Cohn Marketing BrandStand
Posts by CJ Powell
Alone with COHN: Debbie Berschling
CJ Powell 04.04.12
news In an effort to highlight and showcase all of COHN’s wonderful employees, we post a monthly profile called Alone with COHN. One by one, we put our employees on the hot seat to answer a set of fun and playful questions. Look for Alone with COHN on the 1st Wednesday of every month, and we hope you enjoy it! Name: Debbie Berschling Title: Senior Account Director Years at COHN: 3 years 1. What was your favorite toy as a child? A Light Bright, Easy Bake Oven or Fashion Plates—I always envisioned myself as artistic and creative until it came to showing …
5 reasons why your pitch struck out
CJ Powell 02.06.12
public relations I’ll admit it: This isn’t much of an “original” post. You and I have both read plenty of articles focused on the fine art of story pitching. Some experts emphasize the importance of the subject line; others stress a strong hook to capture interest. Some focus on length; others focus on content. In my experience, there are countless ways to write a strong pitch—and possibly even more ways to mess it up. While this post is far from my personal Pitching Manifesto, I have put together below some definite factors that will ensure your email …
Adding Depth To Your Brand
CJ Powell 01.23.12
brand strategy A few months ago, Chipotle introduced an online video called “Back to the Start,” which featured a Coldplay cover by Willie Nelson played over a series of images that spoke to Chipotle’s commitment to hormone-free meat and sustainability. At the time, I remember feeling like it was an odd move for Chipotle, mainly because it hadn’t done something like this before and the creative expression seemed outside of its brand standards. Nevertheless, there was no questioning the overall message: Chipotle cares about “cultivating a better world,” and this video helps Chipotle add depth to its …
ValuText in the News
CJ Powell 12.16.11
brand strategy For those that don’t already know, Cohn Marketing has had a busy fourth quarter. In November, we were selected to work with a number of new, well-known and respected clients. Our Dallas office has also been busy, landing another industry giant in Galleria Dallas. And one of our longest standing clients, DDR, earlier this month introduced a groundbreaking program called ValuText, which has been gaining a lot of traction in the retail and technology worlds. Cohn actually developed the ValuText program for DDR from the ground up, so it’s been fun to watch the program …
Is Siri the one answering my tweets?
CJ Powell 11.21.11
public relations Spoiler alert: I’m about to blow your mind. It recently occurred to me yesterday that the human tone behind so many corporate social media accounts may not be coming from a human at all. If Apple can create a phone that can converse like a human, why couldn’t the same technology be used to manage social media accounts? I’ll preface this entire post by saying I don’t believe that automated responses—however human they may sound—are a smart approach to social media. At BlogWorld 2011 earlier this month, I was shocked to learn that social media …
BlogWorld 2011
CJ Powell 11.14.11
brand strategy I’ve been bad. In helping clients, friends and colleagues with creating blog content to enliven their blogs, I’ve neglected to post on BrandStand in a while. But after a two-day whirlwind called BlogWorld slapped some much needed inspiration across my face, I’ve got the writing bug all over again. Please find it in your heart to forgive me… and then forgive me again for all blog-themed content you’re about to read. At BlogWorld, I sat through 10 incredibly inspiring and insightful presentations, including Cohn’s own Michael Barber speaking on mobile web and mobile apps (he’s …
What can PR learn from the NFL lockout?
CJ Powell 07.13.11 public relationsRaise your hand if you knew that this spring, the NFL franchise owners “locked out” their players from the league. Keep your hand raised if you know what “locked out” actually means, and continue to keep your hand raised proudly if you can succinctly explain the points of contention between the owners and the players. Those who still have their hands raised are either lawyers or sports fans, and these two groups are probably not reading this blog. So, I’ll keep my explanation simple: NFL owners and players are fighting over a pool of money, …
Cool campaign: Rom chocolate bars
CJ Powell 06.22.11 creativeWe’re seeing a lot of really neat marketing campaigns these days geared at ramping up sales in the short term. The power of social media allows contests, promotions and strange and interesting campaigns to go viral very quickly, and that sort of immediacy can produce some fascinating short-term results. One such example is the recent Kandia Dulce Rom campaign, which I learned about on ClickZ.com. Those of you who are case study junkies probably already know about this intriguing campaign, but I wanted to share it on BrandStand because it was very risky and very successful …