By Emilie DeLong, Media Supervisor

Mobile Broadcasting to Come to Northern Ohio

The fact that people are watching their favorite shows outside their living rooms is not news, but being able to watch live local TV for free at speeds up to 100 mph might be. Television stations are working to debut a new service, mobile broadcasting, in Northern Ohio and across the country that allows users to view live broadcasts from their cell phones, laptops and other portable devices.

With DVRs and sites like Hulu.com, it will be interesting to see if people would rather watch live TV when on-the-go or continue to log-in for already broadcast programs. It will also be interesting to see how advertisers determine how to best use this new broadcasting format. As always we will continue to keep an eye on this new opportunity to determine how consumers are accepting it and how best to leverage it for our clients.

For more information on mobile TV check out this article by The Cleveland Plain Dealer on Cleveland.com.

photo credit: masochismtango 

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 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 Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

“This Best of Show award reminds us that TV continues to be a powerful medium for connecting with target audiences. Traditional advertising is not dead; it’s not an either/or. It’s about the art and science of selecting the right mix of channels to run great, engaging creative that connects and engages your target audience,” said Pete McGinty, President, Fahlgren Advertising.

 ”As a leader in the central Ohio advertising community, we’re reinventing ourselves everyday while staying dedicated to developing unique and insightful campaigns that not only gain recognition from our peers, but most importantly, move the needle for our clients.”

Get more details on the campaign and the other ADDYs we won in the full news release.

By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

Fahlgren, Edward Howard to Join Public Relations Businesses

Neil Mortine and Kathy Cupper Obert

Alignment Forms Independent Powerhouse:

Largest Firm in Ohio and Top 30 Nationally

The acquisition, which joins the capabilities of Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations and Edward Howard, is expected to close during the first quarter of 2010 although integration and coordinated new business and marketing efforts will begin immediately.

Check out more details of today’s exciting announcement in the news release.

By Kathleen Ramirez, Fahlgren EVP and Corporate Media Director

Online advertising spending still slated to increase in 2009.

The past few days, weeks and months have been filled with news that has been less than uplifting. Discussions surrounding the Credit Crunch, Unemployment Rates and Foreclosures and the Stock Market have quickly made way from the boardroom to the water-cooler.

Consumers will continue to worry about how they are going to fill up their gas tanks, pay their mortgage and keep their job. And until there are clear signs of an economic recovery, business optimism will not improve.
So what’s the bright side?

Leading media forecasters are predicting that 2009 will truly be a Buyer’s Market.

Unit costs should come down without the pressures of the Olympics and Political activity. CPMs will remain flat as audience erosion is expected to continue in traditional broadcast outlets.

Internet ad spending is expected to remain strong. According to ZenithOptmedia, internet ad spending will account for 13.8 percent of all world ad spend in 2010. In the U.S., the current forecast is that Internet ad spending will grow 21 percent this year and 19 percent in 2009. This growth continues to be fueled by the evolution of technology and how people are using it. Our challenge is to try and keep up.

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