15 Crystal-Clear Truths Learned After 15 Years
Jul
16
Jackson Spalding celebrated its crystal anniversary–15 years in business– on July 14. Following are some random lessons I’ve learned while watching our company grow. It’s easier to achieve your vision if you have one on paper. One of the first things we did as a firm was to develop our vision, our mission and our values. It may sound trite, but ... Read more
Remember where you were in 1995?
Jul
14
Jackson Spalding was founded in July 1995 with the audacious goal of becoming the most respected and trusted public relations and creative services firm on the planet. We wanted to create a workplace that allowed individuals to flex their entrepreneurial muscle and grow. We had a hunch that if we made our workplace fun, then our team would go the extra mile for our clients. Today we are 15 years into ... Read more
Chick-fil-A spices up menu and marketing efforts
Jul
8
In today’s cluttered marketplace, how do you cut through the noise when you’re third or fourth to market with a “new” product? Engage your fans to make noise for you! That’s what Chick-fil-A did when launching their new Spicy Chicken Sandwich in June. Timed perfectly to spice things up at the outset of summer, the Spicy Chicken Sandwich was the first new sandwich for the national quick service chain in 20 years. It was just what ... Read more
Pardon Me, What Year Is It Again?
Jul
6
This time of year I lose all track of time. Literally, there are days when I don’t know what year it is. Before you completely think I’ve lost my mind, if you’ve drafted an annual marketing plan, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re executing your current plan, and at the same time, planning for next year. It can be confusing and exhausting – to say the least! That said, this time of year is ... Read more
4 steps to find quality blogs to pitch
Jul
1
While leading a recent training session with the marketing team at Chick-fil-A, a client raised his hand and asked what seemed to be a very simple question: How do you find the best blogs? It seemed simple until I tried to answer it. Well, uh, you search for them. Right? While it’s not complicated, searching for blogs that are relevant to your business, hobbies, customers or trends requires more thought than that. Any business should think through ... Read more
Postcards for the hedge: Neighbor sends thanks for sidewalk flowers
Jun
22
As the sidewalk garden grows, so do the expressions of appreciation for it. You may remember the garden I wrote about in April. This week I received a postcard from a neighbor who took the time to thank me in writing even though she doesn’t (yet!) know my name. It’s still nice to hear people shout, “Thank you for growing your garden,” as they drive by in a hurry. But it’s even better to see the ... Read more
Cloudy, with a Chance of Crisis
Jun
17
Image by Fibonacci Blue via Flickr As oil company executives were called to testify in front of congress, newscasters were abuzz with the laughable errors in each company’s nearly identical crisis plans. While the Gulf of Mexico is facing an unprecedented environmental disaster, at least we know the walruses would have been safe…had they been there. But while such errors seem laughable and we may smirk, perhaps it’s really nervous laughter we’re hearing. How many of us ... Read more
Saying goodbye to Coach Wooden
Jun
7
It is difficult to write about Coach John Wooden in the past tense. We lost him last Friday at the age of 99. His record of 10 NCAA basketball championships (seven in a row) as head coach of the UCLA Bruins will never be broken. John Wooden was not only the greatest college basketball coach of all time, he also was a sage off the court, especially about the tenets of leadership. Here are some of my ... Read more
Delving into the modern science of Spamthropology
Jun
2
At least twice a week I receive long emails from perfect strangers wielding arcane or illegitimate words like “append” and “optin.” They are uninvited messages encouraging me to purchase lists of other strangers who I might want my company to assault with our own brand of uninvited email. Some of these epistles start with cheer, as in “Hope you’re doing great.” Some are downright ominous, as in “Do I have your attention?” All of them are ... Read more
Talk of brands always misses two of the biggest
May
19
Whenever the topic of branding comes up – and it obviously comes up a lot in the marketing communications business – big consumer brands tend to be the default topic. Let’s face it, most people outside our industry don’t understand branding that well. I’m not saying they should, I’m just pointing out that non-marketing people tend to correlate brands with logos or brand names, when brands are much more than that. That said, pretty much every ... Read more
