We couldn’t get hunky host Travis Stork to volunteer to have his sperm count tested, but we did get our client SpermCheck Fertility (www.spermcheck.com) some quality air time on the Emmy award winning, medical talk show, “The Doctors”!
See what “The Doctors” told their 2.6 million viewers about SpermCheck Fertility and why it’s important to check out “the boys” if you are planning to have a baby soon or currently trying.
Is your social media marketing optimized for mobile? Should it be? In a new story this week, Drug Store News tapped our very own Alyson O’Mahoney, RL&A partner and EVP, for her perspective as an OTC, health and beauty social media marketing and PR expert.
See what Alyson has to say about leveraging mobile for social media here: http://www.drugstorenews.com/article/customizing-store-experience
By Brittany Oat
We have a network of more than 4,000 bloggers here at RL&A, so it always amazes me that I remember so many details about the bloggers we work with. I can easily match a name with a blog, and tell you how many kids they have without blinking an eye. Despite the fact that the majority of our contact is through email, we get to know the bloggers we work with extremely well. Some of them even feel like close friends…close friends I’ve never met in person!
So, it’s always exciting to attend a blogger event and meet these friends face-to-face! Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the SheStreams ’11 event in NYC. About 200 of bloggers— some new faces and some old faces— attended the event to take part in informative and engaging sessions intended to catapult women and brands into the future of social technology.
While they were there, bloggers had the opportunity to talk with us about the brands we work with in a way they just can’t through email. I was able to sprinkle Lady Anti Monkey Butt Powder into bloggers’ hands, so they could feel how silky it was. And, my colleague Laura was able to actually demonstrate the new dosing features on PediaCare products.
At the event, I also had the opportunity to interview several bloggers for our new “Behind The Blog” video series. We’ll have the first video up soon on the RL&A blog and Facebook page, so stay tuned!
Need further proof that a social media strategy should be an integral component to brand marketing? Look no further than its impact on national media. Producers at and influential guests on national morning shows, like the TODAY Show, just like consumers, uncover trends and buzz about brands on blogs, Facebook and Twitter, turning what they find into editorial content for their millions of viewers. It is what we call the “trickle up” theory of marketing; meaning it is no longer these shows getting first news of products to tell their viewers, but, rather, they are seeing what consumers are talking about online and using that interest and info as the news.
RL&A helps shape this conversation from the “bottom up,” literally. Last week, our client Anti Monkey Butt (body powders for all ages) was part of a “Beat the Heat” segment (click here to watch) on keeping cool and sweat free after a TODAY show contributor, Bobbie Thomas, uncovered consumers raving about the brand in the blogosphere and on the brand’s Facebook page. This also happened recently for our client, Conair, which ended up on the TODAY Show (click here to watch) and in Woman’s World magazine (top selling magazine at Wal-Mart) as a result of blogger outreach. 
The line between consumer conversation and news has never been more blurry, so it’s time to use social media marketing to get your brand into the conversation…and, perhaps, into the news!
By:Julie Yaffa
It bugs us to no end when someone refers to us as a “top upstate PR firm.” Top, yes, but upstate, no way! Mt. Kisco is not in upstate New York, unless you consider Westchester County upstate. Of course, we’re not part of the five boroughs of New York City, and yes, you may need to take a bridge to get here – but hasn’t anyone ever heard of the “suburbs” of New York? Yet no matter how successful RL&A is, people are still not sure where we are located – despite being located here for 26 years. Mt. Kisco has long been known as the “commercial hub of northern Westchester,” but it’s also the town next door to the New York home of Bill and Hilary (who live in Chappaqua), and the town right next to Bedford – also known as “Hollywood East” because of the many celebrities who have homes there. But where exactly is Mt. Kisco? To be precise, we are in central northern Westchester, about 20 minutes north of White Plains, and approximately 50 miles north of midtown Manhattan, about a 55-minute drive (depending on traffic), or, a 55-minute train ride to Grand Central Station. Does that mean we are close to Manhattan? We like to think we are – close enough to drive in for a meeting, lunch, dinner, theater. And you know what? We like it here, where the sound of leaf blowers is more likely than horns blowing, and where life is just a little more sane (and rents, a lot lower). If you’re still not sure where we are, let us clear that up for you.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=mount+kisco+to+nyc&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
Relationship Broadens RL&A’s Offerings in the Digital and Social Media Marketing Arena
MT. KISCO, NY, Sept. 24, 2010 – OTC health and beauty PR and social media experts Robin Leedy & Associates (RL&A) (www.robinleedyassociates.com) is announcing a strategic partnership with Thinklabs Interactive of NYC that will expand its digital offerings to clients. The new alliance with Thinklabs will add to the 26-year-old agency’s already strong social media expertise with customized mobile applications and enhanced Facebook application building, among other digital tools.
Thinklabs is the latest endeavor for Christian Brucculeri, formerly director of client strategy at enter: new media, where he led development of digital strategy for a variety of brands. Previously, Brucculeri held the director of social media position at Robin Leedy & Associates and was a director of strategy for YouCast Corp.
In addition to pre-built and custom solutions for brands in digital and social media, Thinklabs also provides clients with a proprietary social insights dashboard, Medialab, which is used for measuring campaign results across blogs, sites, advertising networks, Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms.
RL&A has maintained its reputation as the PR/social media agency of choice for drugstore “self-medicating” brands in categories ranging from beauty, nutritional supplements to OTC and personal care/HBA brands. With more than two decades of experience, including beauty brands PR, nutritional products PR, women’s healthcare PR, lifestyle PR, event planning, social media marketing, Facebook development and management, influencer outreach (consumers and healthcare professionals) and word of mouth marketing, the agency, including its social media division – ChatteRL&A – is creating customized communications programs that deliver targeted brand messaging, whether via editorial placements in magazines or on TV, through key bloggers and other category influencers, or on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.
“Our new partnership with Thinklabs takes our agency’s extensive social media and digital capabilities – and our client messaging – from the desktop or laptop to the mobile device,” says Robin Russo, president of Robin Leedy & Associates. “Just like social media allows us to message consumers where they are looking and engaging with topics and content, we are now expanding our digital and programming resources in order to better serve up messages on the technology they are using in the palm of their hand.”
“We are excited to be working so closely with the Robin Leedy & Associates team to build a full suite of digital marketing solutions for brands in the beauty, health and nutritional categories. Combining RL&A’s communication and messaging expertise with Thinklabs’ ability to produce interactive content and support it with media and measurement, we’ve created an all-in solution for brands looking to get their message out and measure the results of their efforts,” adds Brucculeri.
For more information on Robin Leedy & Associates and Thinklabs, contact Robin Russo at (914) 241-0086, ext. 16 (rrusso@robinleedyassociates.com ) or Christian Brucculeri at (917) 865-0891 (christian@thinklabsinteractive.com), or visit www.robinleedyassociates.com.
Introducing our Newest RL&A Team Member:
Putting Your Brand in the Video Spotlight
By Brittany Oat, Digital Content Producer/Account Manager
Coming from the world of TV news, I’m new to the PR industry. But, as someone who was pitched regularly by agencies and publicists, even I know that the industry is changing dramatically. One of my favorite tools – video – is king, and turning everything upside down…and it makes sense why. The most recent “Three Screen Report” from The Nielsen Company found that the average American watches almost 35 hours of TV, two hours of time-shifted TV (fancy name for DVR!), 22 minutes of online video and four minutes of mobile video, while also spending at least four hours online each week! By my mathematical account, that means that at least 10 percent of the average consumer’s time online is engaging with videos…and that is growing….and for those who spend way more than four hours online per week (me included!), that means more time with video, too.
So, this is where my background comes in. I am going to be taking the RL&A clients to the airwaves….not only pitching for broadcast news segments on national and local TV, but also creating our own video content for use on client web sites, Facebook pages, YouTube channels…you name it. There are so many possibilities for making a product come alive with video…what better way to tell a brand’s story than having someone really TELL the story. And, what better way to show you than with a video introduction of myself!
The bottom line, the 2-D of print content and graphics online isn’t going away, but video gives a brand a new dimension and allows content-hungry consumers yet another way to interact and view your brand messages.
Welcome to the first RL&A newsletter of 2010! We have a lot of news to share this issue, but I first want to thank all of our clients for hanging in with us during these trying times – speaking for all of us at RL&A, we value your business and will continue to bend over backwards to get great results for you. We’re in this together!
For those of you who are new to this newsletter and to everyone else, we are proud to unveil our newest baby – the totally revamped and upgraded RL&A Web site, which can be found at www.robinleedyassociates.com. We are so happy with the way it turned out that we hope you will spend a little time visiting with us. The new site helps illustrate why we’re the number one, independent PR/Social Media agency specializing in OTC health and beauty brands, and has a number of new features, including case studies, special event programs and other great examples of our work, from viral video production and promotion to key print and broadcast placements. We also have a section for our “Partners” – companies we regularly work with to seamlessly provide additional services to our clients, such as media buying, print and TV production, SEO and Web programming, to name a few.
Also new on our site is a link to the RL&A Facebook page, RL&A Chatter, where you’ll learn more about some of our exciting social media efforts and thoughts about Facebook, in general. We’ve been having great success with this social networking “tool” for clients like Softlips, Coty’s Jovan Satisfaction fragrance and Anti Monkey Butt Powder. The Softlips “Letter a Day” giveaway, for example, allows page fans with first names that correspond to the letter of that day to enter to get Softlips lip balm in flavors they love or want to try. This organized effort – one winner daily — has netted more than 8,000 additional Facebook fans in a month’s time and nearly doubled their total fans to 19,000! So check out the RL&A Chatter Facebook page and mosey over to some of RL&A client pages to see the kind of success we’re having with social networking. Spend a few minutes perusing the site – whether you’re new to RL&A or a current or past client, I think you’ll learn something about what we can do for your brand. And please let us know what you think – we value your feedback!
Summer went by in a blur and while we didn’t have great weather here in the Northeast, we did have a great summer in terms of new business for Robin Leedy & Associates. Over the past few months we signed an agreement to conduct a 12-month social media campaign for Union Springs Pharmaceuticals of Union, Kentucky. The online campaign is part of an integrated marketing initiative to help launch MyClyns® personal germ protection spray to consumers this fall. This is a very exciting project – not only because it’s a fun, social media program, but also because the product itself is so relevant, with Swine Flu being all over the news. MyClyns (professional) has a strong following with first responders and we’re optimistic that consumers are going to love it, as well. RL&A’s social media program for MyClyns® includes social networking, such as Facebook and Twitter, blogger outreach and video development and distribution.
Speaking of video, we are presently using this medium for several RL&A clients, including a fun, lifestyle-oriented campaign for DSE Healthcare’s Anti Monkey Butt Powder (yes, the word “butt” is in the name). And boy, have we had fun with this one! While this was largely a blogger- and video-driven effort, the results after just three months have surpassed our wildest expectations – the video alone has generated some 140,000-plus views and the Facebook page has nearly 13,000 fans – without a major push!
On the more serious side, RL&A is conducting two other video campaigns for two personal health conditions: urinary tract infections (Cystex) and ear ringing, also known as tinnitus (Lipoflavonoid). For Cystex, we feature our urology expert, Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler, who discusses all sorts of UTI subjects, from honeymoon cystitis to the dangers of “squatting.” For Lipoflavonoid, which is a dietary supplement, we feature a poignant video from a loyal brand “ambassador” who tells her moving story about how tinnitus nearly ruined her life and how Lipoflavonoid saved her.
I mention these projects to illustrate how personal health products can utilize the various social media platforms. With our strong expertise in over-the-counter (OTC) health, personal care and beauty brands, we can help translate your brand messages to the social media arena, where they have proven strength in communicating directly with targeted consumers. Just shoot us an email and we’ll tell you how to get started (cbrucculeri@robinleedyassociates.com or aomahoney@robinleedyassociates.com). Happy fall!