I asked agency CEO Aric Zion what he thinks the agency does differently.  

“First, we’re not straight PR, i.e. we take it to another level where we integrate advanced analytics for both PR and social media, and we have an in-house team that focuses on web applications development to enhance our social media efforts. Also, being a full-service firm, it’s very easy for us to augment our clients’ PR and social media campaigns on the fly with creative, web elements, signage, e-mail campaigns, etc.

“As for the employees, here’s the straight story. If you walked into the Zion and Zion office, you’d find a 14-month-old puppy as our mascot in the office every day. You would find whiteboard walls and bright orange and yellow concrete leather chairs in our brainstorming “Thinking Room.”

“You would find us shutting down the company for three days each year for an employee lake outing on a workday, and in July, you’ll find the whole company at a Tuesday morning movie outing. The bottom line is that if people aren’t having fun, they’re not productive, they’re not loyal, and clients and the businesses suffer.”

The key to being able to expand, he says, is being a truly integrated firm, where every person in every functional area and at every level of the organization is also heavily involved in areas outside their own. The fact that the PR people work with the applications developer and designer on a social media campaign enables them to bring things to their clients that are beyond the traditional scope.

Also key, he feels, is the fact that when a client asks for something last minute or outside the scope of their agreement, Zion & Zion employees are always genuinely enthusiastic about exceeding their expectations. “Clients hate lawyer-like billing,” he says, “and they steer clear of it as much as possible.”

There are three things they look for when they are in hiring mode. First is what he calls “a forward-leaning posture,” where the person literally looks as if he or she can’t wait to come across a table and get started because they just know how good a job they can do.

Two is a person who is already well-versed in areas outside their core area and/or has an innate desire to expand their skills.

Three is someone who is technology-savvy and has his/her head around social media and measuring everything that they do, because “clients absolutely love it when you really want to measure things and don’t just do it because you have to.”

**********

I look at 3 things myself when I evaluate the local economy:  how many agencies and companies are hiring and at what level, and how Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts are doing.    All three signs look good now!

Alison Bailin, Abbie Fink, Scott Hanson, and Beth Wilkinson

Longevity in a city like Phoenix is a treasured thing, and this year marks the 30th anniversary of HMA Public Relations.  

I didn’t know the history behind the agency, and was interested to find out that it was originally started in 1980 by Ed Moser and was called Ed Moser and Associates. Scott Hanson joined the firm in 1986 and bought the company from Ed, and when Ed retired in 1991 the name was changed to Hanson, Moser and Associates. The last name change came in 2000 to HMA Public Relations.

David Cassidy look-alike

As far as they and I know, they’re among the oldest PR firms in town. I asked for early photos of Scott and they sent me this treasure, where he looks like David Cassidy with that lovely feathered hair (sorry, Scott!  You know, I have the utmost respect for you).  

To celebrate this milestone, they have been focusing on good works in the community, including as just a sample:

- Assembling care packages for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. HMA worked with the local chapters of PRSA and IABC to assemble more than 400 packages.

- In March, they gathered a group of staffers and friends to participate in the Make-a-Wish Foundation’s Walk for Wishes in Tempe and each member walked in the 5K for a total of over 40 miles.
- The office has volunteered at the Junior Achievement Finance Park, where each employee helped guide more than 60 students on how to create and maintain a budget.
- They assembled a group of staffers and friends to participate in a bowl-a-thon to raise funds for Angels on Patrol, a nonprofit organization that supports youth who have been severely abused or neglected and/or whose caregivers are facing extreme hardship.

Community-oriented
I asked them how they explain their approach and attitude about community service, particularly in an era where people are so distrustful of sincere motivation. Abbie Fink, the agency’s vice president and general manager, and the longest tenured employee (17 years on July 1), told me that they have always had a culture of giving back, and encourage their team members to get involved with something they are passionate about. The agency always has had 2 – 3 pro bono clients on their roster, largely the result of a employee’s involvement with the organization or an organization approaching them independently.

Looking back…

Things have changed in 30 years. From Scott’s perspective, when Ed Moser started the firm, there were large multinational firms locally. Back then much of the decision-making was happening right here in the Valley, but now we have become more of a regional hub with decisions being made outside of the market. We moved at a much slower pace back then, he says. You would write a press release or create a media kit and actually send it in the mail to an editor. Telephone follow-up might have resulted in a reporter being assigned to the story.

…and looking forward

So what’s next for the next 30 years? According to Scott,”We will continue to see an evolution in media. Hardcopy publications will become even more scarce than they are now. Today’s twitter was yesterday’s e-mail. Last week’s fax machine was last month’s courier. Hopefully the PR disasters of today will further open the door for the prominence of communications counsel in the future.”

“Old” is relative

You have to be impressed with 30 years of achievement, especially in Phoenix. Without knocking the city, I have to share this story with you. When I moved from Boston to Phoenix in 1988, I contacted a friend of a friend to get advice about where to live. I mentioned a certain apartment complex to him, and he responded quickly, “Oh you don’t want to live there, those apartments are old.” I replied, “How old?” He answered emphatically, “They are at least five years old.”

Congratulations on your 30th anniversary, HMA.   That’s a milestone by any measure.

From Media Monday features on local media to video contests for tickets to a play at Gammage, HMA Public Relations is making sure their Facebook fan page is more than just client news.

I get a kick out of the high jinks over at David and Sam PR too. Their videos to promote themselves are quite cute. That darn Reggie!

How is your agency having fun and spreading the word about what you do through social media?

Fans were asked to submit a slogan for Tornados and an optional photo of themselves enjoying the snack. Alternatively, they could rate or comment on submissions to earn points redeemable for prizes such as digital video cameras, branded merchandise, NASCAR tickets, and a meet-and-greet with NASCAR’s Ryan Newman.   When Tornados reached the 100,000 fan mark this past week, it released coupons to its fans in the form of Buy 1 Get 1 FREE e-coupons.

I asked Bulbstorm Marketing Director Matt Simpson a few more questions about the project.  

1).  What old-school methods do you think agencies might have tried in the past to reach this kind of milestone, if social media weren’t around?

To develop a fan base in the pre-social world, a consumer packaged goods brand like Tornados would typically have poured millions into traditional branding vehicles like television/radio commercials and print advertising. Fans are spending 5+ minutes per visit into the branded game on Facebook. From a time perspective, this is the equivalent of 10 30-second commercials. From an engagement perspective, the fans are interacting (rating, commenting and sharing) as opposed to just watching.

2).  Naysayers would say, yeah it’s great that you reached 100,000 fans, but has that turned into appreciable sales for Tornados?  Does Ruiz Foods have any before and after sales figures to map against the Facebook campaign?

Facebook efforts have increased brand awareness and sales for Tornados, which is a relatively new brand. We know this for two reasons. First, coupons claimed within Facebook promotions are redeemed at a 40-50 percent clip. The same coupons distributed (at higher cost) in the Sunday newspaper typically draw a redemption rate of under 10 percent for an established brand. Second, the Facebook page has been a primary driver of new consumers into stores – whether those new consumers find Tornados via the brand’s NASCAR sponsorship, the brand’s dotcom, or Facebook promos. Tornados has uneven distribution across retail chains, so fans use our Facebook-only interactive map (http://apps.facebook.com/tornadosmap) to find stores by ZIP code. We’ve seen tens of thousands of queries in the last two months.

 3). Do you think there are certain products that lend themselves more easily to viral Facebook, such as food products?

 Consumers are most likely to share content that A) was created by them and B) is tied into an incentive. That’s why our promotional solution is based around consumer ideas for brands. And that’s why we focus on industries that lend themselves to consumer ideas such as consumer packaged goods (everyone uses them so everyone has ideas), restaurant chains (everyone thinks they know food), sports teams (everyone thinks they’re an armchair QB), etc.  

 4). What are the demographics of your target Tornados consumer?

 Tornados is a snack brand available on hot rollers in convenience stores and in the frozen foods section of grocery stores. So, the target demo is young men who like convenient snacks (hence the alignment with NASCAR).

 5). Did you use any other social media tools to tie in to Facebook or to lead fans to Facebook?

We communicated with a number of coupon bloggers via Twitter and email and gave them (and their audiences) first access to the promotion. However, the vast majority of the promotion has taken place on Facebook itself.

E.B. Lane has been selected as Agency of Record for the Arizona Lottery. The Phoenix-based full service agency was selected after submitting a written response to the state agency’s Request for Proposal and conducting a formal presentation. The contract is estimated at $80 million over the next five years and will begin July 1, 2010, the start of the state’s fiscal year.

E.B. Lane returns as the Arizona Lottery’s marketing partner with a decade of experience when the firm won the contract for two consecutive terms, from 1995-2005.

“E.B. Lane was selected as the Arizona Lottery Agency of Record through a rigorous 5-month Request for Proposal process mandated and overseen by the Arizona State Procurement Office,” said Jeff Hatch-Miller, executive director, Arizona Lottery. “We’re pleased to work with E.B. Lane and recognize this organization’s commitment to the welfare of our state. We are confident in their creative ability to help us increase the Lottery revenue that is vital to our state’s economy.”

At Olson, her experience in the hospitality industry will prove valuable as she works on national accounts like Home2 Suites by Hilton, and Arizona-based clients such as Avalon Scottsdale, Big Daddy’s BBQ, Talking Rock in Prescott, and Hidden Meadow Ranch in Greer.

Kovacevic graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, with an emphasis in public relations and strategic media. She is an active member of the International Association of Business Communicators’ Phoenix chapter, and a part time freelance writer specializing in budget fashion, health and beauty, women’s interests and more.

Services include strategic communications planning, employee and human resources communications, multimedia production, media training/presentation coaching, public relations, social media and copy writing.

“The Flip Side covers a lot of areas that can benefit small and large companies both internally and externally,” says Yaskin.

The big question is…will she pitch Fox10 reporter (and husband) Keith Yaskin? As if we wouldn’t if we had a spouse on the other side!

For more details check out the company’s web site at www.theflipsidecommunications.com.

The Lavidge Company

In addition to hiring Lagomarsino, TLC has also hired six new staff and promoted five employees across all agency departments.  For a complete list, go here.

• The Farm at South Mountain
• Premier Pools
• Steve Zahn film, “Calvin Marshall”
• Digital Tech Frontier
• Agumented Reality Development Lab
• Santa Barbara Catering Co.
• International Caterers Association
• Remnant Health Center

 If you have good agency news to report, contact us.

InView will deliver strategic national, trade and local communications programs to support Craters & Freighters’ 20th anniversary.

Craters & Freighters helps businesses and consumers with specialty freight handling, including container construction, pick-up, crating, shipping, tracking, insuring and delivery of shipments that are too heavy, large, valuable, awkward, and time-sensitive for other shipping agencies. The firm also operates a Global Logistics division to focus on custom logistic solutions for complex domestic and international packaging.