Raise the Colors – Blue Horse has a new Client.

This entry is courtesy of Bill Sheahan, partner/director of client services at Blue Horse.

Ever wonder who could make a flag as large as the one that flies on the flagpole at Acuity Insurance, just off I-43 near Sheboygan, WI? Ever wonder who creates all those neat costumes for the likes of Ronald McDonald, Bucky Badger, The Milwaukee Brewers Racing Sausages, The Pittsburgh Pirates Racing Pierogies and Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger? Well, the answers to those two questions are the same as the name of the Blue’s newest client — Olympus Flag and Banner.

Milwaukee-based Olympus has been making flags, banners and pennants for a long time – in fact since there were 44 stars on the ole Stars and Stripes. That would be since 1893. (I bet that got you thinking. Most of us can probably come up with a couple or three of the states that joined the Union after 1893 but can you name all six? I’ll list them at the end of this blog.).

Olympus is also one the nation’s leading mascot costume design and manufacturing companies. The company has produced more than 8,000 mascot costumes for customers around the world.

In addition to being a leading manufacturer of flags, banners, and mascot costumes, Olympus is also a leading printer of custom point-of-purchase signs, banners and other material.

Blue Horse will handle a range of marketing communications activities for Olympus. Our first project was to help the company promote its custom printed POP signs and banners for the McDonald’s Corporation. To do so, Blue Horse created a custom-printed brochure with inserts bound with Chicago Screws. A sample of the brochure can be viewed in the “work” section of our Web site (after April 19, 2008). The brochure and other materials were presented recently at McDonald’s own worldwide trade show in Florida.

Did you come up with the correct names for the states having joined the Union after 1893? Here they are. Keep these in mind in case you ever end up on Jeopardy.

Utah, January 4, 1896
Oklahoma, November 16, 1907
New Mexico, January 6, 1912
Arizona, February 14, 1912
Alaska, January 3, 1959
Hawaii, August 21, 1959

For more information about Olympus Flag & Banner — or to find out what the colors in the U.S. flag mean — visit their Web site at: www.olympus-flag.com

McDonald’s and the Ronald McDonald name are trademarks of McDonald’s Corporation and its affiliates. Tony the Tiger is a registered trademark of the Kellogg’s Corporation.

Digg it? ::

Networking to Nurture Start-Ups in the State

This entry is courtesy of Susie Falk, vice president of public relations at Blue Horse.

I met the most amazing group of people the other day. These were inventors and entrepreneurs, brought together by the MMAC for networking purposes. I understand entrepreneurs – I’m surrounded by them at the agency every day -a smart, scrappy bunch for sure. I don’t encounter “inventors” very often – these folks fall into a whole new category of brilliance.

This group of about 70 had come to hear me talk on the topic of marketing on a shoestring budget. I was glad I presented first. My lecture was much less interesting than the people who had come to hear me. After my talk, the group went around the room introducing themselves and their ideas – many at the embryonic stages, others ready for pubic consumption. They all were looking for tips and advice on how to establish their products in the marketplace.

Many of their ideas were truly brilliant. One guy had invented a screen shield that wraps around a hot tub when it’s windy – or when there’s the need for privacy. His product was ready for market – he was looking for suggestions on communicating with hot tub distributors. Another guy had a patent on a puppy pooper picker-upper. He’d already found success with the pooper p-u and was looking to hatch another idea. One woman I spoke with was trying to find an audience for a new method of teaching kids with autism and ADD. Yet another woman was working on a project that studied the development of the brains of children. I had hoped that these two women had the chance to meet each other at the networking event.

Hats off to the MMAC for coordinating this group. It is the MMAC’s intention to help these types of people to keep them here and home in Milwaukee where they can grow their businesses and help improve our local economy.

In June, Blue Horse will be addressing a similar group of inventors and entrepreneurs at the Wisconsin Technology Council’s Entrepreneurs Conference. The WTC is also working to hatch and keep successful businesses in Wisconsin. Each year at the Entrepreneur’s Conference, Gov. Jim Doyle announces the winner of his business contest – a contest set up by the state to nurture start-ups. Our agency recently announced it will donate $30,000 in marketing communications services to the winner of the business contest.

Kudos to the MMAC, the WTC and the State of Wisconsin for their efforts to grow good ideas and businesses. Blue Horse is proud to be a part of these initiatives.

Are you ready for your close up?

For business people, dealing with the media can be a lot like climbing a mountain. You work hard to advance your company’s story. But one slip and…disaster.

At Blue Horse, we’ve come to view media training as an important part of our effort to build brands. We believe that consumers own brands – that they are the boss. So we see our job as making our clients a hit with the boss. Yes, we can make ads and buy media wisely. But there comes that time when you have to meet the boss directly through the media. And you may not know where or when.

So you have to be ready.

Blue Horse is teaming up with a company called mediaspirits to introduce a comprehensive media-training program for executives that can enable you to have a very successful showing in front of the boss.

We’re calling it On Belay Media Training. It’s taught by our own Associate Director of Public Relations, Susie Falk, teamed with Kimberly and Davidson Kane. Susie is a former journalist and journalism instructor at UW-Madison. She has coached her clients through interviews with the Wall Street Journal, NPR, The New York Times, Forbes, Newsweek and dozens of other major media outlets.

Kimberly Kane is a former WTMJ-TV 4 news anchor and health reporter. She has been recognized by several media organizations for her fair and insightful work. She was named the State Medical Society of Wisconsin’s Medical Issues Reporter of the Year in 2000. She is currently Vice President and Co-Owner of mediaspirits, a video production and developmental firm.

Davidson Kane is the President and Creative Director of mediaspirits. He is a broadcast developer and television producer with 14 years of experience in the news promotion, corporate and broadcast worlds. A keen observer of the media and a trained actor, Davidson can help you make the most of your time on camera.

Susie, Kimberly and Davidson are prepared to instruct you in the fine art of controlling an interview. They serve up real world scenarios. Interviews are practiced, videotaped and critiqued. Media trends are analyzed and your crisis communication plans are reviewed. They’ll even give you a few tips on how to look and sound your best on air. Classes are small and times can be suited to your availability.

For those of you who have climbed a mountain or two, you know that “on belay” refers to communicating to other climbers that you’re ready to make the ascent.

Are you ready to face the cameras?

For more information, call Susie at 414-291-7620.

Was the Super Bowl Super?

The game sure was, but what about the Super Spots?

Every year, advertisers ante up to entertain America with their best spots in the Super Bowl. This year was certainly no exception, but was the $2.7 million investment worth it for advertisers?

Of course, you can take a look at any number of polls and critiques of the spots. The morning after the game, opinions are flying all over the place. You can hear from the trade critics, agency bigwigs and of course, football fans.

But at Blue Horse, we wondered about the opinions of marketing executives - the people who might not have an ad in the game, but whose job it is to oversee their own budgets and advertising efforts. What do they think? What spots would work in the marketplace? Which spots were a waste of money?

We sent out a number of invitations to marketing pros to communicate their thoughts to us either online or by phone. Here are the top six things they told us:

1. No one was impressed with the overall quality. While some marketing pros felt the body of work was better than last year, more said things like Larry Weissman of Cousins who remarked that the showing was “poor – run of the mill.” David Andrews of Assurant went so far as to describe the assembly as “terrible.”

2. As testimony to the lack of innovation, nothing really stood out as a favorite. The Doritos “Mouse,” Bridgestone, Budweiser’s “Rocky,” Planters and the Bud Light wine & cheese party all got good reviews. There were others right behind: NFL “Chester Pitt,” selected Bud Light spots, Coke’s “Dueling Balloons” and others were among them.

3. What did stand out as a big loser was the Salesgenie effort. It was almost universally panned by our marketing pros.

4. Not surprisingly, some spots were polarizing: Life Water’s “Lizards,” Planters, Vitamin Water and Audi. Our pros either liked ‘em or hated ‘em. Especially polarizing was the E-Trade baby series. “The gross out award,” said Larry Weissman. “I hated it,” said Hank Hakewill. But for some others, it was a favorite.

5. It was noted by many that a number of spots were, as Bruce Hutchison of Sears noted, “only half the story” because they sought to drive people online. It would only be fair, he said, to check out all the online stories and see if they paid off.

6. Several marketers cited the Hyundai Genesis effort as being laudable in that it elegantly portrayed the car as a Mercedes that is not a Mercedes. Roger Klement felt that this could be the most effective spot for business reasons. David Andrews said he would “withhold judgment until this summer.” He wondered, because of this commercial, “Will people hold off buying a Mercedes? It set expectations high. This is a risky move. The car must be quality and everything must be ready for the launch.”

The question has to be asked: has the escalating cost of production and time made everyone risk adverse? That would include the NFL who, in an effort to stay clear of the FCC, hired a rock musician who was big when some of us were in high school.

Consider the amount of “looking back.” Old music, even old comedic routines like Pepsi’s “Bobbleheads.” Bud Lite working to its “formula” of beer jokes. Then there’s Under Armor trying to break through and succeeding only in being a pale imitation of Apple’s “1984.”

One final note. Given the fact that a large portion of the audience says they watch the game only for the advertising (and with two East Coast teams, that might be particularly true this year), isn’t it rather ironic to note that this contributes so mightily to driving up the cost of the advertising?

Maybe if we just eliminated the game. Ah, but then Larry Weissman, the self-described “only Giants fan in Wisconsin,” wouldn’t have had nearly as much fun.