Advertising during March Madness

March Madness or Advertisement Heaven?

  March is here! To some, that might indicate Saint Patrick's Day is near or even Palm Sunday. Yet there is a specific group of people that only care about March for one reason. March Madness. As a fan of March Madness, and a former collegiate athlete, I can appreciate the passion brought by fans each year. It's inspiring to root for young adults who are particularly great at what they do.  Despite the excitement it brings to fans, it also fills the pockets of athletes everywhere. Two major ...

Super Bowl Sunday

The KC Chiefs are the champions of football. Who are the advertising champs?

  Can you imagine the pressure the players and coaches were under knowing more than 113 million people were watching their every move for three hours during the Super Bowl? Now imagine the pressure the advertisers and their ad agencies felt knowing they had only thirty seconds to score their marketing touchdown.  The advertisers spent $7 million for the airtime alone, plus another million or more on production. If their commercial didn’t score well with viewers, it’s the equivalent of fumbl ...

valentine's day

Valentine’s Day: What’s with all the hype?

Each year, just prior to February 14, sweethearts the world over strip every retail location of chocolates, roses, and those greeting cards with the lacey frills. It’s Valentine’s Day – but really, what’s all the hype about?   It all began long ago as a Christian feast honoring a martyr named Valentine. As folk traditions evolved, the day began to focus on romance and love. According to one legend – believe it or not – Saint Valentine had defied an emperor’s orders by secretly marrying coup ...

The World’s Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. So … How is your organization going to thrive?

Spend five minutes watching broadcast news or scrolling social media feeds and there’s little doubt the world is becoming increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA). For organizations and those driving communications, this reality presents challenges … and opportunities.  While technology – including AI – functions as an accelerant, it's people, judgment, and decision-making that will ultimately determine who’s able to thrive in our VUCA world. Information is always imperfect and tr ...

marketing trends, marcom, marcom trends

SCG Trendwatch: MarCom Industry News – December 2023

Welcome to your monthly round-up for busy MarCom professionals. This month, we are sharing the latest news, strategies, tools, and trends affecting the industry landscape. Check in for the latest updates from all over the web.   1. Thought leadership: The human element your marketing needs AI is everywhere, filling the web with content that often lacks the depth, nuance or forward-looking angle of expert insight. While tools like ChatGPT can supplement expertise with efficiency and creativ ...

Intern Insights: Are Your Photos Worth A Thousand Words?

In the digital world, visuals are essential to grab attention, convey messages, and make a lasting impression. In this blog post, I will walk you through the basic elements and techniques to take the best eye-catching photos. By utilizing these tricks, you’ll be able to consistently generate high-quality images for your future projects. A picture is worth a thousand words A well-crafted image portrays a message better than a one-thousand-word essay (with far less effort too!). It is important to ...

Back to the Classics: A Suggested Reading List

I’m a public relations practitioner, and my profession’s core is communication-- the development and expression of ideas and information. I’ve been at it for a long while, but I still find it beneficial to periodically return to the artistic classics of communicating, whether in the form of music, film, or literature. These provide us with a standard of excellence, while reminding us what true clarity of thought looks like.   With all this in mind-- and also for fun-- I’ve compiled a chrono ...

Misguided Victoria’s Secret Campaign Result of Inadequate Fan Research

Five years ago, Victoria’s Secret put on its last fashion show. This show was an iconic event each year where viewers would see their favorite models glide down the catwalk in angel wings, wigs, and accessories. The most popular artist at the time would perform, too. A line of models would parade in the brand's lingerie for around 42 minutes. The tradition lasted for 20 years and was watched in more than 100 countries. It was beloved…until it wasn't.   During a time of heightened awareness ...

Intern Insights: What is Threads?

Social media is constantly evolving. If you blink, you could find yourself behind on the latest app. Not every site will be a juggernaut like Facebook, but you don’t want to be late to the ones that end up succeeding. In this blog, we’ll discuss the new platform Threads, including its pros and cons.       So, What's Threads? Threads is a companion app to Instagram that allows users to share text, photos, and videos. It is similar to Twitter in terms of the content and tone of its posts. In it ...

Nine Essential Poems

Poetry is doing things with language that exceed the scope of routine communication – it’s rather like painting with words.  I occasionally engage in the process, and a handful of my efforts have appeared in poetry journals.   But, I’m a rank amateur; at best, I’ll string together several words in a fashion that isn’t dreadful. Perhaps in my role as a public relations professional I’m slightly more effective at communicating a message. In any case, the nine works briefly discussed below (in ...