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It’s Hip to be Square!

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Lauren

Does climbing inside a six-foot square and taking on its personality qualify as going the second mile? That’s exactly what our President and CEO, Cindy Marion, did last Saturday for our long-time client Planned Community Developers. All we can say is, Cindy had a blast. She came prepared with some of the corniest jokes we have ever heard that incorporated a square, box, or cube.

The square returns to Sugar Land Town Square!

Our personal favorites:
“Who do you think my favorite rapper is? Ice CUBE!”
“How do you think I became this big? I ate three SQUARE meals a day!”

She even sang songs like “It’s Hip to be Square” and “I like big BOX and I cannot lie…” Both children and parents alike couldn’t help but stop and laugh at her comedic attempts.

Cindy in the square cracking jokes and passing out promotional items.

So why did Cindy get in the square? Why not have someone else do it?
Because our client asked her to – and that was all she needed. The relationship MMI has built with PCD over the past 26 years is based on our commitment to overachieve and standing behind our ideas, and if that means working on her standup comedy, Cindy was happy to do it.

The night was a complete success. With over 1,500 Sugar Land residents coming out to Sugar Land Town Square to watch one of the biggest events of the year – Junior Superstar – quite a crowd gathered to the square to see just what was going on. By the end of the night, we passed out 300 t-shirts, 150 koozies, and 150 stress balls (in the shape of squares, of course).

We are looking forward to the next Get Squared! event, and we know the Sugar Land residents are too. Everyone kept asking, “When will the box be coming back?”

The answer? You’ll have to keep an eye on Sugar Land Town Square Twitter and Facebook pages to find out!

A 6th Anniversary Delivers Many Happy Birthdays

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Robin

Vanessa Fox was 9 months pregnant when she learned that one of her two children, a little girl named Victoria, had a malignant tumor in her head.

Three-year-old Victoria, who loved to sing and dance, had just lost the sight in one eye and couldn’t stop throwing up. Victoria was admitted to a hospital in Cook County, Texas, where doctors explained to Vanessa and husband Brian that the full regimen for cancer treatment ideally included surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Due to the delicate location of Victoria’s tumor, in her head near her eye, they couldn’t operate. Now that chemotherapy was starting, it was time to talk about radiation treatments.

Brian and Vanessa waited in the radiologists’ office to hear the verdict. Based on the radiologists’ review of Victoria’s brain scans, they believed traditional radiation treatments would kill the tumor. However, Victoria would never be the same. Radiation would damage Victoria’s still-developing brain, head and face.

As Victoria started chemotherapy, Vanessa delivered her third child. Vanessa told her doctors she and the new baby could only stay one night – they had to get home to help care for Victoria.

Brian stayed up nights researching proton therapy as an alternative to radiation treatments for Victoria. He had to believe there was a way to save her life and her future at the same time.

Based on Brian’s research and conversations with doctors at MD Anderson’s Proton Therapy Center, the family chose MD Anderson and proton therapy.

Today, Victoria is cancer-free. She didn’t suffer facial disfigurement or brain damage. Sight returned to her once blind eye and she’s still dancing.

Six years ago today, MD Anderson, the nation’s leading hospital for cancer research and treatment, commissioned a new Proton Therapy Center. When the doors of the Center opened on May 4, 2006, new hope arrived for pediatric and adult patients. We at MMI have the honor to support the MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center by helping tell the stories of patients who walked in the doors with cancer, and walked out with new life.

The six years of MD Anderson’s Proton Therapy Center in Houston, Texas, are six years of stories featuring families like Victoria, Vanessa and Brian. Stories of hope for healing.

Living in Oklahoma now, following her dad’s job transfer, four-year-old Victoria is in a ballet class. She plays with her big sister, helps with her younger brother, and is looking forward to starting kindergarten in the fall.

Happy Birthday, MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center. Thank you for helping people like Victoria celebrate more birthdays, too.

An important part of the MMI family

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Janelle

Each year at MMI, we are lucky enough to employ a couple of interns from Lamar High School’s Magnet Program. At Lamar, there is a special business program that allows students to intern at local companies throughout their senior year. This year, seniors Genesis Lara and Alexus Davis have been working with us each afternoon after attending their morning classes at Lamar. They have been such a great help to everyone here and have really become part of the MMI family.

Last week, Betty and I got to attend the year-end banquet for the Lamar Magnet Program as the girl’s representatives. The evening consisted of a delicious meal, a great speaker and a few kind words from each student about their experience working at their host company. Both Genesis and Alexus presented MMI with a certificate of appreciation for allowing them the opportunity to have a real-world experience in the marketing industry.

We are so thankful for the talented interns we get each year from this program, and will miss these girls tremendously next year! MMI wishes them both the best of luck in college this fall!

Ask The Agency: Does the “right” college matter?

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Amanda

Does it matter where you graduate from, let’s say UTSA versus UT, and how much of a difference does graduate school make in landing a job with Marion, Montgomery, Inc.?

The short of it is no. You do not need a master’s degree to join the MMI team and we aren’t selective when it comes to where you’ve received your undergraduate degree. What matters most is what you did when you were there. For entry level personnel in account services and public relations we look at GPA, school involvement, degree and internships.

Eight PR team members, eight different schools. From L to R: OU, UT, UH, Baylor, Texas State, Texas Tech, Kansas State and A&M.

Internships (particularly those done at MMI) get our attention. Real work experience at an agency will give you an edge. Depending on the position—especially for administrative positions—we place greater value on work experience overall. For creative positions, your portfolio is the focal point of the interview.

From my perspective, I use the MMI internship program to help pre-qualify entry level hires. In fact, all of the full-time entry level public relations hires have completed three to six months of internships in the department. This gives us a chance to get to know you and for you to get to know us. Internships will give you real work responsibilities and experience, provide exposure to the agency structure, while we get a feel for your strengths and skills.

Don’t wait to apply for a summer internship. Many of our candidates start submitting resumes early in the year. For more information on jobs at MMI or our internship program, visit our jobs page.

Do you have a question for the agency? Leave a comment here, tweet it or post it to our Facebook page to be a part of our series.

Congrats to the MD Anderson Marketing Team!

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Jaclyn

Recently, we had the pleasure of attending the annual American Marketing Association (AMA) Houston chapter 2011 Marketer of the Year Awards held at the Alley Theatre. The evening honored the marketing leadership from more than 30 of Houston’s

MD Anderson’s Cheryl P. Chin, MHA, manager of marketing, proudly accepted the award.

most exceptional businesses and featured keynote speaker Jim Compton, executive vice president and chief revenue officer for United Airlines, who discussed marketing challenges and strategies involved in merging Continental and United to form the world’s largest airline.

Before announcing the 2011 Marketer of the Year, the AMA honored the 34 Best of Category Winners, who were selected from more than 145 nominated companies, organizations and institutions.

MMI would like to congratulate our client MD Anderson for winning the AMA Houston Chapter 2011 Marketer of the Year Best of Category Award for “Healthcare Hospitals/Institutions”!

We’ve known all along that MD Anderson is exceptional in every way, but we are so excited that they are being recognized for their outstanding marketing achievements. We are honored to work with such amazing clients.

Direct to the Addys

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Brooks

The annual Houston Addy Awards are right around the corner, and we at MMI are particularly excited about two radio spots we created for Direct Energy that are contending for Addy honors this year.

Both ads address a difficult messaging challenge:

“Goodbye Bill” was written to encourage consumers to switch to Direct Energy when their concern over their electric bill is likely to be on the wane. When “Goodbye Bill” hit the airwaves in Houston and Dallas, the historically hot summer of 2011 was in the rear view mirror. Knowing that many people were still smarting from several months of staggering electric bills, we sought to simultaneously remind them how burdensome a summer electric bill can be, and remind them that locking in a low price with Direct Energy now can protect them from similar distress next summer. We created a character (Bill) to represent the high summer electric bill. In the spot, he’s presented as a charmless and unwanted house guest. While he is not surprised when he is sent packing for the winter, he is most surprised to find out that he won’t be returning next year. With this ad, we took a straightforward sales message that might have been too easy for a listener to ignore, and turned it into an entertaining and memorable story.

“Noise” had an altogether different purpose. The spot was developed to represent Direct Energy’s incumbent brands (CPL and WTU) in markets where those brands were, prior to deregulation, the consistent and only electricity provider. Faced with an influx of new competitors touting a wide range of offers, Direct Energy asked us to develop a spot that positions their incumbent brands as the reliable and straightforward provider with offers that can be counted on.

Regardless of the awards these spots win, we are very proud of them. They both represent an engaging and story-driven approach to making our client’s desired message resonant and memorable.

Congratulations to our friends at Direct Energy and kudos to our creative and production team. Onward to the Addys!

Touchdown for Chipotle

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Lauren

This past Sunday night was the Super Bowl for music lovers, and although the hype for commercials at the Grammy Awards is far less emphasized, there were a handful of heavy-hitters making a statement, and an impression.

For one, Chipotle. The title sponsor of the night’s festivities went big:

Once you enter the professional world of advertising and PR, you never view commercials the same way again. After spending the first 20 seconds or so intrigued by the story playing out, my mind went into business mode, clicking through and checking off boxes on what exactly made this commercial brilliant and effective:

It was unusual and interesting – from the get-go, you weren’t really sure what it was advertising and what it was trying to say, but you knew it was…
….visually captivating! Kudos to the art directors.
It was made with the audience in mind. It included elements that appeal directly to music lovers watching the Grammys (I’m guessing it took the average viewer 2.5 seconds to identify Willie Nelson covering Coldplay, and another 2.5 to Google the song)
There was a clear brand message. We use natural ingredients. The end.
The clear brand message was tied to a charitable cause.
There was a clear call to action for that charitable cause. The end of the commercial featured the promise of something unique and unobtainable elsewhere – a download of the Willie Nelson cover, only available on iTunes, where 60% of the money earned by Chipotle and Willie would go to the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation.
It was designed for social media integration. The commercial was meant to induce conversation, and they were ready to participate, with the commercial running on their YouTube channel and careful watching and responding to comments on Facebook and Twitter.

Going through this mental checklist as the commercial played on, it occurred to me that not only are these the rules we apply at MMI, they are each 100% scaleable to the task at hand. Large or small, campaigns with a message, means of sharing that message and a clear, concise call to action can go a long way to achieving the desired outcome. At MMI, it’s such a pleasure to be a part of this process for clients–never forgetting to draw from the world around us to see what new, magical experiences we can create next for our clients and the audiences they wish to reach.

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