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

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 Katherine Zuehlke, Account Supervisor

The Rules are About to Change

Last week I got invited to a lunch and learn titled The Obama Factor & FTC Update. Three associates from the law firm Frost Brown Todd came into our offices to speak about this very interesting subject.

One of the topics they addressed was collecting behavioral data online, which to me, as an advertiser is key information to my clients’ businesses. Today, consumers have control over where and how they receive messages. The purpose of behavioral targeting is to send our client’s message to the right person when they are ready to receive it.

 The FTC defines behavioral advertising by tracking a consumer’s online activities over time (e.g. searches, websites visited, content viewed) to deliver advertising catered to that consumer’s interests. Why is this information important? It helps tailor content to each unique individual. I frequently visit www.target.com or www.gap.com for shopping. So when I’m doing a Google search it’s no coincidence that a Gap, Target or even Macy’s web banner is served up on my screen.

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By Kathleen Ramirez, Fahlgren EVP and Corporate Media Director

(You fill in your own blanks.)

There is no denying that what was once called the traditional media landscape is fast becoming an antiquated term. Most discussions surrounding the changes with media inevitably make their way back to something related to digital applications and technology.  

Our view is that technology has morphed from an additional vehicle to a great enabler and equalizer. We know Americans are more and more adept at multi-tasking. A recent Experian Simmons report revealed that approximately 90% of us watch TV in a typical day and upwards of 70% use some other media while doing so. Surfing the web, using cell phones and emailing were cited as activities most often done while watching TV. 

What does a traditional landscape really mean to today’s overly connected and overscheduled consumer anyway?

Ask a different person….you’ll get a different answer.

So here’s the point of the title of this article….it’s not necessarily the technology or explosion of choices people have today.  It’s understanding where it all fits in the hearts and minds of consumers. 

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By Chrystie Reep, Associate Media Director

Using Insight to Influence Action

A few weeks ago, my colleague Alison Momot and I had the chance to attend OMMA’s first ever Metrics & Measurement Conference at The Yale Club of New York.  Despite the torrential downpour we had to wade through to get there, we were beyond thrilled for the opportunity to sit in a room full of like-minded data and analytics geeks. We were not disappointed by the lively discussion and debate we witnessed. 

In a recent study released by Econsultancy and Lynchpin, they find that currently analytics is a picture of two worlds.  The technology continues to get more sophisticated, but the challenges in interpreting and actioning the data are only getting bigger. These findings fall right in line with the thoughts of the OMMA panelists as well.

The morning keynote, Jeffrey Eisenberg, the CEO of FutureNow, started the day with a report card saying that “Measurement gets an A-, but acting on the data gets a D.”  There are so many tools and there is so much data available to marketers, but few are doing a good job of turning that data into actionable insights and plans for improvement.  

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By Kathleen Ramirez, Fahlgren EVP and Corporate Media Director

This post is part two in a series written by Emilie DeLong, Chrystie Reep and Bobbie Termeer. If you missed part one, it makes sense to start there.

Now the big upfront question is not only how much, but when?

The start of the TV upfront market may be as soon as this week or as delayed as post-July 4 or longer.  What’s the hold up?  Well, both broadcast and cable networks are still in the midst of mapping out their pricing indices.  Network budgets are likely to see declines in spending anywhere from 5%-10%, if not more. Cable will most likely realize a slightly smaller adjustment.

As we mentioned in part one of this two part series, we spent three days in Detroit watching presentations and wondering what key points the TV networks were going to try and make advertisers and buyers “feel good” about spending money again.

What was consistent across all presentations was that the networks seem to recognize the challenges ahead of them.  What they still have to work on explaining is how they are going to continue to adjust their sales strategy and philosophy.  Three themes that seem to surface in all of the presentations are as follows:

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