Archive for the ‘News’ Category

announcing s&j’s createAthon 2010 clients!

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Another CreateAthon season is upon us and, as always, we had an excellent number of applicants. Last week, the agency sat down to review the applications and the following nine non-profit organizations were selected as this year’s CreateAthon clients: Dunbar Community Center, People First Food Pantry, Special Education Surrogate Parent Program, Rainbow Child Development Center, The Bridge of Central MA, Inc., Habitat for Humanity, Males Advocating Change, Music Worcester and Central MA South Chamber of Commerce. Interested in learning more about them? Visit our site to read about the missions of each organization.

Next week, we will meet with our clients to learn more about their organization and their desired marketing and advertising projects. Throughout the month we will be busy collecting logos and photos from our clients, talking to area vendors, planning with our volunteers, and gathering sustenance for our 24-hour blitz on Thursday–Friday, September 23rd & 24th.

Wish you could be part of CreateAthon?
• Connect with us here on our blog and also on Twitter (twitter.com/snjagency) for periodic updates throughout the night to send your moral support over the wire.
• Help us burn the midnight oil by donating items from our 24-hour grocery list (more info here).
• And if you or someone you know is interested in applying for next year’s CreateAthon, sign up for Scuttlebutt, our monthly enewsletter, to be notified when 2011 applications have been posted.

Posted in CreateAthon, News | No Comments »

get results: integrate your marketing efforts

Monday, July 12th, 2010

While there are several definitions for what ‘integrated marketing’ means, we’ll use it in this blog post to define when physical activities (television, print, radio, events, etc.) are blended with website and social media offerings. This integration is a powerful way to achieve your marketing goals, whether they are to drive sales, promote brand awareness, increase online traffic, or get a new message out. Traditional offline activities, like their online counterparts, continue to provide a great deal of marketing potential. The two used together create a combined energy that exceeds the sum of the parts.

Consider how Kraft has recently used integrated marketing in their latest product promotions. For their current Wheat Thins campaign, their stated goal was to increase product discussion and the number of followers of their @CrunchIsCalling account on Twitter. It is clear Kraft has concluded that (1) increased online product discussion and (2) increased followership on Twitter will (3) increase brand affinity, (4) establish a perceived consumer connection and ultimately (5) increase sales.

To bolster their followership, Kraft assembled an on-the-ground response team to seek out Twitter users who tweet about the product. They call their responses interventions and have assembled a Wheat Thins “The Crunch Is Calling” YouTube channel where viewers can watch the response team roll in and interact with each Twitter user.

Of the large number of Internet surfers who see the videos and witness the entertaining interventions, many will seek to invoke their own engagement. The content of the videos will certainly appeal to the demographics that use YouTube and Twitter. These users will very likely engage the brand directly online and will almost certainly share what they have seen both online and offline.

At smith&jones we see online as a major tool in the comprehensive toolkit we use to connect companies with their customers. If you are interested in a marketing campaign with integrated activities; if you want ideas that are unique and captivating; if your goals are to increase brand awareness and connect with your consumers, get in touch with smith&jones. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Posted in Fun, News, Uncategorized, creative, interactive, marketing, technology, water cooler | No Comments »

Teaching our youngsters the ways of advertising

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

A new initiative sponsored by the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the Federal Trade Commission (the governmental agency that polices deceptive, fraudulent, and unfair marketing and advertising practices) is underway to educate children in the ways of advertising in order for them to be better informed and more alert consumers.

Screen shot 2010-04-29 at 9.36.43 AMThe effort will focus on school children in grades 4-6 – better known as “tweens.” They are spreading their message in the one manner in which a tween will be most receptive – an online game.  It’s called Admongo; check it out here.

The game features made-up products that closely resemble popular real products and focuses on getting kids to always ask three questions:

Who is responsible for the ad?
What is the ad actually saying?
What does the ad want me to do?

Scholastic, the educational publishing company, is helping distribute materials to teachers and classrooms. The end goal is for these kids to be alert to, and think critically of, advertising – all while being nonjudgmental and without demonizing advertising.  It does not seem to be a witch hunt out to tear down all of the so-called deceptive advertising practices to our youth as I first suspected.  One interesting note is that a PR agency owned by the Omnicom Group helped in developing the program.  Who better, right?

As a father of two youngsters, I know full well how difficult it is for young children to grasp even the concept of advertising.  Explaining what Dad does at work everyday to my 4- and 7-year olds has been a monumental, and unsuccessful, challenge thus far. So, teaching kids of tween age, once they are at a level to better understand the world around them, I think is a worthwhile effort. Overall, I don’t feel there is close to enough “real world” subject matter covered in our school curriculums.  This is a step in the right direction.  Well, as long as it doesn’t aim to tear down Dad’s livelihood!

You can read more in this New York Times article.

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getting back to basics

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

We have a soft spot in our hearts for small businesses – and last week my business partner, Jean Giguere, lead a workshop for small businesses on the basics of marketing. In the first of a series sponsored by the Central Mass South Chamber of Commerce, Jean led the group through some key exercises to help position their businesses in unique ways from their competition. Here’s an article reprinted with permission from the Stonebridge Press.

smallbizmarketing

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Edge: The Mobile World

Monday, December 7th, 2009

This is the third of 6 blogs reporting on the exciting findings we learned about at the Edge Conference sponsored by the Ad Club of Boston on November 16th. During the event, some of the most creative minds in communications & brand-building shared with us inspirational stories, presentations, spirited panel discussions and valuable information we will impart on our viewers over the next series of blogs. So stay tuned!

A lot of content at the Edge Conference was about the mobile world. In the past decade, the ultimate question of legitimacy for a business was, “Do you have a website?” But technology moves fast and that question has been replaced by, “Is your website mobile-compatible?”  We used to think we were cool kids because we had personal computers, and then sleek laptops, but now the cool kids have personal computers the size of a calculator that that they take everywhere and oh, they can make phone calls from them too.

Most businesses – and especially publishers – will need to have a mobile platform to survive. In order to stay competitive, businesses are going to need to think ahead toward the new wave of instant gratification and mobile accessibility. Only 25% of phones currently are smart phones and many users aren’t yet willing to pay for data plans (although the tide is moving in that direction), so text applications and other interfaces are still important.

But don’t panic. We’re not behind the curve yet. There are huge opportunities in the now for people who are mobile but not quite at the does-everything-for-you-but-make-breakfast smart phone level. The rise of social media and mobile devices is proving that consumers want to engage on a personal level. Text messaging campaigns are already being successfully implemented and mobile coupons are just around the corner. Text campaigns are being tied into loyalty connections like local sports teams in Europe (http://bit.ly/4RJ0A5) and even simple things like cereals here in the US (http://bit.ly/5Ahulg).

Like all marketing, it starts with the people: who are they? where are they? and what do they need? Hip mobile apps and texts direct from marketers to your iPhone may be fun and novel at first, but once everyone is doing them, they will lose their luster – and without purpose, they’ll never make a meaningful connection to your target. Mobile technology is a growing new medium that is expanding the consumer experience and taking the message straight to your clients’ pocket – wherever that might be. But, as we always say at smith&jones, consider your entire marketing plan when looking at a new medium; we can help you consider the bigger picture when you want to explore adding a new avenue into the mix.

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Posted in Edge, News, creative, marketing | No Comments »