Michael shows off his new ink

It’s been a bumper week for Townsville INK, vol. 2.

We’ve had a lot of ups, a little bump and one brilliant information night (despite that persistent NQ rain).

Last Wednesday (March 2, 2011), Townsville man and survivor of child abuse Michael Hatfield chose to wear his heart on his sleeve quite literally by having Emmy, the ACT for Kids logo, tattooed on himself to help launch production of Townsville INK, vol. 2. Michael made the decision in the hope that it would give him the opportunity to break the silence on child abuse and show people that, as adults, we all have a responsibility to keep children within our community safe from harm. While Michael is thrilled with his new tattoo and locals have applauded his gutsy commitment, the decision wasn’ t quite so well received by a national website that called it “creepy” and “perverted”. Fortunately, the site’s editors were the only people who seemed to hold this belief, and once Harshmellow, ACT for Kids and Michael himself provided a bit of background to the story, people seemed to really come around.

Support for Michael and Townsville INK reverberated around The Brewery last night too when we held an info night for anyone interested in being involved with the book. While that pesky rain seemed to put a dampner on the 160+ we were expecting, about 50 people turned up to hear more, show off their ink and sink a few casual beers with some like-minded Townsvillians. A number of attendees also bravely put their hands up to have Emmy tattooed themselves when Inksplosion tattoo studio holds a Townsville INK open day in two week’s time.

If you’d like to get an Emmy tattoo for a small donation to Townsville INK, join us at Inksplosion tattoo studio opposite Heatley High School on Saturday, March 19 between 10am and 2pm.

Tattoo bookings are essential, to arrange an appointment please call 4775 7111.

If you’re not the tattoo type, but would still like to show your support, come and sink your teeth into some ACT for Kids cupcakes by Scarlett Jean’s Cakes and Creams.

Look forward to seeing you there,

Sarah xx

We know it’s a little way off yet, but there’s a lot to be said for good preparation.

Many businesses experience a boom at Easter including camping and fishing stores, holiday accommodation, boarding kennels, fish mongers, bakeries and – of course – chocolate shops.

Could your brand benefit from a bit of pre-Easter publicity? Contact us to find out.

If you’re not familiar with the deal-a-day (DaD) concept, here’s the low-down:

1. Businesses register with a DaD website for a ‘no upfront expenses’ advertisement that consists of providing an exclusive deal (usually 30-70% off a product or service, though sometimes as much as 90%) via the DaD site
2. The DaD site emails one exclusive deal per day to its registered subscribers (ordinary consumers looking to bag a great bargain)
3. Businesses wait for the ensuing foot traffic and pay a commission (I’ve seen as high as 50%) to the DaD site on every new sale generated through the deal.

Now, let’s look at what’s hot and what’s not.

HOT: No upfront costs – Obviously, this is highly attractive to marketers and sales managers who are ever-conscious of the need to weigh up ROI against everyone of their marketing activities. A campaign spend based solely on the number of sales generated (eg. 15 sales at 10% of $60 each = $90 total marketing spend)  is easy to measure and justify. This is also great for those start-up enterprises that don’t have a lot of cash to splash and need to be sure that their marketing activities will be worth while.

NOT: Massive discounts plus a commission - Imagine you wanted to offer a $100 service through a DaD site – you would need to provide at least a 30% discount on that service and pay a minimum of 10% commission to the DaD site for every deal sold, effectively leaving you $63 per sale via the site before subtracting wages, supplies and other costs. Make sure you run the numbers carefully as you could be running into the red.

HOT: Ability to reach an actively engaged audience – Unlike consumers reached via  traditional advertising media, the people targeted by DaD sites are actively engaged with the content – they are receiving your offers because they personally signed-up to do so. This means they are far more likely to respond to your advertisement and you are less likely to have spent your precious marketing dollars on deaf ears.

NOT: Disloyal consumers and bargain hunters – While we hate to paint everyone with the same brush, it’s likely that many subscribers to DaD websites are keen bargain hunters that are happy to shop-hop from one place to another in search for the best deal. Be prepared for a number of one-sale-stands, as the new faces in your shop may not be back again to pay full price.

HOT:Exclusivity – Everyone wants to feel like they’re privy to a juicy little secret or VIP treatment and with DaD sites, that’s exactly how your new customers will feel. This increases the likelihood that people will “get it while it’s hot” and you are likely to see an influx of foot traffic almost immediately.

NOT: “You get what you pay for” mentality – With big discounts comes a big drop in the perceived quality of a product or service. DaD sites could be costing you more than a bit of profit for a few days – they could be costing you the time and strategy that you’d invested in creating your brand, particularly if yours is an upmarket or luxury item.

HOT: No competing noise – When you register with a DaD site you are buying hot property – a hill-top piece of land with unobstructed views. There are no noisy neighbours to distract your potential customers and you don’t need to keep up with the Jones’ – all eyes are on you!

NOT: A short shelf life – Cyberspace is rife with attention spans to rival that of a goldfish (3 secs) and the immediacy of online publishing means that new content quickly replaces the old. DaD sites offer the afore-mentioned hill-top land for one day only before you’re evicted and a new King of the Hill is crowned. This means you run a bigger risk of missing valuable customers then you would if you advertised the same deal in a monthly magazine.

So there you have it a (hopefully) balanced presentation of the pros and cons associated with DaD websites – whether they are ‘hot’ or ‘not’ ultimately lies with you, so please take our poll and let us know what YOU think.

Townsville INK info night - March 7 @ The Brewery

We are so excited to be working with Townsville photographer Kate Glover on her second volume of Townsville INK.

If you haven’t seen it around, Townsville INK is a stylised photo book that celebrates the tattoo artwork of Townsville residents while raising money for ACT for Kids (formerly the Abused Child Trust).

Kate’s first book –  launched in April 2010 — raised more than $10,000 for ACT for Kids and generated priceless awareness of the organisation, its initiatives and victims of child abuse. This time around, we hope to double that figure by getting more tattoo enthusiasts and corporate sponsors on board and promoting the book across Townsville from  pre- to post-production.

So far, we’ve got some greatsponsors on board including The Brewery and Hair to Dye For – but we’re still on the look out for more. Some local sporting stars have also signed on to appear in the book; we won’t reveal their identities just yet so keep your eyes peeled.

A Townsville INK information night will be held at The Brewery on Monday, March 7, 2011 from 6pm. The event will provide anyone interested in Townsville INK with a wealth of information and the chance to provide feedback and suggestions on how they think volume 2 could be made bigger and better than the first. We hope to see you there!

Sarah xx

Below is the media release that was sent to our industry media announcing our eco-changes:

Townsville-based communications agency Harshmellow Media + Design has officially announced its New Year’s resolution by publishing 10 Green Promises on its corporate website.

According to Harshmellow’s Director Sarah Mathiesen the decision to include the agency’s resolution on its website was made to keep Harshmellow publicly accountable for its eco-commitment and to inspire other organisations to do the same.

“The PR industry is forever advising others to make tangible contributions to the community by adopting socially responsible procedures,” said Mathiesen. “Harshmellow’s Green Promises are our way of practising what we preach.

“The promises are designed to guide all of our actions within Harshmellow and include the obvious methods such as recycling and using environmentally-friendly products right through to sourcing local providers and working with other sustainable companies wherever possible.

“While sourcing local, like-minded providers may be a bit laborious at the outset, the Harshmellow team is looking forward to the challenges and the rewards they will reap,” said Mathiesen.

“Being Green no longer means comprising on quality and we look forward to providing our clients with stunning, environmentally-responsible products and services.

“We do anticipate there will be additional ‘non-green’ up-sides to the promises including a bit of a boost for the North Queensland economy and notable savings in electricity and transit costs, which we will be more than happy to pass onto our clients,” Mathiesen said.

Harshmellow Media + Design’s 10 Green Promises:

• To print only what is necessary
• To use recycled materials where possible
• To reuse or recycle wherever possible
• To use environmentally friendly products
• To switch electronics off when not in use
• To reduce transit by sourcing materials locally
• To take advantage of natural light and cooling
• To support other sustainable businesses
• To provide green solutions to our clients when appropriate; and
• To seek cleaner, greener ways of doing business.

We’d love to hear how you’re doing your eco-bit. If you have a unique Green tactic, please share it with us in the comment section below.

Ultimately, PR is about sharing stories and building relationships.

Many people don’t realise it, but an effective logo is a fundamental part of building an effective organisation. Your logo is the face of your business and can send all kinds of messages to your customers and the broader community without you realising it.

How would children know that they’re suddenly “staaaaaarving” without Maccas’ sky-high Golden Arches?

How would we know “which bank?” without the iconic black and gold diamond (which, by the way, was designed to represent the Southern Cross)?

And we can never be sure that those batteries will keep going and going and going unless they bear a drum-carrying pink bunny.

Harshmellow director, Sarah Mathiesen recently shared her tips for good logo design on Canadian e-zine Suite101.

Before you have new logo designed, or revamp an existing one, use these tips as a checklist to ensure your logo is going to be as effective as it can be.

Happy reading.

Sure, you could rehash the same tired, old ad you’ve been running for the last twelve months and hope that people stop looking over it and start looking at it. But before you do, answer me this – how many times have you waited until the commercial break before getting off the couch to leave the room? How many times have you madly pressed the buttons on your radio in a frenzied search for something other than mind-numbing sales jingles? How many times have you flicked apathetically through a magazine or newspaper only to complain it’s nothing but ads? Now don’t you think your consumers would be behaving in much the same way?

PR offers businesses an alternative – or a complementary – communication tactic to advertising. It’s an opportunity to become part of the news or feature-style content that is actively sought by day-to-day media audiences, rather than just being the advertising sideshow.

Often organisations have news-ready content sitting in their palm of their hands, it just takes an experienced PR consultant to help them recognise that the opportunity is worth grabbing before it drifts away. At other times, much more work is required to create a PR opportunity from scratch. However, this can pay huge dividends and see your business’ key messages covered by many more media outlets than you could afford to advertise with.

So before you renew your advertising contract for 2011, have a think about the other opportunities you have to spread the word about your business. Then – if you discover something great, something with potential or nothing at all – invite us in for a coffee and a chat about how we can make your opportunities something special.

In the past month or so we’ve spent a lot of time networking with Townsville business owners, meeting people who can help us expand our service offerings and redirecting our corporate ID before its official roll-out (yes, website included!). Some very exciting things are afoot and that means all hands on deck.

Stay tuned, hopefully we’ll be able to share everything very soon.

Sarah xx

“A ring is round and has no end, and that’s how long you’ll be my friend”

As people grow older ‘best friends’ can become harder to find. Perhaps as we age we become more critical of others, maybe we start to learn the meaning of true friendship or perhaps we are just too busy to spend time building strong relationships with new people.

I count myself as very lucky to have nurtured strong friendships with (now former) colleagues and was touched when this beautiful arrangement arrived yesterday to congratulate Harshmellow on its first media launch.

I am incredibly excited about establishing Harshmellow and look forward to many challenges and triumphs. However, I know that in times when challenges seem enormous and triumphs scarce, I will look to former collegues and eternal friends for support and inspiration.

I hope that everyone has at least one friend they can count on in this way.

Sarah xx

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