Five observations on getting the most out of the people you depend on for breakthrough marketing communications, or what 10 years on the client side and 35 years on the agency side has taught me. Among other things.

Give your agency team regular “seats at the table.”

1. Creativity isn’t a commodity. And you won’t get it out of your agency team by saying, “This project is really important…” like you expect someone will hit F7 on his or her keyboard and good things will happen. Creativity is an art, and great art takes time. Give your agency team the time to give you their best.Read full post...

Dale Jr. joins Twitter.

Yesterday’s six-hour rain delay of the Daytona 500 could have been a huge letdown for NASCAR fans. Instead, they spent the afternoon joking with their favorite drivers, getting updates on track conditions from race officials, and having a “fireside chat” with at least one driver (Clint Bowyer), who told track reporters that he was having “a lot of fun” with his Twitter followers until his PR team “shut him down” (Hey, sometimes we have to be the party poopers!). After the race, fans celebrated the long-awaited launch of race winner Dale Earnhardt  Jr.’s Twitter account, which he promised he would do if he won. Nine hours later, he already had 355,000 followers (and growing).

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Now at AB&C we are blessed with some of the most talented employees in the industry, but this weather makes our job harder.

Breaking news: This has been one horrible winter for any one living in the eastern third of the country. Let’s be honest, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois — even parts of Ohio and New York — you expect to get hit like this. But the South is wholly unprepared (according to my friends in Atlanta), and those of us in the mid-Atlantic region have been … caught off guard. Just talk to any school-aged kid who is losing most of spring break to make up for snow days!

Beyond the emotional frustration caused by this endless onslaught of nasty weather, there’s also the devastating impact on business. Don’t worry; I’m not going to bulldoze you with a lengthy lecture about market trends and impacts — although if you read this blog to its conclusion, you should get one marketing tip. But rather I’d like to focus on one very specific business segment — mine. Advertising and public relations.Read full post...

Craig Brown, Account Supervisor (left); Paul Pomeroy, Managing Partner (center); and Steve Yarrow, Senior Director (right) visit To-Jo Mushrooms in Avondale.

WILMINGTON, DE — Following a national search, To-Jo Mushrooms selected Aloysius Butler & Clark as its new marketing agency. Among other services, AB&C will perform brand positioning, website redesign, retail customer engagement and public relations for the Avondale-based mushroom grower. AB&C and its business-to-business marketing team won the account despite being the only contending agency outside of the produce category.Read full post...

Most people, including those of us in the communications business, tend to picnic in the spring, summer or fall when the warm weather soothes the body and mind. Often, this includes family and friends, a cookout in a park, good food, and a bit of libation — with the objective of just plain fun and relaxation.

What you’ll need: boots, backpack, waterproof ground cloth… Oh, and don’t forget your brain!

Now, if I told you you might enjoy and actually benefit from a solo picnic in the winter snow, when it’s 28 degrees out and actually snowing, you might think me a bit off-kilter. However, over the years, I’ve found this kind of excursion quite enjoyable and “strategically beneficial,” particularly when I’m working on a tough problem for one of my clients or new business prospects.

Here’s what you’ll need:Read full post...

Good teamwork means cooperating and collaborating.

Growing up I remember every weekend watching ABC’s “The Wide World of Sports.” It was 1961 when Wimbledon was broadcast for the first time. I decided then tennis would be my sport. I’ve played since high school and have been playing competitive team tennis for the last 20-plus years. About a year ago I was given a book called “Tennis and the Meaning of Life.” It’s a literary anthology of the game, spanning many years, including short stories and poetry from the likes of Somerset Maugham and E.B. White. It got me thinking about what tennis has meant to me.Read full post...

A happy, relaxed workplace leads to better thinking and a better product.

Ding! New email comes in. Subject line: “Who needs a drink?!” You waver a little bit before responding. On the one hand, it’s been a long day and you really need to unwind. And there’s nothing important that you had to do after work. On the other hand, you just don’t know if you feel like going to happy hour.

Go.

A happy hour may be spontaneous, or it may be planned months in advance — but either way, it’s always a good idea. At Aloysius Butler & Clark, we try to plan a happy hour each month, hosted by one of the departments in the agency. We’ve had a creative department tailgate party in the parking lot, a public relations Halloween happy hour in our spooky garage, and a media team Oscars gathering complete with red carpet — just to name a few.

Don’t have the space or energy to plan a themed happy hour? No problem! Just grab a couple of colleagues and head down to the local brewpub to enjoy some of their happy hour specials. Do it. It’s good for you. It can actually be healthy. Read full post...

We all know that good advertising and branding are important parts of selling products. But did you ever wonder what that really fancy logo and packaging are hiding? I’m talking about the major brands we trust to feed ourselves and our children. They say they use all-natural ingredients: whole grains, organic vegetables — you know, the good-for-you stuff. But what most of us don’t know is that the main ingredients used in most foods are grown from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are now known to cause a slew of health problems and illnesses, including cancer — and that’s just the beginning.Read full post...

When it comes to social media, LinkedIn often gets overlooked. Think about it like siblings from TV’s most famous sitcoms. I’ll go with shows from three eras — The Brady Bunch, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Modern Family. Facebook is the pretty and popular older sibling (Marcia Brady, Hilary Banks, or Haley Dunphy). Twitter is the younger, lovable cutie pie (Cindy, Ashley, or Luke). And then we have LinkedIn — the middle child (Jan, Carlton, or Alex) — not as flashy, not as fun, definitely more nerdy.

If your website is indeed awesome, LinkedIn is an outstanding conduit to drive prospects there.

On “the world’s largest professional network,” your profile might suffer from inattention — only getting updates when you’re gearing up for a job search. But this modus operandi is outdated and you need to shake it off. Long known as the least-social social network, LinkedIn is slowly improving its social skills. Status updates, endorsements (love ’em or hate ’em), and now Pulse (news curation) make interacting with your connections — and, more important, prospective clients — both easier and more essential.Read full post...

For years we’ve been studying Millennials. We know their mindset, values and technographics. We know where to find them online and offline. We know the best ways marketing can gain their brand loyalty and how to entice them to become advocates for our brands.

Except, most Millennials are now 18 to 34 years old. Millennials are aging, and so is the way we market to them. A new marketing demographic is emerging: Post-Millennials.

Take a look at these facts from The Beloit Mindset List of the Class of 2017:

• Eminem and LL Cool J could show up at parents’ weekend.
• As they started to crawl, so did the news across the bottom of the television screen.
• Their parents have always bemoaned the passing of precocious little Calvin and sarcastic stuffy Hobbes.
• As they slept safely in their cribs, the Oklahoma City bomber and the Unabomber were doing their deadly work.
• Their parents’ car CD player is soooooo ancient and embarrassing.
• Bill Maher has always been politically incorrect.

As Post-Millennials emerge as the next big demographic, so do the online platforms we can find them on. Here are a few to keep on your radar.Read full post...

Bottom line: I feel better about the Walgreens brand based simply on this seemingly minor customer service tweak.

I’m about to place a national brand in a positive light. But in the interest of full disclosure, our agency has not, and never has had, any relationship with this brand. In other words, we have nothing to gain by pumping up this brand within the hallowed halls of the AB&C blog-a-teria. So now that we have that straight, let the games begin!

The other night, I visited my local Walgreen’s pharmacy. I bought two greeting cards and a gallon of 2% milk. As the clerk handed me my receipt she said, “Thanks — and be well.” On my way out I thought, “Did she just say ‘be well’?” Suddenly, a warm, life-affirming feeling washed over me — just as it does when those cute little yorkies scamper across the floor at the Westminster dog show. What happened to the standard “Have a nice day,” I thought. Or even the beloved “Take ‘er easy”?Read full post...

People will complain about privacy even as they don their Google glasses and other wearable computers.

It’s January, and everyone’s fancy turns to predicting the future. Okay, maybe not everyone’s, but that’s what you’ll hear a lot about this time of year. December is for looking backwards and January is the forward-looking month.

JWT, a division WPP Group (formerly known as J. Walter Thompson), always makes predictions about marketing communications in the new year.

This year, JWT writes that people have been motivated by what’s called FOMO (fear of missing out). And it has been one of the main drivers (besides convenience) in our adoption of communications technology. We have also given up a great deal of privacy in exchange for always being in the know. It’s not that we wanted to give it up; it was just part of the bargain. JWT thinks this is the year we the consumers will take some of our privacy back. It’s what tech blogger Anil Dash calls JOMO (joy of missing out).Read full post...

Happy 30th birthday, Mac.

I had the TV on Sunday morning as I sat down to write about an Advertising Age article claiming that 80% of Super Bowl ads flop. In the background I hear Charles Osgood, host of CBS Sunday Morning, mention that this week marks the 30^th anniversary of Apple’s famous “1984” Super Bowl commercial. A commercial that ran only one time, mind you. That is the antithesis of a Super Bowl ad flop. Thirty years later and people are still talking about it. Amazing. Do you think that in 2043 people will be marking the anniversary of the Go Daddy commercial in which supermodel Bar Refaeli makes out with the nerdy Walter? Not very likely.

The one-minute commercial — directed by noted director Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator) — was made for a then-unheard-of production budget of $900,000. It went on to garner millions of dollars worth of free publicity, as news programs rebroadcast it that night. It was quickly hailed by many in the advertising industry as a masterwork. Advertising Age named it the 1980s “Commercial of the Decade,” and it continues to rank high on lists of the most influential commercials of all time. “1984” was never ever broadcast again, adding to its mystique.Read full post...

I don’t think you’re ready for this.

Just when it seems as though the world could not be more obsessed with Beyoncé, the singer has found a way to prove us wrong. On December 13, Queen B shocked the world with the unexpected release of her self-titled “visual album.” When the 14-track, 17-video album suddenly dropped on iTunes at midnight, social media exploded. After dismissing my snooze alarm for the third time, I rolled over and grabbed my phone, only to find my Twitter feed flooded with news of the surprise album. When I turned on “Good Morning America,” the biggest story was, of course, Beyoncé. In the days to come, it seemed as though the entire world was captivated by her surprise.

It’s no secret Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z like to avoid the limelight, but the fact that she kept this album secret is shocking. As a public relations student (and Beyoncé lover), it makes me wonder: Did she want nothing to do with the PR strategies of releasing an album? Was the lack of PR actually a strategy in itself?Read full post...

StarRosesAndPlants.com

Star® Roses & Plants gained fame by introducing the world to the best-selling Knock Out® Family of Roses and Drift® Roses. The company asked AB&C for help engaging customers and other consumers online with relevant content throughout the growing season. This year’s successes included drawing more than 12,000 visitors to the brand’s blog and increasing Facebooklikes by 315%. Working together with Star Roses, we helped launch @PlantAStar and Pinterest.