The HB Blog | Building Brands, One Story at a Time

Resolutions

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Molly Delaney

Resolutions

Most of us like to start the new year with resolutions, based in part on the successful and unsuccessful during the prior year.

Dr. Todd Thomas, Associate Professor for the DeVos Graduate School of Management, Northwood University, asked 50 CEOs nationwide, “As you look ahead to 2012, what kind of New Year’s Resolution will you be making?” for his report, ‘CEO Resolutions for the New year – A Focus on the Future.’ Recognize the familiar face on pages 4 and 9?

In the report, some common themes emerge:

Don’t allow technology to take the “human-ness” out of business
Grow the business and focus on the core offerings
Open up to taking more risks
Establish a better life balance for self and employees
Re-establish focus on personal and professional development
Improve organizational development and collaboration
Leverage social media
Improve communication
Give more back to the community

It’s reassuring to see a variety of business leaders focused on expanding business in 2012, but also investing time towards making both work and personal life more rewarding for themselves and their employees. I hope some of the CEOs Dr. Thomas mentions here will read the report and think about their own 2012 resolutions.

Posted in Business, Culture, Hart-Boillot | Leave a comment

Ubiquitous Carbon

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Justin Hastings

Carbon

Earlier this month, the United Nations met in Durban, South Africa to discuss the soon-to-expire Kyoto Protocol.

Delegates from around the world discussed the idea of a carbon tax with the hope that it will help reduce emissions over the next 10 years. Under the current agreement, richer countries must follow regulations while poorer countries contribute voluntarily.

As noted by The Huffington Post, The Protocol debates escalated throughout the meetings, with the United States’ support for business outweighing its support for the environment.

The United States, whose Congress is generally seen as hostile on the climate issue, is concerned about conceding any competitive business advantage to China.

As an American, and one who greatly values our environment, I’m frustrated by the US delegates’ protectionism of the country’s economic power over all else (mirrored by China and India). Can a temporary decrease in GDP — which many argue would not happen anyway — be so bad if it helps guarantee a hospitable planet for another thousand years?

Update: Participating nations stayed an extra day and a half, and it looks like some good came of it.

Posted in Clean Tech, Current Affairs, Green Living/Working | Leave a comment

If you’re happy and you know it…

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Amanda Jayachandran

Growing up, my mother cooked dinner while watching the daily news. I would say, “Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a news channel that only showed happy news?”

An engineering student at Northwestern University created a Happiness Club. The group spreads joy around campus, helping students smile and laugh during stressful times. From blowing bubbles to handing out temporary tattoos during exam week, the club lifts student spirit on campus. Through the help of Happiness Club, Northwestern builds comaradie, rapport and a successful environment.

In the workplace, laughter and smiling increases effectiveness and reduces stress. At HB, we listen to Pandora (we decided today it was time for Christmas tunes), enjoy fresh baked cookies, have a beer, throw a football and laugh when someone busts a move. These simple tactics alter the collective mood and develop a creative, team-based environment with increased project discussion and team feedback.

So… Smile. Laugh. Giggle. Dance.

Posted in Hart-Boillot, Higher Education, Work | Leave a comment

Moving towards simplicity: It’s not that simple

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Susan Young

In our complex and confusing world, more and more of us strive for simplicity. It may not look that way on the surface, as we scramble to buy “stuff” (both in stores and online) for our homes: electronics, collectibles, furniture, books, and kitchen gadgets. However, we stroll to the mailbox to find a copy of Real Simple magazine.

Don’t you find that ironic?

Simple Marketing

At HB, we create simplicity. This can be an interesting process when working with high tech, clean-tech and healthcare. My colleagues on the “creative” side distill messaging for websites and promotional content. On the public relations side, we create news opportunities and media coverage with snappy sound bites.

Most of our technology clients are deeply entrenched in Big Data. We work side-by-side with them to tell the story of simplifying business processes. Structured and unstructured data. Industry folks use words such as optimization, streamline, and scalability. Translation: Simplify.

Simple Social Media

In social media, the new buzz is content curation. Because of information overload, we gravitate towards online newsletters where a team of writers and thought-leaders curate relevant content into one publication with what they deem important.

On Twitter, it’s simple: 140 characters or bust. There’s no place for verbosity.

Simple Lifestyle

Hans Hofmann was an abstract expressionist painter (1880-1966). He said: “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”

How many times have you heard of people and families who decided to shun their “stuff” and lifestyle? Their destination: A 500 square foot cabin.

Following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, several people I know who worked in lower Manhattan and experienced the horror of that day quit their corporate jobs. The commute and pressure of being in the city was too much. A few started their own business, on their own terms. Others decided to spend more time with their young children. Each yearned for a simpler way of life.

Occasionally my husband Andrew and I (briefly) contemplate packing a few bags and going to Idaho, or some other faraway land that seems a lot simpler. The conversation doesn’t last very long. Cell phones start making funny noises, our kids rant about school or the iPad, and an automated telemarketer is on the phone.

Simplicity is a beautiful thing.

Posted in Business, Culture, Hart-Boillot, Work | Tagged communications, Hart-Boillot, twitter | 1 Comment

Gratitude, the domino effect

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Perrin McCormick

I do great work on my spin bike. Not only do I burn calories and make my heart healthier, I reflect on my day and do some creative thinking. Yesterday, I dedicated my spin session to crafting a haiku that expressed my gratitude for access to healthcare. And I learned to bring a pen to spin class…as I can’t remember the haiku.

A recent health scare sparked this gratitude. Earlier this year I experienced odd neck, back, and arm pain that included tingling. After consulting Dr. Google, I narrowed down my diagnosis to a neurological disease. Next stop, the doctor. To make a long story short, after three doctor visits and an MRI, the diagnosis was, “all looks great, rest your back.” I did that and three weeks later, I was fine.

Throughout the entire experience, I considered how differently things would have played out if I didn’t have insurance. Access to medical imaging.

While that haiku left my mind, the gratitude remains.

Posted in Hart-Boillot, Medical Devices | Tagged healthcare | Leave a comment

Green Muting – 24-hour news cycles and jaded audiences keep us quiet

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Nicolas Boillot

As an increasing number of businesses recognize the importance of being green(er) and the marketing value of green messages, we have seen the rise of both “green washing” and “green muting.” The Greenwashing Index defines green washing as “when a company or organization spends more time and money claiming to be ‘green’ through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impact. It’s whitewashing, but with a green brush.”

Green-muting, on the other hand, is when businesses don’t talk about the positive environmental choices they are making. Joel Makower introduced me to both concepts in a presentation he gave a few years ago. I continue to encounter both in my personal and professional lives, most recently during a client meeting.

In this case, we spent the day with Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation (OTE Corp), discussing what’s next in marketing and PR as the company works to make a serious mark on the global energy landscape, starting in the Bahamas. As we discussed Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Clean Tech, Green Living/Working, Hart-Boillot, Public Relations | Leave a comment

Getting inside the problem

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Kevin Hart

Sometimes you need to go deeper.

This week I had knee surgery. Originally I was diagnosed as needing ACL reconstruction. However, an MRI revealed that the ACL was intact. My surgeon wasn’t sure how things would turn out. He advised that he should wait to make a judgment call once he was inside the knee and could really see what was happening. I agreed.

It’s ironic how closely this matches the work we do on a regular basis. Prospective clients come to us with a problem or a challenge and ask for our help. Too often they ask us to diagnose the problem and prescribe a fix in the form of a proposal… before we truly understand the real problem.

Our point of view is that we must get inside the problem and deeply understand the challenge prior to prescribing a solution. We propose a strategy/planning session, one where we can peel away the layers of business goals, audience, messaging and competition in a well-defined process that reveals the gaps and overlaps and informs recommendations. Getting inside the problem results in better knowledge, deeper understanding and more positive results.

Posted in Advertising, B2B Technology, Business, Design, Higher Education, Media Relations, Medical Devices, Miscellaneous, Public Relations, Social Media | Leave a comment

New Solar Power Project Creates Energy and Jobs

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Dawn Sullivan

My husband, engineer extraordinaire at SAIC Energy, Environment & Infrastructure, is helping Exelon Corporation – one of the nation’s largest electric utilities – convert 2,000 acres of California desert into a 230-megawatt solar photovoltaic force field. When fully operational, it will reign as the largest PV solar projects in the world, with approximately 3.8 million solar panels generating enough clean, renewable electricity to power the equivalent of 75,000 average homes per year.

According to Exelon, the project will displace nearly 140,000 metric tons of carbon emissions per year – the equivalent of taking approximately 30,000 cars off the road. It will do this with no water use, no air emissions and no waste production.

Here is a glimpse of what the area looks like today: http://g.co/maps/73v86

The project benefits from a DOE loan guarantee, which is helping bring economic benefits to the local community and the state of California, including the creation of up to 400 construction jobs.

A win for the environment and a win for US jobs!

Posted in B2B Technology, Clean Tech, Green Living/Working | Leave a comment

In the Age of Tech, Measurement Reigns.

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Andrea Dunbeck

As more individuals, from tots to seniors, have easy access to user-friendly technology like smart phones, cloud computing and video streaming, the amount of information targeted at those individuals continues to skyrocket. Instant news updates, email marketing, mass-produced opinions arrive through all our channels, causing many of us to stop and plead, “Slow down! What am I supposed to DO with all of this information?”

Many clients come to us asking for ways to monitor, navigate and participate in industry conversations where they have neither the time to pay attention or the resources to understand how their brand comes up performs. They light up when we explain how we use some of the latest technology and tools to do just that. As it turns out, technology is partly the reason for the problem, but also the conduit to a solution.

Something similar is going on in the energy industry. Energy consumers (i.e. pretty much all of us) light up (pun intended) as new technology hits the market to help regular people measure, manage and better understand the often mysterious energy usage information we receive from distributors and providers. As our client LEM, a pioneer in electrical measurement, would say, you have to measure it to manage it.

True, technology companies have dabbled in this market for over a decade with light controls, security systems and camera monitoring. What’s been missing, though, is a system that does it all, including actionable metrics on energy usage, from one simple, easy-to-use interface.

Check out the complete home automation companies below that surfaced over the past few years. Some are just a few years old, and others are older as they started with alarms and security systems before moving into comprehensive home automation and energy management.

Vivint - http://www.vivint.com/

Life|Ware - http://www.life-ware.com/

Control 4 - http://www.control4.com/

Elan Home Systems - http://www.elanhomesystems.com/

Crestron - http://www.crestron.com/

Ah. Doesn’t it feel better to be in control?