Led by Prof. Douglas Davis, Non-Profit Capstone for Columbia Children's Health a BIC success

Professor Douglas Davis rehearses the teams.

On December 18th in Shepard Hall, the inaugural BIC class pitched their 360 degree communi- cations campaigns to its client, Columbia Children's Health. Located in northern Manhattan, Columbia Children’s Health offers comprehensive health services to children, especially to those in need of special care. Its renowned Columbia network is a braintrust of the world’s best physicians, surgeons, and caregivers who are passionately dedicated and embrace collaboration with colleagues over ego. 

Representatives from CCH listening to presentations.

Founded in 1887 as The Babies Hospital, it's the oldest hospital dedicated to the care of children and babies in New York and enjoys much of its preeminence thanks to its relationship with Columbia University’s medical school, the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Today, a series of hospital mergers and an association with Morgan Stanley has led to brand confusion -- the perfect opportunity for BIC students to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

Presenting the "We Get Better Together" campaign.

Back in August, BICsters were divided into three competing communications teams to build on existing brand equity and develop meaningful and compelling communications materials that will solidify CCH’s identify as uniquely qualified to deliver complex care to children. 

Ruth Ogbeab, a member of the winning team.

After months of research, strategic mapping, and campaign development, representatives from CCH -- which included Dr. Lawrence Stanberry, Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), Dr. Michael Weiner, Vice Chair of External Affairs for the Department of Pediatrics at CUMC, Dr. Steve Kernie,  Director of the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at CUMC, Dr. Karen A. Kennedy, Chair of the Children’s Board at Columbia, Pam Kernie, Children’s Board member, Gail Albert Halaban, Children’s Board member, and Ellen Oppenheim, Children’s Board member -- evaluated all three campaigns and after a long deliberation declared the campaign "Champions for Our Children" the winner. 

For 2014 BIC Students, THEY'RE the brand

With a nod to Christopher Doyle's Identity Guidelines as seen at the Cooper- Hewitt's graphic design exhibit on Governor's Island, BIC students deconstructed the details of themselves to determine what constitutes their own brand identity. 

 

Ivan Ramirez

Himani Gupta

  

Castro Desroches

This semester-long project in Professor Gerardo Blumenkrantz and Nancy Tag's Idea Development course not only allowed for personal reflection and analysis, but forced students to develop some basic digital design skills some for the first time. A requirement of the project was that all students needed to use Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. One evening in November, BIC students were treated to "over your shoulder" tutorials by CCNY Professor and Lynda.com superstar Ina Saltz, Professor Susan Hunt Yule, and CCNY EDM alum Yoni Weiss who wandered around the room offering design advice to everyone in the BIC labs. After the final presentations on December 3rd, Professor Tag asked the question: "Before this assignment, who had never touched Adobe's InDesign software?" 90% of the class raised their hands. And yet, the results were quite amazing. For a larger sample of student ID Guidelines, go to the Photo Gallery.

Ken Sheldon

Stephen Carnell

Celebrating BIC’s Annual Mix+Mentor at McCann

George Lois and BICster Himani Gupta

BIC’s annual Mix+Mentor event was graciously hosted by McCann Worldgroup in its NYC headquarters this past Thursday evening, December 4^th.. The celebratory event allowed incoming BIC students (class of 2016) to mingle with industry professionals from agencies such as McCann, Y&R, Gravity, Ketchum, Weber Shandwick, IPG, Ogilvy, BBDO, Commonground, jacobstahl, the ARF as well as special guest and BIC Board Member George Lois in McCann’s beautiful entertainment space featuring grandiose views of the city.

BICster Rolando Leal, Chavonne Hodges, and Sallie Mars

Sallie Mars, SVP, Chief Diversity Officer at McCann Worldgroup, provided a warm welcome, encouraging industry colleagues to give the gift of mentorship all year long. As a BIC Board Member, Sallie has been instrumental in shaping both the BIC program and planning for student success post graduation.

BIC Program Director Nancy Tag was in great spirits as she thanked colleagues for supporting the students – and the future of the industry. She noted that BIC students were already making an impact by winning prestigious awards, earning spots in industry competitions, and garnering scholarships.

Jeff Thaler and BICsters Andy Kwan and Emilio Colombrino 

Sadira Furlow and Guest

To see more pictures of this festive event, go to our photo gallery.

BICsters Win Silver in YOUNG GLORY Competition

Touted as “Advertising’s Tour de France for young creatives,” Young Glory just awarded BICsters Javier Garcia and Batikan Aslan  (Class of 2015) a student Silver for their submission to this prestigious worldwide creativity competition. Responding to its brief for Ebola management, Javier and Batikan were asked to come up with a tool or service to help better manage Ebola outbreaks—from prevention to faster notice and action.

Javier Garcia and Batikan Aslan

Their winning project, radioGO, is a free radio broadcast, distributed via mobile phones, that weaves premium content with medical and emergency information to minimize the spread of Ebola and educate listeners, empowering them with knowledge and emphasizing early detection and survival through recommendations by medical experts and interviews with survivors. radioGO is noteworthy for its emphatic approach to handling the frightening epidemic, as well as its innovative use of mobile technology. BIC is proud to have two students come up with such a compassionate and uplifting approach to handling the epidemic. 

Through its annual 8-month creativity competition, Young Glory identifies the hardest working and most creatively consistent junior and mid-level talent and introduces them to the world's best agencies. See all the winning campaigns submitted in response to the Ebola brief.

BIC Students Presenting at Re:Think 2015

BIC Class of 2015 students Edmund Balogun and Nehal Mahmoud have been invited to participate at the ARF's Re:Think 2015 Conference, March 16-18th. They'll be presenting their paper on "Enhancing the Effectiveness of Storytelling" at the Hilton in Midtown, NYC.

The Re:Think 2015, "Re:Think How Advertising Works," conference will feature leading-edge insights that are making an impact on the industry. Over 2,500 insights, analytics, and marketing leaders from brands, agencies, media and research organizations will be represented. And now, thanks to Nehal and Edmund, so will BIC!

Learn more about Re:Think 2015.

BICsters #TakeTheMic at The 3rd Annual 3% Conference in San Francisco

BIC students Nehal Mahmoud and Luz Corona shared these pictures from their trip to The 3% Conference in San Francisco, November 3-4. Thanks to the 3% Conference, female talent and leadership are being celebrated and championed this week and we couldn't be more proud to have two of our brightest students there to share in the limelight. Luz and Nehal were among the 3% Student Competition scholarship winners awarded an all expenses paid trip to the conference! Scroll down to see their photos as well as the gorgeous poster they created for the competition. 

BICsters Luz Corona and Nehal Mahmoud represent for BIC.

Nehal and Luz (bottom right corner) attend the portfolio review
lunch for Student Scholarship Winners. (photo via @AdobeStudents)

Launched in 2012, The 3% Conference has exploded into a 2-day, 400-person event in San Francisco, a multi-city road show, and a vibrant online community on multiple social platforms, a student scholarship, a creative award, and a business blog to support the crusade. The theme for the 2014 conference is "Inspiration & Activation." Follow the vibrant conversation on Twitter.  

Luz and Nehal's winning poster

Amber Lynn Jackson (BIC '15) Earns FUTURE-Star Treatment at the 2014 ADCOLOR® Industry Conference

We were so excited this summer when it was announced that BIC management track student Amber Lynn Jackson earned a spot in the 2014 ADCOLOR Futures Program—a highly selective program in which young professionals receive training and mentorship via a sponsored trip to the annual ADCOLOR Awards and Industry Conference. To qualify, student applicants must embody the program's creed of Rising Up while Reaching Back. We asked Amber to share her experience with us. Here's what she had to say.

Life-changing doesn’t even begin to describe my experience as a 2014 AdColor Future. Yes, a fully paid trip to sunny Los Angeles, California was great, but the real highlight of the AdColor Futures Program was the week-long conference experience.

I had access and exposure to some of the most successful senior-level executives in the industry. Often inaccessible, I had the opportunity to network and set into motion the beginnings of new partnerships, mentorships, and more. The opportunity to learn and bond with forty of the top emerging multicultural professionals in the communications industry was enlightening. Their stories and advice gave me inspiration I can now apply to my current job and my growing career.

Education was also integral to the AdColor Futures experience. Through the efficacy training sessions I learned how to forward my career through network building and navigate common issues faced by multicultural talent in the industry. Attending the conference exposed me to some of the best creative projects, invaluable industry insights, and some of the most brilliant minds working in communications today.

The winning team of the 2014 ADCOLOR® FUTURES case study challenge. 

Among the most exciting moments for me was winning the first-ever AdColor Futures case study competition and earning the opportunity to speak at the AdColor Futures Speak Out panel. I had the chance to share the multicultural-millennial view of advertising and the future of the industry. Ending the week with the award show and after party celebration was also an unforgettable experience. The closing events were formal, glamorous, and unlike any event I’ve ever attended during my career in the advertising industry. 

Following the conference, I came back to New York City and back to my position at Grey Advertising feeling both motivated and refreshed. I took the chance to share my experience with my agency and spoke specifically to how diversity efforts can be increased internally and externally. Since then I’ve been invited to join the agency’s new diversity council. 

I’m excited to continue the AdColor Futures motto of Rising Up while Reaching Back. Through my own personal efforts, I plan to assist in the goal of making communications a more inclusive industry.

Amber Lynn Jackson (BIC '15)

@Ambr_lyn

The ADCOLOR® FUTURES class of 2014.

Visit Adcolor.org for information on how you, too, can get involved in ADCOLOR's mission to celebrate and champion diversity in the advertising, marketing, media, PR and entertainment industries. Visit tumblr to find more ADCOLOR Futures' photos, testimonials, interviews, and conference takeaways.

Changing the Ratio (Two BICsters at a Time)

In a world where women influence 80% or more of consumer spending, women only make up on 3% of all Creative Directors in advertising. That's the driving force behind The 3% Conference. 

BICsters Nehal Mahmoud and Luz Corona are helping draw attention to it. Their poster has won them a pair of tickets to The 3% Conference in San Francisco, November 3-4, 2014 plus a travel stipend. They'll also attend a private lunch on Day 1 of the Conference where leaders from Adobe and other agencies will conduct a portfolio review of their work. Launched in 2012, The 3% Conference has exploded into a 2-day, 400-person event in San Francisco, a multi-city road show, and a vibrant online community on multiple social platforms, a student scholarship, a creative award, and a business blog to support the crusade.  The theme for the 2014 conference is "Inspiration & Activation." 

Students from BU, Brown, Miami Ad School were also among the winners of this year's poster contest. 

Advertising Week 2014: Technology Rules

The ad world is revving up for Advertising Week 2014. The official promotion and media coverage, in the week before, focuses relentlessly on the tech / digital issues.  One does (at least a little) wonder if anybody is going to pay attention to "content." All those new digital channels have to distribute something, after all. We look forward to discussions about what will be the effective content for the new varieties of digital media.  (After all, just because you CAN deliver content, doesn't mean it sells anything.)

The Wall Street Journal (posting Sunday afternoon, Sept 28) foresees Advertising Week 2014 to provide a vision for how digital media will increasingly dominate the ad spend: "Digital Media to Take Center Stage at Advertising Week." The Journal expects the news (and the chatter) to focus on the technology of distribution rather than the power of brand: "Talk at the swanky cocktail parties is likely to revolve around things that didn't even exist a decade ago, from BuzzFeed and Instagram to programmatic ad buying and marketing cloud. The chatter over canapes will entail an alphabet soup of new marketing jargon such as DSP, SSP, DMP and RTB. . . . It is a far cry from the first Advertising Week, 11 years ago, when much of the talk among ad executives was whether the prize for fan-favorite ad icon would go to Tony the Tiger or the M&M characters."

The New York Times (also posting on Sunday afternoon, Sept 28) sees Advertising Week 2014 to offer a referendum on the future of television: "Advertising Week 2014: Exploring the Future of Television.".  The Times' perspective is consistent with the WSJ, but provides a view of the continuum from the recent past to the uncertain future -- as consumers evolve in their screen-behaviors -- away from TV (some of the time, for some consumers): "A debate that is likely to generate heat, if not light, is whether rapid, large increases in digital ad spending by marketers,prompted by shifts in how viewers watch video, mean a concomitant decline in spending for commercial time on traditional television." . . . According to the 2014 Ipsos Affluent Survey USA, the use of digital media is growing strongly among affluent Americans but not at the expense of traditional media like television. 'Digital media is supplementing, not supplanting,' Stephen Kraus, chief insights officers for the Audience Measurement Group of Ipsos MediaCT said."

The following is an excerpt from the Advertising Week / Stillwell Partners media release issued September 23:

"Extended thought leadership content tracks dig deep into industry hot buttons including: Programmatic, Mobile, Data, Video, Innovation, Local, Health, Fitness & Wearables, Retail Innovation, Sports, Native Ads, Cross-Screen and Social Influence. The Advertising Week Experience (AWE) also returns featuring nearly 100 start-ups that represent the front lines of technological innovation, which is re-shaping the industry, in real time.

"Additional highlights:

• Grand Central Terminal hosts the Opening Gala, in partnership with Amazon Media Group
• The Wall Street Journal launches Disruption, a new evening event
• Fortune stages a special edition of Brainstorm TECH
• Randall Rothenberg leads IAB's annual MIXX Conference
• CMOs and CEOs take center stage throughout The Week along with a "State of the Industry" series featuring more than a dozen major trade associations
• The Pandora Battle of the Ad Bands returns to the Highline Ballroom
• Rovio's Angry Birds Transformers Party, returns to Arena

"New and returning corporate and media partners for Advertising Week 2014 include: AARP, Acxiom, Adara, Adobe, Amazon Media Group, Amobee, AOL, AT&T AdWorks, BuzzFeed, Centaur, Exponential, Facebook, Fast Company, Fortune, Getty Images, Google, Keek, LinkedIn, Marketo, Mashable, Mediaocean, Microsoft, Millennial Media, MLB Advanced Media, NBCUniversal, NCC Media, New York Market Radio, The New York Times, Nielsen, OpenX, Pandora, Precision Marketing Insights from Verizon, Purch, PwC, RadiumOne, Rovio, Rubicon Project, Tasting Table, The Wall Street Journal, The Weather Channel, true[X], Turn, Quiver, Univision, USA Today, WebMD, Yahoo, yp, and many more."

Other developments to watch for:

"Will Facebook Announce New Atlas Advertising Platform at Advertising Week 2014?"

The Yellow Pages will "take over" Grand Central Terminal.

The Drum will try to shock you.  (Anybody out there still shock-able?)

PR research coming of age

September 15 - 19, 2014 was the observance of the first global public relations Measurement Week. The initiative was led by the London-based AMEC (International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication), the U.S.-based Institute for Public Relations, a number of the leading research services providers  (BurrellesLuce, Cision, Gorkana, Kantar, PRIME, and Vocus), and a handful of the global PR agencies, and it was the culmination of nearly a decade of the efforts of the public relations industry to grapple with the demands for better analytics in media and marketing services.

The PR industry -- like advertising and the news and entertainment media -- has faced enormous challenges to its business model in the face of the impact of digital technologies. Yet PR had always stood apart -- or trailed behind? -- other marketing and media sectors in demonstrating its impact. The PR profession often justified its contributions with vague concepts such as "buzz," "impressions," "advertising value equivalency," and "reputation." As inadequate as the standard metrics had been for advertising and media, PR offered nothing comparable for consistency.

The challenge from large corporations' procurement departments for an industry standards for marketing communications services return on investment (ROI) metrics, especially after the 2008 recession, coalesced with inklings about the potential to link communications acts to transactions, transparently, with new digital media.

The September 2014 Measurement Week is a strong indication of how far the PR industry has come to meet these challenges in two dimensions: 1) providing the analytics that business demands at the same time as 2) creating consensus with the global PR industry around methods, terminology, and standards.

The third edition of the Dictionary for PR Measurement and Research, published by the Institute for Public Relations, and edited by Prof. Don Stacks at the University of Miami and Prof. Shannon Bowen at the University of South Carolina, is now widely accepted as the authority on PR research  terminology definitions.

AMEC has rallied consensus among corporations, research services providers, and PR agencies in a number of initiatives, most notably its campaign against "advertising value equivalency," first aggressively asserted in the 2010 Barcelona Declaration of Measurement Principles.

In the past three years, a coalition of communications associations has undertaken aggressive efforts to articulate standards and best practices for monitoring and analytics of both traditional and new digital media communications. The Coalition for PR Research Standards has the active participation and endorsement of the Council of Public Relations Firms, the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, the Institute for Public Relations, AMEC, and the Public Relations Society of America.  Simultaneously, an overlapping group was formed, The Social Media Measurement Conclave, which has met and articulated new industry standards for social media measurement methodologies -- with the hearty endorsement from opinion-leading corporations such as Southwest Airlines, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Cisco, McDonalds, and Thompson Reuters.

Finally, The Institute of Public Relations has created a new PR Research Standards Center dedicated to sustaining industry consensus and providing content and initiatives to support PR education (both academic and professional) related to the newly articulated standards.

NFL -- a case study in the making for all brand watchers

American professional football has been untouchable -- by economic recessions, by sky-rocketing ticket costs, and by celebrity player periodic scandals.

But has the perfect storm of player traumatic head injuries and player inflicted criminal abuse finally hit the league? AdAge reports on September 13 that "The YouGov BrandIndex, which emasures daily brand consumer perception, found that the NFL's 'buzz' score fell from a yearlong high of 36 on Monday to -17 four days later, which marks the league's lowest score since June 2012 . . . . the NFL's score plummeted as it dealt with a constant drumbeat of negative headlines and scathing commentary . . . . Interestingly, the NFL fared worse among men, whose score was -27, than women, which came in at -8."

News report nationwide echoed the YouGov findings. sfgate writes, also on September 13, in a typical report: "Domestic violence rocks NFL image, threatens brand."  The Wall Street Journal also casts the conjunction of reports about player mis-behaviors as a corporate brand story: on September 12 the Journal reports: "Domestic Violence Incident Hurting NFL Brand." As evidence, the Journal cites social media: "About 29% of the comments during the opening week of the 2014-2015 football season were negative while only 8% were positive, according to Networked Insights. . . . It's a far cry from the year earlier period when 21% of the comments about the NFL were positive and 15% were negative."

Last week (September 9), Adweek focused on the women's market with "After Ray Rice, the NFL Needs to Go Big to Restore Brand with Women: It may be 'toast' if it doesn't, marketers say." 

Unsurprisingly, much of the media coverage calls for "new leadership" -- given what has been reported and what many suspect about the way that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and his staff have handled the situation, it is a predictable crisis containment strategic step to fire the CEO (whether or not the decapitation of the leader means any deep structural or cultural change in the organization or not.) However, John Kass at the Chicago Tribune, offers an interesting recommendation which could have profound branding impact: appoint former Secretary of State (and well-known football fan) Condoleeza Rice as the next NFL Commissioner.

This is a brand story to watch.

CCNY ranked #1 for diversity in the USA northern region

U.S.News & World Report 2015 rankings of educational institutions has cited CCNY as the number one regional university in the North for racial and ethnic diversity.  According to the magazine, CCNY offers the most enriching learning experiences where "students are most likely to encounter undergraduates from a different ethnic group from their own."

Overall, CCNY is ranked #65 among 620 regional universities  in the North.

CVS -- a CPG retailer or a health company?

Jonathan Salem Baskin, at Forbes.com, has blogged about "CVS' tobacco position is a great first step for the brand."  When we blogged last February about CVS's decision to stop selling tobacco products, it was not publicly known that CVS was making this product-SKU decision into a full-fledged brand repositioning for the company.

Now that the company has followed up its "no tobacco products" policy with a corporate name change ("CVS Health"), questions have to arise -- noted by Baskin -- about whether CVS is going to sell sodas and other foods and dietary supplements that are scrutinized and controversial.

It's tricky.  If CVS is becoming a "health" company, it's going to have to get serious about defining and acting on the "health" issue. If the company is not serious -- thoughtful and consistent -- the "health" positioning will quickly be perceived as a shallow farce. Execution will be ALL.  Will the new CVS brand walk the talk?

CCNY BIC welcomes the class of 2016

The City College of New York, Branding + Integrated Communications Master's Degree program has welcomed its second class of students.

Over thirty students from all over the United States and the globe have chosen to study with CCNY and the BIC program in the second class of this pioneering program in the study of the skills and issues facing the contemporary marketing communications sector.

Check back here for future news about the progress of impact of BIC students.

Are you sure that brand is dead?

Anybody -- from now through the past three generations -- could get vertigo reviewing the ups and downs of Chrysler Corporation, Fiat, and Alpha Romeo in the USA market.

Check out this current perspective from brandchannel.

For those of us interested in the long-term asset-value of brands, the resurgence of both Chrysler and Fiat is a fascinating example of how Brand can live on, move forward, and transcend performance failures.

Of course, it doesn't always work.. Consider Saab.