esd&associates

immediate response, wider donor base

Text message donation brings two significant benefits to fund-raising: it provides an immediate, affordable opportunity for donor response (simply) and it quickly broadens the organization’s traditional donor base. The immediate benefit for SAMMinistries is especially meaningful during September as the organization qualifies for matching funds in a Deborah & Rex Amini Challenge Grant.

A broad campaign of radio, outdoor and newspaper advertising will increase awareness across the community. When people see the ad and act on it with a text message donation, they convert awareness into active affinity with the organization.

growing into leadership with 27 years of stewardship

Founded by four downtown churches confronted with a mounting population of transient homeless, SAMMinistries has been known for its men’s shelter for 27 years. Over the years, they have become the authority on homelessness, adding a host of other services for individuals and families, from job training and life skills counseling to medical and psychological assistance. SAMMinistries has also forged a proactive approach to preventing homelessness, finding people, especially families, who are struggling and intervening before they lose their homes.

many organizations under one roof obscures independent status

SAMMinistries recently moved their emergency shelter to expanded facilities on the Haven for Hope campus. The move has confused some supporters into thinking that the two organizations – Haven for Hope and SAMMinistries – merged. While SAMMinistries occupies 45 percent of the space at Haven for Hope, it is a separate entity responsible for its operational expenses and conducting its own programs. In addition to SAMMinistries, seven other organizations share the Haven for Hope campus – each organization is responsible for maintaining its own budget.

fresh branding clarifies mission and leadership

To grow its support base and retain its independence, SAMMinistries needs to reassert an independent identity and establish solid branding. Faced with that challenge, SAMMinistries asked esd to help amplify their brand.

To communicate their comprehensive role, esd changed SAMMinistries tagline from “Offering Hope to the Homeless” to “Overcoming Homelessness.” The change is subtle, but it expands the mission from overnight shelter to policy leadership. The campaign also uses children as the face of the campaign, emphasizing SAMMinistries’ role in helping families transition to economic and social stability.

esd has applied a fresh brandmark to SAMMinistries’ identity package and it will grace an aggressive outdoor campaign. Our team also crafted radio PSAs, print ads, transit shelter signs and other media to expand SAMMinistries’ outreach and encourage increased giving. With the extra energy from text message donation, we are able to bring immediate results to the overall fund-raising appeal.

esd is committed to educate, support and inspire change in our community. As we help SAMMinistries mount a comprehensive, fresh communications campaign, esd understands that we’re doing more than serving the client, we’re helping people realize positive change in their lives, we’re helping our city take care of its own.

Join us in supporting SAMMinistries – text SAMM to 50555 – a donation of $10 will be added to your phone bill or deducted from your pre-paid balance. Thank you.

an important conversation with your fans

The concern is well-founded – your Page puts your company or organization in the stream of social communications flowing through Facebook. It’s the place your “fans” – consumers, employees, supporters and friends – can come to get updates, view media and interact with your company.

using custom canvases as an open door

Many effective Pages do not greet their visitors with the Wall. Facebook applications, with custom tabs and canvases, make full use of a connected computer’s interactive and graphic capability. esd designs custom tabs and canvases to communicate the most important information to your visitors. Applications can link to your main website or a special “microsite” with full information and interactive (i.e. registration or e-commerce) capabilities.

an opportunity to re-examine your social media strategy

esd is using the Roadmap Update and custom canvas resizing as an opportunity to revisit our client-partners’ Facebook Pages, making sure they are as effective as possible. We see the potential in social media to drive new communications channels with consumers and organizational support.

Two things in the world esd&associates likes to wrap our hands around: a cold, full-flavored lager and a website that builds a relationship with the consumer. With Trumer Pils, a project for our client-partners at Gambrinus, we got both.

Trumer Pils is a pilsner based on a recipe, ingredients and philosophy (Einfach Leben – Simply Live!) from a 400-year-old family tradition in Salzburg, Austria. In 2004, the Sigl family collaborated with Gambrinus to build a brauerei – brewery – in Berkeley, California. Berkeley was chosen because the soft, clear water flowing from the Sierras is similar to the water in Austria where Trumer Pils was born.

Consumers who care about the beer they drink want a complete experience – esd designed an application that engages all of the senses and actively invites interactive exchange. Fans can post their pictures and Trumer outings in a gallery, they share e-cards with their friends. In addition to seeing restaurants in seven cities across the country that feature Trumer Pils, consumers can submit their own restaurants. It’s an active relationship between the product and the customer.

Launched this week, www.trumer-international.com – a thorough expression of Simply Live! – provides a great demonstration of creating a web experience that captures the essence of a brand.

San Antonio Shrine Auditorium

Already established as Alzafar Shriners’ public relations firm, esd&associates has extended our partnership with the fraternal organization to rebrand, promote and co-manage the San Antonio Shrine Auditorium.

Home of the Alzafar Shriners, the facility has been underutilized as a special events space, but that’s about to change. esd has committed our whole effort to the challenge.

an elegant place for business and celebration

San Antonio Shrine Auditorium is a beautiful, flexible space on 22 wooded acres at Loop 1604 and Blanco. The facility features:

• Auditorium/Ballroom, 14,400 sq. ft. with a full professional stage and lighting, sound system and movie screen – the main room will seat up to 1,300 in auditorium seating or 800 in banquet/ballroom configuration, an ideal space for conferences, banquets, dances and trade fairs
• Terrace Room, a lovely 4,700 sq. ft. space for banquets or presentations accommodating up to 300 people
• Parlors, a 3,230 sq. ft. space with a small built-in stage in the center that can be partitioned into three smaller rooms for break-out sessions during conferences, or serve small banquets
• Pavilion, an outdoor covered space, 11,774 sq. ft. (with expandable apron: 15,309 sq. ft.) that handles groups of 100 – 600 people
• Dining Room, a 3,270 sq. ft. banquet space
• Cabiri Conference Room, offering a boardroom with table and leather-upholstered chairs
• the Parking Lot is often used by automotive organizations, including Alzafar’s own minicars and other clubs
• centrally located and spacious, the Foyer is also available for mixers, registrations and other events

contribution advertising soars over 1604

As we wrote in our last post to this blog, one of the first things we helped accomplish to rebrand the facility is a new sign and digital billboard reaching high over Loop 1604. The sign features the esd-designed new identity for San Antonio Shrine Auditorium.

another opportunity to express our passion

The public is very aware of the outrageous fun the Alzafar Shriners have – clowns and minicars, elaborately costumed marching bands and, of course, the circus – but all of the pageantry and hijinks have a purpose: supporting the Shriners Hospitals for Children. It’s another opportunity for esd to express our passion for communications services that benefit the whole San Antonio community.

Photo by Carol Kintigh

A tall sign went up over Loop 1604 near Blanco Tuesday, carrying a new esd-designed identity for the San Antonio Shrine Auditorium. An elegant, flexible facility for business and social functions, the Auditorium is rebranding with esd’s help.

The new sign features a 22 x 11 ft. digital billboard that will promote events at the Auditorium and offer “contribution advertising” benefiting the Shriners Hospitals for Children. If Blanco Road is on your commute, watch that space!

Paula and George renew their vows with Pastor Mike Parise.

Paula & George Roberts were united in marriage on morning television Friday, June 25, 2010 – at Smashburger’s Stone Ridge location. The event, conceived and produced by esd’s public relations team, got continuous coverage from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. on KABB-TV’s Fox News First. With additional coverage on radio and social media, the event earned more than $120,000 in calculated publicity value.

During the 4 hour news and weather broadcast, KABB aired more than 60 minutes of the Smashburger wedding LIVE, including the vows, first dance, cutting of the Smashburger wedding cake and the toast. KABB meteorologist Shaun Stevens interviewed Smashburger’s Mike Griffith, the San Antonio Food Bank’s Eric Cooper, the florist, wedding planner, minister, and Paula & George’s daughters during the telecast.

The event – the first Smashburger wedding ever held anywhere in the U.S. – got more than 100 plugs on KABB. The wedding was also covered by WOAI 1200 AM radio, members of the San Antonio Social Media Club and savorsa.com. Contest promotion, vendor participation and wedding invitations were all sent via social media.

Paula & George won the wedding by posting a video about their love for each other and their love for Smashburgers on smashburgerwedding.com, designed and hosted by esd. In addition to the free wedding, the couple will celebrate their honeymoon in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The bride and groom were not the only ones to benefit from the event. Wedding guests brought canned goods and Smashburger donated $1,500 to the San Antonio Food Bank. The donation will provide more than 10,500 meals for families in need.

The trip and all of the wedding decorations, music, services, flowers and food were donated.

• Smashburger San Antonio hosted, catered and sponsored the event, providing the location, reception and honeymoon travel
• The Mirage in Las Vegas donated a honeymoon suite, dinner at Kokomo’s and tickets to Terry Fator’s “Ventriloquism in Concert”
• A Regal Affair, led by Jennifer Jasiczek, provided wedding planning services
• Erin McLarty of Eden’s Echo created flower arrangements and the bridal party flowers
• San Antonio Rentals & Party Planning, managed by Patty Lujan-Gonzalez, provided linens, a photo booth, dinnerware and chocolate fountain
• Photographer Jeremy Gilliam of Dallas flew in to shoot creative, unforgettable images of the wedding
• Hilda De Hoyos of Salon Diva provided hair and makeup services
• Mission Food Supply provided wedding favors – meat smashers

The thrill of assembling so many people to benefit the Food Bank and give one couple a once-in-a-lifetime wedding created widespread attention for Smashburger, our client, raising their visibility in the competitive food service industry, winning new fans and garnering excellent publicity.

San Antonio Sports’ Fit Family Challenge got a great start this weekend celebrating Cinco de Mayo with the Edgewood ISD.  More than 50 families walked with the Fit Family Challenge parade entry, carrying banners and signs asking parade watchers to join us! After the parade reached the Edgewood Fine Arts Academy, Mayor Julián Castro, Fit Family Challenge Head Coach Jesse James Leija, Police Chief William McManus, San Antonio Sports Executive Director Susan Blackwood and other dignitaries introduced the city to the Fit Family Challenge. “We’re seventh in the nation for obesity and diabetes,” Mayor Castro said, “that’s a list we don’t want to be on at all.”

After the remarks, the music of Little Joe y La Familia rang through the sound system and the Edgewood ISD Dance Team taught everyone a lively new step – the Fit Family Challenge Baile. Shamu learned the dance, along with State Rep. Joaquin Castro, (seen dancing on KENS5) and more than 3,000 people attending the kick-off. The event garnered excellent coverage on all five local television stations and a terrific photo and editorial in the San Antonio Express-News. More than 350 families enrolled in the Fit Family Challenge this weekend, the majority of them at the kick-off.

esd’s community relations team was in full force, providing guidance and assistance throughout the event and helping news media get the story. For more information on esd’s role in the Fit Family Challenge, see the previous NOW post.

On Sunday, the Express-News distributed more than 300,000 Fit Family Challenge Training Journals throughout the city. More Journals will be distributed in classrooms this week, and they are available at University Health System Family Clinics, WellMed Clinics and online at the Fit Family Challenge website.

Here are a few photos to give you a taste of the event. You can see more photos on San Antonio Sports’ Flickr page, and check out the Facebook pages for Fit Family Challenge and esd&associates. And if your family hasn’t signed up for the Fit Family Challenge – get up and move to win!

families move to win

The Fit Family Challenge is a citywide event that encourages families to eat healthy, get fit and to challenge one another to stay accountable to a healthy lifestyle. By taking an active part in the Fit Family Challenge, families can win prizes that range from a Disney Vacation to cash. But the biggest prize of all is a healthier family.

setting the stage for a healthy summer

esd has worked with our client-partner, San Antonio Sports, to prepare the Fit Family Challenge. esd developed and executed a comprehensive strategy:

• form alliances with major sponsors and media partners
• create the identity
• design and produce all kinds of collaterals
• develop the website, Facebook and Twitter presence.

Last week, esd produced spots and PSAs featuring Coach Lejia that are already airing on KXTN and KROM radio and WOAI-TV. Newspaper ads in the San Antonio Express-News and an interview with Jesse James Lejia and San Antonio Sports Associate Executive Director for External Affairs Mary Japhet will appear in Conexion this week.

esd is privileged to participate in the health and wellness of San Antonio with a great campaign like the Fit Family Challenge. Families across San Antonio are encouraged to join the Fit Family Challenge and Move to Win!

• When you’re promoting an event, temporarily replace your profile picture with a small poster – keep the details spare so they’re readable. esd recently created custom Facebook pics for SeaWorld San Antonio to promote their events.
• When you’re testing a new logo or illustration, use it for your profile picture and ask people to comment.
• When you just need a lift, a new perspective on your internal image, isolate a specific element in your logo or pick a word from your mission and make it your profile picture.

As the current leading social network, Facebook is a place to be more informal, to post and maintain an open dialogue with your customer (fan) base. You want to stay true to your branding, but you can also loosen up a little bit. Social networking is, after all, social. Go ahead and have some fun.

proud to do our part

esd has been involved with GHASP for several years, redeveloping identity, participating in promotion and creating designs, including a new souvenir jersey (available in Shiner after the ride). We’ll probably have a rider or two in the run, as well. GHASP has an active Facebook and Twitter presence, posting pre-ride parties and other related events. esd develops websites and other branding projects for Gambrinus Brewing Company.