I’m a total nerd for history. So when Bill Moncrief, Ph.D., gave a presentation at last month’s PRSA luncheon that blended history, advertising, and public relations, I was in geek heaven. The topic was “Who Will Rule the Business World in 2020,” and in case you missed it, I’ll give you a rundown on some of the main points:
(a) Historically, no nation can be #1 in everything forever. (b) Countries like China, South Korea and Japan are becoming new economic superpowers, and (c) It’s going to be a game-changer.
The wheels are already in motion. Tokyo now has more Michelin-starred restaurants than Paris. South Korean students are consistently blowing American students out of the water with their test scores. And the big whopper: China is now the second-largest economy in the world, next to the US of A. They’ve got the largest automobile market, the largest population, and according to projections, they’ll be able to add largest economy to their brag list sometime between 2020 and 2030. So, like the double rainbow guy, I ask, “What does this mean???” And how exactly will this shift affect me and the advertising and PR professions in general?
I’ll go ahead and admit it – I’m in the communications business and I’m monolingual. No hablo español. Je ne parle pas Français. And definitely 我不讲中文 (that’s “I don’t speak Chinese.” Thanks, Babblefish!). But most of the time, I don’t feel too bad about it because most people I know are, too. But will this fly in the future?
My answer is probably not. It’s a new millennium, and we’re going to have to face facts: We’re not the only big fish in the pond anymore. As PR and advertising professionals, we’ll have to adjust our communication styles to fit other cultures – and often that’s easier said than done. Anyone who’s ever taken a college marketing course has heard the horror story of how Chevy tried to market the Nova in Spanish-speaking countries, only to learn that the car name translates to “no go.” The irony! I Snoped it out, and this story is completely false – but the warning behind it still rings true. Cross-cultural advertising takes extra-special care.
That’s what makes it exciting. By embracing other cultures in our advertising and PR, we can say more, do more, sell more. We’re entering a brave new marketing world, and there’s a lot to learn, but also a lot to gain.
No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.
– Mahatma Gandhi
After 13 years working on the east side of the Metroplex I recently made the move west to join GCG as Account Services Director. The question some may ask is why? Well, the answer comes in two sizes, long and short. So, here we go…
I’ve worked for big agencies, small agencies on global brands and local businesses. I’ve been on the client side and back again. As different and varied as my experiences have been there is a common thread that runs throughout. It’s the fire in the bellies of all marketing and advertising professionals. The desire to positively impact the business of our respective clients. The desire to do great work. The professional satisfaction of moving the needle, growing sales, increasing traffic. The personal satisfaction of seeing work you’ve helped come to life (yes, creative people, even lowly account folks take some credit for the magic you make happen), winning awards and industry accolades. This is what keeps us going in this crazy business after all, right?
In short, what I’ve found at GCG is an agency where that passion is alive. So, for me, going west was an easy decision. An opportunity to reignite the fire in my belly that had grown dim and accept a new challenge. Needless to say, I am looking forward to it and am glad to be here.
As a side note on the topic of passion, can we temper the TCU love a little bit? Great school, nice football program, I even spent my freshman year there but let’s remember who the big dog (err, bovine) on the block is. Hook ‘em Horns!
Yes, I have an iPhone 4 and no, this is not a blog post to complain about it.
There’s plenty of news going on about the iPhone 4 recently and I’m sure we’ve heard just about enough. But instead of complaining, or venting, let’s take a look at the iPhone 4 from the critical eye of a marketer. What are the new features? What does the iPhone 4 have to offer?
Well, with its recent launch many people are starting to think of ways that the iPhone can make them money. Apps, mobile sites and QR/Text message codes are becoming all the rage, but not everyone knows the details or potential ROI on the iPhone’s newest feature: iAd.
Now we’re talking. iAd is an advertising system that occurs during the use of an application and allows application developers to earn extra money. The advertisements can be as extravagant or interactive as the developer or company hearts’ desire. This has companies scrambling to examine how this new feature could be used to market their products or services.
With that said, the public is starting to get their first glimpse of how much developers and companies are benefiting, maybe not from the antennas, but from this new technology. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is said to charge 1 cent per impression and $2 per click. Reported by businessinsider.com, app developer Jason Ting has recently come out with numbers detailing his financial gain from the use of iAd through his flashlight app. Here is what he got:
With Apple’s 40% cut, that means Ting received around $800.
The debate over iAd’s future impact in the industry is starting to take shape with people declaring the system a temporary novelty or a fad, which in turn explains the high eCPM. However, others aren’t so sure the feature is temporary. Some proclaim that iAd is here to stay with its indulging interactivity and potentially high return. One thing is for certain – this is a big hit with big companies. I’m talking about corporations, such as Dove and Nissan who have already signed on as users of this interactive advertising medium and many others are starting to follow suit.
However, I’m not so sure that this isn’t just a temporary fad to be like Facebook one day and MySpace the next. However, it is something that companies and marketers should take advantage of. Advertising has existed for thousands of years, from newspapers to radio to television to the Internet; mobile technology advertising is just another stepping stone to the next medium marketers will soon utilize. For now the conversation will continue and farther along the line we will see if iAd was worth skipping your turn in ‘Words with Friends’. And what’s a good blog without a good example to leave you with? Here is a video of Apple’s iAd and Nissan’s Leaf:
I recently attended a seminar hosted by The Balcom Agency on behalf of the Fort Worth PRSA Chapter. This was not your average event however, as K.D. Paine, the social media and public relations measurement guru herself, was the keynote speaker. A true treat for a social media “techy” like myself, the experience was wonderful, beneficial and quite insightful. I have studied K.D.’s work for almost a year now, and to hear her measurement wisdom in real life was somewhat surreal.
As a community manager, completely immersing myself in the day-to-day of all that is the social media, is just part of the job description. But to remove myself as the “seller” and to become the “potential buyer” takes a bit more work when constructing strategies and tactics to better help clients communicate their messages. These were the challenges I faced as I entered into the K.D. Paine seminar that day, and I have a hunch, K.D. knew I wasn’t the only one in the room facing this dilemma.
K.D. shared her expertise in many topics of social media and measurement including new school metrics, making goals in social media, types of social media conversations, how to create the perfect measurement program and so much more. There was one topic in particular that truly stuck out amongst her other insightful advice. It was about creating a better, stronger brand and about meeting the goals and expectations your organization has put in place. K.D. advised everyone at the seminar to do something simple to improve their business: think of a company similar to yours; one that you are impressed with and seems to hit the nail on the head, every time. Now take that company and make it your benchmark. Then, the kicker: Take your benchmark and become better than them.
It seems so simple. In our daily lives, we admire those who do what we want to do and do it well. In business, we do the same. When we can put envy aside, become humble and begin to recognize this company as our benchmark we can then do it better. Simple, understated, the best goal you’ll ever set. By setting a benchmark, you are able to determine best practices, how customers perceive the brand and how to translate it into your own company.
Needless to say, this gem of advice was not the only thing I learned from K.D. Paine that day. But I can guarantee you it’s something I won’t forget.
On May 11, 2009, Zag IMC officially opened its doors, operating with myself, four interns and three clients.
As GCG Marketing’s sister agency, Zag IMC was created to be a full-service, professionally managed integrated marketing communications agency that employs up-and-coming talent (a.k.a. interns) for the execution of various projects.
The purpose behind Zag was to have the opportunity to reach out to small and mid-size businesses, as well as non-profits in the DFW community, that have a need for marketing. In many cases, these types of businesses don’t have a need (or budget) for a traditional agency like GCG. However, we are able to offer competitive rates for these smaller businesses by relying on student talent to execute the work.
I like to think of Zag as an incubator of sorts, not only for our interns, but also for our clients. The goal is to have our interns become familiar with agency life and gain real-world experience that may later help them in choosing the best career path. As for clients, the basis of marketing is to grow a business. Theoretically then, if Zag does its job well, those clients will one day become GCG clients.
At the onset of creating the business plan we didn’t want to have a specific niche. For example, GCG Marketing has many accounts in the healthcare industry as well as in oil and gas. I must say though, we’ve tried very hard to maintain a diverse group of clients, and the primary reason behind that is to give our interns as much varied experience as possible.
In order to emphasize the diversification of our client base, I’d like to introduce a few of our clients: Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery, an equine hospital in Weatherford; McKinley’s Bakery and Café; DKJ Tool Grinding; Little Jack Horner’s, a furniture restoration/custom fabrication shop; Kincaid’s Hamburgers; ECX Team, an energy-commissioning company; A & D Pharma, a custom labeling firm and Chadra Mezza and Grill. All of our clients have been an absolute blessing due to their trust and readiness to try new things. We couldn’t have done it without them!
Now, a year later, we have grown into an agency, with more than 19 clients and nine interns, we are still chugging along and enjoying every minute.
Thank you GCG for giving us the space to learn and experience all of the amazing things this industry has to offer!
After spending the first 20 years of our lives learning, the vast majority of us must then spend the remainder of our lives earning. Choosing the ideal career path can be daunting, especially when we live in an age of unprecedented opportunity. Even if we only consider the career paths that were generated over the past 20 years – not to mention the past 100 years – it is amazing any of us are able to choose.
That said, there are still people in this world who, early on, have the luxury of knowing their purpose in life and easily pick careers that allow them to fulfill it. I’m not one of those people, and I imagine most of you aren’t, either.
So how do we decide? A couple of givens: we don’t want to invest the majority of our waking hours hating our jobs. It’s also impossible to be successful if we have no aptitude for the job requirements (who wants to work hard and never improve?).
I recently attended a seminar that shed some light to the issue of career enrichment. One of the most poignant insights revolved around the idea of contribution. In a nutshell – the greater the contribution, the greater the reward.
For me, this notion goes back to the basics my parents taught me at a young age: first, attitude is everything; second, give more than you get; third, be yourself.
• Attitude: By maintaining a positive attitude and channeling my emotions for the sake of productivity, I can overcome the vast majority of the kind of stress that causes burnout. I’m also a more pleasant colleague; I choose to be a fountain versus a drain.
• Give more than you get: When I over-deliver at work, I know that I’m always putting my best foot forward. There is tremendous reward in knowing I put my all into a project. If I’m truly passionate about what I’m doing, my dedication to the tasks at hand and to my teammates will only further my personal goals.
• Be yourself: No two people are the same, and that’s a great thing. By honoring my individuality, I add value to the team by bringing forth unique ideas and problem solving strategies. This is best summed up in a quote by George S. Patton, “If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”
Another tip I learned was to write down ways I can take my career to the next level. Some ideas include:
• Create a strategic career plan. What is my market value today and what will it be in five years?
• Become multifaceted. Add new skills and disciplines every year and diversify myself within my profession.
• Get involved in my company and go outside my department to make connections.
The tactics certainly aren’t foolproof, so I invite you to pick what works for you and toss out the rest.
I’ll leave you with this quote from the great John D. Rockefeller III:
“The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it, put your whole soul into it, every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have.”
I’m not much of a participator, especially when an event includes milling around amongst strangers and trying to muster enough volume to be heard over the din. This past Wednesday, however, I decided to brave stranger society in order to hear Brittni McCorquodale from McGarrah Jessee talk about the work they’ve done for the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas.
I’d already happened upon some of Shiner’s advertising out in the real world, but seeing their video, print, collateral and packaging assembled in one place made it all the more impressive to me. They just nailed everything. The funny stuff made me laugh, the folksy stuff made me feel comfortable, and their guerrilla marketing efforts left me shaking my head with admiration.
For me, the moral of the story was that before you can sell a product, you have to sell the company’s image. And to do that, you have to clearly define the brand in a way that rings true with those who knew it long before you rode your advertising horse into town.
So my first sojourn with the Ad Clubbers was pretty enjoyable. Seeing McGarrah Jessee’s great ideas was a nice little dose of inspiration for this week. And the food from Chadra was dang good, too.
I emphasize “new guy” because I am quite literally the only male member of the account services team. This was just one of the many new things I learned when I started as one of the two new interns for the spring. This first month has been exciting and I feel like I have a great opportunity to learn a lot about the world of advertising during my time at GCG Marketing.
In addition to being an intern at GCG Marketing, I am also a member of the 2010 TCU horned frog senior class! Which means that my future is about to be my present. I hope that GCG is a good indicator of the type of work I might pursue, because I really enjoy the atmosphere here.
Research, research, research! It seems like that is all we do, but I never knew that there were so many wonderful kinds of research. You name it, we’ve researched it. Clients, industries and target markets galore; these are just some of the topics we can’t Google fast enough to pull in all the research we need to relate to our clients marketing needs.
I can honestly say that my transition from a complete newbie to a (hopefully) somewhat respectable intern has excited me to the possibilities of other fields of marketing I hadn’t thought of yet. GCG does a lot of great work for being on the smaller side, but who says size matters? Everyone is great. They always have time to answer a question or give advice. GCG is a real close-knit group, and it has been encouraging to watch everyone coexist peacefully and work together to meet deadlines.
As graduation looms, and yes it does loom menacingly, I am already relying on and drawing from my experience with GCG. I think one of the most beneficial aspects of my internship has been to experience the Ad/PR side of the marketing world. I can remember the feeling of culture shock that I experienced for my first couple of weeks coming from the structured regimen of the M.J. Neeley School of Business. However, it has been great to learn one way of doing things in class and another at work. I have gained great insight that I will be applying, no pun intended, very soon as I enter the work force and search for an open position related to marketing and advertising.
So it’s pretty much the day after Christmas all over again. With months of hype, preparation and ADDY carols playing incessantly in the grocery stores, it felt like the day would never arrive. But arrive it did, and in its wake we’re left bleary-eyed and hoping no one took pictures. Still, we came out with a pretty good haul this year.
GCG’s big winner of the year was our self-promotional poster touting the GCG Firearms School for Women. We earned a silver ADDY at the District ADDY Awards for the poster, but the story behind it is really much more interesting. When the female employees of GCG Marketing began learning to shoot guns, President Neil Foster saw through their thinly veiled threat. And you know it’s no coincidence that there was a sudden abundance of flowers and chocolates here at the agency.
As for the 2010 Fort Worth ADDY Awards, we were able to bring home some pretty fine hardware as well.
The nice part of being part-owners of a local brewery was already explained earlier in this sentence. We won gold for this series of posters for Fort Worth’s own Rahr & Sons Brewery.
When a client held a customer event inside the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, we thought it was a golden opportunity to do a cool collateral piece. And then we won gold for it. Crap. I’ve got to go. The Pun Police are here.
You two have already been introduced, but before it could go on to win a District ADDY Silver, it had to first win gold. And it did.
We’ve been working with Cash America since 1994, and it’s always been our goal to do award-winning work for our clients. This year, we won two golds for illustrations for their 2008 annual report.
So that’s it for the top of the podium. Next year we plan on coming out swinging with even more award-winning work. And you know we’ll tell you all about it. We’re not that modest.
I don’t know the TCU fight song, and I’ve never attended Frog Camp. I was not an ad/PR major, and until a week ago, I had never heard of Ol’ Rip. I am a far-from-the-desert Wildcat from the University of Arizona in Tucson with a degree in communications and a minor in economics. When I tell people where I went to school, I get confused looks followed by, “How in the world did you end up in Fort Worth?”
The truth is, I’m a native Texan, but never envisioned myself returning after moving away in first grade. But I’ve learned that sometimes in life, the paths we think we are going to follow lead to dead ends, and new ones emerge from the ashes of old dreams.
I was born in Houston and lived in Katy, Texas, until I was 6 years old. Most of my family lived in Texas, too, and growing up with family around was something my parents had always planned on. But things rarely go according to plan, so off to Arizona I went with my mom, my dad, my baby brother and a hamster named Goldie. I grew up in Scottsdale, went to college in Tucson, and until September 2009, Arizona had always been home. After graduation, I had a “foolproof” master plan – to move away from the cacti-ridden state, become wildly successful and start a new life in Chicago. Doesn’t that sound fabulous? I thought so, too, and then this unfortunate thing called reality checked in.
My entry into the working world occurred at exactly the worst time. Launching a career during a time of nationwide economic hardship was difficult, to say the least. After five months of searching for a foothold in the Chicago advertising world – while slinging pita and hummus at a restaurant in Scottsdale – I decided to move to Milwaukee, Wis., where my boyfriend’s family lived. From there, I could search for jobs in Chicago, which was only a 90-minute train-ride away. So off to the cheese-curdling, beer-brewing state I went with nothing but three suitcases, hope and a prayer. Two months later, still jobless and with dwindling funds, I had a mini-mental breakdown, held a brief pity party for myself and decided that a new plan was in order. I made a phone call to my cousin in Texas on a Thursday evening in November, and 12 hours later, I was packed and on a one-way flight to Fort Worth. Although some called me crazy and seriously questioned my ability to make decisions, my gut was telling me to go, so I went.
I will admit that the first two weeks here were an emotional rollercoaster. I was plagued with the notion that I may have made a grave mistake, and with every day came a flood of different emotions. Nonetheless, I hit the pavement hard here, lunching and brunching, networking and passing out resumes. To my surprise – and only three weeks later – GCG Marketing’s account services director, Michelle Clark, called to offer me an internship in the account services department. I breathed a deep sigh of relief. It finally felt like I was in the right place at the right time.
Despite my outsider status and the compete lack of TCU paraphernalia in my possession, the employees of GCG Marketing in Fort Worth have made me feel right at home. The internship with GCG has been nothing but a wonderful learning opportunity. From the weekly brainstorming sessions to client conference calls to the in-depth research we conduct, every day is a new day and a new opportunity to gain insight and understanding about our clients and the world of marketing. I could not be more thrilled and proud to be a member of the GCG team and am looking forward to the exciting projects that are sure to come.
I’m a total nerd for history. So when Bill Moncrief, Ph.D., gave a presentation at last month’s PRSA luncheon that blended history, advertising, and public relations, I was in geek heaven. The topic was “Who Will Rule the Business World in 2020,” and in case you missed it, I’ll give you a rundown on some of the main points:
I don’t know the TCU fight song, and I’ve never attended Frog Camp. I was not an ad/PR major, and until a week ago, I had never heard of Ol’ Rip. I am a far-from-the-desert Wildcat from the University of Arizona in Tucson with a degree in communications and a minor in economics. When I tell people where I went to school, I get confused looks followed by, “How in the world did you end up in Fort Worth?”
