L&S Unscripted

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Going to the hospital can be scary business if you’re a kid. Ok… let’s be honest… it can be unnerving for parents too.

Often the fear is based on the unknown. What is it like in the hospital? What will the room look like? What can I bring and what has to stay home?

Providing answers in a kid-friendly way is the goal of the Kid Zone. The Kid Zone is a colorful, animated and interactive micro-site developed by Sanford Health. It includes a guided tour of the Sanford Children’s Hospital, links to health information and now, an online coloring book.

In this episode of The Extra Minute, Natalie Eisenberg, account executive at Lawrence & Schiler, explains why the Kid Zone has been created and why Sanford believes it’s an important service to provide.

Kevin Perlic has joined L&S as a Broadcast Producer. An Ohio native, Kevin earned his degree from Cleveland State University and worked at a production company in the city for ten years. At Lawrence & Schiller, Kevin will work with several clients to edit and produce TV commercials and videos.

The agency has also added two full-time interns to the mix.

Katie Fritz joins L&S as a recent graduate from South Dakota State University. Katie graduated with a graphic design degree and will work as a Production and Graphics Intern with the agency’s client and web teams.

A previous L&S intern, Jamie Bulian will return to the agency as a Copywriting Intern. A University of South Dakota graduate, Jamie also works as a freelance writer for 605 Magazine and the Ribs, Rods, Rock & Roll event in Vermillion.

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If you live in the small communities that make up Middle America, you are used to hearing about new technology… and not having it available in your area.  It’s the ultimate dangling carrot. The technology tease.

But not this time! Midcontinent Communications is bringing DOCSIS 3.0 to the heartland. In fact, West Fargo, ND is getting the high speed Internet network before Manhattan!

In this issue of The Extra Minute, hear how Midcontinent Communications is using digital public relations and social media tospread the word of this exciting technology advance.

Related Links
MidcoNews blog
Midcontinent Communications

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Is advertising art? Is art ever advertising?

These questions are much more than rhetorical.  They stretch all the way from the design studio to the board room. In this episode of The Extra Minute, Dan Edmonds, Vice President of Design Services at Lawrence & Schiller, weighs in with his thoughts on the subject.

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In the heat of the moment how do people really feel about your brand? What do they feel when using your products or services? What do they say to others about you?

Answering those questions is becoming easier than ever thanks to social media monitoring. But it takes time plus the right tools and techniques to discover relevant conversations and respond appropriately.

During this episode of The Extra Minute Courtney Lotzer, Account Planning & Research Specialist at Lawrence & Schiller, shares her experience with social media monitoring and offers some advice.  If you’d like to take a deeper dive into this topic, check out session 3 of the L&S webinar series – Simple Steps to Measure Your Digital Dialogue.

For all the talk about Twitter and Facebook you’d think everyone is America is tweeting and updating their status. But the reality is nearly two thirds of American adults have never created an online profile and joined a social network.

If you’re part of this silent majority, it’s time to start managing your online identity. Here are three simple steps you should take to claim your virtual territory and protect your personal brand.

1. Investigate

• Go to Google and search your name. Can you find yourself? Who’s listed before you? What line of work are they in? If someone is searching for you, who might they mistakenly find?
• Go to Facebook and search for your name. How many matches are there? Do the same on  Twitter .

Now that you have an idea of how competitive the online space is for your name you’re ready for the next step.

2. Build

Stake a claim to your online territory by setting up accounts in the top digital properties.

• Whenever possible use the same profile name. I typically use “DaveHaan1″ (e.g. www.Twitter.com/DaveHaan1) because someone beat me to the punch and starting using “DaveHaan” before me. Admittedly this variation isn’t as good as my regular name but it’s close and consistently used.
• Enter enough information into your profile so people can find you. Uploading a picture of yourself and sharing your city, where you work and the name of your alma mater is a good place to start.
• Set up a profile in each of the top social categories. The names will change as new players enter the game but today the top sites are:
  • Networking with friends = Facebook
  • Microblogging = Twitter
  • Professionals = LinkedIn
  • Video = Youtube
  • Photos = Flickr
  • Social bookmarking = Delicious
  • News = Digg
  • Blog = WordPress or Blogger (setup takes less than five minutes)
  • Email = Gmail and Yahoo
  • Domain name = Go Daddy (register your name for $10 or less)

After setting up your accounts, use them! Find people with similar interests. Listen to their conversations and join the discussion.

3. Monitor

 Just because you’ve established your online identity doesn’t mean the job is done! Now is the time to start listening for comments, feedback, anything that mentions your name.

• Set a Google Alert for your name and profile name. An email will be sent each time your name shows up in a blog post, news story, web page, etc.
• Social Mention is another free service that will listen for your name. It will even say if the mentions are positive, negative or neutral.
• Tip: learn more about social media monitoring from Week 3 of the Lawrence & Schiller Social Media Boot Camp webinar series.

According to Pew Internet research, nearly half of us have searched online for information about ourselves. Unfortunately only 3% do it on a regular basis! Once you’ve established your online identity you won’t be able to manage it unless you monitor on a regular basis.

See More Of The Story
Click on the play button below to watch “Claiming Your Virtual Territory“ from KELOLAND-TV.

This week, L&S welcomed a new face to the 5280 family.

Chad Riedel joins Lawrence & Schiller as a Production Artist, where he’ll work on designing print and multimedia executions for clients. Chad is a South Dakota State University graduate with a graphic design major. He has previous experience working with motion graphics and animation for Keyframe, a division of Daktronics in Brookings.

Chad is excited to get his first dose of “real agency experience” here at the state’s biggest advertising firm. A South Dakota native, he enjoys hunting and the outdoors in his spare time.

All totaled the Lawrence & Schiller Biggest Loser contestants logged 9.25 million steps on their pedometers and lost 175 total pounds which is a 4.81% decrease in body weight.

Total Pedometer Steps:
- Jeremy Peters:  1,013,000
- Jeff Hanson:  979,011
- John Pohlman:  972,202
- Melody Morton:  888,756
- The Judge:  852,571

Percentage Weight Lost:
- Hanson:  14.18%
- Judge:  10.43%
- Pohlman:  10.28%
- Derek Soukup:  9.07%
- Courtney Lotzer:  7.77%
- Korena Keys:  6.03%
- Sarah Rindels:  4.55%
- Kevin Phipps:  4.43%
- Michelle Adrian:  4.35%
- Nikki Gronli:  4.14%

I hope you enjoyed this “tape-delayed” accounting of our Biggest Loser’s Contest which took place in January and February.  What began as a New Year’s resolution challenge from Media Strategist Korena Keys turned into something as spirited and fun as an office fantasy football league without the draft night health hazards. 

Most importantly, of course, Korena’s challenge also improved the health and well being of her teammates, including me.

Six months after the contest began I stepped into my doctor’s office for a regular checkup.  My parents left me with many blessings but low blood pressure and cholestoral are not among them.  This checkup found me 30 pounds lighter with a 50 point drop in total cholestoral and textbook blood pressure.  That was a great day to be a loser.

Thank you, Korena! 

- The Judge