Lori Goodale, Corporate Relations Director, Palio

In September, Money Magazine listed Saratoga as one of the Top 100 towns to live in, across all of the United States. That same month, the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce hosted the debut of the first ever lip dub. Made me think of all the incredible reasons I love Saratoga, especially now during this holiday season. Obviously, I can’t be the only one to appreciate when the wreaths go up around the lights on Broadway, so I asked everyone at Palio what they love about Saratoga and the surrounding areas. Here’s what they said:

The world isn’t what it used to be. Neither is the marketplace. And changes to both are happening at a faster and faster pace. So what do you do when you need to anticipate the future and you don’t have Nostradamus around to help? You shore up your brand’s ability to adapt. Which means getting used to change because nothing’s ever going to be like it used to be.  One reason why can be summed up in two little words: social media. It hasn’t just created a shift, it’s caused an upheaval.

Just check out the facts: social media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web. It’s created a major shift in how we communicate with each other. Facebook reached 100 million users in less than a year. Facebook reached 100 million users in less than a year. Twitter has 140 million users who generate 340 million tweets a day. Social media is credited with everything from boosting brands to toppling governments.

For your brand, the message is obvious. You have to adapt to new ways to connect with your customers. Plus, you need to be where the new technology is to show people that your brand is relevant. Which isn’t as daunting as it sounds because Palio can help you navigate this new world.  We’re right at home in the flux of today’s fast-evolving communications ecosystem. We can show you how to talk to your customers via social media and provide other ideas on how to increase the size of your digital footprint.

At Palio, we’re not just on top of technological innovations, we’re building them. We have a department devoted to digital content creation, including Web and app development, video production, and interactive programs. In fact, all our brand teams “think” digitally, so any one of them is capable of creating a new idea that can take your brand places it’s never been before. Add to that our deep history in healthcare marketing and pharmaceutical advertising – a level of expertise few others can match – and you have an agency that can lead you past what’s happening now, and through what’s ahead, without flinching.

Since you’re already on our site, now is a perfect time to check out some of our other posts to see what we’re thinking. Then, if you want to know more, call Mike Myers at 518.584.8924. He’s not Nostradamus, but he can tell you how your brand will have a brighter future if it links up with Palio.

From Joe Acee, Associate Creative Director, Palio

I have a simple story to tell. It’s about being a rock star. But before I tell my story, I want to discuss the term rock star. Within the last two years those two words have taken on a definition much different than what most of us normally associate it with. Images of Mick Jagger and David Lee Roth may come to mind, but in the context of my workplace it’s taken on something different. A rock star is often seen as someone who is doing great work and going above and beyond what’s expected of them. Often, people here at Palio receive gracious compliments from their peers, and with those accolades inevitably comes the term rock star. If you’ve been on the receiving end of such an honor, be grateful that someone appreciates your efforts enough to say so.

In the summer of 1982, long before commercial art was a twinkle in my teenage eye, I became a rock star of a different kind. I was working for my cousin, Abe Acee. At that time, Abe was a hay and feed merchant catering to the local harness racing clientele of Vernon Downs, a racetrack located in the very small town of Vernon, New York. My job was to assist Abe with early morning deliveries of hay bales, horse feed, and the occasional dirty joke. Actually, I just listened to Abe deliver the obscenities — I did the other stuff. We also baled hay in the late mornings, throughout the day, and into the early evening. It was tough work and a reminder to me, as Abe would often tell me, of “what you don’t want to do with your life.”

On one rather humid morning after the round of deliveries, my best friend, Butch, and I were asked to meet Abe at his truck to discuss alternative plans for the day’s work ahead. A couple of his other hired hands had to make deliveries to other horse farms, but we were slotted for something else. We hopped into his finely aged red F-150 pickup truck and headed out. The ride to our destination was relatively uneventful with casual conversation. At one point, Abe decided to light up a Camel and drop the question every high school junior hears during the course of his or her summer break. “So… boys … what do you want to do for a living once you finish school? It sure as hell can’t be what you’re doing right now!”

I thought for a second and blurted out, “I’d really like to try to make a living playing baseball. Yeah, pro baseball would be great!” At the time, that’s what I really wanted to do. It was an obsession for me, and I did not give my proclamation a second thought.

Abe took a drag from his Camel, inhaled, hesitated, and then exhaled without blinking an eye. “Huh… baseball. You really think you’re that good? F@cking Joe … baseball?”

Abe paused a moment then looked over at Butch and posed the same question. “How ’bout you dingle-fritz? What the hell do you want to do with yourself?”

Butch smartly replied, “Rock star. I want to be a rock star.”

There was an awkward silence, which Abe used to his advantage. He took another drag and slung his hand over the steering wheel and projected a Wile E. Coyote–like grin. This type of grin had many meanings to those who knew Abe. It usually meant he was up to something or thinking about something that he would eventually be up to. He was not impressed by the answers delivered by his summer help and did not hide his expression of humorous disappointment.

He looked at Butch, exhaled out the window and said, “Rock star… eh? Rock star. Well isn’t that somethin’? We’ll see about that.”

The timing could not have been more appropriate. We had reached our destination and loaded out of the truck. In front of us was a freshly plowed field, all 30-something acres of it. Right in the middle of the field was a tractor with a front loader attached to it. Abe looked at both of us and said, “You want to be a rock star, Butch? Well today I’m makin’ you and Joe rock stars. See all those large rocks popping up out of the dirt? You have to pick ’em up and drop ’em in the front loader. I’ll be in the tractor movin’ as you go. Before the day’s over you’ll be real-life rock stars alright.” This statement was followed by the classic smokin’ Abe laugh. It was a cruel or amusing roar depending on which side of the situation you happened to be on. Needless to say, Butch and I did not laugh. Nor did we laugh for the remainder of the day.

That was one of the longest days of that summer and, coincidentally, one of the hottest. I think I remember cursing many times about Butch’s self-proclaimed career ambitions, as I dropped 30- to 50-pound rocks into the front loader. By the end of the day Butch and I had cleared the field of every possible obstruction weighing more than 3 pounds and managed to drop 10 pounds of water weight in the process. There were no post-concert parties, no groupies to praise our heroic efforts, and certainly no encores. Abe just handed us a wad of cash for an honest day’s work and smiled that Wile E. Coyote smile. “See that, boys? I told ya I’d make you little f@ckers rock stars –– REAL rock stars.”

I always reflect upon that day whenever I hear the term rock star here at Palio. It’s a fond memory of a simpler time. A reminder of what is truly hard work and what is not. I’ve recently witnessed something worthy of rock star status here at Palio. Amazing teams of individuals who have spent the better part of two years helping a major pharmaceutical company launch a global brand. A specific example that comes to mind is two young creatives who, in less than four weeks, assembled a client-wowing interactive iPad demo. It was an inspiration watching them create something magical in such a short period of time and handle it with professionalism beyond their years.

I also witnessed rock-solid leadership guide our team through the minefield of drug launch chaos; dedicated account execs managing countless mounds of client requests and revisions; studio designers who gracefully orchestrated those changes with can-do brilliance; project and production managers keeping their eyes on the ball and on the schedule; editorial and medical services making sure nothing was left unchecked; art buyers and digital media gurus who kept our resources fresh and capable. To see such outstanding performance from a group of people is humbling and an honor.

Palio is an agency of rock stars and that’s something even my cousin Abe would agree with.

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.

From Mike Myers, President

It still surprises me when clients and friends ask if their businesses need to be involved with social media.

Last week when dropped into this dialog with a client who felt that they weren’t “ready” yet, I simply said as I often do “OK, but you have to listen in on the social media dialog because people are already talking about your brand whether you’re involved with the conversations or not. You don’t own what your brand stands for in isolation anymore.”

Listening is important – responding appropriately and engaging in the dialog even more so.

Like it or not, social media isn’t going away. If you’re not on board, you might as well jump overboard.

And if you aren’t ready yet, just ask Marka Hansen, Gap North America President.

Last week, the Gap rolled out a new logo which seems innocuous enough as companies do own and control their brands, right?

Wrong.

Within hours of the announcement, Twitter was abuzz with designers, customers and anyone who had an opinion and Web access ripping the Gap’s new branding apart.

The Gap’s Facebook page became an open forum and the company tried to allay concerns and deal with the customer backlash.

The company even started a customer logo contest to see what people could come up with on their own.

Yet four days after their decision, Gap has recanted and is returning to their old logo.

Gap has about 3,100 stores in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Ireland and Japan. They are a multibillion dollar company.

Yet, a basic marketing decision of theirs was just undone by social media.

If you think it can’t happen to you, you think wrong.

Mind the Gap. If you haven’t at a minimum started to listen into the social media maelstrom, it has the potential to pull you in and under.

What do you think? Any thoughts?

What are you doing to engage your customers and communicate about your brand through social media?

[slideshare id=5034514&doc=20bestsocialmediacampaigns-100822154328-phpapp02]

From Mike Myers, President, Palio

There isn’t a week that goes by in recent months that a client or media publication doesn’t reach out to us to discuss social media. It’s the new “thing,” and everyone wants to make sure that they aren’t missing an opportunity to use social media to effectively market and manage their brand.

Surprising to some, social media isn’t that “new.” It’s been used in various ways for years. Yes, social media on the Internet.

Forbes Magazine put out a great article last week reviewing their analysis of the Top 20 social media campaigns. We thought it was well done and very interesting. A quick review will show you how clients and brands have been creating buzz and engaging customers for well over 10 years using the “latest rage.”

We’ve taken the original Forbes list and commentary, placed it into PowerPoint for easy review, provided a set of worthwhile and interesting links, and embedded it here via a SlideShare plug-in for WordPress.

If you’d like to download it for yourself, here is the link.

From Richard Roginski, Creative Services Manager, Palio

Whether you fill it with coffee, tea, water or even vodka, chances are your morning cup of joe is held by a mug which has sentimental value. And if it is anything like mine, it has been on quite a journey of its own.  My mug started in my college dorm (where it was filled with vodka). It was purchased from a clearance bin at my favorite Starbucks back in 2001. Almost 10 years later, my mug has visited three different companies, survived a recession, graduated from college and spent a few months lost in the trunk of a car. Luckily my mug really loves its current home at Palio.

While at Palio, it has survived a kidnapping incident (authorities are still investigating who “mugged” my mug) and a freak dishwasher incident. Luckily my mug continues to thrive and provides me with a refreshing break from the daily grind.

Where has your mug been? Where is it going? What do you fill it with? Every mug has a story, what is your mug’s story? Oh, one last thought, keep your mug safe, tag it with a Sharpie.

From Steve Dubansky, MD, SVP, Medical Director, Palio

From Kim Werther, Art Buyer, Palio

Years ago, it was always print photo shoots that would piggyback onto the larger TV/Video production shoots. Now, however, those days are fewer and farther between.

Because production budgets are getting tighter and HD-DSLR cameras have made producing video more accessable, agencies and clients have been hiring talent that can produce both.

The switch from print to video seems to have been gradually happening for many photographers in the industry. It makes sense to have one creative talent handle both print and video for a number of reasons. One is obviously the lower cost of paying one person instead of breaking up the shot into two different entities. The other is about having continuity between the two media.

I have had the experience of hiring a photographer for print and a director to shoot the associated video segments. We shot the print work first and then had a two-day video shoot set up. In the end, we paid the photographer a day rate to be at the video shoot to make sure it was consistent with the print lighting, etc., as well as a director and his crew.

On the other hand, we recently had a project come up where we knew up front that the client wanted both video and print. I had the challenge of finding a photographer that could shoot print and video.

Many photographers are crossing over into this realm, but it was a real challenge to find someone that could get the look we wanted in all of those elements.

We did finally find the needed photographer/videographer and the end product turned out beautifully. The client is extremely happy with the work on both and it was an easy process.  We dealt with one person for both video and print, which kept costs down as well ensure a more consistent outcome across both projects.

This is quickly becoming the norm when it comes to finding talent for print and TV/video. Why pay for two when you can pay for one person to do both?

From Peter Hopper, VP, Account Services, Palio

Just awhile ago, L2, a self-described think tank focused on marketing innovation, announced the L2 Digital IQ Index for pharmaceutical brands – its first ever, digital-prowess rankings for our industry.

And more recently we saw Wired take a strong stance on challenging the developers of the world to take notice and pursue open alternatives to social media phenom – and dominating – Facebook, and a groundswell of support gathered quickly. This call-to-action was followed by a NY Times profile of four New York University students who raised $115,000 via “crowdsourced” funding in an eye-blink, 10 times their initial goal, to tackle the decentralized, privacy-sensitive social networking need challenged by Wired.

In June is Untethered 2010: Profitable Media in the Tablet Era, a day-long conference in NYC focused broadly on the near-horizon implications for every consumer, including healthcare consumers, by the new tablet devices. Thank you, iPad.

This is news ripped from the tech headlines, and there are a thousand other examples of digital prophets commanding our attention, interpreting and predicting this brave new world. And that’s the point. Thousands of voices and points of view, a twist on the medium is the message. New digital venues. New analytics. New strategies. New applications. New hardware. New software. New integration schemes. A big, brand new band wagon, every day. Do this, no, do that; try this, no, that was yesterday.

How do you make sense of it all? Well, there’s an app for that. Not really.

Mind boggling

With this brave new world, and the clarity we have come to rely upon of how the pharma digital space is going to be regulated, there comes a cacophony of daily best practices. How quickly we jump on a bandwagon, how flexible we are in our implementations, how we balance these new realities – how smart we are in paying attention to this ever-changing landscape – are the things that will build success. It is indeed mind boggling. The pace and volume of new alternatives requires developing a dedicated set of resources intimate with your business and business goals. It requires being practical in your assessment of the daily shifting digital space. It demands a realistic mindset:  a balanced approach of truly integrated initiatives will produce a better yield. It is not always about being the early adopter, just the smart one.

Remember as a kid, playing on the teeter-totter with a friend, hanging high in the air when your friend decides to bail out and you went crashing to the ground? It’s all about balance.

From Mike Myers, President, Palio (@mmyerspalio)

Big brother is definitely watching and more importantly further defining his role.

I had heard of the $81 million dollar fine/settlement that J&J had to pay for allegedly promoting Topamax (their anti-epileptic and migraine prevention drug) for off-label psychiatric uses.

But Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot was the one who let me know in one of his recent posts about the extent of the Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) between the Office of Inspector General and Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

J&J reps are now going to be accompanied by Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OMJPI) Compliance Personnel or other designees on random sales calls. When conducted, sales reps will not be allowed to interact with physicians or any other healthcare professional without direct observation. At the end of the day, a report will be prepared to outline what happened, whether anything inappropriate occurred, and a general overall assessment of the rep’s compliance with appropriate promotional guidelines.

I don’t believe in off-label promotion. As a former sales rep, it was drilled into my head as the ultimate no-no. As an agency guy, we don’t support it either. It goes against what I personally and professionally feel is right.

And while the overwhelming majority of pharma personnel that I’ve worked with feel the same way, someone feels that everyone needs to hear the strength of this message. Basically, “we’re going to fine you and we’re also not going to trust you to follow what we agree is the right thing to do either.”

My 401K and our current economy are largely where they’re at as a direct result of business improprieties. And while I want people to toe the line and face regulation/scrutiny when they fail to do so, I’d also like pharma to be treated like other industries.

Frankly, the political reasons that politicians and their associated agencies utilize to justify vilifying pharma as the purveyor of all that is bad are wearing thin on me.

If what J&J must do to be compliant in the eyes of the government includes this level of scrutiny, then so be it. I’m all for it. But, when will the countless other industries and firms that have knowingly or unknowingly made mistakes be held equally accountable?

What do you think?