Color Blocks

So, I’m driving along an unfamiliar country road enjoying the scenery when I approach a crossroads with a red octagonal sign but no words. What’s a guy to do? Instinct tells me to take my foot off the gas and come to a stop. This may seem like a no-brainer but there’s a reason for my actions. Is it the sign’s octagonal shape? Maybe. But more than likely it’s the sign’s color. Since prehistoric times, red has been associated with blood and fire. So, naturally, this guy decided to stop.

In marketing

Colors affect each of us in so many ways. Colors can even reveal your personality or mood, and yet most of us are unaware of their influence in our lives — or of the subtle ways we use them. In marketing, for example, it’s valuable to know how colors resonate with your target audience. As a marketing communications designer, I’m constantly involved with color and color decisions: How do we make this poster “edgy”? Can this brochure be more “corporate?” What will make you look at this billboard and grasp its message — all in 2.3 seconds? Just as the red of the unmarked sign alerts us to the possibility of imminent danger, there are other colors that can influence in other ways, even physiologically.Read full post...

We’re proud to be partnering with our friends from MedStar Health and Scripps Health to present an Idea Workshop at SHSMD’s Annual Conference. Our workshop will tackle seven of the most common healthcare marketing challenges faced by our colleagues around the country. We identified these challenges through a brainstorming session with MedStar and Scripps, a poll of all AB&C healthcare partners and a survey of SHSMD Annual Conference attendees. Here’s a quick look at three of the challenges that we’ll be discussing at the conference.

Challenge #1: How do I choose what to market?

Plan, plan and plan some more. Your marketing plan is one element of your organization’s planning cycle, and you should take cues from the other elements: your strategic plan, facilities plan, operating plan, financial plan, business plan and communications plan. From those plans, identify the organization’s priority service lines. Then determine if they’re ready to be marketed:

• Do you have clinical strength in this area?
• Do you have positioning power?
• Is it profitable?
• Is there competitor vulnerability?
• Is there spin-off revenue?
• Is there a product champion?
• Can they deliver on patient experience?

If you plan properly and can answer these questions, you’ll have an easier time prioritizing your marketing efforts.Read full post...

Dr. Jenni Buckley (far right) of the University of Delaware shows off an adapted tricycle designed by her mechanical engineering students.

WILMINGTON, DE — U.S. Paralympic swimmer Mallory Weggemann, who holds 34 American and 15 world records, will headline the second annual Gift of Movement Celebration on October 24 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at White Clay Creek Country Club. In 2008, complications from an epidural injection left Mallory paralyzed from the waist down. In spite of her disability, Mallory went on to become one of the most decorated American swimmers.

The evening will feature hors d’oeuvres, dinner, a silent auction and an address from Carla Markell, Delaware’s First Lady. The benefit is hosted by Yes U Can USA, an organization for people who are disabled or have limited mobility. The nonprofit identifies and overcomes barriers, then gets people with disabilities moving through exercise and activities.Read full post...

I also never leave home without a good copy editor!

With all the modern ways of communicating, it still comes down to good writing. Tweets, blogs, web copy and infographics still require dynamic writing that engages your audience. The rules for good PR writing still apply in the social media era. Some say the demands of sound bites and 140 characters make good writing next to impossible. I say these “restrictions” compel us to hone our skills even more!

Public relations and marketing professionals have to communicate complex messages in less “space” to less attentive audiences. Are you up for the challenge? Here are a few quick tips to improve your writing:Read full post...

About three months ago, I made the commitment and ordered my new “workstyle.”

It’s so easy to fall into certain work habits. Some can help us be very productive, while others merely turn into … well, bad habits.

As a young account executive sitting at metallic desk in a not-so-semi-private cubicle, I aspired to one day have my own office, with a wooden desk and a fine leather chair that rolled smoothly and maybe had a little sophisticated rock to it! Such are the frills that fuel little-boy-like dreams. The important stuff, particularly in my chosen profession — full-service advertising and public relations agency work — is to find yourself working in the best possible agency environment, with smart, interesting people who love what they’re doing and therefore work harder every day to be better! And over the last 35 years, I have been lucky to work with lots of great people — not the least of whom are my 70-some coworkers at AB&C, many of whom I have worked with for more than 20 years. As a friend would say, “all good stuff.”

But let’s not forget about the frills.Read full post...

What is a stronger employment brand really worth?

If you want to recruit and retain top talent, visit our recruitment marketing page. 

An interesting collection of statistics showing the current state of physician recruitment

If you want to recruit and retain top talent, visit our recruitment marketing page. 

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...