Other times, the work is so powerful that it seems to live on in our hearts even years later.

For our company’s 10-year anniversary, I wanted our team to construct a memorable campaign that would celebrate our success, bring the team together and linger in our minds for years to come. “The Power of 10” did just that.

The result was a philanthropic initiative that asked the general public to nominate worthy non-profits, and the three organizations with the highest votes would receive marketing and branding service packages from Cohn to enhance their missions and drive awareness for their causes. With a total of 132,548 votes, “The Power of 10” surpassed all of our goals and expectations of the program, with the top organization receiving more than 40,000 votes.

Each with its own unique story and situation, the winning organizations were a joy to work with. Cat Care Society (Denver) received the most votes with 44,890, Cancer Crusaders (New Orleans) was second with 44,244, and Empower Playgrounds (Provo, Utah) finished third.

Since we informed the winners in January, Cohn has worked with each organization to help with their branding and marketing needs. With Cat Care Society, our Public Relations team put together a two-phased plan to help build awareness locally and retain long-term donor support. For Empower Playgrounds, the Public Relations team worked with the organization to focus its messaging to more effectively tell its story to media, potential donors and stakeholders and drafted a messaging platform for the burgeoning non-profit to utilize in the future. And for Cancer Crusaders, our Digital team is helping build the organization’s first website in its 30 years of existence, and it will officially launch in early 2012.

And as for Cohn, we won several awards for “The Power of 10,” received a flood of positive feedback from the community, and we all consider our efforts a resounding success. “The Power of 10” even inspired a similar initiative from a marketing firm in Indiana.

“The Power of 10” had staying power, and even a year later, the campaign lives on in our hearts and minds. That’s the sign of truly great work.

Cohn actually developed the ValuText program for DDR from the ground up, so it’s been fun to watch the program take off in the media. Below is a collection of some of the news placements thus far:

• The New York Times — “Text Messages to Woo Patrons“— Dec. 4, 2011
• Mashable — “Malls Send Geo-fencing Texts to Lure Shoppers to Stores” — Dec. 16, 2011
• Forbes.com — “‘Tis The Season to Give Shopping Malls the Shaft” — Dec. 28, 2011

In addition to these high profile outlets, ValuText has also gotten considerable pick up in trade outlets, as well as at the local level in markets where ValuText currently is available. Have you read anything about ValuText yet?

You should definitely sign up if you live in a market with ValuText. Colorado has three shopping centers that currently have the program, including University Hills, Aspen Grove and Centennial Promenade (located across from Park Meadows). The entire Cohn team participated in ValuText last Friday at Aspen Grove, and it’s a very amazing, very simple program that could totally change the way we shop.

Is Responsive Mobile Website Design the Future?

No. Responsive website design is the NOW. Smart phones are the standard, and tablet devices are flooding the market­—more and more people are using them to browse websites. With marketers prompting users via QR codes, email marketing, etc., mobile compatible sites are becoming the norm. If you don’t have a mobile presence, you’re losing visitors.

What is a Mobile Responsive Website?

A Mobile Responsive Website is a website that is built to suite different screen resolutions while keeping the majority of the content in one area: where your current website content lives. By using this technique, you only build one version of your website (one codebase serves all). No more secondary mobile version.

The Benefit:

The benefit of having this is that you only need to add content to your website once instead of having multiple website to accommodate different devices.

Example of Responsive Design:

The Boston Globe has an impressive responsive design structure. They figured out how to display a plethora of information and scale it into a simple mobile view without sacrificing key information. If you scale your browser window you will notice element moving and scaling to accommodate different screen widths. At every view, it looks stellar. Check out three screen widths of Boston Globe taken from last Wednesday below the post.

The Downside:

The downside to this process means more time to design and code the website. The development isn’t as time-consuming as the design (depending on the complexity). Designers will now have to design every page layout in at least four different screen views: 960 pixels (standard desktop screens and horizontal tablet view), 768 pixels (vertical tablet view), 600 pixels (horizontal mobile view) and 320 pixels (vertical mobile view). These pixel widths are constantly changing due to the new devices being introduced but will give you an idea of the basic screen widths.

If you’re not on the mobile bandwagon, it’s time to do your research on this technique. Ask your website developer if it’s beneficial for your company (because chances are… it is).

Vice President, Marketing Services Ali Lego

Name: Ali Lego

Title: Vice President | Marketing Services

Years at Cohn: 4.5 years

What’s your favorite number and why?

I’ve always just liked the number 7 for no apparent reason. And then I met my husband and his favorite number is 7 and his dad is very superstitious about the number 7. We’ve had several “significant” events in our life take place on a date with the number 7 as part of it. Our first date: June 17, Dan proposed on July (7th month) 25 (2+5 = 7), 2007 (everyone was proposing, getting married on 7/7/7, so he changed it up a bit), we put an offer on our house July 27, we got married on April 12 (4+1+2 = 7) and Sophie was born on the 16th (1+6 = 7). So, I guess all in all 7 is my favorite number for lots of great reasons.

What was the last book you read?

My reading has definitely shifted over the past year… I used to read all sorts of books for simple reading pleasure, but since becoming a mom, my free time is more limited, so I read a lot more magazines and I often reference the book What to Expect the First Year to get some insight on Sophie. The last real book I read was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I loved. I started reading the second book in that series, The Girl who Played with Fire, but like I mentioned above, I don’t have as much time to relax and read, so I haven’t made much progress on it. However, I’m flying to Chicago this weekend, so maybe I’ll have time on the plane to take in a few chapters

How did you decide to name your daughter?

We always liked the name Sophie and it was the front runner for a long time. Her middle name, Bernadette, is after Dan’s late mother. But we didn’t like the sound of Sophie Bernadette, so her name is really Sophia Bernadette (it just sounds better), but we call her Sophie.

PR Adviser CJ Powell

Name: CJ Powell

Title: PR Adviser

Years at Cohn: 1 year

What is the best concert you’ve ever been to?

It’s a complete toss-up between Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails at Red Rocks. The Radiohead show was really pretty neat because they played for like two hours straight, they played all my favorites, and it was the last time the group came to Colorado. The Nine Inch Nails show, though, was definitely the better performance. I’ve never seen stage production come together like in that show. The most recent concert I went to was actually Blues Traveler at a small vineyard in Palisade, Colo. That was really fun because the audience was very small, and I actually caught one of the harmonicas that John Popper threw during the show!

What is your favorite adjective?

There are so many to choose from that I’m not sure I’ll be able to narrow it down. One word that I’ve been using more and more is “clevickerous,” which I made up. It’s a combination of “clever” and “tricky,” and I’m hoping those Oxford folks adopt it in the next few years.

What “lesson from mom” do you still live by today?

Like many kids, I used to ask my mom thousands of asinine questions once I learned to speak. She would patiently answer each one, and then I would always ask how she knew the answer. Without fail, my mom would reply, “Because moms know everything,” and that usually would shut me up. If there’s one lesson I still try to live by today that my mom instilled in me, it would be that moms know everything.

It recently occurred to me yesterday that the human tone behind so many corporate social media accounts may not be coming from a human at all. If Apple can create a phone that can converse like a human, why couldn’t the same technology be used to manage social media accounts?

I’ll preface this entire post by saying I don’t believe that automated responses—however human they may sound—are a smart approach to social media. At BlogWorld 2011 earlier this month, I was shocked to learn that social media authority Guy Kawasaki completely automates his Twitter account. I also disagree entirely with Ashton Kutcher’s proposed approach to his Twitter account where he would now have his digital marketing team handle the account after making a huge gaffe regarding the Penn State scandal. (He apparently is now back on Twitter. ) Social media is about connecting and interacting through authenticity, and audiences will leave if it’s not authentic. I truly believe that.

Still, technically speaking, couldn’t Siri operate a Twitter account? If IBM’s Watson can outsmart the iconic Ken Jennings in Jeopardy, why couldn’t Watson craft 140 characters of text? Seems simple enough, and it sure would save people a lot of time, energy and expenses, wouldn’t it?

I haven’t done much research on this topic, and perhaps this already does exist and function well, but with so many small businesses struggling to manage their social media accounts, I’m surprised this hasn’t been pursued further.

So… Have you noticed a corporate account that sounds a little too much like Johnny 5? Do you think that GERTY is answering the tweets you’re sending to director Duncan Jones? Could HAL 9000 be responsible for some of the recent Twitter blunders by Chrysler or Kenneth Cole?

Let me know in the comments section if you think you’ve spotted an account run by technology! Or, if you want to chat about this more, send me an email at cj@cohnmarketing.com. I love talking about this stuff!

At BlogWorld, I sat through 10 incredibly inspiring and insightful presentations, including Cohn’s own Michael Barber speaking on mobile web and mobile apps (he’s a dynamo, by the way). Below are some highlights I wanted to immediately share before I dive deeper in subsequent posts.

• There might actually be something to Google+. It’s hard to say exactly how business will be done on Google+ because the Business pages were just recently released to the public, but there is much more potential there than I ever allowed myself to believe. During its State of the Blogosphere, Technorati reported that 59% of all bloggers use G+, and 66% of professional bloggers are using G+. Between Google’s mobile platform and their ability their own pages for search benefits, as well as some infrastructural differences that could be beneficial for marketing campaigns, I probably need to start to think about Google+ a little more critically.
• Peter Shankman is so much cooler than his drab HARO emails led me to believe. His booming personality and captivating keynote stole the show in Day 1, and with sound bytes like “Social media is the world’s largest Etch-a-Sketch” and “If you want something you’ve never had before, you’re going to have to do something you’ve never done before,” it’s clear that his background in public relations has truly helped his cause over the years.
• Like other marketing tools, we really should be concentrating more on the psychology of our blog audiences. I loved Sid Savara’s honest and poignant  presentation focused on Cialdini’s six weapons of influence, and I’m going to spend the next several weeks trying to wrap my mind around this further.
• Amber Naslund is an amazing speaker and is the industry’s leader when it comes to visionary concepts. Her keynote on Day 1 was the perfect way to end an information-packed day, as she grabbed us all by the back of the shirt and tugged, allowing us to see the “big picture” a little more clearly. As you probably can tell, I’m going to be following her much more closely in the coming years.
• Our new Digital Strategist Michael Barber is the real deal. I attended his Mobile Apps vs. Mobile Web presentation, and the guy was so impressive that I’m now an even bigger believer in the power of mobile. Anyone reading this who is even remotely interested in mobile marketing campaigns, send me an email at cj@cohnmarketing.com so I can introduce you to Michael. He’s absolutely tremendous.

In all, I met a lot of great, extremely intelligent contacts at #BWELA, and the programming was astounding. Hopefully, in the next few months you’ll be seeing my byline much more frequently on BrandStand.

I had the opportunity to visit Asheville, N.C. this week. Asheville is a great little city, nestled at the foot of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. It’s a bastion of art galleries, creative restaurants, entrepreneurship and historic resorts. While visiting, I saw a myriad of good marketing and brand strategy lessons and want to share three of them with you.

1. The “Shop/Buy Local Movement” is alive and well in Asheville.

Someone’s got the right idea. Tell every customer the impact of buying local and supporting the local economy. In almost every store and restaurant we entered were signs that spoke to this movement. It was inspiring to see a city and a downtown full of great local concepts, and the stores brimming with customers buying to their heart’s content. One store had up a sign as part of their window display that shared a staggering statistic. Downtown Asheville retail and restaurant sales are twice that of Charlotte.

That’s civic pride generating local tax dollars.

2. The Grove Park Inn shares their internal brand strategy for all to see.

We work with our clients to define internal brand strategies that involve every employee and every touchpoint. The Grove Park Inn in Asheville is doing a great job of sharing their internal brand commitments for all guests to read and enjoy. When the brand is public, you have to live up to your standards.

3. Old Five and Dimes. New centers of art and culture.

Asheville boasts two former Five and Dime stores—Kress and Woolworth—that have been converted to artist cooperatives. These department stores of artists feature everything from local glassmakers to water color painters to soap makers. The Woolworth store even reactivated its soda fountain, which had a waiting line for milk shakes, burgers and fries. It’s an incredible reactivation of downtown space turned into thriving marketplaces for the public and arts community good.

Check out Asheville. From local commitment to a thriving city core, their citizens are living their commitment to an exciting, creative destination.

Senior Art Director Jesse Pixler

Name: Jesse Pixler

Title: Senior Art Director

Years at Cohn: 1.5 years

Who are you inviting to your fake dinner with three celebrities (dead or alive, of course)?

1. Vince Vaughn – The guy is absolutely hilarious, and I would love to see him with a few beers in him.
2. Charlie Sheen – Total train wreck.  He would be there purely for entertainment.
3. Robert De Niro – The dad I never had. He’s such a versatile actor and person. He seems like a bad*ss, but you could also have an intellectual conversation with him, too. He would mainly be invited to police the whole “situation”.

What’s your favorite season, and why?

Spring. I love the way spring smells­–it reminds me of a start to something new.

What is more important: What you know, or Who you know?

Who you know. You might be the best at what you do, but no one would ever know how good you are, or who you are­­­­, if you didn’t have people/technology connecting you.

Direct mail is a great way to support an integrated campaign.

Granted, it’s not as sexy as, say, social media, but given the right circumstances, its ROI can be impressive—and in many cases easier to track. If you don’t believe me, ask one of the companies that added to the $45.2 billion spent on direct mail in 2010.

With the right list to the right demographic and the right offer, businesses can see double-digit returns. These programs will offer businesses people to try their products that are ripe for the picking. With the right experience, these prospects can become valuable, loyal customers.

A client recently took our recommendation about a strategic direct mail campaign, and the results

were outstanding. Of all the pieces of the marketing strategy, direct mail yielded the highest return, and the least sexy marketing tool again reminded all of us just how powerful it can be.

Give it a try! Direct mail:

• Is a great way to support an integrated campaign.
• It offers immediate response. You know how it’s working virtually right away.
• Is efficient because you can target as finely or broadly as you’d like.
• It’s personal! You can “talk” directly to your (targeted) audience.
• Is scalable. You can accommodate virtually any budget.
• Can be great for beefing up a database of customers.
• It’s easy and fun to respond to! Who doesn’t like a free sample or a percentage off a great product or service?

So, she may not be the prettiest girl at the dance in the eyes of the digital set, but boy can she jitterbug!