Have you updated your marketing plan lately?

I’m here to say, it’s 2016 and marketing has changed. A lot. Marketing is no longer centered around your product, but your customer.

Now’s a good time to update your marketing plan (you have a marketing plan, right?). Make it your road map for this year’s marketing initiatives. Use it to set goals that you can check on from time to time—and say, “Oh, yeah, lookin’ good” or “Oh, sh*t, we’re totally off.” If you Google “marketing plan template,” you’ll find a standard outline consisting of about ten things you could include—like a SWOT analysis, USP and pricing strategies.Read full post...

What benefits working with a full-service agency can offer over a project shop.

In the end, designating an advertising Agency of Record (AOR) for your organization should be a decision based on the strategic, long-term marketing and communication needs of your stakeholders in your marketplace.

I know what you’re thinking. My conclusion may sound biased, since I am employed by a full-service ad agency, I can also offer this opinion from the perspective of a CMO with more than 25 years of experience from the client side in healthcare, higher education, and professional services institutions.Read full post...

How do you use social media in public relations? I’m not asking how you write a social media strategy for your clients, or how you adapt social messaging across different platforms, or how you’ve run a social contest, or how you’ve leveraged Periscope at an event. I’m asking if you, as a PR professional, are using these amazing tools to “PR your PR”—to gather research and information, and to develop relationships with and pitch journalists.Read full post...

What are your marketing resolutions for 2016?

The New Year gives us a clean slate and an opportunity to make resolutions to improve our lives. Typical goals and resolutions include losing weight, exercising more, improving finances, getting a new job or procrastinating less. Which, I’m sure we’ll all fully accomplish this year.

Yeah, right.

According to recent research published in the University of Scranton Journal of Clinical Psychology, while nearly 45 percent of us make New Year’s resolutions, only 8 percent actually keep them.Read full post...

Paul Pomeroy, Steve Merino, Justin Windheim, Scott Bille and Craig Brown touring the facility, beard nets and all.

Philadelphia, PA—Aloysius Butler & Clark has been selected by David Michael & Co. to be the sole agency that will support in-house marketing efforts. A leading flavor company, David Michael—known in the industry as DM Flavors—has a rich tradition of industry-leading ideas and innovations. AB&C—working together with the DM Flavors marketing team—will help to continue that tradition. David Michael chose AB&C for its depth of experience and proven capabilities through a variety of marketing tactics. The company will rely on AB&C’s abilities for everything from creative and digital to PR and social media.Read full post...

As a public relations professional working in the 21^st century, I am reminded every day about the importance of combining traditional tactics with (the ever-growing in popularity) practices from the wonderful world of technology. Social media, search engine optimization and big data analysis—to name a few—are not going away any time soon, but many of us in the marcom industry still have a lot to learn when it comes to integrating these strategies into our campaigns.

Recently, I’ve been taking advice from my friends in Hollywood. You might not believe it, but megastars like Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift have some genius marketing tricks up their sleeves. Let’s take a look at their most recent album launches.Read full post...

Mayor Michael Nutter joined the managing directors of AB&C’s Philadelphia office and AB&C’s managing directors to cut the ribbon officially opening AB&C’s new Center City office.

PHILADELPHIA, PA (December 14, 2015)—Aloysius Butler & Clark, one of the region’s oldest full-service marketing communications agencies, recently made a major commitment to expand its footprint in Philadelphia to help build its presence in the Mid-Atlantic marketplace. AB&C officially opened its Center City Philadelphia office at 1429 Walnut Street with a major celebration on December 2 and a ribbon-cutting featuring Mayor Nutter and other city officials.

“Over the past several years, we’ve found our client base growing significantly beyond our home base of Wilmington, and the time was right for us to establish a strong presence in the Philadelphia region,” said John Hawkins, AB&C’s founder and CEO. “We took a full floor in an exciting historic office building downtown in the heart of the city and completely gutted and renovated the space. We have also added more than a half a dozen new team members who possess a unique understanding of what makes the Philadelphia business, healthcare, arts and culture, and nonprofit communities tick. We’re delighted to already be working with a number of notable regional clients—University of the Sciences, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, SCA Americas, The Renfrew Center and Fox Rothschild, just to name a few.”

Senior Managing Director, Philadelphia/Executive Creative Director Steve Merino and Managing Director Steve Rosen will be leading the Philadelphia office, which is home to some of the agency’s top creative talent, as well as a team of seven recent PR, social media and account service hires (details below). In addition, the office space has been designed with open office spaces and meeting rooms so that all of AB&C’s nearly 90 employees can work in the office on an as-needed basis to conduct client and agency business there.

Recent Philadelphia Hires Announced

AB&C has added a group of seven PR, social media and account service professionals in conjunction with the opening of the new Philadelphia office:

Steve Rosen, Managing Director—Philadelphia

Steve Rosen has been named managing director of the Aloysius Butler & Clark Philadelphia office. In this role he will build the agency’s brand and presence throughout the region and provide public relations, marketing and issues management counsel to clients. A veteran of the Philadelphia agency industry, Steve worked at Star Group, Weightman and Earle Palmer Brown & Spiro among others. A native of Philadelphia, Steve lives in the Washington West section of the City and is a graduate of Boston University.

Joanna Ford, Director of PR & Social Media—Philadelphia

Joanna Ford has been named director of public relations and social media. In her role she will lead the PR and social media team for the agency. Before joining AB&C, Joanna was at Star Group and Earle Palmer Brown. She graduated from Temple University with a bachelor of arts in communications, and resides in Perkasie, PA.

Adam Leiter, Senior Account Supervisor, PR & Social Media—Philadelphia

Adam Leiter has been named senior account supervisor, public relations and social media. In his role he will be responsible for the strategic development and implementation of public relations and social media programs. Before joining AB&C, Adam was at Star Group. A resident of Philadelphia, Adam has a degree in business marketing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Isenberg School of Management.

Justin Windheim, Senior Account Supervisor, PR & Social Media—Philadelphia

Justin Windheim has been named senior account supervisor, public relations and social media. In his role he will be responsible for the strategic development and implementation of public relations and social media programs. Before joining AB&C, Justin was at Star Group. He graduated with a bachelor of arts from the University of Pennsylvania. Born and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs, Justin currently resides in Lafayette Hill, PA.

Carol Lunger, Account Supervisor, Public Relations

Carol Lunger has been named account supervisor, public relations. In her role she will be responsible for the implementation and management of client public relations campaigns. Before joining AB&C, Carol was at Star Group. She graduated from La Salle University with a bachelor of science in marketing and a concentration in communications. A native of Elkins Park, PA, she currently resides in Villanova, PA.

Dawn Mills, Account Supervisor, Public Relations & Account Services

Dawn Mills has been named senior account supervisor, public relations and creative services. In her role she will be responsible for client service and creative/PR writing. Before joining AB&C, Dawn was at Star Group. She graduated with a bachelor of arts in journalism/communications from Temple University and resides in North Wales, PA.

Megan Egan, Account Executive, Public Relations & Social Media

Megan Egan has been named account executive, public relations and social media. She will be responsible for media relations, social media and event planning on behalf of diverse clients. Before joining AB&C, Megan was at Star Group. She graduated from Temple University with a bachelor’s degree in strategic communications with a concentration in public relations. Originally from Aston, PA, Megan currently resides in Philadelphia, PA.

“We’re off to a great start with many newly added regional clients, and we’re proud to be a part of the City of Philadelphia, which is clearly on the rise in every sense of the word,” said AB&C Managing Partner Paul Pomeroy. “With the quality of our creative work, the level of client service we offer, and the deep roots and connections our expanded team brings to the table, we’re confident that our agency is poised to do great things here and become active and engaged contributors to enhancing the quality of life in the Philadelphia region.”

See photos from The Red Party in our Facebook album.

You have three approaches to choose from when deciding on media planning and buying for your organization: centralized, decentralized or a hybrid.

Reorganization. If your organization is going through it, you’re also going to have to deal with reorganizing a very important marketing function: media buying.

You have three approaches to choose from, each with merits and disadvantages: centralized, decentralized or a hybrid.Read full post...

From a pool of approximately 6,500 entries, Aloysius Butler & Clark emerged a winner five times in the 2015 MarCom Awards, an annual, international creative competition for marketing and communications professionals. Entries for this year’s competition were submitted from business and communications firms from all 50 U.S. states, Canada and more than 30 other countries. AB&C took two top platinum prizes, two second-place gold prizes and an honorable mention.Read full post...

The interview at 6abc that helped get the word out about the organization Preston’s March for Energy.

PR professionals have gotten a bad rap, stereotyped as cutthroat, competitive communicators who are constantly stressing out, skating around the truth and drinking excessive amounts of coffee (well, we do drink a lot of coffee). But despite the generalization, PR pros can actually do good. Did I say that loud enough? We can do good.

Recently, I was tasked with gaining media exposure for a pro bono account, Preston’s March for Energy, and its annual fundraiser. The organization was launched by the Buenaga family of Wilmington, Delaware, whose son, Preston, has disabilities that keep him from being able to ride a standard bicycle. A few years ago, a family friend started a Facebook campaign to raise money and donated a custom bike to Preston. After seeing the happiness it brought him, Read full post...

UVA Medical Center has called AB&C in to provide recruiting , digital and traditional marketing tactics.

The University of Virginia (UVA) Medical Center has selected Aloysius Butler & Clark, a full-service marketing communications agency, to assist it in recruitment marketing and media efforts. UVA joins the agency’s roster of healthcare clients that rely on strategic thinking and creative communication to recruit top talent. AB&C will provide direct recruitment, digital and traditional marketing tactics to support the client in recruiting nurses, pharmacists, dialysis technicians, IT staff and other key associates as the organization grows to meet the demand of its community.Read full post...

Writing is quickly becoming an important skill for marketers to have.

I’m no writer. Which might become evident as you make your way through this. When I was in college, nobody told me how important writing would be once I landed a marketing job. Maybe they didn’t think it was important because of how fast everything in marketing and advertising changes. But I’ve come to accept my fate as a marketer—I must be a writer. As marketers, we can’t deny it or pretend it isn’t a huge part of our jobs. With marketing and advertising making a shift from traditional to digital, more of our everyday job has become writing. Emails. Blogs. Content. Tweets. Press releases. Proposals. StrategiesRead full post...

Almost 400 people took the Business and Labor Resources Employment Branding Survey this past June. The results highlight the importance of marketing and human resources professionals working together to build and maintain an employment brand.

Slightly more than one quarter (26.6%) of survey respondents said their organization has an employment brand program—i.e., “a program directed at employees and potential employees as opposed to a general brand program directed at the population at large.”

Of those who don’t have a brand program, 40.5% said they plan to implement or are considering one, and 50.7% said they may consider one in the future.Read full post...

Craig, Jenn and Paul of AB&C with Anita Moos of Newark Natural Foods. (Photo credit the Delaware Business Journal.)

If you scour our website and blog, you’ll see the words “brand” and “branding” popping up all over the place. It’s at the very core of what we do, so naturally we like to talk about it. What makes our jobs more fun is when our clients adopt that same love and appreciation for branding that we have. And we are fortunate enough to work with many clients who have done exactly that.

Delaware Business Times wrote an article spotlighting Newark Natural Food’s recent brand makeover. (Side note: it’s fairly obvious that posing for pictures doesn’t come quite as naturally to us [or at least to me] as branding does.)Read full post...

by: Kathleen Doyle and Michael English

While we’ve heard rumblings in the industry about the demise of Flash for some time, it has become a reality only recently. Here’s a quick history of the rocky relationship between the Internet and Flash. Back in 2007, Apple chose not to allow a Flash player plugin on the iPhone, and in 2010, Steve Jobs called for Adobe to “kill Flash.” The writing was on the wall.Read full post...