The Super Bowl is easily the most anticipated advertising night of the year.  Brands and advertising execs invest time and millions of dollars to deliver a memorable, exciting advertisement that will be the talk of the water cooler the next morning. This year, many ads focused on social media platforms, asking viewers to follow them on Twitter or Instagram.  How ironic, then, that Oreo was able to make a huge social media splash with zero investment and very little planning.  

When the power went out at the Mercedes-Benz Dome last night, everything came to a grinding halt. Those watching the Super Bowl for the game were left bored with no action, and there was only so many ads the network could run to satisfy those watching for the commercials. Undoubtedly, many people pulled out their phones and checked their Twitter feeds, either out of boredom or to see what other people were saying about the blackout.  That's when Oreo struck.

The tweet quipped "No power? No problem" and was accompanied by a simple graphic of an Oreo, surrounded by a halo of light in the dark, with the text "You can always dunk in the dark".

Although I don't follow Oreo on Twitter, I was fortunate to see their post within minutes of it being put up, and was nothing short of amazed by their timely response. Before long, my phone was being passed around the living room to friends and family, and everyone forgot the debate about which television commercial was "best"; Oreo had stolen the show. A discussion soon erupted as to how Oreo managed to conceive the idea, create the content and receive approval within a few short minutes. Thankfully, Oreo's advertising agency, 360i, shed some light on the issue with Rachel Sanders of Buzzfeed:

"We had a mission control set up at our office with the brand and 360i, and when the blackout happened, the team looked at it as an opportunity," agency president Sarah Hofstetter told BuzzFeed. "Because the brand team was there, it was easy to get approvals and get it up in minutes."

"The big question is what happens when everything changes, when you go off script? That was where it got fun."

By the time the power came back on, Oreo had 10,000 re-tweets, and overwhelming positive reactions. 

Superbowl television spots cost almost $3.7 million dollars for thirty seconds, so Oreo's success with on-the-fly creative content could certainly be a game changer for brands in the future. I wouldn't be surprised to discover that more brands will follow suit and have their creative teams on standby for future advertising events. It's a great lesson for anyone in reputation management, public relations or marketing: Like an athlete, to win you must be flexible and versatile. Always look for an opportunity when things don't go as planned. Otherwise, you might just find yourself in the dark.

Recently, the St. Louis Regional Chamber presented the 2012 St. Louis Green Business Challenge awards to celebrate the sustainability accomplishments of the Class of 2012. This year's class was comprised of 84 companies, institutions and governments - a 22 percent increase from 2011. 

My Standing Partnership Green Business Challenge team member, Ashlyn Brewer, and I were on hand at the packed event, held at the Union Station Marriott, to accept Standing Partnership's very first award. Although the award itself is lovely and, incidentally, completely sustainable - made of 100 percent FSC-certified bamboo - the true pride is in the hard work behind it.

On March 31, 2012, we submitted our initial Green Business Challenge scorecard - a listing of sustainable practices by category, and a rating system for having accomplished said green practices. We scored a total of 28 points out of a possible 285. A bit discouraging, I thought. After all, we had to consider that:

• We rent our space in a multi-tenant building, and therefore, are not able to measure our energy use as an individual company.
• We're located in West County, an area not known for its easy access to public transportation.
• We're a small company with a close eye on our budget, not able to make major investments in sometimes expensive green alternatives.

How were we going to increase our score and make a difference?

Over the next seven months, however, we made great strides:  scoring points by reactivating our Sustainability (or Green) Team; kicking off an ongoing junk-mail-reduction initiative; going completely electronic with our invoicing; and educating our team on taking green practices home. Most importantly, we wrote a Sustainability Policy, which exhibits Standing's commitment to strengthening our current recycling program, purchasing more sustainable office supplies across the board, selecting caterers who are locally owned and have an equal commitment to sustainability, and lessening our carbon output when traveling for business.

When Ashlyn and I walked up to the stage to receive our award, I wasn't thinking how our overall achievement was probably less than those of some our fellow Challengers - who admittedly accomplished some amazing things in 2012 - I was filled with pride thinking of how our small group of 30 team members came together with a passion for the environment to more than double our score from March, and how our small changes here and there culminated in making a big difference. I thought of that same room 20 years from now, wondering how far we will have come in our efforts to keep our planet thriving. In the meantime, though, I look to 2013 and get excited about the advances we'll make in this year's Green Business Challenge.

There were a lot of great ideas shared during the meeting.  We also talked about other groups that should be engaged in business' collective effort to improve health, such as the powerful role education can play. I shared how my teenage daughter's aerobics teacher inspired her to live healthier by drinking less soda and exercising regularly. It led to a conversation about how business and education could together leverage these influential role models for students and lifelong healthier living.

The stories shared during last week's meeting and the BCLC report are encouraging. There is no question in my mind that if we work collectively, healthy living will become a way of life in the United States.

One of the things that I think makes Standing Partnership unique is that our core values aren’t just pieces of corporate jargon for a policy manual. They’re a true reflection of our culture.

At Standing, we regularly give back to our community, whether it’s through pro bono work, participating in one of our Done-in-a-Day projects, or sharing our passion for community issues through board commitments and volunteer efforts.   

As for me, I’m personally passionate about education. Growing up, I was very blessed to have a family with the resources to provide me with a top-notch education. I didn’t always appreciate it when I was young, but I do now.

According to the Children’s Defense Fund, 32 percent of students who spend more than half their childhood in poverty never graduate from high school, compared to just six percent of those who have never been poor. That gap widens at the college level. Only 11 percent of students born into the lowest income levels obtain a bachelor’s degree compared to 79 percent of students from the top quartile. 

I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to apply my passion for education to several outstanding client accounts, including The Goddard School and The Wilson School. Outside of the office, though, I use my passion to help my own community as a member of the Associate Board for Boys Hope Girls Hope (BHGH).

BHGH helps at-risk children meet their full potential by placing them in good schools and family-like group homes with the resources to thrive academically, socially and spiritually. Since the organization’s founding, every BHGH scholar has gone on to college.

This past weekend, the BHGH Associate Board hosted our 13^th Annual Trivia Night at St. Louis University High School. More than 300 people came out to test their knowledge, win fabulous prizes and support a great cause. And even though my table didn’t win the trivia night, I enjoyed being able to share my passion for BHGH with my friends and family. I can’t wait to do it again at our next event in the spring!

Have a question about Boys Hope Girls Hope and the work that we do? Drop me a note in the comments section and I’ll get back to you with more information. 

One of the things that makes me proud to work at Standing Partnership is that giving back is core to who we are. If you look through our last few blog posts, you'll read about our community impact report, done-in-a-day partners and passion for ending hunger in our community.

We do a lot of different service projects throughout the year, but I'm particularly partial to the Benetwit, a social media-themed benefit in support of the United Way.

Since 2009, Standing has proudly brought together the St. Louis community to celebrate the great work of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, and to showcase how we can leverage social media and digital communications tools for social good.

Last week we held our 4^th annual Benetwit in support of the United Way of Greater St. Louis. We celebrated with our clients, partners and friends in the beautiful Centennial Ballroom at Moulin Events.

Guests were invited to get their pictures taken at our Instagram station (last year it was a Flickr station, but we all know how fast things change!); sample our signature cocktail, coined the "Benetipsy" by our Facebook poll; and enjoy good food and drinks in the company of friends.

One of the night's highlights came during remarks from Angela Marino, vice president of marketing and communications at the United Way. She shared a moving story about the impact each of us can have on people who need our help, either personally through direct contact with them, or through our support of organizations working to address some of the region's most pressing issues.

Thank you to all who attended the event. We hope to see you next year!

Each year, Standing employees nominate organizations as potential "Done-in-a-Day" community partners. Staffers offer up projects that often fall within their personal passion areas. Then, staff voting begins. The four partners that receive the most votes win.  

These volunteer days allow Standing team members to help the community while fostering our own team building. I was fortunate enough to coordinate our Fall project with Gateway Greening, a local nonprofit dedicated to educating and empowering people to strengthen their communities through gardening and urban agriculture (a passion that's close to my own heart).

On a brisk Saturday morning in September, the Standing crew and our families gathered at Gateway Greening's Bell Garden for an amazing day. The staff and community volunteers at Gateway Greening were incredibly helpful and guided us as we weeded gardens and dug trenches. Meanwhile, we had the opportunity to spend time with our families and colleagues, while also learning about each other's personal interests. Our team learned about seasonal gardening and had a great experience.

(Special thanks to Kalinda from Wheat-Free Meat-Free for the awesome pictures!)

Thank you to the Gateway Greening team for hosting us, sharing your gardening expertise and providing a day full of great memories!

Tonight, we'll be supporting yet another community partner, the United Way of Greater St. Louis at our annual holiday Benetwit. I hope to see you there! 

And while most of us will soon be gathering around our tables to celebrate with abundance, it's also important to note that according to Share our Strength, 16.2 million U.S. children (a staggering more than one in five) live in food insecure households.

These families lack the means to get enough food and struggle with hunger at some point during the year. Though food insecurity is most common in urban areas, people in suburban and rural areas also face this challenge. And unemployment, rather than poverty, is a better indicator of food insecurity.

We know that food insecurity and hunger can have devastating and long-lasting effects. Children suffering from hunger are more susceptible to disease, struggle academically, and have significantly higher levels of behavioral and emotional problems.

As a nation so fortunate, how do we combat this issue?

Modern agricultural advancements allow farmers to produce more than ever. In 1960, an American farmer fed 26 people. Today, that same farmer feeds 155 people with the promise of even more productivity in the future.

More than that, the generous spirit of our nation's farmers is also having a real, lasting and local impact throughout the U.S. Through Invest An Acre, a collaboration between Feeding America, the Howard G. Buffet Foundation, ADM, and Monsanto, America's farmers are giving even more back to their hometowns. When delivering grain to the elevator, farmers are able to donate an acre or more of their crop proceeds to a food pantry in their community.

At Standing, we work closely with our community partner the St. Louis Area Foodbank, through volunteer activities and pro bono work. This summer, to celebrate his 65th birthday, a member of my community organized and held FoodStock, a music event featuring seven bands, to benefit local food pantries. Last Saturday, the Boy Scouts collected food throughout our region as part of their annual Scouting for Food campaign.

Hunger has many faces - they're your neighbors, co-workers and maybe even your friends. This video from Feeding America shows the story.

What are you doing to help?

The outpouring of sadness over the loss of Hostess and Wonder brands doesn't surprise me.  Before I founded Standing Partnership, I spent three years as communications manager and spokesperson for Twinkies, Wonder Bread and related iconic brands. With the current owner's bankruptcy filing and potential liquidation, I feel compelled to share a few stories from those days.

1. Some iconic brands inspire tremendous passion among consumers. 

Certain brands hold special meaning for consumers; Hostess is one of them. Americans have always loved Hostess Twinkies, CupCakes, Ho Ho's, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread. (Like so many others this week, I savored a few last bites of my favorite product, a Hostess fruit pie!)

At Continental Baking Co. in the late 1980s, I became an expert on bread and snack cake history, production and marketing. The process started with guided tours of the bakeries (in the required hairnets and safety goggles) and riding along on delivery routes to supermarkets and convenience stores in the wee hours of the morning. I learned never, ever to go into a store without straightening out product on the shelves.

2. Even the most storied brands evolve ... carefully.

During my time with Continental, its new owner Ralston Purina Company closed 13 bakeries as the company focused on improving production efficiencies and marketing savvy. They were significant, painful changes for an organization historically driven by a strong sales ethic and plan. Hundreds of people lost jobs with each bakery closed.

Even "fun" brands have a serious side when it comes to reputation management in the midst of the changes like bakery consolidations, labor negotiations, product tamperings and even an attempted boycott we faced during my tenure.  

To lighten things up, we introduced nearly 15 innovative new snack cake and bread product offerings in three years, including Wonder Light bread, Wonder High Fiber, Oatmeal Goodness Bread as well as Fruit and Crème Twinkies and Choco-Bliss.

3. Learn to keep up with changing consumer tastes and trends.

Consumers took a great interest in nutrition in the 1980s. An early call from a health food advocate asked how I could, in good faith, promote "junk food" with "no nutritional value." The experts in our Quality/Food Protection department offered that, "A Twinkie is a desirable adjunct to a balanced diet." True enough, but when I read myself quoted repeating that line in a national newspaper, the stilted language didn't fit the Twinkies brand. In later interviews, I said, "If you have a balanced diet, you can enjoy a Twinkie once in a while!" That worked a lot better.           

After Thanksgiving, I plan to share two more blog posts with a few more quick stories about my time with Hostess and Wonder Bread: 

• How Hostess Twinkies were selected as the cake for Superman's 50th birthday
• How Wonder Light bread came as a late entry to the "diet bread" category
• How Hostess "squiggle" inventor Doc Rice celebrated the snack cake's 70th birthday
• How we averted a near-boycott by bringing thousands of "Twinkies to Tallahassee"

In 1991, when my sister Kelly and I formed Standing Partnership, we set out to create a special place to work. Not only would we help our clients achieve success, but we'd also live our mission by articulating and adhering to strong core values. We never knew then how much a small, but caring and committed team can contribute to making a community better!  

Today our firm's core values of Collaboration, Innovation, Integrity and Passion continue to underscore everything that Standing Partnership does.

Over the years, I have been amazed and proud to see how the Standing team has found ways to practice extravagant generosity, serving our community through gifts of time, dollars and contributions of communications expertise. For the past 20 years, talented and committed Standing employees have helped bring success to many important charitable, fund-raising and economic development projects, including the Saint Louis Zoo's Elephant Walk and Fair St. Louis to our current work assisting the United Way of Greater St. Louis and the St. Louis PetLover Coalition achieve their goals.   

As we cap our 20th year and look toward a bright future, we offer our Community Impact Report as a celebration of the collective impact we've had in our local community. The report itself is a concrete example of how a single organization - no matter the size - can make a real and lasting difference. It tells many of our stories and makes me proud to think about how far we have come in our first two decades.

Standing Partnership Community Impact Report

Many thanks to team members Christi Dixon, Chris Luelf, Ashlyn Brewer, Beth Doriani, Jessie Muir, Jenny Rausch and Anne Walker for writing and producing the report.

Our own process of reflection has led us to ask a similar question of our clients, partners and friends. How is your organization measuring its impact?    

Standing employees enjoyed local beverages and delicious snacks as the Green Team presented on how to be more "Green" in our daily lives. Here are some of our favorite facts and tips on how we can practice environmental sustainability at home:

• Approximately 85 percent of the energy used in the world today is produced using nonrenewable energy sources. So, if buying new appliances, look for ENERGY STAR products. Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved enough energy in 2010 to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 33 million cars - all while saving nearly $18 billion on their utility bills.
• Reduce your driving. The less you drive the less fuel you use, helping reduce carbon emissions. Cars use less fuel when the engine is warm, so try combining errands instead of making multiple short trips.
• For better indoor air quality, limit water in the air to prevent mold. The ideal percentage for indoor humidity is between 30 and 50 percent.
• Do you like to burn candles? Well, it's time to trade your candles for plants. The more vigorous the plant, the more air it can filter. It's a natural way of helping your family breathe easier.
• Americans use more water (1,550 cubic meters water/year) per person than almost everywhere else! So, instead of letting the tap run until water gets cold, keep a pitcher or bottle of drinking water in the refrigerator; take showers instead of baths, and keep showers short; use your garbage disposal sparingly and compost vegetable food waste instead, and use a broom instead of a hose to clean your driveway and sidewalk.
• Reduce waste! Buy smart by looking for items with less packaging and try shopping at second-hand stores. Once you've made your purchase, make sure to recycle!

Speaking of recycling, in honor of today's holiday, America Recycles Day, I wanted to highlight one of the biggest takeaways of the presentation. In terms of reducing, reusing and recycling, we often limit our thought process to paper, aluminum and plastic. Think outside of the box! When it comes time to get rid of that old pair of jeans or leftover buttons and ribbon, where do you go? There are many places rights here in St. Louis that will take these items off your hands. These places not only help us to reduce waste, stay in style and gather helpful materials for a variety of projects, but are a great way to serve the community. Here are just a few of the locations mentioned in our presentation:

• ScholarShop - This upscale resale store raises significant funds for interest-free loans for area students, through The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis. ScholarShop accepts donations at both of its locations. Just bring your donations to the drop-off area at the back door.
• Rung Boutique - With a significant portion of the profits going to support the work of theWomen's Foundation of Greater St. Louis, Rung brings professional fashion full circle. Your donations as well as your purchases make a difference for women at all levels of the career ladder.
• The UpCycle Exhchange - The UpCycle Exchange {Materials Market} offers the St. Louis creative community post-consumer art and craft supplies at pay-as-you-wish pricing and purchasing credits for in-store material drop-offs.
• ReStore - Habitat ReStore sells quality, used, and surplus building materials at a fraction of normal prices. Proceeds from ReStore helps local affiliates fund the construction of Habitat for Humanity houses within the community.

Do you know of any other similar places in St. Louis? Does your team have any other ideas for taking environmental sustainability home? We'd love ideas for next year's Green Business Challenge!