To the Team Leaders and Managers working to provide only the best for your clients:

Due to the expansion and technical intricacies of marcom disciplines, you, the generalist, can be more important than ever.  That’s because true leadership comes from being able to see the big picture.  On the other hand, more than ever, your success depends on the talent, experience and support of your specialists.

The marketing ecology has become so complicated that it is increasingly more dangerous for an account person to answer technical questions without consulting with the appropriate agency specialists.  

Compared to the relatively simple advertising world of print and broadcast of a few years ago, our IMC company has specialists in search, SEO, information architecture, analytics, digital development, digital project management, social media and media relations.  Imagine what it would take for an account person to converse on all of these subjects at a level that would truly represent the level of the capabilities of this agency!  And I didn’t even list the traditional disciplines of strategic planning, concept development, design, writing, media planning/estimating and video, print and digital production.  

I’m writing this blog in an effort to help you, Team Leaders and Managers, help your company achieve higher levels of service, while helping you grow and flourish in your own career.

Here are some tips on how to bring our specialists into your client conversations at the right time:

1.    When writing important memos to our clients, send the draft to your teammates and appropriate coaches for suggested edits and comments.  (I’ve been doing this for years. So I’m really not as smart as some of my emails might suggest :)

2.    When you’re with a client and one of the disciplines listed above is being discussed, get the specialist on the phone, turn on the speaker and involve them in the conversation.  It will make you and the agency look smart.  Plus it will save time and effort on your team’s part.  
        a.    Why wait until you come back to the agency to get an answer?  
        b.    Or why take a chance on answering a client’s question, when often we don’t even know what we don’t know about these ever-changing technical subjects?
        c.    Note: Your associates usually have their smart phones with them.  So the chances of reaching someone on a moment’s notice are better than ever.  And if you think a subject may come up at a meeting, alert the specific specialists that you may be calling them. That’ll help make the connection and help them prepare for the conversation.

3.    Taking a carload of associates to a client meeting at an average hourly rate of say, $175, and then having a two hour meeting that might involve their discipline for 10 minutes is not a good use of time or the client’s money.  And what’s going to happen to the specialists’ one hour of travel time and two hours of a meeting that a client shouldn’t have to and doesn’t want to pay for in exchange for 10 minutes of advice?  Using the phone, as I’ve mentioned above, will often solve the problem of trying to arrange meeting times for a gaggle of people and the problem of unbillable time.

4.    There are some things that an experienced team leader should be able to give ballpark estimates for if they have enough parameters.  But WARNING:  It’s getting more and more difficult.  And the consequences of an uninformed, inaccurate estimate are:
       a.    loss of respect from the client
       b.    loss of respect from your associates
       c.    loss of time due to the misstep
       d.    loss of revenue for the agency
       e.    loss of an account
       f.    and possibly loss of your job if the mistake is severe enough or if you have a history of this mistake.

So let’s use our online and telephony technologies to collaborate and learn from our specialists.

This will help you use your company’s capabilities at their highest levels in more efficient ways.  And by doing this, your clients, all your associates and probably you -- more than anyone else -- will benefit from it.

 -Joe Phelps | CEO

As an IMC enthusiast, I like connecting with experts in our field.  This month it is with great pleasure that we welcome the work of Professor Joseph E. Phelps, Chairman of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at The University of Alabama.   Professor Phelps collaborated with Dr. Lu Zheng, University of Florida, to author the intellectually stimulating article blog post below.

I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Joseph Phelps by video conferencing with his class over the past few years.  I believe we both enjoy confusing people by having two IMC guys named Phelps.  But he’s Joe Bama and I’m just Joe.  We’re essentially located in “Hollywood” where we have the greatest collection of modern day storytellers all around us.  So Joseph’s article below is especially appropriate for our blog.  Enjoy!

-Joe Phelps | CEO

Engaging Narrative Advertising:

Why is Quality Storytelling so Persuasive?

In an earlier post, Francisco Letelier, VP Creative, discusses why a campaign for Honda worked for the Total Market. He wrote, “It worked because it was based on universal human aspirations and principles; it had a clear, simple and entertaining storyline with well defined characters that were easily recognizable by any human being. Being able to tell stories that are rooted in these elements is what addressing the Total Market is all about.”

The results of recent studies conducted by Jupiter Research and by the Advertising Research Foundation echo Letelier’s point. This research found advertising that communicates brand stories to be highly effective. Perhaps most telling was that the majority of the marketers participating in these studies indicated that they were interested in brand storytelling because they see a relationship between success and the ability to tell the most engaging narratives.

Narrative vs. Argument Advertising

Bill Wells argued long ago argued that advertising consists of two basic forms: lecture/argument and drama/narrative. Narrative advertising, such as the Honda ad mentioned earlier, portrays a story germane to the experiences or consequences of the product consumption. Argument advertising presents product-attribute information based on arguments and evidence and attempts to convince its audience of a claim through logical arguments and reasoning.

So what is new here? Advertising people have long known that the ability to tell engaging stories could increase advertising effectiveness. What remains unknown by advertising practitioners and scholars is the deeper understanding and explanation of HOW/WHY narrative advertising persuades.

What is needed is an empirically validated theory that can explain narrative processing and persuasion. One that complements the dominant persuasion models (e.g., Elaboration Likelihood Model) in the academic literature. Those dominant models contribute to our understanding of argument based rhetorical persuasion but have little ability to explain persuasion via narrative advertising. This is critical because just as arguments and narratives work in distinct fashions, people process the information in these forms differently. Processing function, in this case, follows information form with different mechanisms thereby underlying persuasion produced via narrative advertising than by argument-based advertising.

Melanie Green’s Transportation-Imagery Model

Much of the relevant previous research views narrative-based belief change to be the result of empathy. As this research evolved, a persuasion model, the Transportation-Imagery Model began to emerge with the potential to explain narrative-based persuasion. In this model transportation constitutes the underlying mechanism in narrative-based belief change.

Transportation refers to a feeling of being lost in the story or immersed into the narrative world. According to the basic model, there are three antecedents of transportation, including cognitive attention, mental imagery, and emotional involvement. The synergy of these three antecedents leads to transportation, which causes belief change.

At this point, however, the Transportation-Imagery Model is just in its infancy and much work is needed before its potential is fully realized. My colleague, Lu Zheng, and I are working to facilitate the maturation of this model and its application to advertising.  If you are interested you can find our extensive discussion of the model and how it can be improved in Chapter 17 of the just published book, Advertising Theory. You can get a glimpse of the book using this link http://www.amazon.com/Advertising-Theory-Routledge-Communication-Rodgers/dp/0415886619

What you will see in our chapter is that although the three antecedents of transportation have been identified and the basic mechanism of belief change via transportation has been delineated, little is known about the factors influencing the three antecedents and transportation in general. In addition, the bulk of the currently identified factors have yet to be empirically examined in an advertising context. Understanding what influences the antecedents is essential if advertisers are to make use of this model to aid the development of more transporting/engaging narratives. This understanding is also crucial for a fuller explanation of how persuasion via narrative advertising occurs.

We hope you will read the chapter and if there is enough interest perhaps we will be invited back for another blog entry on this topic.

-    Professor Joe “Bama” Phelps and Dr. Lu Zheng

IMC pioneers The Phelps Group embarks on yet another new frontier…well new for the agency, that is.

The Phelps Group team of athletes, the Phelpstars, is playing in the World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) Winter 2012 kickball league. This is the agency’s first kickball team in its 30-year history, and we just completed game two in the CA Dogtown division. So far the experience has been, at the same time, daunting and exhilarating, dotted with moments of fiasco and triumph.

The first two games were losses but the lessons and opportunities we’ve encountered are not lost on us. As a team, we imagine the experience likely mirrors that of our leader and CEO Joe Phelps when he first embarked on forming a truly integrated marketing communications agency with no departments or corporate structure pyramids. Sure, Joe was leading the way for an entire industry and we are just one little kickball team in our small part of the world. But the learning curve to integration -- whether in an agency, for our clients or out onthe kickball field -- is no easy feat. We are riding that learning curve as the Phelpstars and will keep you updated on our progress.

Games are Wednesday evenings, starting at 7p.m. at Stoner Rec Center. You can find us reliving our moments of glory at Busby’s West after every game.

Roxana Janka | Public Relations Specialist

Santa Monica has a rich and colorful history, and we are proud to be part of it!

“Images of America SANTA MONICA 1950-2010” — by Louise B. Gabriel, the president
and founder of the Santa Monica History Museum — chronicles the city’s post-World War II
era as both a resort community and as a bustling, vibrant city.

The book features more than 200 photographs of the dynamic people, businesses, events,
attractions, and celebrities that have shaped Santa Monica into the world-renowned city of today.

And among them is The Phelps Group’s The Wall, where our work in progress is posted for feedback and improvement by all associates.

Team Leader Monica Peixoto poses with the new Panasonic Toughpad™.

On Nov. 7, Panasonic Solutions Company launched the much-anticipated Android™-powered
Panasonic Toughpad™ family, the fearless new business tablets that go where no tablets
have gone before.

More than 400 people — customers, press and Panasonic employees from USA, Canada,
Latin American and Japan — attended the launch event at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas,
Texas. Members of The Phelps Group were there, as well, enjoying the festivities that
included an open invitation to score a goal against Kevin Hartman, goalkeeper of professional
soccer team FC Dallas, with U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Captain Abby Wambach providing
guidance and coaching to attendees.

Combining data and device security, seamless connectivity, enterprise-minded technology,
and a long legacy of rugged and reliable computing, the new 10” Toughpad A1 and (coming
soon) 7” Toughpad B1 tablets are the perfect melding of mind and muscle.

And, to coincide with the product kick-off, The Phelps Group helped Panasonic with
the U.S., Portuguese, Spanish and Reseller online launch!

October marked Breast Cancer awareness month and Panera Bread’s Pink Ribbon Bagel program. The Panera Bread PR team at The Phelps Group kicked off media relations around the 10th anniversary of Panera Bread’s Pink Ribbon Bagel program and developed “The Power of 10 Day,” where 100 percent of proceeds from Pink Ribbon Bagels sold on Oct. 10 were donated to the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and its search for a cure.

All month, 10 cents from each bagel sold went back to the Foundation. The PR team garnered broadcast coverage across Southern California, from KTLA-TV, LA’s CW-affiliate to KTTV-TV’s Good Day L.A. and KMIR-TV, the NBC-affiliate in Palm Springs, in addition to print and online coverage. The team worked with KTLA’s Weekend Morning News to do a “survivor salute” where cancer survivors that sent in their photos received a gift card from Panera Bread. Nearly 50 percent more funds were raised in support of breast cancer research than last year.

KTTV-TV Good Day L.A. - Oct. 10, 2011, "Panera Bread's Power of 10 Day"

KTLA Weekend Morning News - Oct. 9, 2011, " Survivor Salute: Panera Bread"

KTLA Weekend Morning News - Oct. 8, 2011," Panera Bread's Pink Ribbon Bagels"

Each year, Halloween means two things at The Phelps Group – a lot of tempting treats
and plenty of shenanigans!

We started our traditional boo-fest with a nearly gourmet potluck lunch, after which
everyone showcased their creative talents with innovative, inspiring and sometimes
frightful ensembles in the hope of winning the much-coveted prize for Best Costume.
We had a lot of great contenders, and picking the best one was difficult.

This year’s winners were The Firemen, with their debut of the “2012 Firemen of
The Phelps Group” pin-up calendar. We’re not sure where one can pick up one of
these gems, but we’ll be sure to let you know. Coming in second were The Blues
Brothers and Sister Mary-Margaret-Catherine from the Sisters of the Flying Ruler.

Afterward, the entire brood swooped down Wilshire Boulevard in our traditional
Halloween parade. Did we stop traffic? You bet!

Check out all our Halloween pictures on our Facebook page! www.facebook.com/thephelpsgroup.

Today, The Phelps Group hosted a blood drive to benefit pediatric and adult cancer patients at City of Hope Cancer Center. We called on our associates, as well as members of the community, to give the gift of life — and the response was phenomenal! More than 50 people made an appointment, while many others “walked in” to donate — and we are thrilled that we exceeded our goal of 35 useable units of blood!

City of Hope patients rely on more than 25,000 units of blood and platelets each year for survival. There is no substitute or synthetic form of human blood; therefore, donations are vital to the men, women and children in City of Hope’s care. Every one of those units comes from caring people – family, friends and other generous individuals who want to make a difference. We thank all who came out to offer their support!

Left to right, from top:The City of Hope Bloodmobile,The Phelps Group associates Art Director Alon Burgin and Team Coordinator Courtney Carr, Production Manager Desiree Gates and Team Manager Anique Oudshoorn, PR Specialist Roxana Janka and Team Leader Lauren Kahner.

Associates of The Phelps Group recently attended the unveiling of the California Coastal Commission’s new Whale Tail^® Specialty License Plate at the Santa Monica Pier. The California Coastal Commission is currently promoting Stewards of the Coast, a campaign to support the revamped plate, which will culminate at the 27^th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day Saturday, Sept.17, 2011.

As part of The Phelps Group’s 30^th anniversary and the agency’s commitment to the environment and our community, we have been working with the commission to develop creative marketing materials -- posters, T-shirts, trash and recycling bags, outdoor advertising, emails and online banners -- to promote this year’s Coastal Cleanup Day, statewide, and achieve the goal of 100,000 event volunteers.

For more information and to purchase the new Whale Tail license plate, visit http://www.ecoplates.com.

To learn more about the 2011 Coastal Cleanup Day on Sept. 17, please visit http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/ccd2.html.

For the fifth year in a row, The Phelps Group has been recognized by The Los Angeles Business Journal as one of L.A.’s “Best Places to Work”! The firm ranked 12th among all mid-sized companies – 25 to 249 local workers – in Los Angeles. The announcement was made during The Los Angeles Business Journal’s annual awards luncheon, held at the JW Marriott on Aug. 9.

The poll, conducted by ModernThink, an independent research company, surveyed nearly 10,000 employees from hundreds of companies with headquarters or satellite offices in Los Angeles.  Key criteria in determining the top winners were culture of the organization, communication between employees, and growth opportunities available to workers.

The Phelps Group offers a range of progressive workplace benefits, including reimbursement for education classes and programs, ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan), telecommuting, pet-friendly work environment, green workplace program, full-feedback environment, competitive pay and health benefits, weekly educational seminars, and hosted lunch twice a week.

In a significant move to enhance the agency's digital capabilities, we recently announced the addition of four digital specialists.

(L to R) Deniz Kahriman, online media, and Dan Tsui, SEO/web analytics, both hold master’s degrees in engineering from USC. Farhan Mohammad has a bachelor’s in engineering and offers a wealth of knowledge regarding large-scale digital project management, while Nicholas Kuebler brings his broad .NET and other developer languages to the agency.

While many agencies of similar size outsource higher-level programming and online media management, we added these associates to our existing staff of digital specialists to help meet increasing demand for digital work. “These new associates strengthen our abilities to execute the strategies we recommend. And, as usual, they’re being integrated into our client-facing teams,” said Joe Phelps, the agency’s CEO.

The Phelps Group is turning 30 years old! And, to kick off the celebration, we recently hosted a gala event at the carousel on the famous Santa Monica Pier. The party’s theme was “thank you” to the many who’ve helped the company become one of the largest, independent agencies on the West Coast and the second-oldest agency in L.A. Here are a few highlights from the evening.

The Phelps Group's Maria Brenner, broadcast editor/producer, and Ed Chambliss, VP and team leader, show off their agency spirit.

Joe Phelps with Paul and Barbara Youngblood and Dennis Houlihan of Roland Corp.

Tahitian dancers, courtesy of Tahiti Tourisme, a client of The Phelps Group for 19 years, were among the many highlights of the evening.

Joe Phelps, CEO, and Mary Jo Sobotka, VP of media, enjoy the agency's 30th anniversary festivities.

For a while now, we've said, "media is the new creative."

Meaning that, due to the number of options available to reach the targets nowadays,
it takes an informed and creative mind to deliver the most effective and efficient media plans.

For a while, I've said, "If the creative is strong enough, the media is free."
Meaning if the message is interesting enough for it to go viral, the cost of distribution is free.

I recently heard someone say it more succinctly.

"Creative is the new media.
Media is the new creative."

This may seem like rhetoric or just semantics.
However, we might think of it as way to frame the opportunities offered by the new world we live in.

Joe Phelps | CEO 

It’s a two-dimensional bar code usually called a QR (Quick Response) code.

Created in the early 1990s for inventory tracking, QR codes are now used in B2C and B2B marketing. QR codes store information that can easily be deciphered by open-source software, readily available for all camera/smart phones. Marketers infuse the code with a URL, which sends the user to some compelling content (mobile site or video). Then they place the code in a print ad, an out-of-home ad or a billboard to allow user interaction. If you haven’t noticed them on advertisements around the country, you soon will.

How does it work? Go to the app store on your smart phone and search for QR Reader. Download a free app and launch it. Point your phone’s camera at the QR code to the right to find the answer to this trivia question:

Q. What ubiquitous, medical measuring device was invented in 1862 by Dutchman Hermann Snellen?

Will Shepler | Team Manager

The zpizza team recently had the tough task of tasting and testing all the offerings on the zpizza menu. The tasting included artisan pizzas, rusticas, pastas, calzones, sandwiches and salads - made with all-natural and organic ingredients, along with gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options. All items combine select ingredients using award-winning skim mozzarella from  Wisconsin, certified organic tomato sauce, MSG-free pepperoni, additive-free sausage, and fresh produce. The dough is made from 100% organic wheat flour prepared fresh every day. Phew, all in a hard day’s work.