In the Loop

Crossroads of PR, Integrated Marketing and the Midwest.

January 31st, 2012Comments (0)

Connecting with Voters: Social Media in an Election Year by Jen Tatro

Four years ago, social media conversations had an unprecedented impact on the presidential race. The GOP certainly took notice and even posted an op-ed in PR Week regarding the opportunities to engage voters online. Now that another presidential election year is upon us, candidates are using social media in new ways to try to break through to voters, share their platforms on key issues and gain an advantage. It’s been fascinating to watch— on both sides of the aisle.

Using Facebook to Reach Fans: Facebook plays a key role in every candidate’s strategy to reach voters. iContact recently published a study of the GOP candidates’ use of social media. The study found that Mitt Romney had the highest number of Facebook fans but experienced the lowest percentage of Facebook fan engagement. On the other hand, Rick Santorum had one of the lowest numbers of Facebook fans among the GOP candidates but actually had the highest engagement level with his fans.

Joining in the Debate Online: Does it feel like there has been about a thousand Republican debates held already? (Technically, there have been 24.) In addition to following the debates on TV, voters can follow the debates online through following hashtags like #CNNDebate. During Florida’s GOP debate last week, #CNNDebate was a trending topic throughout the evening, ranking as high as #1 in the US and worldwide during the broadcast.

Integrating Online and Offline Channels to Reach Voters: It might be hard to believe, but not every voter in America is an active user of Facebook and Twitter. In realizing this, candidates like Newt Gingrich are using platforms like Facebook to recruit volunteers to make phone calls and join in grassroots efforts to engage undecided voters.

Town Halls via Google+, Facebook, and YouTube: Yesterday, President Obama held a video chat session via Google+ to answer questions raised from his State of the Union (SOTU) address last week. The Google+ hangout was another town hall style event taken online, similar to the President’s Facebook and YouTube town halls in early 2011. Most of the session focused on the economy and on job creation. More than a quarter of a million people submitted questions to the president via YouTube for the event, and after the event, the YouTube page had 6,123 “likes”. 

Twitter Chats: The day after the State of the Union address, Vice President Joe Biden held a Twitter chat to talk to individuals about the messages during the SOTU. Participants used the hashtag #WHChat and asked questions ranging from job creation, taxes, energy, and spending cuts. Some of the Tweets included:

“What happened to #health care reform? How will WH work to engage states in understanding need for improved primary care access? #WHChat”

“#WHChat #SOTU question: I didn’t hear much about spending cuts or the deficit: is there a plan to cut and balance the budget?”

This year, we’ll be watching how the candidates and the President will be using social media in new ways to reach voters and amplify their messages. Thanks to these online tools and channels, voters have more ways to connect with candidates and elected officials to pose their questions, better understand key economic, social and foreign policy issues, and become familiar with who they will be voting for public office. Clearly, these channels give voters more opportunities to be informed about their vote, and ultimately, give the candidates and elected officials more opportunities to listen to their constituents.

December 7th, 2011Comments (2)

MSL Expands Global Reach in a Growing Market; Acquires Poland's Largest PR Agency by Diana Rostkowski

We recently announced that MSLGROUP has acquired Ciszewski Public Relations, Poland’s largest PR agency. This was an announcement dear to my heart: I am a first generation Polish American, born and raised in New Britain, Conn, who moved to Chicago to further expand my young career in public relations. Fortunately enough for me, both areas have a very large and warm Polish community. In fact, Chicago has the second largest Polish population in the world, second only to Warsaw.

MSL Chicago welcomes CEO Jerzy Ciszewski and COO Sebastian Hejnowski and their team to the MSL family. Ciszewski and Henjnowski are clearly experienced experts in strategic consulting, management, and corporate communications.

With the acquisition of Ciszewski, MSLGROUP is now the largest agency network in Poland, a market at the heart of dynamic Central and Eastern Europe. And, it is no surprise that Ciszewski PR has grown significantly over the last several years. Poland joined the European Union in 2004 and its economy is booming. The nation constitutes half of new Europe’s economic potential reflected by the Gross National Product. They are a country that has best dealt with the economic crises. I encourage you to view this animated film about how a country which 20 years ago underwent a radical transformation of economic system became a steadily developing member of an exclusive economic club, the European Union.

It is thrilling to hear about the expansion and MSLGROUP’s continued boundless opportunities in global initiatives and marketing. Many of our clients in Chicago are expanding their marketing activities overseas to include emerging markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America. I’m quite excited.

Serdecznie Witamy!

December 2nd, 2011Comments (3)

Higher Education Marketers Are Changing the Game by Julie Lilliston

While colleges and universities face reduced funding, increased pressure to prove their value and disruptive technologies impacting the education landscape, there is still reason to be optimistic. If the record-breaking attendance of more than 900 higher education marketers at the 22nd Annual AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education is any indication, there is a renewed focus on strategic branding not only to achieve business objectives but also to protect and enhance reputations.

I had the opportunity to speak with a number of higher ed marketers at the event and it became clear that colleges and universities are reinvigorating their brands and taking calculated risks in their marketing strategies to drive growth. MSL Chicago was a sponsor of the event and I have enclosed a few marketing trends that I observed at the conference:

Change management is driving brand strategy. Quite simply, the status quo doesn’t cut it anymore. Gone are the days of a client service model within marketing or as one speaker dubbed “an in-house Kinko’s” pumping out marketing collateral, logos and taglines like an unstoppable machine. Rather, today’s marketers are driving transformative change within their organizations and leading strategic communications through rebranding efforts. I think this shift is a tremendous opportunity for marketers to help redefine what’s important to the organization and communicate its core values through the development of a compelling, authentic brand narrative.

This is no small feat within decentralized organizations as Dr. Mark Putman, President, Central College in Iowa attested in his keynote, “Do You Drive the Agenda or Go Along for the Ride?” While process is certainly important, it can be painful for individuals who need to be “dislodged” or pried out of process. I also think it’s critical to have a champion at the top who is advocating this long-term change within the organization to be successful.

Research is a tool—not the end game. One of the pain points we’ve observed with our higher ed clients is the increasing pressure for education institutions to prove they are delivering value not only to students but also society as a whole. The digital age has empowered marketers to define their brand strategy and positioning by conducting comprehensive qualitative and quantitative research as discussed in the session “Knowing What We Are: Defining the DePaul Brand” by Deborah Maue, Associate VP for University Marketing, DePaul University. Research is a useful tool to understand perceptions of both internal and external audiences but in our experience with clients the real impact is how the key findings are incorporated into strategic planning.

Boldness pays off. Many institutions struggle with lower student enrollments, reduced budgets and resources. One of the bright spots I noticed at the conference was hearing about the schools that have taken big risks and reaped bigger rewards due to their marketing campaigns.

This was particularly evident in discussions regarding student enrollment. One of the more entertaining (and enlightening) sessions that I attended “Marketing to a New Generation: It’s All About the Relationship” led by James Raby, Director of Enrollment Marketing at American University and Jamie Hardin, Director of Customer Relations at WayBetter Marketing shared their success by embracing one-to-one marketing in student search.

Building a highly-customized communications approach with students to pull them in to participate in a dialogue rather than push out content led to an increased response rate, lowered costs and data-driven decision-making. The campaign incorporated video and personalized prospective student URLs that evoked humor, organizational personality and “edginess” and was worth the risk. As stated in the session by Raby, ‘what do you have to lose?’

At MSL Chicago, we have worked with several colleges and universities in our Reputation On Course specialty practice who have encountered similar challenges. We’ve found that building a strong university brand requires listening and understanding the needs of all key stakeholder audiences. We’ve helped our higher education clients develop differentiated brand strategies that keep their reputations on course and convert reputations into results.

November 28th, 2011Comments (0)

Client-Side vs. Agency Internships: Learning the PR Ropes by Ginny Woodcock

For some, the term “intern” used to (or still does) bring to mind responsibilities such as getting coffee or making copies. Fortunately, internships now greatly supplement a college degree and have evolved into a much more valuable experience than performing trivial assignments.

Before even applying for an internship, future PR interns must ask themselves an essential question: client-side or agency? For me, the answer wasn’t so simple. Attending college in a small town limited my ability to experience PR in an agency setting, so client-side PR became the building block of my career. Throughout all three of my client-side internships, I learned highly valuable skills including writing press releases, building media lists, and shooting/editing promotional videos. In addition to these responsibilities, my internships heavily focused on planning and marketing events, which I now consider to be one of the key responsibilities of in-house internships.

Upon graduation, I decided it was time to branch out and experience agency PR. After interning with MSL for a few months, I’ve come to realize that client-side and agency internships are quite similar in terms of the bottom-line goal, but of course the assigned tasks differ. In my opinion, agencies seem to place more focus on media pitching and monitoring, whereas in-house PR teams concentrate more on events and partnerships. Planning events proved to be an informative and rewarding experience, because it allowed me to see my labor come to fruition. As an in-house PR intern, it is easy to recognize the overall impact your work has on the company.

Another difference (one that comes with pros and cons) is team size. An in-house PR team can be anywhere from one person to several people depending on the company, which gives interns the ability to work closely with the internal departments. On the agency-side, some firms are very large, so teams may be comprised of multiple people. Some may see this as a disadvantage, but in my opinion, agencies give interns the opportunity to interact with and seek advice from numerous professionals and mentors with different backgrounds.

Even though I’ve only been with MSL for a few months, I can honestly say I think I’ve found my home in agency-setting PR. The strong focus on media coverage, both traditional and digital, definitely draws me to agency PR, but when it comes down to it, I am deeply intrigued by the fast-paced, unpredictable nature of an agency! Deadline-sensitive, client-pleasing tasks keep me on my toes and drive me to produce the best work possible. I have found that dealing with multiple accounts and a wide range of clients keeps work fresh and engaging, and it gives you the opportunity to expand your knowledge of various industries. Not to mention I have some pretty cool co-workers who have made my short time here a step above awesome!

November 16th, 2011Comments (0)

PRSA International Conference Recap: Discussing Audience Fragmentation by Jen Tatro

Last month, Laura Chavoen, our senior vice president of digital strategy, spoke at the 2011 PRSA International Conference in Orlando. Her topic was “A Tailored Approach to Audience Fragmentation.”

In her session, Laura discussed how social media is causing many marketing companies to adopt a PR planning model to ensure that programs and campaigns are tailored to the right target audience. She also shared her thoughts on using new tools that public relations practitioners can use for monitoring and pinpointing audiences. Below is a video of a segment of her presentation.

Thanks to the PRSA for inviting MSL Chicago to particpate in the 2011 International Conference!

October 28th, 2011Comments (1)

Higher Education and Social Influence: Where Does Your School Rank? by Nancy Brennan

In the face of budget cuts, lower endowments and a fiercely competitive market for talent, colleges and universities are coming to terms with the need to be creative in their efforts to attract the best and brightest in students and faculty. At the same time, they know they’ve got to focus on building stronger relationships with virtually anyone who can positively impact their balance sheet — alumni, philanthropists, government, etc. So what’s the new metric for marketing success that everyone is focused on? “Engagement.”

Many schools (and major brands) are still trying to navigate social engagement and influence online—especially as these communications continue to evolve. At MSL, we’re constantly using new tools and techniques to help our higher education clients listen and analyze the conversation.

The team at MSL Chicago took a quick look at which universities and colleges are doing the best job of engagement online. The metric we used was the institution’s overall online influence, as measured by a Klout score. (Klout uses data from social networks to measure the influence of the institution by looking at how often and how broadly the content created drives action). The results are interesting:

What’s most interesting to us is the mix of schools with top scores — you’ve got top Big Ten universities with huge and passionate alumni bases focused on athletics and there are also prestige academic powers like Harvard mixed in the group. The schools are located in virtually every geographic area and they feature different areas of academic strength— they attract entirely different student bodies.

As a marketer, my big takeaway is that there isn’t a “winning” formula that helps spark engagement. It goes back to defining your brand — finding the differentiators and making that brand come to life for all those you want to reach.

What do you see in the results?

October 24th, 2011Comments (2)

2012 PR Planning: Learning From the Past, Building on 2011 Momentum by Diana Rostkowski

With the fall in full swing, 2011 will soon be drawing to a close. PR agencies like MSL Chicago are developing and evaluating their 2012 PR plans with clients in addition to speaking with new companies about their public relations needs. In planning for 2012, agencies must bring the brightest ideas to the table, especially for clients who want to stand out and excel among their competition. MSL Chicago is currently working with our clients to develop powerful campaigns, and build upon existing partnerships to engage customers and consumers in real time. A key part of our planning is leveraging key learnings from the past year.

For example, MSL Chicago attended BlogHer in San Diego this year on behalf of a healthy food client. The expo included thousands of female bloggers who circle a convention hall to hear about trends and the latest and greatest of various products and services. Our consumer team knew from years past that we needed a different strategy to stand out among the other brands at the conference The simple solution: pulling the client out of the expo hall and into a suite across the street.

After sore feet from long weekend hours at the expo hall, being pitched in both ears, and pulled in various directions, these “BlogHers” needed some R&R. The client therefore held a “Refuel and Recharge” suite. This gave bloggers a healthy snack, a make-up touch-up and a hand paraffin treatment, all while sitting on a massage chair. Simultaneously, they learned all about the health benefits and messaging of our client’s brand, and tweeted along the way.

With 2012 planning underway, it’s important to take key learnings from the year prior and create an overall strategic PR plan—taking the best programs and results and using those as a precedence with creative ideas for the year ahead. It is important to look back and see how much ink and/or social media buzz that a program received for the money spent. Finally, it always works best when these key learnings are employed across all MSL clients, ensuring that our team works cohesively as a whole—and the expertise is carried throughout and shared.

October 17th, 2011Comments (0)

Taking Consumer Marketing to School: Earning A+ Client Results by Jeffrey LeFevre

MSL Chicago’s consumer marketing team sat down with the students of Loyola University Chicago’s Beta Rho Honor Society at their School of Communication. Senior account executive Stephanie Lewis,  account executive Angél Hakim, and assistant account executive Diana Rostkowski shared their take on the hands-on nature of consumer PR, the importance of real-world internship experience and the fast-paced agency life.

“The person in school who always takes charge of the group project — assigning chapters, calling group meetings, making sure the project is in order — that’s the PR person of the group,” said Stephanie Lewis. “In this fast-paced business, you need to be detail-oriented and ready to immerse yourself and make it happen, much like you would for a school group project. A successful PR professional is the one who gets the team together, rolls up his or her sleeves and determines what needs to get done for the best client result – hopefully an A+.”

September 21st, 2011Comments (0)

Global Going Local: Google Acquisitions by Jen Tatro

I frequently visit daily deal websites and online recommendation sites on a regular basis. Between Yelp, OpenTable and Groupon, I see a lot of value in connecting with local businesses online and discovering new restaurants. Clearly, Google has been seeing the value too.

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google purchased DailyDeal, a website based in Germany similar to the likes of Living Social and Groupon—which complements its Google Offers website. Google Offers launched in June and is currently only available in select cities, but the DailyDeal acquisition is just the latest in a series of moves focusing on local commerce websites.

Earlier this month, Google announced the acquisition of Zagat. At first, this move seemed surprising, but in reading more about the announcement, it’s clear that more brands and companies are seeing the value in marketing and branding on a local level. Hyper-local marketing is influencing the way companies engage consumers—not just for small to mid sized businesses, but for global organizations as well. Zagat has specialized in local reviews and recommendations for years, and it’s an approach for Google to tap into a regional consumer base and connect with local businesses.

In recent months, a few daily deal sites have reshuffled. Facebook cancelled the Facebook Deals product, while Yelp has downsized its daily coupon offering. Still, local commerce sites continue to grow as a source of recommendations and community buzz. Last week, I caught an infographic from Yelp, showing its exponential growth over the last five years. The ‎site experienced 54 percent traffic growth in the past year— this explosion of online activity and memberships signal how more consumers are looking for recommendations from people like them in the local community.

There has been a lot of speculation around how Google will leverage local commerce acquisitions like DailyDeal and Zagat to tap into the cities around the world. Aggregating recommendations, daily couponing, reservations, and sharing the information with your extended network on Google+ could all be rolled into a powerful Android application. And of course, any Google searches for dining destinations will find Zagat recommendations at the top of the list.

In any case, it’s pretty exciting to see how the local commerce sites and even global companies are evolving their business models to reach a consumer audience craving reviews, recommendations and deals. Clearly, this audience is hungry for information on a local level, and it was only a matter of time before Google jumped into the local commerce playing field.

September 20th, 2011Comments (0)

Social Media: Bridging Exclusive Experiences and the Everyday Consumer by Angel Hakim

Through the years, the Internet has allowed us to stay connected to special events and media coverage during the workday. We live in an age where we can watch sporting event from our desks and followed the Casey Anthony trial in between meetings. It is only natural that companies recognize the power of engaging their audience online, and are now making exclusive events easily attainable to anyone with an Internet connection.

Fashion Week is one of those experiences many of us will never experience, and for some, scoring a coveted seat at a runway presentation seems like a far-fetched dream. However, as Mercedes-Benz Spring 2012 Fashion Week proved, fashion houses have reshaped the experience from being completely restricted to fans being able to partake in the event from their homes and cubicles (not that I partook in this, of course).

Oscar de la Renta is a prime example of a fashion designer that has mastered the art of creating brand buzz via social media. Erika Bearman, director of communications for the brand (and also known as @OscarPRGirl on Twitter), consistently engages fans by posting behind-the-scenes photos, quotes from Mr. de la Renta himself and musings from around the office. While various other designers have adopted a social media presence, the mixture of brand representation and personality from Ms. Bearman make Oscar de la Renta a shining case study.

As the media landscape has changed, gone are the days of waiting to pull up photos on Style.com post-event. Now, magazine editors upload commentary and photos in real-time. With the help of the PR team, OdlR leveraged Twitter and Tumblr to encourage followers to use the hash tag #odlrlive. Instead of catching photos from the show or a video recap, viewers could stream the event live from simply logging on to Tumblr. More than 2,000 tweets popped up as a result, and Tumblr produced hundreds of posts utilizing the event-specific hash tag.

This trend seems to only be gaining momentum, as other major fashion houses try to get a piece of the action. Burberry announced their Spring/Summer 2012 collection would premiere on Twitter, even before the runway presentation at London Fashion Week. 

As public relations professionals are planning VIP events, this is a great practice to keep in mind. For invitees who are unable to attend, leveraging a social media campaign in conjunction with the event can still allow them to feel as though they are a part of the unique experience.