Silver Anvil
COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY
The Cookie CAREavan tour for DoubleTree by Hilton was awarded the Silver Anvil Award from PRSA! Congrats to the incredible team that worked on the project.
As anyone who has worked with us knows, we love producing events and mobile media tours here at Decibel, and it is great to work with such an outstanding team. Ketchum Public Relations, Digital Royalty, Gensler, OMD, and all of the partners made it a great tour. We were thrilled to be along for the ride!
The Cookie CAREavan tour won the Silver Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), in the category of Marketing Consumer Services Travel/Tourism. The tour also won a PRSA Award of Excellence in the category of Events and Observances, 7 days or more (business services). This is the third Silver Anvil for David Sonntag as a producer and the first for Decibel Management.
National Small Business Week 2011- Registration
COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS
Registration for the 2011 National Small Business Week is up and running. You can register for the event by visiting the NSBW registration page here. More info after the jump.
If you are in DC the week of May 16-20, this is a great opportunity to network with other small businesses, learn about SBA programs from the source and hear from some fantastic speakers. Every year since 1963, the President of the United States has proclaimed National Small Business Week to recognize the contributions of small businesses to the economic well-being of America. As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration recognizes this special impact made by outstanding entrepreneurs and small business owners. In 2011, National Small Business Week will honor the estimated 27.2 million small businesses in America. Small businesses are major contributors to the strength of the American economy. More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business. They also create 60-80 percent of new jobs in the country. Small businesses drive innovation, create 21st century jobs and increase U.S. competitiveness.
National Small Business Week Conference and Meeting
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS
Just wrapped up the 2012 National Small Business Week Conference and Meetings in Washington, DC. This year s event featured a number of great sessions at the Mandarin Oriental, along with offsite events at the U.S. Department of State and the White House.
Along with these events, we also rolled out our touchscreen kiosks for the Microsoft Lounge. These were fully wrapped with graphics and networked for both internet as well as printing. Be on the lookout for these at future events, they were a huge hit both with the client as well as the attendees!
As with all of our events, it takes some great partners to produce an event of this caliber. Thanks to the teams at EventEQ, Legacy Scenic, Radium, the staff at the Mandarin, and countless other folks that all came together to build out the event.
National Small Business Week
COMPANY NEWS
Decibel Management was selected as the event producer for the 2011 National Small Business Week meetings and events in Washington, DC.
They will be at the Mandarin Oriental from May 16 20, 2011. We will have updates as the work progresses and when we have registration up and running. This is a great conference for small businesses and I highly recommend attending.
Decibel Mobile Hotspot for Events, Trade Shows and Conferences
COMPANY NEWS, EVENT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
We just finished the build on a great new project for an upcoming tour. This is a mobile hotspot that is purpose built for events, trade shows, and conferences.
While we have historically and typically used in-house or dedicated wired connections for our events, this just was not an effective solution for the current deployment. Our current tour schedule is amazingly aggressive- we do not have time to advance the sites or drop a staffer early to work with wired connections and have them set and ready when we arrive. We needed a solution that can be set up within 5 minutes of arriving onsite, it needed to travel well, and the back end software needed to be solid.
In looking at all these parameters and what was on the market currently, we decided it was best to develop our own solution. It was shipped to meet the tour build today and we plan to do a thorough shakedown before launch and more testing during the first four preview events. Look for more updates to come!
PR Week Award
COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS
Congrats to the team at Ketchum DC and their client DoubleTree by Hilton on the Product Brand Development of the Year award! We loved being a part of the tour and the award couldn t have gone to a better team! For their PR Week submission, Ketchum included a great writeup of the tour itself. You can see it on the PR Week Award Site, or read on below.
Since 1986, DoubleTree by Hilton has been giving a warm chocolate chip cookie to every guest upon check-in as a symbol of the brand s enhanced care culture. Just in time to celebrate the sweet treat s 25th anniversary, Ketchum was tasked with raising DoubleTree by Hilton s brand awareness. The agency recognized that the cookie was central to the brand s story and organized a summer campaign in which the Cookie CAREavan, a branded food truck (a first among hotel chains), traveled more than 15,000 miles coast to coast through 50 cities distributing and donating a total of 250,000 chocolate chip cookies. Ketchum leveraged existing events, including ComicCon in San Diego and pride festivals in Chicago and Key West, FL. The firm also reached out to mayors and government officials, securing July as the DoubleTree by Hilton Chocolate Chip Cookie Month in Texas and Tennessee. Cities including San Francisco, Atlanta, and Detroit named the CAREavan s arrival as DoubleTree by Hilton Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. A Facebook tab displayed the route, relevant tweets, and sweepstakes for free hotel stays, which resulted in nearly 29,000 new likes and more than 10,000 sweepstake entries. In addition, Foursquare check-ins at CAREavan stops awarded Hilton HHonors points. The business with the most #SweetBreaks tweets won 250 cookies hand delivered to the office. Results directly attributed to the campaign include a 200{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} jump in unaided brand awareness, a 15{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} revenue boost, and a 125{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} increase in HHonors enrollment, all over 2010. The campaign was recognized in 1,833 media outlets including Today, Good Morning America, and USAToday.com. Mashable declared the CAREavan No. 1 Food Truck for Social Media Marketing. One judge praised the campaign as brilliant and bigtime. Another judge agreed, saying, The effort put a fresh new twist on the food truck concept and blended in a terrific cause element.
Decibel Red Carpet Premiere Event
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS
Fleishman-Hillard DC and their ONDCP team tasked Decibel to create a red carpet entrance for a press event. This was for the winner of the MTV Unwasted Weekend Challenge. Decibel traveled to Essex Junction High School in Vermont to turn an Auditorium into a traditional red carpet event. It was a privilege for the team at Decibel to be part of this amazing evening dedicated to the members of the Essex CHiPS program for high school students that stay above the influence of drugs and alcohol. The evening started with the students, parents and speakers having pictures taken on the red carpet. The evening also included speakers from the Essex CHiPS program, the director of the Above The Influence Campaign and the students that created the winning video. Take a look at the video they produced.
More Facade Projection and Mapping
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS, TIPS & TRICKS
Another Lyon Festival of Lights (F te des lumi res) has concluded. I am a big fan of the festival as well as the fa ade projection and fa ade mapping that has become ubiquitous with the celebration. Each December, I look forward to seeing the displays and designs that are produced for the 4 day event.
This year, it was an experience, rather than breakthrough content that we were most excited about. The installation and design was from a French company called CT Light Concept. In the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon a square called Place des C lestins is home to the theater in the video below. (Quick aside, the square is located on lands once owned by the Knights Templar). Instead of simply having festivalgoers watch a presentation, CT Light Concept took fa ade projection and fa ade mapping to an interactive level, a pinball game that users can control. The only piece that would have been great to see added was a high-score list on the fa ade, but I am sure that folks had a blast nonetheless.
I thought this was a very unique and interesting installation. You can view the video by following the link here.
Political Debate Production
BACKSTAGE, COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, LIVE EVENTS
Recently, we were invited to assist a campaign with advance work for the CNBC debate in Michigan. We spend a lovely week in Detroit advancing the debate at Oakland University, as well as various smaller events throughout the week. We love debate production and what goes on behind the scenes. This one was particularly well produced and we have some great shots of setup. The first few are of the hall itself, as well as backstage. The final shot is from the filing center and spin alley.
PR Smiths: Decibel Management Picks Up PRSA Silver Anvil
COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY
For the part it played in the production and tour events for the DoubleTree by Hilton Little Things Project, Decibel Management was awarded with its second Silver Anvil by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).
The Little Things Project saw DoubleTree by Hilton ask its customers about the little things that made big differences to their stay in the hotel. The project gathered more than 5,000 responses that spoke of the importance of local bargains, ability to recharge electronics, free Wi-fi and DoubleTree by Hilton s famed chocolate chip cookies. Following this research, the hotel went on the road for a 50-city tour to share these little things with people across the nation.
The campaign met with rave success wherever it went, which was shown in the PRSA Silver Anvil in the Marketing Consumer Services- Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality category for the DoubleTree by Hilton s Little Things Project Brightens Travel Experiences Nationwide tour. This was truly a team effort from all sides including DoubleTree by Hilton with Ketchum, Gensler, Digital Royalty, OMD, Decibel Management and Laird.
DoubleTree by Hilton, Ketchum and the Little Things Project also won 2 Bronze Anvils in the Media Relations Consumer Services, Travel and Tourism/Hospitality and Social Media, Consumer Services categories. The campaign also won an Award of Commendation in the Creative Tactics, Consumer Services category.
Decibel Management is proud to be awarded the PR industry s highest honor for the second year in a row. A big thanks to the entire team, and certainly looking forward to working with this group again!
