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Media-Category Final Judges Named for American Business Awards |
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 Twenty leading media-industry executives have joined the Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors for the media section of The American Business Awards and will participate in this year’s final judging.
The American Business Awards are open to all organizations operating in the U.S.A. - public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The entry deadline is March 31. The entry kit is online. The media section of the ABAs recognizes America’s best advertising campaigns, web sites, blogs, videos, live events, annual reports and other literature, and other media. There are also categories for Advertising or Design Agency of the Year and Creative Department of the Year.
The 20 additions to the judging board are:
Patrick Bonomo, Managing Partner, Director of Search & Digital Operations, MediaCom Search
Ming Chan, CEO, The1stMovement
Chad Eikhoff, Owner, Trick 3D
Katherine Goldman, Senior VP, Executive Creative Director, Jack Morton Worldwide
Ashley Hansberger, Partner, Motto Agency
Tina Hansen, Supervising Marketing Analyst, Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
Michael Johnson, Creative Director, iHealthSpot, Inc.
Timothy Kane, Executive Vice President, Makovsky + Company
Peyton Lindley, Executive Director of User Experience Design and Technology, EffectiveUI
Patrick Milling Smith, Partner, Smuggler
Anand Pallegar, President, AtLarge, Inc.
Gillian Rawcliffe, Business Development Manager, Verite, Inc.
Ann Roskey, VP, Marketing & Audience Development, Accela Communications
Daniel Sackenheim, Executive Producer, RTV & FYLTV, Ralphs Grocery Company
Mark Schulte, Creative Director, Sells Agency
Molly E. Spatara, Global Director, Internet Marketing, Accenture
Scott Takeda, Director/Producer, Takeda Entertainment, Inc.
Tinne Teugels, Director, Metia
Stephen Thompson, Executive VP & Executive Creative Director, iCrossing
Michael Weil, Vice President, Hall-Erickson, Inc.
They join a roster of other creative luminaries on the media-section judging board that is listed at www.stevieawards.com/aba.
Finalists in The 2010 American Business Awards will be determined in preliminary judging to be conducted in April and May by volunteer professionals nationwide. Final judging will take place May 17-28. The results of the 2010 competition will be announced at an awards dinner in New York on June 21.
Agencies, designers and production companies that were honored with Stevie® Awards in the media section of last year’s American Business Awards include BGT Partners, Creative Channel Services, DDB, hawkeye, Matrex Exhibits, Off Madison Ave, and XPLANE, among others.
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The Story of the Singing Press Kit |
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F & H Porter Novelli, in Munich, Germany, won the Stevie Award for Communications Campaign of the Year in Europe in the 2009 International Business Awards.
 One of F&H Porter Novelli’s biggest clients is LG Electronics, Inc., a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, mobile communications, and home appliances, employing more than 84,000 people working in 115 operations including 84 subsidiaries around the world. With global sales of $44.7 billion in 2008, LG comprises five business units: Home Entertainment, Home Appliances, Air Conditioning, Business Solutions, and Mobile Communications.
With its cutting-edge technology and innovative design capabilities, LG creates handsets that provide an optimized mobile experience to customers around the world. LG has been a player In the German mobile phone market since 1976, but was not perceived as a particularly focused brand. In addition, LG products did not receive much coverage by the German lifestyle press. The best coverage up to 2009 had been for design mobile phones like the LG Secret or the New PRADA Phone by LG.
The mobile phone market in Germany had been dominated by strong competition between LG, Samsung, Nokia, and SonyEricsson. Apple’s iPhone was also a contender with its touch-screen surface and multimedia features.
Overall Goal
The overall goal for the launch of LG’s new mobile phone, the ARENA KM900, was to heighten brand awareness in targeted lifestyle media, to emotionalize the brand, to increase awareness for the entire LG mobile product range, and to position LG as a lifestyle brand in the technology sector.
The focus for the product launch was on the new multimedia and entertainment capabilities of the new phone. The aim was to present the entertainment features of the device to lifestyle journalists in an unusual and memorable way. The message had to reach journalists in a personal manner while at the same time providing them with a hands-on experience of the LG ARENA.
Short Window of Opportunity
A particular challenge for this product launch was timing. The LG ARENA’s worldwide product launch was to take place at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February 2009. CeBIT, one of the most important technology fairs in Germany, was to take place in Hanover just two weeks later at the beginning of March. There was therefore only a short window of opportunity to present the new device to lifestyle journalist in Germany who weren’t going to be at the Mobile World Congress.
Strategy
With the first public appearance of the LG ARENA scheduled for February 16, 2009 at the Mobile World Congress, F&H had to move quickly in order to reach their target group of key journalists in Germany just one week later. An editorial tour was considered the most time- and cost-efficient method of presenting the new LG ARENA to lifestyle journalists from print and online editorial offices, but a special approach was needed to reach this media target group on an emotional level.
The LG ARENA was the world’s first mobile device with Dolby Mobile for Music. This application, combined with further entertainment features, needed to be promoted in a very creative way. The F&H Technology team, under the leadership of Julia Heymann, developed the concept of a “singing press kit,“ with a special LG song that communicated the new features of the device to the journalists. The Technology team planned a “hands on” experience, together with the product and brand experience, as a major part of each editorial visit.
The “singing press kit” devised by F&H consisted of three musicians (a singer, acoustic guitar. and acoustic bass) playing a version of the popular song “Viva la Vida“ by Coldplay that had been adapted with new lyrics. The message it conveyed to the lifestyle journalists was: This is entertainment with the LG ARENA.
The “singing press kit” communicated the entertainment message in an equally entertaining way. The adapted song included information on the main features of the new LG ARENA including its innovative functions, the 3D S-Class User Interface, the 3-inch touch screen with cube-based layout, Dolby Mobile for Music, audio and video capabilities, and a 5 megapixel camera plus GPS and Geo tagging. It finished with the LG slogan: “Life’s Good.”
Campaign Execution
The campaign was created in January 2009 and the editorial tour was implemented in Munich and Hamburg at the end of February 2009, with one editorial day in each city.
After a save-the-date-mailing, the journalists received an invitation with the
claim “LG is in the house,“ illustrated with the new LG KM900 ARENA. Appointments were made by personal calls and filled one whole day each in Hamburg and Munich with editorial meetings. To create suspense among the journalists, the meetings were simply pitched as a product briefing for a new mobile phone together with a “special demonstration that they should not miss.” The live performance of the band was not announced, so it came as a total surprise when the musicians entered the room.
The LG band, wearing branded LG shirts, was accompanied by the Head of Marketing Mobile Communications for LG Germany, the PR Manager of LG Germany, and an F&H agency contact. The “singing press kit” started up almost immediately on entering the room.
Following the live performance, the mobile phone was presented to the
journalists. Press information (including press release, pictures, data sheets, and the LG ARENA TV spot) was provided to the journalists on a CD. As a give-away that would continue the entertaining LG experience, the journalists received a voucher for a music download portal to download their favorite songs.
Results
The “singing Press kit” paid calls on a total of 18 journalists in Munich and 9 in Hamburg. The feedback to LG’s “singing press kit“ and the new LG ARENA was extremely positive. Journalists considered the staging of the product demonstration to be highly innovative and entertaining. As a result, the test program was extended, encouraging media cooperation and strengthening contacts with the lifestyle press.
The product launch in Germany resulted in approximately 170 print and online mentions in the following month.
About Julia Heymann
Julia Heymann joined the Technology team at F&H in 2008 and is currently the F&H Team leader on the LG Electronics account for Germany. She has over six years work experience in communications with the focus on consumer electronics and Internet security. Previously, she acted as the team leader for national and international accounts in the B2C and B2B area.
Heymann studied Franco Romance studies, English, law, and media at the
University of Mannheim and is fluent in English and French. She is interested in modern literature, traveling, and Yoga.
About F&H Porter Novelli
Founded in 1980, F&H Porter Novelli is exclusive German brand partner of the Porter Novelli Group. The agency currently employs 60 people in its Munich office. F&H is amongst the top 10 PR agencies in Germany and is a full-service agency offering a modern communications mix from PR to advertising. For more information go to http://en.f-und-h.de/. |
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How You Can Help Protect Our Oceans |
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Last week the Stevie Awards announced that Oceana would be the sole non-profit beneficiary of all four of our 2010 awards programs. Here's an update on what Oceana has achieved, is working on, and what you can do to support their mission.
 Oceana is the largest, solely marine-focused nonprofit in the world, with offices throughout North America, in Europe, and in Central and South America. Global in scope and dedicated to conservation, Oceana campaigns to protect and restore the world’s oceans. Our teams of marine scientists, economists, lawyers and advocates win specific and concrete policy changes to reduce pollution and prevent the irreversible collapse of fish populations, marine mammals and other sea life. For nearly ten years, our campaigns have achieved measurable policy changes that are protecting habitat, reducing pollution, and protecting marine species from overfishing.
Oceana holds itself accountable to its supporters by setting concrete goals and timelines for achieving those goals. This approach prevents us from spreading ourselves too thin and enforces discipline when conceiving of our campaigns. Oceana’s strategy has paid off for the oceans. Recent victories include –
Protecting the Arctic from Industrial Fishing – In a precedent-setting move, fisheries managers backed Oceana’s support for a precautionary approach to fishing in the rapidly changing U.S. Arctic, by voting to close U.S. Arctic waters north of the Bering Strait to industrial fishing until scientists can show fishing will not harm sensitive ecosystems.
Protecting Sea Turtles– Industrial fishing poses the greatest threat to sea turtles. Oceana recently won fishery closures on the east and west coasts of the U.S. that will reduce the killing of endangered loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles as “bycatch” on longline hooks.
Stopping the Overuse of Antibiotics in Farmed Salmon – Drawing heavily from policy recommendations advocated by Oceana, the government of Chile recently announced plans to demand reductions in the use of antibiotics by the salmon aquaculture industry.
Protecting Sharks – Legislation to reduce shark finning has passed the House and is on its way to the U.S. Senate. In Europe, Oceana’s campaigning has pushed Spain and Germany to advance protections for sharks vulnerable to overfishing, including threshers, hammerheads, blue, shortfin makos, spurdog and porbeagle.
Stopping Mercury Pollution – Oceana has spearheaded the effort to reduce mercury emissions from chlor-alkali plants. This spring, our allies in Congress passed the mercury phase-out bill from a key House subcommittee and introduced the same bill in the Senate. Our efforts have also brought 36 percent of the U.S. grocery market onto the ‘green list’ to increase consumer understanding about mercury in seafood.
Businesses and consumers are vital partners in our mission to save the world’s oceans. We can all remember a simple list of things to do to become ocean-friendly businesses and consumers:
Our buying habits matter:
- Stay away from purchasing endangered species – like bluefin tuna, corals, and sharks – over fishing of these species is driving them toward extinction.
- Protect yourself and your family from mercury in tuna fish and other big sea fish like shark and swordfish. Mercury in small amounts has neurotoxic effects in humans, and it’s bad for sea life, too.
Our personal and business habits matter:
- Choose nontoxic products, and take your toxic materials like old paints, solvents, used motor oil and batteries to your hazardous waste collection site.
- Keep plastic and garbage out of the ocean when you’re at the beach, on the boat, or in the water. Choose reusable bags and water bottles whenever possible.
- It all runs to the sea -- stop over-use of lawn and garden fertilizers. They end up in the oceans, creating dead zones, polluting coastal wetlands, and killing corals.
Our commitment to get involved matters:
- Join Oceana and become a donor! Become an active voice in Oceana’s campaigns to stop habitat destruction, overfishing, and pollution.
- Let businesses know that oceans matter support those with good environmental ethics.
(photo copyright Carlos Suarez)
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IN BRIEF: ABA Webinar Recording Available; New Facebook Application; Volunteer Judge the Stevie Awards; Stevie Awards Sponsorship Opportunities; IBA Webinar on April 27 |
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A recording of the March 9 webinar HOW TO ENTER THE AMERICAN BUSINESS AWARDS is now available at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/926373929.
Try our new, free Facebook application, called My Work Accomplishments. With this tool users in the U.S.A can note their achievements at work on their Facebook profile, invite their friends and colleagues to comment on those achievements, then automatically submit that compilation of achievements and comments as an entry to The American Business Awards in one of six categories.
Volunteer to be a preliminary-round judge in The American Business Awards and/or International Business Awards. You'll learn about how other organizations around the world are achieving success.
The Stevie Awards offer a variety of low-cost sponsorship opportunities that provide many participatory, lead generation, and brand-awareness benefits. As you finalize your 2010 marketing budgets, be sure to consider a Stevie Awards sponsorship. Contact us to learn more...
Join us for a free global webinar entitled HOW TO ENTER THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AWARDS on Tuesday, April 27 at 14:00 GMT. Learn more and register here... |
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