Cercone Brown Blog

Social media ROI — especially linking social media ROI to sales and real business growth — has been elusive… until now.

Through our partnership with Overdrive Interactive, we now offer the industry’s first social media ROI system. This Social Media Dashboard compiles all social media touch points, from Facebook to Twitter to YouTube Channels.

But what’s more, you can also bring in feeds from Google Analytics, your call center, e-commerce sales and event retail sales.   The result is an overlay that ties together your social media efforts with the real-time results that will make any CFO happy.  Contact Anne Houseman for a demo.

For several years, CBC Summer House (Nantucket) and Winter House (Park City) has seen producers and editors from the likes MTV, NBC Today, the New York Times live with the best new products from companies ranging from Ford, Honda and Subaru to Columbia, Pepperidge Farm and Wente Vineyards.  The result is an indelible, authentic experience that fuels coverage online and off.

Now the scene moves to a Net-Zero community in Boulder, Colo. for the Green House in August and feature all eco-friendly products ranging from innovative building materials, smart appliances, electric cars and many other objects of Smart Living.  We expect the elite of the green media in attendance, and many household names are getting on board (we’ll drop names soon.)

More than a media experience, the Green House will also feature the results of an ambitious research project conducted by our partner on the program Kickstand that seeks to identify the trigger points for companies to move consumers from green intentions to green buying.  The results and house products will also be reach the masses through a consumer-facing, multimedia website and social media campaign.

Visit cbcgreenhouse.com or contact Caroline Budney at to learn more.

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Green marketing (including organics) and outdoor gear are two main areas of emphasis for our business at Cercone Brown & Co., and Q1 saw both categories grow with the addition of the new clients Green Mountain Coffee, Orvis and Dr. Kracker.

Green Mountain is working with our brand activation group (events and online promotions) to push their social responsibility initiatives, including its commitment to Fair Trade.  While Orvis is working with our lifestyle PR group to extend it reach through online and traditional media coverage.

The company you may not recognize is Austin-based Dr. Kracker, but chances are that you’ve tasted work of the founder, George Eckrich.  George started Whole Food’s bakery program back in the 80s, where he remained for nearly 25 years.  He left and created Dr. Kracker, a line of organic flatbreads and crackers available nationwide and building a fanatical following.  Cercone Brown recently hosted a bread-making seminar with some of the best food-press in the nation in NYC.  Check out some photos from the Whole Foods event!

Stay tuned, as more new business news is imminent!

Agency’s Earth Day Campaign for Nalgene Highlights Nation’s Least Wasteful Cities; Urges Environmental Responsibility Across U.S.

Boston, Mass. (May 7, 2010) - Advertising and PR agency Cercone Brown & Co. (CBC) was recently bestowed one of the PR industry’s top honors: a 2010 Bulldog Award for “Best Green Campaign.”

Recognized from a total pool of 800 submissions, the Boston PR agency earned a Silver award for its “America’s Least Wasteful Cities” program, developed for reusable bottle icon Nalgene.  The program combined social media, online marketing and traditional media relations to reach millions across America.  The Twitter campaign alone reached more than one million prospects.

“Many ‘experts’ will have you believe that social media alone is the silver bullet for PR campaigns today.  But it’s really the combination of traditional media relations and social media marketing that makes the online universe come alive,” said Cercone Brown & Co. partner Len Cercone.  “Creating content that people want to share is the key, whether that be from journalist to reader or person to person.”

Launched in April, the news was featured on the home page of USA Today, AOL, numerous green and news blogs and scores of TV stations, newspapers and magazines nationwide.  Each piece of coverage fueled sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and other social sites, as well as through the campaign site itself.  As a result, the news reached more than 4 million people within one month.

“Thanks to our partnership with CBC, Nalgene continues to think beyond the bottle,” said Tiffany Teaford, product manager/product development lead ,Nalgene-Outdoor. “The award-winning Least Wasteful Cities campaign reflects Nalgene’s broader mission of empowering people to create change, once choice at a time.”

The Campaign: America’s Least Wasteful Cities

During a time when many Americans sought to make environmentally friendly decisions in their lives, the “America’s Least Wasteful Cities” campaign identified wasteful behaviors in everyday actions.

As the focal point of the campaign, Cercone Brown & Co. designed an online research survey, polling 3,750 participants in the largest 25 cities (based on DMA) on waste-focused habits - from recycling, to using public transportation, to shutting off lights. When the results were tallied, San Francisco earned the title of America’s Least Wasteful City, while Atlanta ranked last.

With the news launched just prior to Earth Day, Boston PR agency Cercone Brown & Co. leveraged traditional public relations tactics along with social media tools, including Twitter and Facebook, to spread the word directly to consumers and online press alike.

In addition, the PR agency deployed a content-filled online microsite, which educated millions of Americans on their own wasteful behaviors, while providing an intimate setting for consumers to interact with the Nalgene brand.

Visitors were invited to purchase a special Nalgene bottle designed by Cercone Brown & Co., with a portion of the proceeds going to the Surfrider Foundation, an environmental organization dedicated to protecting the world’s waves and beaches.

The prestigious 2010 Bulldog Award for the “America’s Least Wasteful Cities” campaign underscores Cercone Brown & Co.’s commitment to developing campaigns yielding socially responsible outcomes.

“As an action-oriented advertising and PR agency, we feel a tremendous amount of accountability toward our clients, the general public and the environment around us,” said Caroline Budney, director of corporate social responsibility at Boston PR agency Cercone Brown & Co. “With the ‘America’s Least Wasteful Cities’ campaign, we encourage the general public to make environmentally-responsible decisions by highlighting the impact simple, everyday actions can make.”

In addition to developing campaigns for individual clients, PR agency Cercone Brown & Co. is renowned for its annual Green House event, where the nation’s top “green” editors are immersed in the latest practical and planet-friendly products, services and technologies. This year’s experiential marketing event will take place in Boulder, Colo. in August. For more information on getting involved, visit the Green House website at http://www.cbcgreenhouse.com/.

About Cercone Brown & Co.

Located in Boston, Massachusetts, Cercone Brown & Co. (CBC) provides branding, advertising, public relations and promotions services to companies in a range of industries. Founded in 2001, the company has worked with leading brands that include adidas, GMAC Insurance, Hasbro, Nantucket Nectars, Orvis, Cognos, Sperry Top-Sider, K2, The Timberland Company, Vibram and ZOOTS. For more information, visit www.cerconebrown.com, join the Cercone Brown Facebook page and follow Cercone Brown on Twitter.

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The tunes were spinning, the drinks were flowing and the dance floor was thumping. Sound like a typical Friday night? Perhaps for some, but for the folks at Cercone Brown & Company (CBC), it was a way to help relieve the devastation in Haiti caused by the recent earthquake.

Last Friday, CBC employees, family and friends gathered at The Vault in Boston to raise funds for the Red Cross Haiti relief efforts. With an initial door donation, the revelry-for-a-cause featured dance-worthy tunes by DJ Drama, lip-smacking cocktails with Triple Eight Vodka and scrumptious appetizers for all.

During the festivities, guests opened up their wallets for the cause and also took their chance at winning a slew of raffle prizes, including gift certificates to area restaurants, individual cooking lessons, a private party at Crush boutique and Celtics tickets. The most coveted prizes? Three sets of Red Sox tickets, including opening day, Green Monster seats and regular season admission.

“We know that times are tough for a lot of people right now, so it was amazing to see such an unbelievable turnout, and everyone was extremely generous,” said Robin Whalen, CBC account supervisor and lead organizer of the event.

After a whirlwind evening, the shindig raised approximately $4,000, one hundred percent of which will be donated to the Red Cross. For those who were unable to attend, CBC encourages direct donations to the Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development fund.

Join CBC this Friday, January 22 from 6pm to 9pm at the Vault in downtown Boston for an afterwork gathering of great drinks, great prizes and a great cause.

Hosted by Boston advertising and PR firm Cercone Brown & Co., some of Boston’s best will be lending a hand, from the Red Sox and Celtics to Nantucket’s Triple Eight Distillers and some of the city’s finest chefs. And every nickel raised will go to the American Red Cross to help the dreadful suffering of the disaster victims in Haiti.

Just $20 bucks covers you: free food, great drinks from Triple Eight (starting at 8:00 p.m.), music and a chance at amazing prizes:

Red Sox tickets, Celtics Premium Club seats in the Heineken Boardroom, one-on-one cooking lessons with Chef Rich Garcia of Tastings Wine Bar and Bistro, a private party hosted by chef Jay Silva of Bambara in the Hotel Marlowe, and gift certificates to Garden at the Cellar, a private party at Crush Boutique in Beacon Hill, and more.

Follow us on Twitter for updates: twitter/cerconebrown and friend us on Facebook to get the invite @ “cerconebrown”.  News as it happens.

Boston Advertising & PR Firm One as Six “Honorable Mentions from 800 Submissions for “America’s Least Wasteful Cities” Campaign for Bottle-Maker Nalgene

Blending social media marketing, interactive design, and press relations has become a hallmark of Boston advertising and PR firm Cercone Brown & Co., helping brands such as GMAC Insurance, adidas, Quiksilver and others build campaigns that drive awareness, sales leads and ROI.

On October 21st, the firm was honored for Best Online Campaign for 2009 for the prestigious Platinum PR Awards for its “America’s Least Wasteful Cities” work for reusable bottle icon Nalgene. Cercone Brown & Co. was among the top eight companies with the Best Online Campaign out of a total pool of 800 submissions.

With thrift and conservation on the minds of many Americans, the campaign put the spotlight on wasteful behavior in our nation’s top cities. “The Nalgene Least Wasteful City Study” ranked 23 waste-focused habits of urban Americans, from recycling, to using public transportation, to shutting off lights. When the results were tallied, San Francisco earned the title of America’s Least Wasteful City, while Atlanta ranked last.

Launched just prior to Earth Day, the program leveraged social media networks including Twitter and Facebook as primary channels.

“From a simple strategy of creating usable, compelling content, the effort quickly caught fire and extended beyond our hopes,” said Caroline Budney, director, social responsibility, Cercone Brown & Co.  “Almost immediately the ‘Net reacted with Twitter the clear epicenter of activity, as our frequent tweets were fueled by the tweets of columnists and bloggers.”

In total, the campaign reached more than 1 million on Twitter alone, and was extended by numerous television and print new stories. The campaign allowed Nalgene to strengthen its online community, adding fans to Facebook and followers to Twitter, making direct conversations with important alpha consumers easier and stronger.

The Platinum PR Awards

Del Monte Foods, GE, Time Warner Cable and American Express are among the organizations competing for honors in the 2009 Platinum PR Awards. Presented by PR News, the leading information resource among communicators, this highly competitive program honors the best PR campaigns and initiatives of the year.

The finalists in this year’s awards program included corporations, nonprofits and agencies large and small. The award winners were announced at an October 21, 2009 awards luncheon at the Grand Hyatt in New York City and in PR News’ Platinum PR Awards special issue in October.

The awards were judged by a blue-chip panel that includes PR executives from corporations, agencies, nonprofits and associations, and leading educators and industry consultants.

“It is remarkable how far the PR discipline has come in the past few years in terms of impacting an organization’s bottom line and reputation,” says Diane Schwartz, vice president and group publisher of PR News. “This year’s finalists in the Platinum PR Awards reinforce how powerful public relations is in moving the needle.”

PR News’ Oct. 26 Platinum PR Issue profiles the top PR campaigns of the year and will serve as a users guide to PR departments of all sizes and missions. Coverage will include profiles of the top innovative campaigns, the smartest communications initiatives and the people behind them.

As readers of this blog know, Cercone Brown is deep into online marketing and social media.  As a communications firm with a large PR component, we’d better be these days.  Now our work is being recognized on a national stage.  Cercone Brown & Co. Named Finalist for “Best Online Marketing Campaign for 2009” for the PR Platinum Awards.

The firm was selected from from 800 submissions for its “America’s Least Wasteful Cities” Campaign for bottle-maker Nalgene.  We’re off to NYC for the luncheon this morning.

We’ll write more about the campaign, how and why it worked, and lessons learned.  For now, keep your fingers crossed.  There’s a quick case study posted here, which we’ll change into an easier to use flash version this week.  Also, check out the release we’re issuing this morning…

Boston, Mass. (October 21, 2009) — Blending social media marketing, interactive design, and press relations has become a hallmark of Boston advertising and PR firm Cercone Brown & Co., helping brands such as GMAC Insurance, adidas, Quiksilver and others build campaigns that drive awareness, sales leads and ROI.

Now the firm is being recognized as one of the nation’s best as a finalist for the prestigious Platinum PR Awards for Best Online Campaign for 2009 for its ”America’s Least Wasteful Cities” work for reusable bottle icon Nalgene.

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