Facebook Friend or Foe?

Earlier this morning the blog post “Unfriend, write or die” by Peter Shankman was circulating around our office and I found it particularly interesting, especially since I would have to say I definitely agree.  If you aren’t going to interact and use your social network—what’s the point?

With the popularity of Facebook and Linkedin, my personal and professional networks continue to grow, but I try to only have “friends” on Facebook that I actually stay in contact with. It may seem like a lot of work to “interact” with all of my Facebook friends,  but I swear it is way easier than you think.

 Wishing my friends a happy birthday, liking their status or commenting on their photos, are ways that I stay in touch and  avoid “ignoring” them.

Read Shankman’s article and who knows you may reconnect with someone or even “defriend” them, but either way you will be making the most of your social network.

We’ve Made Santa’s Nice List

EOS will spend time with family and friends from Thursday, December 23rd- Friday, December 31st and open Monday, January 3rd with new perspectives for 2011.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cheers to Five.

We celebrated EOS’5^th Anniversary with dinner at Livingston Restaurant at the modern classic Georgian Terrace. We wined and dined at a custom chef’s table, and enjoyed a special seven-course dinner with wine pairings prepared especially for the team.

Delectable’s included everything from mirin poached lobster to caramel bavarois, as each course was prepared around the idea of creating new flavors with fresh ingredients.

We acknowledged the team for all of their hard work here at EOS, toasted our lessons learned and announced our goals for 2011.

So, cheers to another five years filled with new days and fresh perspectives. 

We are thankful for you!

It has been a great year for the goddesses of EOS with new days, new perspectives and new faces. In the spirit of Thanksgiving we are thankful for our friends, family and the work that we get to do everyday for our clients.

Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

Elevating a Great Race for a Great Cause

The seventh annual Goblin Gallop was a great success and chronicled the best results ever for Henry County’s Hands of Hope Clinic. The Goblin Gallop raised $2,000 more than last year, increased the number of sponsors from 33 to 40, and grew in the number of runners and onlookers by 10 percent.  

The race received news coverage through the Henry Daily Herald, the Henry Neighbor, an interview with “Talk of the Town” a local TV talk show, and landed a spot on Atlanta’s Creative Loafing event calendar. This pre-event media coverage helped drive attendance and sponsorship.

In the weeks leading up to the Goblin Gallop, EOS sent out a press release and media alert announcing the event to local news publications, large employer company newsletters and reporters. We followed up with emails and phone calls to ensure our contacts had the event details and other information readily available.

We also used social media as another way to reach people and provide them with Goblin Gallop information. Posting event info on the Heron Bay blog and creating an event on Facebook made the information accessible for runners and volunteers.   Our integrated approach contributed to the overall success of the Goblin Gallop and the local coverage we received helped to create local “buzz” about the event that may not have been available if PR had not been a part of the plan.

PR helps to sustain the community’s reputation and showcases the heart of Heron Bay. Events like Goblin Gallop are newsworthy because they show the community’s dedication to helping Henry County residents in need with their support of local organizations like the Hands of Hope Clinic.

Greetings from Ireland!

This week I’m in Belfast for a Coke video shoot.

Happy Birthday Margaret!

Margaret is in Ireland this week so we celebrated her birthday on Friday with some delicious cupcakes!  Happy Birthday Margaret!!

Thinking inside the box

As a creative, I have always felt that my best work comes from unlocking those client handcuffs and letting my mind run free. However, I recently experienced something that I can only describe as a creative wake up call.

Several weeks ago, I met with a highly respected global design director of one of the most well-known brands in the world. To say I was a little intimidated to be in the same room as this individual would be a vast understatement. Anyway, halfway through our meeting, he said something that hit me like a ton of bricks. He told me that the most creative work comes from thinking WITHIN a box.

Hold on…let me say it again, just so you hear me correctly: He said thinking inside the box forces the most creative work.

I was shocked by this statement. I couldn’t believe it. I was crushed. I had happily planted my brain outside of this proverbial box years ago and this creative genius was telling me to go back in. It was much like finding out Santa Claus isn’t real.

But as I started thinking about what he said, I realized that he was right. And if that wasn’t enough, I then started to be thankful for this box. Let me explain:

Working inside a box means working within a set of parameters. Deadlines, client opinions, brand guidelines, anything that makes the creative process more challenging. And when I work inside this box, I have structure. I am pushed to get the job done. If it weren’t for this, I could prance around in my head all day long, coming up with wild ideas that will never come to fruition. Which, yes, would be fun for me. Not so much for my agency or our clients.

In addition, it is much more challenging to think inside the box than it is to think outside. And the more challenging the problem, the more creative the solution – which is exactly what this design director was saying in our meeting (I know, it took me a while, but I got there eventually).

For example: Did you ever see Apollo 13? There is a scene in this movie where the NASA engineers on the ground sit around a table and come up with a way to join a cube-shaped canister in a cylindrical socket given the same materials the astronauts have in the shuttle. Now, this task would have been much easier if these engineers could have used anything they wanted. But they couldn’t. So they improvised – they used their ingenuity and what resulted was a much more creative solution.

So, in reality, yes, thinking inside the box stimulates more creative work. And I’ll gladly plant my brain in there from here on out.

New Day. New Goddess.

At EOS, it’s all about a new day, a fresh perspective.  And for Elyse, that’s in her DNA. That is why she was the perfect choice to lead our PR practice group and join us as Executive VP.  She’s intrinsically passionate about the clients she serves and the relationships she builds on their behalf. 

With 20 years of public relations, brand management and marketing communications experience serving clients such as BellSouth, Centex, Emory Healthcare, HD Supply and Troutman Sanders, Elyse’s positive roll-up-your-sleeves attitude has won both accolades from Fortune 500 C-level executives to awards from the American Hospital Marketing Association, Public Relations Society of America, Computerworld, CIO Magazine and the National Telecom Marketing Association.  In fact, she’s already making a mark with EOS clients like MODA, WaterWays Township, Reynolds, Minerva and Tombow.

She is a frequent guest lecturer at her alma mater, Emory University.  Her commitment to her public relations vocation leaves an indelible impression, especially amongst the 60 peers she’s coached by serving as the Public Relations Society of America’s co-chair for its universal certification training program (APR).  You can read more about our goddess on our website, but suffice it to say that we know you’ll find her southern charm as irresistible as we do.

A short trip but a lot of work ahead

Margaret and I traveled to Waxhaw, North Carolina just outside of Charlotte to get acquainted with Millbridge and Cureton, the two newest master-planned communities purchased by our client Landeavor. We toured the great amenities of these communities and visited Waxhaw’s charming main street. We are looking forward to working with Landeavor on creating new integrated marketing campaigns for these two residential communities targeting the Charlotte market in 2011….stay tuned!