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Working for the Weekend

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

What a fantastic weekend! This past Saturday, MMIers from all disciplines met at Lake Pointe Town Center in Sugar Land to prepare for their much-anticipated family festival.

Although retailers in Lake Pointe such as Whole Foods have been a staple in the community for a few years now, the center has since bloomed to include a pedestrian bridge over Brooks Lake, a new plaza with boardwalk dinning and a variety of new retailers never before seen in Sugar Land, such as Berripop, My Fit Foods and Post Oak Grill.

To celebrate and meet the neighbors, Lake Pointe Town Center kicked off the summer in style. The free event featured the largest beach ball drop in Sugar Land history, classic cars on display, a steel drum band complete with Calypso dancers and a local charity boat race.

Creating a unique and fun experience for Sugar Land residents made introductions easy, achieving our goal of community involvement and awareness of the full range of amenities Lake Pointe Town Square has to offer.

Check out the Lake Pointe Town Center Facebook fan page for a complete album of the festivities

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Happy Birthday, Cindy Marion!

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Today our fearless leader hits a big milestone. (Is it thirty? I think it was thirty.)

After her surprise serenade earlier this week (check out our Facebook album for a few more photos) we asked MMIers to give us their thoughts and share their birthday wishes for the woman whose vision, values and good humor continue to

Delivery man with birthday flowers suddenly breaks into song.

inspire us to our own acts of greatness. A sample of MMI birthday wishes:

“I’m pretty sure Cindy is bionic. She is a terrific mother, wife, church leader and CEO. She may not sleep, now that I think about it, but she’s incredible at all she does. She’s a great example for those of us who aspire to her balance.” –Elisa

“Around Cindy, you’re guaranteed to always learn something new, or just to get in a laugh. She’s the best! Have a great day, Cindy!” -Nicole

“Inspiring, professionally and personally. If there were a book that listed people who set good examples in life she would surely need her own chapter ….. or more realistic, her own book.” -Kelly

Courtesy of Amanda Hansen, Happy Birthday Boss! You're the best.

“Woo Hoo!!! Boss get your B-Day on. Have a wonderful day! Love ya.” -Betty

“Cindy ROCKS! Happy b’day, Cindy!” -Susan

“Cindy trusts and empowers her employees not only to do their best, but to push the envelope from best to fabulous. Consequently, MMI is a place where creativity and innovation flourish. Part of the reason our work is so good, and our clients so happy, is that the team has been set free to do their best.” -Robin

“Cindy you have such a great insight on marketing and always come up with ideas that are clever and impactful for all our clients. I am most touched by your never-ending generosity on a year-round basis to all of us employees. Thank you for being you….and Happy Birthday!” -Marina

“I hope that I can be as accomplished and respected when I’m her age. Happy Birthday, Cindy!” – Emily

“Finally. Finally. You can get into rated R movies! Let’s go. Happy Bday ” – Rick

Posted in Behind The Scenes, MMI News | 5 Comments »

SXSW: Customer Service in a 140 Character World

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Gone are the days of traditional customer support. In a world of Twitter, Facebook, and customer complaint sites like GetSatisfaction, customers are now jumping online to vent and publicize their customer support issues. But does it work for everyone and can complex customer service issues really be resolved within a 140…

Gone

Time for some more MMI live from SXSW Coverage! And it’s time to talk Twitter (and a few other things).

Let’s face it. Traditional customer support is out the window with the advent of sites like Twitter, Facebook and GetSatisfaction. Customers can hop online from anywhere and vent about products or services in real time. Since we encourage our clients to engage with their customers via these platforms, I jumped at the chance to attend Customer Service in a 140 Character World!

The panel was made up of Twitter customer service experts Frank Eliason with Comcast (@comcastcares), Lois Townsend (@ltownsend) with HP, Toby Richards (@TobyRichards) with General Motors and Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang) with the Altimeter. The panel was moderated by Caroline McCarthy.

What I liked most about the panel was that there were differing opinions about Twitter. There was a lot to take in! For example, Lois said that HP considers Twitter a way to connect but not converse. If someone complains about your product on Twitter, reach out to them and tell them where to go and be their virtual concierge. As soon as she was done with her explanation, Frank jumped in to totally disagree. If you follow @comcastcares, you know they definitely treat Twitter as a dialogue.

There was also great debate about who handles online customer service… Is it your customer service team or your PR team? There was a consensus among the panelists that BOTH teams need to be involved. Your customer service team needs to be reaching out to those customers that need help while your PR team can monitor the conversation going on about your product and offer relevant information to followers.

The question was asked; what happens when you get someone with a huge Twitter following and a vast number of fans tweeting super negative things about your brand?

The response from the panel was pretty clear. Eventually this is going to happen to your brand and it actually doesn’t take someone with a million followers to effect your brand. In social media, anything can go viral. Always treat people with complaints well. When something bad happens, leverage that by showing people you are responsive and open about the problem and willing to help get their issues resolved. This approach goes a long way to helping turn that unhappy customer into a super fan.

Frank did make one really great point during this part of the conversation. He said “transparency doesn’t always mean say yes to the customer.” He goes on and says that “transparency means that you are listening, responding and being open with your customers. You can’t give everyone free cable just because they complain about it online.”

Here are the biggest takeaways I got from the panel:

It’s important to establish listening systems
Empower your staff to act quickly by creating a best practices guideline
Be genuine
You still need traditional customer service measures
It’s okay to stop responding when someone becomes a troll (some people are just mean)
Integrate. Integrate. Integrate.
Link to solutions
Keep your eyes on where your customers are going
BE THERE!

Tomorrow is the last day of SXSW so expect another post then. I’m going to be sad to say goodbye to Austin but I’m ready to be home in Houston soon.

Posted in Behind The Scenes, Conferences, SXSW, Social Media, Twitter | 1 Comment »

MMI Live from SXSW Interactive

Friday, March 12th, 2010

I’m in Austin for the SXSW Interactive Festival and I’ll be blogging here live when I finish an interesting panel. Don’t know what SXSW is? Don’t worry. I’m pretty new to the festival too. Last year was actually my first conference.

SXSW Interactive is a technology conference in Austin that features some of the brightest minds in the industry. The keynote speakers include Jack Dorsey, the founder of twitter, and Valerie Casey, the Executive Director of the Designers Accord.

I just finished a session called “Beyond Barbecue: The Future of Corporate Culture” with Mallory Messina, one of the culture reps from Southwest Airlines and it was awesome. The fact she opened by singing a song about the power of love definitely helped.

So what is corporate culture, according to Southwest Air? Your corporate culture is what you sell to the people inside of your organization while your product is what you sell to your public. Your company culture is about how you and your employees live everyday and how you run your business.

At Southwest, the culture was designed with the number one customer in mind–the employee.

Yes. You read that right. At Southwest they consider their employees number one. The customer is always right and that customer is their team. All 35,000 employees are responsible for the company culture. Southwest believes if their employees are happy, they will treat customers well and by extension, their customers will be happy.

Southwest has some really great tenants for maintaining their corporate culture.

Hire on attitude, not on skill. The three most important attributes Southwest looks for are a servants heart, a warrior spirit and a fun-loving attitude.

They communicate openly and transparently. Every single employee knows what is going on with the company.

Everyone wants to be recognized. Southwest has several recognition programs in place and they think saying THANK YOU to their team is number one.

At MMI we think company culture is really important too, so we love what Southwest is doing!

Posted in Behind The Scenes, Conferences, SXSW, Social Media | No Comments »

Hello from the newest MMIer!

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Testing testing, one two three… Is this thing on?

Well hello!

My name is Maggie McDonald (magsmac for short) and I’m the new girl on the Marion Montgomery team. Well new-ish… Yesterday was actually my two week anniversary but I’ve been busy working on the amazing Mom 2.0 Summit since I walked through the door and hadn’t had a chance to say hi until now!

It’s got to be said though…. As busy as I have been, I could not have asked for a more perfect first project! Last year I was actually a volunteer for Mom2 so this wasn’t my first rodeo and if you know me, you know I love the Mom2 crew. If you don’t know me, I thought I would take a second to tell you about myself.

Once upon a time…. I graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Public Relations. I was a bartender in college (and LOVED it) and I decided I couldn’t do an “office job” so I went into wedding planning for a very prestigious country club. One day I realized that as much as I loved event planning, my brain needed more stimulation than long conversations centered around the difference between taupe and off-white table linens. And I missed writing!! Back to PR it was for me. My first job in marketing was at the awesome Schipul where I learned everything I know about Social Media and now here I am at my new home in Rice Village, MMI.

While I have enjoyed working on Mom2 the last few weeks (especially the part where I had to change a tire in an evening gown) I am looking forward to working with the rest of MMI’s amazing clients. Next up for me is the Shell Houston Open.

**I’m going to put the picture of Jenny and I here and below it, a picture of all of the MMI girls (I scanned the one)**

Wish me luck!

Love always,

Maggie

Www.twitter.com/magsmacWell hello!

It’s got to be said though, as busy as I have been, I could not have asked for a more perfect first project! Last year I was actually a volunteer for Mom2 so this wasn’t my first rodeo and if you know me, you know I love the Mom2 crew. If you don’t know me, I thought I would take a second to tell you about myself.

Once upon a time I graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Public Relations. I was a bartender in college (and LOVED it) and I decided I couldn’t do an “office job” so I went into wedding planning for a very prestigious country club. One day I realized that as much as I loved event planning, my brain needed more stimulation than long conversations centered around the difference between taupe and off-white table linens. And I missed writing!! Back to PR it was for me. My first job in marketing was at the awesome Schipul where I learned everything I know about Social Media and now here I am at my new home in Rice Village, MMI.

Other little known Maggie facts that may interest you: I love Mac ‘n’ Cheese, I used to play the tuba, I hate odd numbers, I have two cats, I drive a big red truck and I LOVE Guitar Hero. But I digress…

Oh… and here is my favorite photo from Mom2. You gotta love photo-booths with a green screen!

Mom2Crew

Wish me luck!

Love always,

Maggie

Posted in Behind The Scenes, MMI News, Our Buzz | 6 Comments »

Marketing Lessons at Mom 2.0, Part Two – Flicka!

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Horse meets girl in "Flicka 2," releasing May 4, 2010

“Ridiculously beautiful.” That’s how one Mom described the scene in Flicka 2 where the starring horse first canters into the frame.

The opening session of today’s Mom 2.0 Summit was a visit from “Flicka 2″ directors Michael and Janeen Damian, an entertainment industry family focusing on family films. As Michael put it, “We need more live-action films the whole family can enjoy without having to use blindfolds or ear muffs during some of the scenes.”

In addition to showing the Flicka 2 promotional trailer, the Damians premiered the first ten minutes of the movie, coming out May 4, 2010. As the lights came back up in the ballroom of the Four Seasons hotel, and the crowd applauded, Michael Damian shared his nervousness — “You are the first people ever to see this,” he confided, “so your opinion really matters to me.”

The opinions of the Mom 2.0 audience really do matter to Damian and the folks at producer Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Not only are the mothers in the room the main movie decision-makers in their families, the moms’ blog readers total approximately 10% of the American public.

Flicka 2 is bypassing movie houses and going direct to DVD. Back in the day, “direct to DVD (or VHS)” meant a movie probably had some problems. Today, going direct to DVD is an increasingly successful strategy for scoring well in niche markets.

If the moms in this morning’s audience like the preview, they’ll tweet and blog about it, they’ll remember it, they’ll tell their friends, and the movie’s potential audience will grow exponentially. Flicka 2 won’t just be another “direct to DVD” movie, it will be a successful film with a successful “Mom 2.0″ marketing strategy.

At MMI, we refer to replicating significant audiences as “identifying psychographic twins.” A psychographic twin is someone who shares a value-set that leads them to similar behaviors and purchasing/use habits.

This may have seemed like a post about a horse, or maybe about a movie. Really, it’s a post about marketing strategies. This morning saw the perfect combination of a product and an asymmetrical, influential marketing force.

Twentieth Century and the Damians made a smart decision to debut their film at the Mom 2.0 Summit. If this core audience rents/buys it, their psychographic twins will too.

Tags: Flicka 2, Mom2Summit
Posted in Behind The Scenes, Social Media | 2 Comments »

Behind the Scenes: Iron Chef from Scratch

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Today I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes of GreatDay Houston and be a part of preparations for the Vintage Park Iron Chef segment. Although not directly involved with the project, I’ve learned always to say yes to MMI’s everyday adventures.

Host Debra Duncan and guests enjoy cuisine prepared by our Iron Chef competitors.

Like the iron chefs awaiting their next challenge, MMIers planned for every contingency and helped bring all the components together. Weeks were spent researching kitchens and strategizing the game plan. MMIers saw to every detail–scouring the grocery store for gourds to achieve the perfect reveal display of the secret ingredient, butternut squash.

Chefs and clients were rehearsing sound bites and details with MMIers down to the last minute. Twenty minutes before the show it came to our attention that a few extra supplies were needed. Only at MMI would you find yourself driving around Montrose at 8 a.m. on a Friday looking for butane and spinach.

L to R: Iron Chef from Peli Peli Paul Friedman, Vintage Park Director of Retail Management Melissa Goedde, Iron Chef Winner from Fish City Grill Carolyn Karwick holding the golden wisk, Host Debra Duncan and Iron Chef John Ly from Strata

It’s often hard to give people a description of what we do because it involves activities such as these; creating things from scratch and carrying out projects that may seem a bit strange to onlookers. In short, we make the unusual everyday business and the imaginary possible.

Finally, the show started and our secret ingredient was revealed. Our clients spoke beautifully and the food turned out delicious; filling the studio with rich, autumny smells of Thanksgiving and the great weekend to come.

For more behind-the-scenes photos of GreatDay Houston, visit Vintage Park’s Facebook page here.

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