Posts Tagged ‘SimmonsFlint’

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GF/EGF survey results: Business use of social media

By Elizabeth Hansen, February 1, 2010 | Comments

The results are in. Facebook is the #1 used social media platform for business leaders in Grand Forks/East Grand Forks. Number two, LinkedIn.

Our research partner, Prime Contact, conducted a survey with The Chamber of Grand Forks/East Grand Forks. Answers reveal that businesses use social media platforms for personal and business connections. See the detailed results.One of our social media strategists, Libby Issendorf, presented the survey results and her recommendations to a group of Chamber members last month. She’ll repeat that presentation with another group of members in March. (She’ll be in Vancouver, helping our client, the U.S. Speed Skating team, with social media during the Olympic Games!) The meeting space for these sessions can only hold a limited number of attendees, so we’ve summarized her presentation here:

  1. Social media is important to business because it’s where people are.

Organizations must be in the right “media,” and this is it. Yet the messaging and interaction must capitalize on the “social” aspect. This isn’t TV, radio or even a website.

  1. Social media is powerful word-of-mouth marketing.

Done well, social media allows businesses to solve customer service issues, collaborate, build brands and grow their customer base. 

  1. Social media works if you have a plan.

It’s tempting to create a Facebook page—just because you can. Slow down. First, answer some questions. What do you want to accomplish?  Who is in charge of content?  How will you tell people about it? How will you determine its success?

To get social media working for you, contact us.

More on social media

Read Libby’s resolutions
Libby’s social media resolutions are likely different than yours, yet her list may inspire you to dive in.

Crushing the Myth of B2B Social Media
The author of this blog, Jason Baer, is one of the most frequently cited social media experts. He also happens to be our business partner.

How do your customers use social media?
Use this tool to find out. Enter your customer demographic information and it breaks down typical social media usage by age and gender.

  

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Can social media help sell tickets?

By Elizabeth Hansen, January 27, 2010 | Comments

Social media can accomplish a lot. Solve customer service issues. Provide insights. Forge connections. Identify opportunities. And, we now know for certain, help sell tickets and definitely increase awareness.

In partnership with UND Fighting Sioux Athletics, SimmonsFlint and Flint Interactive developed and implemented a social media campaign to promote “Meltdown at The Ralph,” one night of UND basketball in key games at the majestic Ralph Engelstad Arena, usually reserved for UND hockey.

Meltdown at the Ralph

We created an online landing page, where we aimed all other platforms, including:

  • YouTube videos featuring players and coaches from the UND hoops teams, playing a little basketball on the hockey rink and checking out the arena (UND men’s hockey players were good sports in making cameo appearances)
  • Twitter updates
  • Facebook status updates and advertisements
  • Emails to UND alumni, students and other sports’ ticketholders
  • In-Arena Video Promos shown on the big screen during UND home hockey and basketball games
  • Traditional media, including print, radio and TV commercials, promos in game broadcasts, billboards and public relations

Winning numbers

Even though the UND teams didn’t win, the games attracted 4,354 fans, the largest crowd the two teams have ever played for in Grand Forks.

Other game stats:

  • 960 students attended the game, also a new record and far above the average 144 students/game for basketball this season
  • Game revenue more than doubled the highest single game revenue this season

To discuss how social media fits your game plan, contact us.

Friend and Follow the Fighting Sioux
Twitter
Facebook

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Red River Valley Research Corridor ~ Life Sciences Action Summit ~ February 19, 2010 Fargo, ND

By Dave Roby, January 20, 2010 | Comments

RRVRClogo-1Co-hosted by U.S. Senator Byron L. Dorgan and the Red River Valley Research Corridor. Fargo, ND, February 19, 2009

This year’s summit will focus on developing and strengthening the Red River Valley’s burgeoning life sciences industry.  Presenters including entrepreneurs, financiers, researchers, and scientists from the region and around the nation will discuss and explore actions the region can and is taking to foster strong, sustainable growth in the life sciences sector.

More about the Life Sciences Action Summit

Register Now

River Valley Research Corridor Action Summits

The Red River Valley Research Corridor and U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan work in cooperation with leading economic, science and technology-based organizations in North Dakota and the Great Plains region to organize action summits.

Action summits are high-impact conferences that have a razor-like focus on specific research and technology development opportunities in the region. The summits are intended to:

  1. Facilitate learning, networking and collaboration in the region.
  2. Connect with key partners in business and government from outside the region in a highly focused and purposeful manner.
  3. Showcase science and technology-based capabilities and initiatives in the Corridor.
  4. Engage key players inside and outside the region to put a focus on what do we do now and in the future to make the Red River Valley Corridor an epicenter of research, development and/or production in this particular science and technology field.

Previous Research Corridor action summits have focused on hydrogen energy, venture capital, radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies, polymers and coatings, life sciences, animal identification systems and unmanned aircraft systems.

The Red River Valley Research Corridor is an independent non-profit corporation committed to catalyzing and promoting science, technology and engineering initiatives that create new opportunities in the region

Red River Valley Research Corridor Coordinating Center

DeloreZimmermanShot - SmallDr. Delore Zimmerman, President & CEO of Praxis Strategy Group in Grand Forks, Fargo & Los Angeles, California was named to serve as the Coordinator. Delore has over twenty years experience working with companies in technology and information industries, universities and local development groups. Since its founding Praxis has been awarded 8 Small Business Innovation Research Awards.

Praxis Strategy Group is a partner with the Flint Group.


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The value of values | What makes a powerful endorser?

By Elizabeth Hansen, December 15, 2009 | Comments

As Tiger Woods’ sponsors either sever or re-evaluate their connections to the troubled golfer, I’ve been thinking about what makes powerful spokespeople. And, ducks, geckos and woodchucks are looking like good options right now: if they fit the product.

The key is to match the right spokesperson to the right product
What consumers see must match the emotions they feel. In the case of Tiger Woods, the issue is not simply personal values: it’s the gap between our image of Woods and these recent allegations.

Here’s how Roger Dooley at Neuromarketing describes it: “While the individual hearing the sales pitch may be listening to the words, her brain’s mirror neurons are firing at the same time in reaction to the salesperson’s emotions, demeanor, etc. If there’s a disconnect between the words that are cognitively processed and the emotions that are mirrored, the pitch will probably be less effective.”

Striking the right chord
Athletes have endorsed products for more than 100 years. Most sources agree baseball great Honus Wagner was the first, emblazoning his name on Louisville Slugger bats in 1905. Then there was the 1960s, with Arnold Palmer lending his likeness to Sears, Pennzoil and dozens of other companies.

In the ‘80s, everyone wanted to “be like Mike,” as Michael Jordan raised endorsements to sky-high levels. Even when we learned Jordan gambled away thousands of dollars, it still matched our image of his intense competitiveness.

Yet our image of Woods was focus, discipline and iron-clad mental resilience: he never cracked under pressure. When he won the 2008 U.S. Open injured, David Brooks of The New York Times described him as “the exemplar of mental discipline” for our time. That image made him a powerful spokesperson for not just golf gear, but focused business companies. That’s totally out of tune with current news on Tiger’s alleged antics.

Make the connection
Companies seeking athletes and other endorsers should ensure the products they pitch match their image. Just like other elements in marketing, if the words, visuals and tone move peoples’ neurons, the messenger—and the message—also prompt action.

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Our signature? Communications that truly make a difference.

By Elizabeth Hansen, October 30, 2009 | Comments

We focus on helping our clients achieve their goals. And we proudly donate our expertise to events and groups in our community where we can truly help. Most recently, the SimmonsFlint team produced materials promoting the very first Signature Chef event in North Dakota for the state’s March of Dimes chapter.

The fundraising event was one evening featuring culinary creations and incredible silent auction items from seven premiere chefs and their restaurants in Grand Forks. Event attendees sampled the dishes, enjoyed entertainment and bid on the auction items. Highlights:
- The silent auction package from Kim Holmes of Sanders 1907 sold for $1,600
- Centerpieces from Badman Designs were beautiful decorations and, as part of the auction, wonderful fundraisers
- Best of all: The event raised more than $16,000 for babies and their families

We’re parents, aunts and uncles. And we love good food.
Combining great cooking in a lovely evening to benefit babies and their families when they need it most was a perfect fit for our team. We produced the program for the evening, as well as recipe cards of the Chefs’ Signature dishes.

We especially enjoyed interviewing the chefs. For instance, Joey Miranda of Giuseppe’s Italian Ristorante has a special connection to the March of Dimes, since he and his wife had twin sons who were born four months early and required months of medical attention: One weighed 1 lb., 10 oz.; the other, 1 lb. 7 oz. It’s a bittersweet story he graciously shared in the program.

Another real treat was editing the chefs’ recipes: Try punctuating properly when you’re drooling for Dakota Harvest Bakers Profiteroles with Fall Fruit Compote, including from-scratch pastry cream!

See the finished March of Dimes Signature Chef program.

We appreciate the opportunity to work with the March of Dimes and are especially proud to have helped make a difference for little ones and their families.

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Price points in a recession

By Elizabeth Hansen, October 19, 2009 | Comments

Not many foodservice and fast food chains are growing these days. Exception: SimmonsFlint client Subway restaurants. How? $5 is an increasingly powerful price point, established before the recession hit full bore. It’s becoming a brand all its own.

SimmonsFlint serves the local advertising franchisee ad fund. Its national Ad Fund CEO has been very busy with interviews, explaining the chains success amidst in-your-face competition and competitors’ lagging sales. 

This is his interview with Brandweek.

This is with MSNBC.

He did a great job, don’t you agree?

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How a banned product got real advertising

By Elizabeth Hansen, October 12, 2009 | Comments

Free speech = luxury?

One of our clients, Hal Gershman of Happy Harry’s Bottle Shops, has a friend whose entire family was expelled from Zimbabwe and came to the States with only their suitcases. They were caught up in the Mugabe regime’s reign and lost everything. Hal shared this compelling advertising case study, which includes billboards that won top honors in this year’s Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival (the Oscars of advertising).

See the YouTube video story.

The Zimbabwean reported on how the Mugabe regime rigged elections, crushed the opposition, caused poverty, disease and the country’s economic collapse. The regime then called the newspaper a luxury, adding a 55% duty tax to import it, making it unaffordable for the Zimbabwean readers it so desperately needed to reach.

Ad agency TBWA\HUNT\LASCARIS produced a campaign with a series of billboards made out of now worthless Zimbabwean banknotes, printed with statements such as “Thanks to Mugabe this money is wallpaper,” “It’s cheaper to print on this money than on paper,” and “Fight the regime that has crippled a country.”

The agency says the Zimbabwean currency was “an eloquent symbol” of the spectacular collapse of the country’s economy.

It worked: The campaign raised awareness for the newspaper and its situation around the world. Thanks to Hal for sharing the story

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An UNparalleled Experience: the Flint Group Creative Retreat

By Phil Hunt, September 29, 2009 | Comments

Earlier this month, more than thirty Flint Group creatives convened at Lost Lake Lodge near Brainerd, Minnesota. The objective? To share ideas and learn from each other face to face at the Flint Group Creative Retreat. Designers and writers from across the organization spent (roughly) two days and two nights focusing on the future, improving creativity and expanding collaboration.

Things got rolling on Thursday, September 17th with an icebreaker led by SimmonsFlint designer Ann Simmons-Boushey, followed by a wonderful dinner at Lost Lake Lodge and a show and tell of creative work from each agency.

Retreat Begins

Later that night, we had some fun around the bonfire.

Bonfire

The next morning, our group put social media strategy to work. Writer, Lee Ziegler, and Flint Interactive designer, Alissa Pesta, led the workshop, assigning real marketing problems to small groups. Using Jason Baer’s Social Media Worksheet, the Flint Group creatives addressed the problems with strategies and ideas to create awareness, generate sales or encourage loyalty online.

Social Media Strategy

That afternoon, it was time for our own unConference. Flint Communications art director, Frank Stegmaier, and writer, Phil Hunt, attended an unConference presented by One Club and the Society of Digital Agencies this spring. The experience and discussion was so valuable that we decided to conduct a smaller-scale unConference of our own.

There is no pre-determined agenda for an unConference. At the start of the event, we got together and proposed topics related to our industry and agency. After setting a a loose schedule, we talked and talked some more – documenting key points and outcomes along the way.

Some of the topics addressed included:

•    The Future of Flint Group
•    The Future of Print
•    Surviving the Economy and the New Era of Advertising
•    The Business of Design
•    Ethics in the Creative Field
•    Unconventional Printing and Advertising
•    Social Media
•    Video for the Web
•    How Production Design will Change in the Future
•    Interoffice Collaboration
•    Finding Inspiration
•    Presenting Concepts and Ideas
•    Using Creativity to Make the Creative Brief Go Further

The unConference was a big success – and we recommend it to any organization that wants to discuss big, challenging ideas. For more information on the unConference format, check out the unConference Wikipedia entry, unConference.net or Open Space World.

At night we wound down with another great meal, a butter sculpture contest, plus a bonfire and an outdoor screening of the 2009 Addy Reel. On Saturday, we finished up with some brainstorming techniques from copywriter Phil Hunt, and said our goodbyes.

Friday Night Butter Sculpting Contest

It was a fun weekend, and a productive one, too. We came back on Monday with fresh perspectives and solid ideas for the future of our clients and our agency. Stay tuned for more thoughts and outcomes from the retreat.

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