Read the full announcement here.

Check out Stephanie’s recent post with some photos from the earlier days!

Meredith and Elizabeth Twins for a Day

Fellow PR team member, Meredith Schneider, and I were twins on Monday. We knew we had the same blouse, but neither called the other to say we were planning to wear it.  I guess great minds think alike!  We had a good laugh about it.

JT Howard Advertising was founded in 1945 by Jack Howard. Jack got his start selling advertising for the local paper in Oswego, NY. In 1938, he moved to Raleigh and joined the ad sales staff at The Raleigh Times. He later worked at the News & Observer. While he was working there, Jack began moonlighting and creating ads for some of his clients, who did not have in-house creative capabilities. Of course, when the News & Observer found out, he had a choice to make. Jack realized he could make more money creating the ads rather than selling them.

So, two days before his 30th birthday, Jack opened JT Howard Advertising Agency with two and half employees. The agency’s first office was in an old photography dark room. The agency’s first desk was made from an old door – they set the door across an old sink, which was quite functional, as you could raise the door and use the sink as a filing cabinet.

Jack was able to get clients based on his reputation as an honest businessman. Early clients included Taylor’s, White’s Ice Cream and the Pine Street Creamery. At times, things were rough, but Jack ran the agency with integrity. He treated his staff like family – and to this day they remember that about him. Jack had a knack for hiring very talented professionals who were intelligent, detail-oriented and who cared deeply about the craftsmanship behind each and every job.

Today, Howard, Merrell & Partners works to maintain the virtues that the agency was built on – as you will learn in future installments of our history. Stay tuned….

Straddling two different departments, Jess has her hand in both public relations and social media marketing — which her clients and fellow teammates benefit from every day. We love that we can count on Jess to get the job done, but also to provide some humor along the way.

Congratulations Jess!!

We are growing our social media team and searching for an Account Coordinator to conduct social media activities for specific clients. We are looking for an energetic individual with social media experience, an independent worker, and a team player with strong organizational skills.

This entry-level position involves using Twitter, Facebook, blogging, LinkedIn, and daily monitoring and reporting tools.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree. Strong writing skills and at least one internship in the marketing/communications/PR field.

Contact us via Twitter @hmandp with a link to your LinkedIn profile.

A couple weeks ago, I tuned into an Awareness webinar on Foursquare marketing presented by Jason Keath, founder of Social Fresh. He had an insightful perspective about the value of Foursquare for enterprise business.

For those of you who are not familiar with FourSquare, it has many unique elements:

• Check-ins/Shouts: This is a status update that lets other Foursquare users know where you are. For example, if I were at Starbucks I would update my Foursquare status to say I was at Starbucks, along with the specific location of the Starbucks.
• Tips/Layers: Once you check-in at a certain location, you can leave a tip about that location for the next person who checks-in. For example: “Get a great discount if you ask about their fall special”.
• Badges: Some locations award you badges for checking in. These are usually just fun for users to collect.
• Mayorships: The person who checks-in to a specific location the most is awarded the title of mayor.

Keeping these basics in mind, there are many ways Foursquare can be a great tool for your business:

• Look at check-ins at your location, and reach out to these users. This is a way to keep an existing customer or grow a new customer relationship.
• Most users push their shouts or check-ins to Twitter and Facebook, and this is great word of mouth-advertising. Users may encourage friends to join them at their location, or it simply shows their loyalty. This provides great word of mouth marketing and third-party credibility.
• Businesses can take note of, and possibly implement, recommendations left by Foursquare users. Also, businesses themselves can use the tip box to send out tips to users or ask users to leave comments and suggestions.
• Many businesses recognize users who have established mayorship at their location, since, as a loyal customer, they could be one of the location’s best spokespeople. To keep this customer, they might give that person a special discount or free item. Recently, Starbucks gave Foursquare users a dollar off Frappuccinos to location mayors. Other businesses reward users just for checking in.

According to Keath, Foursquare helps keep your business top of mind for customers in conversations with friends and decisions after they have  left the location – and I could not agree more.

I had not considered Foursquare as a business tool before attending this webinar, but I’m fascinated with the unique and creative opportunities it provides for businesses to connect with customers.

How have you seen Foursquare used at your favorite locations or how have your businesses have engaged in Foursquare? Leave your comments below!

For more information, click on the link below.

www.magmilerace.com

Throughout Billy’s 17-year career, he’s worked on a wide variety of accounts in just about every industry there is. This exposure to so many types of products and services has made Billy incredibly versatile and given him a unique perspective on business, which our clients truly appreciate. His creative strengths are new product launches, knowing what’s funny and what’s not, the ability to tap into people’s emotions, integrated campaigns, and making user experiences on the web engaging and effective.

Billy will be honored at a ceremony in September hosted by Business Leader, the award organizer.

Kudos to Billy!

I was recently interviewed by the Carolina Rollergirls: http://carolinarollergirls.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/joshuacraiginterview/

This is another post about the work I do for the league.http://carolinarollergirls.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/joshuacraig/

Here’s a few shots from the last home team bout.

Deviled Legs

Debutante Brawlers vs Tai Chi-tahs

Debutante Brawlers getting pumped for the bout.

You can view more of my Roller Derby work at my Flickr site.