Thank you to everyone who gave us such great feedback on this year's Redstone "Holiday Experience": Scrooge U!

 

We know for a fact that many of you took home your Bachelor of Bah and Master of Miserliness diplomas ... and for all of those who were rejected on the basis of having too much holiday spirit, well, that's something to be proud of too!

 

If you haven't applied for your "scholarship" yet, there's always time to have a little holiday fun at www.scroogeu.com.

 

And to all of our friends, clients, partners and pals ... please have a very merry Christmas and a prosperous and joyful new year!

Last night, Claudia Martin, Mary Grabow and Randa Zalman joined Kristine Gerber of Eventive Marketing at the annual Public Relations Society Association Paper Anvil Awards. The Anvils honor local individuals, companies and organizations for their work in public/media relations, communications and campaigns.

Redstone was one of the credited contributors for Kristine’s project, The Designer Showhouse. The 2009 Designer Showhouse received an Award of Merit in the category of Integrated Marketing Communications. Awards of merit were determined by the judges as entries that met stated goals and demonstrated good results.

Redstone assisted with coordination of TV and radio media placement and promotions as well as social media efforts including an online scavenger hunt, email campaign strategy, Facebook Page and the homeowner’s blog.

Check it out at http://www.omahadesignershowhouse.com/.

Back in 1970, the Sun-Maid raisin girl got a bit of a makeover, but new TV spots featuring a CGI version of the well-known product mascot have stirred up a bit of controversy over whether the Sun-Maid artists have gone too "Barbie" in their efforts to update the brand.

I've attached a photo comparison below ... and a link to the spot so you can judge for yourself.

 

Personally, I think the Maid is looking just fine. Products, and their mascots, must change with the times. And the Maid's new look doesn't seem to be a radical departure from the original. If there's a sin here, it may be that the CGI falls a little too much on the "cartoonish" side for me. For a company who touts the long history of their Maid and is genuinely proud that she was based on a real person (get the scoop here), the plastic-y look of the new character seems a bit of a disconnect.

 

Of course, that said, they've still done a much better job than Con-Agra's downright spooky reboot of Orville Redenbacher that happened a few year's back.

 

What do you think about the new Sun Maid? Hot or not?

 

 

The comedy centers around a group of misfits in a study group at a community college.  The diverse characters in the group provided many laugh-out-loud moments.  Those who grew up in the ‘80s will appreciate the references to The Breakfast Club.  The episode ended with a very classy tribute to the late John Hughes.  Redstone Media Buyer Alison Rasgorshek says the show will have broad appeal.  While it’s written for the 18-49 year-old, Chevy Chase’s character will also make it great for the 35-54 audience. 

As I was sitting down to watch ABC’s Modern Family, my mind drifted back to the families of TV’s past, like Married with Children, Full House, and Family Ties. I was wondering if this new Modern Family was going to provide me with the same life lessons. Modern Family delivered exactly what its title suggests - the modern family. The show includes the traditional family, the gay couple who adopted a child from overseas, and the older man who married a much younger Hispanic woman with a pre-teen son. Each family provides an array of comedy - they go for the obvious jokes, but they also go right up to that line and dance around it. As far as that life lesson? This comedy may not be the most politically correct show on television, but it is reality. In the current economic conditions, we need to laugh and Modern Family delivers.  Review by Amanda Peterson.

This judge gives KPTMs “Glee” a big round of applause.  Secrets, drama, songs, sports—it’s all wicked funny.  And as a mom of athletic sons who  balance singing, dancing and sparkly vests with fast breaks, tough defense and cleats,  I can also say—it’s all very, very real.  It’s not just for Show Choir moms though.  If you love “Scrubs,” you’ll probably love “Glee.”  There are lots of little life lessons all nicely woven into quirky characters and crisscrossing story lines. One of those lessons this week was to “break out of your comfort zone.”    

At Redstone, part of our job is to help give our clients the information they need to take difference-making risks. Sometimes that means reminding them that we need to package and deliver their key messages in a way that will appeal their customers—not necessarily to them.

Media Buyer Shiletha Snoddy, along with husband Cory and daughter Naomi, welcomed son Nathan on Friday, September 11.  Nathan was 19 inches long and weighed in at 5 lbs. 15 oz.  Nathan and Shiletha are doing well and Naomi loves being a big sister!  Nathan couldn’t wait to meet his family – he arrived almost 5 weeks earlier than planned!

 

 

 

Four Redstone moms are sending kids off to milestone “first days of school” this month. 

 

Shiletha’s daughter Naomi started preschool and loved her first day so much she cried when she had to leave.  

 

 

Alison’s daughter Anna is now officially a Kindergartner.  She saw lots of old friends and made some new ones.  She had a great first day and couldn’t wait to go back!

 

 

Stacy’s daughter, Caitlin, is off to the University of Sioux Falls to study Exercise Science & Spanish.  She is also on scholarship to play NAIA (soon to be Division II) Volleyball and Tennis.

 

 

And I’m making the 15-hour drive to Wheeling, West Virginia this week to take my son, Evan, to college at Wheeling Jesuit University to play Division II Lacrosse and study Marketing.

 

 

Stacy and I will keep you posted on any new college sports highlights.  If you’ve got some sports news, photos or other great accomplishments you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from all you Moms and Dads out there. 

Redstone is the marketing partner for Nebraska's only PGA tour event, the Cox Classic. This year, Redstone chairman Phil Webb was joined by three good friends of the agency on the event's Pro-Am tournament. Kevin Parks from Centris Federal Credit Union, Jeff Bremer from Taco Johns and Greg Thrasher from Thrasher Basement Systems and Foundation Supportworks played a fun round with pro Cameron Percy.

 

Percy, an Australian, is one of the tour leaders and "the real deal" according to Phil. "He was really a super guy to play with. Very engaging. He had some terrific stories and a great sense of humor."

 

The Redstone foursome + pro shot a net 49 for the day, just six strokes off the winning score. We've posted the autographed team photo below. From left is Parks, Bremer, Percy, Thrasher and Webb.

 

 

A recent addition to the Redstone team has politely pointed out that, in internal discussions, we use a fair number of what have been coined, "Redstone-isms".

 

In the interest of improving communications (something we do REALLY well), we thought we'd introduce you to a few of these Redstone-isms just in case they creep into our conversations with you. So here they are, in no particular order:

 

"Scorched earth" - This term generally refers to a plan or proposal that throws every available budget dollar at the challenge – and then a bit more. Typically it is used as a caution against project overkill and wasting money, as in "I think we can take advantage of this opportunity with a fairly modest budget, we don't have to go scorched earth."

 

"Wrap our arms around it" - Marketing campaigns can have a multitude of moving parts. Our account service pros are experts at helping our clients understand, manage and track all of those pieces and parts, in essence "wrapping our arms around it".

 

"Low-hanging fruit" - When our clients have a wide variety of target audiences, we typically like to identify those in which the easiest sales are to be made (the low-hanging fruit) and allocate budget against those first. This allows you to "push where the door is already open" and "get the biggest bang for your buck" – to use a little more jargon.

 

"Back into it" - This doesn't refer to a clumsy move. It's actually jargon shorthand for the process of identifying targeted results, desired outcomes or required deadlines and then working the steps backward to find the best process or starting point for hitting them.

 

"Chinese menu" - We love our local Chinese restaurants, but this has nothing to do with food. It only references the option, in certain marketing plans, for the client to buy parts of the plan a la carte. Many times a "chinese menu" approach is not a good one since the synergy among the different marketing efforts can be compromised.

 

"How big is a brown suit?" - This rhetorical question simply refers to the impossibility of delivering accurate answers with too little background data. The question of "how much should I spend on _______?" is one frequently asked question that can be answered with "how big is a brown suit?" The answer depends on many factors that we'd be happy to discuss ... but not at this particular cocktail party.

 

"Throttle back, Iceman!" - This directive is a direct homage to the cinematic classic, "Top Gun". As you would expect, its meaning is akin to "calm down", "chill" or "whoa there, Nellie".

 

How about you? Do you have any favorite office sayings that are funny, unusual or downright outrageous?