Google has done it again – they just announced that they are now returning search results that include magazine content within Google Book Search.

They have indexed millions of magazines from various publishers and are going to continue to add more. Hopefully we’ll see the library grow as Google gets permission for more and more titles. Similar to what you can see in their Book Search, you can view magazine covers and full pages, including advertising. I find that aspect particularly interesting given my chosen profession. 1984 personal computer articles are not only fascinating to read given where we’ve come, but they bring back some definitive memories for lifelong geeks like me.

Another point to mention: the post on Google’s blog says that they will eventually blend the magazine search results into the general Google search results – not just within the Book Search section. This exposes a huge amount of additional content to being found via organic search, and makes content published offline today a possible candidate for being found in online search tomorrow. Or whenever Google gets around to indexing your favorite magazine.

Finally, note that they aren’t simply providing the content for fun. As you work your way through magazine content the contextual ads on the right side of the layout change based on the magazine’s page content. This is huge. Think of all the relevant AdWords ads that can be served up along side relevant info. They’re also tracking which pages are being accessed in the magazine just like they can monitor which pages get clicked through to via other search results.

Organizing the world’s information, indeed.

I was curious.  And decided to do a little non-scientific research.  So over the course of two days, I monitored and tracked several random online conversations.   Then pulled 500+ snippets of the dialogue and created a quasi tag cloud of the conversation to see what it looked like.

Here it is.  Pretty interesting.

After a long look in the mirror, I realized with horror that from an image standpoint, we had really let ourselves go.  We had been so busy with client projects and focused elsewhere, we had neglected our own brand nurturing and external marketing efforts.  So with a brutal intensity we began the process of a thorough self analysis.  Of everything. Top to bottom.  From the inside out.  Painful to say the least. 

Over the last few years, we’d changed a lot on the inside.  We’d been actively engaged and agressive in retraining our people, re-looking at the way we operate and changing our processes.  So from the inside, we looked pretty good. 

But as I got into the phase of the process that included reviewing our external marketing and communications programs, one of the first things I looked at was our web site. And looking with a fresh set of eyes, I was mortified to realize that…we were wearing Mom Jeans. OMG!  That was so not us.   Another major kick in the face was that we are, by far, our own worst client. As the saying goes, the cobbler’s kids have no shoes.  

How had we let our external marketing get this bad?  We would never let this happen to a client.  Why did we neglect ourselves?  The best explanation (excuse) I could come up with is that…we suffered from Mom syndrome.  Everything else came first.  Clients.  Employees.  Vendors. Bills.  Sleep.  You name it.  Our own self worth/positioning was at the very end of a long line of needs and there never seemed to be enough time to go around.  

That big A-HA, slap-in-the-face wake up call that indicated our internal brand was out of sync with our external image came late last summer.  With that realization came the urgent desire to fix it.  I was on a mission.  A crusade.  Some in the office would say…a rampage…to get our proverbial sh#t together on the marketing front.  Now! 

So we took down our old web site (it was so old that hackers had already done a number on it anyway and we were having to band aid it just to keep it running) and redirected it to our publication site (temporarily I thought at the time).  I was gung ho to have a new site up by early fall.  As part of an overall marketing plan with efficient systems to keep it all fresh. 

We were all in agreement.  We were passionate. Ready to go.  Best intentions.  But reality interceded, again.  The deadline was driven by this basic question…”Do I put client work aside to do Bozell stuff instead?” Hummmm.  The responsible agency principal in me said — no, clients still come first. So an early fall deadline became Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving became December 9.  But finally, we did it.   After several long, late nights we finally are able to launch this phase of our makeover.  But we did so in a way that gives us immense flexibility to keep it fresh without hassle.  Leveraging multiple databases in the backend, a creative archive system  to house work and blog technology for some content sections enables our staffers to post and provide updates easily. 

So even though clients will always come first, when we do have a few free minutes, we can actively market and engage rather than merely think about it.   And hopefully never have to look in the mirror again and see Mom jeans.

Bozell provides a wide variety of public relations services for both the VT Industries architectural wood doors division and the countertop division.

These include quarterly customer newsletters, media outreach materials, AIA Continuing Education Series and technical reports and white papers on a broad range of timely topics of interest to architects, specifiers, builders, fabricators, distributors and other target audiences.

These editorial materials focus on current industry issues such as environmental considerations, life safety, industry standards and new technology.

Quality products delivered with impeccable customer service. That is the core of the VT Industries brand.

VT wanted a way to leverage their brand equity to create customer loyalty. Bozell developed the PRO Team program – a loyalty program for fabricators – to help create a network of customers committed to actively marketing VT’s product. The program has helped VT retain 100 percent of their customer base over the past year.

Recently, Bozell worked with VT to launch the CORE Distributor program – a loyalty program for door distributors. The program is just beginning but response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive.

Additionally, Bozell authors inserts for VT’s monthly newsletter, specifically for members of VT’s loyalty programs, featuring timely information on new program components and how to maximize VT’s resources to support their business.

When VT Industries came to Bozell for assistance with growing their architectural wood door business, we began by conducting research with architects, their primary target for doors.

The research showed doors were not a top priority decision in most projects. We developed a strategy to provide a memorable connection for VT Industries’ doors with architects to ensure the product was top of mind throughout the design process.

The solution was to showcase VT Industries’ doors as a creative outlet for architects – another way for them to make a building unique. The accompanying message encouraged experimentation and expression, things research had shown were important to the target.

In the first year of the ad campaign, VT Industries’ door sales increased 25 percent over the same period the previous year. The ads also received an Award of Excellence from Architectural Record.

See more ads for VT Industries.

I’ve received a few messages from friends on FaceBook lately with ominous subjects and titles suggesting I should check out these funny photos or silly video with me in it. Typically, when I get those as emails and it’s from v1agr4@hotmail.com I know better than to open it. But when it “comes from” a trusted source in a closed network of “friends” like FaceBook, I at least open the message. Welcome to a darn good FaceBook virus.

The message has a link in it to some GeoCities page. Now, I thought GeoCities was done and gone like AOL Member pages, but hey – maybe Greg really did post images of me doing something stupid last weekend. That’s been known to happen, and sometimes too often. Everyone’s a web publisher now, right?

When I get to the website linked in the message, I’m immediately greeted with a prompt that my Flash Player is out of date and needs to be updated. Really? I’m doing Flash stuff all the time. Pretty sure I’m in good shape, but what’s this file I’m being asked to download? “install_flash_player.exe” Well, that’s the name Adobe uses for the Flash installer. Maybe Google Chrome still thinks it needs to be updated.

I click on the link and get the Run/Save/Cancel prompt that Windows throws up. It’s then that my root suspicions are confirmed. The “Author” attribute of the file is “unknown” instead of “Adobe Systems, Inc.” as I had expected. CANCEL!

Here’s the problem. Even though I suspected this was a bad link, I got all the way to the download state. I was waiting to see who the software publisher was, but I knew to look. How many people out there are going to get taken by this virus because the link came from a friend?

Be careful out there, everyone – the same rules apply to any message sent with a link. If there’s not text/commentary along with links/files/information and it’s definitively from a trusted source, make sure you’re not clicking on everything or that you have a thorough backup and antivirus software installed. It’s ugly out there.

Alegent Health is the largest healthcare provider within hundreds of miles of Omaha. Their presence had been overshadowed in an extremely competitive healthcare market that included two academic medical centers and a perennial favorite for anyone having a baby.

Bozell was charged with re-branding Alegent Health in a way that would allow them to strengthen the health system as a whole, as well as work consistently across their multiple locations (8 hospitals and 44 clinics) and their individual services (ranging from cardiology to maternity, orthopedics to behavioral health).

Bozell conducted numerous consumer and employee focus groups, as well as one-on-one interviews with physicians and Alegent Health leadership to define what it was that made healthcare at Alegent Health different from anyone else in the market. The brand positioning was articulated as “This is Your Healthcare” to communicate Alegent Health’s dedication to delivering healthcare that is truly focused on what’s best for you, the patient.

Bozell developed an integrated marketing strategy that focused on creative that would break-through traditional healthcare advertising – i.e. the typical smiling nurses, serious doctors and high-tech equipment. Traditional media creative was focused on putting the consumer at the center of the story being told – just as Alegent Health puts patients at the center of everything they do. In addition to traditional TV, radio, print and outdoor, the brand media buy also included partnerships with one of the area’s leading news outlet and morning radio team. Additionally, Bozell focused on saturating the market with non-traditional media tactics that would continue to reinforce their focus on the consumer, by connecting with consumers throughout their daily lives, in unexpected but relevant ways.

The most current consumer survey indicates a growth from 84.4% total awareness in our baseline survey to a current 90%. Additional results include increased calls to the Weight Management program and new patients at the Image Recovery Center.

See more Alegent TV spots.

See more Alegent print.

Because of the way the NCAA College World Series is set up as a double elimination, the event is fairly fluid and many fans come into Omaha without tickets hoping to get them on site.  As teams are eliminated, tickets are turned in and then available for sale.  Further, out-of-town fans are not familiar with Omaha and don’t know where to turn for information.  To make the event as simple as possible for fans to attend, we executed a simple opt-in SMS program.

Through a short code or double opt-in web signup, attendees can receive text message updates and alerts delivered to their cell phones.  Updates include team practice schedules open to the public, game schedule changes (such as announcements of tie-breaker game times and rain delays) as well as ticket availability information and game results.  This program enables us to get information out immediately.  For example, when tie-breaker games are required, we are able to get information out about the schedule and how to purchase tickets within 5 minutes of the end of the prior game.

The 2008 attendance broke new records on many fronts — ticket sales, game plays and weather delays.  And fan response to the alerts was extremely positive and we received messages that requested that we continue the program next year and broaden its content.  Additionally, many fans took the time to write email thank you messages telling us that the quick notice helped them get the tickets they wanted.

The National YWCA was an aging organization that faced impending extinction if it didn’t begin to reach out to younger generations for membership, volunteers and financial support.

By working with a 22-member branding committee, Bozell positioned the YWCA USA as a vibrant organization committed to eliminating racism and empowering women.

We developed online and printed toolkits of marketing materials for use by more than 300 local associations, including print ads, radio spots, posters, collateral and more.

After producing two television spots and numerous online components, we also forged a partnership with Viacom’s MTV and BET networks that allowed us to reach a younger audience through their channels and their websites.

We took a $1 million media budget and maximized it into $4 million worth of airtime. The online portion of the buy over-delivered on impressions by 152%, and the creative beat industry click-through averages by 56%, with 287 million users generating 861 million page views. Combine all of those touch points and we garnered the client $43 million worth of exposure on a $1 million dollar budget. And within a week of the campaign launch, visits to their homepage increased more than 65%.