Congratulations to our client, the American Heart Association on being named as 2013 Health NonProfit Brand of the Year in Annual EquiTrend study

Here’s the official press release:

American Heart Association named as 2013 Health NonProfit Brand of the Year in Annual EquiTrend study
(DALLAS, March 20)— The American Heart Association has been named the Health NonProfit Brand of the Year by the 2013 Harris Poll EquiTrend®, an annual tracking study that measures and compares more than 1,500 brands.

“This recognition is a tribute to our more than 22.5 million volunteers and supporters, from the researchers who continue the lifesaving vision of our founders to the families who lace up their shoes for our Heart Walks,” said Nancy Brown, Chief Executive Officer of the American Heart Association. “It is especially meaningful as we work toward our goal of both a 20 percent improvement in cardiovascular health for all Americans, and a 20 percent reduction in cardiovascular and stroke deaths by 2020. Statistics show we are making progress, and this study serves as further confirmation that we are a trusted source for changing and saving lives.”

The American Heart Association funds more cardiovascular research than any entity outside the federal government – more than $128 million in the last fiscal year, and more than $3.5 billion since 1949.

While the American Heart Association prides itself on being rooted in science, programs and campaigns aimed at consumers continue to have a major impact. Examples include:

The Heart-Check mark that helps Americans make healthier choices on grocery store items and restaurant meals; the mark is a recognized and trusted nutritional icon.
CPR training of more than 14 million people worldwide each year.

The Hands-Only CPR campaign reminds people that anyone can be a lifesaver; when an adult collapses, just push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of the song, “Stayin’ Alive.”

Go Red For Women, the awareness campaign educating the public that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the U.S., claiming more lives than all forms of cancer combined, and that the warning signs of a heart attack can be different for women than for men.

“The mission of the American Heart Association touches every household in America,” said Donna Arnett, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., the organization’s President and Chairperson of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health. “These results indicate that the American Heart Association is recognized as leading the overall fight against heart disease and stroke, and is a valued resource in the fight for the lives that mean the most to you.”

This is the 25th year of the Harris Poll EquiTrend, which evaluates a brand’s position within and outside of its industry based on a survey of more than 38,500 Americans.

The EquiTrend ranking is based on an “Equity score” which provides an understanding of a brand’s overall strength. That score is determined by a calculation of Familiarity, Quality and Purchase Consideration.

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About the American Heart Association
The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke—America’s No. 1 and No. 4 killers. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or join us, call 1-800-AHA-USA1 or any of our offices around the country or visit heart.org.

About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is one of the world’s leading market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll® and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers proprietary solutions in the areas of market and customer insight, corporate brand and reputation strategy, and marketing, advertising, public relations and communications research. Harris possesses expertise in a wide range of industries including health care, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Additionally, Harris has a portfolio of multi-client offerings that complement our custom solutions while maximizing our client’s research investment. Serving clients in more than 196 countries and territories through our North American and European offices, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients—stay ahead of what’s next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

Media Contact:
Miriam Hansen
Miriam.Hansen@heart.org; (214) 706-1527

The Diocese of St. Augustine Stewardship Appeal was initiated to raise much-needed funds for the Diocese of St. Augustine. Their goal was to raise enough money to support the Diocese’s outreach programs and efforts including Catholic Charities, Catholic Education, and Seminarian education. (more…)

by Aliera Peterson, Dalton Agency Director of Social Media

This particular panel at South by Southwest (SXSW), was in high demand and a very insightful look into the world of crowd sourcing by team members from PepsiCo and Frito-Lay, two brands that have had obvious success and received tremendous fan engagement and goodwill from their own crowd sourcing efforts. Moderated by Todd Wasserman from Mashable, the panel included:

• Jen Saenz, Senior Director of Brand Marketing for Frito-Lay
• Shiv Singh, Global Head of Digital for PepsiCo
• Kevin Knight, Creative Strategist at Facebook

According to our panelists, even though crowd sourcing has been around for hundreds of years (with the Oxford Dictionary cited as the first recorded crowd sourced initiative), it’s hotter than it’s ever been. What’s different now is how and why companies are applying it, and the technology they use to engage personally with fans.

But what is crowd sourcing? It’s when you look to a larger audience to solve a defined problem.

Why crowd source?
Our industry has changed dramatically over the past fews years. Traditional marketing is not as effective as it once was, and for marketing budgets that have felt the strain of the recession, digital tools have proven an effective method of stretching limited budgets. That being said,  even brands like Frito-Lay and PepsiCo feel as though marketing budgets can never be big enough to reach the audiences they need to reach, which is why they also rely heavily on advocates to share message.

Besides the budget challenge, research shows that our traditional marketing efforts are less effective than they once were. Why? In a world where everyone has smartphones, laptops, tablets, blogs and social networks, everyone is their own brand/marketing channel with their own unique circles of influence. To reach this new type of consumer, the more screens you can be on, the bigger your ROI will be. And this shift from anonymity to authentication on the web has been a change that’s encouraged a shift toward the crowd sourcing model.

How is crowd sourcing beneficial for brands?
You’re giving your fans a voice, creating a more personal relationship and truly learning what resonates with your audience. Crowd sourcing (when done well) also leads to better marketing, because you have better information on your customer and how they relate to your brand. And by giving them free range in how they respond, quite often you tease out a more in-depth understanding of why they love their brand, which in turn allows you to create more powerful, relevant messaging.

How do agencies fit into the crowd sourced equation? Should they be concerned?
Marketing has evolved dramatically. It goes beyond making a great commercial; it’s about building that emotional buy-in from consumer to brand. The best agencies embrace that, and help brands become a bridge to the collective culture of their consumers.

From the standpoint of both Jen Saenz (Senior Director of Marketing for Frito-Lay) and Shiv Singh (Global Head of Digital for PepsiCo), it is agencies that handle community management activities over traditional channels have better, that have more informed creative, which in turn, leads to more innovative ways to reach the target audience.

Additional Takeaways About the Crowd Sourcing Process:

1. A crowd sourcing strategy should reflect the needs and behaviors of your audience/community.
2. Know the limits of your platform. (Twitter is great for voting, but not so great at submissions.) Play to each platform’s strengths.
3. Guide the fans through crowd sourcing, don’t give them the keys. Don’t risk losing your brand identity.
4. You have to trust your fans. You can’t go into defensively. Plan for what you’ll do if something goes wrong – manage the risk.
5. Crowd sourcing is catchy. Do it a few times, and consumers start to associate participation with your brand.

About 795,000 Americans each year suffer a new or recurrent stroke. That means, on average, a stroke occurs every 40 seconds.

On average, every 4 minutes someone dies of stroke.

These statistics are why the American Stroke Association wants everyone to know that when we all work together, stroke is preventable, treatable and beatable. (more…)

This Sunday, February 3, is one of the biggest nights of the year, both for football fans and for advertising agencies! The Dalton Agency is proud to be your headquarters for all that is ad-related about the Big Game, all weekend long. (more…)

Ever worn a Parka to the beach on a sunny day? You might want to bring one along if you plan on cooling down with the blended icy goodness of a McDonald’s Frappe or Smoothie.

This spot was created and produced by the Dalton Agency’s talented creative and post production team for our client, McDonald’s.

The Dalton Agency is a driven national full-service advertising, public relations and digital agency headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida with offices throughout the Southeast, including Atlanta, Georgia and Orlando, Florida.

This promotion is only at participating McDonald’s for a limited time.

Here is the Dalton Agency’s latest animated spot for McDonald’s. Developed, animated and produced in-house by our talented team of motion graphics wizards, this spot features McDonald’s $1 beverage promotion in a out-of-this-world environment. (more…)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., – Dec. 11, 2012 – The Dalton Agency, a national advertising and public relations agency headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla. with offices in Atlanta, Columbia, Orlando, Savannah and Tampa, announced today that LEGOLAND^® Florida has selected it to provide national public relations and social media services for the rapidly expanding theme park. (more…)

The Dalton Agency will partner with and serve as the agency of record for Yo-Fi Wellness. Yo-Fi Wellness provides companies an Internet-based, affordable way to bring healthy living initiatives to their employees through instructive yoga, fitness, nutrition and meditation video content. (more…)

The Dalton Agency is humbled to work with the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation to develop its new logo, look and brand. (more…)