A Sweep of ADDY Awards

February 23, 2010 in Branding, Design by Elonide Semmes | No comments

Northern Indiana ADDY Awards

OK, time out for a little self promotion. Josh Morey, of our Indiana office, was very busy last night picking up awards at the The American Advertising Federation - North Central Indiana 2010 ADDY Awards. This three-tier, national competition recognizes exceptional advertising and marketing. Without an incredible roster of clients, we would not have these opportunities. Congratulations to:

  • Prince Lobel  - “Best in Show” - Ad Campaign
  • Foley Hoag - “Judge’s Choice” - Insiders Guide
  • Prince Lobel - “Gold” - Ad Campaign
  • Barnes & Thornburg - “Silver” - Ad campaign
  • Preti Flaherty - “Silver” - Web site
  • Littler - “Silver - Holiday e-card

And we were also thrilled to see our own holiday e-card win a “Gold”.

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Eyetracking Revisited

February 21, 2010 in Branding, Design, Web Development by Elonide Semmes | No comments

Jakob Nielsen latest usability book “Eyetracking Web Usability” from New Riders Press is a must read. The book provide easy to understand eyetracking “heatmaps” that show how much users looked at different parts of a Web page. In one example, the heatmap clearly showed users have a tendency to read in an “F” pattern, and they focus on information that’s presented in bulleted lists. If your marketing team is about to design a new Web site, we highly recommend at least a careful skimming of this book.

Are Superbowl Ads Worth It?

February 9, 2010 in Advertising, Branding, Design by Elonide Semmes | No comments

Every year, I host a Superbowl Party and analysis of the ads is almost as important as the game — that is unless the New Orleans Saints (my roots) or New England Patriots (my current home team) are playing. This year certainly tested my concentration skills as I tried to watch the game and serve up pounds of Jambalaya.

But as usual my guests enjoyed giving me very specific feedback on what ads worked for them. They loved the frantic chickens from Denny’s and thought the GoDaddy.com ads were never going to motivate them. What I found most interesting was how the 15-20 year-olds at the party visited the Web sites of several advertisers just  nanoseconds after the ad played on TV. So I wasn’t shocked to read that 75% of all Superbowl advertisers saw a  sharp spike in online chatter about their brands (according to research by Prophesee). Just one more tangible example of the integration between traditional advertising platforms and the Web. We’ve just scratched the surface on how best to build your brand virally.

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Why the iPad Matters!

February 1, 2010 in Branding, Design, Web Development by Elonide Semmes | No comments

Ok. Yes, the iPad looks really cool from what I can see watching the online video at Apple. But it is cool not just because of the slim size and what it can do. It is exciting because it will change the rules of engagement.

As Steve Jobs made clear, the iPad was built to be equally good in either portrait or landscape mode. This may not sound exciting but it is a big deal. As Tech Crunch points out, “On the iPad, there are elements such as a left hand pane that is visible in the Mail app only when the device is horizontal. Turn it vertical, and it only shows the message area, and there are new overlays that you activate to navigate in this view.” So what does that mean in plain English. Apple has once again turned over (no pun intended) the apple cart of User Interface. And this will have a ripple effect in both mobile device design and Web design since we won’t just be looking at the Web on our 15-inch laptop. This will change where we place the most important thought leadership that a law firm is promoting and will cause us to once again rethink navigation.

Helping Haiti

January 18, 2010 in Good Deeds by Elonide Semmes | No comments

If you are still looking for a small organization already on the ground in Haiti to support, consider Konbit Sante Cap-Haitien Health Partnership. For nearly 10 years this  Maine-based volunteer partnership has worked to improve health care in northern Haiti. Luckily they were not at the epicenter of the earthquake so have been able to help the refugees from Port-au-Prince receive the right medical attention. We can highly recommend this organization, their approach and leadership.

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Why Thought Leadership Works

December 2, 2009 in Branding, Business Development, Legal Marketing, Marketing by Elonide Semmes | No comments

Business development is about building relationships over time. And part of the challenge is maintaining a meaningful dialogue with your prospects.  One tried and true way to keep the conversation going is to offer up something that prospects can get without actually hiring you. An offer gives them a chance to experience your thinking and expertise without the scarier commitment of saying, “yes.”

So make sure your marketing approach includes enough offers to create a dialogue. These offers can take many forms such as white papers, surveys, blogs and seminars. Each offer must include content that adds value and drives a prospect to want to learn more.

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Walking In Your Client’s Shoes

November 19, 2009 in Uncategorized by Elonide Semmes | No comments

On Monday, I was in D.C. for a series of meetings and found myself headed toward K Street to visit a prospect but realized I only had a virtual address, not their physical location. So I took out my trusty iPhone expecting to just check out the directions on their Web site. Boy was that a bad idea! Despite being a large company, they had not built a mobile version of their web site. The number of clicks and steps to try and get to the directions required me to find a park bench. (The lack of intuitive navigation did not help.)

So there are two morals to this story. One is that if you are company where people visit your offices frequently than at a minimum make address information easy to find on your regular  web site.  And if you are ready to build a mobile version remember you only need to focus on the most common areas people access on the fly — such as directions and phone numbers. But don’t forget to give visitors the option to navigate to the full site.

And yes we are the shoemaker’s kids without shoes and plan to get our mobile site done asap.

Calling a Spade a Spade

November 3, 2009 in Branding, Legal Marketing by Elonide Semmes | No comments

Aric Press, editor of The American Lawyer, wrote a great piece today in the AmLaw Daily called “In-House at the American Lawyer.” It is sobering and honest look at what faces many law firms as we close out 2009. Of course, I liked the fact he put in a plug for increased marketing. But most important I think Aric shines a light on the real need for innovation and fresh ideas.

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Acritas’ Shines Light on Top Legal Brands

October 28, 2009 in Branding, Legal Marketing, Marketing, Research by Elonide Semmes | No comments

Acritas, a leading provider of research in the UK, Europe and the US, provided an insightful glimpse last night into what’s on the mind of global elite buyers of legal services. The final study will incorporate  1,000 interviews of an impressive cast of companies. The survey participants include public and private companies in all of the major rankings and stock indices including Forbes, Fortune 1000, FT 500 US, NASDAQ 100, NYSE Composite, AMEX 100, Dow 30 and the S&P 500.

The study will be a cold bucket of water for many major law firms. But bottom line it is information any savvy marketer would want to have at their fingertips. It can help you understand your competitive set and know how your firm is perceived. The amount of data that can be drilled down and analyzed is impressive.

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Stuck in a Time Warp

October 25, 2009 in Branding, Interactive Marketing, Legal Marketing, Social Networking by Elonide Semmes | 1 comment

In 2002, I was totally dismayed when a senior partner at an AmLaw 100 firm dressed me down for recommending they spend their hard earned money on the World Wide Web. He described the Internet as a passing fancy for geeks. Fast forward to a week ago when once again I was in a major law firm and this time just got blank looks when I talked about the impact of social networking on business to business marketing. A highly talented lawyer, in his early 50s, said social networking was for high schoolers. (In all fairness I think this lawyer still has his secretary print out his emails for him to read).

So we have decided to start formally collecting the stories about how people have become connected in business through social networking whether it be general sites like Facebook or restricted networks for lawyers like Martindale Hubbell Connected. Stay tuned for what we learn.

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