Horn Group

Last month we sat down with investor relations guru Judith McGarry to discuss the new rules in financial communications and the return of the initial public offering in our industry (see Sunday's Wall Street Journal article ). We have half a dozen clients considering an IPO in the next 6-18 months, which is a welcome change from recent years where there were far fewer opportunities of this kind. Although we have almost 20 years of experience supporting clients through the IPO process, much has changed from a communication perspective.

Messaging and positioning that show vision and direction, balanced with immediate relevance, are considered essential by potential investors. But the role played by bankers and research analysts in helping pre-IPO companies shape, refine and promote their messages has been greatly minimized. Which means that the CMO has a tremendous opportunity to step up and take the lead, working closely with the CFO and CEO. Preparation for being a public company must happen over a 1-2 year period prior to actually going public, well before the corporation files its S-1. As soon as the executive team starts to think about an IPO, the CMO should spring into action.

Read our blog post for much more detail.

Info-graphic, data visualization, charticle – call it what you want. Graphic representations of content are on the rise in media and journalism. BusinessWeek, Fast Company, IDG, The Wall Street Journal and several others are interested in this kind of content as publishers start to measure engagement in addition to page views. What’s more, as the ‘owned media’ trend takes off, these kinds of visuals are quickly becoming part of the stable of original content that companies are producing directly for their audience.

We developed this visualization for Coremetrics, now an IBM company. The dynamic heat map shows regional Facebook activity – data that would lack resonance if merely written down – for Coremetrics’ customer Seton Hall University. Horn Group’s Interactive Design team produces smart, modern info-graphics with quick turn around time.  

Don’t do another pitch, press release, survey or launch without including some kind of graphic illustration to bring the story to life. Tap your team for creative direction on info-graphics and improve the results of your campaign.

Along the lines of bringing your message to life, another trend we’re seeing is the demand for video and motion graphics – also a capability of our Interactive Design team. We produced this eye-catching Horn Group animation and voiceover for our client Conductor, who first launched it on stage at a conference, put it on their website homepage (click ‘watch the video’), and now runs it 24/7 in their lobby.

The applications are endless – from explainer animations that simplify a multi-faceted story, like this “How It Works” demo produced for YuMe, to entire video libraries that detail an upcoming product suite like this one created for BitDefender’s YouTube channel. Be thinking about video and motion graphics for any marketing and sales platform – mobile, social, web and live events.

The Oriella PR Network surveyed almost 775 journalists in 21 countries this summer to see how digital media has changed the nature of reporting. The study found that journalists today have greater demands than ever on their time; have less scope to research stories; and work in an environment of continued uncertainty. Publications are experimenting with smart phone 'apps', micro-payments and paid e-reader content to boost online revenues.

• 52% of journalists believe their publication will move online only
• Twitter is used by 42% of journalists
• 22% of publications have a smart phone app

For all these challenges, however, the third annual Digital Journalism Study found journalists positive about the impacts of digital and social media on their reporting, and overall job satisfaction remains overwhelmingly high. The implications for communicators are to swiftly create quality content for every different medium.

Visit http://orielladigitaljournalism to see the entire study and watch a video with highlights from the survey.

Has it been a while since you last heard the Horn Group story? Maybe not since we pitched your business or you last visited our website? Agency partner Shannon Latta provides a fresh perspective on the firm, its capabilities and differentiators in this video. You’re sure to learn something new about the agency.

It’s been a busy first half of 2010 with exciting client work, new business activity and lots of recruiting to support our growth. Horn Group has added 15 new clients to its roster in the past six months; you can check out the news of some of our latest client wins here. We’ve unplugged our wires in each of our offices, thanks to high performance wireless networking recently installed by new client Xirrus. We’ve used at least a dozen of our clients’ products and services over the years and expect to continue that trend in the coming months.

In other company updates, Linda Clarke, five-time marketing VP, joined Horn Group this past March as the managing director who runs our San Francisco office. And we’ve welcomed several other talented people who have joined our offices in New York and San Francisco at all levels.