Posts Tagged ‘Joe Bogardus’

« Older Entries

Joe Bogardus – Hats Off to a Great Career

Friday, May 4th, 2012

By Mary Beth West, APR

Our team experienced the bittersweet newsflash this week that one of our own, Joe Bogardus, has decided to enjoy the rewards of retirement.  And yes, we’re a little bit jealous!

Our gratitude goes out to Joe for his nearly four years of service with MBWC, where he helped lead many client projects and campaigns with award-winning success. 

I met Joe about a year or so after he and his terrific wife, Mary Kay, had moved to East Tennessee from Chicago, where Joe served as national executive director of brand marketing communications for Blue Cross & Blue Shield Association.  Prior to his work at BCBS, Joe had spent the majority of his career in marketing communications with Eastman Kodak, from the company’s home base in Rochester, NY, to other outposts worldwide.

Despite his global-brand corporate background, Joe demonstrated a real passion for the smaller-market agency business in Greater Knoxville that served our team well.  Joe loves the work of strategic communications and brand development, and his enthusiasm and expertise have made an impact here that will long be appreciated.

We send our best wishes to Joe and Mary Kay . . . and we know we’ll be seeing them soon!    

Tags:
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments »

Bogardus: “#Crisis or #Controversy? Understand the Difference in #PR / Take 2″

Saturday, April 14th, 2012

By Joe Bogardus

Last week, Mary Beth West outlined in the first installment of “Crisis or Controversy? Understand the Difference in PR” a series of actions every public relations practitioner needs to take when confronted with a potential company crisis.

Those key points are worth repeating here: 

  • “Think through a Top 10 list of things that have happened or could happen to your company, along with their likelihood of happening in the future.  Don’t forget to look at competitors’ past crisis situations and resulting media coverage as well.
  • Evaluate each scenario by the laws of cause-and-effect.  If X happens, then who is impacted?  What are the stakeholder numbers, and how large are their spheres of influence? 
  • Which scenarios have the greatest possibility to damage reputation and brand – not just operations and infrastructure?  Good insurance can cover a factory fire in a matter of months; brand damage can last decades.”

A key element of executing the above actions is in making sure you have the facts. Often, this aspect is the greatest challenge of all in your analysis.

Whenever I was thrust into a company crisis situation, I recalled the words of a former journalism instructor: “The facts and nothing but the facts.” This same instructor was a stickler for preaching about making sure you had a second – and sometimes, even a third – corroborating source.

Gathering this information in the face of a burgeoning crisis adds to the stressfulness of the situation, but it is critical to guide you through the three steps Mary Beth recommends.

Without the proper information, a potential controversy could actually explode into a crisis.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments »

Getting It Right

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

by Joe Bogardus

While the phrase “getting it right” has become a cliché, its core still rings true.

Mary Beth West and I recently spent an afternoon with a prospective client speaking about branding and the importance of differentiating their message from that of the competition.

We stressed the importance of a competitive analysis as well as qualitative and quantitative research to find the true points of parity and difference within their organization and brand.

The economy and other circumstances are forcing this entity to consider a “marketing” campaign. They exist in a crowded category dominated by a couple of big players.

To “get it right,” we encouraged them to look at their customers – present and potential. Understand their needs and wants. Investigate the competition. Understand what they are saying to the same prospects. Sift through the data and marry that information with their market knowledge and judgment.

We discussed how other brands have gotten it right and ensured them somewhere there is a special message unique to their brand and offering. There is a process to help them “get it right.”

Many organizations skip the above “getting it right” steps, because of the costs and the time involved to execute the various analyses. When completed correctly, the rewards can be enormous to the brand and the business.

It just makes sense to “get it right.”

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Public Relations | 1 Comment »

Demonstrating Value: Transparency and Accountability in Client Service

Friday, February 10th, 2012

By Joe Bogardus

Everything is moving very fast – most noticeably, information.

The various devices available to facilitate information transfer and their advantages have been well documented. With so much happening in the business world so quickly, transparency and accountability in sharing information with clients should be a foregone conclusion.

Not so fast.

When I started in the business (can you hear the rocking chair creaking?), written conference reports from agency to clients after a meeting were commonplace. My early agency mentors stressed the value of reports not only for clients, but for fellow media and creative team members and management as well. It was prized information.

During my client-side experiences, working with WPP and Interpublic agencies, conference reports became less frequent from my agency connections. I often kept the meeting notes, (using the format I learned when I was an account executive) making sure the timelines and the budgets that were agreed upon were met.

In my final client-side assignment, I do not recall ever getting a conference report in an e-mail or via snail mail.

With today’s tools, sharing information between client and agency should be a breeze. Online tools sharing key points of agreement, deadline confirmations and other critical information should be used by agencies to reinforce their client relationships and build the required confidence that things are getting done as promised.

We do a lot of this at Mary Beth West Consulting. Our clients might get a formal conference report or a summary e-mail of a face-to-face meeting or teleconference.  It’s all about open and accountable information exchange. It’s about good business practices.

Tags: ,
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments »

Thank You, Kodak

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

By Joe Bogardus

Well, it’s been a sad day.

After hoping against hope that the inevitable would not materialize, it did today when one of my former companies, Eastman Kodak, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As other retirees, I am wondering about the fate of my benefits, but using the planning skills I learned at the company, I think I am prepared for this day.

Plan development was just one of the learning experiences I had at “The Yellow Box.”

Much of my brand management background came from working with colleagues who had spent time at P&G, SC Johnson, Lever and Gillette. I was fortunate to work for a future and now former Kodak CEO – Dan Carp. Another of my senior managers – Bob Keegan – went on to to be the successful president, CEO and chairman of Goodyear. Two of my other bosses became CMOs – one at Coca Cola and another at Levi Strauss. I also got the chance to work with some of the most talented advertising agencies in the industry – J. Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicam and Ogilvy.

Unbelievably, they paid me to go to the office every day to get a business and marketing education that I use all the time here at Mary Beth West Consulting to help our clients improve their business performance.

I literally saw the world, thanks to Kodak. My company work assignments took me to Japan, Europe and Latin America. I used to boast that “I had worked on four continents for the fourth most-recognized brand in the world.” The fourth most-recognized brand boast is kind of an empty one now, but the experience of living and working aboard changed my perspective on how to effectively manage and interact with people. It also enhanced my appreciation for our country and the benefits of being an American.

The six years my wife, two sons and I lived in London while I was director of marketing communications for Kodak’s Europe, Africa and Middle East Region has left a lifelong impression on all of us. Like all multi-national companies, Kodak paid for the educations of dependent children. Both of my sons received educations at that American School in London that ensured their entry into top-tier colleges and universities. Their London legacy has followed them into their career fields, helping them secure jobs and assignments based on their personal international experiences.

I recognize I have been very fortunate in many ways, and not all ex-Kodakers have fared well in transitioning to “life after Kodak.” But many have parlayed the opportunities the company afforded to forge new businesses and totally different careers.

In this day and age, no company can promise you employment forever, but it should provide you the chance to improve your skill set and your employability.

Kodak did that for me. Thank you, Kodak.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments »

Appreciating What We Have and What We Can Do

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

by Joe Bogardus

Most of the 1990s my family and I spent in London. This time of year in the city – home to Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” – is special. Harrods is sumptuously decorated, many of the grilles of the black London cabs are adorned with holiday wreaths and the Christmas crowds overrun Oxford and Regents Streets. It is an intoxicatingly festive time.

Most every Christmas Eve, our family would attend the traditional Christmas Concert at Royal Albert Hall. We never realized there were so many verses to the Christmas songs we knew back in America. And, the English sang every one of these verses. It was always a somewhat long, but glorious evening.

On Christmas day, we opened our central London home to numerous American families who had stayed in the country, because they could not afford to travel to the United States or (like us) did not want to endure the travails of holiday travel.  Two, sometimes three, dozen people were crowded into our row house on Sussex Square.

I remember now, and recall thinking at the time, how appreciative I was of what we had as a family and what we could do for others who were far from home.

When we returned stateside, as a family, we continued to open our home to friends and just acquaintances at holiday times (and on other occasions as well.)

Earlier this month my colleagues Amy and Tyra have talked about the times they have helped people and causes during this holiday season.

Fortunately, this is something all of us can do and take the opportunity when it is offered.

As the effects of the economic debacle of 2008 linger, so many people need our help large and small this holiday season. As Tyra references in Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages, one of those languages is “acts of service.”

So this holiday season, appreciate what you have and appreciate what you can do for others. It is a language of love that works two ways.

Tags:
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments »

Perceptual Changes in Public Relations

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

By Joe Bogardus

As a very young man, I can remember when a popular radio announcer suddenly became the public relations director for a local hospital. That’s strange, I thought. What does he know about hospital communications? I was 18 at the time.

During my early years in the business, when I encountered public relations practitioners, they were all male, and a preponderance of them were former newspapermen. Many smoked cigars and were tough-talking, glad-handing people. A planned PR program as we would know it today was largely unheard of. They were reactionaries, reacting to the news related to their companies.

I thought, even though I didn’t smoke cigars, I had a real future in public relations because I was a former journalist, plus I had a college education.

Things have changed, and along with these changes perceptions have been altered about the public relations profession.

Now, according to PRSA, 75-80 percent of all public relations practitioners are women. They populate the company and agency ranks from entry level positions to senior management. Almost everyone in the field has a college degree, and many have additional accreditation from PRSA. Major universities and smaller institutions have degree programs, both undergraduate and graduate.

In recent years, major companies and many smaller ones have recognized public relations is a critical element of communications management. Gone are the times when public relations failed to be included in the budgeting and planning process. Senior managers understand how a coordinated and comprehensive public relations program enhances the brand presentation.

Public relations is a valued profession, populated by professionals. I have not met any tough-talking, cigar-smoking, glad-handing former newspapermen in years when visiting public relations departments and agencies.

It seems not only perception but also reality has changed.

Tags: ,
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments »

What We Have Learned About Learning

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

By Joe Bogardus

What have we learned about learning? My cousin, Dr. Phil Cusick, professor emeritus at Michigan State University, recently published an interesting book on learning – A Passion for Learning: The Education of Seven Eminent Americans.

His book researched a number of leading Americans and tried to determine how and what they learned in early life, translated into how they managed their later lives and drove the decisions they made. (Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin were two of the individuals he studied.)

The people he reviewed were all types of learners. Some were intuitive learners. Others learned by rote. Others learned from experience.

These people mirrored society in general, as you would expect.

As communicators, we try to tap into how people learn, whether they are intuitive, rote or experiential learners. Mostly, we rely on rote in our communications. “Tell’em once. Tell’em again. And, tell’em one more time.” This was one of my Ithaca College communications instructor’s favorite sayings.

This type of learning is the bedrock of the integrated campaign. Devise your message and deliver it in as many different communications channels as your budget will allow. Rote learning is still fundamental to traditional forms of communications (TV, radio, print, etc.).

The rise of social media coupled with miniaturization has improved dramatically experiential learning. Daily we can visit any number of social media sites and experience “The Arab Spring/Summer.” We are learning first-hand how Libyans and Syrians are struggling against oppressive regimes in the Middle East, thanks to small still and video cameras. There are countless other examples of how these new media tools and technology are being used to promote products and services.

Finally, intuitive learners are the most interesting of learners. Somehow they just know. They can make learning leaps with very little information. Marconi. Einstein. These are just some of history’s intuitive learners. I have always been puzzled on how to communicate with an intuitive learner. I guess they just get it, very quickly.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments »

Getting a Life, Getting a Career

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

 

By Joe Bogardus

Work/life balance. It’s an interesting concept.

It is the idea where in this age of the 24/7 demand cycle an individual can consciously carve out some time to enjoy different pursuits or quiet time other than career-related activities or duties.

With today’s communication tools and instant access to work information, achieving work/life balance is a large challenge.

Everyone approaches this task differently.

For me, I have been lucky. Seldom have I looked at my career in communications as work. I have been blessed to work for interesting brands domestically and internationally. My co-workers, for the most part, all have been interesting people. The work has been intellectually challenging, rewarding and productive. So, often, when I worked long hours, weekends or failed to take all my vacation time, it was enjoyment, not drudgery. I really liked what I was doing. And, still do.

I always was able to plan to be around for the important birthdays, games, music events and other important activities, despite an intense international travel schedule. My wife and I enjoyed weekends away throughout our marriage. Participation in these activities sometimes took some extra planning, but it got done.

In the end, I believe I achieved a comfortable work/life balance, because I was fortunate in that I knew what I wanted to do career-wise, found assignments that were great fits and committed to finding time to be with my family and do the things I wanted.

I got a life and got a career, too.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Mary Beth West Consulting Wins “Best in Show” and Sweeps Evening with 11 Awards at PRSA Ceremony May 12

Friday, May 13th, 2011

PRSA Honors Kevin Painter of LeConte Wealth Management with Community Service Award

Maryville, Tenn. — Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC, a public relations and reputation management firm in Maryville, Tenn., won “Best in Show” and multiple top honors at the annual awards dinner of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Volunteer Chapter on May 12 at Hunter Valley Farm.

The event also honored Kevin Painter of LeConte Wealth Management with the Community Service Award, which recognizes an individual or organization who has used public relations practices to improve the quality of life within East Tennessee communities.

The agency won “Best in Show” for the 2010 holiday media relations campaign for Dandy Lions as well as 10 “Award of Excellence” honors in the following categories:

  • Public Service: Blount Education Initiative
  • Media Relations: Dandy Lions 2010 Holiday Campaign
  • Public Affairs/Government: Expanding Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Scientific User Community
  • Marketing Consumer Products: Rainscapes
  • Marketing Consumer Services (Financial): LeConte Wealth Management
  • Marketing Business-to-Business: Interactive Springboard 2010 Launch Campaign
  • Writing (Column): LeConte Wealth Management “Purpose-Built Portfolio”
  • Collaterals (Direct Mail): Rainscapes 2010 Direct Mail Campaign
  • Website (Professional Service): Rainscapes website
  • Blogs: Mary Beth West Consulting “In the Profession” Blog

Joe Bogardus, Mary Beth West, Amy Schwinge, Mallorie Mendence and Tyra Haag following the V Awards ceremony.

Interactive Springboard – a collaboration between Mary Beth West Consulting and Knoxville-based Blue Media Boutique – shared top honors for the newly redesigned Avistelé website; Avistelé Lifestyle Communities is managed by Knoxville-based RenaissancePG.

 “I’m so appreciative of the clients we’ve been privileged to serve,” said agency principal Mary Beth West. “Throughout my career, I’ve held tremendous respect for the public relations profession; my team is honored with the overwhelming response by our colleagues to recognize the work we so highly value.”

Painter – a graduate of Maryville High School and co-founder of LeConte Wealth Management– was  honored with the Community Service Award.

“Kevin has been a client for three years and a dear friend for many years longer,” said West. “Of all the colleagues I have in my age cohort in the local community, I can think of no one who takes on more community service efforts to support the non-profit, social service and arts sectors than Kevin.” 

Established in 2003 and located in the Law Building in downtown Maryville, Mary Beth West Consulting works with clients to advance their communications, relationships and reputations to meet business objectives. 

The firm’s services include integrated brand marketing communications strategies and campaigns; media, community and employee relations programs; social and interactive media strategies and program management; crisis preparedness; and special events.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in news, westwire | No Comments »

« Older Entries