Now that we’ve gone over some basics in Part 1, let’s look at how the Agile methodology can work in your agency.

Assemble your team of T-shaped people.

As with any project, your team members are your most important assets. Agile doesn’t call for the smartest, fastest or most specialized team members available. Instead, it works best with T-shaped people. I know what you’re thinking: Great, let’s add another piece of jargon to the mix! An uppercase T has two parts: the horizontal top bar and the vertical stem. The top bar represents a broad range of skills from left to right, and the stem represents the depth of knowledge in a specific skill. T-shaped people — those who specialize in a specific skill but have a broad range of knowledge across multiple disciplines — understand how all of the different skills work together to ensure the project is compatible across all specialties.Read full post...

I’ve flown with the pelican and I can tell you, it’s exhilarating.

Reality’s fine for the everyday world, but sometimes you need something a little more stimulating and rewarding. Well, you’re in luck. Now you can experience a type of hyperreality — a mixture of physical and virtual reality that enables you to expand your mind while exploring unattainable vistas.

Hyperreality was just the next logical step in our compulsive quest for new experiences. With instant access to unlimited information, we had to ask: How do we add value? With an enhanced hyperreal visual experience. And it’s pretty accessible for all of us.Read full post...

Like your wardrobe, brands can accumulate many layers over the years.

Some fashion trends stick around for way, way too long. And some stuff just stays in your closet way, way too long. You know what I’m talking about: that loud pair of platforms and that mohair turtleneck sweater you just had to have when you were 17. But somewhere in all that mess, you have a look that is true to you. That’s why, at least once a year, it’s a great idea to purge. And what better time than spring?Read full post...

Download a PDF of this info-graphic.

Senior Emergency Department and End-of-Life

AB&C developed and executed a public relations campaign to raise awareness of St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center’s specialized Senior Emergency Department and end-of-life services. Over an 18-month period, local and national media covered this campaign, which included a series of media relations pieces, media tours and proactive outreach. Read full post...

Despite its extinction, the diplodocus prefers the active voice.

We write stuff to give information or opinions or feelings or whatever to someone else. We need that someone to understand what we’re putting out. So it’s important to be clear.Read full post...

Philadelphia, PA — Aloysius Butler & Clark, a full-service marketing communications firm, wants to identify the next great business idea originating from a Philadelphia-based company. The agency’s “Lightning in a Bottle” competition seeks entries from companies located within the city limits that have a game-changing product or service ready to go to market.

Entries will be accepted from April 14 to May 19 online at www.LightningInABottleAward.com. A blue-ribbon panel of judges representing business, academia, and government will evaluate the submissions. In addition, the public can vote for their favorite entrants via the website.Read full post...

HubSpot: Companies that blog 15 or more times per month get 5X more traffic than companies that don’t blog at all.

The short answer is yes. According to a recent article in Social Media Today:

• 81% of U.S. consumers trust advice and information from blogs.
• Small businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads.
• 61% of U.S. consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post.

So how do you write a good one?Read full post...

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Aloysius Butler & Clark, a full-service marketing communications agency, came home with gold and silver from the 2014 ADDY Awards. The agency won gold in the “Campaign — Single Medium Campaign” category for its Choose Health Delaware videos. The silver came courtesy of AB&C’s Agency Match Game in the “Creative Services and Industry Suppliers — Digital” category.Read full post...

Has it been a while since you’ve gotten any killer ideas from your agency? Is the creative they give you an echo of the suggestions you gave them? Do you feel like they’re not giving you their best?

You can do something about it.

Give your agency a report card.

Everyone that works for someone wants to know how he or she is doing. Agency folks are no exception. Get together with them regularly to talk about how things are going. They’ll get a better understanding of your wants and needs, and that will pay off handsomely.Read full post...

Baby naming is a competitive endeavor.

My wife and I are expecting our third child in about a month and the pressure is on to pick a name for “baby girl.” When we tell people we don’t have a name yet, some of them think we’re just trying to keep it a secret so no one else picks the name. If you’ve looked for inspiration or ideas for baby names recently, you’ve no doubt realized that a full-blown industry has grown up around the subject. There are baby name consultants, dozens of websites and the official records kept by the Social Security office.

The top three boy names in the United States are:Read full post...

Last year, Delaware recorded less than 100 traffic deaths for the first time since 1963. AB&C and Delaware’s Office of Highway Safety have been working on numerous initiatives — from curbing aggressive driving to pedestrian safety — to drive that number down even further. Recent campaigns include Click It Or Ticket, which has helped increase the rate of seat belt use to an all-time high of 92% —one of the highest percentages of usage in the nation. Preliminary reports also show that 36% of the 99 traffic deaths in 2013 were alcohol-related. This percentage decreased dramatically from 2012 when 60 (or 52%) of the 116 motorist fatalities were alcohol-related.Read full post...

AB&C welcomes financial industry veteran Ed Ianni to our team. He brings more than three decades of experience in financial services, banking, wealth management, business development, marketing communications, risk management, law and insurance. Ed also serves as an advisor in both the public and private sectors, successfully helping clients grow their businesses, capital and economies. He holds his juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Oxford University, and a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.Read full post...

They’re only available (at $1,500-plus a pop) to select Explorers — Google’s own handpicked beta testers.

Depends on whom you ask. Google Glass will either be the biggest game changer in wearable technology, or a creepy Big Brother bust that sends people running for the exits. For those who’ve been living under a rock, Google Glass is essentially a smartphone worn as glasses.

It’s got 13 functions including hands-free camera/video/phone, Internet links, voice-activated text and commands (“OK, Glass, take picture.”), all in a heads-up display that keeps your eyes on the road or whatever/whoever is in front of you. You can even have prescription lenses. But you can’t have a pair yet. They’re only available (at $1,500-plus a pop) to select Explorers — Google’s own handpicked beta testers — who will gladly let you bid for theirs on Amazon or eBay.Read full post...

Bowl of Irish stew with soda bread

When it comes to St. Patrick’s Day, I’m somewhat out of the loop (mostly by heritage). But I was curious: Why do so many people love to participate in this celebration?

Ask anyone, “What’s the first thing that comes to your mind about St. Patrick’s Day?” and you get a lot of different answers. Some mention religious aspects; some refer to the mythical leprechauns; others wax poetic about corned beef, Irish Potato candies and green beer. But who was St. Patrick?Read full post...

Please take “hit” out of your vocabulary when you’re asking about campaign performance. We never measure by hits, but instead a variety of other metrics.

In the world of analytics, there’s this one, single dirty word that never fails to grate on an analyst’s nerves: “hit.”

As in:

“How many hits did we get?”

“Did we get any hits on our landing page?”

“Can you check the hits for me on that campaign?”

I’ll let you in on a secret: There’s no such thing as a hit. There are clicks, visits, visitors and pageviews, and each of those are different measurements.

Clicks indicate how many people have clicked on an ad. A user can click on an ad multiple times, but only be counted as one visitor. Similarly, a user can click on an ad just once and come back to the website in multiple visits. Usually, we only measure clicks when we’re analyzing ad performance. The number of clicks per the number of impressions equals the click-through rate (CTR).Read full post...