Below are some great shots and behind the scene peeks from a photo shoot with client Element Mobile.
Creative:
Dave Jackson, photographer, http://davidejackson.com/
Matt Bellisle, creative director at SPARK Advertising, http://startaspark.com/
Shana Seubert, marketing manager at Element Mobile, http://elementmobile.com/
A newcomer to social media, Pinterest is quickly gaining popularity among its users. The online pinboard allows users to pin their favorite products to their own personal boards to bookmark and share with other Pinterest users. Not only is it a great way for consumers to keep track of their favorite things, it is becoming a great resource for companies to connect with consumers as well as direct traffic to their website. Here are some reasons why Pinterest could be a great asset to your company’s social media:
Consumer generated recommendations: According to Socialnomics.com, 78 percent of consumers trust peer recommendations while only 14 percent trust advertisements. Getting users to recommend your product can be a difficult task for businesses. Pinterest helps users share their favorite products and interests in a quick, easy and visually appealing way. The site even offers the option to post to Facebook and Twitter, giving businesses more exposures through other social media sites. It is proving to be a great way for users to connect with brands and increase brand loyalty.
Drives traffic to your site: The way Pinterest works is it allows users to ‘pin’ things they find on the web or from other Pinterest user boards. Users can then ‘repin’ them on their own boards for others to follow. The pin is linked to a business’s website, allowing the user to click the photo and be taken back to the original website — where they can purchase the item or browse more items on the site. Pinterest is helping businesses drive traffic to their websites and generate brand awareness.
Pin it!: Soon, right alongside the Tweet and Facebook share buttons businesses will be offering the option to pin on all of their products. One company, Land’s End has already kicked off this trend. For the holidays, the company launched a campaign and contest using Pinterest called “Pin it to Win it.” The contest is building brand awareness for their sub brand, Canvas, and offers another way to share products socially and for users to connect with brands. Other big name companies like Old Navy and Target are using Pinterest to promote their products. Other niche companies like ASOS and Ruche are using the site to gain brand awareness.
Pinterest is another avenue that allows users to influence the popularity of brands. Start exploring what Pinterest can do for your company.
SPARK spent the morning decking our lobby and conference room with holiday decorations. The office is now full of glitter and sparkling Christmas lights (and yes even a little holiday music!). Here are a few photos but make sure to check out our Facebook page to see more. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!
SPARK turns seven in October 2011. A seven year anniversary may not seem like a big deal to some but for SPARK Advertising there is a lot to show in the seven years we have been in business. The entire team is very excited with the progress made by the agency.
Over the past seven years SPARK has proven to be a leader in creative design, public relations and strategy. Located in downtown Neenah, the agency doesn’t let their small size hold them back. Every year SPARK is awarded several prestigious Telly and Addy awards. SPARK has also lead several local and national businesses to successful outcomes, including positioning a small local company to break into the national market.
Along with growing business success, SPARK has developed a solid team. Without each employee’s specific skill set, we would not be as successful as we are, said Mark Elliott, president of SPARK. This includes the arrival of Tom Cioni, SPARK’s vice president. The new leadership position was created to help elevate the agency to new levels, connecting each of the business aspects to enhance our strategic approach.
SPARK is celebrating together by having an office party to honor the seven years of excellent work… bring on the SPARKtinis!
by Amber Bemis, PR and social media intern
After returning from my 5 day trip to sunny Orlando for PRSSA National Conference I am actually excited to be back at school and of course SPARK 
Why, you ask? Because I couldn’t wait to get back and share what I learned and my ideas with the SPARK team. My favorite session Creativity: Innovative Ideas Generate a Receptive Public really opened my eyes to the importance of using creativity in PR campaigns. I think this session clicked with me because of the simplicity of the campaigns he used as examples. I left the session filled with ideas. I am very excited to share them–I hope they will inspire you as much they did for me.
Case One: Return of the Penguins
This story was inspiring and powerful. We are all well aware of the devastating effects hurricane Katrina had on the gulf. The first case study used caught me off guard a little because it was about penguins. After Katrina hit, the New Orleans Aquarium was badly damaged causing all animals to be evacuated. Only one animal survived. New Orleans residents and aquarium workers were devasted. When it came time to bring the famous penguins home, the New Orleans Aquarium planned an unforgettable homecoming. Partnering with @fedex they held a welcome home event just in time for the aquariums reopening. Fedex built special airplanes and trucks to transport the penguins back to the aquarium. When they finally arrived home the penguins walked a royal purple carpet to their new home.
What did I learn from this case study? I learned that even simple campaigns like this can produce awesome results. I love that this was a creative take on something PR professionals do all the time.
“Avoid being creative for the sake of being creative, keep the purpose in mind” said speaker, Duncan Wardle. This point really hit home for me. I think sometimes we get wrapped up in producing a super creative campaign but often end up losing the true purpose. In my opinion the New Orleans Aquarium and Fedex hit this one dead on, I mean…who’s heart wouldn’t melt watching those adorable little penguins waddle down a royal purple carpet? Genius.
Case Two: Queensland Tourism ‘ The best job in the world’
I think this campaign is brilliant! As a PR professional I would consider myself pretty well educated on PR tactics but this one completely got me. Queensland Tourism wanted to improve their website traffic so they decided to put out a job posting for ‘the best job in the world’. Watch this video to see some of the job duties.
New stations covered the story across the country! The island received tons of free publicity. During the session I turned to one of the girls in my chapter and said, wow what a neat job! I was completely oblivious to the fact that they were trying to promote the island, all I could think about was the awesome job. Now that is good PR if you ask me.
What did I learn from this case study? I learned that it is important to remember 4 steps when designing a creative PR plan.
1. It takes risk- Queensland Tourism probably had no idea if their plan was going to work but they took a risk and tried it.
2. Relevance- the right message, to the right person, at the right time.
3. Impact- you have to find a way to break through the clutter. They definitely did.
4. Originality- fresh new ideas that your audience won’t expect.
Queensland Tourism’s goal was to increase web traffic to 400,00o for the year, and they reached 6.3 million in 3 days! I would say it was a success.
SPARK works with many companies in helping to shape their image and develop new creative concepts for their products and services. SPARK’s Creative Director, Matt Bellisle, shares a few words on the creative process of his latest project, a logo redesign for Menasha Joint School District.
“Our approach was to give the brand a progressive and forward thinking design. Something that feels important and credible, yet playful enough to be approachable. The initial step was to give the typography a bold and modern feel. The brand’s original colors were blue and yellow. We wanted to have some lineage there, so we kept the blue, based on a variety of color trends and a connection to Menasha’s geographical connection to water and also for its global approach to learning. The global metaphor was continued into the shapes of the icon, which gives a sense of forward motion, but also a progression from smaller to larger, which is a terrific connection to learning and the growth that happens.”
-Matt Bellisle, SPARK Creative Director
Neenah, WI (Sept. 23, 2011) — SPARK Advertising received five 2011 American Graphic Design Awards, presented by Graphic Design USA magazine. The winning designs were selected from over 8,000 entries nationwide submitted by ad agencies, graphic design firms, corporate, institutional and publishing in-house departments. This is the sixth consecutive year SPARK has won awards in the competition.
The winning entries are:
AAF Fox River Ad Club – Special Event Poster
AAF Fox River Ad Club – ADDY Poster
Menasha Corporation – Menasha Forward Sustainability Report
Menasha Packaging- What Does Green Mean to You? Campaign Brochure
Elizabeth Jean‘s – Apple Pie Packaging
For over 30 years, the American Graphic Design Award competition has honored outstanding graphic design, advertising art and marketing communications. A national panel of creative professionals judges the competition. Winners become eligible to be featured in Graphic Design USA’s Awards Annual, a 300-page edition published in December. Graphic Design USA is a monthly business-to-business magazine for graphic designers and creative professionals.
Neenah, WI (September 21, 2011) – SPARK Advertising is pleased to announce the appointment of Tom Cioni, a public relations and marketing communications veteran, to the newly-created position of vice president.
In this new role, Tom will be managing client and agency services, helping manage the growth of SPARK and heading the public relations team. SPARK will be able to offer clients a greater focus on strategic marketing solutions and branding as result of creating the role, said Mark Elliott, SPARK president.
“Adding this role is an important move for SPARK Advertising to best align our capabilities with our customers’ needs,” Elliott said. “We will be able to present our customers a more complete service offering than ever before.”
Tom brings a breadth of experience to SPARK, with a decade of service in corporate communications in various industries including manufacturing, transportation/logistics and insurance. He also worked as a newspaper journalist for a decade. Tom is practiced in public relations, customer promotion, strategic planning, project management, team leadership and global marketing.
“Tom’s background working for a variety of sizes of corporations and in several industries will benefit our clients as we strive to provide them creative and efficient solutions to their marketing and growth challenges,” Elliott said.
SPARK Advertising is proud to be involved in the design of Menasha Joint School District’s new logo. The logo–created in part by students–will be chosen by the community. The public can vote on the final logo until September 22 at http://www.MJSDMovingForward.com.
SPARK worked with marketing teacher Chad Bruechert and Menasha High School students to design the three logo options. The SPARK team worked with students on brainstorming sessions, message planning, design and project management. Bruechert said the “real-world experience” received by students working with the agency was extremely beneficial for them.
The new logo will reflect the district’s approach to education in a fast-moving digital age. The district’s nationally-recognized approach focuses on two areas: higher-level thinking skills and technology.
The final logo will be revealed September 30 during Menasha high school’s homecoming celebrations.
Irene Tien, product strategist at HUGE, has owned the Twitter handle @Irene since 2006. So when people started tweeting @Irene in an attempt to communicate with Hurricane Irene, she responded:
Apparently lots of people thought this was funny or interesting or informative, because by the next day she had amassed hundreds of retweets. Irene’s co-workers who run the company’s Twitter account took notice, pleaded with Irene to hand her account to them…and she reluctantly agreed.
And so @Irene the person became @Irene, the hurricane.
As the voice of the hurricane, they posted some funny tweets, and some informative. They responded to mentions and engaged in conversation about the hurricane. Yet throughout it they remained tactful and engaging in a sensitive situation that had the potential to backfire.
But it didn’t backfire. Irene and her co-workers handled it perfectly. They didn’t use the opportunity to directly promote themselves (but I imagine they are enjoying, and anticipated, the aftermath PR). They showed their creativity and ability to react and execute quickly, which is essential for social media success. @Irene’s follower count grew to 11,000.
This is not a strategic social media case study with planned objectives and calculated return. But it is a fun and unique example of the power of social media changing the way we communicate, and how quickly an idea can spread.
Although the account is still open, @Irene the hurricane has been put to rest. The last tweet sent on August 28 was “Goodnight #Irene”. As of September 2, no activity from the account.
(Full story at WSJ.com.)
