Over the past several years, we’ve invested an enormous amount of time and energy understanding both the technology and the implications of the social media revolution. It’s not a static subject, and each new change, each new piece of technology that emerges requires constant attention. The implications seem to grow exponentially as well. But the more we learn, the more we adapt new tools into marketing plans we create, the more a few simple truths become self-evident. Continue reading →
I recently came across an interesting Forbes article about the growth in mobile internet usage and the change it’s causing in the marketing landscape. According to the Forbes article, mobile internet usage is set to overtake desktop Internet usage by 2014, and the way people use their mobile devices to browse is now very different. Continue reading →
As one of the largest law firms in Alabama, Maynard Cooper works with clients in many different industries. Because every client demands that their attorneys have expertise in the client’s business, it was imperative that Maynard Cooper’s Web site communicate deep expertise across a variety of industries.
Research into the way visitors use the firm’s Web site led us to a number of insights. Analytics revealed that visitors rarely entered the site through the Home page. Unquestionably, the most visited pages were the individual attorney’s bio pages. We used this insight to re-think those bios to serve as mini-Home pages, with targeted information to cross-sell the firm and lead visitors into other areas of the site. We also helped divide the content on their site by both practice areas and by industry groups to help visitors with differing motivations find the content that was most relevant to their questions.
To help the marketing department, we also implemented a proposal management component to the website. This system pulls attorney bios, practice area and industry group content from the website into customized documents. Attorneys can then download a PDF that can be printed and presented to a prospect.
You can learn more about Pitch Control, the technology that drives this customized proposal system.
Credit Unions in general suffer from low awareness, and the opinions that do exist among non-members tend to be less than favorable. We created this campaign for Alabama Telco Credit Union to serve two purposes. First, to create general awareness among potential members. The high production values worked to combat the opinion that credit unions were a “lower quality financial services provider,” while the message tied the company to the idea of lower loan rates for cars, boats and houses.
These ads were designed to run on television, but also on targeted locations online where consumers are searching for specific products. (Car loans on sites selling cars, etc.)
Print Ad Series Despite an excellent reputation for producing successful business leaders, UAB School of Business was losing the battle for Alabama’s more promising students. We positioned the school in contrast to other programs, by illustrating the work ethic and determination of the school’s students.
Poster Series The dean of the school of business wanted to recruit among UAB’s non-business school students. These posters sold the idea that a little business education can help, whatever that student’s chosen occupation. They were placed in break rooms throughout the campus.
Why Brochure This overview brochure for the school of business answeres the one question that all prospects ask, “Why should I choose your school?” Inside we position the students, the faculty and the alumni as determined, driven and intelligent leaders.
Broadcast
Samford University was a major institution in a top-50 market with painfully low awareness. They engaged us to create an institutional branding program, which we launched with print and television campaigns. Conceptually, we promoted the school’s powerful academic successes, while reinforcing its long Baptist tradition.
Video
In 2007, Samford named its business school after Harry Brock, a long-serving member of the school’s board of trustees and the renowned founder of Compass Bank. The school used a variety of tools to launch both the name change and a major capital campaign for the business school.
Press Release Folder In 2007, Samford named its business school after Harry Brock, a long-serving member of the school’s board of trustees and the renowned founder of Compass Bank. The school used a variety of tools to launch both the name change and a major capital campaign for the business school.
Print Ad Series
In 2007, Samford named its business school after Harry Brock, a long serving member of the school’s board of trustees and the renowned founder of Compass Bank. The school used a variety of tools to launch both the name change and a major capital campaign for the business school.
Brochure
In 2007, Samford named its business school after Harry Brock, a long serving member of the school’s board of trustees and the renowned founder of Compass Bank. The school used a variety of tools to launch both the name change and a major capital campaign for the business school.
Web
In 2007, Samford named its business school after Harry Brock, a long serving member of the school’s board of trustees and the renowned founder of Compass Bank. The school used a variety of tools to launch both the name change and a major capital campaign for the business school.
Arrive Brochure
Designed to inspire, this brochure is used early in the recruiting process to help prospects see that a degree from Birmingham-Southern can help them rise to the top of any profession.
Value Brochure
One of the bigger hurdles that Birmingham-Southern must clear is convincing prospects that the cost of an education at BSC is actually a bargain. This brochure puts the cost of tuition in context to help people understand the value.
Amplify Brochure
This targeted piece positioned the Master of Arts in Public and Private Management graduate program in the school of business as a powerful force in a student’s career. It targeted working professionals, extending the school’s reach beyond its traditional audience.
Print Ad Series
Our print campaign featured the successes of alumni in a variety of fields; it targeted parents, primarily to help them see that a liberal arts education pays off in a very profitable career and a better life.
Broadcast
Our work with Birmingham-Southern began with broadcast to remind as many people as possible that BSC is the leading academic institution in the state. The concept demonstrates how students leave BSC to succeed in a wide variety of fields.
Outdoor BSC used outdoor marketing to promote the re-launch of the football program 60 years after its last game. The outdoor campaign, while promoting specific events, still reminds people that BSC is the leading academic institution in Alabama.
Emageon, in its first annual report, wanted to create more than a financial document; they wanted to launch a cause. This book captured the enthusiasm and the passion of their crusade to change the way health care providers deliver care to their patients. Emageon relishes its role as an underdog to far bigger competitors, so the concept threw down the gauntlet from the opening cover message. Most of us are not GEs or Kodaks, but we compete with them. Ask us how to compete. We know David’s secret in beating Goliath.
Corporate Values Book Sterne Agee is a traditional, full-service stock brokerage, one of the largest independently owned firms remaining in the industry. This campaign communicated the firm’s core principles to employees, reminding people that how they act has a direct influence on the company’s success.
“This is some of the best work I have ever seen.”
—Jim Holbrook, CEO
Sterne Agee Corporate Values Book
Sterne Agee Corporate Values Book
Sterne Agee Corporate Values Book
Sterne Agee Corporate Values Book
Recruiting Web site
As one of the few remaining independently owned brokerage firms, Sterne is constantly looking for talented people with the right mindset. Their recruiting Web site communicates the firm’s beliefs in independence and entrepreneurship, while conveying the firm’s unique spirit. The last frontier is to gain competitive advantage in a business fraught with parody and regulation. We know how. It starts with clear communication from the CEO. Frankly, the investment in internal communications has been more fruitful for this client than piles of external dollar in media.
Web site
Harbert Management provides alternative investments to clients with multimillion-dollar portfolios. Their Web site is a critical tool for recruiting new investors. Based on extensive research into user preferences, this design made critical content easier to find, as well as more pleasing to look at. Can a Web site get results? Well, we can’t officially tell you but, Harbert is a believer!
Harbert Website
Harbert Website
Annual Report
Harbert Management provides alternative investments to clients with multimillion-dollar portfolios. Their annual report is a critical tool for defining their investment philosophy and recruiting new investors. Harbert’s management was quite vocal about their devotion to absolute returns, regardless of market conditions or worldwide events. To mirror their unshakable beliefs, we told their core message in bold, unequivocal language from the opening cover.
