But more recently we have offered PR to some clients through doing the kind of work that get talked about and written about. Our work for America’s First Credit Union and Mannington Commerical has proved that our focus on creating great advertising and branding generates its own PR.

In February of this year, we launched the TV campaign for America’s First Federal Credit Union. Each of the five spots featured bankers going into sort of a confession booth on a downtown street to talk about the bad deeds they had done to their customers. Whether they were talking high rates and fees, cut services or bad car loans, the message is the same- that banks stick it to their customers, so it’s smarter to do business with America’s First Credit Union. To illustrate the contrast, we positioned America’s First as “Refreshingly unbank-like.”

These spots garnered lots of attention around the Birmingham area and credit unions all over the country. In June, they were featured in The New York Times, both in print and online. The article was soon picked up by The Huffington Post, The New York Post, FinancialBrand.com and other credit union trade publications and websites. It was also rewarding to be the cover story of the business section in our own Birmingham News.

Our belief that good advertising leads to PR also rang true with commercial flooring client, Mannington Commerical.

We were charged with designing their showroom for the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair. This tradeshow, hosted at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, is the largest commercial interiors tradeshow in the world. After completing several other projects to enhance their brand, we knew this was the biggest of all. Our hard work paid off, as Mannington’s showroom was named Best Small Showroom of NeoCon 2010 by the International Interior Design Association and Contract Magazine . This is a huge honor being up against so many showrooms and being in the good company of Herman Miller who earned Best Large Showroom at NeoCon.

The press from IIDA and Contract did not end there. The showroom design was spotted on several design blogs and trade publications, such as DecorGirl, Interior Design Magazine, even Mexico Design Magazine. And we are pleased that the final result caught the eye of Mannington’s other side of the business, Mannington Residential. We look forward to the exciting projects we will be doing for them.

So what’s our new answer those who ask if we “do PR:”  Sort of. We just do it by setting out to create work that is both strategic and newsworthy.

BIRMINGHAM, January 27, 2010— Scout Branding Company has been hired by the Universal Postal Union to craft an awareness campaign about the risks of buying counterfeited or pirated medications, electronics and other items through the mail.

Scout will refer to their experience in creating the national campaign for the United States Postal Service to alert consumers of e-mail scams.

The Universal Postal Union is headquartered in Berne, Switzerland and is the primary forum for cooperation between postal-sector players to help ensure a truly universal network of up-to-date products and services. With 191 member countries, it sets the rules for international mail exchanges and makes recommendations to stimulate growth in mail volumes and to improve the quality of service for customers.

Scout Branding Scout Branding is an award-winning advertising, branding and interactive company that adds real value to a select group of companies through ideas. www.scoutbrand.com.

When you walk in through the doors of Scout, you see a gigantic footprint.

We have a large 5’ x 7’ wall display where we show off recent projects. The project that currently occupies this display is the first I came to know at Scout: Alagasco’s “Cut Your Footprint in Half.”

We had the pleasure of designing Alagasco’s tradeshow booth at the Green Building Focus Convention this past summer.

Scout created the footprint image to illustrate one of the major benefits of natural gas to the Green Building Focus audience. By using natural gas, you reduce your carbon emissions by 50% over electricity, making your environmental conscience completely comfortable. Additionally, Alagasco wanted to entice visitors to help plant a tree by filling out a simple survey. So, we created a “Plant a Tree in 3 Clicks” program.

The tradeshow booth was a success and the talk of the show. The footprint made up the backdrop while some “live” green elements took center stage. Let us explain: Two weeks leading up to the event, Scout grew its own wheat grass right here in the office. What started off as just plastic trays of soil soon blossomed into green masterpieces, so fluffy you wanted to rest your head on them. Four saplings we bought from Plant Odyssey soon joined the wheat grass.

In addition to the greenery, we brought three Mac Book Airs to conduct a survey among those who visited. By filling out the survey, visitors could “plant a tree in 3 clicks”—really. Scout created a simple Web site for the survey as well as a database to capture the responses. Alagasco set a goal of planting 15,000 trees in Alabama, one for each survey taken, with help from the Alabama Urban Forestry Association.

Alagasco was thrilled with the response. We are thankful to have worked on such a unique project and the learning experience has left a footprint on our hearts, well, on our wall. Thanks, Alagasco, and feel free to come visit Big Foot anytime.