But why stop there? In the days leading up to Mother’s Day, we also launched an aggressive search engine marketing (SEM) campaign that targets consumers conducting flower-related searches on Google. Throughout the day our SEM group tweaks, rebids and makes key word adjustments based on Google search trends to ensure that PANDORA’s message is heard. We even created a unique URL of www.PandoraBetterThanFlowers.com which takes consumers to the gift advisor referenced above.

And our efforts are working! Not only are consumers linking to the gift advisor and stores at a great rate, we’ve also rattled a few of our Goliath competitors in the process.

We conducted an informal study before developing the “Monopoly” television spot, which first aired during the Academy Awards and ran through the end of March. We found that our target audience, who grew up playing Monopoly, has great memories of this classic game. Most have a favorite “piece” that they use every time they play, such as the Top Hat or the Thimble. We decided to play off this emotional connection by building our spot around the Scottie Dog game piece, which was brought to life through CGI by Click 3X, an award-winning animation studio.

The result? A television spot that puts a fun new twist on an old classic for the Maryland Lottery’s Monopoly scratch-off game, and promotes two great ways consumers can win real cash.

Check it out here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRxWnc0hlDA

I just read a great article on the very subject of mobile marketing units from the April 16, 2012 issue of Adweek entitled Road Warriors by Robert Klara. The article profiled six iconic brands that have incorporated the use of attention-getting mobile marketing units to promote their brands: Le Creuset, the French makers of high-end pots and pans; Peeps, the “adorable” bad-for-you Easter treat; and Oscar Mayer, the brand that has used the well known Wienermobile since 1936.

In his article, Mr. Klara indicated that the use of this concept “is not cheap,” stating that the production of a “ground-up concept” can run as much as $600,000. As a leading Challenger Brand agency that specializes in working with clients with smaller ad budgets than the “big guys”, we disagree. Most of our clients have to be much more strategic with their marketing budgets which calls for GKV to be more creative with less resources. And we have done it time and again.

For the past decade, GKV has been working with clients to successfully develop, implement and manage extremely cost effective and attention-getting mobile marketing vehicles which use grassroots campaigns to reach target audiences and deliver their messages in a non-traditional way when and where the audiences least expect it. At GKV there really is no one size fits all mentality when it comes to the type of vehicle used. Our fleet includes RVs, Sprinter vans, former bread trucks, etc. We are currently transforming a pickup truck and 28′ car hauler for a leading broadband cable company in Virginia. Stay tuned for photos upon completion.

The following is a sampling of mobile marketing units and associated grassroots campaigns we have developed in partnership with our clients - without consuming our client’s entire marketing budget.

If you’re ready to add an exciting interactive and experiential marketing component to your marketing mix but don’t think you can afford it or don’t know where to start, contact me at 410.234.2439 or kevin.kempske@gkv.com. I think you will be surprised with the positive impact we can have on your brand with a reasonable marketing investment.

I was 50 when I first started getting stuff from AARP. I thought it was funny. Everyone thinks it’s funny at first. Now, I’m 61. Now, when I get mail like that I get pissed off. Not at AARP but at the universe. Baby Boomers created America’s culture of perpetual youth. When we look in the mirror we still see our nineteen year-old selves staring back. The really scary part is that pretty soon I’m going to start getting mail from insurance companies who want to sell me a plan that supplements Medicare. Jesus…

The thought of being targeted with the kind of ads you usually see from Medicare plans-huge type, vapid photos of Grandpa fishing or Grandma gardening-is terrifying. I believe I speak for an entire generation when I say, “Screw Wilford Brimley”.

Unlike our parents, for whom 65 was the official beginning of the end, Baby Boomers are vital, informed and filled with hope for the future. We have money and influence our parents never had. Also, we’ve been marketed to all our lives. We see creative laziness and insincerity coming a mile away.

So, a few tips for Medicare marketers who recognize the need to connect with Baby Boomers aging into your products.

Don’t patronize us. Don’t attempt to co-opt our music or our symbols and simply attach your logo. I recently saw a spot in which a 65-ish guy picked up a guitar, interrupted his granddaughter’s band practice and broke into “Born to Be Wild”. I wanted to take a shower. Don’t bore us with spokespeople. We want dialog, not monolog. Don’t stereotype us like you did our parents…the newly emerging stereotype being the super-fit, rock-climbing, bike-riding Baby Boomer adventurer. Please. Finally, put a Baby Boomer somewhere on your team. Our lives have cultural detail and nuance that can richly inform your advertising. You’d do well to have the input of someone who’s actually taken our long, strange trip.

Recently I spoke at a Medicare marketing conference in Orlando and presented these views on Baby Boomer marketing. Check out the video to see the presentation and learn more.

Of the 2,000 Marylanders currently awaiting a life-saving organ donation, just over half are African American. However, only 36% of deceased organ donors in 2010 were African American. By conducting primary research at community events, we learned the low donor levels had to do with misconceptions about what it meant to sign up to be an organ, tissue or eye donor, such as: “doctors won’t work as hard to save my life” or “it goes against my religious beliefs.”

While traditional paid media placement could do wonders to raise awareness about the benefits of organ donation, GKV knew this approach alone would not be the best tool to overcome the misconceptions among this hard-to-reach audience. Instead GKV and LLF created a comprehensive campaign, called “Take a Minute, Save a Life,” which used a combination of traditional advertising channels (radio spots, mobile phone ads, bus shelter ads and the creative use of QR codes) strategically coupled with a community influencer grassroots outreach program.

GKV recruited and trained WCAO personality and ordained minister Dr. Lee Michaels along with barbers and hair stylists from more than a dozen Baltimore shops to join the “Take a Minute, Save a Life” movement to dispel organ donation myths and generate donor registrations. Each participating shop was given branded nail files, combs, t-shirts, hair capes and mirror clings with a QR code that took visitors to a secure site to register to become an organ donor. Shops also had paper copies of organ donor registration forms onsite.

In just two months in November and December 2011, nearly 100 Baltimore residents signed up through the program to become organ donors — an amazing number considering that in 2010 there were 250 registrations directly through LLF (and not through the MVA). And while everyone was pleased with the initial 2011 efforts, we have even bigger plans for 2012.

To learn more about the Take A Minute, Save a Life Campaign or GKV’s and LLF’s upcoming plans for National Donate Life Month in April, contact Carrie Dudley, VP and Director of GKV Reach at carrie.dudley@gkv.com.

Author: Eve Shafi, Senior Account Executive GKV Reach

• Devon Ament, Copywriter
  Ament, of Baltimore, Md., joins GKV as a Copywriter. She will be responsible for creating communication pieces for Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel),
  Snyder’s-Lance brands, BGE HOME and MJHS.

Ament has more than two years of copywriting experience and is a recipient of the 2011 Davey Award. Prior to joining GKV, Ament served as a copywriter for RPM Advertising in Chicago. Ament earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising from Michigan State University and a graduate degree in copywriting from Creative Circus.

• Caroline Casey, Account Executive

Casey, of Annapolis, Md., joins GKV as an Account Executive. She will join the team that manages campaigns and handles day-to-day account management activities for the Maryland Lottery and About Faces Day Spa and Salon. In this role, Casey will help oversee broadcast, interactive, print and strategic plans.

Casey joins GKV with nearly four years of experience. In her previous role as an account manager for Crosby Marketing, Casey specialized in integrated marketing campaigns for social advocacy clients. She also served as a global account management and planning intern with TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York City. Casey earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from New York University.

About GKV
GKV is a 30-year-old full-service integrated marketing communications firm specializing in helping challenger brands compete in hyper-competitive categories. With billings of more than $111 million, GKV provides a complete range of communications services including creative development, graphic design, production, media planning and buying, interactive, digital, community relations, brand identity development, research, public relations, direct marketing, crisis communications, grassroots and social media. GKV’s diverse international Client roster includes government agencies, nonprofits and cause marketing; as well as companies in travel and tourism, snacks and beverages, financial services and health industries. The Agency is headquartered in the Offices @ McHenry Row near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Visit www.gkv.com or www.facebook.com/GKVus.

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BALTIMORE - Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) (NASDAQ: SHEN), an established provider of broadband services for Internet, phone and television, has selected GKV to handle its branding, creative, digital development, interactive and grassroots marketing activities. Shentel specializes in providing advanced broadband services, digital TV, high-speed Internet and phone services to rural and underserved markets in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.

After completing an extensive brand positioning effort, Baltimore-based GKV will work with Shentel to develop and launch new creative across a combination of traditional advertising, direct response and non-traditional marketing channels such as grassroots activities to promote the company’s service to consumers in rural communities. GKV, an integrated marketing communications firm, has extensive experience in developing programs with the right mix of marketing strategies to best reach a wide range of customers with geographic or media usage disparities.

“After an extensive review that included ten marketing firms, we chose GKV because of their Challenger Brand approach to marketing, their extensive service offerings and the commitment of senior leadership to work with our company,” said  Willy Pirtle, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Shentel.

“We are thrilled that Shentel has chosen us to be part of their team,” said Roger Gray, CEO of GKV. “The growth potential for Shentel is tremendous. Our partnership with Shentel will allow us to do work in the broadband business, which is a new category for GKV.”

About GKV
GKV is a 30-year-old full-service integrated marketing communications firm specializing in helping challenger brands compete in hyper-competitive categories. With billings of more than $111 million, GKV provides a complete range of communications services including creative development, graphic design, production, media planning and buying, interactive, digital, community relations, brand identity development, research, public relations, direct marketing, crisis communications, grassroots and social media. GKV’s diverse international Client roster includes government agencies, nonprofits and cause marketing; as well as companies in travel and tourism, snacks and beverages, financial services and health industries. The Agency is headquartered in the Offices @ McHenry Row near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

About Shentel
Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (www.shentel.com) is a holding company that provides a broad range of telecommunications services through its operating subsidiaries. The Company is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “SHEN.” The Company’s operating subsidiaries provide local and long distance telephone, Internet and data services, cable television, wireless voice and data services, alarm monitoring, and telecommunications equipment, along with many other associated solutions in the Mid-Atlantic United States.

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How do you reach men during the Super Bowl, without paying 3 million dollars for an ad? For our most recent PANDORA mobile campaign, which targeted men with Valentine’s Day gift ideas, we worked with Millennial Media to reach gift givers while they were browsing their phone during commercials breaks or between plays. The result? A click through rate significantly higher than industry standards, partially because of a heavy up buy on Super Bowl Sunday, which drove more than 17 times the number of clicks as the average for the previous 16 days. You can read more about this campaign’s success in the Digiday article below and also in the case study from Millennial Media. Also, be sure to check out the PANDORA Gift Advisor - which was mobile-optimized so gift givers could create the perfect PANDORA bracelet for the special women in their lives.

Pandora Jewelry Bets on Mobile During TV Breaks
By: Giselle Abramovich, Digiday

Jewelry maker Pandora wasn’t crazy about the idea of shelling out millions of dollars for a TV spot during the Super Bowl. So it turned to mobile, betting that it would be a great way to reach men glued to their phones during the game’s commercial breaks.

Together with its agency GKV and ad network Millennial Media, Pandora ran display ads on mobile sites and in apps that would likely reach men while they were browsing between plays. The campaign also ran on mobile sites and apps every Sunday in January leading up to the big game. Additionally, ads ran in the Millennial Media “Male Channel,” featuring categories such as weather, entertainment and games. The ads were designed to get men to rethink their Valentine’s Day gifts for the special women in their lives.

“Pandora didn’t have $3.5 million to spend on a 30-second Super Bowl spot, but we wanted to reach this male audience leading up to Valentine’s Day,” said Angel Ilagan, vp of marketing at Pandora. “Mobile seemed like a natural solution, since 86 percent of our target is using their mobile phone while watching TV.”

The strategy was to target men for the three weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day and make them rethink their Valentine’s Day gift. Pandora’s goal was to show men 25-54 that they can choose a more meaningful and thoughtful gift. The other part was to target women and have them suggest to the men in their lives what an appropriate gift would be.

The mobile rich-media ads strutted the call to action, “Create a Valentine’s Gift in Minutes.” Once consumers tapped on the ad, they were taken to a full-page experience, dubbed The Gift Advisor. Men were asked to describe the woman in their lives and how they felt about them. Based on their answers, Pandora served up a matching piece of jewelry that that particular woman would appreciate.

Average visits to the Gift Advisor landing page were around 8,200 per day over the three-week campaign. On Super Bowl Sunday, there were 50,000 site visits. Also, 240,000 people went to Gift Advisor in the U.S. during the three-week time period. Fourteen percent of all people who visited the site were engaged enough to start browsing the questions regarding their loved ones. And 20,500, or 8.5 percent of people who visited the site were engaged enough to answer a question. Six percent of people who visited the site were engaged enough to answer more than one question. And 1,922 people created gift lists.

Pandora was taking a chance when targeting males with gift-giving suggestions while they were in Super Bowl mode. There was some worry about whether men who were obsessing over the big game would take the time out to think about a Valentine’s Day gift. The lesson learned by Pandora is that as long as the message is targeted and relevant, the message will be heard.

Fashion and accessories editors and directors were treated to a personalized PANDORA concierge service that included a luxury car service, a greeter in the lobby and a personalized entranceway inviting them to preview the new collection.  Inside the suite each editor discovered that the standard penthouse had been transformed into a garden boutique by New York celebrity event designer Jorge Cazzorla. The floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Empire State Building served as a backdrop highlighting the PANDORA logo and images of the new jewelry pieces.

Each guest was personally escorted by PANDORA and GKV public relations representatives to view the new bracelets, colorful rings and delicate watches displayed on floral stems. New statement necklaces along with the layered necklace concept were showcased on oversized display windows while a special ring fixture allowed guests to try on different combinations of stackable PANDORA rings.

Celebrity stylist and PANDORA ambassador Cristina Ehrlich lent her expertise in the suite by showing the latest spring clothing trends along with her favorite combinations of new and previous PANDORA pieces that were styled on both mannequins and the personal greeter.

Guests enjoyed signature beverages and small plates, some even opting to take a snack home with them after a long day.  Before leaving, editors created their own custom PANDORA bracelet and were given an electronic copy of the Look Book on a USB drive. A week after the visit, floral bouquets like the ones displayed in the suite were hand delivered to their offices to help keep the new PANDORA collection top of mind.

GKV and PANDORA hosted 14 appointments in the media suite, which included a nice combination of editors who previously had visited PANDORA media suites, as well as editors and publications meeting with PANDORA for the first time.  As a direct result of the media suite more than six media placements were secured for April and May issues, three editors requested jewelry kits and nearly a dozen editors requested product for upcoming shoots in the month following the unveiling.

Their presentation focused on how states and providers of Medicaid programs can establish a strong brand positioning and integrated marketing program prior to the implementation of the 2014 Medicaid expansion that will take place as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Branding will be a crucial step since the expansion is expected to make approximately 20 million additional people eligible for Medicaid.

ACA will be the most sweeping change to the Medicaid eligibility policy since it was first introduced in 1965. All U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who are younger than 65 and whose income falls below 138% of the federal poverty level will now be eligible enrollees for Medicaid. Many of these individuals have never had health insurance. In addition, this will include adults without dependent children for the first time.

Among the discussion points in Kevin and Garry’s presentation were cost-effective ways to reach and engage with people who, for the first time, will be eligible for Medicaid.

GKV has a long track record of providing innovative and strategic marketing communication to a wide variety of health care clients, particularly as it relates to Medicaid and Medicare issues including the Maryland Health Insurance Plan, Maryland Senior Prescription Drug Assistance Program, Maryland Physicians Care, Elderplan, Majestacare, Coventry and Arizona Physicians IPA, among others.

To schedule a meeting to learn more about GKV’s approach on preparing for the Medicaid expansion in 2014, please contact kevin.kempske@gkv.com or garry.raim@gkv.com. Find their presentation below: