2010 archive

It’s that time of the year again. Enchanting sounds, colorful lights and warm wishes from friends and family are a friendly reminder that it’s the season for giving. Tara Parker-Pope says, “…giving gifts is a surprisingly complex and important part of human interaction, helping to define relationships and strengthen bonds with family and friends. Indeed, psychologists say it is often the giver, rather than the recipient, who reaps the biggest psychological gains from a gift.”

This year at The Byne Group we’ve decided to give the gift of a flock of chicks through Heifer International. In past years we’ve purchased a goat and honey bees. And the giving continues throughout 2011. For every new client we’ll be purchasing a flock of chicks in their name!

Network for Good is all about giving and making it easy for people to give. Imagine that every time you became inspired to help someone or something that you could do it with just a click of your mouse. How about the gift of a “good card?” You can purchase this card online at www1.networkforgood.org/good-card and then give it as a gift to whomever. The recipient can use this card to donate to any of their favorite causes; a charity fighting a disease that’s touched your family; the homeless shelter around the corner; or the school you love.

Giving made simple! What are you “giving” this holiday season?

–Melissa Behrens, Art Director, The Byne Group

(source: A Gift That Gives Right Back? The Giving Itself. New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/health/11well.html)

When we heard about the Give and Grow Program through The Journal News we knew we wanted to be involved. Knowing this ad was going to run in September and October and that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month we chose to highlight The Breast Center at Nyack Hospital for one of our submissions.

We did research on breast cancer in women to inspire us, we wanted to have a real impact on the readers and felt the ad should be a public announcement reminding women to get their yearly mammograms. This is where we pulled in the headline, "1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with cancer," a statistic that certainly got my attention. The body copy supports and reinforces the headline message, "By the time you can feel a lump in the breast it is often 0.4 inches, or one centimeter, in size and contains roughly a million cells. It is estimated that a tumor of this size may take one to five years to develop. During that time, the cancer may metastasize, or spread by lymphatics or blood to areas elsewhere in your body."

Once we had the headline and copy down we needed a visual. After some different visual ideas I came up with the perfect image, a simple pink string around a woman’s finger. Using Dana, our Junior Designer’s index finger we took lots of shots and with a little photo retouching we added the image into the layout. We chose to create the ad in black and white to show the bold importance of having a mammogram while keeping the ribbon pink as a focal point and because the pink ribbon is so iconic.

I hope the ad we created reminded women to the importance of making their yearly mammogram appointments.

–Melissa Behrens, Art Director, The Byne Group

This concept is nothing new as Aristotle, one of the great thinkers from the ancient world said "The secret to humor is surprise."

I think its human nature to like surprises, defined by freedictionary.com, surprise is, "to cause to feel wonder, astonishment, or amazement, as at something unanticipated." In advertising and marketing both off and on line, the element of surprise makes us take notice. Then add the extra zing of humor to the mix and you’ve got the beginning of a powerhouse of a campaign.

When was the last time you thought of yourself as being calm. For most of us these are anything but tranquil times. We’re inundated with information, overwhelmed with daily tasks and asked to keep pace with technology that keeps moving faster and faster. Personally I can’t tell you how often I have responded to email from clients without thinking through the correctness of my answer and even worse the flippant way I might have handled an issue with staff saying words that can never be taken back (if anyone reading this ever felt bruised, I'm really trying to do better).

Hello everyone! I'm back!

Since I last blogged The Byne Group has kept me very busy. I've worked on such a wide array of different projects. Over the last few days I have been working on flyers for a local charity, made a few changes on a logo I've designed for an insurance company, designed a whole invitation package for a banquet event, and was on the set of a photo shoot.

Being on the set of a photo shoot is so exciting! There is so much that goes into taking a picture it's insane. All the equipment has to be set up just right, the model has to be sitting at the right angle, and the weather needs to be cooperating to get that "picture perfect" picture. It was really interesting to see the process of making that perfect picture.

This photo is from one of the shoots I was on for United Hospice of Rockland.

Back to work!

Dana

–Dana Tandoi, Intern, The Byne Group

I’m a big believer in giving back to the communities we do business in, but is it also good for our small businesses bottom lines? I believe so! Giving back to the community can raise your business' profile and even bring you more customers or clients.

According to Umair Haque's article from Harvard Business Review, Why Betterness is Good Business. “Striving to do more good is associated with greater profitability, equity and asset returns, and shareholder value creation.” And he believes these new business models will help build companies with a purpose, and a mission that is truly understood by their customers.

And as successful members of the community, we have a responsibility to help those that are less fortunate and contribute to the common good. I really enjoy the intangible benefit of giving. Giving back to the community gives me a wonderful feeling of connectedness and the satisfaction of at least trying to make my small corner of the world a better place.

I think customers like patronizing businesses that give back and I believe that giving back has helped my firm move forward!

Have you found ways to give back, would love to hear from you.

–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group

We have now entered the world of Web 3.0. Is your website stuck in 1.0 or 2.0 mode? Answer these 5 questions to find out:

1. Is your site static? (meaning your website shows the same content over and over again)
2. Has your company grown and evolved? That’s great! But have you brought your website along for the ride?
3. Are your competitors’ websites bigger and better then yours?
4. Is your site interactive with your viewers?
5. Have you added social media outlets to your website?

These are the most important things to keep in mind when updating your website. Basically your website is your “first impression” and we all know first impressions are very important. I can say from personal experience how important a well designed website can be to potential customers.

When I moved recently I needed to find a veterinarian closer to my new home. So I searched on Google Maps for local vets in the area and chose one with a great website design. The information was well organized I could move through the site easily and found everything I was looking for. I knew that a company who is well branded probably had it pretty well together (first impressions...). Once I visited the vet, their office, stationary, their everything had one consistent look. They left out no details. And the veterinarian herself was amazing. [rockawayvet.com]

You need to keep your website interesting, up-to-date and take the leap into Web 3.0. You don’t want to bore your current customers and in the process of the update you’ll probably get new customers.

–Melissa Behrens, Art Director, The Byne Group

Marketers are enthralled by Gen Y's youngest partner, the Millennials and for very good reason: They are an important market today and will become even more important as they graduate, hopefully start jobs, and spend money.

Because one of the markets we do work in is colleges, I can't get enough on the subject. Today I read with interest an article at media post by Jack Loechner about 200 Students from the College of Journalism at University of Maryland who unplugged all their media for 24 hours. (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=127323)

I have a nineteen year old nephew and if you spend any time around any 18-22 year olds you know gadgets are like appendages to them. They can't imagine life without their cell phones and iPods. So what caused the most anxiety for these 200 Millennial's in the study? One student wrote, "This technology craze has become so deeply ingrained in each of us we know no other way of living our lives, but to rely on our cell phones, laptops, televisions, and iPods to keep us occupied and connected with the world around us..."

Daily text-messaging by teens has "shot up" dramatically in the past 18 months, according to a new study, "Teens and Mobile Phones," from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. The study also said nearly 75 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds have cell phones, hey no surprise here. And the love affair between teens and texting will only continue to grow. An interesting dilemma as marketers try to stay connected to this generation in a honest and meaningful way.

–Ann Byne, Principal of The Byne Group

“Brands are stories, containing a promise to perform, at every possible contact point. These stories are accepted or rejected by consumer audiences based on performance.” –Neal Mendelsohn, Chief Experience Officer at Fourth Wall, LA

I don’t believe social media will ever replace the need for business development people or traditional marketing but in the new economy it definitely needs to be a part of your marketing arsenal.

Traditional branding is a top down approach with companies, both profit and non-profits defining their own brand. The difference today, brands are being defined by conversations, by what people say both good or bad about your firm. Is this how your firm is engaging clients?