Yearly Archives: 2016

TubeMogul University and the Future of Digital Media Planning/ Buying

There is no doubt that the digital media landscape is constantly evolving. Consumer media consumption habits are becoming more and more fragmented (see image below) and to consistently deliver fresh digital media strategies, media planners and buyers must constantly learn new tactics and follow digital trends in the trades.

It is especially important for agencies like us to stay ahead of the digital game since brands now have more options for buying media; some brands are bringing these efforts in-house. Digital media companies are making the planning and buying process easier, challenging media agencies to stay relevant since the process is becoming more and more automated. This automated planning and buying process is called “programmatic” (fancy digital lingo). Programmatic is the newest buzzword being thrown around these days, and should not be taken lightly. Data and technology are becoming so sophisticated, yet so simple to implement into our marketing strategies, and will continue to be the centerpiece of any quality media approach.

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Enter TubeMogul. Considered one of the leaders in the “programmatic” space, Tube(mogul) has made a name for itself by investing heavily in data and technology. Tube has successfully created a marketing platform with tools that simplify the planning and buying process. As our clients continue to expect more polished digital campaigns and transparency with their buys (as they should), we now need to find efficiencies in time-management as well as pricing. Problem: the digital media process is calling for more time and effort, requiring more emphasis on research, strategy, ad trafficking, execution, reporting, optimization, more reporting, and finally recapping it all to try and make sense of what the heck just happened. To say the digital planning/buying process needs to be streamlined is an understatement.

Along with my colleague, Kris Cichoski, I recently attended a conference hosted by Tube called TubeMogul University, or as we ended up referring to it, TubeU. The conference took place at Lake Tahoe’s beautiful Hyatt Hotel and included some of the top media folks from agencies and brands across the country. TubeU touched on the most relevant topics being discussed in today’s digital media conversations. Of course, they used this time to showcase their DSP (Demand Side Platform) and marketing tools designed to help make our lives easier, and campaigns more successful – a goal each and every one of us should prioritize. There was plenty to digest during TubeU (including some awesome meals on the beach, accompanied by an overzealous fireworks show to close out the event), so we are recapping the most relevant and key learnings from the conference.

Mobile

It’s the year of mobile. Or was that last year? Mobile is getting bigger by the year so it’s only natural for it to continuously be the topic of conversation. In 2015, mobile surpassed desktop and became the #2 mode of media consumption after TV. As much as our industry is fascinated by mobile usage, there is still a huge gap in time spent on mobile vs. ad spend on mobile. Total internet ad spend in 2015 was $50 billion but mobile ad spend only contributed 25% of that. So how do you find your audience on mobile and where should you increase your mobile ad dollars?

How to find your audience:

  • Match desktop cookies to mobile device IDs and retarget users across multiple devices
  • Apply user registration/email data to do look-alike targeting off current customers
  • Utilize 1st party data from partners with registration info
  • Use partners with software development kits (SDKS) implemented across a network of apps to track user engage/behaviors on their mobile devices
  • Reach users who have been or are currently at a specific geo-location or those who visit multiple locations identifying them as your target audience

Where to spend your mobile money: In-App

  • Social
  • Gaming
  • Music/Audio
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ROI & Attribution

Attribution is one of those new buzzwords many marketers are still trying to wrap their head around. In a nutshell, attribution is a methodology we use to better understand how our media is working relative to a specific objective such as an online purchase. It helps paint a clearer picture, giving credit to media partners that are playing a key role in a customer’s path to purchase (or established KPI/objective). For instance, a pre-roll video may be responsible for introducing a prospective customer to a brand, while that same person may end up purchasing your product after being exposed to a display banner. Prior to attribution modeling, media analysts would give that credit to the display banner, not acknowledging the fact that pre-roll may have played a vital role in creating intent to purchase.

Why is this important? Attribution can be used to help us understand the most ideal media mix and strategy, giving us a better chance for driving positive ROI. Now whether that ROI is truly measurable is another discussion; that is why it is so important to be on the same page with our clients with regards to definitive success metrics and KPIs.

TubeMogul CEO Brett Wilson said it plain and simple:

Correlation does NOT = Causation

Attribution should not just be placing a cookie on a user that was going to convert anyway. But how do we avoid reaching and paying for impressions against people who are going to purchase our product regardless of seeing our advertisement? Answer: TEST, TEST, TEST. There are many different types of tests we can apply to find efficiencies. One in particular that we found interesting was a placebo test. A case study was presented showing the results of a brand running fake/placebo ads (creative that had nothing to do with their brand) in conjunction with actual creative against similar audiences. The results showed many conversions coming from people that ONLY saw the placebo ad! This may raise more questions than answers, but ultimately, what this is telling us is that we need to be more cognizant of our audiences and frequency, and ACTUALLY APPLY learnings from insights we gain from reporting. If we do this, ROI should increase, making us and our clients all happy people.

Win-Win Situation

There are a growing number of things we must now think about if we want to remain a digital-forward agency. That is why we are now in deep discussions with Tube and other programmatic platforms about bringing their tools in-house. Solution: this will help us not only streamline the whole process (win), but leverage more efficient media rates (win). Not to mention, having a DSP in-house will certainly help us in new business pitches #WINNING. This would cut out the middle-man, and give us the option to NOT have to RFP 10 media partners who do the exact same thing (ultimate win!) Overall, TubeU was an eye-opening experience, giving us a glance into the future of digital media planning, and how it is finally growing up. Needless to say, it was a breath of fresh (Lake Tahoe) air…pun intended.

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NewFronts: Digital Content Previewed at Annual Conference

The month of May is the equivalent of the Super Bowl for brands and ad agencies. During this time, media companies announce direction for the coming year. The digital NewFronts were recently created as a means for publishers to gain greater attention and steal share from the television industry, which still commands a majority of ad dollars spent.

Time Inc stageI was fortunate to attend a variety of the NewFront presentations and identified some key themes that emerged.

Yahoo focus
  • Digital video is where it’s at. Publishers are focused on creating new online video franchises to compete for TV ad dollars. Depending on the publisher, advertiser opportunities range from custom co-branded videos to product integrations to sponsorship to pre/mid-roll placements. Publishers are investing in talent and quality production to swoon advertisers.
    • Examples of new video franchises include:
      • Big Problems/Big Thinkers – Bloomberg (@BloombergTV): Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and journalist Terre Blair have paired up to create a series with major politicians and leaders to discuss major world problems and potential solutions.
      • Chance – Hulu (@hulu): Hugh Laurie (House) will star in a psychological thriller as a neuroscientist.
      • Time 100, The Influencers – Time: Through interviews of unique pairings, such as President Barack Obama and ballet dancer Misty Copeland, influencers react to the impacts of each other’s work and accomplishments.
Hulu Mindy project
  • Virtual reality is the next big thing. While details are scarce at this point, publishers are ready to tap into the immerse experience that VR can provide.
    • Key announcements include:
      • Hulu enters into a partnership with Live Nation (@LiveNation), where they will make select concert performances available to VR users.
      • Time Inc. (@TimeInc) will begin releasing VR content on behalf of its brands such as Time, People and Sports Illustrated…including the fan-favorite, SI Swimsuit franchise.
Lindsey seeing VR at Time Inc

 

  • Live streaming expands. Key announcements were made with regards to live streaming, either as a platform for TV content or general entertainment.
    • Hulu will offer a new platform for live sports, news and events in early 2017 (price point has yet to be announced).
    • Yahoo is focused on live streaming sports free, without authentication. They will stream 400+ events in the next year, including a focus on MLB and NHL.
    • In the case of Buzzfeed (@BuzzFeed), utilizing Facebook Live has finally reached TV-like viewing scale. As of late April, the rubber band/watermelon experiment saw 800k+ concurrent views and 10MM+ total views. Live streaming will invite hiccups though, as many witnessed with the Facebook Live event with President Barack Obama. Some technical glitch on Facebook cut the live-streaming interview short, but thankfully they were simultaneously streaming on YouTube, so all was not lost.Buzzfeed video franchisesHulu stage

Note, I attended presentations for Buzzfeed, Bloomberg, Hulu, Yahoo, Time Inc. & YouTube, so examples are drawn from those presentations. For a full recap of the highlights, please see Cynopsis Media’s wrap-up from May 16th (here).

 

Will Your Agency Survive in Modern Times?

I recently had the good fortune to attend and speak at the iMedia Agency Summit in Lost Pines, Texas. It was here in the vast back country land outside Austin that a few hundred agency executives and media sellers joined forces for four days of discussion centered on this question. The conference was billed as “The Modern Agency’s Survival Guide” with the topics centered on “who manages what” in the blurred landscape that is today’s ad industry.

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Kicking things off Sunday morning was an agency-only, all-day session geared toward getting agency executives in a room to discuss current-day issues that we’re all facing. As part of this, we had a guest speaker from a large national drug store chain join us. Bringing both agencyside and clientside experience, he gave some straight talk on what clients are looking for. His talk focused on a few things:

  1. The three departments you need to keep happy are finance, legal and procurement.
  2. When it comes to social media for a brand, always think: would we, should we, could we.
  3. When pitching your agency, lay off the smoke and mirrors and bring more substance.
  4. Understand the business and category that you’re pitching.
  5. Independent agencies have a shot at large clients; just don’t fight the same battle as the holding companies. They have more offices, a larger global network and just as many big ideas. Instead, push your value proposition when it comes to billing − various models (commission, fee, hourly, project, etc.) − smaller markets plus cheaper rent/salaries equals more dollars for advertising.
  6. Data is important, but don’t die by Infobesity. Focus on what matters.

Next up was a chat on the always hot topic of training. It’s something that large and small agencies seem to struggle with. The main issues revolve around not having enough time to implement a structured training program, slim margins dictating overloaded employees, and who is going to do it. This one has always shocked me in that your agency is only as good as the employees, so why wouldn’t you take the time to train, either in-house or with seminars/conferences? I’m proud to say that the ownership at R&R Partners are firm believers in training and continued education. I shared a few examples of our rrMIT media classes and Superstar program and people were amazed, and I’d like to think envious of what we have built around this topic.

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Day two started with a great panel discussion led by industry veteran John Durham @thedurham. He navigated a great talk with agency CMOs from SapientNitro, Rockfish and MRY. Lots of great thoughts emerged on the consulting companies like Accenture and Deloitte getting into the agency business over the last few years. These guys already have an established line of communication into the C-Suite and now they are buying agencies as if completing a checklist, offering a one-stop shop for clients. The next frontier in my opinion will be the move to start buying data companies and trading desks, effectively making advertising a commodity and devaluing good creative along the way.

The discussion shifted to the disrupters who are making waves among the Fortune 500, companies like Uber and AirBnB who are new to the game and have a different business completely from the legacy models. The largest companies in the world will need to continue to evolve, constantly shed their old skin, and embrace the new landscape as Silicon Valley is not going anywhere.

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After a few more sessions, it was time for the one-on-one meetings. Think speed dating for agencies and publishers. I had 10 sessions, each lasting 10 minutes, all back to back. Don’t be too jealous! My goal with these meetings was to focus the majority of them on companies that we have not worked with in the past, allowing for new opportunities to blossom. While you can’t get too in-depth, you can get a great understanding of their offering and know right away if it makes sense to continue the conversation once you’re back in the office. Lots of focus this year on the DSP/DMP (demand-side platform/data management platform) model, which screams a sea of sameness, although a few stood out, especially with ingesting real-time social data to bring better insights to your buys.

Day three started off with a great presentation from Susan Borst @susanborst with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Susan focused on native and ad blocking, both hot topics these days. It’s interesting to see the industry say native is the answer to ad blocking, and yet a few months later reverse course and say the opposite. Both are areas that are evolving before us, with a little help from the FTC who has issued guidelines, in addition to the IAB. With consumers seemingly wanting more content and brands willing to provide it, native opportunities will only continue to grow and blur the lines between advertisement and editorial. Susan boiled native down into three areas:

  1. Storytelling
  2. Story selling
  3. Just selling

Next up was Roy Spence, co-founder and partner of GSD&M. Roy gave a freewheeling, energetic, off-the-cuff speech titled “The Power of Purpose in Business and Life.” He drew on life experiences from starting his agency to current day. One of the better stories was the time he met with Sam Walton to pitch Walmart. Roy went alone to the pitch and when asked by Sam where the rest of his team was, he got nervous and just said, “One riot, one sheriff, what’s your problem.” Mr. Walton liked it so much, he hired him on the spot. While a great story, certainly not something that would happen today.

A few great quotes from Roy’s speech that stood out to me include:

  1. “We will never solve anything being on common ground, be on higher ground.”
  2. “Don’t spend another second being average at what you’re bad at; spend your time being great at what your good at.”
  3. “Marry the doers and the dreamers at work, great things will happen.”
  4. “We are uninvited guests in people’s lives; make it count.”

While a tough act to follow, the presentations shifted to mobile marketing with a focus on your intentions. Jeff Malmad @1od, head of mobile at Mindshare, along with Dan Brough @danielbrough, head of agency business at Waze, took us into this space. The biggest thing that stood out to me was the conversation around new demographics, with the question being, “Are content and intent the new demographics that we as an industry should be looking at? Does age really matter or should we be looking at behaviors?” While I would argue that it’s important to have a core demo, it’s becoming just as important to look beyond your core audience and find various niche targets that only social data can show you. Where else do your clients have opportunity to grow their business?

Wrapping up the large presentations was the CEO of Epsilon, Andy Frawley @AndyFrawleyCEO. Andy spoke about the industry having an identity crisis and what the agency model of the future is. Epsilon is considered a “new agency model,” or maybe better yet, a faux agency. Starting in data and email, it has added other disciplines, such as creative and media, by snatching up smaller shops as if they were on a grocery store checklist. Andy’s speech was highlighted by seven points.

  1. Get enterprise involvement from your clients; be OK with the c-suite and various department heads sitting in your marketing meetings.
  2. Operate as a solutions integrator, because if agencies can’t, consultants will.
  3. Stop with the hyperbole; clients hire us to produce outcomes, not buzzwords.
  4. Don’t separate advertising from the full customer experience. They need to inform each other.
  5. Know the consumer; insights without audiences are in-actionable.
  6. Hire nontraditional agency talent to breathe life into your organization.
  7. Learn how to build IP, but don’t destroy creativity.

After I moderated a panel on finding and retaining talent, it left me with one last round of 10 rep meetings to close things out. All in all, the conference was great for two reasons. First, it’s a gathering of truly smart people who are happy to discuss any industry topic. You can’t help but come away feeling energized and a lot smarter. Second, it really showed me that we at R&R Partners are moving in the right direction. From training, to culture to our work, we not only can compete with anyone, but we are often light-years ahead of other agencies when it comes to these areas, including the big guys.

Photo credit to Julian Haber Photography

Total Sensory: The Next Frontier of Digital Marketing

As a digital strategist who has spent a substantial amount of time in the experiential/event marketing world, one of the opportunities that intrigue me most is how to drive consumers from physical environments to digital platforms to create seamless experiences. A great example of this offline-to-online transition is Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s limited-edition #WHHSH beer activation at Coachella, encouraging concert goers to interact with the #WHHSH hashtag on social media. Our tools for this type of activation have typically included URLs and the dreaded QR code. As digital sensors better mimic our physical senses, we move closer to a seamless physical-to-digital experience.

Recently, I have seen national use of a technology that I’m stoked about for this purpose: sound recognition. More specifically, Shazam. The first was Coke Zero’s promotion with ESPN GameDay in which you could use Shazam to get a free Coke Zero after tagging the commercial. The second execution, a recent Target commercial, suggested one tag it with Shazam to “begin shopping.” However, this wasn’t the first Target ad to use the app, and several other brands have used the technology including Starbucks, Jaguar and Honda.

The benefits of sound recognition to drive online awareness include:

  • The sound in brand ads is inherently unique.
  • The user is not required to type in a URL.
  • Reinforces “sound branding,” like the sound of pouring a Coca-Cola or a revving Harley-Davidson engine.
  • Tag management in Shazam allows the user to visit the experience at their convenience.

While there are some criticisms of the market’s continued interest in Shazam and the user experience, for example, attempting to tag a TV commercial in 30 seconds, I believe that brands should continue to explore the use of sound recognition as a driver to online properties. As brands explore these opportunities, here are some uses that come to mind:

  • Distributing promotional codes/offer to an event audience (i.e., giving out a free song track at a concert)
  • Driving tablet second-screen TV viewers to product websites
  • Hiding audio “Easter eggs” within media content (e.g., movies, TV shows, branded video content)

Shazam has also recently added visual recognition to their functionality. If a user sees the app’s camera logo, he or she can unlock a deeper experience by pointing the camera at the image and tapping the Shazam app button. Now a brand’s ad itself or logo becomes the QR code.

As visual and sound recognition are being perfected and driving a more interactive world, what is the next step? The sense of touch is already being prototyped and is in experimentation mode. A TED Talk, “Shape-shifting tech will change work as we know it,” shows how we’re starting to interact with the digital world in physical space. These advances, coupled with other advances, like augmented reality and iBeaons, are bringing us one step closer to a total sensory digital experience. As a digital geek, I am all-in for the next frontier of digital marketing, further leveraging our five senses—perhaps taste will be next!

Making Virtual Reality a Reality

With its amazing thrill rides, legendary nightclubs, world-famous resorts and high-end restaurants, Las Vegas is the perfect city to use a virtual reality technology platform to appeal to the next generation of travelers.

On behalf of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, R&R Partners worked to make this Vegas VR idea into a reality of its own. Our team created a 360-degree video rig and went to work shooting content panoramas that showcase Las Vegas in a way some have never seen.

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The next challenge: How to distribute it? R&R created VegasVR, a user-friendly application for Apple and Android devices to give users a glimpse of the Las Vegas experience from anywhere while providing great level of in-market immersion to a wide range of demographics.

Download it for yourself here and take Vegas for a spin!

Some of the app features:

  • Support for 360° panoramic video and VR Cinema
  • Use touch or gyroscope to control the video
  • Compatible with Google Cardboard/tray-based headsets
  • Share the Vegas VR app to Facebook, Twitter and email
  • Interactive 3D menu

From VR content acquisition to distribution, R&R has positioned the LVCVA brand among the very first adopters of what will eventually rock the travel industry. R&R has also paved the way with 360-degree/VR media buys, innovative partnerships and activation placements. Read more about VegasVR in the LA Times.

The most exciting part of all: This is just the beginning. From a production standpoint to a content distribution and interactive perspective, R&R has huge plans for the VegasVR app and campaigns in 2016. Stay tuned, because when it comes to Las Vegas adventure, soon you’ll be in for the virtual ride of your life.

 

 

VIVA: The Online Destination for All Things Vegas

Information about Las Vegas isn’t hard to find.

Anything you want to know about Vegas, you can search for and uncover pretty easily. But what if you’re looking for EVERYTHING Vegas?

Welcome to VIVA, the new Las Vegas-branded content hub within LasVegas.com. On February 2, the Las Vegas team at R&R Partners launched the new, accentuated blog, which was developed to provide engaging and educational information to the online audience. With a uniquely visual and intuitive design, users can easily browse and explore topics that all contain a collection of digital content designed to further generate a sense of interest and excitement around the destination.

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The necessity of creating a content hub was generated from the content marketing strategy that Las Vegas implemented to further reinforce positive association through branded experiences, ultimately supporting visitation goals. Through this strategy, the library of branded content began to grow, and required an evolution of the Las Vegas digital ecosystem, and VIVA was born!

Not only is valuable content created and housed on VIVA, but the R&R team also is looking at performance. Doing so will provide valuable insight into how the audience interacts with the content hub. For instance, identifying what types of content the audience finds more engaging, looking at what the audience is searching for, and finding out what type of device they’re using. As we monitor these metrics, we’ll be able to further optimize the site and provide a greater, more meaningful experience for our audience – with the ultimate goal of driving increased visitation.

Check it out at viva.lasvegas.com and see for yourself.

R&R Employee of The Year Has The Wright Stuff

Congratulations to our director of strategic communications in Salt Lake City, Steve Wright, for earning R&R Partners’ Employee of the Year honors for 2015.

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Wright’s expertise in social cause public awareness campaigns such as the Parents Empowered Underage Drinking prevention campaign and the Utah Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign have helped them receive national recognition.

With 10 years of service at R&R, Wright is very popular both with co-workers and clients. During his decade at R&R Partners, he has held positions including director of public affairs, group account director and his current role as director of strategic communications, where he personally manages more than $9.5 million in annual local billings.

Prior to working at R&R Partners, Wright received a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis in advertising and business management. He also earned a master’s degree in professional communications.

 

THE FLINT DISASTER: Will Accountability Please Stand Up

“Here’s to Flint!” said Mayor Dayne Walling, lifting his glass.

Unbeknownst to him at the time, his toast would serve to commemorate the tragic “switch” in 2014 when the city of Flint changed its water supply from the city of Detroit to its very own Flint River. In combination with the city’s aging pipe system, the new water supply toxified the tap water flowing into every Flint home. Meanwhile, government officials described the switch as an austerity measure intended to help soften the blow of the city’s looming financial crisis.

Fast-forward two years; today, the aforementioned celebratory toast has turned into one of our nation’s most disturbing contemporary tragedies.

Many questions remain unresolved. Did the city of Flint sacrifice the health and safety of its residents to save approximately $1 million a year? Would the tragedy have been avoided altogether had the situation occurred in a less diverse, more affluent neighborhood? What are the long-term health outcomes for the victims of Flint who were exposed to the lead-laced water? Why did their voices go unheard for so long?

Congress hoped to give closer examination last week when Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Both officials faced a withering barrage of questions and condemnation. Both were asked to resign. Neither did.

Politics aside, the continued blame game, finger-pointing and failure to accept full accountability on both sides—particularly for the popularly elected Snyder—is fueling the public outrage. Is good PR important to earning and keeping trust between an elected official and his/her constituents?

Let’s examine closer.

Fumbled public statements and responses haven’t helped Snyder’s office (nor the EPA) in gaining the public’s trust. In fact, numerous steps by these figures fly in the face of key PR tenets during a crisis: own your actions, communicate the facts and misdoings in a transparent manner, and inform people what you are doing to fix it.

Strike one. The facts were largely downplayed from the get-go. During a crisis, it’s critical to report the facts and interpret them objectively. Otherwise, you’re stuck in “media quicksand.” The more you say, the worse it gets.

As The Los Angeles Times writes,

“… The river drew more worrisome headlines when the GM engine plant in town decided to stop taking Flint’s water in October 2014 because it was worried the high levels of chloride, which the river water also contained, would corrode metal parts.

“The city insisted the water was still safe. GM employees, Flint officials pointed out, were still drinking the water at the plant. But then, on Dec. 16, 2014, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality notified Flint that it had violated the Safe Drinking Water Act.”

Later, and in a background memo to the governor, the state Department of Environmental Quality downplayed the danger. Throughout 2014 and into early 2015, the state of Michigan continued to placate residents.

Strike two. Lack of transparency. As The Guardian reports this January:

The governor’s office declined to answer questions about what role it played in the decision-making process that led to Flint using the local river as its main water source, but what is clear is that the lead-contamination crisis took place while the city was under the control of Snyder-appointed emergency managers.”

Let’s not forget that the state of Michigan, under Snyder’s administration, originally authorized the switch.

Strike three. Accountability that only goes half way.

In a National Journal interview from earlier this year, Snyder admitted that his administration was aware that the state De­part­ment of En­vir­on­ment­al Qual­ity was mishandling the Flint water crisis in mid-2015. Even staff aides made him personally aware of the complaints about the drinking water.

Testimony from last week’s congressional hearing confirmed Snyder’s acceptance of some accountability, but it didn’t stop him from simultaneously pointing the finger in the opposite direction. (The fact that the EPA’s McCarthy is just as guilty misses the point.) In addition, it has become clear from media reports that everyone convinced each other that everything was “OK” because no one wanted to be the one to call out a problem.

Too little too late? To be fair, Snyder is on public record for saying, “I am sorry, I will fix it.” He also penned an op-ed in the Detroit Free Press following the congressional hearing declaring that he is not going to walk away from the disaster but will be a leader in solving the problem. He also gets high marks for recently recruiting the whistleblowers/heroes who raised concern early on; they are now on his team. Numerous officials at lower levels of government have lost their jobs as a result of how this crisis was handled.

Yet Snyder still faces an uphill battle in winning back the public’s trust.

NPR recently reported that he is losing support in Michigan, with approval rating falling 30 percentage points. A recall campaign has been launched. According to The New York Times, Standard & Poor’s lowered the outlook on Michigan’s credit rating to stable from positive, citing the costs of dealing with the Flint crisis, and also with a looming financial crisis affecting Detroit public schools.

Will Flint ultimately become Snyder’s “Nixon” or “Katrina” moment as a result of his PR blunders? This question, while a worthy one that will be watched by politicos and serve as a playbook for PR consultants, falls secondary to the health and safety of the thousands of people impacted by Flint’s toxic water.

—Monica McCafferty, Director of PR

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The Big Fat Prize − 2016

Great Work … Tough Decision

snwaTeamIn each of the last five years, R&R Partners has awarded what we affectionately call The Big Fat Prize. It is an annual cash award presented to the team that created the campaign or initiative that most exemplified our philosophy of building and protecting our clients’ brands. Winning requires excellence in strategic insight and thinking, the quality of the work itself and, of course, results.

The rules are simple. Entries are limited to one 8 ½ x 11 page. No fewer than three, but no more than five, finalists are chosen to present to the judges. Presentations have one rule – they cannot exceed 30 minutes. The judges are president and chief brand officer Mary Ann Mele, SVP/strategic consulting David Ellis and me.

This year, seven entries were submitted, one of them delivered by Brandi Skrtich’s dog Buddy (a very good dog). Three were ultimately selected as finalists.

And so on Wednesday, February 17, teams representing the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s Nothing’s Sexier Than Saving Water Compliance Campaign, Boeing’s new corporate website, and the Clark County Animal Foundation’s In-Fur-mercial campaign brought their best to the judges in a series of three 30-minute presentations.

Then the hard work began. Never before in its Big Fat history has it been more difficult for the judges to choose a Big Fat Prize winner. For the SNWA, it was a campaign that overcame some early obstacles to ultimately create $14 million in earned media (40 times the media spend) and, most importantly, motivate Southern Nevadans to save more than 1.5 billion gallons of water in the span of just two weeks. Or the Boeing team, who was faced with the daunting task of consolidating 22 separate sites and more than 11,000 pages of content into one cohesive site of fewer than 1,000 pages with fully functional desktop, tablet and mobile versions. Finally, there was the Animal Foundation team, who tackled their pro bono project with virtually no budget whatsoever and managed to turn the fortunes of the client around with some of the most unexpected and inspired creative seen in that or any other category for quite some time. In fact, their use of the time-honored infomercial format to promote pet adoptions was so spot-on, they actually won a special award from the Electronic Retailing Association (basically, the infomercial industry) in a competition they didn’t even enter.

In truth, any of the finalists would have made a very appropriate Big Fat Prize winner. All three presentations were excellently done, every entry produced results that R&R will proudly promote well into the future, and the work at the center of each was strategically based and incredibly smart.

But the rules say we had to pick a winner, and after three days of thought and discussion, the SNWA finished ahead by the narrowest of margins. It was the toughest and closest call that the Big Fat judges have ever had to make.

Faraday Future – A Win For All Involved

Faraday Future was considering four U.S. sites for its billion-dollar manufacturing facility for electric vehicles. Nevada was chosen, contingent upon passage by the Legislature of an incentive package (re: taxes) to seal the deal.

PM_Faraday Concept Car[2]

That was the easy part. Once Nevada was selected, R&R Partners had to navigate a multitude of pieces of this puzzle. We worked with the city of North Las Vegas to ensure its needs were met. We facilitated negotiations with the unions and Faraday Future to ensure we’d have Democratic support for passing the legislation, and resolved transparency issues to also ensure Republican support. We worked with the SNWA to facilitate water issues, given the site for the plant has no existing infrastructure. We worked to educate the client on how Nevada works, and what concessions it would need to make to secure the deal, helping them to avoid any political vulnerabilities. We media-trained and created messaging for the client to effectively communicate its position. We lobbied the Legislature to pass the necessary bills. In short, we tackled this issue from every angle to create an overall strategic plan for the client to be successful.

The results? The Legislature passed all the bills required for Faraday Future to bring its facility to Nevada. A couple of weeks later, it had an incredibly successful, long-awaited unveiling of its concept car at CES. And then Faraday Future hired us to continue to help navigate some of the commitments it made to the state as part of the deal, both GPA and PR services.