May 18, 2012 – Emanate announces the addition of Talley Summerlin as Vice President in the New York office.  Summerlin will oversee corporate reputation management for Philips and provide strategic counsel and account management for the Legacy Asset Servicing division of Bank of America.

Summerlin brings 12 years of experience in areas such as corporate social responsibility and sustainability, event management, and experiential and program marketing.

Summerlin joins Emanate from EnviroMedia Social Marketing in Austin where he served as Director working with clients such as the Texas Department of State Health Services and car2go.  Prior to that, Summerlin was a Vice President at GCI Group leading programs for brands such as Dell, Seventh Generation, and Whole Foods Market.

“Building strong brand reputation is at the heart of all that we do at Emanate,” said Kiersten Zweibaum, Managing Director.  “Talley’s corporate and social responsibility background is a great asset to our team.  We’re truly excited to have Talley on board helping build campaigns that create positive impact on consumers, strengthen client reputation, and solidify brand loyalty.”

“What distinguishes reputable brands is the ability to engage audiences in a relevant, meaningful way,” said Summerlin.  “Emanate’s ‘Relevance Marketing’ approach is all about delivering the shortest path to success for clients and I look forward to working with the team to further our brands’ business goals through this strategic approach.”

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About Emanate

Emanate is a full-service, mid-sized public relations agency with expertise in integrated communications, consumer marketing, health and reputation management. The 100-person agency specializes in creating powerful calls to action that move our clients’ business. Founded in 2006, Emanate operates on three key principles: to uncover and leverage emotional insights that are at the heart of brand engagement; to provide dedicated teams for every client that are flat and feature senior staff leading every aspect of the work; and to integrate with other marketing disciplines to harness the full power of PR. In 2010, Emanate was named PRWeek’s Agency of the Year and Bulldog Reporter’s Mid-Size Agency of the Year. An Omnicom DAS company, Emanate has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, London and Munich.  Follow the Emanate team on Twitter @EmanatePR or check out www.emanatepr.com

Communications technologies like video chats and high-quality audio speakers for conference calls have proved their worth, allowing long distance job interviews, customer meetings, partner meetings, and so much more. Fairchild Semiconductor (a client) even developed chips for mobile devices, which provide louder, better sound in a small form factor while protecting the speakers from damage. The iPhone 4s has one of the most advanced camera lenses on the market for a mobile device, and a MacBook Pro is equipped for HD Facetime.

So why does this MediaPost article say its survey respondents, specifically management-level executives, still prefer face to face communication?

After all, Apple even named it “Facetime”; both b-to-b and b-to-c companies have moved to “consumerize” and “socialize” their businesses, and it’s as vibrant and successful as ever. According to the survey, four out of six necessities can never be achieved without meeting face to face. These necessities are a) engagement and focus, b) subconscious body language, c) conscious movements, and d) facial expressions. Survey respondents want face time collaboration to determine audience engagement and focus, which will ultimately lead to a better relationship.

However, technology is only as good as the people who created it, so we may never fully replace an in-person meeting.

The survey noted that 72 percent of business leaders attached extreme importance to in-person meetings with customers, potential or existing. This translates to PR, where we need to allow client relationships to flourish through regular meetings to brainstorm the next big campaign, assess strategy, or get a deeper understanding of their value proposition. In our own organizations, we need face time with our team members to catch up and relay information. Sometimes it’s easier to walk across the office instead of an email.

I’m new to the Emanation, and working in Boston while having colleagues in New York may be new to me but it’s certainly nothing new to much of the business population. Face time with our offices is key to keeping our culture alive and well, and the same principle applies to any other company with multiple locations.

To be clear, my iPhone is firmly attached to me most of the time. Time and efficiency are still major pain points in any given work day, so high-quality communications is necessary. But, while consumerization of IT has been so pervasive, let’s keep real interaction in the toolkit for success as well.

Marketing automation solutions, e-Commerce platforms, behavioral targeting and analytics technologies are tracking our every move online, whether we’re reading a news article, shopping for a Mother’s Day gift, spending time on Facebook or Twitter, or watching videos on YouTube.  Marketers know what we’re doing, what we’re buying and which brands we fan and follow, so why do we still get irrelevant emails and ads served to us when we’re online?

There are a number of reasons, but a recent article in Mediapost’s SearchBlog gets to the heart of one of the biggest challenges marketers face today: data overload.  There’s so much information coming in from multiple channels that marketers are having trouble aggregating and analyzing the data into an accurate, 360 degree profile of you, the consumer.  That’s why you still get served Viagra, credit card and mani-pedi emails and offers all during one browsing experience.

The good news is that attribution tools and technologies are emerging that allow marketers to get a view into the ads and offers that are engaging consumers and then using automation to prioritize the top performers by offer and channel.  With these insights, marketers can then determine the most profitable channels and offers and optimize their campaigns.  More accurate attribution and targeting will make for a better consumer experience online.

The Mediapost piece also touches on a point that’s important for all communications professionals to keep top of mind – strategy.  Having access to all of this data, attribution and prioritized channels is a huge step.  Developing a strategy for getting the most out of your communications efforts takes it to the next level.  It’s crucial to remember that strategy comes first, and then you select the tools, technologies and approaches that lead to successful execution.

Every year ClickZ recognizes the best interactive marketing campaigns with their Connected Marketing Awards.  If you have a winning campaign, they’ll be opening nominations for the 2012 awards in mid-May.  Past winners include brands such as Dell, KFC, The National Hockey League and OpenTable.  You should check out the past winners as great examples of best practices.  You can also check out an article Ad Age ran at the end of 2011 ranking the top viral advertising campaigns of the year, featuring campaigns for Volkswagen, Apple and Old Spice.

What are some of your favorites and “best of” online marketing campaigns?

Ok – you have my attention.

Josh Zabar is a leader of Summit Series. Described as “a hipper Davos,” this group engages the world’s most dynamic dreamers and doers through events and initiatives designed to make the world a better place.

A team of 20-somethings work to drive global change by inspiring the millennial generation to redefine what success looks like in business. Their events are focused on brainstorming and implementing new business ideas and solutions for global issues.

While I think it’s a great organization, and I admire them for their ambition and aspiration, there are also lessons that communicators can take from their approach.

First, a mix of diverse backgrounds can create extraordinary thinking. Summit Series’ guest lists spans the gamut of artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, activists, philanthropists and musicians – from Bill Clinton to Richard Branson, Russell Simons, to Imogene Heap and Sophia Bush. Leaders from all walks of life come together to collaborate, bringing their own unique experience to the discussion.

As PR practitioners, we work to create the next big thing for our clients. We should keep in mind that bringing together an unexpected mix of different backgrounds can be the perfect recipe for a great idea. Find interesting people outside of your own walls for your next brainstorm.

Second, changing your environment can inspire creativity. Summit Series uses environmental and physical activity to ignite creativity and offer new perspectives. Take their annual meetings for example – their 2011 event was ‘Summit at Sea’ where more than 1,000 millennial entrepreneurs set sail for three days in the Bahamas to collaborate and embark on group activities.

So next time you have writer’s block, get out of the office. Walk to the Ford Foundation with your laptop and sit in the midst of that greenery. Or take your team to the park on the corner of Tudor City Place and East 43^rd Street for your next planning meetings. Wherever you are, find a place to go. The best ideas don’t always happen in a conference room.

The team at Summit Series reminds us that unconventional approaches can make a big difference and help us arrive at new ideas. In their case, they want to find new ways to do business that make everyone more responsible for positive change around the world. What do you want to do for your clients? For the place you work?

The case is just one of many image problems the tech giant is currently facing, including recently changing its privacy policies and its terms of service to allow it to unlock an individual’s web search history and use it for its own purposes.

The problems have resulted in scores of articles and blog post questioning Google’s motives, as well as its unofficial, but highly publicized, mission statement to “do no evil.”

If this is true, Google’s current problems are going to require much more than a quick fix because they cut at the very heart of the company’s identity.

For more than a decade, Google gained the trust of its users and increased its reputation as one of the greatest brands on the planet by delivering a product that seemed to put the user’s interest ahead of its own. Now for the first time, Google’s users may not feel so trusting.

Any time a company is viewed as operating in contravention to its mission statement, particularly one that has been so highly publicized, audience trust dissipates.

The question yet to be answered now isn’t if Google can do what it wants but rather, at what expense to its reputation.

As communications professionals, we know a company’s reputation isn’t created in the board room or based just on how much money it’s making— it’s a reflection of how the public, its employees, its investors and the like, view it.

In the constantly changing tech industry, it’s even more important to keep close tabs on reputation because it’s relatively easy to regain a loss in profit but exceedingly difficult to revive a reputation. Google should remember that its reputation may have more influence on its longevity that its market position.

To understand why the combination is so successful, consider what each video aims to achieve.  The branded video conveys key messages – the product benefits as the company would have the consumer believe.  The customer testimonial brings those benefits to life by providing an emotional connection and authenticity that reinforces the reasons to believe.  As a result, consumers feel more confident in their product choice and view the brand overall more favorably.  Furthermore, they are more likely to make additional purchases and recommendations.

These findings underscore what it takes for any video campaign to succeed.  First, your content must engage the audience, fulfilling a need or purpose in their life.  Second, you must communicate in a way that resonates, delivering a clear message that is in a language – and voice – the consumer understands.  Third, your video needs to have weight, influencing perceptions of the brand and driving behavior.  Finally, you need a roadmap for distribution, fundamentally understanding what outlets your audience consumers, how often, when and how to get there.   By understanding the audience on a deep level, marketers can implement a video strategy with content that is most relevant to their audience.

In his recent post on the Co-Exist blog, Jean Case discusses the importance of creating strategic and reliable volunteer programs so companies can ladder up to their overall business goals and engage their employees in a meaningful way.  Case cited a 2011 IBM survey, which found that “88% of Corporate Service Corps participants reported that they had improved their leadership skills through their pro bono work.”

At Emanate, we look at all p.r. initiatives through the lens of relevance in order to determine if we are reaching our audience directly and helping our clients achieve the shortest path to success. For cause-related activities, that means identifying the initiatives that make the most sense for organizations without diluting the message or missing the target.

While employees could participate in a food drive or help build homes in a community, it is important to look at how these activities align with the the company’s mission and values. In the world of relevance marketing and reliable corporate partnerships, this point is where pro-bono activities and corporate volunteerism meet. For example, it makes more sense for a beef distribution company to invest employee time and company resources into helping nonprofits like Heifer International. Ultimately, this type of program is more relevant to both the company’s employees and consumers.

How is your company integrating their reliable corporate partnerships into employee engagement?

Guest Blogger: Steve Strauss

I spend my days thinking, writing, and talking about small business. How do you start a successful one? What do you need to do to maintain it? How do you grow it? I write about this every week in my column for USA TODAY, and more extensively in my book, The Small Business Bible. (Which, by the way, just came out in a completely updated 3^rd edition a couple weeks ago and I am proud to say that Emanate’s CEO Kim Sample was kind enough to share some very valuable PR tips in it for my readers.)

The issue of how to successfully grow a business is something I hear about from readers quite often: How do they do it? When I see a business that has successfully weathered the inevitable storms and has gone on to create a viable and valuable business, there are all sorts of reasons why, but a main one is the power of relationships.

I bet if you think about it, the quality of your relationships is a key reason why you are successful in your profession, whether you are an entrepreneur or not. There are all sorts of things that go into business success – having a great idea, being smart and creative, working hard, luck – but in the end it is probably your people and relationships that is the biggest difference maker. Great teams create great businesses.

So my advice from the trenches is this: Foster and cultivate your team. Let your people (bosses, employees, customers, family) know how important they are to you. Reward people for a job well done. In the end, strengthening those relationships is probably the single best thing you can do to ensure the long-term growth of your business.

And, of course, a little promotion doesn’t hurt either.

Steven D. Strauss is a lawyer, writer, and speaker, and is one of the country’s leading experts on small business as well as an international business speaker. The best-selling author of 17 books, his latest is The Small Business Bible, now out in a completely updated third edition. You can visit his new website for the self-employed, TheSelfEmployed, here, Follow him on Twitter, here, and Like TheSelfEmployed on Facebook, here. 

In a recent article in The New York Times, entitled “How Companies Learn Your Secrets,” author Charles Duhigg candidly explains some of the modern day market research methods that companies invest in in order to successfully hone in and geo-target potential and existing customers. In his controversial article, which serves as a prelude to his new book, “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business,” Duhigg uses Target’s statistician, Andrew Pole, as a model as he delves into the theory of predictive analytics, or behavioral consumer research.

While the author reports that simple demographic information – such as age, marital status, household income, etc. – can be extracted by companies based on the swipe of your credit card, he takes his research a step further and brings to life the correlation between right-brainers and left-brainers in the communications workplace. Duhigg refers to this hybrid group of professionals at Target as the Guest Marketing and Analytics department. He reveals that this department is responsible for interpreting and understanding consumers’ personal habits in addition to their more general shopping habits.

As PR practitioners, we base our campaigns around reaching a specified target audience. We work to ensure that our messaging is on target at all times. We rely on the research conducted by our communications partners and our own teams. In essence, geo-targeting has become increasingly valuable because it allows us to market and communicate with consumers in a way that is relevant to their needs and wants.

To determine those needs and wants, Duhigg suggests that the answer lies in decoding consumers’ cues. Duhigg claims that while cues are hard to decipher, they usually fit into one of five categories: location, time, emotional state, other people or the immediately preceding action. He concludes that successful marketers will be able to implement a change in target consumers’ behaviors by piggybacking off of an existing habit.

So what does it all mean to the PR professional? If there’s anything that we’ve learned from the ever-changing communications landscape, it is that brands must adapt with the times. Predictive analytics has become essential in the PR world. The insight that we gain from this type of research is crucial in helping us identify where our target audience is and how we can best reach and communicate with them.

What do you think? Are brands too aggressive and invasive with their research, or is employing predictive analytics an absolute necessity to remain relevant? Share your thoughts below!