Scout Branding Company

BIRMINGHAM, February 8, 2010 – The American Advertising Federation Birmingham held its annual ADDY Gala at Old Car Heaven. Scout Branding won 18 ADDYs — 4 silver and 14 gold. Scout’s president/creative director, Paul Crawford, won Creative Director of the Year and Copywriter of the Year. Scout’s associate creative director, Ryan Gernenz, won Designer of the Year. The five-person shop had the highest total of gold ADDYs won Saturday night.

“The awards are nice,” says Paul Crawford, president/creative director at Scout. “But, we don’t let awards shape how we work. The main focus at Scout is to find ideas that help our clients grab market share and grow their revenue.”

Scout Branding was also recently named Agency of the Year at the 2009 Birmingham Peak Awards also held at Old Car Heaven.

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.

Alagasco

PlantATree.Alagasco.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.” Read more on our blog

On the other hand, there is a growing desire among many consumers to see more transparency, humility and openness in government and in the corporate world. There is a general perception that a culture of secrecy has played a role in our recent, high-profile corporate and political failings. This intersection between a consumer-driven push towards more transparency and the increasing allure that companies feel towards being involved in the two-way conversation that is social media is creating some tension.

I’ve noticed this tension when the subject of social media comes up with the companies we talk to (and they are all talking about it). Most of them want to find a practical, strategic way to apply it to their business because they know that ignoring would be a mistake. They understand that it is growing platform that they need to master before their competitors do. At the same time, they realize that it is not as manageable as pushing out a one-way message through traditional media. Engaging consumers in this relatively new and unfamiliar territory opens up a door to possible risks that can initially be a little daunting. The blue-sky brainstorming of innovative ways a company can better engage their consumers through Twitter, Facebook, etc. can quickly be replaced by even more vivid images of the worst case scenario that could come in the form of a public relations nightmare or worse. Companies are struggling with where to draw the line between the discretion they value and the transparency and openness that consumers value.

The one realization that working through a process like this usually leads to is that the person or group who is ultimately tasked with implementing the social media strategy needs to intuitively understand what kinds of company info can be released in the social media world versus information that should be kept closer to the vest. And depending on the company, they may need to possess a variety of skills including marketing, public relations, customer service and of course, the nuanced etiquette of social media. That is how the issue morphs into one of staffing, because employees like that, if they exist, may already be too busy doing their regular jobs.

As a jumping off point, the following five things should be written down before creating any corporate social media strategy:

1. Establish up front exactly what you want to accomplish through social media and how it compliments the company’s overall brand positioning and the rest of its marketing efforts.
2. Outline company information that is not for sharing through social media.
3. Identify potential downside risks and how to address them. For example, how should we deal with negative remarks? If on Twitter, a consumer says “X” about your company, what is the appropriate response?
4. For consumer product or service companies, decide whether Twitter could be used as a Customer Relation Management tool.
5. Identify the necessary skills needed for the person who implements the social media strategy and also identify who internally or externally can perform that task.

ScoutDoesWebsites.com

If you go there you can see that in fact, we have done a lot of websites. The site has a sampling of some of the many diverse sites we’ve done over the past couple of years. There are sites from the master-planned community builder Westervelt Communities to the e-commerce Asian boutique Mandarina.

We are always looking for the latest technology and trends to further help our clients express their brands. Here is a list of some of our capabilities.

Scout Branding’s Web Capabilities

Website Design and Development
Custom Web Development and Design
Content Management Systems
E-Commerce
Custom Wordpress Sites
Web Application Design
Social Media Integration & Social Networking Website Development
Ongoing Site Maintenance and Content Updating / Management

Strategic Online Planning
Comprehensive Analytics / Site Statistic Tracking
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Marketing (Google Adword, pay-per click)
Strategic Online Media Promotion and Tracking
Strategic Social Media Planning and Implementation
Social Media Monitoring / Brand Buzz Tracking

Don’t see something you are interested in/need? Get in touch with us! We probably do it.. and if we haven’t before… we will.

That was my experience until I met Rusty, a yellow lab who spends his time with his owner Karen Cunningham serving as an animal-assisted therapy team for Hand-In-Paw. Here at Scout we have been designing all of the promotional materials for Hand-In-Paw’s Picasso Pets, and little did Rusty know that his mug was destined to appear all over Birmingham. He did exactly as he was told, patiently, and thoughtfully, all for little more than a few milkbones for pay. Within twenty minutes he had looked straight into the camera with his nose and paws bright blue, giving the photographer the exact endearing, loving-life look I envisioned.

Picasso Pets is a unique event that benefits Hand-In-Paw, a local animal-assisted therapy organization. Hand-In-Paw’s certified therapy teams visit local hospitals, nursing homes, and schools where they do everything from help children with developmental disabilities learn to walk, provide a listening ear to those learning how to read, or simply provide companionship. At Picasso Pets the animals “paint” with their paws and then an accomplished artist incorporates the animal’s marks into a final painting, which is then auctioned to support the program. This auction raises a substantial portion of the yearly budget for Hand-In-Paw, so the success of the promotional items to drive potential patrons to the auction is paramount. Scout is proud to donate our services to making this year’s Picasso Pets a success. And now we know that the exception to the art director’s maxim is a dog named Rusty.

I’m always looking for books with ideas that challenge the assumptions that I bring with me to work every day. Although, some of these books are a couple of years old, I find myself wanting to read them twice:

Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell
Mavericks at Work - William C. Taylor and Polly G. Labarre
Blink – Malcolm Gladwell
Zag – Marty Neumeir
Good to Great – Jim Collins
Tribes – Seth Godin
Twilight (just kidding!! Sorry Sara.)