Green with Envy

Vice president Jackie Parker comments on a recent IABC/Atlanta luncheon featuring communications folks from Cox Enterprises discussing the company’s internal and external marketing of its ‘green’ initiatives.

“The company, which is the parent company for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cox Cable, Manheim, and AutoTrader.com, rolled out an aggressive green program that includes a hodgepodge of tactics from installing waterless urinals at some of its office buildings to recycling toner cartridges. They even have a website, www.coxconserves.com, with more details about the initiative.

During the presentation, I kept thinking that it would be an awesome program for one of my clients to consider – starting with an internal education campaign about how its employees can become better environmental stewards. To launch its program, Cox had an event with Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. My client has a lot of offices throughout the country and could probably look at coordinating similar event(s) in its markets, which would help with visibility and relationship building with local community leaders.”

Hayslett Group has a “green” thumb of its own by participating in an office paper and aluminum recycling program.

Rising with the Phoenix

On November 8, Hayslett Group was honored five times at the annual Phoenix Awards gala for the Georgia Chapter of the Public Relations Soceity of America (PRSA). Hayslett Group received the highest honor, the Phoenix, in three categories and also received two Certificates of Excellence.

Phoenix Awards
Public Affairs for Save Georgia Healthcare Campaign
Issues Management for Save Georgia Healthcare Campaign
Integrated Communications for Save Georgia Healthcare Campaign

Certificate of Excellence
Brochures for the Georgia Department of Human Resources' Trauma Awareness Campaign
Web site for Save Georgia Healthcare Campaign

Congratulations to everyone who made this possible.

Help Sumter Regional Hospital Win a Free MRI

Sumter Regional Hospital, a small hospital located in Americus, Ga. and a Hayslett Group friend and client, was destroyed by a tornado on March 1st. The hospital serves a 10-county area; one of the most depressed regions in Georgia. Seimens is currently offering a free MRI in an online contest, and SRH wants to win this machine for its community.

To vote, just click on www.winanmri.com, view the SRH video and vote. You can vote once a day until Dec 31, both at home and at work. Please spread the word and thanks for your support!

So far, our online awareness campaign has resulted in 18,000 votes in one weekend!

Note: Hospital employees created the video on their own, with no professional help from Hayslett Group.

CDC Director Speaks at ATL Press Club

Hayslett Group staff members attended a recent Atlanta Press Club meeting featuring CDC Director Julie Gerberding. The Director first addressed recent reports of White House censorship of her testimony to Congress earlier in the week, stating the practice is common and the overall message of her testimony was not altered or changed as a result of editing. She instead encouraged the media to focus on the content of her speech - how climate change is likely to impact public health. Dr. Gerberding also discussed her vision for the U.S. healthcare system; where prevention, education and an “upstream” approach play a greater role. She encouragespressing politicians to be as educated and outspoken on their views of public health policy as they are on education, the war, and other hot button issues. Americans to be more concerned about the role we all play in public health outcomes – including pressing politicians to be as educated and outspoken on their views of public health policy as they are on education, the war, and other hot button issues.

Volunteer Fun in South Fulton

Hayslett Group staffers, Kari Hilyer and Michelle Clark, volunteered this past weekend at Cochran Mill Nature Center’s annual Halloween Festival. The festival drew over 400 visitors. Children and families from South Fulton enjoyed Halloween-inspired activities such as a haunted house, hayrides, arts and crafts, and a costume contest. Children were also able to visit with animals cared for by the Center. Kari oversaw the competitive world of coloring and Michelle painted happy little faces.

"The Office" Brings Blogging to Life

Account Executive Kari Hilyer shares an insightful piece on social media and how to use it. ‘Office’ blog: ‘That’s what she said.’, written by Meredith Hobbs and published in the October 15, 2007 edition of Fulton County Daily Report, illustrates an interesting example of finding a niche and creating a blog topic entertaining enough for folks to read on a regular basis.

HG on Fire at 2007 Golden Flames

On October 12, the Atlanta chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) announced winners of the 2007 Golden Flame Awards . The winners were formally acknowledged at the 2007 Golden Flame Awards Gala at the Academy of Medicine in Midtown.

The Golden Flame Awards program is an annual event hosted by IABC/Atlanta to recognize professional communicators in Georgia. The awards are given in several categories, including writing, illustration, design, photography, social media expertise and public relations strategy.

Hayslett Group won:
A Golden Flame for case studies written for the Georgia Department of Human Resources Trauma Awareness campaign
A Silver Flame for event planning and collateral design for IABC/Atlanta's 2006 Golden Flame Awards, "Secrets of the Golden Flame"
A Bronze Flame for brochures developed for Georgia Department of Human Resources Trauma Awareness.

Congratulations to our team and our clients!!

Ensuring Healthcare Marketing ROI

Vice President Jackie Parker shares this interesting interview on Healthcare Marketing ROI:

Gienna Shaw, for HealthLeaders News, Oct 08, 2007
Lynne Cunningham, a coach with the healthcare performance improvement firm the Studer Group, discusses some of the ways that marketers can measure return on investment, even in the face of significant challenges. (Listen to the interview now.) Cunningham will be a panelist on the upcoming HealthLeaders Media Webcast ROI Challenges: Prove results on hard-to-measure hospital marketing efforts.

Congratulations to GDOT's 511!

Earlier this year, the Georgia Department of Transportation selected Hayslett Group to serve as marketing communications consultant for the state’s new 511 consumer travel information service. Hayslett Group, in conjunction with partner agency McRae, developed and implemented a comprehensive plan targeting travelers statewide.

So far, Georgia 511 has met with great success. In the first month of service (August 15-September 15), the system received 128,867 calls and averaged 4,296 calls each day. Those numbers exceeded even GDOT’s own expectations for the system.

The first month of service also generated more than 80 print and online articles, 35 television segments and multiple radio pieces. Coverage extended beyond Georgia to Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and even California! The launch was so successful, that on October 1, 200, the Intelligent Transportation Society of Georgia announced that it had named Georgia DOT’s 511 as “ITS Outstanding Achievement of the Year!”

We just want to congratulate everyone who worked so hard on this project! We hope it continues to be just a successful throughout the year.

Attending the 2007 HOW conference

Take 3,500 graphic designers. Add 50 inspiring speakers. Place in design-savvy Atlanta and stir.

That's the recipe for the 2007 HOW Design Conference which Hayslett Group director of creative services, Michelle Clark, recently attended. Thousands of creative professionals descended upon Atlanta for nearly four days of sessions, networking and, yes, fun. Below, Michelle shares her insights and highlights from the conference.

The event opened with a proclamation by the Atlanta City Council that June 8—15 was officially declared "Atlanta Design Week" — in recognition not only of the HOW Conference but of an entire week's worth of activities organized by AIGA/Atlanta. The conference was packed with intensive workshops on a wide array of creative and technology topics. Highlights include:

Ballsy: Ways to Score Extreme Business Success: Karen Salmansohn, best-selling author and ad-biz veteran, shared how to be “ballsier” —and motivated attendees with "psyche-chology" techniques to maintain the passion to pursue career goals.

Says Michelle: It is always good to step back and examine how you can help yourself and your teammates become more “ballsy!”

A Number of People: Sometimes it feels like you're solving the same design or communication problem over and over. Speaker Chip Kidd, with a 20-year career at publishing house Alfred A. Knopf, has designed more than 800 book jackets—that's almost one a week! Even more astounding is the diversity of imagery and type treatments within that mammoth collection.

Says Michelle: The lesson here was originality, no matter how narrow the discipline. Definitely refreshing.

Collaboration: Keeping Multifaceted Projects Cohesive: Design principles of consistency are vital on large corporate teams. Shelley Armstrong, art director of the in-house design group for Microsoft's Xbox, "Every detail is important and every consumer touch point is an opportunity to reinforce the brand and the design." But making a product such as Xbox 360 or Zune look like it was designed by one hand—working across functional groups such as marketing, retail, hardware, software, usability, packaging and more—means taking collaboration to the next level.

Says Michelle: We do a lot of integrated communications at Hayslett Group, and I found this presentation inspiring and amazing. The amount of strategy, communication and quite frankly patience involved with working in a collaborative group that is not only made up of multiple people, but multiple offices around the world, was breathtaking and helps keep our day-to-day struggles in perspective.

The last bit of advice I will share is from the closing session speaker, Sheila Campbell, former vice president of ad agency Earle Palmer Brown and founder and president of Wild Blue Yonder consulting firm, whom urged—demanded, even—that designers take time to recharge their creative batteries by turning off the BlackBerry and leaving the office at 6 p.m….at least once in a while.

Good advice for all of us.

For more on the HOW conference, visit http://www.howconference.com/.

For more on HOW Magazine, visit http://www.howdesign.com/.

Some text excerpted from HOW editor Bryn Mooth's recap of event as well as from formal HOW descriptions of sessions.

Sumter Regional Hospital Needs Help

I am posting this on behalf of our client, Sumter Regional Hospital. We sent them our hope and prayers.

Sumter Regional Hospital damaged by last night's tornado

Sumter Regional Hospital received considerable damage last night after a tornado touched down in Americus, Georgia. The storm blew out windows as high winds bombarded the hospital's infrastructure and turned cars over in the parking lot. The hospital's Outpatient Diagnostic Center, the HealthPlex at Sumter Regional, also took in extensive damage and will be unoperational for the forseeable future.

"The most important thing is that we evacuated everyone last night and all our patients were moved to Phoebe and other area hospitals,"said Marcus Johnson, SRH Director of Marketing & PR. "The staff and other volunteers did a fantastic job in the face of a horrific storm, and we appreciate all their hard work."

Johnson said that while the hospital is currently not operational, anyone that needs medical attention can go to 1st Baptist Church located at 221 South Lee Street. The phone number is (229) 924-8999. The church will serve as the ER/Triage area for the forseeable future, and if anyone needs additional attention they will be moved to another facility.

Johnson also stated that all SRH Oncology patients that usually ride the bus to Phoebe are asked to meet at the Magnolia Manor Chapel to catch the bus all next week (Monday through Friday). The bus will leave at both 8 am and 1pm, and they will also bring the patients back. For more info, please call Phoebe's Oncology Department at (229) 312-1000.

Also, the local Red Cross is also headquarted at 1st Baptist Church. Red Cross Director Leisa Cross said they are accepting donations of all kinds, including monetary, and for more information you can call (229) 924-4035 or their home office at 924-2026.

If you have a family member or friend that is missing, you can contact the Americus Public Safety Building at (229) 924-3213.

"This is going to test our resolve as well as the entire community as a number of businesses have been leveled and some people have lost everything they have," said Johnson. "However, we will do everything we can to continue serving the healthcare needs of our community, and we will keep everyone informed on the subsequent renovation of Sumter Regional Hospital. It is going to take some work, but SRH means too much to this community to just let it go without a fight. We appreciate everyone's prayers and donations, and just continue to keep everyone who suffered a loss yesterday in your prayers."

Johnson said that all SRH employees should check the hospital website at www.sumterregional.org for updates as well as contact their immediate supervisor.

"Our Administration is working on a contingency plan as we speak, and hopefully we will get more information out in the near future," said Johnson. "All nursing and medical personnel should check at 1st Baptist to see if they are needed, and all office personnel needs to check with their immediate supervisor for further instructions."