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4 Professional Athletes with Excellent Branding

With talent comes fame and with fame comes criticism. Along with our favorite singers and actors are those men and women who play for our favorite sports teams. While many children look up to these talented individuals, they do have their flaws. Think Lamar Odom, Ray Rice, Aaron Hernandez, Tiger Woods… the list goes on. The media tends to focus on the athletes with the bad reputations rather than highlight those that are using their fame to make a positive impact. Here’s a list of four professional athletes with great branding.

  1. Jordan Spieth– While his talent has been compared to Tiger Woods, they are very different off the golf course. At just 23 years old, Spieth has already had 10 PGA Tour wins, became the face of Under Armour’s golf attire and launched his own line of golf shoes. Spieth created The Jordan Spieth Family Foundation in 2013. With his younger, special needs sister as inspiration, the foundation increases awareness and provides financial assistance for those children with special needs, military families, and youth golf.

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2. Martellus Bennett– While he is known as a professional football player, Martellus Bennett claims he doesn’t really view himself as a football player. Rather, he is a creative and an entrepreneur. Known for his funny personality, what people might not know about Bennett is that he founded his own multimedia production company, The Imagination Agency. At his company, he has written children’s books and created educational mobile games and toys. He says that he was inspired by his young daughter and wanted to create books with lead characters with features similar to her.

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3. JJ Watt– Fellow football player, JJ Watt, has a passion for giving. Shortly after signing his contract with the Texans, Watt bought his mom a brand new car. In 2010, Watt launched the Justin J. Watt Foundation. His foundation’s mission is to provide middle school-aged children with the opportunities to get involved in athletics. Watt hosts multiple events, such as the Charity Classic, to raise money for his foundation. He is also known for his efforts supporting the troops.

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4. Serena WilliamsSerena Williams will go down in history as one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. Not only has she won 72 career titles, but she won her most recent, the 2017 Australian Open, while pregnant. Although, there is much more to this woman than her athleticism. She is very involved in the fashion industry and in 2015 she became the first black female athlete to be pictured alone on the cover of Vogue and she has presented her clothing line at New York Fashion Week. In addition to this, she is a certified nail technician, has appeared on various television shows, can speak four languages, technically owns the Miami Dolphins (she’s a minority owner) and has written a book.. to name a few of her accomplishments. On top of this, she created the Serena Williams Foundation to fund a school in Kenya and provide scholarships for underprivileged students in the United States. Serena Williams is a beautiful reminder to girls everywhere that they are capable of great things.

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Just When You Thought Ice-T Couldn’t Get Any Cooler

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Who doesn’t love Ice-T? And to be clear I am talking about the rapper turned actor turned loving husband and father, not the delicious and refreshing beverage (which I also love). Whether you listen to his music or you watched him on Law & Order: SVU, everybody knows and loves Ice-T. He has a down to earth personality and a cool vibe about him. In this interesting article by AdWeek, Ice-T just got cooler by partnering with Sonic.

After 6,000 years of human civilization, it’s come to this: A finely detailed, life-sized ice sculpture of rapper/actor Ice-T will slowly melt, drip-drip-drip, during a live internet event. When its microphone falls the to floor, it will make winners of some lucky Sonic Drive-In fans.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners came up with the chill stunt, which will stream Tuesday on Facebook at 1 p.m. ET. The sculpture, made by David Fong of Ice Illusions in Santa Clara, Calif., will be holding a real mic, and once it drops, the first 100 users to comment will receive a limited-edition Ice-T T-shirt that changes color when frozen.

Read more by visiting AdWeek!

Apple Wins Over Customers with Humor

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With iPhones, MacBooks, Apple Music and the newest Apple Watch, it seems that there’s nothing that Apple doesn’t offer customers these days. Through well thought out advertising campaigns and continuous customer support, Apple has been able to maintain a respectable brand image and keep customers coming back for more.

After a recent controversy between Apple and the U.S. government, Apple needed a strategic PR plan to draw customer’s attention away from the conflict and bring the focus back to the products. With a new string of advertisements highlighting various Apple products and their many features, the company was able to do exactly that.

According to Marketing Magazine, “[Apple] has been many things for many people, but there’s one trick it hasn’t tried in some time. Being funny.” The most recent advertisements released by Apple feature two very different celebrities: superstar singer and songwriter Taylor Swift and Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster. Both of these spots have been a favorite among the public, each racking up millions of views and thousands of shares shortly after being released.

These ads seem to be paying off quite well for Apple. The Swift ad, which featured the popstar running on the treadmill while rapping to Drake and Future’s single “Jumpman,” under a playlist called “#GYMFLOW,” boosted Apple Music into the spotlight of streaming music. “Jumpman” experienced a 431% increase in sales globally thanks to the campaign and the playlist featured in the ad, #GYMFLOW, has increased by 325%, making it the fifth highest streamed playlist on Apple Music.

After experiencing millions of views and shares, it’s apparent Apple has struck advertising gold.  Marketing Magazine says that all these views combined with the positive press the ads have received, more or less ensures that that there are more jokes to come from Apple in the near future.

For more info, check out the Marketing Magazine article here: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1390080/apple-finds-its-funny-side-again-seals-the-kiss

Always Releases New #LikeAGirl Commercial Challenging Gender Stereotypes

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Procter & Gamble’s Always brand aims to support girls as they make their transition from puberty to young adults. With their latest #LikeAGirl campaign, the company is redefining confidence by turning the negative phrase “like a girl” into a term of empowerment throughout a series of commercials that have been released over the past year. The first ad in this campaign featured a social experiment that asked people to do things ‘like a girl’ and found that adults took this to mean ‘silly’ or ‘not good enough’, while young girls did them the best they could. The latest commercial for this campaign used research as the basis for the video and found that 67% of girls say that female emojis imply that girls are limited in what they can do and 75% said they want emojis to be more progressive, portraying female police officers and athletes.

According to Mashable, the new video brought together a diverse cross-section of girls and young women, 11 to 18 years old, and asked them “do emojis represent them?” and then captured their authentic spontaneous reactions when scanning the available emoji choices. The video follows the baffled faces of young girls as they scroll through their phone, many realizing for the first time that few women are represented and the girl category is limited to the color pink. “There’s no girl-professional emojis, unless you count being a bride a profession,” notes one of the girls in the commercial.

Executives at Always have approached the Unicode Consortium about expanding the available emojis to more accurately tell stories about how girls live today. Unicode president Mark Davis responded in an email saying, “the Consortium has been working on full representation of gender in emojis. We appreciate the efforts that Always is taking to collect feedback and input into the process for new emoji characters.”

Mashable also highlighted how this campaign is helping to reinvent the Always brand. “At more than 30 years old, it was considered a Mom brand and needed a refresh.” In order to appeal to the next generation of users, Always used young women as the focus of their new campaign. By casting a positive light on the traditionally insulting “like a girl” saying, the first commercial of the campaign made waves immediately. Over 75% of young women had a positive reaction to the phrase, “like a girl,” after seeing the video, when only 19% felt that way before, according to P&G research.” Since the release of the first video, Always has continued putting out advertisements focused on instilling confidence in young girls.

“This generation, they’re not just looking for a p­roduct,” said Michele Baeten, global associate brand director for P&G’s Always. “They’re buying into the values of a brand.” After losing relevance with young women, the release of this campaign was exactly what the brand needed in order to show the public that they are invested in addressing important social issues and dedicated to helping young women be their most confident self.

For more information on the #LikeAGirl campaign, check out Mashable’s full article: http://mashable.com/2016/03/02/girls-emoji-like-a-girl/ – OF7fQQ0nYqqG

Paramount Public Relation’s Client Highlights of 2015

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It’s been an exciting and busy year here at Paramount PR, our clients have been doing some fascinating things. From launching a new social deals website to celebrating the 50th anniversary of a childhood favorite, here are a few highlights from 2015:

  1. Bacon Lovers Get a Delicious Healthier Alternative: Schmacon, “Beef’s Answer to Bacon,” made its national retail debut this year and can now be found in stores across the U.S. Schmacon is an all-natural, smoked, uniquely seasoned, crispy whole muscle beef product that has less calories, fat and sodium than pork bacon. Bacon and meat lovers can replace bacon with Schmacon during breakfast, lunch or dinner.
  2. Cutting-Edge Launch: Ultimaker, a leading 3D printer manufacturer, launched two new printers at CES Las Vegas 2015. The two cutting-edge desktop printers, the Ultimaker2 Go and Ultimaker2 Extended, offer users unique features for a variety of projects. The Ultimaker2 Go is a compact, lightweight printer perfect for beginners. The Ultimaker2 Extended has the capacity to print larger designs in one print without losing the accuracy and speed of its counterparts. The new printers raised the bar for imagination within the 3D printing community.
  3. College Game Day Ready: XYIENCE, the original great tasting, zero calorie energy beverage partnered with ESPN College Game Day’s Samantha Ponder. Samantha Ponder participated in a digital press conference sponsored by XYIENCE and also starred in a variety of funny commercials.
  4. Company Launch: iConsumer, a coupons and cashback website and app, launched this year. In addition to saving customers money while online shopping, iConsumer rewards users by giving back shares of stock in iConsumer. iConsumer partners with over 1,700 stores to give shoppers access to items they shop for on a daily basis.
  5. Giving Back While Texting: GIV Mobile continues to appeal to consumers with their affordable no-contract plans starting at $20/month for unlimited talk and text. This consumer conscious no-contact service plan donates 8% of each customer’s monthly plan amount to up to three charities of the customer’s choice.
  6. Snag Deals up to 90% off from Amazon: Snagshout, a new social deals website, launched this year to provide a unique shopping experience to consumers by offering deep discounts on a wide range of retail products for purchase, use and review. The site connects shoppers looking for deals with merchants looking to gain traction with new items on Amazon.
  7. A Classic Turns 50: Since the 1960s the Lava Lamp has been a household classic and staple. This year Lava Lamp celebrated its 50th birthday by releasing two new collections. The 50th Anniversary collection adds gold with the classic lava colors, while the Beatle’s inspired line offers a funky twist to the original.
  8. Inventive Cocktails and Tasty Treats: Bungalow 23, culinary cocktail mixers, and Wagshal’s Fermín Spanish Raw Ibérico Chorizo topped the list as some of the most inventive and revolutionary products at the National Restaurant Association Show earlier this year. These prestigious Food and Beverage Innovations award–winning products are hand-crafted with full flavor in mind.
  9. Road to Financial Wellness: Phroogal, a financial education service that empowers Millennials to make better informed financial decisions, traveled across the country this June to 30 cities in 30 days to get people to actively discuss their relationship with money. Phroogal inspires people to learn and utilize resources and tools that empower communities to make better financial decision.

We can’t wait to see what 2016 has in store for us. Happy New Year! 🙂

Zuckerburg to Donate 99% of Facebook Stock

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For Silicon Valley’s newest generation of billionaires, the biggest trend in innovation is actually something old – giving back. As someone who is no stranger to innovation, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg is at the forefront of the movement. The 31 year old with a net worth of $37.5 billion announced on Tuesday that he and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, will donate 99 percent of their Facebook stock shares throughout the course of their lives. The stocks are currently worth more than $45 billion and will be donated to charitable causes still to be announced, or even still to be created.

According to a recent New York Times article, Zuckerberg’s charitable plans are the latest indication of a growing interest in philanthropy among Silicon Valley’s young billionaires, who unlike previous generations of business tycoons, appear eager to spread their wealth while they are still young.

Zuckerburg and Chan have a new baby girl, Max, who was born just last week. The couple says the pledge to donate the stocks is all about making the world a better place for her generation and those to follow. Publishing an open letter to her, they explain the better life they wish for her to have. The letter explains that they are making the donation because they wish to help advance human potential, promote equality and help create technology to foster change for the future.

“Today your mother and I are committing to spend our lives doing our small part to help solve these challenges,” writes Zuckerburg. “I will continue to serve as Facebook’s CEO for many, many years to come, but these issues are too important to wait until you or we are older to begin this work.”

Many industry leaders are showing support for the donation and aim for change including one of Zuckerburg’s childhood heroes and the wealthiest man in the world, Bill Gates. Mr. Gates and his wife congratulated his efforts releasing a statement.

“The example you’re setting today is an inspiration to us and the world,” they said. “We can be confident of this: Max and every child born today will grow up in a world that is better than the one we know now. As you say, ‘Seeds planted now will grow.’ Your work will bear fruit for many decades to come.”

Zuckerburg believes that by creating and building new, innovative technology will help drive changes to improve education worldwide. The improved technology would then increase literacy rates and decrease poverty levels in these areas.

To learn more read the full New York Times story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/02/technology/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-charity.html?_r=0

REI Would Rather #OptOutside On Black Friday

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The national outdoor and sporting goods retailer REI has decided to close all 143 stores on Black Friday this year in a push to encourage customers to #OptOutside and enjoy the outdoors. In recent years the trend has been for stores to open earlier and earlier on Black Friday leading some stores like RadioShack to open as early as 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day. This year, REI is taking a stand against the craziness that ensues when customers flock into stores for some of the lowest prices of the year.

An article by USA Today describes how REI President and CEO Jerry Stritzke came to the decision to take a step back from Black Friday:

“Any retailer that hears this will be startled by the idea,” says REI President and CEO Jerry Stritzke, who admits he was apprehensive about closing at first. “As a co-op … we define success a little differently. It’s much broader than just money. How effectively do we get people outside?”

Other stores like Costco and Nordstrom have taken a stand against opening early on Thanksgiving Day, but no other store has sat on the sideline during Black Friday until now. This is a momentous decision by Stritzke because Black Friday marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season and, as USA Today points out, Black Friday has consistently been a top 10 sales day for REI.

With its #OptOutside campaign, REI hopes to completely turn the tide of the Black Friday shopping tradition and give its employees two paid days off to enjoy the outdoors.

The Bloomington, MN REI store manager Brian Harrower has already planned an ice hockey tournament for his first Black Friday off in 25 years, USA Today reported.

“Somebody has to be the one to kind of put their flag in the sand and say enough is enough,” he says. “That’s what #OptOutside is for us, is saying we’re going to be the first, we think this doesn’t make sense anymore, it’s not healthy. And an outdoor life is a healthy life.”

Well put, Brian!

In fact, shouldn’t REI fanatics be thanking Stritzke? Because after all, by forgoing shopping altogether, shoppers will score the best savings of the year.

Coca-Cola Creates Magic and Smiles Once More

 

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Coca-Cola is at it again. The company that continuously puts forth feel-good videos just released a new campaign titled “Wish in a Bottle.” This time around the video features teenagers at a summer festival event in Israel unleashing the magic of Coca-Cola, literally. With every twist of a cap, each specially designed Coke bottle triggered a shooting star up in the sky. With a little help from transmitters, drones, Wi-Fi and fireworks, Coca-Cola was able to give the party-goers an experience they will most likely never forget.

Creativity Online highlights how Coca-Cola sustains its company’s emphasis on innovation and happiness in its videos, and included a quote from Coca-Cola Israel’s Vice President of Marketing.

“As always, in every event we hold, the emphasis was all about innovation,” said Coca-Cola Israel VP-Marketing Alon Zamir in a statement. “The bottles series was created under the notion of ‘Internet of Things’ and by making a star fall using a Coca-Cola bottle, we could intensify the teenagers’ experience when interacting with the Coca-Cola brand.”

This is not the first time that Coca-Cola has released a video that makes viewers feel fuzzy inside. Coke has a knack for producing videos that create one of a kind interactions between viewers and the brand, making its campaigns hard to forget.

There are a number of things that likely come to mind when thinking of the company’s well known advertisements, and odds are it’s because it restored faith in humanity. Take the “#WishUponACoke” campaign for example, where Coke granted wishes to a handful of workers. It’s difficult to watch this advertisement and not be impressed.

Creativity and heartwarming deeds aside, Coca-Cola does not disappoint when combining music and camera angles to tell a story that generates smiles and goosebumps. That is magical in itself.

Barbie Embraces #GirlPower in New Campaign Video

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Mattel’s Barbie has always aimed to help young girls use their imagination, empowering them to become whatever they want to be. Though the brand’s image has had its ups and downs in the public’s eye, it has never stopped inspiring young minds to achieve their dreams. The brand’s new ad campaign aims to strengthen these messages with the video, “Imagine the Possibilities.”

Forbes took a look at the positive ways the new campaign could influence consumers’ opinions in the article, “Mattel Reframes the Barbie Brand in New Campaign Targeting Adults.” Barbie’s new campaign was strategically designed to cast the Barbie Brand in a new, positive light. Intended to demonstrate that Barbie inspires children to become whatever they can imagine, the campaign reconnects the original vision for the toy with today’s public.

“Barbie was originally created to show girls they have choices, a fact that most people have forgotten,” said Matt Miller, executive creative director, BBDO San Francisco. “So we set out to show everyone how girls really play and demonstrate that, when girls play with Barbie, they actually play out the possibilities their futures hold.”

The article expands on three key elements in the video that will change the public’s image of Barbie:

  • From Body Image to Self-Image: In the video, the girls have chosen careers for their dolls such as a professor, a veterinarian and a business woman – likely fitting representations of what the girls aspire to become. To the children that play with them, the dolls can be whatever they dream. Many are eager to criticize the exterior image of a Barbie doll, but in this new campaign video that previous idea is eliminated. Demonstrating that the dolls are not about what they look like, but what they are like
  • The Problems Surrounding Barbie Were Adult Problems: Many of the problems society had with the Barbie brand were problems initially facilitated by adults. That’s why the way the video unfolds is crucial to the campaign. It is designed to make adults experience a moment where they think, “Oh that’s how my child plays with the doll.”
  • Real Reactions From Adults Cemented the Message: The adults seen in the video reacting to the girls acting like working professionals weren’t actors, but real adults having real reactions to what the girls were doing and saying. These reactions are organic and demonstrate how seeing the children act like this makes understanding the child’s image of themselves and the dolls simpler.

In a society where allowing children to believe any dream is achievable, Barbie is taking a step in the right direction to empowering future generations of young girls.

For more on the new Barbie campaign read the full Forbes article here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/willburns/2015/10/29/mattel-reframes-the-barbie-brand-in-new-campaign-targeting-adults/

 

Extra Gum Pulls At Audience’s Heartstrings

Extra Gum Blog

After what may have seemed like a very long two years since the success of Extra’s first gum wrapper centered video, “Origami,” the company released a second advertisement featuring the brand’s foil wrappers. Quickly capturing a favorable public opinion, the new ad, “The Story of Sarah and Juan,” gained 74 million views within a week of its release.

Audiences have eagerly waited for the Wrigley Company to produce another video for the campaign. With the tag line “Give Extra à Get Extra,” the ads tell stories about how it’s the little things that add up.

Marketing Magazine talks about the “Minty Love” vibe of the ad and the love it or hate it mentality viewers will have. The video starts on the steps going into a high school where students Juan and Sarah first catch each other’s eyes and one offers the other a stick of Extra Gum. As the ad continues, the relationship of the two characters has its ups and downs. However, there is always one constant – Extra Gum.

Whether it’s the love story or the catchy Haley Reinhart cover of Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” the video has captivated the minds of its audiences. In two minutes of video, an emotion can be conveyed that will resonate with audiences, potentially creating  a very positive brand association for Extra.

The ad comes at a time when viral videos are what create an engaging, lasting memory with a brand’s audience. Audiences have taken social media by storm, sharing the ad on their Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts. Twitter users took to the social media platform to express the emotions watching the video evoked in them. Many also noted that they were initially exposed to the ad through it playing before the YouTube video they were attempting to watch. These various channels are key for reaching the maximum possible audience.

For more on The Story of Sarah and Juan check out the Marketing Magazine article here: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1368588/love-hate-it-extra-gums-the-story-sarah-juan-definitely-having-moment