One of our great joys is the daily chance to create unique, effective advertising and marketing messages for our clients. Sometimes those messages are so distinctive that they are honored in competitions, such as the local ADDY Awards hosted by the American Advertising Federation – Topeka.

As listed previously, jhP won several Gold ADDY Awards in this year’s local competition. One winner was “Paper Dali” an illustration created by Dan Billen and the jhP art team for the Mulvane Art Museum’s 2008 Mulvane Mountain/Plains Art Fair. Along with the rest of the Gold ADDY winners, “Paper Dali” advanced to contend at the AAF – Ninth District ADDYs. Competition included local winners from across our four-state region: Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa.

In District competition, typically dominated by the “big guys” from Kansas City and St. Louis, “Paper Dali” brought home another Gold ADDY! As a District-level Gold winner, “Paper Dali” advances to the National ADDY Competition to compete against award-winning illustrations nationwide.

Next weekend, Dan Billen & Gary Jones will travel to Arlington, Virginia to attend the National ADDY Awards Show. With a little luck, they might find themselves walking across the biggest stage in advertising – collecting another big ADDY for “Paper Dali.”

So you joined Twitter – now what? That ran through my mind, too, the first couple of months I was on Twitter. But I stuck with it and just spent some time watching. After a while I found people whose Tweets were useful to me, and I started following them. Slowly I learned how to make Twitter more valuable. Here are some suggestions to help you get more benefit from your Twitter account.

1. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.

Some people use Twitter to stroke their ego by seeing how many people they can get to follow them. While a big audience might benefit them, it doesn’t guarantee any value for you as a follower.

2. When you get a message that someone new is following you, thoroughly check out their profile before following them back.

Read their bio, check out their URL and scan the messages they are sending. Ideally they’ll have a nice mix of original messages, Re-Tweets and @replies. If they don’t, it’s a red flag. This  helps you quickly skim off the spammers and ego-maniacs.

3. Use Twitter Search. 

Search key phrases you’re interested in, and when you read an update that’s good, follow that person. This helps you sample new Tweets to learn whether the person’s topics, attitudes and ideas are worth your time.

4. Use an application like TweetDeck to help you be organized.

Create groups with the people you’re following so they make sense to you. For example, I have a group for local Tweets, a group for @replies and a group for DMs, on top of the Twitter stream that contains all my followers. This helps me keep conversations going by making them easier to follow.

5. Use TwitterLocal to see what local Twitter users are saying and connect with them.

It’s a great way to learn what’s new going on around you, and meet cool people you’ve never met before. I highly recommend attending at least one TweetUp. They are great fun if you enjoy networking and meeting new people!

Hopefully this will help you out. I promise, I really didn’t get Twitter at first, but it WILL get better.

@alissasheley

Eliminating racism. Empowering women. Those are the core missions of the Topeka YWCA. We at jhP agree so heartily with those goals that we were especially pleased to receive honors at the YWCA’s recent 21st Annual Leadership Luncheon.

jhP team member Leslie Palace was honored as a Woman of Excellence for her initiative, commitment and involvement in our community. Her devotion to the Boys and Girls Club of Topeka, her service to our industry through the Advertising Federation, and her leadership at our firm are just a few examples of her community contributions.

At the same luncheon, jones huyett Partners was honored as an Employer of Excellence for providing an atmosphere where diversity is valued and women are empowered to grow and succeed. From flexible scheduling for parents, to company-funded education and instructional opportunities, and open paths to leadership, jhP strives for everyone to enjoy the full meaning of “the power of partnership.”

Check out our photos from the luncheon!

On those Extreme Makeover shows, it’s fun when the family says, “Wow! You look so terrific, we almost wouldn’t recognize you!” But what if the makeover was SO extreme that the baffled husband said, “… who are you?” And the kids cried, “Where’s our mommy?” That’s exactly what happened to PepsiCo’s Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice products.

After a major package redesign, Tropicana sales dropped a whopping 20% between January 1 and February 22, 2009, according to AdAge.com. To stop the bleeding, PepsiCo, the parent company of Tropicana, trashed the new look and rushed back to the old design. So what went wrong?

1.) PepsiCo underestimated the value of package recognition.

Consumers knew Tropicana by its look. But when the re–branded packaging was put next to other orange juice brands (Minute Maid, Dole, etc.) nothing said to the consumer, “Hey! It’s me, your old friend Tropicana!” The key design elements that made Tropicana packaging iconic to loyal customers were either muted or missing. Consumers no longer recognized their favorite drink. They assumed it was gone and simply grabbed another brand.

2.) The redesign was too much too fast!

It’s often best to ease into a new logo or package design gradually. But Tropicana dove head first. The packaging changed so suddenly and radically that loyal customers looked right past it.

3.) The packaging was too generic.

Although the new packaging was attractive on the design board, it looked so bland on the shelf that it simply blended into the background. Loyal customers couldn’t distinguish between their favorite brand and generic orange juice brands.

4.) The new packaging made it hard to distinguish between varieties.

Whether you were looking for Tropicana’s No Pulp or Calcium variety, all the new packaging looked the same! Tropicana’s previous packaging had used different colors to successfully differentiate each variety. Even customers who figured out what Tropicana looked like now couldn’t find the taste they wanted.

On February 23, after losing millions of dollars in sales, PepsiCo announced they were ditching their new look and reverting to the previous package design. Clearly, they learned a valuable lesson or two. What would you have done differently if you were PepsiCo?

When times are tough you return to the basics. With the economy in an uproar, people think twice before spending their hard-earned money. While it’s clear that marketers who maintain their advertising investments in a recession fare better both now and after the recovery, it’s still nerve-wracking in the short term. So what’s the basic solution? Talking.

Remember when marketers actually spoke to their customers? Remember those days when you walked into a store, someone greeted you and asked how they could help you or how your day was going? Now, with e–commerce, automated phone systems and a business world spinning a million miles a second it is uncommonly refreshing to receive direct and personal customer service. So today, when times are hard for everyone, remember to take a deep breath, get out there and talk to your customers and clients.

At jhP we’re committed to “the power of partnership.” We know relationships are the core of business success. When money’s tight you prefer to spend with those who offer proven service, who make your life a little easier, who ensure you have one less worry later, and who just plain help you feel better. It’s wise to be progressive in your advertising and marketing – but don’t forget the basics. Take a little time out of each day to talk to people. Maybe you’ll earn a lifelong customer from it – and/or a friend!