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Today, March 26, is Global Epilepsy Awareness Day (or Purple Day), and we here at Melamed Riley are dressed appropriately to support the Cleveland Epilepsy Association. The Epilepsy Association is a not-for-profit organization that assists children, adults and families who are struggling to deal with the difficult challenges epilepsy presents. For more than 40 years, they have been offering a range of services in an 11-county area of Northeastern Ohio.

More than 3 million Americans have some form of epilepsy and, historically, epilepsy has been neglected, feared and misunderstood. A veil of secrecy surrounding the disease has resulted in myths, superstitions and a general lack of knowledge. This has hindered scientific progress toward finding answers to one of the oldest-known and most prevalent neurological diseases, leaving treatment and research efforts way behind other disorders. Epilepsy affects more people than Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy combined, yet of the major chronic medical conditions, it’s among the least funded. For many with the disease, seizures cannot be controlled with medications and other treatment options. Individuals with epilepsy are at risk of premature death as well as mental illness. This is why generating awareness through events like Purple Day is so vital.

Purple Day was conceived by Cassidy Megan, a young girl from Nova Scotia, Canada in 2008 when she was only 9 years old. Purple Day is now a global event celebrated in 130 countries and on every continent in the world. The name Purple Day was chosen for the international color of epilepsy, lavender. The Lavender Flower is associated with solitude, which is representative of the feelings of isolation many people affected by epilepsy and seizure disorders often feel. The Purple Day goal is for people with epilepsy everywhere to know they are not alone and to increase public awareness of epilepsy. Visit the official Purple Day website for more information and free resources.

Below are some ways you can still get involved:

• If you are wearing purple, share your photos with the Epilepsy Association on Twitter, and be sure to include the hash tag #PurpleDay, and on Facebook.
• Share information about Purple Day by posting updates to your Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts.
• Tweet this message or change your Facebook status to read: “On March 26, I’m wearing PURPLE to generate EPILEPSY AWARENESS. Help spread the word!”
• Join the Epilepsy Association at their first ever Purple Day Party fundraiser. It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet others from the Cleveland area who are raising awareness of epilepsy.
• Visit the Epilepsy Association website or blog for more information and ways to help raise awareness.

If you can’t do anything else for Purple Day, please share the following tweet: Today is Purple Day, let’s all work to fight the stigma and increase epilepsy awareness. [Click to Tweet]

Just as they have the nine previous years, the Cleveland Triathlon Club hosted its 10th Annual Polar Bear Plunge along the shores of Lake Erie on New Year’s Day, 2013. The air temperature was a frosty 25 degrees (with wind chill it felt like 11) and the water temperature was 38 degrees. Nonetheless, some friends from the Second Sole Running group, myself and 300 others participated in this fun yet frigid event. Even Sara Shookman from local news station WKYC decided to enjoy a New Year’s Day dip.

Friends and family told me I was out of my mind to strip down to my swim trunks and dive into the lake. And while standing on the beach awaiting the start, I was beginning to agree. But there really are numerous reasons I think everyone should undertake such an adventure (at least once):

1. Gets you out of your comfort zone
2. Allows you to cross something off your bucket list
3. Reinforces that you can do whatever you put your mind to
4. Cleanses away any residual negativity from the previous year
5. Begins the year with a splash, leaving you fresh and revitalized

What traditions do you participate in to get your year started off on the right foot? Would you ever consider a Polar Plunge?

A recent report from NBC Nightly News revealed that, after nearly 60 years, Bazooka Joe comics will no longer be accompanying Bazooka Bubble Gum. As a 40-something male, I am saddened by this news. I have fond memories of the silly jokes, the fortunes, and even of mailing away my wrappers and a small amount of money for some cheap trinket like a keychain, a telescope or a t-shirt.

As a marketer, I am not as sad as I am curious, left to wonder if Bazooka Joe deserved a better fate than this. After all, Bazooka Joe was the essence of the Bazooka Bubble Gum brand. It certainly wasn’t the gum, as anyone who ever chewed it will attest. The gum itself was extremely hard and once you were finally able to chew it, the flavor lasted mere minutes. Is there anything more that could have been done to save Bazooka Joe from forced retirement? Or is he just too irrelevant for the kids of today?

At Melamed Riley, we’ve been developing content marketing strategies for our agency and our clients. And I can’t help but wonder if developing a strong content marketing strategy could’ve boosted the Bazooka brand as well as its icon, Bazooka Joe. Since the brand was already developing content (in the form of comics), it seems only logical that there would be a lot of ways to re-purpose or re-imagine that content in order to bring it into the 21st century. I believe the content marketing opportunities for this iconic brand are almost limitless, but perhaps considering just the five content platforms below could have prevented the Bazooka Joe bubble from bursting:

1. Printed and Downloadable eComic Books – Re-purpose content that’s been generated since 1953.
2. Animated Videos – Bring the comic’s characters to life with motion and audio.
3. Mobile Games and Apps – The possibilities here are endless. For example, offer a downloadable bubble popping game featuring Bazooka Joe. Or allow kids to select from various comics and write their own copy within the speech bubbles, effectively customizing their own comics and then sharing them with friends.
4. Customized Microsite – Develop a non-sales platform that speaks to kids about kid stuff. Enabling them to learn and interact in a fun and safe environment.
5. Bring on Brand Ambassadors – Incentivize older kids to blog about Bazooka Joe and share the content with their peers.

What do you think? Is Bazooka Joe all chewed up or can this iconic bubble gum comic appeal to the tastes of today’s kids?

Earlier this month I attended Content Marketing World in Columbus, Ohio. To say this was an eye-opening experience would be an enormous understatement. I’ve been involved with various types of social media and, in fact, content marketing for many years, but it took just two days with Joe Pulizzi, Marcus Sheridan and the many other featured speakers to convince me of the power that Content Marketing holds for our business and our clients’ businesses.

Listening to Marcus, with his energy, enthusiasm and humor, explain how he turned around a failing pool business in Virginia through responding to his customers’ questions via blog posts, videos, case studies and more, was probably the highlight. But there were many other excellent speakers who provided amazing insight into content marketing. Interestingly, these speakers by producing and sharing this valuable content that people want, that moves them and gets them to react and take action were actually examples of content marketing at its finest. And just as Marcus was able to turn his business into the most searched pool business in the world (even more searched than the all of the large manufacturers of pools and pool chemicals) through following this model, we have this same opportunity to transform our business and the businesses of our clients by following these same principles.

While we’ve all likely tested these waters in one way or another, maybe with an email newsletter or a frequently asked questions page on a website, we cannot wait any longer to jump in and start truly listening and providing meaningful content. As Marcus explained it, “we must become the best teachers in the world at what we do.”

I am excited that we are continuing to take content marketing to new levels. What steps are you taking? If you’re not sure how to take the next steps why not reach out and let us or any of the speakers from Content Marketing World help?

Joe Pulizzi kicks off Content Marketing World

Marcus Sheridan presents the Magic and Mystery that is Content Marketing

As seen at Content Marketing World

With the United States Olympic Team Trials for Track & Field and Swimming just concluding and the 2012 Summer Olympics beginning later this month in London, the excitement is building. Seeing Ashton Eaton set a new world record in the decathlon and Michael Phelps continuing to look almost super human during their respective trials has truly sparked enthusiasm and anticipation. As an avid runner and overall fan of sports, I’m really looking forward to tuning in to enjoy the experience. And by tuning in, I’m not just talking about watching the Games on television. I’m beyond excited to be part of the total Olympic experience — television, radio, online, mobile, blogs, Facebook, Twitter — you name it and I’m planning on consuming it.

The 2012 Summer Olympics are already being dubbed as the “First Social Games” by just about every traditional and online media outlet. Countless news reports and articles have been written and many more are sure to follow in the coming weeks. Here are just a few interesting pieces I’ve come across in the past few days:

• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) created the Social Media Hub for Olympic athletes and fans to connect with one another throughout the games.
• The IOC generates a set of Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines for participants.
• An interesting infographic also from the IOC and shared by Mashable showing how coverage has evolved since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Read more.
• The new song “Survival” by the band Muse was chosen as the official track of this year’s Olympic Games. Read more.
• NBC Sports is preparing for 3,500 hours of live streamed Olympic content in addition to all they will share via social media and through their social partnerships such as the one they announced with Shazam. Read more.
• A blind runner who used his iPhone and the Runkeeper application to guide him on his runs and who used his blog and Twitter to share his stories was chosen as an Olympic torch bearer. Read more.

What Olympic moments, social or otherwise, are you looking forward to experiencing? Feel free to share your articles, stories and ideas in the comments section below.

Image Source: rockbottomgolf.com

Easter Sunday has traditionally been a day of spending time with family, eating to excess, and watching “Sunday at The Masters.” This year was no exception (especially the excessive eating). However, this year I found myself watching The Masters quite differently. While watching, I found myself not only engaged in the amazing action taking place on the television screen, but also engaged in the amazing action taking place on my iPhone via Twitter. Not only was my own Twitter timeline blowing up, but hashtags like, #Masters and #Bubba, as well as the personal Twitter account of eventual champion, Bubba Watson, @bubbawatson, were all receiving overwhelming attention during the two holes of sudden death playoff golf.

Interacting with Twitter or other Social Media Platforms during TV programs isn’t new to me, in fact, that very same night, I tweeted to Michael Symon, @chefsymon, and the hashtags #choppedallstars and #autismspeaks during Chopped All Stars on the Food Network. And I also followed along closely to my Twitter timeline and the hashtag #MadMen for tweets about the most recent episode of Mad Men.

All of this Social TV got me thinking about some articles and blogs I’ve read recently. While there is a lot of discussion about how people are using two screens when they watch TV, there is equally as much if not more discussion about how social media is reducing people’s ability to communicate effectively face-to-face.

Take this post from www.lostremote.com, which discusses the results of a study on social media multitasking. Yes, it’s true that we don’t know the full methodology of the study that was conducted and some of the results may be misleading, but from my personal experience, I easily see myself within many of these results. During The Masters, for example, I was most definitely posting tweets while watching the tournament live. And during Chopped All Stars, my tweets made me feel connected to other people who were watching including Michael Symon who was live tweeting throughout the previously recorded event. It’s clear that my experiences while watching these programs were enhanced through the use of the Twitter social platform.

Conversely, there are posts like this one from hbr.org that discusses how too much internet, digital and social media may, among other things, contribute to people (especially pre-teens and teens) displaying poor eye contact and a reluctance to interact socially. Again, referring back to The Masters, while I was watching the final round with multiple other people, I found myself to be at least as engaged, if not more, in what was happening on my iPhone screen as I was with the rest of the people in the room. Using this personal experience makes it easy for me to see the validity of the post and the research within it.

As a father of two teenage children and as a marketer with a keen interest in social media, I find both of these topics to be fascinating. I don’t discount either of them because I’ve demonstrated personal experiences to substantiate both. I don’t see Social TV and the interaction going away, only increasing and evolving, so I can only hope that education by parents, myself included, as well as our education system will work to curtail the reduction of interpersonal skills in children.

What do you think? Is Social TV enhancing the experience or reducing our interpersonal communications?

I spent last week at the Paradise Point Resort & Spa in San Diego with our client, FMC Professional Solutions, at their National Business Meeting. It was a tremendous week full of celebrating the successes of 2011 and planning for 2012 and beyond. There were a number of guest speakers throughout the week who each enlightened us all in their own unique ways. One particular speaker mentioned “game changers,” and he wasn’t talking about an interception run back for a touchdown during an NFL playoff game that turned the game in one team’s favor. The speaker was talking about product innovations as game changers. Some product innovations change the world, others an industry and others the fortunes of a company. The mention of game changers got me thinking about some historical game changing product innovations. There are millions of them, but here are a few that quickly come to mind:

The Wheel — dates back thousands and thousands of years, but is still roughly the same device as originally conceived. The wheel is quite possibly the biggest game changer ever. Where would we be without the wheel? We wouldn’t have cars or bicycles or even wheelbarrows. What an amazing accomplishment.

The Light Bulb — also goes back quite a few years. Not thousands, less than 200 in fact, but still quite a long time. And it, too, has changed very little. Again, where would we be without the light bulb? We’d still be lighting our homes with candles and Christmas trees would be a lot less festive. The light bulb was truly a remarkable invention.

The Television — has only been around a little more than 75 years, but still functions in much the same manner as its earliest versions. Before television, families would crowd around the radio to listen to their favorite programs. With televisions, things that were previously only envisioned were now right there on the screen. This game changer has provided a fabulous source of entertainment and learning for families. It’s almost magical.

There are millions of other examples; the computer, the laptop, the tablet, just to name a few of the more recent, but I want to bring this back around to FMC Professional Solutions. While they haven’t come up with the next wheel or light bulb, they’ve developed a game changing way to detect bed bugs, the Verifi™ bed bug detector. This simple device offers pest management professionals a better way to find bed bugs. And that’s a real game changer if you’re in the pest management industry.

I’d love to hear what comes to mind when you think about game changing product innovations. Please comment with your favorites.

After nearly three years of planning and three exceedingly hectic months preparing the launch materials, our client FMC Professional Solutions launched the Verifi™ bed bug detector last week in New Orleans at PestWorld 2011. While we’ll cover the complete launch in more detail in future blogs, this blog will focus on the build up to the launch – the teaser campaign.

Bed bugs have become a global pandemic in recent years and detecting them has proven to be extremely difficult, so we knew we were in a position to generate a lot of product interest in advance of the launch date. We set out to create a campaign to build interest around this new product during the months leading up to the launch. We wanted to generate excitement for this new device while educating potential customers (in this case, pest management professionals) about the entirely new revenue stream it adds to their businesses.

The process began in mid-August with the creation of a Twitter handle (@FMCbedbug) which allowed us to establish a following of engaged users approximately a month prior to beginning the teaser campaign. Before we tweeted any teaser messages, we generated discussion about bed bug news and the challenges that bed bug detection and treatment creates for professionals.

The first piece of teaser creative appeared in mid-September. A print ad featured a large QR code made from hundreds of images of bedrooms and just a couple images of bed bugs, to demonstrate just how challenging it is to find these pests. When scanned, the QR code directed people to a microsite with a countdown to the launch date, a place to sign up for updates and a link to the @FMCbedbug Twitter account.

Press releases featuring the Twitter account and the countdown microsite were sent out and picked up by the pest industry trade media. Not by coincidence, FMC was one of the main sponsors of the North American Bed Bug Summit in Chicago at approximately the same time as the ad and microsite were released. Representatives from FMC manned a booth that featured a big screen countdown clock that attracted traffic and attention from members of the industry. Additionally, a number of highly respected bed bug researchers who were speaking at the Summit, and confidentially working with FMC on product development and testing, hinted at a revolutionary new bed bug detection device that would be launched in less than a month.

And, we were off and running. Advertising, public relations, industry media outlets, client representatives and industry researchers all working together to tease this new innovation from FMC. During the next three weeks, an email blast, direct mail, online rich media ads, updates for those who signed up at the countdown microsite and Twitter posts all continued to tease the launch of this new bed bug detection device, without so much as a mention of the name or sneak peek of the product. This all led to quite a buzz with the pest industry. Even competitors of FMC and their advertising agencies were signing up online trying to get any information they could.

The traffic in the FMC booth at PestWorld was unbelievable, but these statistics demonstrate the fever pitch of excitement as we neared the moment of the product’s debut. By all accounts, the teaser campaign and the Verifi bed bug detector launch have been major successes. In the seven days since the product launched, the Verifi bed bug detector video has been viewed more than 2,000 times and the FMC Professional Solutions website has experienced a 221.5% increase in traffic.

Let us know what you think and stay tuned for more on this launch in upcoming blogs.

Melamed Riley recently worked in conjunction with one of our clients to conduct a survey on relationships between customers and sales representatives. The results, while not surprising, explain that the IDEAL sales representative is one who:

1. Communicates with them on a regular basis.
2. Shows integrity defined as honest and trustworthy.
3. Provides knowledge through training and support.

These three categories alone accounted for nearly 98% of all responses. While this may not be all that surprising, when the survey was conducted with sales representatives, pricing and product quality began to increase significantly. That is, the sales representatives thought that the pricing and quality of the products played a much more important role in their relationships with their customers than it actually does.

All of this got me thinking about the account service role in an advertising agency. Looking at how the role of account service is described by various sources online, I found the following phrases repeated time and again.

“The conduit between the client and the creative department.”

“First line of contact with the client.”

“Sufficiently aware of the client’s needs and desires.”

“Handling budgets and managing costs.”

“Keeping the work flowing into and out of the agency.”

“Understanding client’s core business.”

While the word “relationship” did surface in many descriptions, it was usually preceded by the word “working,” as in “establishing good working relationships with clients.” Sure, these are all important aspects of an account service position, but they really are just the table stakes, the price of entry. Most of these fit into response #1 above, communication. We are in the communications business. Of course we should communicate with our clients on a regular basis. We wouldn’t have clients for long if we didn’t.

But what about the #2 and #3 responses? Don’t these same words that describe the IDEAL sales representative also describe the REAL role of account service? Of course they do. I’m not saying we don’t have to do the stuff listed above in quotes, but providing clients with knowledge, strategic thinking and solid recommendations – and doing so with honesty and integrity – are paramount in ensuring the agency and client relationship remains strong. These are what differentiate us. These are the things that elevate us from vendors to trusted partners in the eyes of our clients.

Heck, the more I think about it, these are also the traits that make any of our relationships strong. Just think about how these things can help everyday in all of our business or personal relationships.

It’s what the stubborn young woman who tenaciously tracked her father’s murderer in the 1969, and the remake in 2010, feature film of the same name possessed. Determination, indomitable spirit, mental resolve – True Grit.

Rocky had it. People who train for and complete difficult personal challenges such as the recently run Boston Marathon are often heard saying it took determination and grit to push through the pain to finish. Couples who fight through adversity to keep their relationships together often credit their devotion and fortitude. High achievement in career endeavors can often be attributed more to perseverance, passion and focus on goals than to exceptional talent or intelligence. Maybe the best example of grit I can provide is a person suffering from a life-threatening illness who fights against all odds to beat their illness. All of these are instances where people reach heights never thought possible … all through their will, determination and grit.

In the often volatile and unpredictable world of advertising, we too need to possess grit. When client expectations are the highest and deadlines are looming largest, we must dig deep and make it happen. The outcome usually depends on it. Many new business pitches have been won or lost based on it.

Check out this article for more information, inspirational examples and recent research on the subject of True Grit.