Arby’s creative agency of record, BBDO, was ousted by CP&B without a review. The shocker? BBDO had helped Arby’s in its fifth consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth.

Why would a huge brand switch from a winning agency? One word: relationship.

Arby’s new CMO, Russ Klein, had worked with CP&B for five years while he was with Burger King. According to Klein, “this transition is about where we are taking the brand and how we are going to get there. Our opportunity is to turn a great brand into a great business. We are building a brand that will be authentic, emotional and enduring, and I know that CP&B can get us there.”

If this was all about a making a great business, BBDO was already ahead of the game. After they won the Arby’s creative account in December 2010, BBDO delivered some great results. This includes the tagline ‘Good Mood Food,’ a contest that generated 1 million views a month, and tripling Arby’s Facebook fans to over 800,000. Yet, in the end, it seems that nothing beats a solid relationship.

Agencies need to foster relationships with their current and previous clients. Instead of always scouting new prospects, more agencies could be scrolling through their roll-a-dexes and rekindling relationships. The best leads will likely come from distant connections.

What is more important to you, results or relationship? Let us know in the comments.

Safe kids make for happy parents, so join us for free at the sixth annual Zero Fatalities Safe Kids Fair. The event is happening February 24 and 25 at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy, Utah. The safety festivities run from 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday and activities include:

• A visit from Captain America
• Face painting
• Fire truck exploration
• Petting zoo (including snake-holding)
• Anti-tobacco display
• Child passenger safety demonstrations
• S.N.A.P. performances
• Interactive car simulations
• Bicycle safety activities

We’ll also have plenty of giveaways for the kids, including our popular Zero Fatalities buckle-up backpacks. Make sure to stop by our booth first so your children will have somewhere to store all of their goodies—but they only get a bag if they promise to always buckle up!

So click those car seats and seat belts, look both ways when crossing and head to the Zero Fatalities Safe Kids Fair on February 24 and 25 for some free family fun, safety style. Your kids will thank you.

Most businesses understand that they need a website, but some don’t really know why they need one or, just as important, how to get people to visit it. They mistakenly assume that the “If you build it, they will come” rule applies to websites too and not just baseball diamonds built in the middle of Iowa cornfields. The reality is, if your marketing director isn’t a voice from the beyond, like it was in the movie, you had better develop realistic techniques to get people to come.

Driving traffic to a website starts by building it right, and that means understanding the roles it plays in your business strategy. Typically, the purpose of a website is threefold: educate, motivate and communicate. With basic elements such as securing the right URL and deciding how the site will fit into the overall marketing plan taken care of, the next step is to develop a strategy for the site with the intent to guide customers down a linear path that begins with awareness and education, motivates them to transition to an action mode and communicate for more information or to complete a purchase.

When developing your strategy, consider the following:

General Internet Awareness
Generating awareness among potential customers starts by making the site easy to find. Optimizing it for search engines and creating strategic channels is critical to gaining a prospect’s attention. Do it right the first time. Don’t try to trick the search engines because chances are the site will get black listed and that’ll be the end of that URL.

Trigger Action
Companies need to learn how to connect with their customer and guide them to their website. This can happen both offline and online. Online, a company needs be where the customer is looking. Don’t misunderstand, because that doesn’t mean a company needs to be everywhere, just where a potential customer is looking for them. That means SEO rankings, paid search, social media, banner ads, etc., all of which are designed as triggers to get people to a website.

Access to Information
Once people get to the site, they need to be able to quickly find what they came for. A grocery store is a physical entity. As such, they strategically shuffle their products to keep people browsing around the store for hours looking for the tapioca. Conversely, websites can’t keep people guessing because users can pop in and out with a flick of their wrist and the click of a button. Put the most important information up front and then provide opportunities to dig deeper.

Motivation
There’s a difference between providing good content and over dot-com-vomiting. Too much information can actually sell customers out of an opportunity. Provide the right, valuable information and then get out of the way.

Transition
Once people have developed some trust in a company and its product or service, they will typically transition from a research to an action mode. For companies that can sell online, that means the person makes a purchase. For companies that can’t sell online, it means the person initiates contact by filling out a form, making a phone call, or physically visiting. Whatever that next step is, it needs to be very clear and easy to take.

Bonus: Creating a Relationship
All too often, companies mistake a website as a necessary evil. It gets pushed down to the IT department and left in the capable hands of those who like to try things­­—just to see if they’ll work. It is a good idea to think of the site as an employee of the marketing or sales team. After all, in any given day, your website probably speaks to more potential customers than your entire company—combined. Make the site something that customers can relate to, expose company culture and personality and then find ways to create triggers so people will actually come.

This article was originally published in the February 2012 issue of Utah Business.

Thanks to Edelman Australia for the visual.

It’s time to combat the common misconceptions of the field I love: public relations.

Often, too often, in fact, when people find out I work in public relations, I get this response, “So do you write press releases all day?” Thankfully (as much as I enjoy writing press releases), the answer is no . . . but then how do I explain what I do each day? I guess you could say I have a PR problem on my hands—how do I properly and accurately convey and educate others on what my job entails, and more importantly, the value of PR?

A PR practitioner is a strategic communicator (and strategic is so overused! I should hope that in business, everything we do is strategic!). PR professionals are often tasked with everything under the sun when it comes to brand management, perceptions and communications. In PR, we work with a variety of audiences (or as we in the industry call it, “publics”) to best represent and manage the relationship with an organization or company.

So, yes, I do write press releases. But I certainly don’t do it all day! I also develop messaging to support the launch of a product, respond to a crisis or even overall brand message of what a company is and does. Our PR team works with the media—and these days, it’s all kinds of media including TV, radio, online, bloggers, etc. We do research. You know those calls you get about your awareness of a product or issue and how you weigh in on it? It’s a pretty safe bet that a communications professional is involved and will be reviewing the research findings to strengthen or develop communication efforts. We manage internal communications, too. The external audiences are very important, of course, but you also need to have strong relationships internally.

The value of PR can’t always be equated to an X percent increase in sales, or X dollars in ad equivalency. As we tell our clients, it’s often the intrinsic value. How do you put a dollar amount on a good reputation, or the quick resolution of a would-be crisis? Sometimes you can’t, but any PR professional worth his or her job will be able to show you, through their work and results, the value of PR.

The Public Relations Society of America is actually in the process of redefining public relations. Sure, PR has been around for more than a century now, but things, as we all know, keep changing. To keep up with these changing trends and services and value PR provides, a new definition is in the works, with industry professionals worldwide weighing in.

So, next time I see you, feel free to ask what I do all day. I promise I’ll have a good answer and it will be educational!

There was much digital chatter in the wake of Google’s announcement and debut of its new panel-based web measurement system. So much that Google quickly fulfilled its quota for panelist participation. Visitors to the official Screenwise landing page are now greeted by the following statement: We appreciate and are overwhelmed by your interest at the moment. Please come back later for more details.

The way Screenwise works is this: Willing participants install an extension in their Google Chrome browser that lets Google monitor their activity. They get an immediate $5 Amazon credit for installing the extension and an additional $5 every three months. Google gets all of the data (although it will not combine Screenwise data with web history data when users are logged into Mail or YouTube, for example).

This isn’t much different than the way research firms Nielsen and ComScore collect data on web users. Traditionally, Google has been able to see virtually unlimited (and anonymous) data for anyone using their search engine, mail, photo, blogging and seemingly infinite other amounts of products it puts out. Its Chrome browser was a huge step enabling the company to see a much clearer picture of how users navigate the web. So it is interesting that Google would now take the panelist route on collecting data. It is apparent that it sees a future where privacy concerns and government regulation might completely scuttle the traditional method of collecting data through cookies. Ironically, Google is being heavily criticized over this move for privacy concerns! We don’t see anyone taking Nielsen and ComScore to task for essentially doing the same thing.

Whatever the public reaction may be to this move, we at PPBH wonder how scientifically sound Google’s panel can be. Is it getting a panel of Google Alert-notified digital geeks who instantly flock to the latest unveiled product? Is it getting a ton of users in the digital marketing industry? Since we were too late to the party, we’re not sure what the vetting process is. But considering the way Google got its panel, how representative of the United States population can it possibly be?

When a client comes to us with a request to “redesign” their website, we perform a website audit before we push a single pixel. This audit process helps us determine what the current message of the website is, and more importantly, what message the user expects to hear from the website. In more cases than not, website owners think that a graphic redesign or “freshening up” will solve problems like low conversion rates, poor sales, high bounce percentages and other signs of frustrated or confused users. While intuitiveness and clarity are important usability factors, more often than not the problem lies in the content of the website.

Content is by far the most important element in user interface design. A webpage with a simple structure but quality content performs much better on usability tests than a nice layout with subpar text.

Quality content that grabs your users and keeps them engaged comes from understanding exactly what your users want to hear. The text, the photography, the media, the documents and the products all need to be strategized according the needs of the user, not the wants of shareholders, the IT Department or a designer.

In The Web Content Strategist’s Bible, Richard Sheffield emphasizes the importance of editorial process to content strategy…

If you allow any designer to start laying out a new interface with “Lorem Ipsum” text, you are assuming that there is no problem with the content on your website, or with the way you’re communicating with your users. This is a dangerous assumption and could lead to wasted money, frustrated users, a lack of results and a great looking website.

Before you ask for a website face-lift, make sure you have a solid understanding of what your users are expecting from your website and that you’ve scrutinized the quality of your content according to your online communication strategy.

Without the content to back up your “new and improved” website, you may see a quick surge in traffic but it will be fleeting. Behind the curtains of a new interface, users will quickly realize that the same old movie is playing and they will quickly change the channel.

Ah…the Super Bowl. An American past time rich in football tradition. But let’s not let a little game of catch overshadow the real reason we watch. That’s right, Super Bowl Sunday has come to be less about the football game and more about the pizza, chicken wings and seven-layer dip associated with this glorious occasion, and let’s not forget the commercials. Oh the commercials! The Super Bowl is notorious for its budget-busting commercials that can make a company a pop culture icon or a laughingstock.

Almost every year there is a stand out ad that is touching, shocking or just downright funny (the ads of the dot.com era seem to be the exception, but I digress). This year we found that, while there weren’t necessarily any clear standout ads, the majority of them were pretty darn good. We did an informal office poll, and these were the top commercial picks from the PPBH crew:

10. Fiat: Seduction – Tantalizing and hilarious. Definitely will make some blush.

9. Chevy: Sonic Anthem – Putting the car front and center in these crazy stunts was purely awesome!

8. Coca-Cola: Polar Bears – Great branding and great storytelling! Plus, the kiddos loved them.

7. Audi: Vampire Party – Twilight fans beware the new Audi LED headlights.

6. Honda: CRV’s Day Out – Who doesn’t love Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? A witty spin on a classic!

5. Chevy: Happy Grad – Don’t worry dude, most of us would think the car was our graduation gift too. What kind of a graduation gift is a mini-fridge? Yeah, we said it.

4. Sketchers: Go Run – How can you not love a French Bulldog in little red shoes?

3. Doritos: Man’s Best Friend and Sling Baby (tie) – As always, Doritos delivers! The Crash the Super Bowl contest provides great concepts and overall hilarious ads.

2. Chevy: Silverado “2012″ - Perfect tapping into the 2012 end of the world zeitgeist and they showed off the clear benefit of Chevy trucks. Well done! But really, the Twinkies made this commercial.

1. M&Ms: Just My Shell – ‘Naked’ M&Ms dancing to LMFAO’s hit ‘Sexy and I Know It’? Hands down one of the best commercials of the night.

This year there were so many great ads it really is hard to choose just 10. If you haven’t had a chance to view all the ads yet, you can catch them all and vote for your favorite on the USA Today Superbowl Ad Meter.

This time of year you can find many articles talking about the top brands for 2012, but what about brands that may not make it through the year? The popular financial blog, 24/7 Wall St., put together a list that no brand ever wants to be on—it’s a list of Ten Brands that Will Disappear in 2012. In years past, this list has proved to be eerily accurate as it predicted the downfall or near extinction of brands including Borders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Sun Microsystems. In June 2010 they admitted that they had  ”completely missed the mark on a few companies,” including Eastman Kodak. It turns out, they didn’t miss completely, they were just a little premature in their prediction.

In order to make this year’s list, a brand had to meet one or more of the following criteria:

1. A rapid fall-off in sales and steep losses
2. Disclosures by the parent of the brand that it might go out of business
3. Rapidly rising costs that are extremely unlikely to be recouped through higher prices
4. Companies which are sold
5. Companies that go into bankruptcy
6. Firms that have lost the great majority of their customers
7. Operations with rapidly withering market share.

And the list of brands includes:

1. Sony Pictures
2. A&W
3. SAAB
4. American Apparel
5. Sears
6. Sony Ericsson
7. Kellogg’s Corn Pops
8. MySpace
9. Soap Opera Digest
10. Nokia

It’s hard to think of no more Corn Pops for breakfast, but it’s easy to see that many of the brands on the list are already failing. Being half Norwegian, I drove a SAAB for many years before my German wife decided it was time to give BMW a try. SAAB Automobile, the Swedish automaker’s parent company, filed for bankruptcy after a desperate three-year fight for survival.

I’ve been buying tools from Sears for many years, so I was glad to hear the store I go to is staying open. But because of slumping sales, Sears will close 100 to 120 stores nationwide. In December, Credit Suisse went so far as to say the company’s problems would renew worries about whether it would survive. More recently, Sears stock has jumped, but there’s no way of telling if the trend will continue. Better stock up on drill bits, just in case.

In the end, it seems that the criteria to make it onto the list of failing brands should serve as “deep water” warning signs that companies should steer clear of at all costs.

In the last couple of days websites and blogs have been buzzing with articles about the newfound popularity of Pinterest. One article by one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media, Brian Solis, revealed an interesting finding: Pinterest rivals Twitter in referral traffic. But it’s not just Twitter that Pinterest is giving a run for its money. Some out there are asking, “Is Pinterest the next Facebook?”

According to Solis, Pinterest’s estimated unique viewership shot up 429 percent from September to December 2011. In fact, the site received nearly 11 million visits in just one week in December.

If the numbers are any indication, odds are pretty good that you’re probably on Pinterest yourself. I am—and am a huge fan. I attribute Pinterest for the success of the coral-and-grey-themed bridal shower I threw for my best friend. SO, the question, or quandary, here is: what’s got us all pining for Pinterest?

Solis sums it up well: Pinterest is an effective marriage of social bookmarking and visual curation with an extremely fervent user base. Pinterest excels because it has put the tool of “pinning” into users’ hands. The “Pin It” tool lets you pin just about any image on a website and it becomes one of millions of searchable images that can be viewed by other pinners. Pinterest has taken all of the pluses of the Internet for crafts, ideas, art, DIY, etc. and put it one convenient, sharable and very social site.

Businesses have a place on Pinterest, too. PPBH pins, in fact you can follow us. But what does pinning do for the organization? On a site where people are looking for and sharing for all kinds of things—from nurseries (that’s my current obsession) to motivational quotes and artwork, it gives you a chance to showcase the visual side of your business. It makes your website visually searchable. For instance, if you search for an item of clothing, piece of furniture or dream destination, you’re likely to see a cute top posted by a clothing line, a retro sofa from a furniture designer or a beachfront condo for rent posted by a travel company among the results. That image then links people back to the site or original location of the image.

The bottom line is this, if your customers or key audiences are on Pinterest, it’s in your best interest to be there, too. But remember, something we always say, don’t get into social media for the sake of social media. Make sure it’s led by a strategy, ties into your business goals and is something your company is committed to.

Happy pinning!

We all hate captchas—you know, those squiggly, impossible-to-read words that you have to decipher and type into a box. They seem to blanket the internet in an unending puzzle. In fact, there are more than 200 million captchas solved every day.

But did you know that by solving a captcha, you are participating in the largest transcription effort of all time? Pioneered by Google, a captcha takes scanned books, breaks apart individual words, and then displays them in boxes. When you decipher the words, you are helping to digitize old editions of the New York Times and books.

Deciphering books is a great public service, but what if your company wants to have a slice of the captcha pie? Instead of typing in old books, imagine the power of a potential customer typing in your brand logo or current promotion. Well, daydream no more.

Captcha advertising is here.

You can now have your advertising message shown with the intent that users type in your message. This can be done either as a static image, or in a video. Research shows that message recall is 12 times higher through captchas than other online advertising.

We recently used this technology with one of our clients and saw excellent results. The captcha ads stand out as new and innovative for the brand. Also, the click-through rate of those who completed a type-in was 2.37 percent! To put that into perspective, that is 23 times higher than a normal banner ad.

So stop daydreaming and hop on the captcha bandwagon! You’ll start seeing great results, and users will love you for showing them a clear message.

Virtual protesters were at it again this weekend. This time, people were speaking out . . . er, I mean, being silent in protest of the new Twitter censorship policy that allows the social network to block certain tweets in countries that forbid conversation on specific topics. Protestors rallied to the standard and soon, Twitter bird icons with a red “x” covering the mouth began to appear and #TwitterBlackout began trending. But while the battle lines on the topic are being drawn, who is right?

That’s a hard question to answer, because both sides have valid points. For Twitter, the censorship is simply a price of expanding into certain countries. They are merely complying with the rules and regulations set forth by the governments. Without that compliance, they wouldn’t be allowed to enter at all. One could even argue that compliance now could eventually open the door to greater freedom of speech in these same countries.

On the other hand, protestors argue that any form of censorship is wrong. The fear is that once censorship begins, stopping it from spreading can be problematic if not impossible. It’s the “First they censor France and Germany, next they censor the U.S. and other countries” mentality. The fear isn’t without a foundation, as history is replete with instances big and small where little changes have led to mass consequences.

So on Saturday, protestors vowed to hold their Twitter tongues and refrain from tweeting. How many people actually followed through and were able to keep the urgent news about what they were eating for lunch or the funny picture of their cat with his head in the toilet to themselves? That is unclear. Statweestics.com offered this information on the popularity of #TwitterBlackout:

Judging by the fact that the hashtag was still wildly popular before noon on the 28th, it’s probably safe to say that people had a hard time keeping their beaks shut.

But maybe the lesson to be learned here is that a group who is adamant about sharing their every move with the world should pick a more feasible protesting strategy. #ClearlySilenceDoesntWorkForThem #TheyCantHelpThemselves #JustGottaTweet

What do you think of Twitter’s new policy?

It offers some insight into the best times to post and the best type of content. It looks to me like it is the average of all Facebook pages. Therefore, it isn’t necessarily the perfect solution for every client, or every business.

We have found that some of our clients effectively post several times a day, not every other day as Zarella suggests. I would venture that Hollywood and some larger brand’s marketing teams distort the data when not consistent with their posting activities.

Still, I think you will find the chart below interesting.