AMP Agency - Frequency

We've Moved!

2010-01-25T21:26:00.002-05:00

Check out our new blog at blog.ampagency.com

Flashing for a Cause?

2010-01-08T13:52:00.008-05:00

Facebook was a prism of strappy, lacey bra colors yesterday, and for once it wasn't at all tied to a fraternity pledge event. Ladies around the world updated their statuses with their bra color, and in theory, promoted breast cancer awareness, and encouraged research donations and self examinations. There are varying accounts of who started the fun, but most ladies received a message similar to

An Insider's View of Media Negotiation

2009-12-29T11:12:00.005-05:00

by Michele Safar, Media SupervisorOften I get the question “how does the media team negotiates rates?” Is there a rate card rate and that’s the rate we pay? Or is it something else? I find the car analogy works well. The dealers put a sticker price on the car (their rate card) knowing you'll likely feel good about making the purchase if you get them below that MSRP. Media companies operate much

World’s Largest Elf Party

2009-12-16T11:39:00.004-05:00

by Kristin Schweizer, Group DirectorWhat do you get when you mix a scenic NYC holiday environment, stars for an upcoming holiday movie and 607 elf-outfitted people? A Guinness World Record of course! AMP in partnership with ABC Family staged the “World’s Largest Elf Party” at The Pond in Bryant Park on Monday, December 7th. In support of ABC Family’s release of Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe, AMP

Holy Cow, Facebook Bans Milk! Sorta...

2009-12-15T16:52:00.006-05:00

by Matt Rainone, Manager, Strategic MarketingAccording to Facebook’s new regulations, you are no longer allowed to conduct a promotion whose purpose is to “promote any of the following product categories: gambling, tobacco, dairy, firearms, prescription drugs, or gasoline”. Wait, dairy? As in milk and cheese? Dairy is treated in the same context as gambling, firearms and tobacco? This REALLY

Am I a Greedy Consumer?

2009-12-09T17:22:00.009-05:00

By Whitney Hardy, VP, Account ManagementRetailers have very effectively trained me when and how to shop and I sometimes wonder whether I will I ever pay full-price again.I live very close to the Natick Collection and go there often. I shop like I’m a woman on a mission – when I’m at the mall, I know when to go and where to go to get the best deals and savings . You’ve seen it and probably have

5 Reminders, Tips, and Lessons about Social Media Strategy from the Ad Club Panel

2009-12-01T17:26:00.011-05:00

by Ally Moehring, Integrated PR StrategistThis morning, a couple of us had coffee and some OJ with the Ad Club and their three panelists talking about social media strategy: “Dunkin’” Dave Puner of Dunkin’ Brands, Inc. (@dunkindonuts), Tom Matlack, co-editor of The Good Men Project (@TMatlack) and Janet Swaysland of Monster Worldwide. Listening to these social media rock stars, I was reminded of

The FDA Opens the Floor for Change

2009-11-20T12:06:00.002-05:00

by Josh Pike, SVP SearchThis past week I had the pleasure of attending the 2 day FDA hearing on the use of the Internet and social media for the marketing of pharmaceuticals. The purpose of the hearing was to open discussions about updating the current guidelines set forth by the FDA.The hearing format was interesting. Speakers, which included agencies, drug companies, public advocacy groups,

Mobile Marketing – Test and Learn

2009-11-19T13:38:00.002-05:00

by Sonny Kim - VP, InteractiveWe’ve been talking about mobile marketing for over a decade now, yet we still don’t see the mass adoption for marketers to include mobile in their marketing mix. The share of marketing dollars toward mobile is only 1.8% (MMA market survey 2009), yet it has established itself as a dominant communications channel. Over 200 million Americans own a mobile device and the

The Next Wave of User Generated Content?

2009-11-17T09:04:00.003-05:00

by Allison Marsh - VP, Consumer InsightsIn July, Japanese band sour released a new video for its song “Hibi no Neiro” (Tone of Everyday). As of today, the video has received over 1.6 million hits on YouTube and even for those of us that don’t understand Japanese it is something that you must see. The video was directed by Masashi Kawamur, Hal Kirkland, Magico Nakamura, and Masayoshi Nakamura

Twitter to the Rescue

2009-11-12T09:29:00.006-05:00

By Jason Rivera, Director, Consumer Insights and Ally Moehring, Integrated PR StrategistWe’re not sure if you’re aware, but on Tuesday of last week, T-Mobile had another major snafu. This time, it was a 6-hour service outage that was nationwide. Some users had no voice or data service for all 6 hours, some had loss of either data or voice, some lost one or both services for less than 6 hours and

Crossing Moats and Scaling Castles

2009-11-11T14:03:00.005-05:00

by Gary Colen, PresidentHere is something to think about. Consider two brands in the electronics category. Brand A has clearly defined technical superiority, a 30 year + history, as well as dominant brand awareness and distribution at retail. Brand B has an entrepreneurial bent, clear brand positioning as a ‘cool’ challenger brand, secondary retail placement and is a smaller business. Brand A

Twitter gets younger, Facebook gets older

2009-11-09T14:03:00.002-05:00

by Ally Moehring - Integrated PR StrategistAccording to the latest Pew Internet & American Life research results, contrary to recent reports Twitter is quickly being adopted by a younger demographic with the average age of Twitter users at 31, compared to Facebook’s average user age of 33, up from 26. The average age of a MySpace user is 26 and LinkedIn, 39.A shift was bound to happen at some

Economy Down, Education Up

2009-11-06T11:20:00.002-05:00

by Ellen Rienzi - Associate Planner, InsightsI’m sure you’re getting sick of hearing about the draining effects of the recession – the layoffs, the ups and downs of the market… it’s exhausting! But, since we’re still in the midst of it, here’s an interesting fact that may be a positive result of a messy economy. According to Pew Research, college enrollment has hit an all-time high. In October

The Full Social Media Story: A Return on Relationships

2009-11-04T09:02:00.003-05:00

by Victoria Shaw - VP, Integrated Public RelationsIn social media, traditional result measurement tools often leave holes and we are left with a set of quantitative metrics (such as impression numbers and advertising equivalency value) that help tell a story but often skirt around the main plot point. Such ROI metrics can fail to take into account the true value of social media – the relationship

The Pulse - Tech Savvy Consumers

2009-11-02T11:57:00.001-05:00

Every month we survey our Pulse Network, a network of over 10,000 milllennials. We had responses from over 100 students (high school and college) and here is what we learned this month.With smartphones becoming more prevalent and popular, we wanted to get a sense of how students feel about these new gadgets and what they thought were the biggest benefits of having one. While the majority of

What are Market Researchers Doing in Vegas?

2009-10-29T11:43:00.004-04:00

By Angelika Kazakaitis, Senior Planner, Consumer InsightsI just spent the week in Las Vegas. I know…you’re probably expecting to hear a crazy story, but remember, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” so I’m just going to share a few things I learned at The Market Research Event. (Maybe you can convince me to tell you about cocktail hour or the speaker who fell off the stage another time.)Over

Teach Your Pet a New Trick… or Treat

2009-10-29T10:24:00.011-04:00

by Matt Jacobs, Senior Manager, Strategic Marketing“Tricks” and “treats” are two words synonymous with dog owners. As a dog, you learn early in life that if you do a trick – e.g., roll over, shake hands, sit – you’re rewarded with a treat. But as Halloween nears, it seems like the pairing of “tricks” and “treats" is turning into “trick or treat” for many pets/owners. According to the National

Getting to Know Consumers

2009-10-27T09:34:00.002-04:00

by Allison Marsh, Vice President, Consumer InsightsAs part of the Consumer Insights team, I field a lot of very specific and sometimes obscure questions. Ranging from “how many 18 year old college students that live on campus are interested in renting furniture?” to “how many moms between the ages of 28 to 35 read newspapers?” to “what are the hotspots for tween boys?” Surprisingly, I usually

Tracking Growth on Twitter

2009-10-25T21:10:00.002-04:00

The Pew Internet folks released a new study on Twitter this week and the AMP Integrated Public Relations team did a topline analysis of the findings. As you’ll see it's certainly a growing space!Summary: A Pew Internet Project report released this week (10/21/09) reveals rapid growth on Twitter19% of U.S. Internet users are on Twitter or similar microblogging services (Twitter being the dominant

What’s Your Favorite Play-Doh Recipe?

2009-10-23T12:26:00.002-04:00

By Angelika Kazakaitis, Senior Planner, Consumer InsightsJust about every mom and kid is familiar with Play-Doh’s memorable scent and soft and squishy texture. It’s a classic molding compound that has encouraged fun and hands-on creative play with kids in homes and classrooms around the world for over 50 years. Bright yellow tubs that contain an assortment of colors have inspired kids to create

AMP Sprints Down the Hall with Puma

2009-10-21T10:57:00.006-04:00

In addition to providing full-service agency capabilities - experiential, creative, consumer insights, interactive, PR, search, media services - AMP also provides speed. Check out our sprinting!

5 Warnings Marketers Can Heed From Horror Movies

2009-10-20T10:00:00.023-04:00

by Ellis Watts - Manager, Strategic MarketingEvery year in the weeks leading up to Halloween I try to work a steady amount of horror movies into my entertainment diet. This week I have been thinking about some of my favorite slasher flicks and I realized that horror movies draw interesting parallels to strategic approaches in the marketing arena.Disclaimer: The following post contains many links

Asking that Simple Question

2009-10-14T14:51:00.003-04:00

by Julie Chin, Planner, Consumer InsightsLittle kids have it down pat – they are the ones that constantly ask the one question that carries so much weight and can shed light to the answers that we seek. I’ll give you a hint; it’s only one word. No, its not “how,” although that’s a close second. If you guessed “why?” then you are right on point. In my line of work, that question is key to

We’re green, we’re cost conscious, and we’re social. What’s Next?

2009-10-08T22:00:00.003-04:00

by Matt Rainone, Manager, Strategic MarketingThere’s been an interesting change in the marketplace over the past 4-5 few years that has basically happened out of a mixture of necessity and coincidence and has yielded some long-lasting outcomes. I remember interviewing a potential intern candidate about 2 ½ years ago and we began talking about how every company out there is “going green”. The

Excessibility

2009-10-07T08:54:00.004-04:00

by Adriann Fonstein, Consumer Strategist, InsightsSome people think I’m crazy, but I like to make up words. I think I’ve said that before, but I’ll fearlessly say it again as I introduce my latest epiphany – “excessibility.” I define it as ‘excess available to the masses;’ accessible excess. It’s a concept many high-end designer-low-end-retailer pairs have sold consumers on. Put a low-end

Fun Facts

2009-10-06T11:08:00.000-04:00

Every month we survey our Pulse Network, a network of over 10,000 milllennials. We had responses from just under 100 students (high school and college) and here is what we learned this month.Still Fans of Facebook85% of respondents are on Facebook and they are on it often. We asked them how often they check Facebook and the answer is a lot.10% stated I am on it all day long54% stated they check

Halloween Costume Planning From The Search Desk

2009-10-04T20:33:00.004-04:00

by Stephen Anderson, SVP, SearchI’m addicted to Google Insights for Search. For those who are not familiar, Google Insights provides an index comparing popularity of a search term vs. overall Google searches. So, whenever I have a question on public opinion it’s one of the first sources I turn to get a general sense of what is on peoples’ minds. Who is leading in American Idol? According to

Blunt is the new Black.

2009-10-01T11:43:00.002-04:00

by Nikki Raffenetti, VP CreativeI am constantly inundated by numerous emails from photographers, illustrators and freelancers. If you’re like me, you don’t have the time to filter through the mumble jumble and I generally delete them immediately. Then, two weeks later, I’m scrambling three hours before a presentation, looking for an illustrator that can help me out. Where was that email I

Putting Points on the Board

2009-09-30T09:08:00.004-04:00

by Steve McCall – VP, Strategic MarketingAs we slowly move from summer into fall, the changing of the seasons means many things; leaves changing colors, apple picking season, new TV shows, 2010 planning, and FANTASY FOOTBALL SEASON IS BACK BABY!! This is the year I will completely dominate my league in a flurry of trash talk and virtual high stepping as I mock and embarrass any team that is

It’s not just BTS…it is also BTW time for many!

2009-09-29T11:47:00.004-04:00

by Doug Eckard, VP EventsAs students all over the country were being dismissed from school during the Spring of 2009, many of their parents were also being, or already were, dismissed from their jobs as well. And after a long hard summer, the job market is slowly starting to level off and many of the unemployed are slowly heading Back to Work just as their kids are heading Back to School. Will

I will not friend my mom… I will not friend my mom…

2009-09-22T10:28:00.003-04:00

(Ed. Note: Above picture not actually Meredith's mom)by Meredith Rice, Strategic Marketing InternIt was a very strange day when my mother finally told me she was on facebook.“You’re on WHAT?!!”Facebook was my world; the world which some kid, almost my age, had created for, well, kids my age. So when my 40/50-something year old mom (don’t worry, I won’t spill the beans) told me she had entered

Mix It Up A Little

2009-09-21T13:41:00.003-04:00

by Angelika Kazakaitis, Senior PlannerI always wanted to make a Vodka Soda my go-to drink, but unfortunately, I was never strong enough to drink a stiff cocktail. I often disguised the taste of hard alcohol with cranberry juice or a fruity soda, until one day, I was introduced to flavored vodka. It was then when discovered that I had options (all of them low calorie too)!I started experimenting

Personal Revelations through Gossip Girl

2009-09-14T13:54:00.003-04:00

by Patty Barrett, Office ManagerThroughout our lives, there are pivotal moments where we get to know ourselves a little better. Generally, we learn through our relationships with other people, our life experiences, our trials and tribulations… but for me, it came through a Gossip Girl marathon.Gossip Girl promotes a life that is not typical of the average American teenager. There are generally no

Do's and Don'ts for a Stellar Partnership

2009-09-14T12:42:00.011-04:00

by Jon Genese, SVP Account ManagementThroughout this turbulent year, I’ve spent more and more time thinking and strategizing about how our agency team can be more valuable for our clients: how do we help them out, how do we cut out the B.S., and how do we hang around longer in the midst of agency consolidation and economic uncertainty. They’re certainly not simple questions and at times no

"High Impact" Indeed

2009-09-11T13:37:00.005-04:00

by Amy Seeburger, Media SupervisorAt a time when the annoyance level with the invasiveness of online advertising is at an all time high, it seems poor logic to increase the size of ad units – effectively marginalizing content (ahem, the reason the users are there in the first place?). With some high profile content providers on board as well as the IAB, one would assume there was some sort of

On Why Blogs Matter…

2009-09-10T11:07:00.005-04:00

by Victoria Shaw, Vice President, Integrated PRIt’s probably been a few years since you first heard the word ‘blog’ and thought to yourself, “what an interesting idea!” And even if you read blogs on a regular basis you’ve probably seen their coverage diminish in favor of things like the latest Twitter phenom or the newest viral video. Yes, the media honeymoon with blogs is over. But don’t let

Game On! An Open Field for Brands

2009-09-09T14:34:00.005-04:00

by Bryan Cadogan, COOHaving recently spent a long weekend with 10,000 of my closest friends at a youth soccer tournament, I had to wonder - where are the sponsors? Spending an entire day watching 10 to 14 year olds run around on fields (or “pitches”, as the British accented coaches would say) that are better maintained than most college fields, my business mind went to work - here are thousands

SIGG Aluminum Bottles Contain BPA After All; SIGG CEO Almost Contrite, Almost

2009-09-09T12:24:00.006-04:00

by Ellis Watts, Manager, Strategic MarketingA little BPA (Bysphenol A) never killed anyone, right?/fact checking…Ok, so apparently it has the potential to kill many people. Luckily as the BPA scare emerged last year there was one company, SIGG, that did a great job of marketing their bottles as safe alternatives to harmful plastic Nalgene bottles. Until it came out last week that wasn’t really

Avoiding the Professional Respondent and Getting a Glimpse at a Consumer’s Real World

2009-08-26T08:53:00.003-04:00

by Allison Marsh, Vice President, Consumer InsightsThe other night I was watching some late night TV and I saw a commercial for a Big Spot Surveys promoting its website bigspot.com. While it is not the best commercial - it is not funny, not really visually interesting, nor is it especially well done - it got me thinking. Market research has really become big business – from a consumer point of

My Cell Phone has a First Name

2009-08-25T15:25:00.001-04:00

Bu Jason Rivera, Director, Consumer InsightsI read the interwebs. Not just like a few interwebs. I mean, like, a LOT of interwebs. I’m also a huge tech nerd. You would think these unassuming traits would keep me abreast of the lingo-of-the-moment used to describe things like cell phones. Well, no such luck. The term “smartphone” has been around for the better part of six years, but there was

Buy Now – Save Later. A Media Strategy For The Recession

2009-08-24T13:45:00.002-04:00

By Karen Macumber, SVP Media ServicesIf a store suddenly called you to offer a 50-80% discount off their entire inventory would you say “no way?” It seems today that most consumers would be more likely to at least go to the store and stock up on the items you know you’ll need. Now apply that same situation using media as the store and advertising as the inventory. The media companies are

I "HEART" Free Stuff

2009-08-19T17:46:00.003-04:00

Ally Moehring, Integrated PR StrategistIt’s no secret that I am a Twitter junkie. Personally, it is important to me to hear about Kourtney Kardashian’s pregnancy 5 seconds before you and to read @jordanrubin’s Tweets so I can giggle like a schoolgirl (translation: loudly guffaw and snort, I’m not dainty). Professionally, I have to know what consumers and brands are doing on Twitter to stay

That Big, New Things You've Been Looking for is Here

2009-08-18T15:09:00.000-04:00

It’s called 3D. You heard right – 3D. Yeah, sure, 3D has been around since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, but there is a lot of newfound excitement about it with geeks worldwide. The most recent generations of 3D that have been seen at Disney World, in children’s books or even as adaptations of box office hits is just a teaser to what’s around the corner. Scientists and cinematographers alike

Facebook… The Future of Search???

2009-08-13T17:10:00.003-04:00

By Josh Pike, Senior Vice President of SearchFacebook has recently unveiled some new changes to the search capabilities which strikes at the heart of some major usability issues with the site. In addition to categorization of search results by origin (i.e. groups, friends, pages, etc.) the new search functionality allows users to reach out beyond their network of friends to see information from

Tweeting DURING Labor?!

2009-08-11T15:07:00.003-04:00

by Allison Marsh, VP Consumer InsightsI just learned that the wife of Twitter CEO, Evan Williams (@ev’s wife @sara), has been tweeting during her labor. Her tweets followed her from when her water broke to when she was admitted to the hospital to when she asked for the epidural. As the CEO’s wife, I guess this sort of thing is expected. But as an expectant mom I sort of think that I am going to

Big Papi. Bigger Questions.

2009-08-11T13:00:00.003-04:00

By Matt Jacobs, Senior Manager, Strategic MarketingWith conversations about Boston’s beloved David “Big Papi” Ortiz still swirling around the office, I was surprisingly unsurprised when I recently received an email with a stat that “20% of kids aged 8-14 know other children who regularly cheat at sports” (source: SI Kids and C&R Research). While I do truly believe that Papi was a victim of a

Crowdsourcing?

2009-08-10T11:59:00.014-04:00

by Katie Desmond, Senior Producer, Interactive It seems that in this constantly evolving, digital world, each day there is something new and exciting to capture our attention. The trends ebb and flow but once in a while a new development comes to life which could have lasting implications, especially in the world of Marketing. This under hyped, lightly used example appears to be crowdsourcing.

Twitterku

2009-08-07T12:54:00.009-04:00