Monday, May 25, 2009

Honoring Tech Excellence


A record crowd of technology marketing executives gathered last Thursday at Maggiano's Cumberland as TAG conducted its ninth annual TAMY Awards for Technology Marketing excellence. Nearly 170 executives participated in this year's award ceremony, which also featured an insightful presentation from Coca-Cola executive Penny McIntyre on the ways social media and emerging Web 3.0 technology is changing the game for marketers.



Arketi's work for the following clients helped earn them a 2009 TAMY Award:

Reveille Software, a fast growing experience and performance management software company for the emerging growth corporate repositioning category.

ERDAS, a geospatial business systems company for the large company repositioning category.

Virtual Premise, a leading web-based provider of on-demand real estate information, for the Marketing Tactic by a small company category.

For the fifth straight year, Arketi's corporate positioning work swept the repositioning categories.

Finally, Karin Bursa, vice president of Marketing for Logility, was honored as TAG's Technology Marketing Executive of the year. Seen in the large crowd were Shana Keith (Cbeyond), TAG President Tino Mantella, and James Marlow (Radiance Solar). For more information about TAG, visit http://tagonline.org/.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Does Twitter work to support BtoB public relations efforts?

We were told today by a client that an industry analyst recently started following them on the Twitter page we built and help manage for the software company. After a few weeks of following the company the analyst contacted the client for a phone briefing and now is building a relationship with our client. The analyst pointed out that the company's Twitter page was the reason for his call.

Although one data point, we would have to say the Twitter page paid off. Therefore, Twitter did work to support this company's business-to-business public relations efforts.

Our advice: If you're not on Twitter give it a try. It will not kill you and might just help you.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Happy Hour Heaven


(Arketi Principals Sami Jajeh and Rory Carlton look on as Amy Leefe sizes up her shot)


Arketians took a break from the typical office workday yesterday and headed down to Gordon Biersch, a German micro-brewery in Midtown. The outing, complete with appetizers, fresh beer & wine, served as a well-timed hiatus from the ever demanding and hectic office scene.

Although a no shop-talk rule was tentatively in place, some employees could be spotted checking emails on their iPhones. Not surprisingly, all employees lauded the function as a perfect chance to relax, bond and enjoy each other’s company.

(Brian and Whitney Boudreaux engage in friendly marital competition)

Monday, May 11, 2009

PRSA|GA Annual Conference & May Luncheon

The PRSA GA May Luncheon, held in conjunction with the Annual Conference, featured a distinguished panel consisting of legendary PR professionals Harold Burson (Burson-Marsteller) [pictured above], Bob Cohn (Cohn & Wolfe) and Ofield Dukes (Ofield Dukes & Associates). The panel detailed the vast growth of the public relations field in the last half decade while also noting technology’s impact on the continued evolution of PR. PRSA GA President and Arketi Group Principal, Mike Neumeier, presented Charidy Vinson (Georgia Tech) with the monthly Chapter Champion award for her outstanding work and service to the chapter.

The Annual Conference comprised of numerous strategic sessions covering a variety of topics, including a session titled, "Social Media: Why You Can't Ignore Social Media's Impact on Public Relations." The session (pictured to the right), moderated by Mike Neumeier featured an interesting panel consisting of Lee Clontz (Emory University), Melissa Libby (Melissa Libby & Associates) and Sarah Molinari (The Home Depot). The panel detailed the recent emergence of social media and how its impact on PR has become an unequivocal part of the equation.

Spotted in the crowd was Lois Rossi (Manheim), Nancy Schubert (IBM), Kelly Neumeier (MMP), Lisa Pitrof (BusinessWire) and Michele Gullia (Cbeyond). For more information about PRSA GA and the June luncheon, visit http://www.prsageorgia.org/.


Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Cheers To A Great Partnership


This week Arketi Group and our client Flo Healthcare celebrated our 5-year anniversary. To commemorate this milestone, Arketi shared a whimsical cookie cake (see picture) with the Flo team. As Flo's marketing partner for the past 5 years, Arketi has enjoyed working closely with the Flo team to position the company as a mobile clinical workstation leader in the healthcare industry. Among a number of accomplishments, we are most proud of being part of the team that led to Flo being acquired by Emerson (NYSE: EMR), ranked 94th on the Fortune 500 list of America's largest companies. We thank the Flo team for 5 great years together and look forward to continued success in the future!

Friday, May 01, 2009

Peeking Behind the Curtain of Behavioral Targeting

Arketi executives attended this month's American Marketing Association (AMA) Marketing Technology event, featuring a distinguished group of behavioral targeting experts, including Brant McLean (Specific Media), Charlie Chance (AJC Media Solutions), Mitch Scharf (Yahoo!) and Tricia Ekholm (Atlanta Ballet). Moderated by Glen Caruso (Tremor Media), the panelists discussed how to effectively use behavioral targeting to understand their customers better and deliver greater ROI. Several key points were made during the discussion, such as the importance of using a broad media mix of channels (direct mail, online advertising, broadcast, etc) and multiple touches to influence consumers to buy. To identify behavioral targets, marketers have access to a number of online metrics, including search terms used, ads clicked on, content viewed and page visit frequency.

Panelists also discussed privacy issues resulting from the tremendous amount of consumer data marketers are collecting and noted that while online marketing is very similar to direct mail marketing, it is actually more anonymous. Spotted in the audience were Gretchen Vogel and Shane Metzger (EyeWonder), Lance King (Definition 6), and Michael Madden (The Weather Channel). For more information about AMA, visit http://www.ama-atlanta.com/.