Howard, Merrell & Partners Recognized by NAMA for Industry-Leading Blog
Howard, Merrell & Partners recently picked up two awards at the Carolinas/Virginia Best of NAMA (National Agri-Marketing Association) program for a blog developed for BASF Plant Science’s NutriDense brand. The NutriDense blog won first place in the chapter and regional categories of the Interactive Marketing Tools division and will advance to the National Best of NAMA competition. The Best of NAMA awards program honors the best work in agricultural communications.
Read the announcement here.
Howard, Merrell & Partners Recognized at Best of NAMA
Howard, Merrell & Partners received four awards Tuesday at the Carolinas-Virginia Best of NAMA (National AgriMarketing Association) program for its advertising and public relations work for BASF Plant Science. Courtney Beck and Karlie Justus attended the event and accepted the awards on behalf of BASF Plant Science.
HM&P received a chapter merit and regional merit in the Single Page Ads, Series division for the “Starry Night,” “Maze” and “Rainbow” ads created for NutriDense®. In the public relations category, HM&P won chapter and regional top honors in the Interactive Marketing Tools division for the NutriDense blog. The blog will go on for judging in the National Best of NAMA competition.
Folks from all HM&P departments contributed to the success of these campaigns, so congrats all around!
The Cow Whisperer
Last week I got out of the office and traveled through Wisconsin on assignment for my client, BASF. The mission: interview dairy producers. The perks: Spotted Cow beer and all the delicious cheese I could stomach (which was a lot, by the way). The downside: the dairy smell sticks with you. Well, I guess that’s more a downside for the folks on my plane; I stopped noticing it after a while.
All in all, it was quite the successful and enjoyable outing. I met some interesting farmers, made many new cow friends and learned that one should always travel with a jacket in Wisconsin, particularly if you’re going to be close to Lake Michigan. I’m also one of those folks who likes to know where my food comes from, so I dug being on working dairy farms and seeing it all for myself.
Next week, I head to Minnesota to do it all again. Any suggestions for local faves to try there?
How Not To Do Corporate Communications
P.T. Barnum once said,” Any publicity is good publicity.” This article, however, begs to differ. Enjoy a laugh at someone else’s expense, just don’t get any bright ideas!
March Madness and Intern Incarnations
It’s that time of year! Sinuses are clogging, Duke is choking and the intern resumes are flowing. Faithful interns, we salute your willingness to work hard and sacrifice for (little to) no money, but unfortunately your youthful enthusiasm and vigor will only get you so far. Here are a few tips to help you move past the resume screening and into our office for an interview:
DO:
• Proofread, proofread, proofread! Proof it yourself, give it to your roommate if he’s sober, give it to your mom, proof it again yourself. For the love of all that is sacred, proofread.
• Tell me what you can do. Just starting out in your degree program and don’t have much PR experience? That’s OK, it’s just an internship and you’ve got to start somewhere. But give me something to work with – classes you’ve taken, retail jobs worked, leadership positions held.
• Write a cover letter that tells me why you want to intern at this agency. Not just any agency – this agency.
• Exploit the hell out of your school’s Career Service people. They’re there, everyday, playing solitaire and just waiting for someone to make use of their skills. Think of them as the holy grail of your internship search.
DON’T:
• Exaggerate. Instead of trying to overinflate your crappy summer job, briefly tell what you did and why it matters. Gold star if you can do it from a PR-perspective.
• List your mom as a reference.
• Misspell the name of the agency or the name of the cover letter recipient. Please. Also, be sure that the name of your cover letter recipient is correct – when in doubt, “to whom it may concern” works just fine.
• Pull a Joan Jett and not care about your reputation. We will search for you on Facebook and MySpace, so be careful what you’re posting. We’re looking for someone to work with, not party with, so pictures of you doing belly shots are not going to impress us.
• Ask me to e-mail you at HotMama@yahoo.com. It won’t happen.
Take heart, young PR padawan! Sure, internships are a lot of work to get and even more work once you’ve landed one, but do it well and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel – a paycheck! Not from us, but you know, from someone.
