The breathtaking action is then followed by a line of microscopic type at the end that states, “Stunt driver on closed course. Do not attempt.” Hey, I’m going to fight the urge!

Every weight-loss TV ad worth its salt has a “results not typical” disclaimer at the end of it. You know what I mean. You see a newly svelte man or woman standing inside a pair of giant jeans that once housed their enormous frames — with the disclaimer, “Results not typical.” If these “results” aren’t typical, why in the world are they showing them? Oh yeah, it’s advertising.

While I’m not an attorney by trade, my copywriting background has made me proficient at crafting disclaimer copy. The disclaimer has been described as those few seconds of legalese at the end of an ad designed to take all the fun and fantasy out of what you’ve just witnessed. (Actually, that was my description. See? I told you I was a writer!)

Some of my favorite TV disclaimers: You’ve seen the fast-paced spot that feature 57 seconds of an exotic sports car wildly careening down a snowy mountainside or racing on two wheels around the rim of an active volcano. Let’s call it glorifying some form of death-cheating behavior. Read full post...

Philadelphia, PA — AB&C, a full-service marketing communications agency, and its client Klein USA were named winners in the online ad category at the Architectural Record 2013 Excellence in Advertising Awards. The winning banner ad was a collaboration of AB&C’s Lou Brandsdorfer (Creative Director), Bruce Waters (Associate Creative Director) and Paul Stecca (Creative Director).

“Architectural Record is the leading print and online media vehicle for construction and architecture,” says John Hawkins, president and CEO of AB&C. “We’re thrilled to receive such prestigious industry recognition for Klein, a world leader in high-quality interior sliding door systems.”Read full post...

Gone are the dartboards and the expensive lunches with reps. We don’t have time for that. We’re too busy analyzing data.

Analyze analyze analyze, buy buy buy — that’s the credo of today’s media department. But it wasn’t always so. When I first started, my first boss told me that the way to “buy” was to look at the rate cards (yes, we had them then), determine which programs had the highest rates and put the plan together using those programs. With deep enough pockets, you could still make that work today. But now a lot of other factors — mainly research — enter into buying, making the job both easier and more challenging.

In the old days, television had two sources of local research, Arbitron and Nielsen; most other information was national. The demographics available were limited. We bought the top stations/programs if the budget allowed. Simple. Now we have only one research source — Nielsen — with a plethora of demographics. And Nielsen is owned by Arbitron. Hmmm.Read full post...

Despite massive success in 2012, Red Frog Events wanted to keep things fresh when promoting their 2^nd annual Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware.

To reach their core audience, social media was a must. What evolved was one of the most successful Twitter campaigns I’ve seen to date (not counting Oreo’s brilliant moment with a “super” power outage).

They created a virtual scavenger hunt. And the prize was VIP passes to the three-day festival. Here’s how it worked (they can certainly explain it better than I can):Read full post...

Wilmington, DE — After a nationwide search, the American Nurses Association (ANA) has selected AB&C as its marketing and public relations partner. Currently, the agency is promoting the association’s National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI®), used by hospitals to track quality improvement solutions. AB&C is also developing public relations and marketing tactics to support membership-building projects, including a large-scale program, which launches at the end of the summer.

“AB&C is extremely proud to work with ANA, one of the premier associations in healthcare,” says John Hawkins, president and CEO of AB&C. “Pooling the agency’s experience in healthcare and B2B, we will help communicate about hospital quality standards for nursing and the value of ANA membership.”Read full post...

What are you waiting for? Get the kids buckled in and come on down.

The “kids” at AB&C want you to know about some fun events and exhibits at the Delaware Children’s Museum (DCM):

• Are there any aspiring baseball players or Phillie Phanatics in your house? Now through August 31, the DCM will feature Playing with the Phillies, displaying all the Phillies artwork you can imagine.
• With the ongoing Stratosphere exhibition, kids literally reach for new heights as they ascend into a 30-foot-diameter climbing structure that overlooks the lobby entrance. The sky’s the limit!
• Put muscles to the test at the Power of Me exhibition. How long can you hang from a pull-up bar? How long does it take to send signals from your brain to your muscles? How does the human body work? At “Power of Me,” your child will not only build stronger muscles, but a stronger mind. Read full post...

A guy spills coffee on himself on the way to a job that has been slowly grating on his psyche, and boom — he starts looking for a new position.

When I tell people I’m in recruitment marketing, they ask, “So you recruit doctors?” Or they nod knowingly, assuming I’m in traditional marketing. The words “recruitment” and “marketing” together have that effect. People find the concept challenging.

Unlike most of our colleagues on the services or B2B side, we work in a fickle climate. Job changes can be instantaneous or carefully thought out. A guy spills coffee on himself on the way to a job that has been slowly grating on his psyche, and boom — he starts looking for a new position. Or an employee gradually realizes she wants to be closer to her family and moves back to her home state. That’s why it’s so important to have the right message at the right time in the right place. That’s where search engine marketing (SEM) comes into play.

SEM allows your opportunity to appear through relevant searches and even on relevant content pages. If you’re not using SEM in Read full post...

Bear, DE — After drawing 12,300 attendees, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Family Carnival concluded on Saturday, July 20. This year marked the 25th anniversary of the summer celebration at the Bear parish.

“What a week!” says Rich Yotter, a member of the carnival’s organizing committee. “We promote a safe family environment at the Seton Carnival, and our terrific volunteers ensured an awesome experience.” More than 750 volunteers donated their time during the six-day event, which raises money for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church.Read full post...

No matter how large or small the assignment, we harness the power of creative intelligence to ensure measurable results.

The creative process is constantly evolving. From the beginning of my career in the ’70s to today, it has kept up with — or kept ahead of — the ever-changing world we live in. But one aspect has proven to be steadfast over time: creative intelligence. It’s the most important part of the process.

When we apply creative intelligence to a marketing communication challenge, we start with research, strategy and planning. That has proven to be a solid foundation, and on it we build innovative and powerful ideas. We have an array of communication mediums that I couldn’t have imagined 40 years ago. Traditional print, TV and radio have made room for the web, social media and mobile. But the basics of successful communication haven’t changed. We use creative intelligence in everything we do, to identify, reach and engage our audiences. Read full post...

Numbers. Lots and lots of numbers. Sometimes facts and data can be really intimidating. That’s why infographics are so valuable: When we see complex data represented visually, we’re better able to decipher and retain it, and therefore better able to share it with others.

In this video, designer Francesco Franchi explains what he calls “infographic thinking”: “What we are doing is a kind of visual journalism ­— it means a combination between graphic and narrative, so it is at the same time a representation but also an interpretation of the reality.” At best, infographics not only allows us to connect with the data almost effortlessly, but engages our critical faculties and invites us to interpret it.

For a very long time, infographics were used mainly for technical drawings, maps and scientific documentation. Now we are seeing them all over the web, in magazines, throughout social networking and in our newspapers. Many go viral within days of their launch, spreading information for everyone to easily access.

Read full post...

Make sure your trade booth staffers are on the lookout for media representatives and familiar with the schedule of media appointments.

Trade shows are an important component of most companies’ marketing initiatives. While participating in the show expo can be a valuable way to connect with customers and prospects at local and national levels, the promotional opportunities afforded by the event extend way beyond the exhibit booth. Boost your company’s return on investment and marketing success with a well-planned public relations effort to gain significant editorial coverage before, during and after the event.

Before the event

Start with pre-event publicity to maximize interest in and coverage of your activities through press releases, media alerts, invitations, and your company’s web site, newsletters and social media programs. Also take advantage of all the opportunities offered by trade show management, such as access to media lists and coverage in the event’s newsletter, show guide, website and social media.

Find out whether the show needs keynote speakers, panel discussion participants, presenters or authors of conference papers. Secure one of these opportunities for your business leaders and you’ll strengthen your industry reputation. Plus, you’ll form relationships with the trade editors, who will come to think of you as thought leaders and industry experts. Each speaking engagement offers the opportunity to send editorial advisories ahead of the event.Read full post...

23 percent plan to leave medicine or are at least considering doing so.

In August, I’m headed to sunny Tucson, AZ, for the annual Association of Physician Recruiters (ASPR) Conference. Along with my friend and colleague Emerson Moses of One Medical Group, I’ll present on how technology is changing recruitment. Thanks to our partnership with MDLinx.com, we’ll have great data from our 2013 market research survey on physicians and how they seek employment.

We’ll take an in-depth look at our research study details during our August 13 presentation, but here are some other fascinating statistics to hold you over until then (cardiologist turnover rates are really high!).

Read full post...

It can take you years to build a good reputation, but just one knuckleheaded social media post to destroy it.

Those of us in PR know that social media is a force to be reckoned with. We use it for the good of mankind, quickly (and inexpensively) getting important messages out there to millions of people and creating a sense of community.

Other folks, not so much.

Cyberspace is being polluted more and more with images of fast-food workers shoving food up their noses or licking a stack of taco shells “behind closed doors.” Luckily, companies can fight this reputation-damaging lunacy by harnessing the power of the very source of this chaos — social media. Here are a couple of recent examples.Read full post...

Nightly Live Performances Anchor Event’s Silver Anniversary

Bear, DE — The St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Family Carnival celebrates its 25^th anniversary beginning on Monday, July 15. The festivities run until Saturday, July 20, at 345 Bear Christiana Road in Bear.

Nightly admission is $5 for ages 13 to 64 and free for seniors and children under the age of 12. Discounted passes can be purchased in advance, weekly entrance passes are available for $10 and Mega-Passes are $35 and include unlimited rides. Free parking is provided behind the church. The parish will also raffle off a Disney Family Vacation valued at $4,500.Read full post...

Representative pixel resolutions

There’s a new TV format looming on the horizon. It’s called 4K TV. You may have seen a commercial for a Sony 4K TV last night, as I did while in the middle of composing this post.

4K, you say. What the heck is that?

Well, in this case it refers to video resolution. More precisely, it refers to the vertical resolution — not the horizontal resolutions that are more commonly used, such as 1080p (1920 pixels x 1080 pixels) for high-definition video. 1080p tells us that there are 1,080 lines of resolution stacked one atop the other like pancakes. The “p” means that the lines are displayed “progressively” from top to bottom, unlike on old-school CRT screens, which display every other line.

In contrast, the 4K resolutions are approximately 4,000 lines of vertical resolution stacked side-by-side like books on a shelf. This is four times the resolution of current high-definition video.Read full post...