vacation in West Virginia Before:

Vacation in West Virginia After (amazing, huh?)

Diptic:

Want to really tell a story with your photos? Download Diptic. Lovvvve it! It allows you to patch together a few pictures to tell a story. Take some of your favorites from a vacation and make a collage. They’re easily shareable to Foursquare and Instagram too. Grab it on iPhone or Android.

For instance, here’s a diptic of a “rainy day in Maine” this past summer:

So, better have these apps on your phone for the New Year! What are some of your favorites?

By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)

The blogosphere has been abuzz with chatter and predictions since the most powerful voice (and palate) in the wine industry, Robert Parker, announced this week that he intends to step down as editor-in-chief of The Wine Advocate (TWA) – the powerful wine publication he founded over 34 years ago – and sell “a substantial interest” in it to Singapore-based investors. The story broke in the Wall Street Journal, but has since been reported in dozens of news sources, including the The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, London’s Financial Times, as well as an army of blogs.

While Parker stated he will maintain a role as CEO of the publication and continue to “cover Bordeaux, the Rhône, retrospectives on California vintages and profiles of under-$25 wine bargains,” he announced his intension to step down as its editor-in-chief, turning this role over to TWA’s Singapore-based correspondent and Master of Wine, Lisa Perrotti-Brown. This news came as a shock not only because of Parker’s prominence in the wine world, but also because the new iteration of TWA will now accept luxury advertisers outside of wine. Well-known for his staunch independence, Parker had previously refused advertising of any kind as part of the publication’s official “Ethics and Standards.”

The changes also demonstrate a shift in focus for the publication – and the world of 100-point-scale-dominated wine publications – to the booming yet adolescent Asian market. Much like the then-immature U.S. market when Parker launched his publication over thirty years ago, Asian markets are hungry for rigorous and focused information and status symbol wines. As Eric Asimov of The New York Times points out, “the new wine markets of Asia will benefit from any guidance and influence The Wine Advocate can offer, until, for them, too, it’s time to separate and go off on their own.”

Now 65 years old, it is understandable that Robert Parker chose to lessen his role at his signature publication and bring in investors. What remains to be seen is whether TWA can continue on without Parker’s influential leadership, face, and “million-dollar nose.”

Cheers!

Photos courtesy of The Atlantic, The Institute of Masters of Wine and Bordeaux Traders.

CRT/tanaka’s Norfolk office poses for a photo during Community Service Day at the Salvation Army in 2011

By Julie McCracken

This Friday, CRT/tanaka will close all five of our offices for our annual Community Service Day, or what we like to call “the best day of the year.” Whether serving people in a soup kitchen, packing boxes at the Food Bank or playing memory games with seniors at an adult care center, we’ll be making a difference in our communities, together.

Community Service Day, however, is just one day of the year. Luckily, our company encourages year-round employee volunteerism, and more and more companies are doing the same. In fact, according to Volunteer Match, back in 1992, only 31% of surveyed companies reported the use of volunteer programs to support core business functions. By 1999, that number had grown to 81%. Today, 84% of companies believe that volunteers can help achieve long term social goals.

Beyond its social impact, employee volunteerism is critical to the overall health of your corporate responsibility program and your business. Here’s how:

· Brand Loyalty – Employee-sponsored volunteer programs are a highly-visible way for companies to show their support within their local communities and generate brand awareness. But, be strategic about your volunteer efforts. Ideally, organizations and projects should be selected carefully so they align with your core business competencies. For example, our client TIAA-CREF has created a financial literacy initiative that encourages employees to volunteer with Junior Achievement. In doing so, they’re leveraging their core business expertise in financial services to impact financial literacy in local communities. As a result, they’ve gained positive brand exposure among students, parents and teachers, and, hopefully, brand loyalty and reputational capital. Employee volunteer programs must walk a fine line, however. While you want to want to align your efforts with your key business strengths, you also want to give your employees freedom and choice so they feel supported in pursing their personal passions. A strong employee volunteerism program combines both elements.

· Employee Morale – This isn’t a surprise – volunteering makes people feel good. In a UnitedHealthcare/Volunteer Match survey, 94% of companies polled believed employee volunteering provides a way to increase employee morale. In addition to improving morale and attitude, volunteerism also fosters a sense of teamwork and gives employees an opportunity to get to know each other outside of the office environment. As a result, job satisfaction and performance often increase.

· Recruitment – A strong employee volunteerism program can give your company an advantage in recruiting, particularly when it comes to Millennials. According to Volunteering in America, 11.6 million Millenials dedicated 1.2 billion hours of volunteer time in 2010. When looking at potential job opportunities, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become almost as important as salary and benefits. Typically, Millenials want to work for a company that is making a difference, and are looking for tactile experiences that allow them to make a difference on their own terms.

Put simply, employee volunteerism is no longer a “nice to do” but a “need to do” – for your community, your employees and your business. What is your company doing to show it recognizes this?

With the ever changing and evolving digital landscape it’s hard to predict what will happen in the future of web development, search, marketing and PR. Based on observations and tactics witnessed in 2012, here are some concepts and strategies that should be more apparent throughout the digital world in 2013.

Responsive Design Kills the Mobile Domain

Responsive design blossomed in 2012 and will continue to emerge as the main technology used for mobile friendly websites in 2013. A sited developed with responsive techniques will react to it’s digital environment so the same site viewed on a desktop computer will deliver a user friendly experience on a phone or tablet. With this “one website for all devices” concept, the need for specific “mobile only” .mobi or m. domains will subside. Not only is responsive design favorable when device accessibility is a concern but a responsive website is also ideal from a SEO and content management standpoint. With only one website to manage, you no longer need to update a desktop and mobile version of your site. A responsive site will also eliminate the worry of how Google ranks and indexes and ranks your mobile domain. One website that works on all devices will eliminate these woe’s and is truly the only type of website needed for multi-device success.

Focus on Conversions Lighten Up

The most common goals for paid search revolve around lead generation and the sale of a product or service. However, according to a recent SEMPO report, those objectives are on the decline. When marketers were surveyed about paid search objectives, brand awareness and web traffic are on the rise and sales and conversion are on the decline. With bids and competition in AdWords continuing to rise, it’s interesting that marketers are using such a high ROI and precise tactic for very loose, hard to calculate, brand awareness objectives.

The main goal of paid search campaigns in 2013 will still be lead gen and sales but why are marketers going spend money on these more ambiguous overarching objectives? My speculation is that when economic times are bountiful, money is spent more freely with less concentration on return. As the recession begins to lift, the focus on conversions and sales will lighten up. With these core business objectives moving to the back burner, more budget can be allocated to brand awareness, reputation and web traffic.

Rise of the Semantic Web

This subject can get pretty technical rather quickly but as you begin to think through digital strategies in 2013 I strongly encourage integrating rich snippets and microformats into your website’s content. At it’s very basic level, a microformat is a standardized way to represent data to users and search engines. As of now microformats exist for calendar events, news, media, recipes, reviews and handful of other pieces of content that can follow a set archetype across all websites. As Google tightens the reins on how they rank pages, the use of microformats (when appropriate) could help provide stronger signals to Google and it’s users. This type of semantic mark up is only found on about 1.5% of websites across the entire web so their is a clear opportunity here. With relevancy being a huge part of your ranking factor, participating in the semantic web is a must for 2013.

Forget Contests and Sweepstakes. It’s Time to Gamify.

As user engagement grows as an important tactic, marketers will look for new ways to connect with their audience. The integration of game-like characteristics into websites and apps relies on rewarding users with points, incentives and rewards to have them engage with your site and content. Gamification caters to the competiive nature in humans and provides a totally different approach to engagement and return visits. A simple contest or sweepstakes might provide a lot of inital interest but it’s rare that participants will come back and engage with your site beyond that first form entry. By gamifying a website you could reward users with points based on social shares, comments, etc. At the end of the month, the top 5 users with the most points could be placed into a drawing for a prize. This type of incentive based marketing has worked for some very large brands and should be found throughtout more campaigns in 2013. Be on the lookout, we just might gamify the buzz bin… If you have an hour to kill and you’re really interested in gamification I highly recommend the Google Talk video.

Ads Will Continue to Follow You Around the Internet in 2013

One of the biggest updates to paid search in 2012 was a feature called retargeting. For example, if you are the owner of an online shoe store and a potential customer browses your site and clicks on a blue tennis show, but doesn’t decide to purchase it that day. You can now target that potential customer with ad’s relevant to blue tennis shoes as they browse other parts of the Internet not related to your site. Utilizing this tactic has been shown to have a really high conversion rate. With the success that display ad retargeting has shown, rumors have it that search based retargeting might be in the future. This would enable advertisers to target display advertisements at users based on the queries they entered on search engines. This tactic would utilize the targeting of search with the reach of display taking online advertising to a new level in 2013.

While cause marketing is no new concept, spirits brands have been thinking more about how they can raise awareness for issues, while also helping impact sales.  Neither are self-serving when done right.

For example, Belvedere Vodka recently took over Manhattan’s Meatpacking district with an art installation in support of RED™ and World AIDS Day.  To activate consumers, the brand created an interactive art experience complete with a light show illuminating the area in red lights and neon trees similar to their branding, with a DJ performance from popular electrofunk DJ duo Chromeo. Consumers can purchase BELVEDERE (RED) to raise proceeds for the Global Fund, a financier of programs to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa.  50% of profits from the global sale of the BELVEDERE RED Special Edition bottle will contribute to the Global Fund. The event created a big media stir and media and consumers are still engaging online. One Twitter follower said, “Only going to buy Belvedere (RED) from now on. Enjoying a nice drink means so much more when I know I am helping those in need.”

Photo credit: Guest of a Guest

Earlier this year, Absolut Vodka recently hosted “aMBUSH Art for Charity,” debuting works from four local artists in Sydney, Australia who designed distinctive bottles to benefit their favorite charities. The local artists displayed their bottles in a public exposition at the Sydney Opera’s Bar, which could then be bid on eBay.

Photo credit: Gourmantic

What does this mean for brands and marketers?

• Sales cannot be your first goal.
• Determine how you can make a difference.
• Don’t be self-serving.
• Engage consumers in their element.
• Help consumers feel like they did something worthy.

Brands have to be smart about what they’re putting out there and ultimately remember who they’re trying to reach and why what they’re doing matters.

By Kim Blake (@kimkblake)

H.G.  If you’ve been watching the news this week, you probably know that it stands for Hyperemesis Gravidarum. If you’ve ever been pregnant and struggled with it, you know that it’s morning sickness on steroids.  Non-stop nausea, dehydration, and utter misery.  Most of us can credit the Duchess of Cambridge, formerly Kate Middleton, for our knowledge of H.G.  The world has been atwitter this week, following the big announcement of a royal baby by Buckingham Palace.  The news of Kate’s unfortunate case of H.G. was revealed because it has required her to be hospitalized.

Those of us responsible for increasing awareness of various health conditions can only dream of having a celebrity like Duchess Kate emerge as a poster child.  Celebrity spokespeople play a valuable role in elevating issues such as illness and chronic disease.  Why?

It’s a tough sell.  Illness and chronic disease are topics that typically are not pretty.  However, the right spokesperson can take a somewhat taboo topic and open up the conversation among the general public.  As a spokesperson for probiotic yogurt Activia, Jamie Lee Curtis has elevated the issue of digestive distress.  Saturday Night Live even created a sketch about the commercials.  While the goal is not to poke fun at health conditions, it is important to create a dialogue that increases awareness and encourages people to seek out help.

People don’t like to think about their own mortality.  Chronic disease is scary, but the use of a familiar, well-respected personality can help.  A number of personalities have stepped forward to talk about their battles with breast cancer – from Christina Applegate to Guiliana Rancic to Sheryl Crow.  Their efforts have focused on the importance of getting screened.  Just yesterday, former Malcolm in the Middle actor Frankie Muniz announced that he suffered a mini-stroke last week at the young age of 27.  Stroke experts from local health systems are already using Muniz’s experience to talk about the signs, symptoms and the importance of treatment in the first few hours.

It’s too complicated for many people to grasp.  Healthcare is well-known for making difficult topics sound even more complicated by using extensive jargon.  A celebrity spokesperson can simplify the topic by talking about their own personal experience in language that the average person understands.  For instance, the official name of a mini-stroke is a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) and the description is just as confusing.  Using his own words, Muniz made his experience relatable to the average person, “I was really dizzy and in a lot of pain in my whole body and my head. My hands were numb. I didn’t really have good balance and I was almost dropping the bike. I never had this before. I was like ‘What’s going on?’ I felt like I was getting stabbed in the head – the worst headache you could ever think of. I couldn’t see anything.”

When seeking a celebrity spokesperson, one of the greatest challenges is getting celebrities to step forward.  After all, it can impact their careers if their health is seen as a risk.  This has been a significant challenge for health conditions such as heart disease.  While there is not a standout spokesperson for the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute’s The Heart Truth® campaign, the Red  Dress® initiative has allowed  models, actresses and musicians to come forward in support and lend their celebrity to the cause by walking the runway, whether or not they are suffering from heart disease themselves.

While we may not be lucky enough to shine Duchess Kate’s spotlight on all of our own health issues, it is a good reminder that we have the opportunity to increase relevance to the average person by identifying and engaging our own celebrity spokespeople.

As 2012 comes to a close, it’s natural for us to reflect on the past year and prepare for the future.

TIME.com’s Techland recently shared its choice of best websites in 2012. Revolver Magazine recapped its top picks for best 2012 music videos. This list of best travel locations by National Geographic may influence your future travel destinations.

But, what was your best moment in 2012?

As PR professionals, we get to work across different industries and have a variety of interesting experiences.  Some of you may have planned and executed a grand event such as NYC Fashion Week, others have significantly grown a business’ reputation through media relations or successfully recruited a celebrity to endorse your non-profit cause. The point is, we each have a PR career accomplishment we’re proud of this past year. So why not share it?

Which is why on Wednesday, December 5, CRT/tanaka is encouraging PR professionals to share their most favorite moment in 2012 over Twitter. As a whole, #bestPRday is a great way for all of us to reflect and take away some of the top PR trends and celebrate achievements in the industry.

How It Works

On Wednesday, @crttanaka will employ the Twitter hashtag #bestPRday to post tweets from employees, recalling their favorite moments they experienced while at work. Posts will capture a variety of memorable moments from CRT/tanaka employees.

How to Join

Everyone in PR is invited to share their personal best work moment from 2012. Moments can range from knockout media placements to learning something new, to photos from a breathtaking event. You can search #bestPRday in Twitter or log into www.tweetchat.com to follow the hashtag conversation and read up on other PR practitioners’ achievements in 2012.

Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” As we get ready for great work in 2013, let’s remember how far we’ve come.

So let’s hear it: what was your #bestPRday in 2012?

Image credit: Milwaukee Magazine.

By Jason Poulos (@TheSaganaki)

For one of our clients the answer is yes, a $500 spend in Google AdWords did yield a 20% (19.5% to be exact) spike in traffic to their website. Here’s how it all worked out.

Background

Our client, a local staffing agency knew that a large nationwide online retailer was looking to build a warehouse in the Richmond Virginia area. As this employer searched for staffing solutions via a search engine, our client wanted to make sure that their site and brand were visible in Google.

Problem

Our client’s website was not optimized for organic search and was not easily found through Google and ranked poorly. Knowing that this online retailer had an aggressive timeline we didn’t have enough time to do a full site audit and proper organic site optimization.

Solution

Time was not on our side, the instant nature and exposure that Google AdWords offers seemed to be a perfect solution. Google AdWords has many benefits but with a minimal amount of time and budget we knew that we could start generating impressions and visits to our client’s website.

Implementation

Our first step was to do some brief keyword research and discover popular keywords relative to our content and to what the employer would be searching for. Not knowing where our client’s potential partner would be searching from, we created two main ad groups that used different location targeting parameters.

Our first ad group focused on a 50 mile radius of the Richmond area. Our goal with this group was to make sure that anyone in the area searching for “temporary staffing” etc. within that 50 mile radius would see our ad.

The second ad group we created targeted searches outside of the state of Virginia. Not knowing the geographic location of where our employer would be searching from we wanted to make sure that our ad would get displayed for a “temporary staffing va” search that originated from New York.

With our keywords researched, ad groups set up, landing page created and bids in place it was time to launch our ads.

Google AdWords Results

Our ads ran for 3 months and generated over 9,000 impressions and over 500 visits to our landing page. Click through rates were around 5% and our ads averaged a 2.9 position in Google. All good metrics in my book, when looking at the website’s analytics, traffic to our landing page from the ad’s counted for almost 20% of the site’s visits during this 3 month time period. So, yes, in the case of our client, a $500 spend in Google AdWords did generate almost a 20% spike in traffic.

AdWords Metrics Screenshot

Landing Page Analytics Screenshot

Would someone actually travel to another country for medical care? Yes, according to CDC data up to 750,000 U.S. residents travel to another country for lower-cost medical or dental care each year and an Ipsos survey found that 38% of U.S. residents are open to health care abroad. The rising cost of health care and thriving online communities of consumers present an optimal opportunity for the medical tourism industry. But are they capitalizing on it?

Like everyone else, the medical tourism industry was hit hard after the economic downturn in 2008. But with the increase in healthcare costs and many procedures not being covered by insurance, such as invitro fertilization and cosmetic surgery, shouldn’t the medical tourism industry be thriving?

Image: Derek Key via Flickr, CC 2.0

To find out, I began looking for successful examples of online medical tourism campaigns.  I found nothing.  Perhaps the medical tourism industry hasn’t quite grasped the potential of social media like the mainstream travel industry has.  So how can the medical tourism niche learn from and implement some of the same successful social media strategies as their travel industry buddies?

Here are my 5 digital tips for medical tourism brands:

1.   SEO and boosting awareness – You may offer a great service but if no one can find your website, it doesn’t matter. With 87% of travelers using the internet for a bulk of their travel planning according to the Funsherpa infographic, medical tourism needs to take advantage of this opportunity to capture consumer attention.  Increasing your search engine optimization (SEO) makes it more likely that someone will find your business online. But how do you enhance your SEO and what affects it? The content on your website including how fresh it is, the keywords, links, social networks and more all influence a brand’s SEO. Paid search like Google AdWords can also help boost your SEO and further your message. While SEO can be complicated, there are little things any brand can do to help enhance their organic search online. SEOmoz’s Beginners Guide to SEO is a great place to start. But remember the most important element in enhancing your SEO is to simply create engaging content.

2.  Content Hub – Speaking of engaging content, let’s take a look at your website. Do you have interesting videos from your medical professionals or previous patients? What about enticing photos and information about the destination? Your website, blog and social networks should provide potential customers with all the information they need for both their vacation and medical needs. Creating content on your site that people want to read, share and view is important. Take a look at your website, if you were a potential patient, does the website seem trustworthy? Does your site provide interesting and shareable information packaged in a variety of mediums in order to appeal to different audiences?

3.  Go visual – With people’s time and attention span decreasing, a heavier focus is increasingly placed on eye catching visuals. The medical tourism industry deals with both a serious topic (healthcare) and a fun one (vacation), to me this is an advantage. Why? Because you’re selling not only a service but a destination that lends itself to appealing visuals.  Capturing enticing visuals not only on your website and blog but also on social sites such as Pinterest, Trippy, Facebook and Instagram (hence going where your customers already are), makes it easy for your audience to share, which in turn spreads genuine awareness about your service to others.

Consumers love to share their own images too. According to Funsherpa, 76% of consumers post vacation photos to a social network, presenting a huge opportunity for brands to garner authentic images from actual customers. By being present on these social networks you make it easy for customers to share their photos on your Facebook page or tag you on Twitter for instance, all of which help promote your brand to their network. Leading me to our next point…

4.  Recommendations – According to Nielsen’s latest Global Trust in Advertising report, 92% of consumers around the world say they trust recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising. The second most trusted source of brand information and messaging is consumer online reviews at 70%. People take planning a vacation and travel very seriously but they take their health even more seriously. Securing authentic positive recommendations is vital. Social media provides customers outlets to express their opinions, concerns and accolades with their network. One of the best examples of user reviews driving the travel industry is the partnership between Expedia and Trip Advisor. Expedia clearly understands the influence recommendations have.

So how do you start collecting recommendations? The good news is encouraging customers to share their experience is easy (and they’re already expressing their opinion whether you know it or not).  Since we know consumers trust their friends and family the most a good place to start (depending on your target audience) is Facebook. Utilizing elements such as Facebook’s share option to encourage customers to share their experiences with their friends is a great way to start.

5.  Engage on a personal level – People want to engage with real humans. They crave genuine conversations with brands. The key is to make potential customers feel they’re receiving individualized and attentive care by a brand they can trust before they even step foot in your hospital.  Being present where your customers are online is the first step. The next is being responsive and conversational. Most importantly, earning a consumer’s trust, particularly in regards to something as important as someone’s health, is imperative. I think face to face tools such as Skype present worthwhile opportunities for strengthening trust and relationships. Think about it, before scheduling a medical procedure you’re likely to have a consultation to determine whether you trust the doctor, are comfortable with the procedure and to get answers to any burning questions. Video conferencing enables people to have this experience (without the expense of travel). Personally engaging with your customers and making the process as easy and fluid as possible, will reap dividends.

The travel industry has harnessed the power of social media, why can’t medical tourism?

What other digital tips would you offer the medical tourism industry? Do you know of any successful online medical tourism campaigns to date?

By Emily Valentine (@ebvalentine)

Image courtesy: Cooking Channel

Tradition is one ingredient that makes the holidays special. Many people take comfort in the widely adopted rituals established by retailers (shopping on Black Friday), athletic associations (watching bowl games) or religious groups (keeping advent calendars, baking yule logs or exchanging Hanukah gifts), and others find joy in creating their own traditions, like @ProfSpiker and his Turkey Olympics or the Johnson Family and their extreme Christmas cards.

This persistence and evolution of holiday customs creates endless opportunities for marketers – whether that means hitching on to existing traditions (see the Oreo Santa ads from the 80s), creating new ones (like Starbucks’ holiday lattes), or seeding consumers with ideas that inspire them to discover their own (like Pinterest’s 30 Days of Pinspiration).

One of my favorite holiday traditions relates to booze (of course), and I think it’s one with untapped marketing potential.

Ever since I can remember, some faction of my family has gathered between Thanksgiving and Christmas to mix up a mean batch of egg nog. I’m not talking about the type you buy at the store and add your own liquor to … I’m talking about the kind you labor over for hours, and attend to with the determined delicacy a new mother might apply to baking her child’s first birthday cake.

I am so fond of this tradition that last year I decided to spread it. My husband and I made egg nog together (a first!) and had a grand time turning a mass of eggs, milk and booze into gifts for those at the top of our list. As we set to work, I found that three decades of the family ritual had committed some key tenets of nogging to muscle memory:

Make sure no shard of shell or speck of yellow gets into the bowl of egg whites … Don’t pour the rum in so quickly that it scrambles the yolks … Gently fold – don’t chop – the fluffy whites into the mix… and once all that precious nog has been cozied into clean glass jars, whatever you do, do NOT shake them … agitate the nog and you run the risk of incurring froth damage before the tasty toddy has reached its peak.

Image courtesy: wikihow

For anyone who enjoys cooking (or mixing cocktails), a process requiring such precision can’t help but be rewarding. And, for me, making the egg nog is just the first step in enjoying it. Subsequent waves of pleasure come in sharing it – with old friends who look forward to it every year and new friends who’ve never tasted the real stuff before – and in savoring it. (I like to make mine last by sipping just a small glass on those rare relaxing nights in during the holiday rush.)

Now, I’m obviously biased, but I’m nonetheless surprised at how little attention marketers seem to have paid to the opportunities inherent in this bizarrely gratifying custom. I’ve found there to be a great deal of consumer confusion as to what egg nog really is, where it originated and how it’s made. Many people have negative perceptions about the store-bought variety, but have never tried the home-made version and show minimal interest in making it themselves.

And while there are certainly several brands pushing egg nog at retail this time of year, I’ve yet to see any applying really effective “pull” strategies to grow consumer demand. The way I see it, the door is open for rum, bourbon and brandy marketers to stir their holiday sales by building awareness and influencing attitudes around this magical mixture.

And, since there’s nothing like a potent glass of egg nog to get the creative juices flowing, I invite all you marketers to jump start your planning with a glass of my favorite blend. Enjoy!

My favorite egg nog (Recipe courtesy of my great uncle, Henry Holland)

2 dozen large eggs

1 lb confectioners sugar

1 quart rich cream

2 quarts cognac

½ pint dark Jamaican rum

Separate egg yolks and whites into two large bowls. Beat whites until they form stiff peaks. Set aside.

Beat sugar into yolks thoroughly. Pour cognac in very slowly, stirring constantly. Add rum the same way. Add cream and gently fold in the egg whites, stirring until they blend with the sugar substance.

Pour nog into jars (or your container of choice) and keep refrigerated. Serve cold with a sprinkle of nutmeg or cinnamon.

Yield: 20 cups

NOTE: Separation of alcohol and foam is normal. When it happens, gently stir or turn the jar until substances re-blend. Do not shake!

by Rebekah Polster (@BekInBklyn)

Ad sales and marketers in the wine and spirits industry relish the holidays: if there is a way to garner more press and ads based on a holiday, it will be done! And when a holiday comes rolling around that is actually focused on turkey and its accoutrements, it’s an epicurean dream come true.

November and December magazine placements are the silver lining to ad sales and marketers. If you can make it into the holiday gift guide, or get your product on the table for a thanksgiving shoot, you’re golden. These magazines have the largest circulation than any other time of year and sometimes, it’s hard to keep it straight as to what magazine is recommending the best bet .

With that in mind, wine sales around the thanksgiving holiday are the largest than any other time of year. Which makes it a key time to roll out the promotions and giveaways.

Be wary of what you read and what is promoted or advertised as many publications and companies now make their own wines and of course that will be the top product on display for those publications.

A good example of this is Food Network, which has partnered with Wente Vineyards in California, to create a new wine. This has been shown in ads on the network’s shows and in their magazine.

But, while this might not be the first partnership, it’s definitely a large, in your face, partnership. Many chefs in recent years have partnered with various wineries, putting their name on a bottle and getting the word out via cooking shows and magazines. And don’t get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with this (Michael Chiarello makes quite a good Cabernet), but obviously the chef will be favoring his or her wine over any other. It’s just common sense.

For instance, there are more celebrities today who have endorsed a winery or made a wine; such names as the band Train, Drew Barrymore, AC/DC, Dave Matthews and countless others. The advertising behind these brands is quite large as you have a celebrity name pushing it to the mass. There’s nothing wrong with this, you just want to know what the intentions are behind the wine and, most importantly, if it’s good.

At this time of year, the best bet is to go into your local wine shop to see what is recommended by people whose only agenda is to sell a variety of wine. Best yet, see if there are tastings you can get in on leading up to the holidays.

What those stores will recommend for the Thanksgiving holiday will usually be the wines that complement the usual flavors of the holiday meal. For reds, the best bets are Pinot Noirs, usually from California (but I’m partial to those from New Zealand), and Beaujolais wines from France, or other wines primarily made of the gamay grape (Oregon makes delicious gamay wines). Both reds should be slightly chilled and they are delicious pairings with turkey – the fruitiness cuts through the grease and packs a punch. If you prefer white wines, go with a Pinot Grigio or an un-oaked Chardonnay. And then there are always roses, which are delicious any time of year, I don’t care who says they’re just for summer. They are delicious with turkey and fish and I say life is short, enjoy your wine.

And what about the forgotten cocktail? I’m partial to a festive holiday treat: an apple cider sidecar, with bourbon or whiskey, orange liqueur, lemon, topped off with some delicious apple cider. And if you plan on a lot of people, punches are amazing, whether starting off with or enjoying throughout the meal.

So, next time you see those ads or write ups in the November and December issues of the epicurean publications, just remember, there might be a teeny tiny price that was paid, whether financially or emotionally. And at the end of the day, all it is a suggestion. No matter what is thrown your way, the end result will be that you will drink what you like – if you prefer that big, bold Cabernet with your turkey, throw all caution to the wind and go with it!

Enjoy the holiday, enjoy your libation and most importantly, enjoy those you share the meal with.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a Mastering Blogger Relations session as part of Adfero Group’s Get PR Smart series. I found this workshop to be particularly educational since, as an Account Coordinator at CRT/tanaka, one of my main responsibilities has been blogger outreach. Therefore, I’d like to share some of my takeaways from the event.

As the media landscape changes, we are finding more and more that bloggers are the ones to reach. Seventy-seven percent of internet users read blogs, which offers an exciting opportunity for engagement. Although traditional news media continues to be the most trusted source of information about companies, in the past year, new media (which includes blogs) saw a huge rise in trust, jumping by 75 percent since 2011.  Audiences are now looking to bloggers for targeted and trusted content, which is bolstered by the human voice factor associated with blogs. Additionally, we benefit from the SEO increases and the ability to reach out to a niche, targeted network that we already know has interest in our topic.

So how do we develop this simpatico relationship offering value to the bloggers while creating a high ROI for our clients? We frequently discuss how important researching the right media outlets is, and we all nod knowing that if we had all the time in the world, then we would research each pub for tone, themes, content and correct contacts (while also trying to figure out their pet’s name and favorite color.) But, realistically it usually it comes down to pitching an already created master media list that has maybe 200 somewhat-related-to-the-topic bloggers on it. Is this shotgun method the most effective practice? I’m not so sure.

I think it comes down to a few things. First, we need to educate our clients on the time it takes to successfully conduct blogger outreach and build these relationships, while setting realistic expectations. If our clients have the expectation that five hours should be plenty of time for successfully pitching a story to bloggers, then not only are we stressed to the max trying to meet an impossible goal, but they will almost always be disappointed when we either go over our allotted time or don’t garner the desired amount of coverage.

Second, we could make better use of our time by focusing our efforts on a list of 25-50 contacts that we have researched, built relationships with and know are the best bloggers for our audience. This requires making connections with bloggers before we need them. Tweet at them, comment on their blog, send a complimentary email when you see a post you like (who doesn’t love a compliment?) or even link to them in your online content and social networks. Believe it or not, these bloggers can tell when we attempt to make a generic email look personal by using mail merge to insert their names. (I know, shocker, we thought it was a secret.) It’s like dating; they have to feel like they are in an exclusive relationship (even if the reality is you are playing the blogger field) and there has to be a courting process involved before you pop the question. Similarly, bloggers need to be wooed before we make the big ask for coverage. There are people behind those words on your computer screen and they don’t like feeling used, so make the extra effort to establish those relationships. Then, when you call on them in your hour of need, they are much more likely to lend a helping post.

What best practices have you discovered during your ventures into blogger relations?

Images courtesy of Direct Marketing Observations, The Jonathan Rick Group.

“Thanksgiving dinner’s sad and thankless.
Christmas dinner’s dark and blue.
When you stop and try to see it
From the turkey’s point of view.”

Shel Silverstein has a unique way of capturing the essence of penetrating a larger-than-life concept in an amusing and light-hearted verse.

Last week we celebrated our annual CRT/tanaka retreat and were privileged enough to spend three days and two nights at the beautiful Homestead resort on the westernmost edge of Virginia. The usual revelry took place. We came. We drove jeeps. We ran up the bar tab. But we also brainstormed and self-reflected. And through it all, we forged close and lasting relationships with colleagues who live 3,000 miles away. The very last morning, with bags packed and eyes heavy, we sat down to a presentation by Marie Miyashiro and Gregg Kendrick. The topic was empathy—that capacity possessed by the human race that many regard as one of the most important characteristics of our species and society.

We discussed the importance of empathizing with one another and empathizing with clients. We watched as Gregg showed us the disarming power “walking in the shoes of another” can have. Gregg explained to us that by relating to others on a deeply personal level we can gain their respect while simultaneously maintaining our own sense of self-respect. I was intrigued, but more importantly, I was stirred.

On the bus ride home, I let Gregg and Marie’s words slowly marinate in my mind. And somewhere between Hot Springs and Richmond, I came to this realization: great advertising and marketing is empathetic. It is etched into the fibers of our work. Whether you’re selling Coca Cola soda through moments of bliss, or Dove beauty products through the celebration of “real” beauty, the commonality is finding the thread of human resonance and emotion.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the summer of 2012, Nike ran an advertisement titled “Find Your Greatness.” The video follows Nathan, a 12 year-old struggling with his weight, as he huffs and puffs his way up a hill. As he slowly makes his way toward the camera, his rhythmic heavy breathing audible in the background, a seemingly omniscient voice tells us: “…Greatness is not some rare DNA strand. It’s not some precious thing. Greatness is no more unique to us than breathing. We are all capable of it—all of us.” I don’t think it’s a stretch to say most of us aren’t in the shape we’d like to be in—we aren’t toned, chiseled runners. But that’s the power of this ad. Nike reminds us that no matter what our type, greatness is within our reach. Rather than showing the ease of running, Nike shows the struggle, an inversion that effectively resonates with its audience.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Another effective example of the power of empathy can be seen in Google’s 2010 Super Bowl ad, “Parisian Love.” Parisian Love centers upon the seemingly obvious concept that people search for topics of current relevance to them. However, when put together in a linear fashion, these search terms tell a story. In the case of “Parisian Love” the story told is one we can all relate to—the story of love. The searcher is vulnerable and charming… he misspells Louvre, wants to find out about truffles and Truffaut, and searches for help coping with the turmoil of a long-distance relationship. We soon discover that the couple is getting married and the final search, “how to assemble a crib,” ends the story in heartwarming fashion.  Google chooses a topic of universal resonance and does so through the lens of vulnerability. We all know what it’s like to be nervously in love. Many of us have struggled through the ups and downs of a relationship. And maybe a few of us are even envious of the study abroad student, with his racing heart and sweaty palms.

If empathy is the ability to be cognizant of, sensitive to and deeply understanding of another’s feelings and attitudes, then it is surely the lifeblood of all effective marketing campaigns. We all want to be understood, we all want to feel less alone, and there’s no reason that marketing can’t achieve that.