By Ann Oliver, Account Director

Last evening I had the pleasure of  attending the Columbus Business First Forty Under 40 Awards which recognizes “players in the business community under the age of 40 who show professional drive and community involvement.” 

The emcees shared a brief summary of each honoree’s professional accomplishments  and community service before bestowing the impressive award.  As I listened to each of these stories, I was inspired by the hard work and focus each one of these professionals bring every day to their work and the passion these people have for the communities, charities, churches, arts organizations and philanthropic boards they serve.

The class of 2009  was selected from a group of nearly 200 nominees. Among this prestigious group are two of my Fahlgren co-workers, Jenny Fuerst and Kathleen Ramirez.  Check out their profiles in the Forty Under 40 supplement from Business First which hits the newsstands today.  

Congratulations to all the Forty Under 40 honorees, and most especially to our own inspiring team members Jenny and Kathleen!

By Katherine Zuehlke, Account Supervisor

When I was in elementary school, my daily lunch included four things: a turkey sandwich, fruit snack, juice box and a JELL-O Pudding Snack (preferably chocolate). JELL-O was such a staple in my childhood but during my 20’s, I didn’t buy JELL-O products as often. Not because I didn’t still enjoy them but because I wanted to try new and exciting flavors of desserts.

Capitalizing on Nostalgia

Marketers at JELL-O realized that they could capitalize on the nostalgia of gelatin and pudding, combined with the health and nutrition appeal of the products by marketing them to adults. JELL-O is now promoting their new 70-calorie Rice Pudding in three mature flavors: crème brulee, cinnamon and original.

Their quick and easy desserts with sophisticated tastes are targeted to adults who want a guilt-free treat in less than two minutes.

Companies have been adding new products to their brands for years, but when JELL-O added their new Rice Pudding, they not only added a new product they also added a whole new audience.

Introducing New Products and Programs

When considering new products there are four areas of criteria that one should evaluate to make sure the new product fits with their core brand.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Alaina Sheer,

Thinking outside the box is as easy as changing the way you see the box.

As marketers we tend to view each medium as an isolated channel serving to only communicate with potential consumers within that channel. We talk often of “breaking through the clutter” because consumers are “tuning out” all of our messages and then some of us throw our hands in the air, understandably so, and say, “where do we start?” 

The first place is to start is in your own mind. 

Instead of visualizing Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube as separate entities think of them as one. All are  intrinsically tied together and becoming more so every day as the users are demanding ways to integrate their content.

If I haven’t lost you… I really hope I haven’t - here’s an example. 

I first learned of Twitter at SXSW Interactive in 2008 when the crowd literally controlled the speaker’s questions by using Twitter to collectively change the dialogue during an interview with Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook.

I immediately discounted the silly name and realized that Twitter was definitely something I should join. But I still hesitated.

As much as I wanted to try Twitter, I couldn’t rationalize or justify taking time away from my blog’s active comment section and post writing. I needed to be sold on Twitter.

And then, while surfing other blogs, I saw my first Twitter widget.

They look like this, as seen on Twitip.com, an excellent blog on Twitter by ProBlogger or @problogger if you’re on Twitter.

or can be custom designed to look like this. 

See the little Tweet there? This musician has it feeding into the top of his page. He’s using that prime piece of real estate to update his fans. 

Twitter widgets automatically update just seconds after you update your Twitter account.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Amy Dawson, Senior Vice President/Healthcare Account Director

Today in the New York Times, there is a story about how hospitals are moving toward the use of real, unvarnished stories about patients in their advertising.

We couldn’t agree more.

And it seems like our colleagues feel the same way, which is why we’re the fortunate recipients of several healthcare marketing awards.

Great hospitals have great stories to tell

We’re fortunate to work with great clients like Riverside Methodist Hospital that have allowed us to tell their stories in a real, human and emotional way.  And we think that our storytelling approach is critical in a society that is overwhelming us with marketing messages.

The Riverside innovation campaign, created by Fahlgren,  features three real-life people who’ve benefited from a relationship with the hospital.

The first is Bill Doherty from County Clare, Ireland, whose leg was saved because of a breakthrough vascular procedure; the second was Sarah Lancaster from Westerville, Ohio who recovered rapidly from a near devastating stroke and the final story included William Gray, MD, a New York physician collaborating on the latest in cardiovascular research with Riverside. Not only did we create television spots, but we also featured expanded patient and physician stories on videos posted on Riverside’s YouTube channel. 

Crafting a bestseller

The campaign won a Gold Aster Award for the total advertising campaign among hospitals with 500+ beds. The 2009 Aster Awards consisted of approximately 3,000 entries from across America.  Participant entries competed against similar-sized organizations in their category.  Entries must have scored at least in the top 85% to receive an award.  Judging criteria included creativity, layout and design, functionality, message effectiveness, production quality and overall appeal.

The total campaign also won a Bronze Healthcare Marketing Award and an Award of Merit for the television spots. Much like the Aster Awards, the 2009 Healthcare Marketing Awards received over 3,600 entries in this year’s competition.  

Finally, the internal innovation campaign for Riverside associates and physicians won a PRism award from the Central Ohio Chapter of Public Relations Society of America.

At the end of the day, however, what’s really important to us is that our work is getting measureable results for Riverside. To us, this makes the story a genuine bestseller.

If you want help telling your healthcare brand story, give us a call.