january / february 2010 oz magazine

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010

www.ozonline.tv

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OZ CONTRIBUTORS & CONTENTS

Jon Lee Andersen is an Atlanta area attorney who focuses his practice providing advice and assistance for advertising copy, sweepstakes, contests, promotions, labeling, endorsements, testimonial, copyright, trademark and licensing issues. His clients include advertising agencies, marketing firms, e-commerce busi-nesses and freelance professionals. www.advertisinglawfirm.com.Column, page 31

Suzanne Oliver is an Atlanta-based freelancer, writing regularly for Atlanta Magazine. She previously served as managing editor of Points North, a lifestyle publication serving the northern sub-urbs, as well as senior editor of Atlanta Magazine’s Home, special-izing in interior design, retail, and real estate. Oliver is also on the board of directors for the Magazine Association of the Southeast. Feature story, page 20

Bobby Hickman is a freelance journalist who writes mostly about business and travel. He is also a copywriter and former president of The Freelance Forum. Bobby is currently ghostwriting the autobiography of a Celtic shaman in North Carolina. He is also developing a book on great Southern honky tonks, enabling him to hang out at bars and claim his drink tab as a business deduc-tion. [email protected] story, page 26

Tori LaConsay is a copywriter, illustrator, designer and secret shower chanteuse. When she’s not working, she’s likely to be listening to her neighbor’s stereo through the paper-thin walls of her apartment, eating the satsumas her Mom and Dad grew, or chasing squirrels with her best girl (dog), Shiloh. [email protected], 205.370.8916Design, cover and pages 26-29

Nicki Clark is an Atlanta area Graphic Designer. She is a current senior at Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah, Georgia. Her interests include music, fine arts, travel, exploring, vintage clothing, and reading.Design, pages 20-22

Oz Magazine is published bi-monthly by Oz Publishing Inc, 2566 Shallowford Road, #302, Suite 104, Atlanta GA 30345, (404) 633-1779. Copyright 2010 by Oz Publishing Incorporated, all rights reserved. Reproductions in whole or in part without express written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. This magazine is printed on recyclable paper. Visit us on the web at www.ozonline.tv.

Publishers: Tia Powell, Group Publisher Gary Wayne Powell, Publisher Kime Harless, Assistant Publisher

Editorial: Kime Harless, Ozcetera Editor

Sales: Kime Harless, Sales Consultant Tiana Fernandez, Sales Consultant Megan Wilbourn, Sales Consultant

Design: Connie Dominey, Art Director; Production Manager Mikel Hutchings, Designer

Ted Fabella, Logo Design

O Z M A G A Z I N E S TA F F

CONTRIBUTORS & CONTENTS 4

OZCETERA 6

THE BLOGGER BRIGADE 20By Suzanne Oliver

OZSCENE 23

THE INS AND OUTS OF BEING IN 26By Bobby L. Hickman

THE “LITTLE” THINGS THAT COUNT 31By Jon Andersen

LET ME GIVE YOU MY CARD 32

DISTRIBUTION PARTNERS 34


OZ CETERA

The Varsity is taking over the North Avenue MARTA station, which is just a block away from the Atlanta icon. Local advertising agency MAX2O designed and produced over 30 separate graphics to be placed throughout the station as part of The Varsity’s Station Domination over North Avenue.

With headlines such as “You Can Smell the Onion Rings From Here (No ad-ditional charge)” and “Serving Chili Dogs Since This Was Just A Hole In The Ground” along with a nine-foot tall, gigantic Coca-Cola will be sure to catch the eye. Nearly half a million riders pass through the North Avenue subway station on a monthly basis.

Encyclomedia has added motion graphic designer Daniel A. DiNardo to their team as art director. As a freelance designer for over ten years, DiNardo has worked for Home De-pot, Red Bull, ING, Marriott, Deloitte, McKesson, General Electric, Lock-heed Martin and Coca-Cola. He’s also brought his artistic styling to documentary films for Inertia Films and Jump\Cut; to media agencies Fletcher-Martin, Media Kitchen and Digital Blue; and to television net-works Georgia Public Broadcasting and A&E. Now with Encyclomedia, DiNardo will be overseeing the final look and feel of its creative, commer-cial and corporate fare.

The Titan Agency tapped Encyclo-media to produce a national television ad campaign for their client Pearl River Resort. The resort, located in Choctaw, Mississippi, is comprised of the Golden Moon Hotel & Casino and the Silver Star Hotel & Casino. Titan’s chief creative of-ficer, Michael Ewing, set out to create spots with characters that would resonate with the casino’s clientele. Encyclomedia brought together the right cast, crew, and creative to produce three carefully crafted spots fitting the “real players” theme. A crew of 15 along with six actors made the five-hour trip to Pearl River for the two-day shoot. The spots were shot on the RED One camera, with Jack Wallis as DP, Burt Holland directing and Lance Holland producing.

Encyclomedia has just wrapped a series of videos for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instructing emergency responders, rescue workers, and volunteers in handling radiological incidents. As part of this series, Encyclom-edia filmed an emergency response training exercise with the Gwinnett County Health Department and the Radiation Studies Branch of the CDC. The videos depict a community reception center following the detonation of a dirty bomb. The two-day shoot involved 25 crew members, seven actors, 50 emergency responders, and 70 extras.

DINARDO JOINS ENCYCLOMEDIA

Daniel DiNardo joins Encyclomedia as art director.

Vision Event Designs was recently featured on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” for an event consultation with Kim Zolciak, one of the show’s stars. Vision Event Designs was tasked with plan-ning Zolciak’s 2009 birthday bash.

For her birthday party the Vision team wanted a “hot” theme. Designs featured hot pink & black to give the event a sexy feel. The team also proposed specialty drinks to honor the birthday girl in-cluding “The Zolciak Attack” and “The Kimopolitan.” Other design elements included hot pink lighting, contemporary lounge seating and an ice sculpture.

HOUSEWIVES HAVE MORE FUN

“Seekers,” winner of Best Short Screenplay at the 2009 Los Angeles Interna-tional Sci-Fi/Horror Film Festival, goes into production in Atlanta this January. Atlanta-based writer L.C. Cruell wrote the screenplay for “Seekers.” Cruell is a graduate with honors from Duke University and Harvard Law.

“Seekers” will be one of five shorts filmed as part of the vampire antholo-gy, “Last Call,” produced by TFP Productions and producer Ondie Daniels. The 20-minute short tells the story of a traumatized young woman’s search for pow-er and revenge, and what happens when she finds it. The short is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2010.

SHORT PRODUCTION

NO FOOD ON THE TRAIN

Mark Wofford, general manager of PC&E, has been elected to the 2010 Pro-duction Equipment Rental Association (PERA) Council. The PERA Council within the Entertainment Services & Technology Association (ESTA) serves the needs of the equipment rental market for motion picture, television and commercial production. The Council continues the work of PERA for camera, accessories, grip and lighting rental companies and manufacturers. Members of the Council are responsible for developing and implementing programs and services for members in these market segments.

In camera news, PC&E has added the P+S Technik Weisscam HS-2 and the Sony HXR-MC1 to their inventory. The Weisscam HS-2 is a high-speed camera offering frame rates up to 1500 fps in 2K, up to 2000 fps in 1080p, and up to 4000 fps in 720p. It offers simultaneous streams in HD and RAW via HD-SDI single and dual link. The Weisscam features a full format Super 35 CMOS sen-sor and the PL mount allows use of any of PC&E’s 35mm lenses. Also added: The Sony HXR-MC1 is an all in one HD POV camera/recorder/playback unit that records on the Memory Stick Duo. The package comes with two 8GB Memory Stick Duo and two batteries. PC&E has also added to their set of Arri Master Primes by acquiring two more lenses. They have added the 14mm and the 65mm Arri Master Prime.

PC&E has become a dealer for LEDZ in their store and on their website. They offer the Brute 30, the Brute 16 and the Mini-Par individually.

PC&E has added two new Kino Flo Image 85 lights to their rental stock. The Image 85 produces a soft, shadowless display of daylight or tungsten quality light that can be controlled without dramatic shifts in color. These lights are also DMX controllable.

In addition, PC&E introduced a new lighting kit consisting of the LitePad HO in various sizes. Like the original, LitePad HO is a slim profile light that creates a soft, even source of light. It draws just a few watts of power and has an esti-mated life of 60,000+ hours. The new kit contains two 3”x6” LitePads, two 6”x6” LitePads, and two 3”x12” LitePads.

PC&E’s sales department has added a new tripod to its stock. The tripod is lightweight and ideal for small video cameras. Included in this system are the 701HDV Professional Fluid Video Mini Head, the 547B Professional Video Tripod, and a tripod bag.

WOFFORD JOINS PERA

MAX2O helped The Varsity take over the North Avenue MARTA Station.

Cartoon Network Digital has redesigned its website and launched “The Star Wars: The Clone Wars Game Creator,” which gives fans the power to build their own part of the Clone Wars universe and share it with other gamers all over the world. The overall site has been redesigned to better promote network shows and optimize advertising, in addition to showcasing the more than 200 free-to-play online games, video, and interactive content.

With this new game creator, fans enter the Star Wars universe and choose their character (Anakin Skywalker, Captain Rex or Cad Bane) and their vehicle (AT-TE, AT-RT or BARC Speeder) independently, giving them nine different com-binations of character abilities and vehicle powers. Fans can then customize their challenge with enemy ships, blaster turrets, force fields and even build a giant enemy base to attack. When finished, the game can then be posted to Cartoon Network’s game gallery for other fans to play and rate. The gallery makes it easy for fans to play other people’s games, rate them, sort them, and share them with friends.

Georgia Tech’s Glitch program, which was created by Betsy DiSalvo, a PhD student in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech, tested “The Star Wars: The Clone Wars Game Creator.” Glitch introduces teenaged African-American boys to the gaming industry as game testers for companies such as Electronic Arts, GameTap and Cartoon Network.

CARTOON NETWORK LAUNCHES DIY GAMES

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SEARCH ENGINEMARKETINGEXPERT

www.miechiels.com/oz877.304.6854

The Coca-Cola Company recently selected Bill Adler to photograph its board of directors for their official 2009 corporate portrait. This image will be included as a two page spread within the annual report and be displayed at Coke world headquarters on North Avenue. Adler also had an exclusive sitting with Coca-Cola chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent.

Reflecting on the experi-ence, Bill Adler stated: “This type of shoot has to come off with military precision because there is no time to improvise on the set. The location was scouted and photographed, and then paper doll type images (of the actual participants) were placed in various ar-rangements for review. A ‘dress rehearsal’ took place the night before the shoot with Coke employees standing in for the principals. Dance-step feet were then taped for placement so each participant could find his or her position. Creating this image fast was key, because the Board consists of an ambassador, captains of industry, a former US Senator, Secretary of Labor, media moguls and others that have a million things to do. Efficiency equaled success.”

ADLER JOINS COKE BOARD

Bill Adler poses with the Coca-Cola polar bear.


OZ CETERA

Hayslett Group LLC celebrated its 15th anniversary in October and was awarded 11 new communications industry awards from the Georgia Chapter of the Public Rela-tions Society of America (PRSA) and the Atlanta Chapter of the International Associa-tion of Business Communicators (IABC).

To celebrate the 15th anniversary, the firm hosted a party on the rooftop of the French American Brasserie (FAB) in downtown Atlanta in mid-October. More than 100 current and former clients, employees and friends of the firm came to celebrate.

“I was very gratified by the number of people who came out to help us mark the 15th anniversary and celebrate our success and good fortune,” said Charles Hayslett, the firm’s founder and CEO. “It was particularly special to see so many for-mer employees, including a good many who started their careers with us and then moved on to important new opportunities. We’ve been fortunate over the years to attract many, many talented communications professionals, whose work made a real difference for our clients.”

In other news, Hayslett Group picked up six awards from IABC and five more from PRSA. Among the awards were top honors from both PRSA and IABC for the media relations component of a statewide trauma awareness campaign Hayslett Group created and managed under a grant from Healthcare Georgia Founda-tion. The website Hayslett Group created for the trauma campaign was se-lected by IABC as the best non-profit site in Georgia in 2009. The trauma cam-paign also won awards for integrated marketing, community relations, public affairs and public service.

Hayslett Group also won PRSA certificates of excellence for its work on the grand opening of Spivey Station Surgery Center in Jonesboro, Georgia, and for an advertorial on managing healthcare billing, for Ingenious Med, a healthcare technology client.

Judy Hayslett, administrative director, Hayslett Group and former employee, Kristen Stone of Edelman.

Dori Mendel, account manage, Hayslett Group, Andrea Wehrmann, public relations coordinator,

Gwinnett Medical Center and Katie Little, account manager, Hayslett Group.

Back: former employees Kristen Stone, Diane Maicon and Katherine Kline. Front: Judy Hayslett, administrative

director, Russ Williams, vice president and Charlie Hayslett, chairman and CEO (all Hayslett Group).

HAYSLETT GROUP TURNS 15

infinitee Communications Inc. has hired digital artist Avis Woods to provide web and interactive design services. Prior to joining infinitee, Woods worked as a graphic designer for Alisias and Leader Enterprises, Inc. While working with these organizations, she was responsible for developing the concepts of collateral materials, websites and print advertisements for companies such as General Mills.

Woods holds a Master of Arts in graphic design from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in computer graphics from Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Woods joins infinitee as the company celebrates 20 years of providing busi-ness and consumer communications services to national and regional clients.

WOODS GOES FOR INFINITEEChannel connectivity is the marketing mantra of progressive industry lead-

ers, yet it is perhaps one of the most difficult and challenging issues of our time. We can no longer engage one channel and expect to achieve the kind of results driven performance we demand.

CONNECT 2010, held on January 14th at Atlanta’s Waverly Cobb Galleria, featured experts in the fields of data, web, and print. In addition to the educa-tional value, CONNECT 2010 attendees had a chance to visit with exhibitors of key marketing services, representing all channels, learning firsthand what is on the horizon for 2010 and beyond.

CONNECT 2010 was presented by The Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia (PIAG) and the Direct Marketing Association of Atlanta (DMA Atlanta). Both associations seek to empower professionals charged with developing and implementing effective, measurable marketing strategies for their business.

“CONNECT 2010 was designed to inform attendees about the trends and best practices of cross-channel marketing strategies,” explains Tim Taylor, presi-dent of PIAG. “We aimed to connect them to the right customers, the right type of business partners, and the right channel mix to drive their success in 2010.”

CHANNEL CONNECTIVITY

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Alcon Entertainment’s “The Blind Side” starring Sandra Bullock pulled off the rare feat of increasing ticket sales on its second weekend in wide release, nearly pulling off an upset and eclipsing “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” to become number one.

The 18% rise in receipts to a studio-estimated $40.1 million for “The Blind Side” was driven by sensational word of mouth that seems to be expanding its audience beyond adult women who came out for its opening to include more families. The movie, which cost Alcon $35 million to produce, has collected $208.4 million so far as of this printing.

Studios typically keep about half a movie’s domestic ticket sales. Even after marketing costs and Warner Bros.’ distribution fee, “The Blind Side” is sure to be hugely profitable for Alcon.

Alcon has now made three movies in Georgia and plans to bring a fourth film to the state in 2010.

ALCON’S GEORGIA EFFORT WRACKS UP

In recent project news, Get-A-Grip Atlanta has worked with the Atlanta Hawks, Cryolife and NBC Sports. Get-A-Grip provided lighting, jib, camera and crew for the Atlanta Hawks. Images captured will be used for commercials and the Jumbotron during the games.

Get-A-Grip created a live corporate event for Cryolife by providing lighting, camera, audio, and crew.

Get-A-Grip also lit Tiger Woods accepting the FED-X cup at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia for NBC Sports.

GET-A-GRIP SHEDS LIGHT ON TIGER WOODS

Arketi Group was recognized for its work in the BtoB PR and marketing arena, earning eight awards at the 2009 PRSA|GA Phoenix Awards Celebration.

The Phoenix Awards, awarded by the Georgia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, recognize excellence in the public relations profession in Georgia. Arketi and its clients received three Phoenix Awards and five Certifi-cates of Excellence at this year’s ceremony in the categories of Writing Trade/Business News Release, Direct Mail, Editorials, Technical Writing – Trade/Busi-ness, Social Media – Podcasts, Social Media – Other, and two in the Media Rela-tions – BtoB category.

ARKETI NABS HARDWARE

Thirty-five AFTRA, SAG, and Equity talents teamed up to present nostalgic recreations of classic programs from the Golden Age of Radio in October at the New American Shakespeare Tavern. The program, entitled “Lend Me An Ear!: A Six-Pack to Go!,” was a benefit show for the Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB). It was a celebration of “the Theater of the Mind” with a potpourri of shows: “Vic and Sade,” with its low-key, homespun comedy and starring local celebrity Bill Tush from the TBS “Tush” program; the soap opera “Whispering Streets;” “Dick Tracy in B Flat,” a musical spoof of the comic strip; the Peewee Herman-like antics of “Joe Penner with The Baker’s Broadcast;” the humorous husband and wife detective series “Mr. And Mrs. North;” and the sci-fi pro-gram “Dimension X.” AFTRA/SAG Board and Council members Doug Kaye, Jon Hayden, and Barry Stoltze produced and directed. Live SFX were courtesy of Henry Howard, the keyboardist was Brad Weage, and Bill Ritch and the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company provided the audio and engineering.

The Shakespeare Tavern is a great venue, given its Globe Theater decor, and every year, artistic director Jeff Watkins graciously donates one “dark night” for the event. Co-hostess Edith Ivey, our “1st Lady of AFTRA,” worked regularly on the show “Whispering Streets” in the 1950s and came to us in the Aughts digitally pre-recorded. “Dick Tracy in B Flat,” from 1945, was heard by our fighting men through the Armed Forces Radio Service on “Command Performance” and in-cluded such notables as Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, Bob Hope and Jimmy Duran-te. Highly distilled corn abounded in “Joe Penner,” who was a big-time baggy-pants comedian and number one on the radio in 1934, but little known today because of his untimely death in 1941.

This year, $1,789 was raised, which translates into $10,125 of buying power for the ACFB.

GOLDEN AGE OF RADIO

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OZ CETERA

In December, leaders from Georgia’s film industry came together for an evening reception at Georgia Public Broadcasting’s television stu-dios. Guests were invited to hear from an expert panel that included casting director Shay Bentley-Griffin, entertainment lawyer Stephen Weizenecker, actor Wilbur Fitzgerald and entertainment industry con-sultant, Denise Evans-Elsbree.

“This event drew over 100 Atlanta business execs that were inter-ested in the growing film industry, to both learn the reasons for the boom and how to get involved as a business. In this dreary economy, Atlantans are excited to hear about a growing economic force for the state that is both dynamic and accessible,” said Denise Evans Elsbree, principal of TRIO Media Group and strategic partner with Georgia Film Credit Consultants. “Georgia has moved into a dominant and competi-tive place amongst the production community and has taken a lead as a top three destination for producers. Outside of Los Angeles and New York, Georgia is the most prolific state for production. The entire state of Georgia is benefiting from the aggressive 30% tax credit incentive plan.”

During the hour-long discussion, the panelists addressed the 2008 Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act (GA HB 1100) and how it has allowed them to facilitate, broker and fast track the sale of film tax credits in the state of Georgia. Each panelist shared his or her experience in areas involving film finance and film production. They also shared the following figures from 2008-2009 Fiscal Year: Television networks, Hollywood studios, production companies and independent producers invested more than $521 million in Georgia; the economic impact of this investment was $929 million; and 13 industry supply-chain companies have recently located to Georgia.

A BILLION HERE . . . A BILLION THERE

Left to Right: Donna Kain moderated a panel focused on Georgia’s growing film industry. The panel included actor Wilbur Fitzgerald, casting director Shay Bentley-Griffin, entertainment lawyer Steve Weizenecker and Denise Elsbree, strategic partner

with Georgia Film Credit Consultants.

FOR A GOOD CAUSE“Dear Cancer, Thank you for teaching me to stop and listen. Thank you for

reminding me what is truly important. You can go now.”The quote by Belleruth Naparstek, together with a serene photo of a bald

but beautiful young woman, graces page one of a 2009-2010 calendar featur-ing breast cancer patient Danielle Files and her friends. Page after page of the 15-month calendar promotes awareness, prevention and early detection of breast cancer through inspirational messages, admonitions and facts paired with 40s-style images of Files’ close friends and family members striking a pose for photographer Susan Rosmarin.

The calendars sell for a minimum donation of $12, and proceeds benefit The American Cancer Society’s annual “Making Strides for Breast Cancer Walk” fund.

The idea for the calendar was the brainchild of 38-year-old Files, who was diagnosed with stage-two breast cancer in April 2009, and her friends, includ-ing Beth Tebbe and Kate Krumm. As their vision for the project grew, Files and friends enlisted in-kind support from hair stylists, make-up artists, a graphic designer, and Rosmarin. Since the calendar came to fruition in September 2009, Rosmarin’s original photographs have been on display, and the calendars for sale, at several galleries in the Atlanta area, including Mason Murer, The Al-cove, and The Seen Gallery in Decatur. Together with the fundraising efforts of the “Pink Pair-A-Troopers,” Files’ friends and family who participated in the “Making Strides” walk in October, calendar sales have helped to raised more than $21,000 in support of the fight against breast cancer.

Danielle Files is featured on the cover of a calendar whose proceeds benefit The American

Cancer Society’s annual “Making Strides for Breast Cancer Walk” fund.

More than 25 top-level awards were given out at The International Associa-tion of Business Communicators’ IABC|Atlanta’s Golden Flame Gala in October, with 123 winners announced in 80 communications categories, including publications, campaign strategies, digital design and everything in between. Twelve IABC chapters across North America judged the more than 200 entries received. The chapter holds the annual event to recognize excellence in com-munications. The event, held at Piedmont Park’s Greystone, was an evening full of carnival fun - from balloon hats to a barbershop quartet - and recognition of Atlanta communicators’ outstanding work.

Realm Advertising helped IABC|Atlanta plan the event, de-velop marketing materials and coordinate the judging process, and even posted real-time up-dates of the winners, complete with pictures, to IABC|Atlanta’s Facebook page as the cer-emony progressed. Realm Ad-vertising took home 14 differ-ent IABC|Atlanta Golden Flame Awards: five bronze, eight silver and one gold.

REALM WORKS HARD FOR IABC

Realm Advertising Partners, (L to R) Jeff Gray, Michael Stewart, Linda Ross and Jeff Chasten celebrate after winning 14 awards

at the 2009 IABC Golden Flame Awards.

(L to R) Realm Advertising’s Project Manager, Jamie Spetseris and Partner, Michael Stewart volunteered to post the award

winners on the Atlanta IABC Facebook page.


OZ CETERA

Meddin Studios had a ribbon cutting ceremony in November to mark it’s grand opening. Meddin Studios is located inside the historic Meddin Brothers meat packing facility built in 1917. This 22,000 square foot building is located on 2.5 acres, three miles from downtown Savannah, Georgia.

At full operating capacity, the facility will be outfitted with four 2,500 square foot sound stages (two of which can be combined for a single 5,000 square foot sound stage), all with independent entrances and green rooms, full light-ing grids, compressed air, and water and natural gas provisions. The facility also has a full post production facility that consists of three complete editing suites, one color correction/edit suite, a fully equipped 1,600 square foot Pro Tools audio suite with a multi-purpose recording booth that can facilitate full ADR and Foley recording capabilities (with an ultimate goal of obtaining THX and 5.1 Dolby certification); 2,200 square feet dedicated to camera rental; and over 1,800 square feet dedicated to equipment rental. Offerings will also include two and three ton grip trucks, a motion capture remote head, 24’ telescoping camera crane, full Steadicam packages, camera car, and wireless video/follow focus packages.

The facility will also have a 2,000 square foot lobby, a kitchen and multiple restrooms throughout the building. The facility will connect in a 1,700 square foot, centrally located machine room to handle video and audio signal distribu-tion in the facility, digital asset management, backup and archive, compression and transcoding, deliverables and digital, accelerated file distribution. Meddin Studios is also finalizing plans for expansion on the property for future growth.

One of Meddin Studios’ unique offerings is asset management: the organiza-tion, conversion and preservation of content in a digital format. Aging film and tape formats, deteriorating old photos and new digital media formats are just a few of the types of assets for which Meddin Studios can develop and imple-ment a preservation plan. At its simplest, it is a visual, searchable catalog of media from years past, as well as the present and future.

An outlet for advanced digital media technology, this facility is the brainchild of Jon Foster and Nick Gant. Foster and Gant recognized the need to provide such a facility through market research and 30 years of combined experience in the film and television industry. Gant has worked in a wide range of indus-try roles, including senior designer and art director for a Fortune 400 company, broadcast designer, interactive designer and producer, director, editor, anima-tor, aerial cinematographer and military combat photographer. Foster brings expertise in technical service and design, developed through years of building and integrating large systems inside post production and production facilities across the southeast. They’ve developed, and currently have in place an ex-perienced management team to carry out the mission of the company: Staci Donegan, location manager/producer; Jason Osterday, production director (camera/audio); Andrew Riggs, production director (grip/lighting); and Steve Smith, director of sales/account executive.

RIBBON CUTTING FOR NEW SAVANNAH STUDIOS

SPACE WINS AWARDSEach year Central Atlanta Progress awards a

select group of downtown businesses the Atlanta Downtown Design Excellence Award (ADDEA) for their design innovations. This year, the winner in the office division is The Jones Group and inte-rior designer Caryn Grossman of CG Interiors. The team was recognized for creating innovative and eco-friendly office space for The Jones Group in the historic Pioneer Neon Loft Building on Mari-etta Street.

A team of judges made up of design, plan-ning and development experts made site visits to each of the nominees. They cast their ballots, and then the public was allowed to vote for their favorite designs. According to Ellen Mendelsohn, senior project manager, economic development of Central Atlanta Progress, the ADDEA Award raises awareness of quality additions, renova-tions, rehabs and new construction projects in downtown Atlanta.

During the renovation of The Jones Group’s headquarters, two spaces were gutted and com-bined. Great care was taken to showcase and preserve such historic details as wooden floors, heart-of-pine columns, beams and ceilings, original metal vaults and plaster walls. Grossman assembled and worked with a team of local artisans to create custom lighting and furniture and an extraordinary mural painted on panels of compressed straw that interprets the creative process. Furnishings were custom made and locally produced from sustainable sources like compressed sorghum and recycled resins.

Renovating The Jones Group’s space allowed the firm to utilize as many green features as permitted in a historically significant loft. “Our building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places,” said Vicky Jones, president of The Jones Group. “While we love claiming this small piece of Atlanta history, it did present challenges as we incorporated the latest in green technology. For example, we were not allowed to alter the original historic windows. But, we were able to use sustainable and reclaimed materials throughout the space and make use of the loft’s original brick and beautiful woodwork.”

The Jones Group’s award-winning and eco-friendly office space.

From left to right: Nick Gant, Mayor Pro Tem Edna Jackson and Jon Foster.


OZ CETERA

Kilgannon has hired Katherine S. Fitzpatrick as an account coordinator. Fitzpatrick will help develop and manage advertising campaigns for several agency accounts, including: Georgia Federal Credit Union, Man-heim, Manheim Online and South-ernLINC Wireless.

Fitzpatrick graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Bachelor of Arts degrees in journalism and mass communication and romance lan-guages. During college, Fitzpatrick worked as an account executive for “The Daily Tar Heel” student news-paper, where she was twice named Account Executive of the Month.

In the summer of 2009, Fitzpatrick was an account management intern at CumminsNitro (now SapientNitro) in Sydney, Australia, where she assisted in day-to-day activities for the Volvo and Hayman Great Barrier Reef accounts. In 2008, Fitzpatrick worked as an intern for BBDO Atlanta on the Capital One business.

FITZPATRICK JOINS KILGANNON

Katherine S. Fitzpatrick joins Kilgannon.

The Art Institute of Atlanta welcomed students, staff, faculty, and mem-bers of the media arts & animation Program Advisory Committee (PAC) to the opening of its new motion capture lab in November. The event included demonstrations, with the assistance of student James Reid who donned the special suit to make him the animated figure in the demonstrations, and a formal presentation for employers and PAC members.

The lab, the only one of its kind in a Georgia college or university to use this technology, provides Art Institute animation students the opportunity to work with industry related equipment and techniques. It houses and provides usage space for an inertial (camera-free) motion capture system, used for transferring actual human kinetic motion verbatim to a computer generated character. The lab also includes laser sculpture scanners that generate computer 3D models from physical sculptures, and incorporates a mini-cyclorama wall or green screen for capturing color keyed digital video for compositing live action, effects and animation.

ART INSTITUTE OPENS MOTION CAPTURE LAB

CineFilm’s Digital Intermediate Suite wrapped up the month with a “double feature” for final color correction. The features were shot on 35mm. A Charlotte-based company rescued “For Sale By Owner” from LA. “This suspense/thriller was filmed in Shreveport two years ago and was stalled in post in LA,” explains Reel Works Studio co-owner and executive producer Chris Cates. “We were brought in to finish the post with Hollywood quality but better pricing.”

Cates took over the feature from a standard-def rough cut done in LA. “We had the negative shipped to CineFilm to transfer the selects to 1080p 4:4:4 files for con-forming,” he adds, “then I worked in the digital projection suite with colorist John Petersen. This was our second feature together so I’ve come to rely on his instincts for making the scenes work technically and emotionally.” Cates mixed the sound to the rough cut, then laid back to the color master for output in both digital file formats and HDCam SR 4:4:4 at CineFilm.

As soon as “Owner” wrapped in the DI suite, “NONAMES” followed. “NONAMES” is an indie based on the lives and events of the small Wisconsin town where it was filmed. Kenneth Wilson, a young cinematographer from North Carolina, shot the feature on 35mm anamorphic.

CineFilm’s DI suite was designed with independent films in mind and is currently based on FCP Color with Tangent track-ball consoles. Coming soon is an upgrade to the Scratch system that reads the Red Raw files natively in 2K and 4K and outputs color changes in real time. “This suite was our first step in the DI world,” points out CineFilm general manager Jim Ogburn, “and with digital features growing, we want to expand on our 33 years as a lab to the changing market. While we do the dailies work for the studio features coming here, we also want to provide DI final correction to the growing small-budget independents.”

CINEFILM TO THE RESCUE

CineFilm Colorist John Petersen makes adjustments using Tangent Controls during the DI session for “NONAMES.”

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OZ CETERA

PRSA|GA honored its top local public relations professionals and pro-grams for 2009, presenting 128 awards for outstanding public relations work in some 65 program and project categories. The Phoenix Awards Celebration drew about 360 persons at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel.

Ray A. Crockett, APR, Fellow PRSA, director of communications at Coca-Cola North America, was inducted into The Order of the Phoenix, the Chapter’s highest honor, and thus also enters the PRSA|GA Hall of Fame at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at The University of Georgia.

Alison Ilg was named the Radiant Star in memory of Dyar Massey. This award recognizes a Chapter member with more than 20 years of experi-ence. Ilg is president of Ilg Communications Inc.

Patti A. Styles, internal communications manager at Children’s Health-care of Atlanta, was awarded the Luminary Star Award, for a member with 13 to 19 years of experience in public relations.

Karlie Stanton, APR, was awarded the Shining Star Award, reflecting six to 12 years of experience in public relations. Stanton is communica-tions manager for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.

Malika White, manager of media relations for the United Way of Met-ropolitan Atlanta, received the Rising Star Award, given to a member with five or fewer years of experience.

Bob Hope, president of Hope-Beckham Inc., was awarded the George Goodwin Award. This award recognizes a Chapter member for significant contributions to the community through volunteer service. Hope creat-ed the HAVE Foundation (Honduras Agalta Valley Education) to support schools built in rural Honduras.

The Best of Phoenix Award, judged from the three highest-scoring entries, went to the Georgia Department of Economic Development with GolinHarris (GH) Atlanta for “Building a New, Global Georgia.” GH’s Atlanta office partnered with the Georgia Department of Economic Development to help bring the Governor’s vision of a global Georgia to life in 14 countries. Account staff wrote 14 global PR plans that customized a strategy for each target market and executed a diverse public relations program with media relations as the focus. The program resulted in 75 million global media impressions and, despite a troubled economy, Georgia reported a significant increase in lead generation.

In other news, Katherine Mason, an account executive at Porter Novelli’s (PN) Atlanta office, has been awarded the Georgia Chapter’s Chapter Champion award to recognize her outstanding volunteer work. Mason graduated magna cum laude from Florida State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in public relations. At PN, she helps coordinate and implement PR and marketing services for technology clients, including Hewlett-Packard. Mason also conducts strategic planning and media relations campaigns, specifically targeting the financial services, insurance and healthcare industries.

She is the Student Outreach Team Lead for the College Relations Committee where she implements new initiatives to engage PRSSA chapters and universities throughout Georgia. This includes creating and managing “The Professional Post,” a monthly e-newsletter distributed to more than 400 PRSSA Georgia students and advisors; developing and speaking to college students with a presentation entitled “Senior Year Game Plan: From Academia to Agency,” as well as other ongo-ing social media interactions and upcoming activities including Shadow Day 2010 and the development of a Professional Speakers’ Bureau.

In conjunction with her role as Student Outreach Team Lead, Mason also heads up the Student Relations Team on behalf of Real World 2010, the Georgia Chap-ter’s annual collegiate conference, and previously worked on Real World 2009 and other PRSA|GA committees.

Kristy Wilson, APR, has earned her APR certification. Wilson is a senior vice president of Fleishman-Hillard (FH) in the consumer practice. Wilson has been practic-ing public relations for nearly 15 years and had been considering pursuing her APR for many years. Although with FH for a decade, she recently moved to Atlanta and wanted to take a step back from day-to-day activities to gain fresh insight into her profession. Wilson earned her Bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida State University.

PRSA GIVES TOP HONORS

Katherine Mason, account executive at Porter Novelli, takes home the Chapter Champion award.

Atlanta music industry gurus Tammy Hurt and Elizabeth Elkins have created Placement Music, a company specializing in licensing, creating and placing high quality music in films, television, gaming, advertising and all forms of media.

The company’s roster of award-winning songwriters, producers, en-gineers and musicians includes Nick DiDia, Peter Stroud, Russ-T Cobb, Kevin Spencer, Mark Dannells, Chris Rickwood and Tony Reyes. The team includes a GRAMMY-winning producer/engineer/mixer who has worked on some of the biggest rock records of the past decade as well as songwriters and musicians responsible for the songs and sounds on numerous hit albums from artists such as Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Sheryl Crow, Leona Lewis, Joss Stone, Janet Jackson and Avril Lavigne. The team also includes one of the video gaming industry’s most prolific music composers.

Placement Music calls Southern Tracks Recording Studios their home base. Southern Tracks has contributed to the sale of more than 40 million albums. Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Stone Temple Pilots, Sugarland and Train have all recorded records at Southern Tracks.

In addition to recording work-for-hire compositions, Placement Music supplies pre-cleared original music from artists including The Greater Vavoom, Michelle Malone, Jason Pittman, Mary Delaney and many more. Placements include The CW, CNN, FX, VH1, MTV, ABC, The WB, The N, The Discovery Channel, TNT, FOX and several independent films. As a collective, Placement Music had their first two placements in December. A team-created original, recorded at Southern Tracks, aired on the NFL on FOX, and a track from Michelle Malone was placed in the indie film “Rough Hustle.”

PLACEMENT MAKES MUSIC

Left to Right: Tammy Hurt and Elizabeth Elkins, managing partners of Placement Music.

Photo credit: Erika Williams.

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VTA was selected to enhance and complete the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) presentation of “Johnny Mercer: The Dream’s On Me,” which aired in November and commemorated the 100th anniversary of Mercer’s birth. The documentary was produced and directed by Bruce Ricker in association with Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood.

“This was the most intricate and extensive post production project I’ve over-seen in my 41 years in the business,” said VTA owner and CEO Ken Chambliss. “It took 10 months to enhance decades of audio and video recordings, film clips and photos to achieve a smooth, consistent experience, but it was a labor of love and we were honored to be part of this tribute to such a popular singer and lyricist.”

Finalizing and “smoothing out” the Mercer video required VTA to match in-terviews of Eastwood and others shot in HD and digital sound with a diverse collection of archived photos, film segments and TV and radio recordings…some dating back to the 1930s and 40s. At times, VTA team members literally had to hand-process old images and recordings in order to re-save it at HD or near-HD. “There were so many pieces, yet no two of them were in the same format,” said Chambliss. “Every scene had to be treated by hand and 50-plus-year-old technology had to be brought up to today’s standards, which made this project very labor intensive.”

Ricker has been collaborating on movies and documentaries with Eastwood for more than 20 years, producing and directing the Tony Bennett biography, “Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That” and “Eastwood After Hours: Live At Carn-egie Hall,” among others. He says this project was pulled off flawlessly. And a “perfect” Mercer tribute is what viewers of the TCM program and purchasers of the Warner Home Video DVD are getting. Sharp images. Crisp audio. And a highly entertaining 90 minutes of Johnny Mercer at his best.

VTA’S WORK FOR THE AGES

Swingtime Films premiered their latest short film, “Repercussions,” at the Di-xie Film Festival in October at the historic Morton Theater. The 10-minute short is the first dramatic piece that Swingtime Films has produced. Over the last two years the company has been focused on filming and editing “Grammar Jammar” and “Paws to Paint,” which are both children’s videos.

“Repercussions” required four days of filming. The filming took place mainly in the Oconee County area, however one of the filming locations was in Athens. A great deal of hard work from actors and artists alike has gone into making this short film. Bryan Shaw, who is a local musician, composed an original piece of music specifically for “Repercussions.”

SWINGTIME PREMIERS

Bob McNeil, founder, president and chief executive officer of IM-AGES USA, spoke at Geoscape’s 6th Annual Multicultural Marketing Summit held in Miami, Florida. McNeil used this time to speak about African-American influence on modern American culture, and to an-nounce key findings in a new study in partnership with the futures co (formerly Yankelovich) on Multicultural Millenials.

McNeil served as a keynote speaker on “African-America and Be-yond: Black and Urban Cultural Influence,” shedding light on African-American consumer behavior and purchase dynamics. McNeil showed marketers the viability of African-Americans as a target audience to drive profitable brand growth.

MCNEIL ADDRESSES GEOSCAPE

“Shotgun Jesus,” a documentary film about truck stop churches that has gar-nered awards at festivals around the world, came home to Georgia for the 2009 Dixie Film Fest. “Shotgun Jesus,” produced by Mae House Productions, has also been to the International Film Festival Ireland and the Heart of England Inter-national Film Festival. It was a winner in the Swansea Bay Film Festival and the Southern Winds Film Festival.

This film explores the complex and often contradictory notions of God. The film chronicles preachers who work out of converted truck trailers along Amer-ica’s highways. They wrestle with their own painful pasts as they invite lonely truckers into their chapels.

SHOTGUN JESUS MAKES IT TO DIXIE


OZ CETERA

Actor Josh Duhamel has spent a lot of time in Atlanta recently, recording two new films. This fall, Duhamel came to Doppler Studios to record 46 cues of ADR for one of the major motion pictures, “Ramona and Beezus.” Doppler engineers John St. Denis and Fay Salvaras commandeered the session for 20th Century Fox.

In other news, Left Tackle Pictures, LLC booked a session at Doppler with Quinton Aaron of “The Blind Side” to record a few lines of ADR. Walt Disney Motion Pictures actor Rhoda Griffis came to record a few cues of ADR for the film “The Last Song.” Salvaras and Michael Hastie conducted the session. Eddie Horst was recording horns, strings, drums, and piano for the theme song for “Ed, Edd, and Eddy,” which airs on Cartoon Network. Horst produced the session, and Nev Walker engineered. Cartoon Network’s animated ad-venture/comedy film, “Planet 51,” was released in November, and engineer Salvaras sweetened and mixed to picture for promotional TV ads for the film.

Fox US Productions booked a session to record a couple cues of ADR with actor Brandon Jackson who plays Grover Underwood in the film “Percy Jack-son & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.” Doppler engineer Salvaras hooked up with the studio in Los Angeles via APT stereo ISDN. Loretta Devine, who plays Chief of Surgery, Dr. Richard Webber’s wife, Adele, in “Grey’s Anatomy,” recorded a few cues of ADR for the show with engineers Granger Beem and Hastie. ABC Studios booked the session.

ADR BONANZA

Josh Duhamel with Doppler engineer John St. Denis (left) and film director Liz Allen (right) working on ADR for “Ramona and Beezus.”

The Weather Channel (TWC) had their first annual Guaranteed White Christ-mas Sweepstakes this Christmas. On Christmas, a team from TWC visited one lucky family with a snow-producing machine that made it snow at their house for all of Christmas.

To gain support for the event, TWC produced a sales video to demonstrate the benefit of partnering with them on their snowy endeavor. TWC producer Pat Piper came to Tube armed with little more than a script, some stock images, and a rough logo. Then Piper and the Tube team visualized, edited, and brought to life the first ever, one of a kind project.

Chris Downs got to work color correcting, photoshopping, and animating the stock photos until they were no longer stock images, but a family album of snowy Christmas memories. Downs then used After Effects where he trans-formed sunny, green-lawned suburban homes into winter wonderlands. He graphically fabricated plush, icy-white lawns, snow encrusted roofs, and end-less cascades of snowflakes across the screen. The end result was more than a sales tape, it was TWC’s nostalgic and refined winter-white celebration of the season.

PIPER USES TUBE

Thrust Interactive has recently released their game, “Button Men,” for the iPhone. “Button Men” is a quick-playing dice game for one or two players. You can play against another live player, or you can fight against the built-in AI.

“Button Men” won the Origins Award Best Abstract Board Game of 1999, and the paper version spawned dozens of expansions with hundreds of different characters. This edition includes 24 characters and special rules for shadow dice and poison dice, with expansions soon to come.

THRUST ON THE BUTTON

Send all your business news to Ozcetera editor,

KIME HARLESS at [email protected].

NO FAXES OR HARDCOPIES, PLEASE.

All news should be submitted via email.

Masha Rastatourova joins Part-ners + Napier as a senior designer working on Shared Health and UPS. Rastatourova comes to the agency from OfficeArrow, LLC. Previously, she worked at Deardorff Communications and J. Walter Thompson.

RASTATOUROVA JOINS P + N

Masha Rastatourova, new senior designer at Partners + Napier.

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North Avenue Post (NAP) kicked off the New Year by adding a new editor, Rob Lederman, in addition to groundbreaking technology to support the com-pany’s growing client roster.

A graduate from the University of Iowa, Lederman joins NAP with more than 15 years of post production experience, adding unique consulting, edit-ing and graphic design experience to the company’s in-house creative teams. Lederman first got his professional start at Optimus, a well-known post produc-tion facility in Chicago. Since then, Lederman has applied his creative, quick-thinking talent to two major post production companies in the Atlanta area, Crawford Communications and RIOT Atlanta. He has spearheaded both local and national projects for companies such as TBS, TNT, Ford, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Cartoon Network, Weather Channel, UPS, Home Depot and many more.

NAP has launched a new editing suite, upgraded with one of the Southeast’s first Smoke by Autodesk on the Mac platform. Smoke software is an extensive, all-in-one composition tool with enhanced capabilities including creative ed-iting, simplified conforming, color correction, paint/retouch, 2D/3D text and state of the art visual effects composition.

On the new business front, NAP has been awarded a number of new post production projects. NAP is tasked with developing unique graphical treat-ment, seamless editing, and custom music for a number of accounts including TBS’ “My Manny,” the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, as well as the United States Marine Corps.

NAP TAKES LEDERMAN

“Copyright Criminals,” a documentary directed by Benjamin Franzen and pro-duced by Franzen and Kembrew McLeod, premiered nationally on the PBS doc-umentary series “Independent Lens,” hosted by Maggie Gyllenhaal, in January. “Copyright Criminals” examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the ongoing debates about artistic expression, copyright law and (of course) money.

For more than 30 years, as hip-hop evolved from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry, performers and pro-ducers have been reusing portions of previously recorded music in new, oth-erwise original compositions. But when lawyers and record companies got in-volved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.” “Copyright Criminals” follows both sides of the debate through interviews with those who view sampling as pillaging, and those who argue that the practice of borrowing is by no means new nor is it unique to music.

“Copyright Criminals” showcases many of hip-hop music’s founding figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground along with emerging artists such as audiovisual remixers Eclectic Method. The film also provides an in-depth look at artists who have been sampled, such as renowned drummer Clyde Stubblefield, the world’s most sampled musician, best known for his work with James Brown, as well as commentary from funk legend George Clinton, another highly sampled musician.

As “Copyright Criminals” reveals, music making “came out of the profession-al recording studios,” says Coldcut’s Matt Black, “and into the bedrooms. That changed the music industry, and the reverberations are still being felt today.” Computers, mobile phones and other interactive technologies are changing our relationship with media, blurring the line between producer and consumer, and radically changing what it means to be creative. As artists find ever more inventive ways to insert old influences into new material, the documentary asks a critical question: Can anyone really own a sound?

COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS

“Paper Boys” from Aware Productions has won an Award of Excellence in the feature film category of The Accolade Competition, along with three other awards for acting, editing and over-all post production.

A coming-of-age dramatic film full of comic relief, drug issues, concerns of sexual identity and individual economic problems, “Paper Boys” is an ensemble piece which focuses on a group of teen door-to-door salesmen and their sales manager/mentor. The main story covers a difficult period in the life of Sean (Louis Lavdas) after he returns from rehab, where his girlfriend committed sui-cide. However, he also continues to suffer from his drug addiction, a violent family past, and confusion over his sexuality.

The Accolade recognizes film, television and videography professionals who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity, and those who produce standout entertainment or contribute to social change. Highly quali-fied professionals in the film and television industry judge entries.

This makes five awards so far for “Paper Boys” including the Indie Award received earlier this year.

ACCOLADE FOR PAPER BOY


The Blogger Brigade

With posts on personal musings and industry matters, creative professionals connect with

peers and potential clients.Design by Nicki Clark

Last year, at a Halloween costume party, The Most Interesting Man in the World walked in wearing a snazzy suit with a cigar pursed between his lips and a six-pack of Dos Equis under his arm. The partygoer won a prize for his creative getup, and left me hoping that the creators behind such genius beer adver-tising won a few trophies themselves. Patrick Scullin thought the campaign was brilliant, too. And he should know. He’s a founding partner of Ames Scullin O’Haire Inc., an advertising agency based in Atlanta, with a portfolio of big-name clients such as Food Lion, Mitsubishi Electric, Barnsley Gardens Re-sort, and the Chick-fil-A Bowl. He’s president of the Atlanta Ad Club, as well as the voice behind The Lint Screen, “a catchall of ideas, essays, rants, reviews, and idle observations that will entertain and provoke thought, discussion, maybe even action,” Scullin wrote. Why the name? Well, the content is the lint and the reader is the dryer sheet “that cleans it off the screen.” Heaven knows there’s a lot of lint out there today, clog-ging up our vents with useless details on what the blogger ate for breakfast. Thankfully, there’s a brigade of talented, experienced creatives out there in advertising, marketing, and design who really have something to say. And their

audience finds real value in the se-crets of a successful campaign or tips on using the latest technology, just a sampling of topics from post after post. We asked five local bloggers why they commit to a ritual of writing for the web, whether it’s dispensing serious career advice or simply a humorous anecdote.

Why Did You Start Blogging? Several people we talked with said they were pretty clueless about blogs until a year or two ago. Similar to other social media outlets (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter), blogging is a fairly new tool used to communicate and share ideas. Luckily, this technology is becoming less and less intimidating, giving a voice to those perhaps previously unheard. For some, it’s more of a hobby than anything. Scullin, who started The Lint Screen in June of 2008, finds writing posts fun and therapeutic. “The reason I got involved with copy writing in the first place was to affect people. This blog gives me the opportunity to flex other writing muscles,” he said. So far, he’s penned more than 140 entries, resulting in more than 66,000 total page views. But coming up with witty opinions every week is quite the commitment. “I don’t know if it’s commitment or madness,” Scullin said with a chuckle. Many professionals also start blogging as an exten-sion of their job. Jamie Turner, for example, pitched The 60 Second Marketer in early 2008 to his bosses at BKV, a direct marketing firm with a branch here in town. He asked, “If BKV’s target market is marketing directors from around the globe and from large corporations, then how do we get them to visit our website?” By becoming an “information station,” he answered, providing readers with the latest and greatest “tools, tips, and tutorials in marketing.” With 10,000 views a month, the strategy is certainly working. A lot of bloggers, like Scullin and Turner, also use their sites as a teaching tool. Atlantan Toby Bloomberg of Bloom-berg Marketing started Diva Marketing Blog as a way to give back and all before the term social media was even coined. “When I started all of this back in 2004, I wanted people to understand that blogs and now social media really are a credible marketing strategy,” she said. Bloomberg posted Patrick Scullin


some personal stories, but quickly ran out of interesting things to write about. So, she turned to a business platform, thinking, “How cool would this be for small companies to have a free web presence?” Especially considering how expensive and complex websites used to be, she added. “Literally, within days after launching Diva Marketing, I had people emailing me, dropping comments, and welcoming me to the blogosphere. Nobody had ever welcomed me to the worldwide web before! So I started writing more, and what I realized fairly quickly is that this was probably the ul-timate relationship marketing strategy or tactic at that point.” Bloomberg’s so-called “experiment” is now listed as one of

Advertising Age’s Power 150 blogs. In 2006, Desiree C. Scales, the CEO of Bella Web Design, also started The Bella Buzz to educate. She wanted to share the company’s expertise and “help teach our clients about web design, hosting, search engine optimization, and social me-dia,” she said. “Our blog is the bridge between the small and medium-sized business owner and the knowledge they need to learn about new things.

And we’re always looking for the latest and greatest news in technology, the latest programs, and the latest gadgets.” The Bella Buzz has attracted more than 1,000 subscribers with their posts, podcasts, and as of this January, live webcasts. Connie Dominey, an art director on the hunt for a full-time gig, started The Connie Comment last March as a way to spark the interest of potential employers. Not only does she increase her exposure on the internet, but also people “get a better idea of how I think as an art director,” she said. In addition to everyday observations, Dominey writes a lot about typography. “It’s something I’m very passionate about, and it’s a small part of what an art director does, yet it makes such an impact when it’s done well.” Passion aside, Dominey had her reservations in the be-ginning. “I didn’t really think I could do it,” she admitted. “I’m kind of new at this whole internet thing to be honest. Start-ing a blog, I thought I needed to have all this programming background, but it’s really rather simple [with a free online template].”

What Makes For A Good Read? So how exactly does a blogger grab a reader’s attention? Or bet-ter yet, keep them coming back for more? Especially considering the infinite number of sites the public can peruse. That could very well be the million-dollar question. For Scullin, it was a matter of engag-ing his audience, similar to what a good advertisement does. “The best work comes from having a sense of curiosity, having a true passion for finding what’s interesting, finding what connects with human beings.” Most of the blogs he had read in the past, he acknowledged, were just plain boring. “Is the real problem here that these people just aren’t interesting or is the subject matter just dry after awhile?” To fend off the boredom, Scullin ponders on a “potpourri” of subjects in his blog from his recent hip replacement to his experience working on the legendary Swedish Bikini Team commercials for Old Milwaukee Beer. The latter is one of his most popular posts, by the way.

To differentiate a good blog from a bad one, Turner points to three primary traits. First, the site must provide content that people can put to use now. Think practicality. “On one side of the spectrum are blogs that are too fluffy, and on the other side of spectrum, interestingly enough, are blogs that are too theoretical,” he said. “What I mean by that is some-times people will pontificate and write these long blogs that might as well be a chapter out of a textbook because they have so little practical applica-tion.” Striving for somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, Turner said The 60 Second Marketer uses a lot of lists, such as “Seven Tips to Get and Keep Customers” or “The 10 Worst Twitter Mistakes.” One of their more popular entries even examined which days of the week are best to send email campaigns, with positives and negatives for each day. The second step to successful blogging, according to Turner, is having a distinct voice or point of view. Blogging, or “opinion journalism,” he said, has to have personality, and preferably one with wit, intelligence, and a sense of humor. Of course, being an authority on the subject doesn’t hurt either. Last but not least, a blogger has to post more than just sporadically. Consistency is the key. People will stop rely-ing on your insight if you only feature new content every now and then, Turner said. Plus, Google doesn’t track your blog unless you update it a couple times a week, he added. It’s certainly a challenge, leading to what they call blogger burnout. “I think it’s a lot like Facebook,” Scullin said. “A lot of people start it, but very few work with it on a regular basis.”

Perhaps, we could add one more point to that list, and that’s writing in a clear, concise manner. “I’ve always felt that less is more,” Dominey of The Connie Comment said. “If you can put your thoughts in the least amount of words possible, then people will read them.” Plus you don’t want to talk over the reader’s head, especially when it comes to technology, Scales pointed out. Give good solid advice that’s easy to understand, she added. This may sound obvious, but it also helps to write your own blog, Bloomberg said. Many companies hire a writer or public relations agency to do the work. “A lot of people will put out fairly good content, but they won’t build the relationships. And that happens frequently when you hire someone to write your blog posts.” And building relation-ships is why you started the blog in the first place, right? When you have the right formula of content, person-ality, and consistency, you’ll know it. “I know a reader is hooked when they email in anticipation of new content,” Scales said. All in all, blogs are time-consuming, “hungry little beasts,” Bloomberg said, but they’re also a lot of fun.

“The best work comes from having a sense of curiosity,

having a true passion for finding what’s interesting, finding what connects with

human beings.”

Connie Dominey

Desiree Scales

Jamie Turner


“My stance on this whole deal is if you can’t have a little bit of fun, if you can’t throw in some humor, why bother?” she said. “I think the blogs that really take off are the ones where you really get a sense that the authors are enjoying what they’re doing and having fun. If it seems like work, then those are the blogs that don’t seem to get much traction and eventually fall away.” And one more tip . . . Turner recommends hosting the blog “inside your website” with a URL something like yourwebsite.com/blog.

What Do You Hope to Gain? Bloggers find joy in each and every click. With every subscription to their RSS feed, with every reader response, with every forward to a friend, their traffic grows. Their conclusions and case studies reach a wide array of industry peers and potential clients. Plus the writer can reflect back on their own thoughts, maybe even through a new set of eyes. The bottom line is usually the ultimate goal, yes, but there’s worth in simply sharing information and keeping current. “It’s really just gathering little stone tablets of knowledge that you can use somewhere down the road,” Scullin said. (On a humorous note, Scullin even got readers to send him Photoshopped pictures of squirrels dressed as blacksmiths. Ask and you shall receive!)

As another positive, Bloomberg points to the people she’s met from around the globe. In one of her most popular entries, she main-tained that blogging “helps recreate some of that corner grocery store relationship. How? By letting your customers and prospects in on the humanism of the people who are your company. By allowing cus-tomers and prospects to participate in the process of doing business. By encouraging conversations.” Just like the ones her grandmother used to have with the neighborhood butcher and baker. So are there any drawbacks? Dominey thinks putting your public journal out there for all to see is a risk that could go either way. “I’ve written a couple things about certain agencies that probably wouldn’t consider hiring me, but it’s my opinion, and I feel strongly about it,” she said. “It could hurt you, but it could help you as well. A reader may really respect your gumption,” she added. Turner, on the other hand, often gets asked if The 60 Second Marketer and its daily ruminations give away insider secrets to competing agencies. “We’re willing to give away some free information if it helps us land a large client,” he said. “The client obviously sees us as thought leaders in certain arenas and says ‘these guys really know what they’re doing.’”

Will It Do The Trick? Turner cautioned that a blog itself doesn’t always do the trick in terms of traffic. Businesses should integrate blogging

with social media, emails, webinars, and other tech tools to drive their message home. (An expert on the subject, Turner co-wrote a book, to be published later this year, providing insider tips from Fortune 500 companies on how to use social media to grow revenue.) Scullin agreed on using various mediums to get the point across. “I think all too often people look at social media, and they’re still trying to do advertising just through those pipelines,” he said. “I think that’s a formula for failure. If you’re just using those, you’re going to get tuned out even quicker, because people really resent it.” Bloomberg also had a number of suggestions for achiev-ing success. “If you’re pursuing blogs as a business tactic,” she said, “make sure you start with a strategy. You need established goals and ways of measuring success, she con-tinued, otherwise your boss will say you’re wasting resources such as time and intellect. Here’s to you, and your most interesting blog in the world.

“My stance on this whole deal is if you can’t have

a little bit of fun, if you can’t throw in some humor,

why bother?”

Local Blog Websites:

Diva Marketing Blog bloombergmarketing.blogs.com Toby Bloomberg

The Bella Buzz thebellabuzz.com Desiree C. Scales

The Connie Comment theconniecomment.blogspot.com Connie Dominey

The Lint Screen thelintscreen.com Patrick Scullin

The 60 Second Marketer 60secondmarketer.com/blog Jamie Turner

More Blogs Worth A Click:

Bernaise Source by Dan Greenfield“A Rich Blend of New And Traditional Communication”bernaisesource.com/blog

Chris Brogan“Learn How Human Business Works – Beyond Social Media”chrisbrogan.com

Copyblogger by Brian Clark“Copywriting Tips For Online Marketing Success”copyblogger.com

First Light by Julie Keyser-Squires“Thoughts On The Networked Economy”softscribe.wordpress.com

Fuel Lines by Michael Gass“Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media”fuelingnewbusiness.com

Mashable“The Social Media Guide”mashable.com

The Results Guy by Bruce Keithwww.bkresultsblog.com

Toby Bloomberg

•.This year GPP’s “Made in Georgia Harvest” fundraiser was a night of enchantment, and delicious food and spirits. Friends and colleagues got together for a night of celebrating the Georgia production industry.

• .Tim McCabe, Bill VanDerKloot, Susan Satterfield & Mary Grace Higgs

Mike Riley & Randy Nappier Steve Mensch & Wilbur Fitzgerald

•. Photo Credit: Bridget ONeill Mikel Hutchings

•.Ben & Chrissie Merrill

Shawn O’Kelley - Roadshow Catering

Lisa Lewis, Bazil Dripps, Ashley Davis & Bill VanDerKloot

Fran Burst & Kay Beck

Tammy Everhart, Bob Hoffman & Sharyn McCabe

Patrice Jackson, Diane Butler, Cheri Myers & Chay Griffin


•.

•.Chef Sonya - Sweet Auburn Bread Company

Mikel Hutchings, Tiana Fernandez & Kime Harless

Samantha Worthen, Curt Bush & Joy Brown

Mandy Sewell, Gabe Wardell & Melissa Love

Todd Reddeman - Mocha My Day

Michelle & John Kabashinski

Creative and CommuniCation

professionals Create their

own soCial media presenCe.

TwiTTer. Facebook. Linkedin. YouTube. FLickr. PLaxo. MYSPace. the list of soCial media sites goes on and

on, with new ones seeming to pop out of the

Cyber-woodwork every week. everyone has

an opinion about what you should do with

soCial media, but sometimes it’s hard to tell

whiCh are worth the time and effort it takes

to maintain your virtual presenCe. the buzz

about soCial media – the latest hot platform,

how to promote yourself, whether to tweet

or “unfriend” – never ends.

With so many PR, marketing and advertising firms encouraging their clients to jump on the social media bandwagon, we wondered: How are those firms using the platform to promote themselves? Are they gaining new clients or expanding their work for current customers? Is an agency’s own social media worth pursuing for any reason other than the agency feeling like it needs to lead by example? We talked with several Atlanta area advertising agencies, PR and media relations firms about their successes using social media. The bottom line: social media is just another channel for communicating and networking. It may be new and flashy and maybe even intimidating, but it’s just another arrow in your quiver when it comes to showcasing your talents, finding and retaining clients, and expanding your marketable talents – with virtually no out-of-pocket expense. Here are the views of several local industry leaders.

PorTer novelli Jennifer Jones is senior vice president of social media in the Atlanta office of Porter Novelli. She likes to explain social media by comparing it to a high school cafeteria. “If you remember back then, everyone’s sitting together according to shared interests. The jocks are over here and the band geeks are over there. And that’s really what social media is. It’s about finding that right lunch table and getting invited to sit down. Whether we’re looking for people in our industry or looking for the target audience for our customers, it’s about having the right conversation with the right people at the right time in the right place. That’s the beauty of these social networks . . . you’re trying to stay in touch with people who are like-minded in your industry and you know exactly where their lunch table is.”

Jones says the global PR agency makes sure it maintains its own presence in social media. The group has a digital council that regularly brings together department heads around the world to “talk about ways that we can step up our efforts for our clients as well as getting the agency visibility. You know the old saying, ‘The cobblers’ children have no shoes.’ You can be so busy working for your clients you forget to promote yourself. So we want to be sure we don’t fall into that.”

Porter Novelli uses Twitter a great deal “to promote our experience and our knowledge, as well as our clients’ successes,” Jones said. She noted Stephanie Agresta, the agency’s executive vice president of digital and social media in New York, is “one of the most followed people on Twitter. She’s known online as ‘Internet Geek Girl.’” She and others at Porter Novelli also maintain staff blogs. About Porter Novelli’s social media presence, Jones says, “We talk about the things that we’re doing as an agency. And we talk about the successes we have for our clients, since their success is our success.” For example, when client HP was going

bY bobbY L. HickMan

JenniFer Jonesporter novelli


to be mentioned on the television show “Ellen,” “everyone received an email reminding us to tweet that HP was going to be on the show.” Porter Novelli also relies on social media for recruiting staff and freelancers. “We use Facebook and LinkedIn as resources for networking, to stay in touch with potential and former employees.” The agency held an open house recently where they invited 36 potential candidates to meet the staff. “Ten of those 36 people we found -- or they came to us -- through social media sites,” she said. The agency’s human resources department also uses Facebook and LinkedIn to stay in touch with other HR people “who may know good talent in the industry as well.” On the business development side, Jones said, “We definitely use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and all these sites to drum up new business and to keep our name out there.” She said involvement in online group discussions is important, “because people are asking for your expert advice in specific areas. So we spend a lot of time participating in the discussions and keeping the Porter Novelli name out there.” In particular, Jones said, she “continues to be amazed by the Q&A section at LinkedIn.” She said people are asking questions about “media buying and PR and how to do other things that we are experts in. The questions are there; the people are there; and they are reaching out for you. It’s about listening to a conversation, yet so few people do that on LinkedIn.” Responding to questions and receiving favorable ratings on your answers also helps improve your standing for search engine optimization (SEO), she noted. In addition to building brand awareness, Jones said, social media is also useful for directly contacting customers and prospects. “Other people on the staff who spend quite a bit of energy on business development say that [social media] has brought in new clients through LinkedIn and Facebook.” The agency’s consumer practice recently made three pitches to companies that did not send out RFPs, she said. “We fostered those relationships through LinkedIn and Facebook, and that’s how we got in the door to talk to them.”

Jones says social networking “is no different from attending networking events around town – except that you don’t have to get dressed up. You get to talk with people who are interested in the same areas, you find out what their pain points are, you build that relationship – except you’re doing it online.” She added social media is part of the business development mix, along with such traditional practices as telephone calls. Social media is also useful for “wish clients,” Jones said, “those brands you really want to work with.” When you start following people that are targeting through social media, “it’s a different way to build a relationship.” If you find someone who works for your target client on Twitter, for example, “it’s easy follow them and engage in conversations. Then they can get to know you. The next thing you know, it becomes a meeting face-to-face, which then becomes a pitch, and you end up getting the business. That has absolutely happened to us many times.”

reaLM advertising

Eric Berrios, director of strategic development at Realm Advertising, said the agency used social media heavily in recent campaigns to promote themselves. One, which began about a year ago, was called “Defy the Recession.” “It talked about our position that we’re going to find ways for people not to feel suffering during this recession during their budgetary uncertainty, not to feel all downtrodden.” The campaign gathered lots of attention and several speaking engagements. He said the campaign was supported by Facebook and LinkedIn groups. The Facebook group had 300 members, while the LinkedIn group “was smaller but with much more robust discussions, with about 90 members participating in the conversation.” Out of that campaign, “We got a lot of business.” One executive in south Atlanta “wanted to talk to us simply because he liked our attitude. It offered us a great platform to speak from.”

Realm’s own Facebook page reflects the company’s community work, Berrios said. The page serves as an event calendar and shows photos, awards and articles about community service. “We also use it to showcase our work,” he said. “We may post an ad that we did and we let people know we were involved. Then we tell the client, ‘We shared your ad on our Facebook page.’ Then they’ll share the link to our page with all their connections, and it spreads beyond that point.” He added, “We basically get people to act as ambassadors, showing the work that we’re doing in a somewhat indirect way.” Berrios said Realm has never looked at social media as a source of revenue: “We look at them as a communication channel.” He said the platform is a great way to communicate and share information, “but we’re not selling social media. This is just the right way to communicate in the space that we’re in.”

Realm has done social media work for not-for-profits such as the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Atlanta chapter and Earth Share of Georgia. Through those groups, “We get connected to everybody who connects to them: their board, their committees, their content providers,” Berrios said. “That connects the dots with us in an indirect manner that gets the word out about us.” The exposure through not-for-profits “elevates the perceived intellect of our office,” he added. “That was really the goal. We’re creative intelligent people that take good advantage of the tools at hand.” As a result of that work, Berrios said, he has spoken on social media several times to audiences that include CMOs, global marketers and other communications officers “that I would have died to get on a cold call list. And now I’m standing in front of them talking about social media. So it’s put us in a place that direct sales could not have done…and it’s put us in the position of media experts in a space that everyone wants to talk about.” He said the reason Realm has had so much success through this route is that “we don’t sell it. It’s just an opportunity to showcase our intellect and talent.” Berrios added, “If I don’t sell it, my credibility is high. Taking that high ground has really made a lot of impressions with prospects.”

THe boTToM Line: soCial media is Just another Channel for CommuniCating and networking. it may be new and flashy and maybe even intimidating, but it’s Just another arrow in your quiver when it Comes to showCasing your talents, finding and retaining Clients, and expanding your marketable talents — with virtually no out-of-poCket expense.

SociaL Media is also useful for “wish Clients” [Jennifer] Jones said, “those brands you really want to work with.” when you start following people that are targeting through soCial media, “it’s a different way to build a relationship.” if you find someone who works f o r y o u r ta r g e t C l i e n t o n t w i t t e r , f o r e x a m p l e , “ i t ’ s e a s y t o f o l l o w t h e m a n d engage in Conversations.”

eric berriosrealm advertising


Asked about the return on investment for social media, Berrios said “you can’t really quantify an ROI; it’s just a method of communication.” Like banner ads, he said, social media is “not really a great revenue source. It’s a brand impression source. So I think the ROI conversation has faded quite a bit.” Overall, social media “has worked really well for us,” Berrios said. “And the cost is almost nothing, which is really the upside of this whole thing. When you look at the exposure we’ve gotten inside the Atlanta community, our investment was almost nothing. That has been our strategy. It sounds incredibly manipulative but it works.”

o'reiLLY/depalma Nora DePalma, a partner in PR and communications firm O’Reilly/DePalma, said her group has had “a lot of success using various forms of social media” following the merger of her Atlanta-based Building Profits firm with a Chicago agency last May. “We use LinkedIn and Twitter mostly.” The partners have personal Facebook pages, “which also helps with clients and people who are watching us, and with getting referrals.” The firm has also done “a few things” on YouTube. DePalma said her prior agency was well known in her niche industry, building and architectural brands, so social media was a good way to transition to the new agency name. “The relationship building – which everyone talks about in social media – has really helped expand our network,” DePalma said. “I can’t say that we’ve landed or found somebody new through social media. But it has raised our presence and reminded the people we already knew that we’re out there.” She said her clients “are turning to us for a common sense approach to social media, specifically in the building products industry.” O’Reilly/DePalma has used social media to “study and learn what’s out there . . . no other agency would get that granular, because very few really focus on the building products industry…and even fewer focus as we do on the trade professionals and building products like we do.” That knowledge has enabled the firm “to make proposals that make sense to the various clients at a fairly low risk,” she added.

Much of the approach to social media involves “taking the same communication we’re already doing and looking for other ways to repurpose it. That’s exactly the way we run our own website and that’s what we’ve been talking about with our clients.” DePalma said one reason for her merger was that the Chicago firm has two partners who are experienced editors. “I can see this call for planning content across multiple channels and multiple ways of communicating is probably going to be the next big thing for PR people and marketing people.” She added that for clients, “I think we can demystify the buzz around social media and bring it down to the basic level. It’s just another way to network and communicate.” Also, “in our industry, it’s mostly about networking, and social media helps us compete out there.”

LeFF & assoCiates Mitch Leff of media relations firm Leff & Associates said he uses Facebook and Twitter to promote both clients and his own company. He posts notices of clients’ upcoming appearances on television, for example, then captures the event and posts a link for those who missed the broadcast. “Everything we promote through clients’ Facebook pages, we promote through mine as well,” Leff said. As a result, “My page shows a long list of work I’ve done for clients recently. Everything I do on my Facebook page shows my

brand and my skills.” Leff’s Facebook is open to the public and appears on Google searches. “So when people are looking for me, they come to my page and they’ll see me and my clients,” he added. Leff said he does not position himself as a social media expert. “I’m a media relations expert; social media is just another tool.” While some see social media as a different animal, Leff said, “To me, it’s all part of the same skill set. It’s a tool. Just as the press release can be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands, social media can also be dangerous if you over-commercialize it or don’t use it with discretion.” Everyone is still learning what to do with social media, Leff said. For example, Leff and one of his clients built a Facebook page and “realized we needed to create a mechanism for encouraging people to come back regularly.” Their solution is what he terms an “internet radio station.” Each Monday morning, the CEO of the financial management company posts a two-minute audio podcast that forecasts the week ahead. The podcast is posted on the client website and iTunes, plus links on Facebook and Twitter.

The podcast is “a work in progress,” Leff said. “We’ve been doing it a few weeks and looking for feedback. That’s the beauty of social media: there’s low cost to entry, and if you don’t like what you’re doing, you change it.” And if there is one thing to be sure of in the world of social media for agencies and creatives, believe that it will be change. The one constant in all of this: Successful agencies will adapt and lead their clients through the ins and outs of the cyber-woodwork.

nora depalmao’reilly/depalma

MiTcH leffleff & assoCiates

overaLL, soCial media “has worked really well for us,” [eriC] berrios said. “and the Cost is almost nothing, whiCh is really the upside of this whole thing. when you look at the exposure we’ve gotten inside the atlanta Community, our investment was almost nothing. that has been our strategy. it sounds inCredibly manipulative but it works.”

"THe reLaTionSHiP buiLding – whiCh everyone talks about in soCial media – has really helped expand our network,” [nora] depalma said. “i Can’t say that we’ve landed or found somebody new through soCial media. but it has raised our presenCe and reminded the people we already knew that we’re out there.”



Although it has been ongoing for a number of years, it seems recently that at almost every website I visit, I have won something. While most of the “prizes” are junk that have little interest for me, on several of the notices the prize was a new computer, complete with a keyboard, speakers and a monitor. Being somewhat skeptical about my good fortune, and remembering my father’s frequent reminder that there are no “free lunches,” I decided to examine some of the prizes more closely. When I finally got to the details surrounding the “free” computer, I learned that I would be (a) signing up for several credit cards and transferring balances to these new cards; or (b) signing up for about ten years of some type service at a price far in excess of value and for something I would never use; plus (c) a lifetime of email on forthcoming special offers.

This little exercise prompted me to review briefly what the rules and regula-tions are for advertising offers of this type. The Federal Trade Commission in one of its “FTC FACTS for Business” publications addresses the situation straight on. Here are the some of the salient points of the FTC’s policies:

First, remember that the general principles of advertising law apply to internet advertising just as they do to all other forms of advertising, marketing and promotions.

Second, and here is something that many advertising agencies are not aware of, (so I quote from the FTC publication): “Sellers are responsible for claims they make about their products and services. Third parties - such as advertising agencies or website designers and catalog marketers - also may be liable for making or disseminating deceptive representations if they participate in the preparation or distribution of the advertising, or know about the deceptive claims. Advertising agencies or website designers are responsible for reviewing the information used to substantiate ad claims. They may not simply rely on an advertiser's assurance that the claims are substantiated.” In determining whether an ad agency should be held liable, the FTC looks at the extent of the agency's participation in the preparation of the challenged ad, and whether the agency knew or should have known that the ad included false or deceptive claims.

Third, there are always new rules and policies or revisions to old rules and policies that must be followed, such as the recent changes to the rules governing testimonials and endorsements.

Here are some of the more specific rules and guidelines for internet advertising and product promotional offerings:

• Where the offer involves a rebate, the advertising must prominently state the before-rebate cost of the item, as well as the amount of the rebate. This is the only true way to provide a consumer with the necessary information to analyze an offer and to comparison shop.

• Requirements to purchase internet services must also be prominently (that word again!) disclosed. The disclosure should cover the cost of the service, the duration of the required commitment, any penalties or fees associated with early cancellation, any additional connection charges, and whether local internet service is available. • The components of an offer should match any visual representations of the offer. For example, if the picture of the computer shows the CPU, a monitor, keyboard and speakers, the offer should include all of these components. If it does not, any of the items not included must be described very clearly and prominently.

• Important information concerning an offer must be conspicuously placed in the advertising. For example, terms about the basic cost of the product must be located near the advertised price. And of course there are the usual precautions against hiding details in obscure locations, burying them in densely packed lines of fine print or obscuring them in small-type footnotes.

• Information concerning details of an offer should also be disclosed on the same electronic page as the offer, not on a pop-up window or in a hyperlink. Where hyperlinks are used, the link should be labeled so that it shows the importance, nature and relevance of the information in the hyperlink, i.e. “Early cancellation of internet service resulting in substantial penalties. Click Here.”

While most of these rules and guidelines seem pretty self evident and should be followed as standard practices for advertisers, reviewing them when planning a new advertising program or promotion is still a good idea.

It’s like this:When the model appears dishabilleIt enhances an offer’s appealBut the terms and conditionsNot prominently mentionedMake the offer a really bad deal

© December, 2009 Jon Lee Andersen

by Jon Andersen

Internet Ads & the FTC

OZ COLUMN


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American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP)www.asmatlanta.org

Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AIMA)www.atlantaima.org

Atlanta Macintosh Users Group(AMUG)www.amugonline.com

Media Communications Association International Atlanta (MCAI)www.mcaiatlanta.org

Business Marketing Association Atlanta Chapter www.bmaatlanta.com

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA Atlanta)www.dma-atlanta.com

The Freelance Forumwww.freelanceforum.org

Georgia Production Partnershipwww.georgiaproduction.org

The Interactive Media Alliance (TIMA)www.tima.org

The National Academyof Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) Atlanta Chapterwww.natassoutheast.tv

Public Relations Societyof America-Georgia Chapterwww.prsageorgia.org

Society for Technical Communication (STC) Atlanta Chapterwww.stcatlanta.org

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G o F u r t h e r S t a r t H e r e

january / february 2010 oz magazine

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