The VSB Wall Project - Why Do We Have Swings?

This past December, the agency bid adieu to our once welcoming living wall.

After numerous attempts to save the plants that once decorated the backdrop of our reception area, the existence of our living wall came to a grave end. Today, what welcomes guests to the agency is a wall with the absence of life and what seems to be a pair of randomly placed swings.

Don’t worry. The void left by our living wall may be no more thanks to the VSB Wall Challenge!

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Due to the emptiness of our reception area, Vivian and Diana roamed the office one afternoon and began placing a creative brief on everyone’s desk. The brief tasked the agency with determining what would replace the living wall and the reasoning behind why our agency has swings.

With two weeks to germinate creative ideas, all interested worked to become the crème of the crop. These ideas were placed on a white board in our creative triage for all to review and discuss.

From Miami street art to the hanging of our underwear, the pool of submissions was quite impressive. So when asked how they would determine a winner, Vivian and Diana only had one option – Shark Tank style.

We Won! 31st Healthcare Advertising Awards

After 18 years in business, it’s still extremely exciting for everyone at VSBrooks ADVERTISING when we hear that we won an award. So when we recently found out that we won awards for a print campaign we created for our client CarePlus Health Plans, we were downright ecstatic.

Healthcare Marketing Report – The National Newspaper of Healthcare Marketing – awarded us and CarePlus two silver awards in its 31^st Healthcare Advertising Awards. We won for the stellar campaign we created to advertise CarePlus’ Medicare Annual Election Period (October 15 – December 7), the time when Medicare recipients over 65 can change their health plan.

The Healthcare Advertising Awards are the oldest, largest and considered the most widely respected healthcare advertising awards. A national panel of judges grants awards to entries that exemplify exceptional quality, creativity and message effectiveness.

In the statewide member testimonial campaign, we showcased today’s "senior" – not the traditional grandmother in a rocking chair of yesterday. We spent months identifying CarePlus’ members who are reinventing themselves for their next act – opera singers, dog walkers, motorcycle riders and more – to speak to their active lifestyle.

CarePlus Health Plan's award-winning print campaign.

It’s our business to create mind-blowing, unconventional ads. And we do it well. And … we love it. Not only do we wake up every day eager to develop amazing advertising for the healthcare industry, but also education, government, real estate, travel, retail and non-profit, among many others.

What will our next award be? Who knows. But we know we’ll have one heckuva great time creating the advertising to deserve it.

Yes, We Rock! Sixteen Local ADDY Awards (Our Record) from AAF Miami

Our exceptional creative juices are constantly flowing, but last week they were recognized 16 times in one evening. On March 12, at AAF Miami’s 2014 ADDY’s Masquerade Ball at Rusty Pelican in Key Biscayne, VSBrooks ADVERTISING won 16 – yes 16 – local ADDY awards for our creativity. While we have won many local ADDYs in past years, 16 at once is our record.

The event is AAF Miami’s biggest night of the year, and best opportunity to celebrate astounding creative brilliance in the Miami area. Yep – that creative brilliance includes us.

The local ADDY Awards Competition is the first of a three-tiered national competition. At the same time, all across Florida, the Caribbean and the country, local entrants are vying for recognition as the very best in their markets. Last year, there were more than 52,000 local entries. The ADDYs is the largest competition in the advertising industry, recognizing creative excellence worldwide.



Here’s where we took the gold at the local AAF Awards Competition:

·       Feeding South Florida Get Crackin' Invitation: Invitation

·       VSBrooks Holiday Video: Digital Advertising – Branded Content – More than 60 Seconds

·       VSBrooks Advertising Holiday Gift: Digital Advertising – Campaign

·       VSBrooks Website: Digital Advertising – Services

·       Internos Stationary Package: Collateral Material – Flat Printed

And where we took the silver at the local AAF Awards Competition:

·       Feeding South Florida Get Crackin': Digital Advertising – Campaign

·       Feeding South Florida Get Crackin' Invite: Direct Marketing – 3D

·       Feeding South Florida Get Crackin' Campaign: Collateral Material – Campaign

·       Feeding South Florida Get Crackin' Invite Campaign: Direct Marketing – 3D/Mixed

·       Feeding South Florida Get Crackin': Public Service – Integrated Campaign

·       VSBrooks Website Video: Digital Advertising – Branded Content – More than 60 Seconds

·       VSBrooks Holiday Gift Video: Elements of Advertising – Animation or Special Effects

·       CAC–Florida Medical Center Campaign: Sales Promotion – Campaign

·       CAC–Florida Medical Centers: Out-of-Home – Flat

·       CarePlus Health Plans, Inc. Branding TV English: Television – Services

·       CarePlus Health Plans, Inc. Branding TV Spanish: Television – Services

As a local winner, the next step is to compete against other winners within our region, the 4th District. We love what we do, and we love that AAF Miami’s judges love it, too. And our creative juices will never stop flowing. 

We’re on the campaign trail. Vote for VSBrooks!

We’re no politicians. We simply can’t waffle, and you always know where you stand with VSBrooks ADVERTISING. (We don’t shut down operations when the team doesn’t agree on a marketing strategy.) But we’re channeling our inner Clinton, Reagan and Lincoln to humbly and sincerely ask for your vote.

As a Finalist, VSBrooks ADVERTISING is running against formidable candidates in the race to become a Winner of a Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce “Sparkle & Shine” 2013 Diamond Award. In the category of Large Business, we are going head to head with Hinson & Culbertson, LLC and The Palace. All finalists – and winners – will be recognized Nov. 14 at the Coral Gables Country Club for their work in representing Coral Gables as a wonderful city in which to do business.

What will separate the Finalists from the Award Winners is the number of online votes cast in favor of each company. Hence, we are campaigning, so to speak, for VSBrooks ADVERTISING to receive such an honor. While we are supremely happy to be Finalists, nothing beats winning. (We know. Competitive much?)

So we ask you to do three things: 1) Mark your calendar for Nov. 14 to join us in our celebration of being a Finalist; 2) Join the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce – they do great work promoting our city; and 3) Cast your vote for us here Monday, Oct. 28 before noon.

We’d kiss a baby and shake a hand, but this is a blog, people.

Thank you!

Shopping for healthcare is not like shopping for shoes or food – not yet anyway – but it’s getting there.

Today, television commercials for prescription medications put the decision-making power squarely in the hands of the consumer, who then can request a drug by name. Informational sites, such as www.webmd.com, allow visitors to make an initial diagnosis, while data- and survey-driven sites (www.HospitalCompare.hhs.gov) let customers choose their hospitals, based on what previous customers had to say. That’s right – customers – not patients. They are browsing before they buy.

The traditional “clinical” way of marketing healthcare services, doctors, clinics and hospitals has given way to a more personalized, interactive approach, one that assumes the consumer is educated, curious and engaged in his or her own care. Even insurance companies are becoming more approachable and friendly to appeal to the “shopper” in us all, employing the use of storefronts once reserved for buying fun, retail-y stuff, like clothes and furniture." Diana Brooks was quoted in a recent Miami Herald Business Monday Article saying that, "Some of them are doing kiosks in malls, and those are geared more to the individuals. What I see, though, is that right now, they’re having to advertise a lot more aggressively and go out there and find the people. The people aren’t necessarily walking in so much. And that’s just a function of the economy."

How do we know all this? VSBrooks Advertising has more than 15 years of experience in healthcare marketing and advertising. We know the consumer and their mindset, and we know the tools at their disposal are changing. We help our clients keep up and get in front of the curve.

What are you doing to help your potential customers make an informed decision?

Diana is in great company!

Diana has been featured in Ocean Drive Magazine's October issue "The List" and she's in great company (and she's the only woman on the list)! "The List" is Ocean Drive's movers and shakers page in South Florida.  Click here to see a bigger image.

Aside from co-owning the marketing force that is VSBrooks Advertising, she is also the Board Chairperson at Feeding South Florida.

Congrats D!

Facebook Page Insights - Use Them!

   When trying to measure just how well your Facebook campaign or daily posting efforts are doing, it can get really confusing listening to all the different acronyms and conflicting advice about what days and times to post are best, and what not to do or do. Who should you listen to? The answer is simple: Your online customer or page’s fan base.

   Yes, there are some great tips about Facebook and what works for businesses. Photo posts are king, while plain-jane html links, or long videos are usually shunned. But where’s the best place to get information as to what works? All you need to look at are your page’s own Insights. Everything you need to see about what’s really working on your page is available within your Admin tools. All the advice in the world is useless without actively checking to see your page’s “health.”

   On the basic screen shown below, you have a lot of information available to you. You’ll be able to see how everything is going on your page, with the only drawback being a two-day backlog with some of the data.

Facebook Insights Graph

 
   Here you can see just how many likes your page has, your potential reach of content, how many people are sharing or talking about your content, and even how many people actually saw content from your page. There are two ways you can get this information. Either use the basic view with the charts available (shown above), or you can download even more detailed information into an Excel spreadsheet so you can really drill into your page’s worth.

   There are a few things I like to look at. One of them is the information on each individual post, which is shown below the graph that is depicted in the screen above. This will show you the virality measurement along with the amount of people who talked about the post. This is really what is connecting your fanbase on a day to day basis. You may notice that photo posts work better than video posts or vice-versa. Did that funny quote you posted to your status really hit it off with your fans? Now you can actually see if it fell on deaf ears or not, and make adjustments to your plans for future posts.

Facebook Page Demographics

    Another good pair of insights to work with are your Demographics and your Reach pages. These insights will show you the age ranges and sex of your fans, as well as the geographical locations, browser types used, and a whole host of other information to use. That, my dear reader, is the whole point to all this information: USE IT! If you find that your page is mostly being viewed by males ages 18-25, it makes no sense to post something about tips for expectant mothers, unless that’s what your page is about. If it is, then you’ll be able to see that whatever you have been posting is attracting the wrong audience.

   The bottom line is, blindly posting random statuses and links, or constant spam about your business won’t win you a huge fan base. Facebook is about building a community for your page. You can’t do that if you aren’t speaking its language. What works for your page that goes against conventional wisdom? Please comment below if you’ve found some other information that has helped you hone in on your fanbase, and visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/VSBrooksAdvertising

 By: Stephen Kish - Social Media Coordinator/ VSBrooks Advertising

The Inevitable Need for Advertising.

By: Alejandro Barreras-Creative Director

 Written in response to The Miami Herald's June 6th article on Cuba's next step on the capitalist road: http://goo.gl/1jDTP , our own Alejandro Barreras offers his personal insight into how Cubans are adopting the advertising methods we take for granted to improve their lives and businesses.

 When I lived in Cuba, plain paper bags lined the shelves, with barely legible scribblings to mark whether they contained sugar, rice, or beans. Oil and vinegar – even beer and rum – were dispensed in unlabeled generic brown bottles. Toothpaste came in bare aluminum tubes, and you had to bring your own carefully preserved cartons for eggs.

 Magazines and newspapers carried no ads, TV and radio were uninterrupted by commercial breaks, and outdoor boards and posters, were used mostly for political propaganda. Niches such as publishing and movie posters while justly renowned as innovative, were the only oasis in an otherwise bleak and anodyne graphic landscape.

 That was the reality of Cuba as I was growing up. One of the most vivid impressions I have of my first few days outside the island was enjoying the graphic and aural onslaught of advertising. For a graphic designer, it was an amazing demonstration of the ubiquity of our craft. Everywhere I looked there were images and messages, written, photographed, art directed and designed. And this was Cancun –imagine if I had landed in Times Square!

 So reading this news coming out of Havana, I can't help but marvel at how Cubans are once again pushing the envelope of economic reforms with inexorable capitalist logic. You want customers, you want your business to grow, you need marketing. Cuban entrepreneurs have quickly realized it's not just about setting up anonymous businesses, but creating differentiated and stand-out brands, and communicating compelling messages.

 And it works! When I went to Cuba last year, after 18 years, the presence of incipient advertising and marketing efforts for the nascent private economy was one of the biggest contrasts with the island I remembered. I visited one of the private restaurants mentioned in the article, Cafe Laurent –great cuisine and exquisite service– precisely because I was handed a flyer on the street. I saw the banners and t-shirts, and spoke with designer friends about their desire to do more, to exploit the ability of our profession to help all Cubans improve their lives.

 Ads in the yellow pages, private business printing banners, web and mobile commercials, entrepreneurs setting up pseudo-legal marketing agencies, all grown organically in a country that not long ago banned with disdain those "relics from the past." Advertising, despite its detractors, is an economic engine, fueling growth and providing jobs. I'm delighted to see my countrymen adopting it into their new reality with such gusto.