PR, Marketing + Advertising

Cincinnati Museum Center one of 10 recipients of National Medal for Museum and Library Services

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October 6, 2009

Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal has been named one of 10 recipients of the 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation’s highest honor for museums and libraries. The annual award, made by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) since 1994, recognizes institutions for outstanding social, educational, environmental, or economic contributions to their communities. Cincinnati Museum Center will receive the National Medal at a ceremony to be held later in Washington, D.C., and a $10,000 award in recognition of their extraordinary contributions.Douglass W. McDonald, president and CEO, said "This award is a tribute to our staff, trustees, donors, members, volunteers and community partners whose unwavering dedication to our mission and innovative efforts has made us a unique asset and a vital community resource."As one of the top cultural attractions in the Midwest, Cincinnati Museum Center features the Cincinnati History Museum, Duke Energy Children's Museum, Museum of Natural History & Science, the Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX® Theatre and the Cincinnati Historical Society Library & Archives, the Geier Family Collections & Research Center, and the Richard & Lucile Durrell Edge of Appalachia Preserve - 14,000 acres of biologically diverse, privately owned and protected nature system managed jointly with The Nature Conservancy, Ohio. Recognized recently by Forbes Traveler as the 17th most visited museum in the nation, Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal welcomes more than 1.3 million visitors annually and reaches out to nearly 400,000 young people through hands-on programs and learning experiences. As a key regional and national destination, CMC brings $15 million in new money to the region and supports 1,100 jobs. Since its 1933 opening, Union Terminal has welcomed more than 150 million visitors. In addition to Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal other recipients of the 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service are the: Braille Institute of America Library, Los Angeles, CAChildren’s Museum of Pittsburgh, PAGail Borden Public Library, Elgin, ILIndianapolis Museum of Art, INMultnomah County Library, Portland, ORMuseum of Science & Industry in Tampa, FL Pritzker Military Library, Chicago, ILStark County District Library, Canton, OHTennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga, TNSource: Cincinnati Museum Center.

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When is a conference not a conference? When it’s digital

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Innovation News

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September 15, 2009

Bookmarklets, mashups and apps, oh my! The terms and trends of digital media are ever changing and increasingly focused on engaging the millions of people – potential customers and clients – who spend lots of time on the Internet. And for the second year in a row, ADCLUB Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) are joining to help digital gurus make sense of it all through the 2009 Digital Hub Initiative’s Non-Conference. “This is a place to get insights into digital innovations that are on the horizon, discuss challenges for the industry, and talk among your peers,” said conference chair Rose Wesselman, senior media strategist at Northlich. This year’s conference is Sept. 24 and 25 at downtown Cincinnati’s Hyatt Regency, 151 W. Fifth St. Breakout sessions will move the non-conference out of the hotel, to city watering holes, theater spaces and other venues. There’s also a free job fair for students and the unemployed at the Hyatt on Sept. 25, from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. Last year’s conference hosted approximately 200 people. Organizers’ goals are to attract 300 this year. Most attendees come from the wider Cincinnati area, including Louisville, Indianapolis and Lexington. The conference is a way for communicators of all stripes to network, share ideas and learn ways to develop a strong and effective digital media presence. Four scheduled keynote speakers will outline key digital concepts and techniques. They are: • Winston Binch, Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s vice president and managing director of interactive; • John Battelle, chairman and publisher of Federated Media• Peter Kim, senior partner of social business design company, the Dachis Group and • Bob Gilbreath, chief marketing strategist at Cincinnati-based Bridge Worldwide. A host of area organizations are supporting the non-conference, including: the Cincinnati Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the Digital Signage Association, Cincinnati Social Media, the Cincinnati Chapter of American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA), The Circuit, The Women’s Circuit and Cincinnati Women Bloggers. Writer: Feoshia HendersonSources: Darcy Little, Sunrise Advertising and Rose Wesselman, Northlich senior media strategist

Newport couple puts a new spin on an old game

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Entrepreneurship

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September 8, 2009

In the age of Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 would anyone invest in Jukem Football, a home-grown card game set to launch in specialty retail stores in mid-September? Probably because it’s easy to learn, affordable, secretly educational, and most importantly – fun! Even a person who has little-to-no knowledge about football can pick up this card game in a matter of minutes. Jukem Football was created by husband and wife team Jeff and Michelle Spelman, Greater Cincinnati natives who now call Newport home. Jeff, who had a 20-year career in sports media, (and developed the game changing Team One Baseball Showcase) first created the game as a way to have fun while teaching his children to count. In Jukem Football, with some variation, players score touchdowns and field goals by arranging "catch," "pass" and "run" cards in a way that adds up exactly to 100. The game ends once players twice get through the deck. “This literally helped teach my children to count; they could count before they could read the cards,” Jeff said. Jukem Football, in which Neyer Holdings is investing, had some success in its earlier carnation as Quick Count, which was sold in area specialty retail stores just before Christmas 2007. A recent retooling that included a card redesign, and game tweaks to make it move faster with added plays, resulted in Juken Football. The game will be sold for $20 and includes two decks (one is a rookie deck for beginners). When Jukem Football debuts later this month, it will be sold in 100 stores in 14 states, said Michelle, Jukem’s Sales Manager. Among the local shops that will carry it are: King Arthur’s Court in Oakley, Ted's Toys and Trains in Madeira, and Metronation downtown. The game soon should be available for online purchase on the company’s Web site and at Amazon.com. Jukem Football was manufactured entirely in the U.S., with United States Playing Card Company in Erlanger manufacturing the game. The cards were designed locally by Fisher Design, with original artwork by local graphic artist Toby Lay. The accompanying rulebook was manufactured by a Michigan company. “It’s amazing how much talent is here,” Jeff said. The game’s appeal is that it’s relatively inexpensive and can play across generations and places. “I could see a mother and son playing this at home, or some guys out at a tailgate party,” Jeff said. Once the game enteres the marketplace, the Spelman’s plan to market it to schools, and the Big Dream is that a NFL licensing agreement could pan out. It’s not a far-fetched idea since the couple is working with Steve Boord, Managing Director of Merchant Banking at Neyer Holdings Co. who has a background in licensing, including the monster Star Wars agreements. Writer: Feoshia HendersonSources: Jeff Spelman, Michelle Spelman co-creators of Jukem Football

Ready. Set. Create! InOneWeekend back for 2009, Pixar CFO to speak

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Entrepreneurship

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July 21, 2009

Then Cincinnati’s InOneWeekend at the University of Cincinnati is where you want to be in August.This summer marks the second annual, fast-paced business startup event. InOneWeekend will assemble 100 people for three days, Friday Aug. 28-Sunday Aug. 30 at UC’s Tangemen Center. The event will be kicked off Friday by a to-be-named dynamic, public keynote speaker (last year it was Google’s Roy Gilbert, head of global consumer operations.) The group then will brainstorm business ideas with Jeff Stamp, Chair of Entreprenuership at the University of North Dakota, on “Bold Thinking,” The group will vote on a concept that night.Saturday is set aside for developing a product and business plan and Sunday is product launch.The event is geared toward those in the marketing, design, technology, legal, and business sectors.Last year the entrepreneurial minded group created Lifespoke, an online platform akin to a virtual scrapbook where users can store print, online, digital and other personal media in one spot. Lifespoke also lets users tag, search and display the media. Lifespoke currently doesn’t exist as a company, but a patent has been filed on its core technology: UCTTS “user created tagged timeline search,” said Elizabeth Edwards of Neyer Holdings, a lead event sponsor.Early bird Registration is open for the August session. Go HERE to get your name on the waiting and to get more information. Students can register for $50.“We already have people on the wait list and we’ve created bigger pool of dream team participants from the design, tech and business world. There are startup CEOS, vice presidents, students from DAAP, and developers from companies like Bridge and Share This. We’re really going to have an amazing set of really top talent,” said Edwards, one of the events main organizers.Like last year, participants will have a year of free office space, accounting, server space, and legal help to get the startup off the ground.“That’s growing this year with more in-kind service contributions. They’ll have every single resource to start a company,” Edwards said.Other Sponsors include Neyer Holdings, HCBC, CincyTech, and the University of Cincinnati.Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Elizabeth Edwards, Neyer Holdings

Bridge Worldwide creates award winning Cyber ad for P&G’s Pringles brand

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Innovation News

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July 14, 2009

Downtown Cincinnati marketing agency Bridge Worldwide won its first Gold Cyber Lion award for its “Can Hands,” Pringle’s ad for Procter & Gamble at the prestigious 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. This year’s awards were announced June 25. The Gold Lion is considered one of the most competitive international advertising awards, and the festival was inspired by the International Film Festival. “Can Hands” won in the Online Advertising Food and Drinks category. Other agencies picking up Cyber Lion awards include Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, Boondoggle in Leuven, Belgium and The Viral Factory in London. This also was Procter & Gamble’s first Cyber Lion award. Bridge Worldwide describes the ad best: “‘Can Hands’ is a rich media banner ad that shows a young, online audience how fun, eccentric - and even downright weird - life with Pringles can be. As the user clicks on the banner again and again (and again, and again), they go deeper and deeper into a story with surprises at every turn without ever leaving the ad.” You can see the addictive ad here. Judges commended the ad for it "beautiful and clever copywriting that had the power to engage the judges for more than 5 minutes.” "Pringles 'Can Hands' is exemplary of our creative mantra: great ideas, beautifully executed in new and innovative ways,” said Bridge Worldwide Chief Creative Officer Peter Schwartz. Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Jonathan Richman, Director of Business Development Bridge

Cincinnati named ticket department of the year

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Cincy In The News

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June 30, 2009

After a season of strong ticket sales, and a robust growth over the previous season's sales, the Cincinnati Cyclones have been named the 2008-09 Ticket Department of the Year. The ECHL hockey team raised their attendance by 44 percent which was the second highest in professional hockey this season. This 44 percent increase comes off of the previous season's increase of 36.8 percent which ranked first. Since returning in 2006, the Cyclones have increased their attendance 68 percent and recorded the largest crowd in ECHL playoff history when 12,722 turned out for its Kelly Cup championship game last year. Read full article here.

United Way raises funds, awareness through social media driven Diaper Drive campaign

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General

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June 23, 2009

The United Way of Greater Cincinnati raised xx and distributed xx diapers to xx families through a social media driven fundraising campaign. The campaign “Give 5 – Diaper Drive” relied on Facebook, Twitter, email and other online social networking sites, asking individuals to donate $5 to the United Way for the purchase of diapers for families in need. Donors, in turn, were asked to spread the word by sharing news of the drive with friends on the socal networking sites. Diapers were distributed on Father’s Day as part of the United Way’s 2009 Day of Action initiative. The campaign started May 5 and will wrap up at the end of the month. “We had some families who not only wanted to support the Diaper Drive financially, they wanted to give their time, too,” says Mike Baker, manager of strategic resources, United Way. “Sunday volunteers will do their part to help support local families and babies in need in the rough economy.” Adult and children volunteered to organize diaper boxes and children made cards and decorated for the bags for families that will receive them. Diapers purchses so far were distributed to a host of social service agencies Sunday at the Red Cross warehouse in Blue Ash. Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Katy Crossen, United Way of Greater Cincinnati

Cincy Tech funding yields impressive results

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Cincy In The News

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June 23, 2009

Zipscene got a great jump start in 2007 from an investment made by CincyTech which is a partnership of local corporations, research institutions and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber with the goal of commercializing entrepreneurial ideas. Zipscene started out with just an idea and have since grown to a company serving 25 cities nationwide with a few dozen employees and a headquarters in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Walnut Hills. Zipscene was one of ten companies funded in part by CincyTech with dollars coming through Ohio's Third Frontier program. Read full article here.

Cincinnati unveils new logo

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Architecture + Design

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June 16, 2009

The city of Cincinnati has introduced a new logo designed by local firm LPK Leadership Brands. The new logo design work came at a $75,000 cost that was covered by locally based Macy's Inc. The logo emphasizes a capital C in shades of blue and green. Various aspects of the design are meant to show that the city is inviting, approachable and moving forward. The new logo will be incorporated as needed over time and will eventually reflect an overall rebranding of the city known as the "cradle of brands." Read full article here.

Cincinnati Zoo attendance skyrockets

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Arts + Culture

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June 9, 2009

The Cincinnati Zoo has seen explosive attendance growth in 2009 when compared to the previous year. So far in the first five months, of the year, the Zoo has seen a 40% increase in attendance which totals up to more than 370,000 visitors so far. Those numbers include the second-best April and May attendance in zoo history. May 23 also marked the highest attendance of any May day in history with nearly 13,000 people visiting the zoo. The Zoo recently opened a new main entrance off of Vine Street and credit this for some of the increase in attendance. They also said that an aggressive marketing campaign and a variety of national rankings putting the Cincinnati Zoo as one of the best zoos for families in the country. Read full article here.