Trying to Be Cool Can Lead to PR Blunders

In a social media-saturated world, companies sometimes try too hard, think too little, and fall on their faces.  Last year saw a wide variety of examples of companies committing PR blunders as they tweeted, hash tagged, and self-promoted their way onto a wall of PR shame.  But you can learn from their mistakes, and avoid … Read more

Ad Agency Innovation

Sometimes, it’s a good idea to create an ad that resembles another company’s well-known ad.  But only if you use the viewer’s expectations as a way to totally surprise the audience—and create an ad that will be noticed because of its shock value. Last spring, I wrote about a new promotion by a Swedish pharmacy … Read more

Customer Service Trumps Clever and Cute

This is hard for someone in advertising to say:  it doesn’t matter how great the ad is or how thoroughly researched the media buy if the customer’s experience with the company is really bad.  But in our internet/social media driven world, businesses who do remember the importance of customer service sometimes forget that customer service … Read more

A Changing America Challenges Business

America is in the midst of two major changes that will dramatically affect the services companies offer and how they promote those services or business.  A lot has been said about the graying of America as baby boomers age.  But America isn’t just becoming gray—it’s becoming a rainbow.  And companies will need to decide how both … Read more

The brilliance of a simple idea

by Sara Rider Sometimes in the world of marketing, we search long and hard for a promotional idea that we think will be truly remarkable for our clients.  This can lead to lengthy brainstorming sessions—and sometimes frayed tempers (remember:  there is no bad idea in a brainstorming session!)  But great ideas are out there—you just … Read more

What you can learn about tweeting and social media

Over the last several years, we’ve had lots of discussions with clients about what role social media should play in their marketing.  Some companies are avid social media followers and participants—others still aren’t comfortable with social media in their marketing mix.  Sometimes this reluctance seems to be based in a “how would my company benefit … Read more