By Melissa Koski, Senior Account Executive

Have you heard about the new Tribe Social Deck?

This season, the Cleveland Indians are engaging audiences both on the field and online with their new social media deck — the Tribe Social Deck. No longer is traditional media the only group to receive an insider’s view with their own section, now citizen journalists can as well! This new seating section at Progressive Field is reserved solely for social media users to have an exclusive view of the game.

I was lucky enough to be one of the first social media folks to try out the Social Deck at the Indians Home Opener in April. I received an email a few days before the game from the Indians’ newest PR professional, Rob Campbell, which read:

“As a fellow member of the Cleveland social media community, we at the Cleveland Indians have identified you as a key player with a passion for the City of Cleveland, as well as our baseball team.  The Indians organization would like to extend to you the opportunity to attend Opening Day at Progressive Field … seated in the newly created Tribe Social Deck. The Tribe Social Deck sits atop the left field wall at Progressive Field near the base of Section 180 in the bleachers and provides not only stunning views of the action on the field, but also the opportunity to network with 9 other social media peers in your very own private section.”

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By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

Acquisition Doubles the Firm’s Digital Capacity

Today, Fahlgren announces that we’re acquiring GRIP Technology, a leading Web design and technology development firm located in Columbus. Its services include Web application development, Web site design and development, e-commerce, e-mail marketing, intranets, extranets, search engine optimization and marketing, and strategic Web consulting. GRIP is co-owned by Scott Sanders, Dustin Leggans and Bill Kiefaber.

“It’s no secret that the online world is growing, and our clients are asking for more and more digital work from us every day. It’s an integrated part of virtually every campaign we create,” said Neil Mortine, Fahlgren, Inc. president and CEO. “We are thrilled to be able to double our capacity in this area. GRIP is a natural fit as they complement our team, and we already have a great working relationship. We’ve been sharing clients and projects with them for more than two years. We’re impressed with their offering and client service and delighted to welcome them to the Fahlgren family.”

“Our business model is very client-centric,” said Scott Sanders, founder and president of GRIP and the new leader of Fahlgren Digital. “When I founded GRIP in 2002, I set out to develop a digital agency that was committed to helping its clients reach their business objectives, not just build great Web sites. Technology is only a tool, one part of the equation. It’s our goal to offer more than just great online creative and coding; we provide solutions to meet business objectives. Joining forces with Fahlgren, which shares the same client-centric business model, we can now offer our clients the full support of a leading, independent full-service agency.”

 For more details, check out the news release.

By Ray Hancart, Associate Vice President

Online video usage is up 10 percent year over year.

It’s happened and we didn’t even know it. We, as consumers, have started to turn up our noses at the old-fashioned text directions or step-by-step instructions we grew up with - what, no video?

And frankly, why shouldn’t we? Improvements in technology (and lowering of video quality expectations) allows us both as consumers and professionals to record life, educate and entertain at an expense level never thought of five years ago.

According to Nielsen, online video usage is up 10 percent year over year with sites like YouTube, Yahoo and Facebook leading the way. Clearly, the growth of online video goes hand in hand with the social media boom. Social media sites give you a variety of ways to merchandise your video asset to help your return on investment while increasing consumer engagement. Prior to social media, you could have used the video statically on your site and maybe in some annual meetings or trade shows. Now, you have five times the distribution points.

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By Dennis Brown, Vice President

A guide for execs on how to stay relevant in this social media-filled world.

With Betty White set to host Saturday Night Live (thanks in large part to Facebook), I recently saw an article that was only half-joking when it suggested that “80 is the New 30.”  

I had a different perspective when, in the summer of 2009, we started what would become The Middle-Aged Executive’s Guide to Social Media: How to Stay Relevant and Prosper in an Increasingly Social World.  

When it came to social media, 50 felt like the new 80. 

Suddenly, social media was everywhere, and I was feeling old beyond my years. I found myself fighting the urge to rise from my figurative rocking chair, toddle out to the front porch and, shaking my fist in the air, scream, “You kids had better keep your tweeting and friending off my Internet!” 

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By Amanda DeCastro,

Buzz creators for non-profits

Some of world’s most well-known brands are non-profits: American Red Cross, American Heart Association, Special Olympics, Girl Scouts of America, even the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals (you know, that heartbreaking commercial with Sarah McLachlan) and the list goes on. Our world heavily relies on non-profit organizations for their donations, charitable giving and selfless support.

A perfect example of this? The outpouring of support provided to the millions affected by the earthquake in Haiti. The devastation energized people across the world to act. From large, arranged mission trips to something as simple as a couple dollars donated to a charity that was sending money, supplies and aid to Haiti. 

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By Lara Kretler, Associate Vice President

Put down your Blackberry and step away from the keyboard. Seriously.

Social media monitoring is important for countless reasons, many of which we’ve elucidated on this blog. But sometimes, a very real benefit of social media monitoring is to find cool opportunities to make genuine human connections with other people — the kind that can only happen face to face.

We had a great moment in random social media connections last week. As part of regular daily monitoring for both the Advertising and PR sides of our agency, we caught this Tweet by Jeremiah Owyang, a nationally renowned social media VIP, columnist for Forbes, and web strategy genius:

@fahlgren. I see you. http://twitpic.com/13s6d1

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By Karen Bailey, Senior Account Specialist

Challenging the status quo with new communications tactics

Super Bowl Sunday is traditionally one of the most watched nights of television. An evening devoted to crunching shoulder pads and advertising creative directors. And, the president? Some of you may have caught President Obama’s interview with CBS’s Katie Couric as part of the pregame programming. What you may not know is that this is all part of the President’s communication strategy. 

If you feel like you’ve seen the president doing a lot of interviews, you’re right. According to an article in the New York Times this week, the president has given 161 interviews in his first year. To compare, President Bush only gave 50 interviews and President Clinton 53 during the same time.

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By Julie Russo, Vice President

It’s been a banner month for animals making news. 

Just last week, Lily the Black Bear had a baby. Newsworthy? Doesn’t seem like it. But a webcam was there to bring the event to the masses. And therein lies the news. It turns out black bears don’t usually give birth in such close proximity to a webcam. (Reality TV humans, please take a cue from black bears’ privacy mores.) Great PR for bears, especially after the beating their public image takes at the hands of Stephen Colbert. With nearly 63,000 fans on Facebook, Lily is another example of great content being the best way to draw attention. 

Earlier this month, Yun Zi, a panda cub at the San Diego Zoo made his public debut. A webcam had been a part of that news also - Panda Cam, to be specific. Oh, how I love Panda Cam. There is even a time-lapse feature, which comes in handy, given pandas aren’t notoriously vivacious. (Not to say they couldn’t be, but according to the news, they mostly “eat, nap, forage, repeat“.) 

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By Lara Kretler, Associate Vice President

Before dismissing the Facebook color status meme as pointless, consider the results.

Last week, you may have noticed your Facebook status feed was overtaken by one-word color updates from approximately half of your contacts. The female half, to be precise.

It took most of us the better part of a day to figure out what was going on – and if you’re a guy, it may have taken longer to learn the secret.

The Facebook color status meme spread like wildfire via personal messages sent behind the scenes from one cluster of women or girls to the next. The message was simple: change your status to the color of your bra. Don’t tell any guys what’s up. Do this to raise awareness for breast cancer, and share this with all your women friends.

Quietly and with little fanfare (other than the occasional surprise – amidst generic-sounding status updates of “white,” “beige” and “black” – of startling “hot pink trimmed with maribou feathers” from your mother-in-law or a co-worker), this meme virtually took over Facebook. As more people began to catch on, there were small waves of backlash here and there — some female Facebook users refused to participate and dubbed it exploitative, while other Facebookers mocked the meme (some guys even facetiously played along).

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By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

Neil Mortine and Kathy Cupper Obert

Fahlgren, Edward Howard to Join Public Relations Businesses

Alignment Forms Independent Powerhouse:

Largest Firm in Ohio and Top 30 Nationally 

The acquisition, which joins the capabilities of Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations and Edward Howard, is expected to close during the first quarter of 2010 although integration and coordinated new business and marketing efforts will begin immediately.

Check out more details of today’s exciting announcement in the news release.