The Making of The Alzheimer’s Project PSA: “Let us be your rock.”

Sometimes you’re lucky enough to be a part of a project that puts such a smile on your face that you say to yourself, “THAT’s why I come to work every day …” At the Pod, not a week goes by that we don’t get a chance to say that because one of our guiding principles is “working for good people who are doing good work in the world.”

Even so, working on the Alzheimer’s Project PSA was a high point of our year.

Alzheimer’s Project is a local non-profit, based in Tallahassee and serving families across the Big Bend. Their goal is to provide support for families dealing with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias. They do this through support groups, respite care, referrals, counseling and education. And all their services are FREE.

 Free and local – those were the two messages that Alzheimer’s Project wanted to get out to their community. We recently completed a rebranding process with them and settled on “Let us be your rock” as a tagline that specifically addresses their market, the caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s.

Central to this rock theme is “Oscar,” the Alzheimer’s Project mascot who adorns their logo. Oscar is an inukshuk, a kind of stone monument created by native people in Arctic regions to aid navigation and serve as a point of reference. When the landscape seems completely bare and the horizon has been wiped clean by the bleak environment, inukshuks like Oscar provide landmarks to keep travelers moving forward.

What a beautiful, compelling metaphor.

We thought Oscar deserved a starring role in Alzheimer’s Project’s first PSA as well as we sought to unfold the 30-second story of one caregiver who found a “rock” of support along her challenging journey.

Let us know what you think … and more importantly, please share the message that Alzheimer’s Project is a rock from which the most vulnerable in our community are drawing strength.

Alzheimer’s Project: “Let us be your rock.”

CREDITS:

ACTORS

Woman: Dorothea Syleos

Mother: Karen Stanford

Volunteer: Amanda Broadfoot

Voice Over: Amanda Broadfoot

Voice Over: Wes Strickland

CREW

Executive Producer: Samantha Strickland

Director/Editor: Kristin Bass-Petersen

Producer/First Assistant Director: Deirdre Morales

Writer: Amanda Broadfoot

Director Of Photography/Production Designer/Colorist/Graphics: Marco Barreto

Camera Operator: Mar Garcia Urquijo

Sound Mixer/Boom Operator: Biou Zhang

Clapper/Second AC: Chris Klein

Gaffer: Taylor Malkmus

Production Assistant: Gediyon Nigusse

Composer: Warren Halstrom

Special Thanks To Robert Steele, Park Manager of Bald Point State Park, for donating shooting location and parking spaces for shoot

The post Between a Rock and a Good Place appeared first on The Pod Advertising.

Are you lost in campaign limbo? Ever wish you had a road map to a successful advertising, public relations or social media campaign?

At The Pod, no matter what media channel(s) we’re utilizing, we plan, organize and execute our campaigns utilizing our signature D.E.A.L. process: Disruption, Engagement, Action and Loyalty. Take a PR campaign, for example. Let’s say your CEO wants to raise his/her profile within the market. Where do you begin?
With over 3000+ marketing messages competing for people’s attention, it’s important to grab attention from the outset to even have a chance to ultimately sell your services. That’s why we begin with DISRUPTION. Let’s stop the media in their tracks!

Disruption

A great example of disruption in PR: taking a stand on an issue in the form of a published Op/Ed piece in a newspaper or magazine. An Op/Ed, from the point of view of your CEO, might take a stand on an issue important to your members. For instance, if your membership contains a high percentage of teachers, publishing a position on a “hot topic” like education funding – or even the need for financial education in schools – would immediately get you noticed.

Engagement

Once you’ve gotten their attention, it’s important to provide your potential customer – in this case, the media — an opportunity to interact with your brand (taste test). In order to get the press to engage with you, you have to allow them easy access to information. An online press kit, featuring bios of each of the key spokespeople in your organization, as well as topics on which they are prepared to comment and/or give input, is key.

Action

You’re ready to be interviewed! Aren’t you? Or do you – and your staff – need a little training on handling media calls? It’s a good idea to designate certain people within the organization to field press calls and be sure that they have a thorough understanding of the internal and external messaging of the credit union.

Loyalty

Keep ‘em calling! Now that you have their attention, you need to generate a regular stream of stories and keep your press room up to date. Celebrate milestones, send out media alerts about member events (like your annual meeting), recognize membership achievements, publicize financial education and training, introduce new products (like a Kids’ Club), etc.

The post Let’s Make a Deal appeared first on The Pod Advertising.

The Pod: an easy-to-use, cleanly designed content management system that supports your unique business model, a site that’s easy enough for any member of your staff to keep up-to-date.

Almost any marketing firm can deliver a pretty website for your business, but your website should be more than an online brochure or billboard. Your website is another location for your business, a location accessible by just about any consumer in the world with a computer. Just as you wouldn’t leave out-of-date inventory on the shelves of your brick-and-mortar business — or allow employees you fired to hang around the building — you shouldn’t allow out-of-date content to lurk on your site and sabotage your online business efforts.

For both of these successful businesses, The Pod started by asking, “What are you trying to achieve?” In both cases, user-friendliness was an issue, as was the ease of use for the business owner. Building cohesive visual brands, streamlining the structure of the sites, and adding perks like video streaming and social media integration allowed both businesses to better reach their existing and new target markets.


The post Website Design and Website Development appeared first on The Pod Advertising.

Executive retreat? annual meeting? corporate function? The Pod Advertising experts, CEO Samantha Strickland and CMO Brian Ramos, would love to bring an inspirational, interactive experience to your next gathering. We can tailor our discussions for a wide variety of listeners: small businesses, corporate gatherings, educational workshops, students, churches and non-profits.

EMBRACING OPEN BRANDING

• Open Source Thinking
• Branding and Social Media
• Emerging Technology

DOING MORE WITH LESS

• Branding
• Marketing
• Operational Efficiency

WEBSITE MANAGEMENT: The right system for your CU

• Content Management Systems
• Communications Management
• Open-Source v. Proprietary

BRAND VISUALIZATION

• True Branding
• Visual Communication
• Marketing Consistency

CREATIVE MESSAGING

• Creative Writing
• Marketing
• Branding

The post Need a Speaker for Your Next Conference? appeared first on The Pod Advertising.

Some stories make you laugh. Some stories make you cringe. Some just grab you and won’t let go. No matter what, I love a good story.

My three-year-old daughter, Sloan, does, too. Granted, her standards are a little lower than most. Each night I tell her the story of “Sloaniepunzel,” a character loosely based on her favorite Disney princess, Rapunzel. However, Sloaniepunzel finds herself starring in all kinds of fairytales. Most recently, she found a tall beanstalk growing outside her window, so she climbed into the clouds to fight the giant and save the golden goose.

When I planted the seeds for my new company without one client in my pocket, I felt a little like I was starring in Jack and the Beanstalk. It would’ve been easy to only see a big stalk to climb, but I was curious to see what was beyond the clouds. As my adventure unfolded, I found magical “peas” who grew along with me and brought my entrepreneurial dream to life.

Each day as we climb a little higher on the stalk, we get a little closer to that golden goose of financial security. Sometimes it feels like we’re fighting giants: giant budgets, giant misconceptions, giant demands. But each day that we’re here to fight another day is a big victory for the little guy.

As a past credit union industry marketeer, I personally understand the giants you’re competing with every day, too. I know how it feels to battle banking goliaths with bigger budgets, bigger teams, and bigger egos.

However, just like Jack, you are a “giant slayer.” It’s not about the size of your footprint; it’s about the size of your impression. Think deeper and wider, and you’ll outwit those clumsy giants every time.

And when in doubt, remember the words of philosophical genius Miley Cyrus, “Ain’t about how fast I get there, Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side, It’s the climb.”

Keep on climbing!      

Stop selling. Start storytelling.
Sam

The post Jack the Giant Bank Slayer appeared first on The Pod Advertising.

“Ideas are easy. Execution is hard.”

In the world of marketing, you’ll find creative people around every corner fighting for the chance to share their big ideas, but the challenge is always taking those ideas and putting them to work in real life. It’s time consuming to stop and build an ACTION plan, but every effective marketing campaign must include this essential step.  It’s not just a tactical plan for campaign implementation; it’s also a How are we going to get our customer to take action? Plan, too.

In The Pod’s Campaign DEAL strategy, ACTION appears third in the process. However, in reality, it comes first, because to create an effective campaign, you must start by defining what you’re trying to achieve. What ACTION do you want to persuade your market to take?

•  Do you want to attract new customers?
• Are you trying to change public opinion on an issue?
• Are you simply focusing on building brand awareness, and if so, how will you measure your success?

With a clearly defined goal, you can start working on a Disruptive, Engaging campaign that drives ACTION and strengthens Loyalty. However, without a measurable objective, you will never successfully implement an effective Campaign DEAL.

Keep in mind, the results you’re trying to achieve may not be tangible (i.e. 100 widgets sold this week), but you can always set measurable impacts of a campaign other than sales, such as survey responses, website traffic, positive social media mentions, signed petitions and more.

Of course, knowing what you’re trying to achieve is only part of the equation. You’ve also got to make the ACTION step as simple as possible. Imagine if planning a fundraising gala and guests are clambering to buy tickets, but your online ticket portal won’t accept payment – action denied! If you’ve gotten someone to the ACTION step, the last thing you want to do is a place barrier between your “customer” and closing the “sale.”

Marketing campaigns must be ACTION focused – both in the initial planning and execution stages – to ensure your big idea converts into big results!

The post Stage 3 of the social business D.E.A.L. is ACTION appeared first on The Pod Advertising.

Our “Wordless Wednesday” posts are meant to highlight examples of “show-not-tell” in advertising and marketing. Sometimes it’s just something we find inspiring.  We’d love to hear your thoughts–leave a comment below!

The post Wordless Wednesday: Fly Responsibly appeared first on The Pod Advertising.

“This is a win-win partnership for both our organizations,” said Samantha Strickland, CEO of The Pod.  “Both USC and The Pod want to see the credit union industry thrive, and we’re going to work together to support that market from two different angles.”

In addition to providing a full suite of advertising services to USC, including print and video projects, social media content curation and management, public relations campaign execution and live event planning, The Pod is also offering special marketing packages to all USC clients.

“USC provides cutting edge financial services technology and supports that technology with the highest quality client service,” said Strickland. “The Pod will build on that strong core: Our specialized knowledge of credit union marketing strategy allows us to create and execute a brand story that will be effective across any of the many communication channels with which modern credit union members engage.”

For more information, please visit ThePodAdvertising.com or UnitedSolutions.coop.

The post United Solutions Company forms credit union marketing partnership with The Pod Advertising appeared first on The Pod Advertising.

by Kristin Bass-Petersen, Production Manager 

“People [don’t] connect to or share content in the long term just because we placed it in front of them and asked them nicely to view and promote the content. An emotional or intellectual bond must eventually exist.”

- @BrianSolis

How are you fairing in Web 2.0?  Every single one of us plays a part in it—and that’s exactly the point.  We are no longer passive recipients of information, being yelled at by loud television commercials and auctioneer-speed radio ads: we hold the keys and we decide whom we let into the car. “Life is a Highway” after all.

The relationships we establish with our customers are complex.  Having passed the Disruption stage successfully, Engagement must swoop in unannounced.  Ah yes, the delicate art of seducing your customer.  Part of this dance is figuring out how—and when—to propose without appearing desperate.  More often than not we learn through rejection.  Flirting and teasing are part of the game, but you can’t be superficial.  You are asking your target audience to share a part of their lives with you, to support you, to celebrate your successes with you and not turn the other cheek when you are struggling.  To receive that level of commitment from them you have to be prepared to put some work into the relationship.  The bond you form with your customers needs to be reinforced at every touch point: every communication you send out, every interaction you have, every single time they hear or see your brand.  Brian Solis, in his inspirational book, “Engage: The Complete Guide for BRANDS and BUSINESSES to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web,” highlights a study by The Social Computing Laboratory at HP Labs.  They published a comprehensive report in 2010 titled “The Influence and Passivity of Twitter.” Having thousands of followers doesn’t automatically make you an authority.  It should come as no surprise that

“…the correlation between popularity and influence is weaker than it might be expected.  This is a reflection of the fact that for information to propagate in a network, individuals need to forward it to the other members, thus having to actively engage rather than passively read it and rarely act on it.”

- Romero, D., Asur, S., Galuba, W., Huberman, B., 2010.

 Setting up a Twitter handle, a Facebook page or even Pinterest boards isn’t for every business; if yours decides to start one—or all—be prepared to make the commitment to your customers.  Your brand lives and breathes on the social web, and it is essential to stay true to your core values and your brand identity when reaching out to your customers, both directly and indirectly.  Strive to be the one in the relationship who matters, but understand that it is your customers who call the shots.  Pay attention to their actions, listen to their words, read the signals they send out, and respond appropriately.  Your goal is to have them beaming when they speak your name—the equivalent of that warm fuzzy feeling in their tummies when they hear from you.  Your target audience must feel respected, cared for and supported.  Give them that and your brand will be allowed to ride shotgun.  Just like peas and carrots.

The post D.E.A.L. Stage 2: Down on One Knee appeared first on The Pod Advertising.

Our “Wordless Wednesday” posts are meant to highlight examples of “show-not-tell” in advertising and marketing. Sometimes it’s just something we find inspiring.  We’d love to hear your thoughts–leave a comment below!

The post Wordless Wednesday: Boo at the Zoo appeared first on The Pod Advertising.