Corrections or additions?
This column was prepared for the June 27, 2001 edition of U.S. 1
Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Between the Lines
Last week, after we published our annual Presentation and Persuasion
issue, we felt like the middle-aged woman who — sporting an
engagement ring for the first time — is suddenly besieged by
prospective suitors. Now that she’s “taken” she is suddenly considered
more attractive.
Why weren’t we included in that issue, these companies wanted to know.
Why didn’t we get a chance to be interviewed or even to pay money for
an ad?
Like the new fiance, we had to tell them, “You had your chance.” The
month before we had sent faxes to all the communications companies in
greater Princeton — ad agencies, graphic design companies, and
marketing firms.
The faxes reminded the agencies that our annual Presentation and
Persuasion issue was coming up and invited them to participate. On the
editorial side, they could submit a “war story” about how they helped
a client survive in the tight economy. Or on the advertising side,
they could run a half-page ad and tell about their agency in an
advertorial.
These faxes were in plain text and weren’t flashy — maybe people in
this industry pay better attention to strong design. A mistake. In any
case the faxes went unnoticed at a great many companies. So the
questions came:
How did editors choose the cover topic? It was submitted to us. We
liked the concept of the box and it fit our premise for this story.
How did reporters choose the companies to interview? We faxed ALL the
companies and included the best stories from those who responded. Some
of those who responded did not come up with interesting stories to
tell, so they didn’t get in.
Several people from the advertising community praised the issue. “It’s
good to read about what other people in the doing, like John
Fitzgerald — we know him and it is nice to see him getting some
coverage,” says Robert Zyontz of Princeton MarkeTech on Vaughn Drive.
Both of Zyontz’s agencies were covered, one in the “free” editorial
columns and the other with a paid advertorial that came with a half
page ad. “Tom Sullivan has been with Princeton Partners for a long
time, and it is good to see what he has done since he took over the
company, how they have rebranded themselves. He is much more
aggressive and visionary.
Jennifer Hendrickson, account supervisor at Integrated Marketing
Services at Research Park, found “that the strategies of our so-called
competitors are quite creative and results-oriented.” She says that
IMS and its sister company, American Opinion Research, did not notice
the fax when it came in. “I wish I had known that such a piece was
coming out so I would have had us included.”
We also received a formal letter:
I enjoyed your June 20 coverage on the creativity of area marketing
companies, and in particular the section on Brandesign Incorporated
entitled “No Client Too Small.”
In the case of last April’s Princeton Taste of the nation, no client
was “too poor” for Brandesign either. We produce our hunger relief
event on a near zero budget, and through some good networking on the
part of a committee member, Brandesign owner Barbara Harrington
volunteered the firm’s services to design our invitation card,
restaurant cards, and program, even producing posters and aprons for
our Market Booth.
We felt as pampered as the highest-paying client as they produced
prototypes for us to select from, then spent countless hours
meticulously constructing an offbeat sculpture of forks (which Ms.
Harrington scoured flea markets to find), taking the photos, digitally
enhancing the image, the “whole nine yards.” They babied us through
the entire process, including the rigors of extensive program proofing
and production, to be sure everything was perfect before printed (i.e.
protecting us from your own mistakes!). Our finished pieces were so
spectacularly eye-catching that Boston’s Taste of the Nation requested
permission to use the same forks image for their (much larger) event.
Ms. Harrington’s input at our committee meetings was also invaluable,
and overall I would have to say they’ve raised the marketing (visual
and otherwise) of Princeton’s Taste of the Nation to a whole new
level.
Faith Bahadurian
Princeton Event Chair
Share Our Strength
I was just looking through the latest edition of U.S. 1, and really
enjoyed the piece on marketing. I work with Integrated Marketing
Services in Princeton, and found that the strategies of our so-called
competitors are quite creative and results-oriented. I wish I had
known that such a piece was coming out so I would have had us
included. Do you provide any type of Editorial Calendar that I could
have access to?
I hope, if you do another piece on marketing and/or public relations
and advertising, you will consider Integrated Marketing Services as
viable source of information. Our company is 30 years old and was
founded by Lois Kaufman, PhD. The bulk of our clientele has been
pharmacy/biotech companies in need of branding, marketing, and public
relations, many of which are located on the Route 1 corridor in New
Jersey! A subset of our company is American Opinion Research which is
a full service qualitative and quantitative research company whose
clients include Proctor & Gamble, Educational Testing Services,
Newsweek, Siemens Medical Systems, and Dow Chemical.
If there is an editorial calendar, please let me know how to go about
receiving one. Additionally, please feel free to call if you feel our
company’s capabilities might fit in with your upcoming storylines.
Jennifer Hendrickson
Account Supervisor
Integrated Marketing Services
Top Of PageHidden Gardens, No More
Thank you, thank you, thank you! We appreciate the
information you published in your community calendar about our garden
tour. We are proud to say that the first Allentown Garden Club “Hidden
Gardens” Tour was an outstanding success. We received nothing but kind
and encouraging words from the garden visitors.
We owe much of our success to the publicity generated by your
community calendar listing. We are excited to tell you that despite
the threatening forecast, we still had just over 300 people attend the
day’s event. This is quite remarkable considering that this was our
first tour. The funds we raised will help support our community
beautification projects and speakers program. Thank you again for your
support.
Joanne M. Wireman
Allentown Garden Club
Mike Fuschini Sr., who lives in Princeton and is the paddock judge at
Freehold Raceway, corrects the date we printed for the venerable
Hambletonian harness race. The correct date is Saturday, August 4, at
the Meadowlands. U.S. 1 had referred to the race when describing the
activities of Name TK, the Lawrenceville-based firm that has created
an electonic kiosk for the race.
He points out that harness racing’s Standardbreds (originally bred for
driving and sport) are much hardier than Thoroughbreds (bred to run
faster times in “flat” races). Fuschini fell in love with harness
racing when he was 14. Fuschini notes that the Hambletonian is always
the first Sunday in August.
Corrections or additions?
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