Hello everyone and welcome to 2007. I have started out the year with a bang by dropping a new blog design for your pleasure…it matches more closely with the Creative Concepts website and was designed by my web guys at Fat Free Studio. Enjoy!

So with a new Year comes the all mighty and very tiring predictions. Every email and every article I have read today talks about Google, AOL, MySpace, Social Media, Online Networking…the predictions list goes on and on! Where are we going, how are we getting there, who is doing what …you know how it goes.

One article by Bart Cleveland was a bit unique. He talks about how the small agencies need to embrace social media. He says, and he is right, that the small agencies often have the flexibility to be the innovators but they may not be keeping up with the social media revolution because it is moving so quickly and they can’t keep up because of lack of staff, lack of time, lack of faith in successful outcomes….this could be true for many but not for Creative Concepts.

We work hard at staying ahead of the curve at Creative Concepts but it doesn’t come quickly or easily. We research and study the trends and the marketplace, we listen to our clients who are thankfully asking us to help them with the online world which includes SEO, blogs, podcasts, video, optimized press releases, websites and more, and we make a decision about what works and what doesn’t which often comes through hard work, courage and a lot of business know-how.

As a small agency we are proud to be offering something to our clients that they can’t seem to find elsewhere! It is our goal and ambition to use these social media tools to enhance what already exists in the PR and Marketing worlds. The ability to guide our clients through the new and ever changing internet terrain is not only our mission but our pleasure as we continue to be ahead of the pack by merging the old tricks with the new plays.

I won’t even attempt to make a prediction for 2007 other than we are looking forward to an exciting year with clients who are willing to take the internet ride! Yahoo!!

I am proud to say that Creative Concepts has successfully gotten the Bigelow Tea Blog off the ground.

Why is the blog successful? Cause many players from the ground up to the top have a hand in the blog. The blog is honest (and so is Creative Concepts with full disclosure on the about page) and insightful from bringing health tips and info about tea to the co-presidents message about her life as a Bigelow family member, as a female running a business, as a person loving her job and career.

And please let’s not forget about Bob, VP Sales and Marketing…he has brought on some of his heros to help support Bigelow Green tea in the marketplace…sports greats like Joe Torre and Phil and Chris Simms not only talk about Bigeow on Imus in the Morning and do photo shoots for ads but they choose green tea for health reasons and choose Bigelow tea cause the company makes a high quality tea that people can count on (check out the pictures where Joe and Phil recently visited Fairfield, Conn. headquarters of Bigelow).

There are many more stories to come from Bigelow…this blog shows that within any company there are many personalities and many interests and all can successfully fit under one roof…all can come together to produce a product they are proud of…all can blog about it in a way where we can learn, share and enjoy all that this company offers.

Take a look and enjoy!

Just returned from the Techcrunch Meetup. Jeanne, the event organizer, and Jennifer, the Techcrunch business manager, were awesome to work with! The event was a hit, the sponsors happy (especially HitTail), and the party smooth. Mike Arrington wasn’t used to a loud New York crowd and didn’t want to take the elevator but he made his way just fine anyway.

In case people don’t know who Creative Concepts is, we are an East Coast based PR and Marketing firm working with the  social media tools (check out the Bigelow Tea blog in its infancy), so if you are a tech startup anywhere and you want to reach out to our coast, we can help you. If you want to reach out to the corporate sector, we can help you do it with the Business Smart Tools Conference.

Sorry Mike Dunn that you missed it, but Greg Verdino, John Boehmer and Elizabeth Tarbell, it was great to see you and thanks Erin and Michelle for a job well done!

Pictures tomorrow.

One of our clients, The Orthodontic Center, had an interesting task for us to accomplish. Dr. Christie, the Director, wanted a website that not only gave out meaningful information about his practice but he wanted to share his research (he is internationally known for developing the Facial Print technology) in addition to finding new patients both near and far.

We at Creative Concepts had the perfect solution. We created a website that had a home page and 2 static pages (about us and “how we keep you smiling” which explains the Facial Print technology) plus we included 2 blogs that were seamless with the static pages.

The first blog titled, “we are talking,” is for the parents of the patients or the adult patients to read the latest news and also share their comments and/or questions. Also on this page, Dr. Christie can reveal his latest research and his staff can relay tips for the kids and parents. This page helps any new family feel comfortable with the process of braces because they can speak with The Orthodontic Center without going into the office….they can discover more on this page compared with many typical static pages of most websites because the information is always evolving because it is a blog.

The second blog is for the kids (the design is focused on the kids too). Kids are blogging and sharing their thoughts about getting braces plus their news about school, music, sports….this is a place where the kids can talk if they are getting nervous about getting braces…this is a place where they can make friends which may end up being the biggest marketing tool around.

We are very excited about this site and how blogging is being used as a communication and marketing tool. This is truly an example of how any business can use blogging for many purposes.

And here is more news about Vivapop.com…check out this interview from Tim from Techaddress who speaks with the founder, Elizabeth Tarbell.  This is a birds eye view of Vivapop and how it is different.

Had yet another interesting day yesterday when the power went out (for about 24 hours).  You would think that I would have been happy to have a forced vacation for a day, you would have thought that it would have been nice to sit in the dark with the quiet laying softly like an old comforter, you would have thought I would have taken the time to do the unusual like reading a novel or cleaning out old papers…but no, I froze at the window waiting for the power truck to save the day.

I love my clients.  I love my computer.  I love lights!

In getting the word out about Vivapop, I have had lots of fun getting to read some new blogs focused on families and moms specifically.  You ask why is Vivapop blogging with this crowd?  Well, Vivapop was developed by Elizabeth Tarbell, a mother of 2, because when she was running around like crazy trying to keep up with her kids’ busy day, no one in the community seemed to coordinate schedules into one place.  It is hard enough to have a busy calendar but to try and make plans and get to places on time is even harder so that is why Vivapop, a web based community calendar with IVR (phone access), is so great for Mom’s especially…everyone needs to call their calendars from the grocery store so they can have an updated schedule telling them how late they are in picking up little Jimmy from his playdate!

Take a look at these fun blogs:

I know there are more fun family blogs out there…I just have to find them.

Have fun!

“Yet another calendar” is what I am seeing from many in the blogosphere who aren’t taking the time to look at Vivapop closely…not having to search the web for info about your favorite organizations is a time saver because it is all within Vivapop for the beta city of Greenwich, CT (and nationwide before too long)…being able to download specific info into my calendar (my daughter takes ballet on Tuesdays at 4 or I want to see the ballet on 10/14 in NYC) is huge, being able to share this calendar with the rest of the family or friends is advatageous, sync and phone access help too….and for a premier advertiser who has something truly special to offer:  interested eyeballs…and for business people who need to market themselves/products/services, again, have interested eyeballs searching for info on insurance companies, banks, financial advisors or whatever within the merchant calendars…come on, the Vivapop list of features is growing and it comes from the founder and developer Elizabeth Tarbell living a busy life with family and career…this is useful and good stuff!

I am so happy to say that my client, Vivapop, is popping after a lot time, energy, passion, and enthusiasm!!  Vivapop is a web based community calendar that can make anyone’s life easier by sharing calendars, sync to Outlook, phone access and a choice of hundreds of calendars from local not for profits, schools, stores and restaurants (all Greenwich CT based now but national before long) that you can pop right into your calendar.  Techcrunch and TechAddress loves it and so do I!  Way to go Elizabeth…keep up the good work!

Hello all…haven’t blogged in quite some time because some new and wonderful clients are keeping all of us at Creative Concepts busy.  One new vivacious client I will reveal next week after it debuts on the web on various sites but before then let me not hold back by announcing that R C Bigelow Inc has decided to surf and ride the new media wave.  Bravo to them. 

They have hired Creative Concepts to help them navigate through the emerging media stream of potential and while we are introducing new options, we are also very mindful of protecting their hard earned solid reputation.  I say this not because the options out there don’t offer tons of opportunity but more because some bottom feeders are skimming the surface to find their prey (Bigelow Tea was approached by a game company who wanted to make a very shady deal (and yet they presented themselves so nicely)). 

How is a company to know about such things unless they have a consultantcy on board like Creative Concepts?  Well they may not have the resources to know so good for Bigelow for expanding their outreach and protecting their assets at the same time!

Look for more from Bigelow in the not so distant future…until then, welcome aboard!