Degrees of IMC

I few people have asked me if there are any other integrated marketing communication degrees other than at Emerson College. So I did a Google search and here are the results. Let me know if you know of any other programs I might have missed.

West Virginia University
Florida State University
Northwestern University
Roosevelt University
University of Utah
Ithaca College
San Diego State

Integrated Marketing Forum

On June 19th, I took part in an "Thought Leaders Round Table Forum" put on by PRNews and VMS. The event brought together some of the leaders in the industry to talk about the future of integrated communications. This was one of many forums that PRNews has held around the country talking about the subject of integrated communication.

Below are a few points that I took home:

• People were very concerned about social media as a new silo in the integrated marketing mix

• People use the word silo a lot when talking about integrated marketing communication

• Many people, myself included are still having a hard time defining integrated marketing communications
- Pam Hamlin, President of Arnold Worldwide had the best description. While I don't have, word for word of what she said. Below is a bit that I like from Arnold's website.
True brand integration is what we do best. It’s easy when you start with the brand truth. Integration, per se, is not even a stated goal here at Arnold, because it is always an outcome of our work. It’s understood that everything we do for the brand will be integrated because every discipline is working against the same objectives, budgets and brand truth articulation. And with one bottom line across all disciplines, no one discipline is “fighting” for your dollars. The communications plan is built only to solve a client’s problem.

• Companies are having a hard time coming out of their defined "silos" of advertising, pr, marketing and interactive for fear that they will lose a piece of the pie. However, most of these agencies are actually practicing integrated marketing communication every day.

• Many people in the forum did not know that their was a masters offered in integrated marketing communication

It was a great event and I was proud to be a part. Below are a list of round table attendees.

Round top attendees:
Pam Hamlin, Arnold Worldwide
Stephanie Anderson, Osram Sylvania
Michelle Davis, Boston Children’s Hospital
Todd Defren, Shift Communications
Andrew Eberle, Weber Shandwick Worldwide
Mike Farber, Schwartz Communications
Mike Lawrence, Cone
Craig Martin, Feinstein Kean Healthcare
Kathy O’Reilly, Lycos
Patrick Richardson, Schneider & Associates
Christine Simeone, Lois Paul & Partners
Steven Singer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
David Thomson, Thomson Communications

Project Update - Part 2 Waltham Community Farm

This next project was for Waltham Fields Community Farm, a pro-bono job that I started back in November. I was asked in by a good friend to help the farm with their branding for a silent auction that raises funds for the farm and their local hunger relief efforts. Working with Meg Coward (Managing Director) and other members of the silent auction volunteer team Swirlingmedia came up with the idea to call the event "Sprout". The name seemed to bring together spring, the possibility for the farm and hunger relief/nourishment all in that one word. After the naming was complete, we put together a logo, poster, invitations and signage for the event.

The Sprout silent auction took place on May 4th, and it sold out a week before the event. The attendance nearly tripled from the year before. The design was a hit and I received many compliments on my work. This project was an amazing case study on how creativity, vision, great design and a lot of dedicated individuals can help a non-profit organization's annual fund drive really pay off.

Stay tuned as I will be continuing my work with Waltham Fields by designing a new logo for the organization and collateral materials.

Project Update - Part 1 WaterDog Partners

I have finally finished a few projects here at Swirlingmedia. So I thought that I would give you a recap. The first project was a quick design job for WaterDog Partners. I worked on this website with my great friends Patrick Mahoney and Craig Zingerline at Upthought. You can view the website at www.waterdogpartners.com.

Google Launches Web 2.0 Tool of the Future

As Web 2.0 tools start creeping into the mainstream, online giant Google is moving quickly to wake everyone up to the new world order. Microsoft is no longer the only software on the block.

On April 17th, Google announced it is launching an online suite of Google docs, spreadsheets and presentation software to compete directly with Microsoft Office Suite.

Google’s new suite of Web based presentation tools are being hyped as the fully integrated work flow software of the future. Some features are the ability to share, store, collaborate and present a document from anywhere in the world. And best of all… it’s free! According to the Official Google Blog, the software will be up and running by summer 2007:

“Now students, writers, teachers, organizers, and, well, just about everyone who uses a computer can look forward to having real-time, web-based collaboration across even more common business document formats.”

It’s my belief that software that enables multiple user collaboration will surely be the wave of the future as old software is reborn for the new Web 2.0 savvy internet user.

For consumers this means free collaborative software, beyond wiki’s and blogs, that can be integrated right into their email homepage (if you are a gmail user). It could also be the beginning of a trend toward all software becoming Internet enabled, on-demand and open source friendly.

As more collaborative software pushes itself into the marketplace, Microsoft is surely thinking of how it can fend off these challenges to its dominant position in the business document industry.

Adweek Press

My new position at Schneider Associates received a little press from Adweek.

Check it out.

IMC Definition

Here is a definition of Integrated Marketing Communication from About.com

Definition: A management concept that is designed to make all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation.