jones huyett Partners

My Life Without Facebook:
Week 2

In case you missed it – I gave up Facebook for Lent.

This week was even more difficult than last. Last week my Facebook fast was top-of-mind to all my friends and family – this week the newness has worn off. People keep talking to me about things I would normally know about – expecting me to have a clue. But when I stop them and ask them to fill me in, I get the resounding “oh, that’s right, you’re not on Facebook.” And then there’s The Face.

“The Face” is the eye–squinting, wrinkled-forehead, pressed-lips look that you get when people feel sorry for you. I’m fairly certain I’ve used this look many times. Usually to communicate a feeling with others – typically when something has happened and I’m trying to show empathy to someone. Is that what my friends are doing to me? Feeling sorry for me? (NOTE: I’m exaggerating with that last line for effect – just go with it.)

But seriously, this past week proves one point I had hoped to make with this experiment – that you can’t communicate with your audience if you’re not using the communication tools your audience is using. If I could had been on Facebook this week, you’d know that I became of fan of my bank’s new Fan Page – CoreFirst Bank & Trust. Instead I have to wait until April to do so! And I would have known that Jayhawk Café, a new café in downtown Topeka’s Jayhawk Tower, had their grand opening. But I missed it because I didn’t know about it – I heard about it later that evening on the 10:00 news. Regardless, I’m managing. Not as effectively, or efficiently, as normal, but I’m making it through with a little help from my friends, family, co-workers and local media. Thanks everyone!

Here are a few other things you would have known if I could have been on Facebook this week:

•  WHAT!?!? There’s a Twilight “Scene It!” board game. How do I NOT have this?
•  Headed to the Heartland Visioning meeting! Can’t wait to hear all about their wonderful plans to revitalize Downtown Topeka.
•  Why are some stoplights in Lincoln horizontal and some vertical … did they just decide to buck consistency or does this madness have a real purpose?
•  Stupid friends – why aren’t you ALL on Twitter?! Okay you’re not stupid but my life would be easier if you were!

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Filed by Brie at 12:05 pm under Example, General Marketing, Social Media, Topeka, Trends, Twitter, jhP Family, online marketing
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My Life Without Facebook:
Week 1

In case you missed it – I gave up Facebook for Lent.

It’s become painfully obvious to me that I’m going to have to start using the phone more often … even more so now that I’ve officially worn out the letters i, e, t, o and h on my cell phone, making texting a little difficult to say the least. It will be interesting to see how painfully awkward my friends and I are in phone conversations. My generation had just started talking on the phone when Yahoo Messenger became popular … and we quickly stopped talking and started typing. I’ve had the Internet since I was in 4^th or 5^th grade so you can understand why it may be hard for me to communicate outside of email, texting, social media, instant messaging or in person. The sad truth is that I’m not even sure I have some of my best friends’ phone numbers! (P.S. if you’re one of those people please drop me an email at bengelken@jhpadv.com – I miss you, friends!).

I’m still habitually typing facebook.com into the URL and have actually ended up at the sign in page several times. I did finally set up a folder in my gmail account. It’s called “Facebook – Lent” and I’m putting ALL notifications I get in that file to check on April 4. So no – I’m not cheating and reading my notifications to get around being on Facebook.

The hardest night so far was the night of the K-State v. Nebraska Men’s basketball game. I didn’t know what to do with myself. It didn’t feel like enough just to rant to my Dad (who was watching the game with me). And my Twitter followers for the most part don’t care about K-State sports or follow me for my ranting. I thought about Google Buzz, but well, let’s be honest – no one’s on Google Buzz yet and why should they be when they can do everything on Facebook right now? So for now all my perfectly crafted, witty banter will go unacknowledged.

Here’s a little of what you would have seen this week if I could have logged in:
• Copywriting without Facebook breaks or Diet Coke do not make for a happy Brie

• Basketball 101 – Dribbling the ball – Learn how to!!

• Go nominate Topeka to be a test community for Google’s Fiber Network! Just imagine – Internet speeds that are nearly 100 times faster than what we currently have – and faster than anywhere else in the whole WORLD! ThinkBigTopeka.com

• DANG my job for holding me accountable (with no facebook updates) – this is one of the only times I’ve EVER been able to say that!

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Filed by Brie at 12:23 pm under Social Media, Topeka, Trends, Twitter, jhP Family
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My Life Without Facebook

I’m Brie Engelken. I’m 23 years old and I’m a Facebook addict. Facebook began in February 2004 and by October I was an avid user. By May 2005 I was addicted – checking every hour I had access to a computer (this was before mobile web browsers took off!) just to see who was doing what, who broke up with who, and more importantly, who had scandalous pictures from last night’s big party.

Today, Facebook is a primary means of communication in my life, as well as the lives of my peers. I start my day at 5:00 a.m. every weekday morning and by 5:15 a.m. it’s fair to say I’ve checked the statuses I missed while sleeping. I log in when I get to work at 8:00 a.m. and keep a tab open all day, checking in regularly just to see what’s going on. I get home around 6:00 p.m. most nights and I’m logged back in by 6:30 p.m. with a window open until at least 11:00 p.m. that evening. It’s fair to say that I don’t miss much.

Starting at midnight on Wednesday, February 17th (tonight) I will be giving up Facebook as part of my sacrifice for Lent (I’m Roman Catholic). For 46 days I will journal my life without Facebook, and the challenges I encounter along the way. The only leniency I will have is the ability to go in and un-tag pictures, but I can’t waver from that page onto any other part of Facebook. Check back for weekly posts about my journey (aka Blast from the Past) leading up to a MAJOR gossip catch up at Midnight, April 3rd/4th.

Want to hold me accountable? Feel free to visit my Facebook profile and see my inactivity.

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Filed by Brie at 6:12 pm under Social Media, jhP Family
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Last weekend the jhP Team gathered with their significant others to celebrate this holiday season and another successful year. Festivities included sharing a hearty meal, hoisting a drink or two, and enjoying a spirited white-elephant gift exchange. Check out these party pictures for a sampling of the fun.

Official Notice: No Snuggies were harmed in the making of this party.

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Filed by the Partners at 5:50 pm under jhP Family
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With temperatures rising so are the number of activities in our day planners. The idea of lazy summer days sounds great but with so much going on we ALL have bigger and better plans than a little R&R. Here’s how the jhP team plans to enjoy the next few months of extra daylight.

I have theatre tickets for the summer – so I plan to spend my time enjoying fabulous show-choir tunes under a gorgeous blue sky while I dream of the cool temperatures October will bring! – Brie Engelken

My family has softball and/or baseball games through the middle of July.  We’ll be eating a lot of baseball dust during the summer.  Although I’m pretty sure we had plenty this past weekend.  I don’t wash my vehicle until the season is over. – Theresa Knapp

This summer I will be enjoying the fact that we took our pool out last year! No more expensive chems, no teenagers sneaking late night swims and no high water bills! We will just enjoy our green grass, gardens and the AC when we need to cool off! – Linda Bull

Softball games and tournaments for my daughter and preparing to send my son off to college, so paperwork, dorm shopping and spending a bit of extra time as a family. – Michelle Stubblefield

I’m leaving Thursday for Bike Across Kansas. 545 miles across our beautiful state with 800 of my friends. Fun, food, Kansas scenery, great communities and bicycling. Can’t get much better than that. – Jake Huyett

Summer is a time to enjoy family. I’m looking forward to bike rides and swimming with the kids. And what would summer be without my annual rash. (just kidding about that last part) – Dan Billen

Other than the usual yard work, lounging in the pool and entertaining I am most looking forward to the family vacation on Fire Island in August with our kids and grandkids. – Leslie Palace

I’m going to spend as much time as possible with my family – going on walks, grilling out and taking Leo swimming for the first time. – Alissa Sheley

My family is going to a reunion in Ruidoso, New Mexico in July. I’m especially looking forward to leading an expedition to the summit of Sierra Blanca, a 12,000-foot extinct volcano that’s nearby. From the online photos, it looks like it’ll be a beautifully scenic trek. – Kurt Eskilson

My family is going on a family vacation with friends in July to Disney World. Other then that you will find us at in the yard or on the lake. – Linda Eisenhut

I’ve got a long “to-do list” but I’ll probably spend most of my summer jogging or trying to find my lost golf balls. When I’m out of the sun, I’m going to try learning Japanese (again) or maybe some 3D software. – Dustin Dean

We’re planning on going out to see my son-in-law perform for Pilobolus in New York City. – Gary Jones

We’ll spend as many weekends as possible camping. Otherwise, you’ll find us at home trying to get rid of the junk we seem to accumulate. My daughter’s answer to this was, “buy a bigger house.” Instead, we’ll be busy making the house we already have seem bigger. – Sherri Wilson

I have a dozen books to read and one to write, design, and draw. Summer will have to wait til’ September or so. – Brian Wells

My son turns 16 in November, so this summer I will be riding shotgun in the car with him, white-knuckled, forcing myself not to scream and cover my eyes. – Tracey Stratton

The Armstrong’s will be busy doing housework!  Finish building our fence, finish landscaping, finish unpacking, and enjoy our new home! – Mindy Armstrong

The Weichert clan will be playing baseball just about every night until the end of June and then we plan on kicking back, barbequing and just enjoying the kids. – Lyn Weichert

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Filed by the Partners at 4:40 pm under Topeka, jhP Family
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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!

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Filed by the Partners at 9:01 am under General Marketing, jhP Family
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When I was sixteen I was lucky enough to spend a month in Copenhagen, Denmark. While this was many years before I began my internship here at jhP, or even considered a career in advertising, one billboard there altered my perspective forever. It was a billboard for Tuborg beer. The ad had a picture of a Tuborg beer bottle with a slogan that translated to “Tuborg: Probably the Best Beer in Town.”

You read that right: “Probably the Best Beer in Town.” A friend and I found it hilarious and made up our own alternate ad: a bottle of Tuborg on an empty table with the logo “Tuborg: Probably the Best Beer on this Table.” We thought the ad was ludicrous because we were used to American ads that asserted they were the best in the world. My friend’s mother, who was Danish, tried to explain to us that Danes accepted that people have different tastes in beer and therefore found “We’re the Best” ads offensive.

The Tuborg ad offered more than a lesson in Danish advertising. It taught me that understanding your audience as precisely as possible and appealing to how they think is of ultimate importance in any marketing effort. Sixteen-year-old American girls visiting Copenhagen were obviously not Tuborg’s target market. Danish beer drinkers, however, loved it. So remember the importance of knowing – and appealing specifically to – your target market!

Picture Provided by Tony Austin on Flickr

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Filed by Sara at 8:29 am under General Marketing, jhP Family
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Mindy Armstrong, jhP associate photographer, was recently awarded First Place for the Regional non–master group and First Place for the Kansas non–master group at the annual conference for the Heart of America Professional Photographers Association. At the conference, Mindy’s piece was compared against work by photographers from Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Her winning image was titled “United We Stand,” and she took the photo in the summer of 2008 for the United Way of Greater Topeka’s 2008 campaign materials.

Mindy was also awarded a Gold ADDY from the American Advertising Federation of Topeka for the same image in February 2009. Mindy joined the jhP team in the fall of 2007. She has been a member of the Heart of America Professional Photographers Association since 2005.

Congratulations Mindy!

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Filed by the Partners at 8:34 am under Awards, Creative, Topeka, jhP Family
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Lately, it’s not uncommon to hear people talking about tweets and retweets. No these people are not discussing birds – they’re talking about the social media network Twitter.

Twitter is a microblogging service where users explain what they are doing and share information in 140 characters or less. The key to Twitter is summed up in five simple steps: Follow, Tweet, Retweet, Reply and Repeat.

If that sounds like gibberish to you, please join the jhP team Friday, April 10 at 4:00 for a fun “Twitter Tips Beer-30” at jhp, 3200 sw huntoon in Topeka. For valuable Twitter info and a cold brew, make your reservation by calling us at 785.228.0900 or by email: lweichert@jhpadv.com. Seats are limited, so don’t delay!

And if you’re still wondering why your company should care about Twitter, consider these facts:

1.)   Twitter is good for business.

I’ve been told many companies are uncomfortable with social networking because they can’t control what’s being said about them. Today’s truth is, more than ever before, the customer controls your brand. So it’s imperative that you find out what your customers are thinking – and saying. Twitter’s search features let you monitor what’s said about your company. This gives you up-front and personal opportunities to monitor and manage your company’s image. If a customer had a poor experience, now you’ll know and can get to the front line, speak with them and resolve the situation. Think of the times you’ve been in a restaurant and had poor service. Do you still go back? You might – if the restaurant’s recovery was handled right. Twitter is your chance to recover and develop a better relationship with your customer base.

2.)   Twitter is a great training and research tool for your employees.

My favorite Twitter feature is following other industry professionals. I can post industry-specific articles or read links posted by other professionals that I find interesting. I no longer have to search various blogs for industry-specific information because I just log into Twitter. Now I’m usually one of the first to know about industry news and emerging trends.

3.)   Twitter allows you to subtly market your business.

Twitter puts a face to your brand and personalizes the experience for your clients and customers, AND it allows people to learn more about what’s going on in your company. Taking part in a tradeshow this week? Let your followers know! Help them realize they should be there to learn that your product or service is just what they’re looking for.

So logon to Twitter and start following people! Remember to Follow, Tweet, Retweet, Reply and Repeat. These five steps will help bring value to your tweeting experience. But also keep in mind that Social Media isn’t something to experiment with. You need a plan and strategy just like all your other marketing efforts. That’s the only way to turn this fun activity into business success.

Make your reservation now for our “Twitter Tips Beer-30,” 4:00pm Friday, April 10 at jhP. Call 785.228.0900 or email lweichert@jhpadv.com and ensure you’ll have a seat. (And a frosty beer!)

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Filed by Brie at 11:34 am under Events, Social Media, Trends, Twitter, jhP Family, online marketing
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Each year the American Advertising Federation–Topeka bestows their once-in-a-lifetime, highest achievement award. The Silver Medal recognizes someone for their long history of outstanding contributions to advertising, advancing the industry’s standards, creative excellence and community involvement. We are proud to announce this year’s honoree is Leslie Palace, a jhP team member since 2004!

Leslie has always exhibited the highest levels of dedication to jhP and previous employers throughout her stellar career. All her life, she has been an active and influential member of the Topeka community. She goes above and beyond for her clients, her associates and her neighbors.

Here’s what some of her peers had to say:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaFRVe6oqjk [/youtube]

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Leslie for nearly five years. She is classy, sophisticated and very insightful when it comes to the work we provide our clients. I can’t think of anyone that was more deserving to be awarded the Silver Medal award this year. Congratulations Leslie! – Linda B.

Leslie has been a fantastic mentor and friend ever since I began working at jhP. Her level of professionalism and confidence is next to none. Way to go, Leslie! – Alissa

Leslie has taught me a lot and made me feel appreciated. I really enjoy working with her! – Sherri

Congratulations Leslie! I am proud to be a part of the same team as you! – Brie

Leslie, you are a riot to work with. Thanks for being so supportive to all team members – even the little guys! – Dan

Leslie’s positive attitude is contagious around the office. Congratulations Leslie you truly deserve the recognition! – Lyn

Leslie is a great mentor and co-worker! She is always willing to help and to offer her input. Congratulations Leslie! You are so well deserving of this award! – Tracey

Congratulations Leslie! You’re the best! – Theresa

Thank you for all your dedication and hard work. It is a joy working with you! – Mindy

Leslie, you are so deserving of the Silver Medal award. I am honored to have the opportunity to work along side of you. You are a great contributor to the jhP team. We are all proud of you. – Linda E.

In the small and sun-scorned hours of the morning, when I am but sleeping, Leslie is at the office, awake and a-work, making our lives, and those of our clients, easier. Congrats, Leslie–you’ve earned it. – Brian

I’ve really enjoyed working with Leslie these past few months. Working on her Silver Medal Award video taught me how much others in the advertising community respect and adore her. We’re incredibly lucky to have her at jhP! – Dusty

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Filed by the Partners at 6:46 pm under Awards, jhP Family
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