The Halo Group Effect

It may be the most important paragraph you will write about your company. You have most likely seen it, but may not known what it was called or its origin. What is it? It is your boilerplate.

In public relations, the boilerplate is the last paragraph of a press release that describes the company product, service or brand featured. This should contain facts about the company (where are you based, what do you do, private/public, services, clients, awards) as well as some compelling information, your mission, positioning (first brand to do such and such). In the digital age, it should also contain hyperlinks to your website and/or social media profiles.

Plainly, it’s the “About Us” section that is copy and pasted onto every press release, fact sheet and any additional marketing communications materials – even on your company’s LinkedIn and social media profiles.

So where did this term come from?

The term boilerplate actually dates back to the 1800s when manufacturers of steam boilers would attach a metal plate on their boilers as a sort of trademark so people would know who made the boiler and where it was made. In the early newspaper days, they had “boilerplates” or actually printing plates for each company they covered regularly, so they could easily include the company background with stories they wrote. This saved time in the printing process. The term stuck.

Here’s an example of a boilerplate for our client, Liebherr:

About Liebherr

Driven by innovation and characterized by sophisticated, elegant design, Germany-based Liebherr Corporation brings the best of Europe to the refrigeration category in North America. Visit www.liebherr-appliances.com to view Liebherr’s full product line of freestanding, built-in and fully integrated refrigeration and wine and humidor cigar storage units.

Check out the other installments of our 101 Series posts:

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week:...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:45:10 -0400

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, April 26, 2013

Painting Just Got More Fun: The Installation “FOR(){};” Is A Video Game Projected On A Canvas - Amusement

Callaway “Hits The Links” With LinkedIn For Social Networking Campaign - via Callaway Blog

Tate Modern brings a guided museum tour to Twitter to highlight its Lichtenstein exhibit - via The Verge

Prada Is Looking For A Few Good Pens! (Brand Holding Literary Contest For Prada Journal) - via Style Bazaar

Clever French Literacy Campaign Will Make You Look Twice at Ads - via Flavorwire

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week:...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:26:58 -0400

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, April 19, 2013

Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches” Will Make You Think - Mamamia

Ask CT Food: Snap an Instagram pic, tag, receive an recipe - via PR Examples

Kids Company uses Vine to ask for help to make neglect stop - via The Drum

Kmart’s ‘Ship My Pants’ Commercial is Going Viral - via TIME

Microsoft Brings Wi-Fi Enabled Benches To The Park - via Creativity Online

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week:...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:49:25 -0400

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, April 12, 2013

The WWF deforested football field - Adverblog

Bubba Watson, Oakley create hovercraft cart - via PGA.com

Burn After Reading: Farenheit 451 Matchbook Cover - via PR Examples

The Netflix Arrested Development Posters Are Finally Here - via Gawker

Kit Kat Breaks, Melts, Paints Candy Bars Into Lovely Posters - via AdWeek

Brands and April Fools’ Day 2013

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:05:00 -0400

April 1^st also known as April Fools’ Day has, in the past, had people on their toes wondering if they’ll run into any pranks. Then a funny thing happened. Brands started to put on their own pranks and jokes. In fact, Google’s yearly pranks have become something to look forward to.

Why would a brand want to play a joke on their customers though? There might be a few reasons. One of the most important reasons is the potential press coverage the brand may receive. The right story at the right time can get your brand front and center in from of very large audiences. Then there’s the engagement factor. With the rise of social media, it’s become more and more important to connect with customers and fans. Pranks or jokes allow the brand to create humorous content that can have a much higher “viral” factor than brand content might normally have. It can also help to humanize the brand and show a lighter tone.

Of course, some people are bound to take the brand jokes as serious news. Fans of Scope’s Bacon Mouthwash voiced their displeasure when they found out it wasn’t real and that the prank actually began prior to April 1^st. Even Google, whose jokes tend to be popular, faced some backlash over the “shutting down YouTube” prank, from users angry over their actual shuttering of Google Reader. So while an April Fools’ joke can be beneficial, you have to know your audience and make sure the jokes don’t touch on sensitive subjects.

Below is just a sampling our how brands “pranked” the public this year (even the White House got involved).

1) Scope’s New Bacon Mouthwash

2) Vowel-less Twttr; Vowels For Twitter Plan To Cost $5/month

3) Seamless Offers Deluxe Delivery By Models

4) US Army (Grumpy) Cat Recruitment

5) Virgin Air Announces A Glass Bottomed Plane

6) Google Maps’ Treasure Mode

7) Sony Animalia Tech For Pets

8) The White House’s Special Message by Kid President Not The President

9) Lunch Meat DVD Kiosks From Redbox

10) Sour Patch Kids Candy Launches Shower Patch Kids Body Wash

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week:...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 15:58:22 -0400

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, April 05, 2013

Shopera: Sacla’ stages opera in John Lewis foodhall - The Grocer

‘New York Times’ Ad Shows Paper on Day You Were Born - via Mashable

Embroidered Typography Enhance Menus At Hong Kong Airport - via PSFK

Virgin Atlantic takes to the streets of Boston to surprise its Twitter followers - via PR Examples

New York Presbyterian: Danion Jones - via New York Presbyterian Hospital

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week:...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:04:58 -0400

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, March 29, 2013

REcalling 1993: NYC art project turns pay phones into virtual time machines - DVice

Quadrocopter fleet stuns Londoners with giant hovering Star Trek logo - via Engadget

Clever Weather Billboard - via Reddit

CVS App Brings Aisle Browsing to Life on Mobile Screens - via Brand Channel

Making bad graffiti, better: Artists Correct Graffiti To Promote Education - via Creative Review

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week:...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:52:54 -0400

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, March 22, 2013

VW Ad Targets Viewers Who Fast Forward Through Commercials - PSFK

Volkswagen: The Search Engine Ad - via DigitalBuzzBlog

A hotel made from cake opens in London - via Bitter Wallet

The Google Graveyard - via Slate

Tesco Uses Google Street View for Virtual Easter Egg Hunt - via Mashable

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week:...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:39:45 -0400

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, March 15, 2013

GEOlino Meltdown – the first game that melts - Adverblog

Sidewalk Billboards Can Function As Furnished Walls For Houses - via PSFK

Old Spice reveals new chief director of marketing: Mr Wolfdog - via The Drum

Secret menus boost buzz at Panera, Taco Bell, McDonald’s - via USA Today

Carlsberg Puts Friends to a Test in a New “Stress” Experiment - via Popsop

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week:...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:56:00 -0500

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week: Friday, March 08, 2013

Japanese Retailer Uses Kinect to Make Mannequins Come Alive - via Creative Guerilla Marketing

Zombies Swarm Around Infected Hashtag in Clever Campaign for Walking Dead - via AdWeek

Frozen Cinema - via The Inspiration Room

Taxi Company Offers Justin Bieber A Cab - via ATV Today

‘Pantone Pairings’ Transforms Traditional Food Combos Into Color Swatches (direct link) - via Food Beast

The Big East And The Importance Of Branding

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:44:00 -0500

Last week it was reported that the Big East, arguably one of the most well known conferences in college sports was considering selling its name. The reason for this is that the sports conference is splitting, with the Catholic Universities (St. John’s, Seton Hall, Marquette, DePaul, Georgetown, Villanova and Providence) forming their own conference. The question everyone was asking was who gets the Big East name and whom would it benefit more?

For those not familiar with NCAA sports, the Big East has a long history, specifically in basketball. Much of that history revolves around the schools now being referred to as the “Catholic 7.” In fact, only one member remains form the original lineup of the Big East conference, the University of Connecticut, while four founding members are moving to the new conference. The Big East as is stands now, spans from the East to West coasts, and North to South, no longer only focused on East Coast membership.

At the forefront of this realignment is the brand of the Big East. How important is the name? Does the name recognition carry weight? Well, yes, the brand is a big deal. There’s history, tradition, recognition around the name. The name evokes thoughts of a historic basketball conference. For a new conference, this recognition and history is key (ESPN agrees in an article titled Big East brand a win for departing schools). This is the reason that the new league will be taking the Big East name.

The takeaway here is how valuable a brand can be. Whatever your business, your branding it key. It’s your story and how people perceive you. You must build your brand. You must protect your brand. You must grow your brand. And if you need some help, we’re just a click away.

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:33:45 -0500

The Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed This Week — With A Bonus Extra 5!: Friday, March 01, 2013

Fanta’s Tasteable Print Ad - via Gizmodo

Game of Thrones NY Times Dragon ad - via Reddit

Secret Door uses Google to magically transport you around the globe (direct link) - via Fast Company

Billboard Converts Desert Air Into Drinking Water - via Discovery

Race to win on big and small screens with Chrome Super Sync Sports - via Google Chrome Blog

‘Stoker’ trailer is completely composed of GIFs - via UPI

ATM: The Awesome Traveling Machine - via Creative Guerilla Marketing

Want A Job At This Tattoo Parlor? Color In The QR Code And Scan It - via PR Examples

Audi’s Ultimate Paintball Challenge - via Adverblog

Bus Shelter Comes To Life In The Weather Channel’s New Ads - via great-ads.blogspot.com

The Rise of Visual Socialization

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:29:27 -0500

When social media is mentioned, there are a few platforms that are top of mind. The leaders are Facebook and Twitter. After that, it depends on whom you talk to, but YouTube and Foursquare (and possibly LinkedIn as well) are in the conversation. Tumblr gets mentioned a lot, and Reddit is gaining more mainstream popularity. Pinterest has received a lot of hype and is still very popular (not to mention a strong driver of traffic). Instagram (owned by Facebook) however, has now worked its way into the upper echelon of social media platforms.

Social media has always had a visual tilt to it. Facebook is actually the world’s largest photo sharing site; Twitpic was built early on to serve Twitter’s need for photo sharing and much of Pinterest’s popularity is attributed to the ease of creating (taking images and videos) and curating visual content (sharing images and videos created by others). Most people are familiar with the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and in social media, a statement like this certainly has its place. With limited time and numerous sources of content, images are an easy way to convey thoughts, ideas and emotions. Many people would much rather show you what they’re doing rather than tell you.

Instagram looks to be the leader in the world of social visualization, but it depends on what you’re looking for. It’s not just about taking pictures, but what you do with them. Viewing and sharing is just as important as creating. Other platforms like Pinterest and Tumblr are growing and have become strong hubs for visual content. In the past, brands used to clamor for viral videos, now a viral image can be just as valuable.

Celebrities and brands have been using Instagram and other visual services for a while now, but we’re beginning to see a more prominent use of the platform as a social medium. For example, the recent Hurricane Sandy cover of Time Magazine was an Instagram image shot on an iPhone. CNN used Instagram images of the Empire State Building on election night directly on their site. Rich Kids of Instagram became a meme and actually uses Instagram and Tumblr to showcase the images. Singer Ke$ha used Instagram to tease her new album. This is just a small sampling of the tremendous popularity and reach of visual content online, Instagram in particular.

A recent study from the Pew Research Center revealed some interesting statistics.

56% of adult Internet users either create or curate photo content.
12% of online adults (and 19% of women) say they use Pinterest.
12% of online adults say they use Instagram, but the number jumps to 27% of Internet users between ages 18 to 29.
5% of online adults say they use Tumblr, but this number jumps to 11% among young adults.
66% of online adults use Facebook, and 16% use Twitter.

Clearly, Facebook and Twitter still lead the pack, but other services are rising. Especially interesting is the large jump in percentage among younger users.

One thing that we can be sure of is that visual socialization is here to stay. Older users are adopting new platforms, and younger users are growing up with them as a core function of their lives. Digital and social media are more and more a part of everyday life, and visuals will continue to dominate. Sharing will be easier and more and more people will expect visual content — not only from friends, but from brands as well. Take a look around, and you’ll see the trend. And when you do, be sure to snap a picture.

A version of this post previously appeared on The Agency Post.