Meridian Group’s travel and leisure team seeks a motivated team player for an account coordinator internship. Responsibilities may include: assisting the client team with day-to-day account projects, monitoring trends, editing, writing/content development, presentation building, quantitative and qualitative client research, conducting and contributing to brainstorming sessions, in-depth ROI analysis and reporting, along with day-to-day administrative duties. Opportunity to learn about marketing, advertising and interactive disciplines and attend professional development seminars. Internship is unpaid but can be used for school credit.

Applicant qualifications should include:

• Excellent communications skills, writing ability and computer skills a MUST.
• Knowledge of social media preferred, but not required.
• Prior internship experience preferred, but not required.
• Must be available 15-20 hours per week during the semester.

Please contact us for more information on internships.
No phone calls please.

For the past eight years I have hosted a barbecue cooking competition at my home for all of our employees. There are a lot of components of the competition including the development of a logo and T-Shirt design each year, how the teams are structured and even the categories which are unique each year. All in all the annual investment is approximately $3,000 including category and grand prize awards, production of T-shirts, food, a keg of beer and everyone’s favorite; the margarita machine.

So, why do we host this annual event and what is the true value to the agency and our employees? We are in a creative business that is very competitive and requires a great deal of teamwork. Everything about this event supports our core values as a company while allowing everyone to let their hair down a little.

CREATIVITY: This is not your run of the mill BBQ competition that you might see on Food Network. People use every creative cell in their body to win, place or show. Not everyone is a culinary genius so they use online resources to come up with something unique. Others really do have the talent and expertise to create unique and crowd pleasing dishes that people would pay good money to experience. At yesterday’s event the judges commented that if local restaurants served this level of cuisine they would never have to write a negative review. Who would think that these amateur chefs would create items like baby back ribs that were dry rubbed then finished off by tossing them in a buffalo sauce or scallop and bacon lollipops, tofu sliders and brussel sprouts with bacon and  cranberries. And how many people do you know that would stay up half the night infusing vodka with fresh bacon. These are all perfect examples of creativity and passion, the same talents we need to succeed in the marketing world.

COMPETITION: I often get negative feedback from some members of the agency that nine out of ten of our recreational events involve some sort of competition. Guess what? This is our life. If we want to succeed and keep moving the needle we must be prepared to compete at the highest level. That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun. Competition is fun if you put your heart and soul into it. For this year’s Q, I was told that some people didn’t like to present their dishes to the judges so we had the judges visit each station, which was fine but I feel like we compromised to a certain degree. It was kind of like doing a new business presentation and asking the prospect to come to us or e-mailing concepts instead of presenting them in person. We also take the competition to a new level by inviting some of the most respected food industry professionals in the area to judge. Lorraine Eaton and Judy Crowling from Virginian Pilot, Patrick Evans-Hylton from HR Monthly, Debi Gray from Johnson & Wales, Sam and Cindy McGann, Jennie Capps from CBWC, Yiannis and John Milleson. Every year the judges are blown away by the quality of the event and promise to steal or “borrow” a few nuggets to share with the world.

TEAMWORK: If you are going to take home any money from the Q, you better work as a team. We do not reveal the teams or the categories until late afternoon the day before the event. Each team is comprised of people from teams that they don’t necessarily work with every day. They have less than 24 hours to develop a menu, determine responsibilities and action plans and to execute the dishes in a four hour period the day of the event. Some people prefer to work in a vacuum but over my 30 years in this business they never reach the top unless they know how to play in the sandbox. This is typically the result at the Q as well.

So, call it what you will – an excuse not to work, a blatant waste of company money, a good excuse to imbibe in the middle of the afternoon. I call it an exercise in life that will help us be a better agency.

We will post many of the recipes and photos from this year’s event on Monday.

JT

A new business book by author, Patrick Lencioni, “Getting Naked; A business fable about shedding the three fears that sabotage client loyalty“, is one of the most inspiring as well as entertaining books I have read over the past year. I guess the primary reason the book has inspired me is because it is based on the same basic philosophy that has always driven the agency’s growth – WHY? Unfortunately, the past two years of economic turmoil has made it difficult to be true to ourselves and our principles.

Mr. Lencioni weaves a story around two consulting firms; one that has grown quite successfully through an aggressive sales approach and the other, although smaller, has much more satisfied clients, happier employees and higher margins. The three fears that the author outlines are:
- The fear of losing business
- The fear of being embarrassed
- The fear of feeling inferior

In this world of inter-office politics, power struggles and cheese protecting, this book is a quick lesson in transparency and just might inspire a few to cut the BS and get down to what’s best for the client.

THE GOOD:
A lot less competition: So many companies have dramatically reduced their direct mail efforts and most of the others are doing a pretty poor job at. These leaves the door open for honest, well-written and professionally produced direct mail that will be consumed not shredded. And I am not referring to the multiple inserts, fake hand writing type of direct mail. I am referring to a quality piece of communication printed on quality letterhead with the person’s name and address on the letter and the envelope.

You can tell the whole story: A well written letter is priceless and will be read if it’s compelling while providing a real benefit to your prospect. But don’t play games and pitch too hard. Give them a reason to support your business or cause.

If it is of value, they will save it: A schedule of events or something coming up in a few months helps. An offer that must be redeemed helps even more. They can hold it in their hand. You can’t hold an email in your hand or past it on your refrigerator.

THE BAD:
It can be expensive: As with any worthwhile effort, it’s going to require an investment on your part. If you do it well, you will reap a healthy return. Do it half ass and you shouldn’t bother at all. Direct mail will never be as inexpensive as email marketing but it can be more effective.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
Any marketing tactic can be effective if it is done properly and the timing is right. I am not advising anyone to cease using email communication. It is a great tactic that will deliver significant results if done well. I do think that now is a good time to go back to something that most companies are quickly abandoning. It’s as simple as zigging when everyone else is zagging.

Social Marketing. In 2009, Agencies tried to wrap around specifics of revenues, billing, staffing, and what kinds of projects could provide value. Clients struggled to see how social would serve their brand, their culture, their org chart, and their customers.

As 2010 begins some of the answers, for both, are clear, or at least clearer. In condensed form, let me detail the creation in 2009 of a social presence for a regional health care client.

The development of social began informally. Broad goals were defined, links and stories were traded via email. Internal blocks were identified and addressed by the client. For instance – you can’t manage a Facebook fan page at work when access to it is blocked by your IT staff.

Meanwhile, Meridian Group’s web team, Launch Interactive, researched and wrote very exact project deliverables. Listening carefully to client needs and expectations, Launch was able to define how the tools would work, who would use them, and how the information created with each tool would distribute to the client’s web site, Facebook, Twitter and blog.

Our programmer/developers created proprietary tools,including a blog, calendar, and RSS feeds,introduced ‘Save and Share’ features, and mapped out a complex, sophisticated distribution from tools to web site and back again, with external feed to Facebook and to Twitter. We assisted the set-up of Facebook and Twitter accounts and designed the brand ID. Additionally, content production and support was given.

Compared to other clients who have tackled social without agency assistance, our health care client is connecting their social investments (Facebook, Twitter, blog, calendar) to other assets (web sites, email marketing and blogs – even print. Interconnectedness, leveraging, and efficiency are very good things.

Will 2011 reveal further advantages for clients who’ve turned to Meridian Group/Launch Interactive for support and development of social marketing? We’re working hard to make sure that’s the case.

Posted by: Rich Loftus, Web Content Manager, Launch Interactive

Meridian Group‘s STIHL team was approached in November of 2008 by Dr. Andrew Thomas , who saw the full page ad we produced in the Wall Street Journal asking, “Why is the number one selling brand of chainsaw not sold at Lowe’s or The Home Depot?”

We arranged an interview with STIHL President, Fred Whyte who pointed out the reasons for STIHL’s stance on distribution, which turned into an entire chapter in Dr. Thomas’ book “The Distribution Trap: Keeping Your Innovations From Becoming Commodities” (now available through Amazon.com and other online sources).

Recently Dr. Thomas visited company headquarters in Virginia Beach and spoke to STIHL employees about how the company remained successful by keeping their distribution process in house and avoiding the trap.

Posted by: Terry Kelley, VP of PR and Corporate Communications, Meridian Group

Brainstorming can take place alone or in a group of two or more, with three to six being ideal. In my opinion, the best results are obtained when the following practice is followed:

1. Suspend personal biases. This is the most important rule. When ideas are brought forth, no critical comments are allowed. All ideas are taken. Evaluation is to be reserved for later. We have been trained to be so instantly analytic, practical, judgmental in our thinking that this step is very difficult to observe, but it is crucial. To create and judge at the same time is like binge drinking and curing the hangover all at once. Why would you do that?

2. Think freely. Bizarre thoughts are fine. Impossible and unthinkable ideas are fine. In fact, in every session, there should be several ideas so radical that they make the group choke. Remember that solid ideas sometimes come from silly, impractical, impossible ones. By permitting yourself to think outside the boundaries of ordinary, normal thought, brilliant new solutions can surface.

3. Add on. Cultivate, build on the ideas of others. What’s good about the idea just suggested? How can it be made to work? What changes would make it better or even better? This is what I like to call constructive banter. Use another’s idea as stimulation for your own improvement or variation.

4. A lot of ideas is crucial. Concentrate on generating a large stock of ideas so that later on they can be sifted through. There are two reasons for desiring a large quantity. First, the obvious, usual, stale, unworkable ideas seem to come to mind first, so that the first, say, 20 or 25 ideas are probably not going to be fresh and creative. Second, the larger your list of possibilities, the more you will have to choose from, adapt, or combine. In fact, I’ve worked for firms that have demanded a brainstorm for a fixed number, like 50 or 60 different ideas before quitting a session.

Words to live by: “Genius is the gold in the mine; talent is the miner who works and brings it out.- I forget.

Posted by: Shane Webb, Creative Director, Meridian Group

The use of social media continues to grow. In the past year alone, Facebook membership has grown over 700%. Some companies are blocking the site so that employees can not access it during work hours. But are companies just getting defensive? On the other side of the coin, does the use of Facebook & other similar sites actually make employees more productive?

Basically, what it boils down to is that responsible employees will utilize the site appropriately. Employees that are motivated and appropriately challenged, with defined goals and targets will self-regulate the use of Facebook & other sites. They will use the site as a slight diversion from a busy workday. Human beings love to feel connected. We love to keep up with friends and family. Studies show that being able to do so in the midst of our busy day in the office, leaves an employee more satisfied and therefore more productive in the long run.

After all, a lot of our clients are advertising on Facebook nowadays and asking for recommendations, so shouldn’t we be experienced users of the site as well?

Posted by: Diana Medley, Account Coordinator, Consumer Team

It used to be that you could create a broad campaign that ran in one or two mediums to persuasively reach your target group. Messaging was heavy on product features and specific benefits. Not anymore. Today the message, the medium and the audience are changing.

We’ve entered an age of visual saturation, sound bites and the micro attention span. The number of images, voices and an unending stream of new products shouting for our attention, has accelerated beyond critical mass. At the same time, media outlets have proliferated and in so doing have fragmented the public’s mind. Consumers have developed mental filters to help them guard against hyper-communication.

Added to this the idea of the ‘average American’ or mass market is gone. In fact demographics expert Peter Francese writes in a new Ad Age white paper, “the average American has been replaced by a complex, multidimensional society that defies simplistic labeling.” The new 2010 Census will support this. It is expected that we will see the following:

• The population is getting older
• Minorities are the new majority
• The most prevalent type of US household is married with no kids
• Single person households are a close second
• The nation is moving from the Northeast to the South and West (3 million people moved South or west in the past 10 years)

So what do you do? Today it’s about creating a relationship with your customer. This is not really a new idea it’s just being re-invented.

• The buying public is still out there. What’s gone is their willingness to pay attention to drivel. So identify the niches within your audience and craft your message and medium to them. Create communications that tell as story and speak to the psyche of the consumer, the emotional benefits of your brand
• Utilize technology to reach your audience. It’s customizable and the audience can control it.

A brief example of this is Geico, a company that runs ads featuring Caveman, blinking eyes on dollars, geckos and more. Car insurance has a broad potential audience by gender, race, age and lifestyle preference.  The Geico scattershot approach works because of this. Some spots are silly to appeal to the younger audience, others are more straightforward. Each message is targeted to relate to each specific target group on their own terms. Each approach is as different as the consumer group itself.

So bottom line you can’t generalize about your target group anymore and you need to be creative and customize with message and medium for each niche in your overall audience.

Watching Mr. Draplin’s video “America Is F*cked…….(Graphically at least)” made me notice this new sign for a recently renovated strip mall down the street from our offices.

Not sure who did this or why they were paid to do it but it’s horrible. If I was a store owner in this mall I would be furious. It’s obvious the designer never set foot on the property nor did they put more than 2 seconds of thought or effort into it. Shameful. If you know who did it, tell them they suck at their job. There’s a term called placelessness and this sort of stuff is the reason why it’s so prevalent. Placeless design is our new term for today. PLEASE stop doing this to our environment. And don’t get me started about the DSW Shoes logo.

If you don’t care about it, let someone else do it.