So we’re in new business mode, diligently working on an RFP for a client we’d all give up our firstborn/left leg/dog to win. That means a lot of late nights. (Keurig, thank you for existing.)

While burning the midnight candle at BG may not be as scandalous as some agencies, taking a short break here and there does afford profound moments of reflection.

Here are three things that caught my attention. What do you think, should I flip the switch?

Remember when the Academy was against social media and forced YouTube to pull thousands of clips from the awards show in 2007? Well, guess what? The Academy is finally getting with the times and embracing social media for the Oscars.

In 2008, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences created its own YouTube Channel offering behind the scenes footage, interviews, highlights and more. So, did this help? Well according to an article in AdAge, last year’s Oscars was the among the lowest-rated broadcast in its televised history. Ouch.

One reason this might have failed is because social media is about  strategy, and not just the tools.  Anyone can throw up a Facebook Page, YoubTube Channel or Twitter handle, but without a strategy tying these to a traditional marketing campaign, you’re likely set up for failure.

Third time’s a charm, right? The Academy is back with a new social media strategy for the 2010 Oscars. A Facebook Page for the Oscars was created with shiny features like a live stream and a chat on which they streamed the nominees. Taking note of the fact that people love to guess who will take home golden statues that evening, the Academy released an iPhone app allowing fans to make their own predictions to compare against other fans.

Is this a recipe for success? We’ll find out soon enough.

Not only is this Frank’s RedHot Sauce commercial hilarious (I mean, anytime you hear an old lady cuss, it’s pretty funny), but it’s also rooted in great strategic thinking. The commercial marries the funny exaggeration (using Frank’s to grow an award-winning pumpkin) with the culture of hot sauce connoisseur (they really do put that sh*t on everything).

From the media I have seen, Frank’s RedHot “I Put that Sh*t on Everything” is running both TV and Radio.

At the end of the day, this Frank’s RedHot Sauce Campaign makes sense because it gives their expressive audience a funny scenario they can absolutely relate to.

Today, there are more ad dollars going towards perceived environmental impact and awareness than ever before. Ten years ago “green” referred to having a green thumb, being green with envy, or  wanting greener pastures, but that’s definitely no longer the case. Whether it’s telling customers about a 100 percent recyclable water bottle (cool!) or Prius ads that combine humans with the earth; companies are dying to tell us that they too care about the environment. But which companies are actually influencing the public’s perception of their environmental impact?

Lucky for us, Newsweek has already been ranking 500 of the biggest U.S. companies based upon their environmental impact, green policies and performance, and reputation. Yet, there are some major discrepancies between the Environmental Impact and Green Policies and Performances Scores and the Reputation Survey Score. Keep in mind that Newsweek polled CEO’s, corporate social responsibility professionals, and other environmental experts (a.k.a. people who know a lot about this) to form the Reputation Survey Score and all scores are out of 100. The Green Score, again out of 100, is a combination of the previous scores.

So, which company scored a perfect 100, A+ on the Reputation Survey Score? Good Ole Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, that was the only category they scored a perfect 100 in; their environmental Impact Score, based on things like green house gases and water use, was only a 59.2 and their Green Policies and Procedures Score, based on “a comprehensive analytical assessment of a company’s environmental policies,” was only 41.06. Even the professionals think Wal-Mart is a lot greener than it is. Perhaps commercials like this, which is dated from this January and may accurately represent a new effort, are creating and reinforcing this very positive perceived environmental impact. Overall, Wal-Mart ranked 59 and had a Green Score of 80.38.

On the flip side, Hewlett-Packard, which ranked #1 in 2009 with Green Score of 100, and Dell, who came in at a close second with a Green Score of 98.87, both had a reputation score under 90. Dell’s reputation score was only a 70.8 despite having a Green Policies and Performance Score of 100.

Green marketing is powerful stuff. Companies are successfully changing their perceived environmental impact, for better in the case Wal-Mart, and it’s a category that is only gowing to grow. Consumers who care about environmental impact need to look past the advertising to see which companies are truly green and which are just full of fluff.

We’re looking for someone different.

We want a person that clients–even difficult ones–and co-workers would trust and feel comfortable with. Someone that can respectfully disagree, tell people why, and then lead the way to a better solution.

What we need is an all-star Account Supervisor. You will be required to perform all typical account management duties, provide strategic solutions for a variety of clients, roll up your sleeves when you need to, and last but not least adapt to several client personalities and styles.

We’re an interesting group of people with the common thread of creativity. If  you’re curious about who we are, go to baileygardiner.com, check out our portfolio, read our blog, and comment on your favorite post.

You have 6-8 years of large and/or small advertising agency experience, positive attitude, strong presentation skills, and national consumer marketing experience. We pride ourselves on being integrated and we need our team members to think that way as well. Digital experience is required and please don’t try to fake it. For example, you will be expected to strategize and execute PPC, online advertising, email campaigns, and websites. In addition to living in an online space, you know how to integrate your approach to marketing and have worked in most, if not all,  elements of advertising (print, radio, television, outdoor).

Salary will be commensurate with experience and competitive. We offer medical, dental, paid vacation, holidays, sick/PT, 401k and profit sharing, not to mention great weather.

No calls or emails. Really.

Send resume to resume@baileygardiner.com

When pitching a natural living product, there are specific green publications that will be instrumental in your public relations efforts. While editors at major lifestyle publications may not ask the tough questions, green publications that pride themselves on providing the most current and accurate information will. Below are four tips every public relations representative must know before venturing into the world of green.

1. Differentiate between Healthy Living and Natural Living: While there is a lot of overlap between healthy living and natural living, there are also a lot of differences. Items that are good for you, may not be good for the environment and items that are natural may not be healthy. Understand which category your product fits in and then research the appropriate green publications, healthy living outlets, or both. It’s easy to categorize them together, you know how everyone in Oregon grows their own vegetables, wears Keens, and drives a Prius? But the reality is caring about your health and caring about the environment are two different things. Just because your product is organic, it doesn’t mean the packaging it comes in is recyclable or the company that produces it is sustainable. Which brings me to my next point.

2. Know Key Terminology and Definitions: What does “green” mean? Since when were there 7 types of recycling? CFL’s or LEDs? Is this product sustainable? Am I sustainable? And now the gas pedal on my Prius might stick? All the labels for healthy and natural living can make your head spin. Doing your part to help the environment is quickly becoming a lot more complicated. Before you write a pitch, fact sheet, or release (let alone call a green publication) know which terminologies apply to your product and which don’t. Know if the bottle is recyclable, if whatever is inside is organic, the difference between vegan and vegetarian, or whatever else could differentiate your product from another. Sometimes this means getting to know the product AND the company. While it’s great if the company subscribes to the same ideals as it’s consumers, that may not always be the case.

3. Understand Your Clients Strengths (and Weaknesses): If you get lucky and your client is organic, completely recyclable, sustainable, donates to CoastKeeper, and practically has a negative carbon footprint,  then skip to number four. Otherwise, you need to know what makes your client special and what doesn’t. If your client donates to a green charity, play that up. If they are going to make the change to solar energy,  note that. But also know that with all the green buzz, green publications are going to want the facts. Any good public relations professional can pinpoint the not so glamorous aspects of there clients and this is going to come in especially useful when dealing with green publications.

4. Prepare for Different Knowledge Levels: All journalists have different knowledge levels about any given subject and, as a public relations person, you need to be able to talk about your product to the most beginner green writer or the most experienced green editor. Knowing how to explain the new process your client just created in layman’s terms will help when calling a green publication. Especially when you only have 15 seconds.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the Super Bowl is one of the largest platforms for traditional advertising. The Super Bowl TV commercials have almost become just as big of a deal as the game itself, especially to those who don’t know the difference between a quarterback and a cornerback. Airing your ad during the ‘big game’ not only provides an opportunity for TV revenue and unmatched exposure to the big guys, but also allows businesses to pitch, plug and promote their products.  While the big swingers are paying upwards of $2.5-$3 million per 30-second spot, other companies are getting their exposure through the use of more affordable traditional media platforms.

Radio – The Monday before the ‘big game’ the Super Bowl Media Center opens up, which has become the home of “Radio Row.” Almost every sports radio station, both national and local, has a table set up at the Media Center where they do their live feeds from. It’s here that sports radio talk show hosts do live interviews with past and present NFL stars, as well as actors, musicians and comedians.  And why would all these famous people want to do interview after interview with various stations?  Because they’re capitalizing on the ad money generated from their involvement.  It took me a second to realize that Marshall Faulk was paid every time he said “Hass Avocados” during an interview with a local San Diego radio station a couple years back.  He must have said “Hass Avocados” like 30 times.  Ladanian Tomlinson, yet another NFL player capitalizing on the endorsement opportunities, raked in money by promoting Campbell’s Soup.   Adam Sandler used Radio Row as a way to promote one of his new movies.  It’s unclear exactly how much stars get paid for promoting but one thing is for sure, everyone has one.

Print Promotion - The nightlife in the days leading up to the Super Bowl offers a whole slew of traditional advertising and promotional opportunities as well.  Every major men’s magazine, such as Playboy and Maxim, throws huge Super Bowl parties where famous people and promotional items are plentiful.  Victoria’s Secret has jumped on the Super Bowl party bandwagon this year.  The competition from year to year seems to be increasing as everyone tries to one up the other on the party/promotional circuit. This influx of party throwers can only mean more opportunities for exposure for companies.

Direct Mail – Local retailers are also flooding in with advertisements. The front page of Vons’ weekly special includes coupons for everything from chips to frozen pizza and beer.  Meanwhile, Target is doing their own ‘Super Bowl sale’ for flat screen TVs.  Most, if not all, direct mail advertisements received in this week leading up to Sunday’s game is geared towards the Super Bowl in one way or another. It’s insane.

My point – TV commercials are not the only way to effectively reach the Super Bowl audience.

Fueled by a long anticipated product launch, a name guessing game for the new product, and the always fun iPhone to Verizon hopes, the expectations for yesterday’s Apple unveiling were high and the interactions on Twitter certainly reflected that. According to Trendrr.com, there were 177,000 iPad tweets within the first hour alone following the announcement. That’s an average of 3,000 iPad tweets per minute and who knows how many more there would have been had the Bailey Gardiner team been in the office (yesterday was our agency retreat and, don’t worry, there are lots of photos and video to come).

Not only is the sheer volume of iPad tweets notable, but so is the sentiment. According to Mashable, Crimson Hexagon took the time to analyze the sentiment of more than half a million iPad tweets following  the announcement. While about 50 percent of the people had negative feedback and 50 percent had positive, 29 percent of those tweets showed intent to buy the product. That’s about 145,000 people at $500, for the least expensive version, creating at least $72,500,000 in sales if everyone who tweeted about buying the new product actually does go buy one. Personally, even though I’m a Mac lover, I fall within the 21 percent who thought it had a stupid name.

The high level of iPad tweets show that more and more people are turning to Twitter as a resource for breaking news and a venue to share their opinions. When I logged into Twitter this morning #ipad, iTablet, Apple iPad, #itampon, and MaxiPad (reinforcing the stupid name theory) are still trending in the U.S. on Twitter and probably will be for a while to come. I wonder what they will come up with next?

To a lot of people, paper is just that, paper. But, when you work in an industry that involves printing a wide range of items for your clients, (think letterhead, save-the-date cards, pamphlets, and other such collateral) you quickly learn there are thousands of different types of paper. Out of these thousands of types, there are quite a few options for those who want to print on eco-friendly paper and with companies becoming more and more environmentally conscious, we propose at least one eco-friendly paper option to all of our clients.

Below are the types of “green” paper that we use most often:

1) Recycled Paper: Many brands have “recycled paper” options but the vast majority is not 100% recycled. Usually a portion of it is. This is a good option for companies who are environmentally conscientious, but may not have the budget to print on a 100% recycled paper.

2) FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certified Paper: This paper has come from trees that were grown in an area where funds have gone to to eliminate habitat destruction, water pollution and violence against people and wildlife. Sometimes you are able to find a FSC paper that has also, been recycled – a doubly green choice.

3) Post-Consumer Material (PCW) Paper: This paper has been used and then separated from solid waste to be recycled into new paper. This paper is made from all types of products, therefore re-using even more waste than a recycled paper uses.

4) Seed Paper - The coolest new trend is that people are starting to print on seed paper which is a type of paper that is embedded with an array of wildflower seeds. You can actually take this paper, plant it and grow flowers. And the best part is this paper isn’t even made out of trees. We often go to Green Field Paper in San Diego where they specialize in 100 percent tree-free products. They make their paper out of recycled uniforms from Seaworld, mixed with 100 percent organic cotton and an array of other ingredients that would have been thrown out in the trash. I think this is my new favorite type of paper. Such a cool concept!

Everyone is used to Powerpoint, but Keynote is PPT on steroids. Of course, it is made by Apple! It is user-friendly and there are endless options for creative presentations, but many aren’t using it yet because they don’t want to have to learn a new program. Here at Bailey Gardiner, we use Keynote for every client presentation so we’ve put together a few pointers to make using Keynote a little easier. 

• Add a Slide

• Select “Slide”
• Select “New Slide”
• From the Masters drop down in the toolbar, select the master slide you would like your new slide to be

• Add A Picture

• Drag a file into your keynote OR
• Go to “Insert” and “Choose” and you can browse for the image to insert

• Frame a Picture

• Select the “i” inspector icon
• From the inspector menu, select the image tab
• With your image selected, from the “Stroke” dropdown, select frame

• Sizing an Image

• Select the image
• Use the squares on the corners and edges of the image to drag in or out
• To size proportionally, drag a corner of the image while holding “Shift”

• Cropping or “Masking” an Image

• Select the image to Mask
• Select the “Mask” icon in the toolbar
• Drag the crop marks or use the sliding bar in the edit mask box to the desired crop
• Click anywhere else in the slide to accept

• Multiple Images

• When using multiple images on one slide, Keynote will show yellow lines from image to image to help you center all of them
• If images overlap, you can bring an image to the top of another by selecting it and choosing “Arrange” and “Bring to Front.” The same applies to back, etc.

• Embed Video

• Drag the video into your keynote
• Size as needed
• It will play when you turn to that slide in presentation mode

• Embedding a Link

• Select the text or image that you want to link to a website (note: during the presentation, you must be connected to the internet for it to work)
• Select the hyperlink tab from the inspector box
• Check “Enable as a hyperlink”
• Select “Webpage” from the Link To dropdown
• Type the URL you want to link to

• Creating Presentation Notes

• Select “View” in the menu and select “Show Presenter Notes”
• Add notes where shown.

• Presenting

• Select the Play button in the toolbar to begin a presentation.
• Click your mouse, press space bar or use arrow keys to advance the presentation
• If you are connected to a larger screen or projector, select Play from toolbar and select Customize Presenter Display. Check the following: Current Slide, Next Slide, Notes, Clock