The first of its kind, Nike launched a store dedicated to bringing Nike Running to life at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto this weekend and See.Spark.Go got to the tell the story. But we’d be amiss if we didn’t let you all in on the scoop, too!
It’s more than a store, Nike Running Stanford is designed to be a runners’ hub — with the Runners’ Studio, where you will find even more specialized products, services and individual help to meet your goals. It is the place to go to get setup with the individual workout tracking of Nike+, the most fun and effective way to keep track of fitness progress digitally. It also offers the ability to customize kicks with NIKEiD, or take a new pair of shoes for a free trial test run. Of course, you can always join Nike Run Club for a group run of your choice of a 3, 5 or 7-mile route. (You can join Nike Run Club in other cities with a Nike Store as well!)
Check out the Nike Running blog for more info. Have a running tip you’d like to share? I’d like to know!
It’s already May believe it or not. Where did April go? I’m always amazed at how quickly time passes and I’m equally amazed that we are back on the road for the 2010 Aha Moment Tour (note: I’m not personally on the road)! Our friends at Skadaddle Media have put together a whole new crew (read their blog), a freshly updated, custom 34′ Airstream trailer designed as a mobile television studio and selected 25 brand NEW cities to visit across the U.S. for this year’s tour. What is the Aha Moment Tour you ask? It’s part of Mutual of Omaha’s search for real people with real stories to feature in their next national TV commercial spots.
The ‘aha crew’ has already visited Fresno, Calif., and will be LIVE in Tucson, Ariz., tomorrow and Saturday. Read more in today’s Arizona Daily Starnews brief.
I’m also including a link to view the top moments from the ’09 tour that are currently on air. You may have even seen one during Celebrity Apprentice, Dancing with the Stars, LOST and/or lots of other shows in the aha-lineup. Enjoy!
We’ve got big news stirring with our friends at U.S. Nike Stores. We’ll post more after May 5… Stay tuned! But until then, watch this FastCompany video from its Innovation Uncensored conference and Nike CEO Mark Parker on why his design background is critical to Nike’s success.
For the past 3 years, See.Spark.Go has had an incredible internship program that’s attracted some amazing talent (from whom I learn something new every day!). This post belongs to the one and only Mary Catherine Kinney (MCK as we call her, or just plain “Rockstar”). Take it away, MCK!
Mary Catherine the Intern here! It’s a sunny day in the Classic City, but a busy day around the office. We are all a-buzz preparing for Mutual of Omaha’s 2010 Aha Moment Tour in May and busy brainstorming for all of our clients. Brittany just asked me what I’ve learned about PR from See.Spark.Go and I just had to share with you my life as a member of the SSG family!
My experience at See.Spark.Go has given me great insight and experience in the wide and ever-changing field of PR. From pitching client events to crafting press releases, my intern days have been far from the water cooler and copy machine tasks.
As a senior in the Grady College of Journalism at the University of Georgia, I’ve had several years of PR teaching, instruction and knowledge. However, the classroom can never teach what you learn from being in the PR “trenches”. My internship at SSG has given me tangible real-world experience in Public Relations. I recall my first week working for Brittany. We had an event happening in Pismo Beach. There were media alerts to be written, lists to be made and reporters to call.
And I was clueless.
Brittany, however, saw a diamond in the rough. She equipped me with a quick lesson in Cision, Mapquest (Where exactly is Pismo Beach anyway?), and an expertly crafted press release and said those fateful words that led to great growth “Go for it.”
Through my internship, I’ve discovered the basics of writing press releases, developing media lists and building relationships with reporters while gaining clear insight into the real-world of PR that I wouldn’t have learned this anywhere else but at See.Spark.Go. This incredible experience equipped me for any PR job that may come in the future.
I just hope that wherever I land after my internship with See.Spark.Go also celebrates all accomplishments with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
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Read more from Mary Catherine on her blog and follow her on Twitter!
Passion Twenty Ten kicked off the year for us this January with a call to global awakening. Passion was held at Philips Arena and the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta with 22,000 in attendance and students representing 37 countries and nearly 1,500 campuses. What incredible story we had the privilege to tell!
Throughout Passion Twenty Ten, the ideas of worship and justice were wed as students engaged in opportunities to impact lives worldwide through the Do Something Now campaign as an act of worship.
The city of Atlanta was greeted by the initial outpouring of tens of thousands of towels and socks for Atlanta’s homeless community that students brought upon arrival to the gathering. By the final day, an overwhelming response to many of the initiatives included:
World Vision :: $62,160 covers 1-year sponsorships for 148 children & 1,000 kits packaged for AIDS workers
Bibles Unbound :: $8,198 given to send 8,198 Bibles to East Asia
CURE International :: $61,555 given to cover 111 surgeries for children with cleft palates in Afghanistan
OneVerse :: $69,603 given to translate 2,784 verses
E3 Partners :: $21,663 given to send 138 men to seminary in the Middle East
Operation Mobilization :: $85,473 given to fund 1 Education Center for the Dalit people in India
Living Water :: $111,513 given to build 22 wells
HOPE International :: $59,164 given to fund 295 small business loans to pull women from poverty in Haiti
Not For Sale :: $83,636 given to build 3 Border Posts to rescue women from the sex trade in Nepal
Compassion International :: $47,111 covers 1-year sponsorships for 189 children
Feed My Starving Children :: $16,589 and 108,432 meals packaged for the hungry
Gobena Coffee :: $21,927 donated to support orphans in Ethiopia
With a goal of $500,000, students far exceeded that goal giving a total of $668,597 in addition to bringing 15,000 towels and 74,000 socks for Atlanta’s homeless. A couple attending gave a matching gift to double that amount to $1,337,194!
You can track along with Passion throughout the year by texting your email address to 30644 and/or join the Passion268Generation Fan Page on Facebook.
Starting in May 2010, Passion will be going to Kiev, Ukraine; London, England; Tokyo, Japan; Hong Kong, China; Manila, Philippines; Sao Paulo, Brazil and Vancouver, Canada. See you there!
Our phone service provider, Grasshopper, became the inspiration for spontaneous creative session this morning with our team.
It all started when we noticed our phone line was down (it’s back up, thankfully). When looking for the customer support number on Grasshopper’s Web site, we came across this publicity stunt they did when announcing their rebrand. From their site: “We FedEx’d 25,000 chocolate covered grasshoppers … to 5,000 of the most influential people in America, including bloggers, politicians, celebrities, entrepreneurs, CEO’s, journalists, reporters, TV anchors and more to promote our new Entrepreneur Movement.”
One of the things I love about the campaign is the parallel of an entrepreneur and a risk-taker, begging the question, “Are YOU brave enough to eat one?” I guess you have to be a risk-taker to find out. (I know you’re all wondering – the answer is no, we didn’t receive any chocolate covered grasshoppers despite the fact we are a client and a pretty influential bunch if you ask us!)
The result? Our creative session led to some VERY BIG, exciting and doable campaign ideas for existing and potential clients.
Yesterday, I was asked this question: “What are you working on BIG?” I love that question and I hope I always have an answer. Do you?
As stated in a previous entry, PR is ultimately about the story you’re telling. What if I said I know 80 individuals that are going to change the world and they all happen to work for the same organization? Now that’s a story, right?
These particular people happen to work at Booster, a company in Atlanta, GA that offers a fund raising strategy for elementary schools through the promotion of fitness, education, and character. But they are not just any fund raising organization. This extraordinary team asks students to get pledges for each lap they run in the Boosterthon Fun Run, which is held at the end of their 2-week program. This unique strategy not only cuts out product sales, but it promotes fitness, which is quickly declining in the U.S.
While these students are getting the benefit of fitness through running, the big win with the Boosterthon Fun Run is what these students are gaining by way of character. Not only are these experience leaders enthusiastic, they are incredible role models (I can affirm that since I married one). They have taken it upon themselves to be a good influence for these young minds across the nation, and I have no doubt that any parent would be thrilled to know the hearts of these team members and how they are impacting their children.
The key to Booster is their corporate culture of building themselves from the inside out. If they do not have balanced, grounded character themselves, they cannot make nearly the impact they do on a daily basis. From the corporate office to the experience leaders, the focus is leadership development. From there, they will change the world one child and one leader at a time. Get fired up! (As they would say).
Today’s post is a tribute to the incredible team at Skadaddle Media who created the Aha Moment Campaign for Mutual of Omaha and allowed our team to be a part the campaign’s tremendous success.
Mutual of Omaha launched the Aha Moment Tour in 2009 in honor of their official sponsorship of the aha moment. The tour featured a 34′ Airstream trailer designed as a one-of-a-kind mobile television studio. The mission? Seek out next year’s commercial spots featuring real people sharing real stories. From the participants along the 25-city and 7,800-mile tour, several new 30-second ads will be produced to air next year.
The popular ad campaign turned cross-country tour is part of Mutual of Omaha’s belief that when everyday people have clarity of purpose, the possibilities are endless. That clarity is the definition of an “aha moment”, an instance where real wisdom can transform a life and a community.
Throughout the tour, we collected nearly 1,000 people across the country sharing their stories and moments of inspiration. It was astounding to hear these amazing tales and the thought of narrowing down to 10 finalists was overwhelming. So, we asked YOU, America, to help us out and launched a nationwide survey during the month of October.
At last, here they are: America’s 10 favorite aha moments that will be featured in Mutual of Omaha’s next commercial spots in 2010. Be sure to look out for them!
And to top it off? Check out the great press here.
I love this time of year. Not simply because of Christmas lights and peppermint mochas (although both are very good reasons), but because we are constantly reminded that this is a season of giving. Giving thanks and giving of ourselves to help those less fortunate.
We at See.Spark.Go. have a lot for which we are thankful. I’m thankful that we have had the opportunity to serve amazing clients since July 2007 and that we continue to work with great people. I’m thankful that our team continues to grow. I’m thankful for Andy who balances me (and our checkbook). And I’m thankful for brilliant leaders that inspire all of us.
I hope you all enjoy tomorrow giving thanks for those around you. And embrace this season of giving to others. Here are a few organizations with great ideas and amazing hearts that you may consider giving to:
It seems like all you hear about today is Twitter, doesn’t it? It took me a little while to jump on that bandwagon, not only because I didn’t want to use the word “tweet” in everyday conversation, but I wasn’t really clear how to use it. But what other tools are out there that may be just as helpful and fun?
There is actually a website for Web2.0 applications with pages (and I mean pages) of different tools. For example, there is an application on this site that is solely for Free Font Downloads (that’s just a random example).
It’s amazing how much our culture relies on social media, including the business world. It has become such a helpful way to promote events, restaurants, and products. It’s hard to remember even last year where we didn’t immediately hear about the next big thing spreading around.
Yes, Twitter and other Web2.0 tools are fun for social purposes, but these technical phenomenons are becoming an important part of our job. Brittany and I were in Barnes & Noble the other day where we actually stumbled across a book called the Social Media Bible. Nice. We read through it some and there were so many different ways to voice yourself!
If these applications are out there, why wouldn’t we take advantage of them? Part of PR is about promotion isn’t it? There is definitely a fine line when it comes to over-promotion, however. I can strongly say that too many “tweets” results in you getting blocked, at least on my account. Overall, these tools are out there for our use, so let’s keep up with the times and figure out how to use what these social media gurus have created.
Enjoy!
