Left to right: Robin Crouse, Director USO Ft. Hood; James Hays, President and CEO of Central Texas Wendy’s; Isabella Hubbard, Ft. Hood USO

As many are coming home from overseas, our client wanted a way to give back and support them. We tailored a Wendy’s Frosty Key Tag promotion for them, and this is the third year of supporting the USO at Ft. Hood. Here’s how it works. Go to Wendy’s and buy a Frosty key tag for $1. The proceeds will go directly to the USO at Ft. Hood; the funds stay here in Texas supporting our troops. What do you get out of it? Well, this year, at participating Texas Wendy’s, just show your key tag at the register and get a free Jr Frosty with any purchase! The USO key tags will be sold at Waco, Temple, Killeen and Copperas Cove Wendy’s from the week of Memorial Day through July 4^th. Over the past two years, Central Texas Wendy’s has raised over $15,000 for the USO at Ft. Hood!

P.S. This year, you can buy and redeem a Wendy’s Frosty key tag at any participating Wendy’s in Texas! Some are selling them right now.

P.P.S. Fries and a Frosty are particularly good on the hot summer days.

P.P.P.S. I’ll have a #2 Dave’s Hot N’ Juicy (no ketchup), large fry, large Coke, Frosty Key Tag and a Jr. Frosty!

The man you’ve been dating for the past five years finally picks up the courage to ask you to marry him. As a new to be bride, your eyes are opened to a whole new jewel encrusted world of advertisements, and, at first, it can be a bit overwhelming. Everywhere you look there are billboards and radio commercials for bridal extravaganzas.

Which, in my experience, is where men and women, of any age, gather in an over crowded room and shove hundreds of business flyers into wide eyed brides hands. There are TV shows such as “Four weddings”, “Say Yes to the Dress,” and my personal favorite, “My big fat Gypsy Wedding”, that entertain new brides and make them feel thankful for their amazing friends and family. There are websites, such as theknot.com, to keep brides organized. Social media sites, like Pinterest, provide all the necessary inspiration. Magazines for DIY wedding ideas, to keep costs down, along with an overload of e-mails and phone calls from local vendors who, of course, all want to make the bride’s big day “special” are everywhere.

I may have started out as that wide eyed soon-to-be bride who was, indeed, overwhelmed with the influx of advertisements, but I have emerged as a self proclaimed wedding expert! My only advice to my fellow brides is this:

• Ask your friends and family who they used for their wedding. It does not matter which vendor had the prettiest flyer or the most expensive advertisement. What does matter is that company’s reputation. Remember word of mouth is an extremely powerful thing.

• Ask your wedding consultant at your venue for a preferred vendor list. The consultant would never give you a name of a vendor who did not pass the wedding gods check list.

• If you do go to a bridal extravaganza don’t bring everyone on your contact list. Also, have a game plan. Bringing too many people, and lacking a map of the arena, can make the experience more stressful than it needs to be.

• But most importantly have FUN and congratulations!

Fast-forward two years to today, and here I am 200 miles away working at Love Advertising. I am surrounded by 40 employees that all know my name and most likely my clients’ names too! While there are no pie eating contests to introduce new clients, potential clients always receive a warm welcome and usually have the opportunity to meet not just the team members working on their business, but a lot of times, the entire agency.

While client introductions in no way define an agency, it is just one of the differences I have encountered having worked at both a large and mid-size agency. Here are a few others:

While there are probably a million other differences, both agencies share some of the most important qualities that make them each successful – they are dedicated to their clients, they employ extremely hard working individuals, and they have a passion for producing great work.

Within Major League Baseball lies a technology and distribution powerhouse named Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM or BAM). In the world of streaming video for live events, BAM is the gold standard. In fact, they stream not just every out-of-market baseball game, but they also provide the technology to stream video for NCAA March Madness, all of ESPN’s live streaming and many other events. If you paid for the NCAA March Madness iPhone or iPad app, you know the quality I’m talking about. While watching the Elite 8 games on the TV and iPad, the iPad stream had a better picture than the HD TV, IMHO.

BAM is a powerful entity; when MLB thought about spinning off the company in 2005, it was valued at $2.5 billion (Fast Company, 2012). As viewing habits and media evolve, it’s more likely that potential media outlets will fragment before they consolidate. Maybe you need Love in your corner (read: shameless plug).

But for now if you’re baseball fans like we are, just grab some peanuts, Cracker Jack and the MLB At Bat 12 app/MLB.TV. And, as you watch live events on the go, think of the technology behind it. It may be powered by baseball.

Go Rangers!

The past few years it seems public interest in the Tournament has spiked as TV viewership has reached an all-time high. According to TVbytheNumbers.com, the 2011 Tournament  achieved the best overall tournament-to-date average ratings that NCAA Basketball had seen in 20 years. This upward trend seems to have carried on into this year’s tournament, with the 2012 opening weekend delivering the highest-rated and most-watched first Saturday since 2007, averaging a 3% ratings increase across the 4 networks from last year.

These statistics beg the question, what has caused the recent spike in the March Madness audience? One potential factor contributing to the increase in ratings could be that the games are now also airing on TNT, TBS and TruTV. Prior to the 2011 Tournament, March Madness was only being televised on CBS until a joint deal was made with Turner Sports. Another possibility for this year’s numbers could be due to the NBA strike. Maybe basketball fans were put off by the professionals, and instead became attached to watching their favorite NCAA team while the NBA season was being repeatedly postponed.

While these ideas as to “why” are just speculation, based on the recent viewership trend it seems that March Madness is becoming an increasingly effective means for advertisers to reach a strong audience with their brand’s message.

It's not just about handouts, it's about getting your hands dirty.

Love Advertising’s own Virginia Vorster was voted volunteer of the month for Habitat for Humanity! She was chosen by the board of directors who must select one person from their more than 2,600 volunteers. Virginia also donated money to Habitat for Humanity provided by the Love Matters program.

The Love Matters program, started in 2010, was established to encourage Love employees to get involved in their communities. Virginia’s exemplary work with Habitat is the exact reason Love Matters was created.

Congratulations, Virginia, it was well-deserved. We’re all very proud of you!

If not, you may get pinched. St Patrick’s Day – a day where we can get together to be merry and wear green and pinch those who are not. As a lover of all things Irish, I decided to take it upon myself this year to discover the true meaning of one of the greatest holidays of the year (if not the greatest in my opinion).

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17^th, and is a religious holiday where people can feast and celebrate in honor of Saint Patrick (a patron Saint of Ireland). On St. Patrick’s Day, which falls during Lent, Irish families traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon.  Lent prohibits the consumption of meat, but all is waived on St. Patrick’s Day and people are able to dance, drink and feast—sometimes on the traditional Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage. I’ll say yes to the dancing, drinking and the feasting of corned beef, but lets get real, we can pass on the cabbage.

So where does the wearing of green and the famous shamrock that we sport so proudly come from? According to legend, Saint Patrick would use a shamrock to describe the holy trinity. From there, the green took force and is now seen from dyed beers to rivers and in many advertisements.

As we approach this time of year, many companies create their advertisements (especially beer and liquor companies) to highlight the spirit of the holiday with green bottles and creative messaging. Beer companies provide the strongest message, centering their ads on an Irish background of heavy drinking.  Playing upon the Irish history and the spirit of the holiday, works nicely for some companies when trying to enhance their overall brand.

And again making a subtle approach when mentioning their product but keeping to the humor of their brand:

From the time I was a little kid and playing Atari to last night, I have never stopped playing video games. Is it wrong for somebody that is almost 40 to stay up until 1 a.m. on a Tuesday playing video games? The advertising industry doesn’t think so. IGA, or in-game advertising, is generally regarded as an effective way to reach 16-34 year old males.  Advertising can appear in video games in several ways. It can simply be an ad that shows up before or during a session for a free on-line game, or it can be more cleverly placed in games much like movies, most pervasively in sports and car racing games. And while I am slightly outside of the age curve, which I am painfully reminded of daily by the rest of the creative department, I am still gaming for several hours every week.

Although there are mixed feelings from the gaming community about how intrusive advertising is in gaming, a 2009 study was conducted and  showed that 80% of gamers could correctly recall an advertiser, and 56% of them had a more favorable impression of that advertiser.  Is it effective? Gatorade attributed 24% of its sales increase to advertising being placed in Electronic Arts titles. Some industry professionals have gone as far as to predict that global in-game advertising dollars can reach $1 billion annually.

While I can change the channel on a radio station, or fast forward past a spot on TV, I can’t wait to log on tonight and zoom past billboards for Goodyear, Ford and Sony while I try and beat my best lap time at Laguna Seca.

Focus on the positives.  Don’t get caught up in where you park compared to someone else or who has a better workspace, or compare your work situation with anyone else in the office.  You are new.  Be happy you are employed.  Besides, getting caught up in this nonsense is a total waste of time.  Put blinders on and mind your business.  I once had this obsession with someone in an office where I worked who arrived 30 minutes late every single day.  I thought it was so unfair.  It ends up it was part of her agreement with the company to get her to come back to work there and – truth be told – she almost never left on time.

Don’t participate in office gossip.  Don’t listen to it, don’t contribute to it.  Nothing good ever comes out of participating.  Plus, half the gossip isn’t even true.  Naturally, if you witness a co-worker doing something illegal, you need to report to those in charge.  Other than that, just mind your own business.  It’s easy to want to feel aligned with a coworker but avoid this manner of doing so.  Bond over your love of archery instead.

Your Facebook page.  I have no experience with this because the Internet was still a mysterious new world when I was in my early 20’s.  But, you should be cognizant of what you post or are tagged in, or remove anything you wouldn’t want your boss to see.  Even if they are unable to see your page other people are and the ad biz is a small world, and you are a grown-up now.  So, those photos of you passed out on the pool table, get rid of them.

Exhibit a strong work ethic.  Make every effort to be the first person there and the last one to leave among your department and work hard from the time you arrive until the time you leave.  It shows that you are a hard worker, can be relied upon and, eventually, you’ll be given more responsibility.  Your supervisor/boss and/or person you are assisting WILL notice.  I promise.

Try to problem solve on your own when you can.  One of the best lessons I learned early on was the “pretend your car is broken down on the side of the road” example.  This was before everyone had a cell phone, but the point is, do everything in your power to find solutions to the situation at hand on your own as if you had no help.

Assume nothing.  This one is extremely important.  Don’t assume anything.  EVER.  No matter what.  EVER.  No exceptions!  In my first year as a media coordinator I made a $1000 mistake on a Chronicle ad that the agency had to absorb because I assumed we had a contracted rate.  (No I didn’t lose my job, but I thought I would).

Business Etiquette.  This includes a variety of elements that seem simple but will make you stand out that include but are not limited to:

1. Compose your e-mails in a professional manner.  Always have an opening, a body and a close.
2. When attending a meeting be cognizant of where you sit.  Don’t sit at the head of the table unless you are an Executive of the company.
3. Learn how to shake hands and look someone in the eye.
4. When you pick up the phone, say hello and introduce yourself.
5. When attending industry events, always be aware that you are a representative of your company and behave accordingly.
6. Be courteous to everyone you work with.

If any of this eludes you, ask someone who exhibits this behavior or merely observe how they conduct themselves.

Ask questions.  Never pretend you know something – no question is too dumb and other people in the meeting probably have the same question but are too scared to ask it.  However, once you get it answered and understand, don’t ask it again.  Learn from it.  If you keep asking the same question, people will start losing faith in your abilities to move forward.

Write it down.  Have a tablet of paper and pen/pencil/quill and scroll with you at all times.  If your supervisor asks to meet with you on a project, take notes on what you are supposed to do.  If you are in a meeting, take notes.  And when you ask questions, (#8) write down the answers.

Never become complacent.  Even if you pay no attention to anything I’ve said here, always know that there is a line of eager people who would love to have your job.  I’ve seen many people be let go because they thought they were irreplaceable.