Fireballers Take Time for Kids

Celtic is sponsoring a car in this year's Fireball Run, a transcontinental rally to build awareness for America's missing children. Suite 206 is the official blog for Car #65, driven by Tom Warden and Chris Nielsen. Here's an update from the road...

Tues., Sept. 30, 2008

The Fireball Run stopped in Tupelo, Miss. for a visit to the Tupelo Children’s Mansion, a residence for orphaned and disadvantage children. About 100 kids greeted us with checkered flags as we pulled into the driveway. The kids were in awe seeing all the vehicles and meeting the drivers. We even signed a few autographs.

This was an amazing opportunity for us to make a difference in their lives. This is what the Fireball is all about!

From Tuscaloosa to Tupelo

Celtic is sponsoring a car in this year's Fireball Run, a transcontinental rally to build awareness for America's missing children. Suite 206 is the official blog for Car #65, driven by Tom Warden and Chris Nielsen. Here's an update from the road...

Tues., Sept. 30, 2008

How do you get from Tuscaloosa to Tupelo in a hurry...police escort! That's right, we received a police escort today from Alabama state troopers. Our motorcade reach speeds up to 100 miles per hour. Before we hit the road, we spent Monday night in downtown Tuscaloosa. We met the mayor, participated in a parade and dontated books at City Hall.

Now we're racing our way to Tupelo with the wind at our back...

Brand of the Week

What does this brand mean to you?

BBQ & Bear Bryant

Celtic is sponsoring a car in this year's Fireball Run, a transcontinental rally to build awareness for America's missing children. Suite 206 is the official blog for Car #65, driven by Tom Warden and Chris Nielsen. Here's an update from the road...

Mon., Sept. 29, 2008

One thing you’ll notice as you travel throughout the south is that there are a lot of “World Famous” and “Voted #1” barbeque restaurants. Our next mission led us to Dreamland BBQ in Tuscaloosa, where the sauce is finger lickin' good.

Of course we stopped at University of Alabama to check out the Bear Bryant Museum. Our mission was to find the museum on campus, and then snap a photo in front of his desk. We made a small donation to the museum, then off to the BF Goodrich Tire Plant to compete on their actual test road course.

Start Your Engines!

Celtic is sponsoring a car in this year's Fireball Run, a transcontinental rally to build awareness for America's missing children. Suite 206 is the official blog for Car #65, driven by Tom Warden and Chris Nielsen. Here's an update from the road...

Fri., Sept. 26, 2008

The 2008 Fireball Run is set to start. Here we are at the Baton Rouge starting line, waiting to get on the road. Before we fire up the engine, we take some publicity photos with the mayor of Baton Rouge, Melvin 'Kip' Holden (wearing a blue shirt and hat).

Our journey ahead will be filled with fun and adventure, but it's also for a very important cause. We're racing this year to find a runaway teen named Gao Nou Yang. She's a 14 year old girl who resides in Wausau, Wis. She left home in April and has not been seen since.

We will be "spreading the word" about Yang, as well as other missing children throughout the week-long event. Thanks to sponsors like Celtic, Palermo's Pizza, Morgan Stanley and others, we have a real chance of finding some of these kids.

-Chris N.

The Dukes of Hazard?

Celtic is sponsoring a car in this year's Fireball Run, a transcontinental rally to build awareness for America's missing children. Suite 206 is the official blog for Car #65, driven by Tom Warden and Chris Nielsen. Here's an update from the road...

Fri., Sept. 26, 2008

The Fireball Run has an 80’s theme this year, so we’ll be driving along with cars dressed up as the General Lee, Knight Rider, Smokey and the Bandit and the Delorean Time Machine from the movie Back to the Future. Here’s a $150,000 Bentley disguised as the General Lee. I haven’t seen it jump over any washed out bridges yet, but the drivers rigged it up so the horn sounds the same as Bo and Luke Duke's.

-Tom W.

Fireballers Get Ready to Rally

Celtic is sponsoring a car in this year's Fireball Run, a transcontinental rally to build awareness for America's missing children. Suite 206 is the official blog for Car #65, driven by Tom Warden and Chris Nielsen. Here's an update from the road...

Fri., Sept. 26, 2008

“We’re making it look mean!” Can’t participate in a road rally without the support of our sponsors, including the good folks at Celtic. Everybody spent the day washing their cars and putting on sponsor decals. The cars stand out like a sore thumb on the roads, and people are constantly asking “what’s up?.”

A global GPS tracking device was provided and installed in each of the cars, so I’m told our fans will be able to keep track of everyone at the Fireball website.

This year, our team is racing across the country to help find Gao Nou Yang, a 14 year old girl from Wausau, Wis. More on her in a later post...

-Tom W.

Microsoft Strikes Back

After years of getting hammered by Apple, Microsoft has finally responded to the Mac vs. PC ad campaign.

It's about time!

Celtic Supports The Fireball Run

Celtic is proud to Sponsor Tom Warden, a participant in the 2009 Fireball Run / Race to Recover America's Missing Children. The Fireball Run is a nationwide recovery and awareness campaign to help search for recently abducted children. You may not know it, but more than 2,000 kids are reported missing each day. Most are found without incident…others aren’t so lucky.

This year's rally, which kicks off next week, begins in Baton Rouge and ends in Grand Rapids, Mich. During the journey, participants like Tom will stop in cities to meet with officials and the media to help raise awareness for lost or missing children. So what kind of impact does an event like this have? Well, according to organizers, two children were found last year as a direct result of the rally. Talk about making a difference!

Good luck to Tom and all the drivers in this year's event. Celtic is proud to support you and your efforts!

Note: Tom Warden will be providing frequent updates throughout the journey. His blog entries will appear right here on Suite 206. Check back often for ongoing updates.

Blackberry vs. Spouse

Just when I thought people couldn't possibly be more insane about their Smart Phones and other handheld devices, I saw this article in the Chicago Sun-Times....

"A new survey found that about 35 percent of professionals would pick their PDAs over their spouses if they had to choose."

You read that correctly. Thirty-five percent of those surveyed would choose their Blackberry over their husband or wife.

Come to think of it, it's probably not that crazy. When I see the way people fawn over their Smart Phones during meetings, social events, driving and other inappropriate times, it's no wonder a large percentage of people would rather live with a phone versus an actual human being.

-Brian M.

Promos on a Budget

I’m often amazed at how some people think you need to throw gobs of money at an event or promotion to get attention. Based on my experience, some of the best buzz we’ve built for clients cost next to nothing, yet generated a ton of excitement and media attention.

I recently saw a picture on the cover of our local paper that reinforced this point. The Rockettes – you know…the girls from New York who do the high kicks at Radio City Music Hall every Christmas – were in town promoting an upcoming event. In order to promote the show, they flew in two women to do some high steps at a local custard stand. The media ate it up. For the cost of a couple plane tickets, they were featured in just about every media outlet in town.

With one of our clients (College Illinois), our promo team set up a 10-stop tour last summer with the program’s mascots. They showed up at Wrigley Field, Navy Pier, The Abe Lincoln Museum and a U of I football game (to name a few). We paid nothing to be at these venues. For the cost of gas and agency time, we generated a lot of exposure for the program on a limited budget.

So before you throw a ton of money at your next event or promotion, look for creative, inexpensive ways to build buzz for your brand. All it takes is a clever idea…not a big budget.

-Brian M.

*Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wake Up & Smell the Coffee!

Facebook ... MySpace ... these are things only young folks pay attention to right? Wrong!

The reality is that the baby boom generation is beginning to embrace and rely on social network sites as well. 'A recent article by Brandweek showed that 41% of baby boomers (aged 44- 61) have visited social networks like MySpace or Facebook ... and 61% have been to sites with streaming or downloadable video.'

According to the article, "Younger brands" like Apple and Red Bull have paved the way, and now "older brands" must realize that there's a more mainstream approach to reaching all types of consumers." The article also states that more mature brands have made the mistake of not feeling it's relevant or imperative to market to younger audiences. A good example of an older brand "waking up and smelling the coffee" is BMW, who recently used Facebook as a marketing channel to further publicize its new 1-Series. Although I would suggest BMW smelled the coffee years ago, as they were true social networking pioneers with their BMW Films (mini movies developed for the Internet only, that romanticized the brand).

So regardless of your age, don't let a younger generation assume all of this social networking is just for them. Got on board and embrace your fair share!

-- Kurt L.

Are you a Net-Newser?

I have to admit – I’m a bit of a news junkie. And, as a PR professional, I’ve always been interested in how Americans get there news. So, I was struck by this report from Pew Research Center. According to the group’s recent news consumption survey, the majority of American’s now fall into three major categories when it comes to obtaining news: “Integrators,” “Net-Newsers” and “Traditionalists.”

-- Integrators are well-educated, affluent and middle aged. Television is their main news source, but they also get news online. This group has a greater interest in political news – and sports – than any other segment.

-- Net-Newsers are affluent, well-educated and relatively young. They’re predominantly male, more likely to read political blogs and are frequent online news viewers.

-- Traditionalists are older and less affluent and rely heavily on TV news. They have a strong interest in the weather and are less interested in science and tech news.

For more details, including some interesting comparisons between traditional newspapers and Web-based news sources, you can check out the full report here.

(Thanks to MediaPost Communications for forwarding the Pew report).

-Bill B.

Branding: Consistency is Key

When it comes to marketing, there’s no shortage of buzz words these days. Just pick up your favorite magazine or trade journal and you’re likely to see mention of blogs, podcasts, social networks, viral initiatives and countless similar terms.

Without question, all of these tools can be effective ways to spread information when implemented properly. But, don’t be tempted to simply try the latest and greatest without first ensuring your company has a solid marketing foundation in place. Start by evaluating your company’s brand. Of course, your brand is simply what your customers think you are –and the degree that they buy into the value of your company. And, while it may seem basic, consistency is often the key component that differentiates a strong brand from one that gets lost in the clutter.

To help ensure consistency, it’s important to consider the following:

• Do all of your marketing materials look cohesive? Do they share the same color scheme, typeface and overall design characteristics?
• Do you have a logo that’s recognizable in your industry and incorporated into every touch point with your customers and prospects?
• Does your company speak with a single voice? Is the tone of your communication similar across all channels (does your company’s newsletter, Website, brochures and tradeshow materials read like they were all written by the same person)?

If not, you’re sending a fragmented message, which can quickly erode the positioning of your brand. To guage the strength of your brand, consider partnering with an outside marketing firm. Most firms can quickly conduct a brand audit to ensure your efforts are consistent and, more importantly, effectively lead your target audience to a desired action.

It’s also important that you don’t wait until market conditions are perfect or until your company faces an emergency before taking the necessary steps to strengthen your brand. Start today. Get a jump start on your competitors and develop a marketing roadmap that will enhance your brand and keep it healthy for years to come.

-Bill B.