Study Shows Social Media's Impact On The Healthcare Industry
A survey was recently released by Ad-ology detailing how social media impacted consumers’ decisions when selecting a healthcare provider. The survey pointed out that ages 25-34 were most impacted by social media, while the 55 and older group still cited newspaper and direct mail as the leading influence.
You may think because of these findings hospitals should focus on print and direct mail because older people are more likely to need to visit a hospital. This may be true, but the study cites social media as a core influence for the other major group that hospitals compete for maternity patients. I recommend reading the full survey results, but this like other research points to a need for an integrated marketing approach that combines both traditional and social media.
Amber Frasketi Joins the Account Management Department
Strategic advertising and branding firm, Howard, Merrell & Partners, today welcomes the addition of Amber Frasketi to the agency’s account management department as a senior account supervisor. She will head the Colonial Bank account, serving an integral role in the positioning and brand management for the bank. In addition, Frasketi will help create marketing strategies and develop corporate advertising objectives for other clients of the agency.
Frasketi was previously with Rockett, Burkhead & Winslow, where she led the marketing communications efforts for two clients – BB&T and Old Dominion Freight Line. Prior to that, she was senior marketing consultant at Wachovia Bank in Charlotte.
“At Howard, Merrell & Partners, our employee base is made up of creative professionals who are dedicated to providing the best strategic direction for our clients. Every new employee we bring on board possesses that great quality, and Amber is no different,” explained Jim Cobb, president and CEO of Howard, Merrell & Partners. “Amber brings to us deep account management experience, branding knowledge and passion to develop great campaigns. We are excited to have her on board.”
Frasketi graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a bachelor of science degree in business administration. She is an active member of the Raleigh-Durham American Advertising Federation and the Junior League of Raleigh.
Chuck Lorre Tells The Truth
Chuck Lorre shows are some of my favorite: Grace Under Fire, Dharma & Greg and The Big Bang Theory, arguably one of the wittiest shows on TV today. His smart comedy provides a running commentary of American culture and it’s substrates.
One of the best attributes of Lorre shows is the vanity cards that play at the end of each show. All individually numbered, they read like an essay and are a statement about society, culture, life… Lorre provides us a slightly cynical view of the world without overstatement.
The vanity card that followed last night’s The Big Bang Theory gives great insight into how our culture is shifting. Gone are the days of Murrow and Cronkite. Gone are the days when our news was delivered by calm voices of reason and objectivity. Good job Chuck Lorre – you called it like it is. We live is noisy world where every one yells at us – even the news.
2001: Meet Dave
Mashups are expected on the internet, and this video is a mashup of 2001: a Space Odyssey and Meet Dave.
Kubrick is rolling in his grave.
Sense of Entitlement? Not Anymore.
Back in the early nineties when I was in college, the economy was pretty rough. Jobs were hard to find and college graduates all over the country were searching for employment. Luckily, I attended a university that required each student to complete two three-month internships in his/her field of study before graduating. Many of us completed more than that because we were competitive and we could see that no one was just going to hand us a job, especially in that economy. I must say, we were lucky to be more marketable and prepared than others out there.
Being prepared for the working world is important — not that I am encouraging anyone to grow up too fast or not enjoy college.
Over the years, I have met many undergraduates unwilling to take on an unpaid internship or one that would require them to do any grunt work. I also regularly received resumes from graduating seniors who had never once worked in their field of study but expected to get hired because they are “really good with people”. Oh, and they wanted to be paid an executive salary. Their sense of entitlement absolutely amazed me.
Well this economy seems to have changed that a bit. Interns are taking their roles at the agency very seriously and looking to really learn. They are hungry for knowledge and hands-on experience. Universities are calling us more frequently, requesting one of our staff members to speak to their students or review their resumes. We have also had more inquiries for informational interviews.
Though I certainly can do without the tough economy, I am glad that it has open some eyes.
Employee Birthday Celebration: Cake Day!!!
We celebrate employee birthday’s here at HM&P by holding a “Cake Day” once a month, usually every third Thursday in our cafe. We have the names of those who have a birthday within each month put on the cake. Most of the time we have cake and ice cream, but on some occasions, we might have large chocolate chip cookies and ice cream or during the summer we make our own sundae’s with different toppings. Everyone gets pumped up for “Cake Day”! Here are some photos taken this afternoon at our last cake day. The birthday’s for April were for Chris Gupton, Kipp Bodnar, Claire Howell and Courtney Beck (left to right in center photo).
Domino's Pizza Public Relations Crisis: A Social Media Win?
This is a great story from Nightline on the impact of social media and how businesses are using the web to respond.
Google's News Timeline A New Tool for PR
This week the folks over at Google gave us a cool new way to look at news. Google released its News Timeline services as a new lab product, which means that it is in beta and being tested. The timeline is a simple and straight forward service that lets you search for a term and then see news related to it as a timeline instead of standard search results listings.
This is a great tool for people in the public relations industry because it gives them a way to easily show news coverage that occurred surrounding a client event or announcement. If you had a product announcement on a Tuesday, you can quickly show the news stories related to it that were published in the following days and even weeks. This would be a great tool for people who were big on visuals.
Detroit Lions New Logo
I’m not sure about the type treatment, but I do like the Detroit Lions new logo. It seems a little more aggressive than their old logo. Will it help the team? Probably not. UPDATE: Added the old logo for reference.
When not doing interactive…
Video from my first beginner’s steppin’ contest this past weekend. 2 years or less experience. Had to dance as soon as we got there, but still did pretty good!
