Delivering Complex PR Solutions

GE Capital hired us to help them with a couple of public events on April 23. We worked with Launch Media out of Baton Rouge to build out the stages and basically transformed a pretty drab, unused section of an elevator landing into a press conference location that is worthy of one of the world’s largest corporations, the governor of Louisiana and the mayor of the city.
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The Power of Live Social Content

Authenticity and transparency: the pillars of social media – or at least, according to me. Why, you ask? Because when you use these principles in content creation, you are humanizing a brand, making it more relatable to your audience, which in turn makes your audience comfortable enough to engage with you. It’s easiest to implement the principles when writing “live” content because this practice embodies what social is all about – making connections in real time. You might be wondering what I mean by “live” content.
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Why male-focused brands should join Pinterest

A collective sigh rings out through the meeting as I explain Pinterest’s power to a group of all male coworkers. Just something your wife, sister, female coworker, or daughter does, you say? Don’t be so fast to dismiss the social network.

Launched three years ago, the relatively new virtual pinboard shares photos and links. While most men consider the site a time suck,

Currently on par with Twitter in regard to the number of users, according to a recent PEW study, the social network has more to offer than just the latest bridal dress fashions and jewelry trends. It is a site that men and
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Goodbye “mobile use case,” hello mobile all the time

I recently read Karen McGrane’s Mobile Content Strategy, which could just as well have been billed a pump-up speech. I highly recommend you get your hands on it, now.

Industry folks have been talking about “the year of mobile” for, well, years. Whether it was really last year, the year before, this year … it doesn’t matter. It’s happening now.

We’ve finally tipped the scales of smartphone ownership, with more than 50 percent of U.S. mobile phone users owning smartphones. But that’s not surprising; we’ve been watching that number creep toward 50 at a predictable pace. More interesting is the increase in mobile content consumption –
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Learning from the Big Game: how to incorporate 5 digital trends into your advertising right now

Each year, brands clamor to outdo one another in the most widely televised event of the year: the Super Bowl. It makes sense;
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Nobody buys nuttin’ from anyone they dern’t like

Please forgive me, but I am inadvertently training the next generation of marketers at my house. My 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son are seasoned ad critics. And neither is shy about sharing his or her deep and insightful observations with anyone who will listen.

“Dad, watch this commercial,” she says. “I love this talking baby.”

Or worse, from my son: “This song rocks. Internet Explorer is boss.”

But it’s they who are teaching me.

Beyond what all the metrics and brand
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Perfecting a test plan for digital advertising

Creating a test plan for digital advertising can be a daunting task that forces the tester to ask a lot of questions. But that’s the point. As a tester, you need to ask these questions because you need to know everything. What are you testing? Should this be compatible with non-traditional devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.)? Where are you testing? When should you start testing? How many test cycles are there? These are some essential questions, and exploring them in depth can help set you on the right path.

What are you testing?

This is the beginning. The client comes to you with a request – it may be to build a new
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Fifty shades of fact check

Search for “fact check” online and you will find numerous sites ready to debunk a variety of statements by politicians. From fact checking local candidates to presidential candidates, the practice is gaining momentum. And with traditional journalism in survival mode, the information that these entities–which have surfaced at universities and media organizations across the country–uncover is finding an audience.

As a Public Relations professional, it is
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Peter Mayer’s cheerleading squad and why more companies should have them

Throughout my career at Peter Mayer, I have often been asked if I was a cheerleader in high school. Maybe it’s my endless supply of energy and positive attitude, or maybe it’s
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Life after death in the digital age

Halloween is right around the corner. Thoughts of ghosts and ghouls gallivanting down the neutral grounds have got me thinking: What happens after our flesh and bone fingers turn to ethereal ectoplasm preventing us from logging on to Facebook?

A morbid thought, I’ll admit, but still a practical one. So, really, what happens to our Facebook profiles after we die?

Your surviving family members can submit a Deceased Users request to Facebook to delete your account. It only requires a small amount of information. Oh, and a death certificate that must be uploaded to Facebook. After this, the account
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Three new ways to think about online influencers

The evolution of social media has mirrored the revolution in the way that we think about people and their relationships to brands. Prior to the advent of the Internet, the only way to access consumers was to fill their physical world. Billboards. Print ads. One-way points of contact that created the feeling that a brand was omnipresent, hovering over your shoulder – there but untouchable. The speaker in front of a stadium of 10,000.

Things have changed.

Now, on social media, the consumer owns a brand’s message just as much as the brand does. In fact, people are the conduits of that
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Checking in on Pinterest

We wrote about Pinterest back in February (also known as the month everyone was writing about Pinterest), back when I was, very stereotypically, feverishly pinning ideas for my wedding, quinoa-cures-all recipes and images of lovely home interiors that are a far cry from the first-place-together, military-keeps-us-moving rental I live in.

But now, well, I can barely think of the last time I was on Pinterest. (That’s relative: I was definitely on at some point in the last week and perhaps for a minute earlier
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Anatomy of a Crisis: What to expect from the unexpected

After the unexpected hits, when is it time to dust off those crisis communications guidelines and call it what it is: a crisis? While the manifestation of a crisis is different for every company—often dependent on trending topics, timing or even the leadership in your organization—the anatomy of a crisis is consistent.
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Four ways a responsive social media strategy will strengthen your brand

Managing a successful social media community goes beyond posting outstanding content. By being responsive to your community, you can elevate your brand’s Facebook and Twitter presence to the next level.

Shows your brand is listening to customer’s needs

Customers will use your social media accounts to ask questions or voice complaints, but a responsive community management strategy adds value by addressing the needs of all customers—not
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The importance of story

Two bowls of soup sit before you on a table. They are empirically identical. Both have the same ingredients handled in the same manner: pork roast was rubbed with salt and hot chili, seared on all sides and then braised for hours in coconut milk, puréed mango and dark beer. The meat was then shredded and returned to simmer in the reduced braising liquid before the mixture was added to a coconut milk broth scented with curry, ginger and lemongrass. Both soups are very tasty.

But the soup on the right comes with a story.

The chef who invented it was inspired to do so by a major experience of his youth. He and his father were on a fishing trip in the
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The metaphor of what I typically have for lunch

We have many lunch options within a short walk of 318 Camp Street, which sits on the edge of the CBD and the French Quarter.

The CBD offers more grab-and-go, fuel-up, back-to-the-office-to-get-more-work-done options. Think Subway and Smoothie King.

The Quarter offers more interesting options. Longer lunches, more involved conversations and people watching. Think raw oysters, legendary burgers, liquid lunches, gumbo.

Let’s simplify it—your two main options here are smoothies and gumbo.
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On giving serendipity a digital boost

The current swell of new, location-focused social media apps indicates the next major evolution in the space; social media is moving beyond who you know to who you should want to know. Apps connecting physically proximate people that share interests or connections are launching at breakneck speed, but terms like “winner” and “mainstream” are still far in the distance.

Proponents of these apps talk about engineering serendipity. They talk about how great it is to find out that the person with whom you have been trying to connect for weeks is actually in the coffee shop across the street. How fantastic it is when you get
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Five ways to create a memorable message with images

Last year PR Newswire discovered news releases with a multi-media element have 77% more views and twice the “shelf-life” as their text-only counterparts. The hottest app right now is the photo sharing app, Instagram. The fastest growing social media
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Three tools for testing web tracking

As the complexities of web development go, so goes the testing cycle. Expectations for tracking are increasing—every time you go online and check out Facebook or the weather or the score of the game, somebody, somewhere, is tracking your movement—and along with them, the requirements of developers and quality assurance analysts. Marketers want to know what you’re doing on their site so they can make informed decisions about when to update and how to optimize; it’s our job to ensure that marketers can get the information they need.

There’s only one way to truly test tracking, and that is through the platform that is
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Copywriters no more: Meet the idea writers

Slogans, jingles and headlines used to be the cornerstone of everything a copywriter lived and breathed. But the job of a copywriter today extends beyond the static page. Ads today are interactive, multi-channel, viral and always evolving beyond one-way messages into more engaged conversations.

Let’s face it, in a time where people are exposed to an average of 5,000 ad messages a day (that’s conservative), marketers are finding it harder and harder to reach people. Enter today’s lorem ipsum dolor crafters – the idea writers.

These days, when you encounter ads –
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One more article about creative thinking. Kinda.

Let’s not talk about creativity. Everyone has been doing quite enough of that lately. Even us. These days, you can hardly open a magazine or visit a website without seeing an article featuring the latest research on how to get quicker, faster or better creative results.

Some of it’s common sense. Some of it isn’t. But most of it fails to mention that the tips and tricks that fall out of this research are just that. You still have to put in the effort.

It’s no coincidence that the most creative person in a brainstorming session is usually the one who’s spent the most time thinking about the problem. Creative thinking is the
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What is a meme and how can marketers use them to their advantage?

The Merriam-Webster definition of a meme is an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture. The meme has a harried history since its controversial introduction by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, but at the end of the day, a meme is merely a unit of cultural transmission. Justin Timberlake’s recurring “Bring It On Down To _FILL IN THE BLANK Ville” is a meme, mosh pits are a meme, and of course, things that go “viral” online are memes.

Memes elicit a reaction from their viewer. They are wildly funny, topical, outrageous
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The science of eureka! (and how it applies to our industry)

“Peggy, just think about it deeply. Then forget it, and an idea will jump up in your face.” – Don Draper

There is no formula for creativity. In fact, those times when the job requires a particularly inspired idea are fairly terrifying, because who knows if it will come? You just hope that it does come, before your deadline, preferably, and that you have a pen or a MacBook Pro handy when it does.

Of course, we know there are things one can do to spirit the muse along. Jonah Lehrer seems to have narrowed the process down
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Political advertising in 2012: Impact on local advertisers

For local and regional advertisers, political advertising presents a number of challenges. Political candidates are well funded, determined and aided by a number of FCC rules and policies. These rules provide political advertisers with guaranteed space and time on media outlets at the lowest rates possible, resulting in the potential preemption of regular commercial advertisers’ media schedules.

This year, the media landscape will be inundated with political advertising due to changes in legislation and the high number of elections occurring across the country. Analysts have estimated overall political advertising spending for 2012 will be at
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The New Aesthetic

The New Aesthetic is a concept that has only recently been acknowledged in a real way. It’s a complicated idea that requires an understanding of art, culture and sociology to truly appreciate the impact of the New Aesthetic — as does aesthetics in general. I’m going to try and keep this short.

Aesthetics, aside from being a fun word to say at dinner parties after a couple glasses of wine, is a philosophical concept fundamentally concerned with defining our understanding of beauty. It typically asks questions like, “What is beauty? Why is something perceived as beautiful? And why does this appreciation of beauty change throughout history and across cultures?”
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