Last week we toured our new office space. Come November we’ll hopefully be making ourselves at home on the fourth floor of a building in Little Italy. A lot of renovations still need to be made. The ceiling will be extended up to make it look less law firm-ish. And many of the center walls will be torn down to create more shared space.

Just a few months away before we starting testing the endurance of the gelato machines at this fine establishment. The countdown begins.

Bailey Gardiner is looking for a graphic design intern for the fall quarter/semester.
A little about you:

• A college student (junior or senior) majoring in advertising, art direction, graphic design or something similar
• Must be able to obtain college credit for the internship
• Willing to commit to a minimum of 16 hours per week, set hours are preferred
• Has a student portfolio of design work
• Working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite. Experience in Flash/Fireworks/Dreamweaver is a huge plus
• A well-organized, self-starter who shows ownership over assignments
• Some production experience preferred
• Excellent communication skills – both oral and written
• Must have a good attitude and aspire to do award-winning work
• Eager to learn
• Creative

A little about your responsibilities:
Assist the creative team with the following:

• Assist team members in research, concept development, designing and mounting of logos and creating collateral pieces, websites, identity and stationery packages
• Accompany senior team members to photo shoots, press checks, client meetings and assist in photo and art research when necessary

This position is unpaid and only open to current college students who can obtain college credit through the internship.

The experience you will receive at Bailey Gardiner is invaluable. We will take the time to teach, support, provide you with responsibility and of course, have some fun.

For a little more information about us, visit our portfolio or get an intern’s perspective on working here on the blog by our interns.
If you are interested, please email your student portfolio, cover letter and resume to kelly@baileygardiner.com

No phone calls please.

I am so darned sick and tired of marketing agency people with an inferiority complex about being in San Diego, and last week creative legend Mike Hughes had my back.  Mike was in town to speak to a group of marketing leaders gathered by San Diego AdClub, and one of the key points he made was that creativity can come from anywhere – even San Diego.

Mike is the creative genius at The Martin Agency (ADWEEK agency of the year), and is the guy behind blockbuster advertising campaigns for GEICO (geckos, cavemen, dancing money), Walmart (tear jerker holiday ads with snow falling on troops in Iraq), the singing guy from freecreditreport.com and more.  And that award winning blockbuster agency is located in….Richmond, Virginia.

Richmond? Population 204,000 thousand, humid in the summer and snowy in the winter, miles from anything remotely cultural, capital of the Confederacy and firmly planted in Southern traditions.

Yet guys like Mike Hughes can thrive there.  Creative geniuses from around the country are drawn there. Talent grows and prospers there.

So why would we not expect the same or better from San Diego?  We’re a happy bunch, basking in nearly perfect weather, enjoying a plethora of cultural events and arts, inspired by people of all ethnicities and backgrounds, and uniquely uber cool.

Look at this amazing work by some of our best local talent, and tell me there’s not the seed of some greatness here.  We just have to nurture it so it can grow into the next Martin Agency or Crispin Porter (Miami? Gimme a break).

http://www.vitrorobertson.com/
http://www.meadsdurket.com/
http://www.gearyi.com/
http://www.lambesis.com/
http://www.fishtankba.com/
http://www.baileygardiner.com/

Come on folks. Drop the apologies and just pony up. We deserve the cred.

Bailey Gardiner is looking for an Advertising Account Intern for the fall quarter or semester.

A little about you:

•    A college student (junior or senior) majoring in Communications, English, Advertising or Marketing
•    Must be able to obtain college credit for the internship
.
•    Willing to commit to a minimum of 20 hours per week, set hours and Monday, Wednesday, Friday are preferable
•    A well-organized, self-starter who shows ownership over assignments
•    Excellent communication skills- both oral and written
•    Eager to learn
•    Creative

A little about your responsibilities:

•    Assist the Traffic Manager by helping with the flow of projects
•    Coordinate print related projects from start to finish
•    Handle insertion orders and assist with organization of the media placement process
•    Research new publications, new business prospects, online opportunities and guerilla marketing, which sometimes requires going out in the field and gathering information, materials and photos
•    Writing for “Feed The Interns Blog” with other Bailey Gardiner interns
•    Responsibilities will vary and can grow with your willingness

This position is unpaid and only open to current college students who can obtain college credit through the internship.

The experience you will receive at Bailey Gardiner is invaluable. We will take the time to teach, support, provide you with responsibility and have some fun.

For a little more information about us, visit our website or the blog by our interns.

If you are interested and meet the criteria above, please email your cover letter, resume and preferred schedule to becca@baileygardiner.com.

No phone calls.

Last month, I participated in the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. I won’t go too far into how the race went or my new found dislike for Fiesta Island and the 163 Freeway, but I will say, I was a little surprised by some of the advertising tactics displayed by some companies.

Every participant should have known the event was put on to benefit The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, an organization that I have been involved with for three years.

With a lot of marathons, there is a corporate sponsor who spearheads the event. I knew in the past that PF Chang’s was the official sponsor of the the PF Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon. That one wasn’t too hard to figure out since their name is in the actual name of the event.

However, I couldn’t recall one corporate sponsor of the event leading up to this marathon or even during the marathon. It wasn’t until about 2-3 weeks later, I realized there was actually a head sponsor of the event. What do ya know,  it was actually PF Chang’s.

When I came home from work one afternoon, I started sifting through the mail. It was full of the usual junk. But then, I came across a random letter addressed to me from PF Chang’s. I will admit, I was about 3.2 seconds away from tossing it with the rest of the mail but then I felt something inside. Being a curious person, I opened it. Inside was a congratulations letter from PF Chang’s on completing the marathon as well as a $10 gift card to their restaurant. For someone like me who loves local deals (trust me I’m known as the coupon/deal girl in the office) I was pretty excited.

Obviously, their goal from this direct mail wasn’t just to get people into their restaurant, but it was also to create a buzz. They got exactly what they wanted from me. I immediately got on my phone and tweeted out a thank you to PF Chang’s letting them know I had received my gift and I posted a message on my Facebook page about how I love coming home to free stuff. And now, tonight I am actually going to go  there for dinner, just because I have that gift card. Lettuce wraps = amazing!

This was a great thing for them to do, yet I feel they could have done a few things differently to generate more buzz and a higher-return on investment.

1) Make your presence well-known as a sponsor prior and during the event.

2) As email addresses are supplied when registering for the event, send an email 1-2 days after the event congratulating the participant on their accomplishment and to keep their eyes peeled for something special in the mail. Don’t tell them what, make them curious. This way, they know something is coming.

3) Better packaging. The envelope looked 100% like junk mail. It was plain white with my name ink jetted on it and the PF Chang’s name in the top left corner all in black. There are more creative ways to send something that doesn’t break any postal envelope regulations.

Overall PF Chang’s did a good job. I look forward to seeing what they do next year, if they continue to be a sponsor, as well as seeing what Dodge will do, since they are now the official sponsor of the 2011 San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. And no, I will not be running it. I am retired from marathons at 27.

I wanted to share some inspirational museum marketing stunts that have resulted in generating lots of museum publicity.

The first is the Space Invader Walk.

As part of it’s promotion for the exhibition “Viva la Revolucion” (beginning on July 17) the Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego has planted 21 space invaders throughout the city.

The space invaders—recently featured in the Banksy film—are strategically placed so that their locations create the outline of a giant space invader when seen from above (see Google Maps image below).

Not only is this a great way to get publicity for the museum, it’s also a living exhibition all on it’s own as you can literally travel around the city, finding all of the invaders, a great weekend activity that is conveniently located near MCASD’s downtown San Diego location.

The second is the Red Cube Project.

This project was created to support “500 Ways of Looking at Modern,” the Art Institute’s yearlong exploration and celebration of all things modern.

The museum hid 500 cubes around the city (including 4 extra large versions), each one with it’s own art project attached. The lucky finder is tasked with completing the assignment and returning the cube to the museum. A few of these lucky artists then had their work showcased at the museum.

The museum encouraged those who didn’t find a cube to create their own and post a picture of it to the project’s website. A smart idea that encouraged people from all walks of like to get involved helped the campaign go viral.

You can see many more of the cubes that were created on the museum’s Flickr page.

Have you seen any other inspirational museum marketing campaigns recently?

Recently Bailey Gardiner kicked off a lead generation campaign for our client Baker Electric Solar. As you may have heard on November 17, 2008 Governor Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order S-14-08 requiring that California utilities reach the 33 percent renewables goal by 2020. By the end of 2010, the utilities must generate 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. Bailey Gardiner has been tasked with helping to generate qualified leads for our client and has put into place a great program to help put the consumer in touch with our local San Diego electrical company. The key to a successful online lead generation campaign is researching, testing, optimizing and utilizing lead management tools.

Research on solar energy starts with the search engines. Users will search and consider up to nine different companies when considering the best option for solar power. Since the space is highly competitive we have decided to utilize Trada to help create efficiencies in our pay per click campaign. Trada is a marketplace designed to allow agencies to work directly with multiple qualified PPC optimizers who are experts at driving leads.

A portion of the media is also utilizing a hybrid CPL and CPM and re-targeting campaign with ValueClick media. This allows for massive exposure at a low CPM while still paying per conversion to generate leads. Top tier ad networks such as ValueClick who also own Comission Junction are great for these types of campaigns.

When doing lead gen campaigns you need to consider all avenues of tracking to attribute conversions to the correct source. We are using Marchex Voicestar for our phone call tracking, Salesforce as a CRM to track lead to sales, and Google’s URL builder to track all the media placements. Oh and don’t forget to place conversion pixels on your thank you page so you can optimize for best performing creative, placements and media.

It’s also smart to test multiple types of messages in your creative. We have generated three campaigns that hit on affordability, trust, and efficiency. Although we know quite a bit about our target audience it is best to test message relevance as some resonate better and convert at a higher rate. It’s always recommended to send traffic to landing pages when your goal is conversion. Use a simple layout that easily communicates the value propositions to the user. Forms need to be simple and above the fold. It’s also a best practice to have no navigation on the landing page until after the user has filled out the form. The objective is to get that basic information that allows for remarketing but also can scrub out unqualified leads.

Lead generation is a science. Agencies who do this well know that the key is testing, optimizing and utilizing lead management tools that allow for data verification, scrubbing and tracking sales. Happy hunting.

In this day and age, the online space is constantly changing, and at a pace that no one could have ever imagined. Here at BG, we specialize in everything from advertising to public relations, social media and interactive. We understand how crucial it is to be up to speed with everything that is going on in all these industries and we are also always looking for new talent.

We are currently looking to build a diverse group of web freelancers that can assist both our interactive department and creative department. The areas we are looking for assistance in are as follows:

• Rich Media
• HTML implementation with emails
• PHP
• Java Script
• Wordpress — PHP & CSS
• RIAs — Adobe Air & AJax
• CMS
• Flash Animation
• Facebook & Iphone applications
• eCommerce — Triple & Juma
• My SQL
• C++
• Custom Content Management

We will be hosting an open house here at Bailey Gardiner on Monday, June 21 from 5-8 pm for applicants to showcase their work as well as meet the Bailey Gardiner team. For more information on us and our clients, please visit our website.

Light appetizers and refreshments will be served.

No need to bring your laptop. We will have laptops set up for display purposes. Make sure to bring a jump drive if needed.

If interested, please RSVP to Becca Burnham at becca@baileygardiner.com by Friday, June 18. Please include your resume and link to your portfolio. Lastly, locals only please.

*This post is part of Bailey Gardiner’s Public Relations Tactics series, which highlights tools and best practices to ensure a successful public relations campaign. The series will run weekly.

As one of San Diego’s top public relations firms we are lucky to book a lot of TV for clients. Whether it’s bridal segments for Tiffany & Co., Busker Festival segments for Seaport Village, or live coverage from every station in town for Opening Day of the Del Mar Racetrack, the topics vary but the preparation is the same.

Live TV segments shot on location take extra preparation since they vary greatly from live in-studio segments. The biggest difference is control. When taking the segment to the streets, you can only control so much as there are numerous factors that come into play. Here are just a few to consider in advance and have a plan for:

Live Signal - This is an issue I’ve seen sneak up on many people. If it’s your first time having live TV at your venue or for your client make sure the station can get a signal. This may seem like a no-brainer, but there are often pockets where the trucks can’t bounce their signal to one of the mountains or satellites. Ask the station if they have shot live from your location before, or better yet, see if they will do a test run prior to the segment to ensure success.

Weather – While San Diego averages a lovely 72 degrees throughout the year, there are times when Mother Nature doesn’t quite participate. If you’re doing an outdoor segment have a back-up plan for rain. Consider an indoor venue you can move to if necessary, a tented area, or bring umbrellas.

Wind – This could fall under weather, but I list separately because wind can occur throughout the year. If your location is prone to wind take into consideration and try to do the segment in an area that is blocked as much as possible. Nothing ruins a segment quite like wind whipping through the microphone.

Onlookers or Crashers- There’s no way to be prepared for everything, especially when it comes to people on a mission.  Years ago I had the great pleasure of a homeless man in his underwear walk through a live segment with a former real estate developer client downtown. We managed to work through it and all got a chuckle. Truth be told, none of us were shocked by the incident, we were in an urban parking at 6 a.m., after all.  We knew what to expect in our surroundings, which is the key takeaway. Try to prepare yourself and client for the environment in which the interview will take place. Sometimes the best advice is to be prepared to just go with the flow.

Speaking of Flow – Be sure to do your homework prior to the live segment (if possible) to ensure a smooth flow and transition if there are multiple hit times. Make sure all parties are clear on when and where they should be and what is expected from them. We find down to the minute timelines work best. If the timing will be cut close (say one spokesperson jumping from station to station) warn the reporter so they don’t get nervous, and have a back-up spokesperson if possible.

These are just a handful of tips for live TV shot on location. Have any points you’d like to share? Or perhaps your own PR war story in regards to live TV?

In general, museums of all kinds are often viewed with a certain stigma of being stuffy and academic.  To be honest, it may be well-deserved for the most part because of common stereotypes we associate with them and the type of people who go to them.

I am here to tell you that there is good news for museums.  I bet most museums share a similar goal in that they want to expand their customer base and attract a younger audience.  After all, this younger demographic is tomorrow’s museum member and donor, and which museum doesn’t need that?

In order to attract this younger demo, museums must go beyond their traditional ways of operating and reach out to the younger audience (ie Males/Females 25-45) in the places they frequent, which is online.  Smart museums are also catering to this younger demo by creating new events that appeal to them to get them in the doors.  An example of an event catering to a younger demo is The San Diego Museum of Art’s Culture & Cocktails.

We have been entrenched in the challenge of utilizing the tools the Internet provides to accomplish various goals for our client, The San Diego Museum of Art.  We have recently rebranded the Museum and will also be unveiling a completely new, revamped website in a few short weeks.  There were many objectives that were taken into account during the website redesign, but I’d like to focus on just two. First, we wanted to utilize high quality imagery to showcase the awesome works of art on display in the Museum and second, incorporate social media tools so that people who wish to interact in that capacity can do so.

Bailey Gardiner has worked with several museums in the past so we understand the challenges they face in marketing themselves.   We redesigned the website for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
Two years ago we also rebranded and designed new collateral for our client SUSHI, A Center for the Urban Arts last year (see an example below).

THE NEW BARBARIANS

Our most recent undertaking is with the Balboa Park Online Collaborative (BPOC) to redesign the website for Balboa Park. This new website will encompass roughly 85 organizations in San Diego’s famous park, including several museums and be the main portal for visitors to gather information.

Are there any museums out there that you’ve come across that you feel are innovators in regards to interacting with people and showcasing their various offerings?  I’d love to see who you think the leaders in this space are.