Introducing the Connors Newsletter

Hi! Over the past few weeks, the Connors Marketing team has been trying to encompass what Connors is all about in only a few words. On one hand we are defined by the clients we take on, but we also have a atmosphere and attitude around the office that we would like to share online. Therefore we've decided to create this, the Connors Newsletter, to send some tips and fun every month to friends and colleagues.

The PR professionals that make up our account teams are measured in the results we deliver, but the people pitching news and tracking keywords are much more interesting than the voice behind press releases and blog posts. We want to take some time to provide a broader view of the industry at large and maybe even raise eyebrows. From Mike M.'s original white board illustrations to Paulina P.'s enthusiastic stories and the conversations that take place in the Connors Main Aisle, we demonstrate daily that we’re more than just PR.

Every month we'll provide some of our thoughts on the industry at large along with links for business, fun, and technology. So let us know what you think and how it can be better or who else you know that might enjoy reading it. And if you feel like ranting or raving about something for the next issue, drop us a line to newsletter@connors.com.

Industry Commentary

While Marketing Dollars Begin to Shift, TV Ad Sales Are Still Going Strong for the Olympics
By Kristen Georgian

The thought of the most accomplished athletes from around the world joining together for 2 1/2 weeks of fierce competition has always proven to be a highly publicized and viewed event. Many people invest hours of their time watching the Olympic Games and following them in the media, intrigued and waiting in anticipation to see which countries will be victorious. And, I’m not just saying all this because one of my best friends has secured a spot in the women's parallel giant snowboarding slalom for the 2006 games, statistics back me up. The Olympics averages about 60 million prime-time viewers (USAToday).

However, with the advent of DVRs, iPods and the Internet, the marketing industry is buzzing about the decline in overall TV viewership and the inability to measure the effects that commercials have on consumers. So, they are slowly but surely making the change from traditional, “mass media” to non-traditional “below-the-line” techniques which produce a measurable ROI. The Winterberry Group highlighted this trend when they produced a report stating that direct response-oriented marketing spending is forecasted at 7.8 percent annual growth through 2007, with brand marketing growing at just 5.5 Percent. But what does this mean for the Olympic games? Should viewers no longer expect to see big names and quirky commercials?

While marketing executives are making the switch to targeted, direct marketing efforts such as database marketing, direct mail, interactive marketing, insert media and promotional marketing, as of now, there is no need to worry. If you are going to tune into the Olympics, you should still expect to see those multi-million dollar commercials that you’ve come to expect. Advertisers are still placing their money into them and why wouldn’t they? NBC has promised advertisers between a 12 and 14 prime-time household rating during the Olympics (Media Post). Even if half that amount of people got up to go to the bathroom or grab some popcorn during a commercial break, chances are that millions are still watching. And, though many of us don’t like to admit it, those ads get even the best of us. At one point or another, we have all let our guards down and found ourselves ordering a Dominos pizza or running out to the store to pick up a Pepsi after having just watched our favorite celebrity dance around on TV with it. So, for the time being, as long as Americans stay tuned to the Olympics and other major events, advertisers will keep feeding us the commercials we’ve become accustomed to seeing. As far as regular TV broadcasts, if the trends are right, we may continue to see a gradual shift in where advertisers choose to spend their dollars.

Connors Favorites: Biz

Connors Favorites is made up of two sections in each newsletter to highlight some of the Connors dream team business favorites that help them with clients and industry news. The Fun section is websites, TV, radio and basically media of any kind that keep us laughing, happy and help us to break up the day.

Karen Hopp - Senior Account Executive

Some of my favorite sites that I click on everyday include: CNET, because I love getting a quick overview of what's going on in the industry. Of course I also love it for its consumer electronics reviews too but that’s secondary. CNN.com is my home page and I'm on it several times each day to stay up to date on any breaking news in the country. While it's not directly relevant to our work, it often gives me fodder for proactive or reactive pitch ideas. Our best pitches are timely and news-driven, in my opinion. The Crain's New York site is another important one because I love the local business news. I find a good chunk of Crain's stories each week of interest and at least somewhat relevant.

Mike Manning - Account Manager

My favorite business responsibility is following Google's new strategies, products and statements like Smithers follows Mr. Burns. Working in technology PR it's very difficult to find a client that isn’t competing with Google in some way at this point, and reporters will inevitably question how your client will beat Google. But there’s something so entertaining about watching what Google's going to do next. It's the equivalent of watching Anakin Skywalker in the new Star Wars movies - demonstrating amazing potential at an early age and consistently exceeding expectations while maintaining a rock-solid reputation for honesty, when everyone watching knows they’re heading to the Dark Side eventually. In this case the Dark Side is called "meeting shareholder expectations," which will cause Google to gradually lose its innocence and betray its ideals to find revenue. Going public was the equivalent of Anakin becoming the Emperor's apprentice. And yes, I realize comparing Google to Anakin Skywalker is more than enough evidence to convict me of being a complete dork. The Unofficial Google Weblog: http://google.weblogsinc.com/.

Talk Digger lets you input a URL, and then searches a variety of blog databases to spit back who is linking to that site. This is great for us PR folk, as it helps gauge the "buzz" around a story about our client or competitor. Collecting the blog posts about a positive hit also helps show the client the effect of PR on their business, and reminds them how many people are actually seeing the news we produce. The service is still in "beta," a term which is becoming increasingly meaningless after Google News stayed in beta for what, 20 years?

Connors Favorites: Fun

Mike Manning

Overheardinnewyork.com: you just can’t make up the stuff that they print. It's genius. Ever since I found this site I've been straining to hear strangers' conversations so I can add to the site, but I haven’t heard anything worthy of submitting yet. It's a good thing there's 8 million people in this city, many with better hearing than me, to fill the gaps.

And My Favorite Just for Fun TV show - The Apprentice. After a particularly atrocious finale two seasons ago, I told myself that I would stay away next time. That I had had enough of the competitions, that the concept was getting tired, that the whole thing was completely pointless. But when I stumbled upon the show again while flipping channels last season, I knew my rationale stood no chance when I saw Trump holding court over his job applicants. I've never liked reality shows, but whenever Trump is on screen I can't turn away. The contrived shots in his limo when he orders his driver to take him to Dominos Pizza headquarters…his "man of the people" moments when he congratulates construction workers on a job well done…the helicopter rides when he points out the buildings he owns…wearing a tuxedo to the boardroom at least twice per season to remind the viewers that he's got more important things to do…I would just love to see him proposing these scenes to the other producers. It's amazing that NBC didn't realize this show would never work with Martha Stewart. It's the egomaniac with a blank check for self-congratulation, not the premise, that's so addicting.

Karen Hopp

Celebrity Gossip is the best for snarky celebrity gossip, photos and rude commentary and the Boneyard at http://www.uconnfan.com/ is great for UConn Huskies news, message boards, recruiting info, pre- and post-game info. If you hadn’t already realized, UCONN is a favorite of mine!

ExSITEment

The Connors Search Engine Optimization team, known for their brilliant talents in the wonderful world of technology, web search and online tools, is kicking off the ExSITEment section with some of their favorite websites – check them out!

Mike Levin – Vice President, Interactive

What are my favorite websites? When it comes to Active Server Page or ASP.NET programming, the 4GuysFromRolla website rarely let me down. They delve into nuances of performance and optimization that other websites rarely discuss, and they do it in a search-optimized format, so that I keep rediscovering them whenever I turn back to Google or Yahoo to do research. Another website I like is InfoWorld, because of its news feed. I read all my daily news from my phone, so I like sites that put their entire articles into their RSS feeds so I don’t have to struggle with a phone-based Web browser, but most just put a sentence or two. InfoWorld is one of the very few exceptions, and is a real gem in that you don’t have to "click here for the full article". You can just read the whole article from your phone.

Adam Edwards – Project Manager

Jeffrey's Japanese-English Dictionary
Most people by now know of AltaVista's Babelfish tool that can make a best guess for a block of text, but it only gives you one option and it can hardly be called authoritative. What if you are somewhat familiar with the language and would rather be able to pick from a list of suggestions? If that language happens to be Japanese, then Jeffrey has the site for you. It's not pretty, but has a lot of options to narrow your search.

Tatiana Nam – Programmer

Mike Davidson's blog
He has good writings about different things, including business, design and technology (the latest one was on the subject of SEO) and also fun stuff like his iPod contests.

Ambar Shrivastava – Project Coordinator

TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a site I discovered a few months ago. I find it useful to track the latest innovations and products related to Web 2.0. Through TechCrunch, I learned about new products such as Riya, an innovative photo search tool that uses face recognition technology. I often sign up to use a Beta version of a product reviewed there. Michael Arrington, who runs the site, has occasionally written about Connors' clients such as Fotolia.

Jessica Ek - Copywriter

Weebls
If you ever get stressed or a friend needs cheering up, this link is all it takes. I know it's really silly, but you can’t help but smile. And unlike so many other websites, every time I go back, I’m still entertained.