By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

Acquisition Doubles the Firm’s Digital Capacity

Today, Fahlgren announces that we’re acquiring GRIP Technology, a leading Web design and technology development firm located in Columbus. Its services include Web application development, Web site design and development, e-commerce, e-mail marketing, intranets, extranets, search engine optimization and marketing, and strategic Web consulting. GRIP is co-owned by Scott Sanders, Dustin Leggans and Bill Kiefaber.

“It’s no secret that the online world is growing, and our clients are asking for more and more digital work from us every day. It’s an integrated part of virtually every campaign we create,” said Neil Mortine, Fahlgren, Inc. president and CEO. “We are thrilled to be able to double our capacity in this area. GRIP is a natural fit as they complement our team, and we already have a great working relationship. We’ve been sharing clients and projects with them for more than two years. We’re impressed with their offering and client service and delighted to welcome them to the Fahlgren family.”

“Our business model is very client-centric,” said Scott Sanders, founder and president of GRIP and the new leader of Fahlgren Digital. “When I founded GRIP in 2002, I set out to develop a digital agency that was committed to helping its clients reach their business objectives, not just build great Web sites. Technology is only a tool, one part of the equation. It’s our goal to offer more than just great online creative and coding; we provide solutions to meet business objectives. Joining forces with Fahlgren, which shares the same client-centric business model, we can now offer our clients the full support of a leading, independent full-service agency.”

 For more details, check out the news release.

By Jodi Sparks, Account Supervisor

What a difference a year makes

This time last year the Columbus Fahlgren-McDonald’s Team was planning our trip to visit our teammates in Florida. The Miami McDonald’s Co Op (which is also a Fahlgren Co Op) was hosting the McDonald’s All American® Basketball Games. After much work, Columbus had been named as the 2010 Games host city, and we were all going down to see what we were in for.

The Games are actually three different events:

1. PowerAde JamFest® is a high energy skills and dunking contest that let the players strut-their-stuff. The section where the players get to demonstrate their best dunks is like a mini-Olympics where the audience gets to score each dunk. It will be held at Value City Arena on Monday, March 29. 
2.  The Awards Banquet is where we see how well our players clean up as the guys will put on a tux and the girls a formal dress.  It will be held on Tuesday, March 30 at the beautiful new Battelle Hall. 
3. The best way to describe the girls’ and boys’ games is “Witness The Jump From High School to Hall of Fame.”  It will also be held at Value City Arena on Wednesday, March 31.  The events on the 29^th and 31^st will be broadcast live on the ESPN Family of Networks. For more information please go to http://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/.

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By Marty McDonald, Vice President

Five tips for keeping up with mobile travel technology

As a leader in Fahlgren’s tourism practice, I read a lot of articles and blog posts about trends shaping the travel industry. Last week I came across an article in USA Today titled “Smart phones have changed the way we travel.” You can say that again.

The article gives a long list of examples of how today’s travelers are using smart phones, and provides more evidence that the travel industry is leading the way with some of the most innovative applications. As marketers, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by new technologies.

So do you need a mobile Web site? Should you create an app? The answer is almost always “it depends,” and it would take much more than a blog post to explain how to evaluate your specific needs. In today’s world, it’s easy to get “caught up in keeping up,” meaning that there’s a huge temptation to jump into new trends because everyone else is doing it. I would contend that the most important thing you can do is relax and take a step back.

If you’re in the beginning stages of creating your mobile strategy, here’s a list of five basic things you can do to ensure your strategy is on target before you take a costly leap into mobile marketing.

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By Amy Dawson, Senior Vice President/Healthcare Account Director

Marketing to a “Bundle of Contradictions”

I’m a parent of two teen girls. They’re great daughters, but I often wonder how I will keep my hair from turning gray between now and 2015 when the youngest graduates from high school. Both girls are absolutely obsessed with their cell phones and maintaining their extensive network of friends through texting, MySpace and Facebook.

In fact over the weekend, I was at the Verizon store twice. The first time was to repair a phone that wasn’t working, causing my oldest to panic over the number of text messages she was missing. Her Facebook status cited that her phone was broken so all of her contacts were aware she was out of texting commission. The other Verizon visit was for a phone upgrade for the younger daughter - and not just any phone would work. It had to have certain features and benefit to be acceptable, and to give her thumbs their daily workout.

So when I read a new white paper this morning, “The Teenage Girl as Consumer and Communicator,” released by Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, I wasn’t too surprised.

The white paper confirmed something I’ve seen in my two girls - and in every teen girl I know - they go online to maintain their friendships. In fact, 71 percent are online with friends, not just surfing randomly. And their value-minded moms seem to be influencing them with 77 percent more likely to buy sale-priced items than one at full price.  This is great to hear, considering how fickle teen girls seem to be with their tastes and preferences changing all the time.

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By Katherine Zuehlke, Account Supervisor

Like what you see. Love how you feel.

That’s the tagline we want every woman in central Ohio to remember and live by. Fahlgren recently launched our first brand campaign with The Charles Penzone Salons, and we’re excited to see our creative hit the market.

Charles Penzone Salons came to us a few months ago with a challenge — drive guests into The Charles Penzone Grand Salons and make the brand high-fashion but attainable. After working closely with the Charles Penzone team, including Mr. Charles Penzone himself, we came up with a plan to target young professionals who were going through changes in their lives: getting married, having babies, and taking their life and career to the next level. These women were focused on beauty and confidence, and we saw them as the perfect audience for the brand.

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By Amy Dawson, Senior Vice President/Healthcare Account Director

8 in 10 Internet Users Go Online for Health Information

More physician practices and hospitals are starting to embrace Facebook as an important tool in their arsenal of marketing tactics. As marketing dollars shrink, competition intensifies, and more people look to social media as a way to become informed, empowered healthcare consumers, any hospital or practice would be wise to consider how social media can enhance their existing marketing plans. We’re now in the era of Health 2.0 - using social software and its ability to promote collaboration between patients, their caregivers, medical professionals, and other stakeholders in health. It’s really pretty cool when you think about it.

Consider this: eight in 10 Internet users go online for health information. Sure, there are things to consider like staffing, HIPAA, content and more, but can you really afford to be absent from this space and let your competitors be the only voice in the discussion?

I’ve spent the last week looking at a variety of healthcare brands - both hospitals and physician practices - and how they’re using Facebook as a marketing and commnications tool. Some are early adopters and recognize that as their younger patients age, more of them will seek information online rather than schedule an appointment with their doctor. After all, it’s faster and easier than ever to get information online. One caveat here - accessing information online doesn’t replace the value of seeing your physician face-to-face but can certainly help you ask the right questions.

Here are a few examples of Facebook tactics used by healthcare providers that I think are pretty interesting:

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