digital-marketing-news

PeoplesBank ‘Record Number’ PR Campaign Success Based on More Than a Number

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PR pros know that success often lies well beyond the numbers. Data is fine, but it is barely digestible for most people. The difference between getting media coverage and engagement clearly is in the story that is told.

So, what was the “Record Number” campaign story? Well, the last chapter certainly was about the numbers. For the second year in a row, the GCAi PR team worked with PeoplesBank to celebrate another big year for charitable contributions. But in fact, the Record Number campaign was based on a celebration that started at the beginning of the year. PeoplesBank wanted to recognize and promote the charitable and civic causes that they supported across two states.

Through videos produced for digital dissemination, PeoplesBank gave several nonprofits in Massachusetts and Connecticut a chance to tell their story. The engagement numbers for those campaigns were off the charts, but beyond the KPIs measured was the human element – the outpouring of comments acknowledging the critical importance of the nonprofits highlighted but also an acknowledgment of and thanks for the bank supporting them.

PeoplesBank is regularly named the “Top Corporate Charitable Contributor” amongst community banks in western Mass by the Boston Business Journal. That’s not really a surprise when they set impressive records like $2.3 million donated in 2022 – which is a cool million more than the previous year. That, as PeoplesBank CEO Tom Senecal often says, is the power of a mutual bank.

Now it was time to celebrate, and GCAi’s LA office designed and implemented a digital public relations campaign that was based on the voices of all those nonprofits. The results were incredible. Every media outlet approached, over two states, covered it. Amazingly, the reporters and editors of The Republican not only reported the record number, but they also did a separate editorial [LINK] on it the next day, celebrating PeoplesBank by noting, “Advertisement for financial institutions uniformly emphasize their connection and partnership with the community. It’s important that they follow up on that credo, and they have been doing that, with PeoplesBank just one of many at the forefront.”

Digital dissemination extended the reach of media coverage well beyond the readership of those publications. Here the numbers do tell an impressive story: more than 1 million super impressions – impressions powered by close to 300,000 engagement actions, supported by nearly 100,000 video views, which generated more than 4,000 link clicks.

There is no other way to achieve this kind of engagement. Telling stories through digital PR that engages both media and audience is the way, in the end, to get lead audience members to exclaim to their friends and the rest of the digital audience, “I’m a proud customer!”

Businesses Join GCAi in Celebrating 25 Years at Tower Square with New Video

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Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) recently finished a production called “Life at Tower Square” [VIDEO] for the Tower Square management group. GCAi produced the video for free for Tower Square in celebration of a quarter-century of doing business in the building.

Joining GCAi President John J. Garvey in the video were Attorney Scott Foster, of Bulkley Richardson, Diane Varypatackas, of Le Greque, Patricia and Michael Matty, of St. Germain Investment Management, Carlo Bonavita, of Springfield Wine Exchange, Ray Berry, of White Lion Brewing Company, and Brandon Quiterio and Melissa Halton, of Wolf & Company.

Tower Square is like the perfect brochure for our business,” suggested Garvey, “because our clients really like coming here.” The other business leaders interviewed, all long-term tenants of Tower Square praised Tower Square for its convenient location and amenities like the new hotel, indoor parking, restaurants, a brewery, wine shop and much more. 

“We are thrilled that John and his team assembled such a great group to make this video,” explained Sara Smith, Property Manager at Tower Square. “We are going to use it on our new website, and have already launched it on our social media platforms.”

The “Life at Tower Square” video is not the first Tower Square-related video produced by GCAi. Several months ago, a division of GCAi, New England Corporate Video, produced a video on the post-pandemic return of Le Greque [VIDEO] to the mezzanine, where it has been located for 40 years.

“My businesses have been located in other office space, so I know by comparison that TowerSquare has been critical to GCAi’s success,” stated Garvey. “This is where business in western Massachusetts gets done. Of course, Carlo with his wine tastings and Ray with his brewery, have taken it to a quite pleasurable, higher level!”

Reporters Notebook: How to Make the News: Spotting a Good Story When you See One!

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As a journalist Mary Cate Mannion filled hundreds of Reporter’s Notebooks now as PR professional she’s revisiting the pages to share tips and strategies for better Public Relations.

 

Mary Cate Mannion Launches New Series: Reporter’s Notebook

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Episode One: Building Better Media Relations

Tearing pages out of her old reporter’s notebook and reimagining them for PR Pros, Mary Cate Mannion offers critical tips for establishing a relationship with reporters. You need to see these tips well before you pitch your next story!

 

GCAi/New England Corporate Video Help Nativity School Fund Free Tuition

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Darcy Young and Mary Cate Mannion, both producers for New England Corporate Video (NECV), recently completed a pro bono video series for the Nativity School of Worcester. The feature video was shown at a fundraising event that raised a record-setting $340,000 which will ensure that the school can continue to provide a life-changing, tuition-free education.

Darcy Young conducts a video interview with Tom McKenney, President of Nativity School of Worcester.

The entire video series will eventually be shown on the school’s website. The Nativity School is an accredited, independent, Jesuit middle school that provides a quality, all-scholarship education to underserved boys of all faiths.

“I’ll never forget the day we first toured the Nativity School,” Darcy explained. “It was after a long trip and pitch in eastern Massachusetts and we were all tired. Yet, when we walked into the school, we could tangibly feel the energy.

“This entire project was invigorating and the staff and students at the school inspiring,” stated Mary Cate. “Every visit to the school revealed something amazing. There was so much to work with that it was hard to make cuts in the edit suite.”

Darcy and Mary Cate are two of the most experienced female video producers in New England and experts in brand journalism and corporate video production. Darcy is an award-winning video producer and Mary Cate is a former award-winning news anchor and reporter.

Mary Cate Mannion monitors two cameras on the set of the Nativity School of Worcester video production.

Their pro bono video work includes videos for The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, Willie Ross School for the Deaf, where Mary Cate serves on the board of directors, The Children’s Study Home, where Darcy serves on the executive board, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Services.

NECV is a recently launched division of Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) which was co-founded by Darcy and Mary Cate.

The NECV Nativity School video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/xjdTycdvjjQ

 

Mary Cate Mannion GCAi

News Reporter/Anchor and Irish Dancer Mary Cate Mannion Joins GCAi Clan

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Mannion transitions from Portland Maine ABC News affiliate to the dark side of GCAi Digital Public Relations.

Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) has announced that veteran ABC News affiliate Reporter and Anchor Mary Cate Mannion has done a slip jig over to Digital Public Relations. Mary Cate was appointed a Digital Public Relations Analyst and will be responsible for planning, producing and editing video content, photo supervision and writing posts for digital dissemination on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and the Google Ads Display Network, but not Tik Tok, as well as working directly with media publications. She is working in the GCAi Springfield, MA edit suite with award-winning video producer Darcy Young and planning digital campaigns with award-winning digital marketer James Garvey, who is based in GCAi’s Marina del Rey, CA office.

Mary Cate Manion joins GCAi

 

Mary Cate is an award-winner in her own right receiving a Broadcasters Award and two Emmy nominations during her tenure as an anchor and energy news reporter with NBC News Affiliate KFYR-TV. Her reporting was also used in an investigative segment by John Oliver on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight”. She has also served as a correspondent for “Headline News”.

“Mary Cate is a proven storyteller who not only possesses excellent interviewing skills,” added John J. Garvey, President of GCAi, “She literally can edit video on the fly, which is sometimes on the hood of a car. That is speed that Darcy and I can appreciate and find very valuable.”

A resident of Suffield, CT, Mary Cate earned a Bachelor of Science degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson College. She and Darcy crossed paths during her time at Western Mass News when she emceed the Springfield Colleen Contest for which Darcy is a long-time volunteer. Mary Cate tested her singing skills during an “American Idol” audition in Boston and was successful for six rounds. Her progress ended when Simon Cowell told her, “You only get one song Mary”, and he apparently didn’t like the one she sang.

About that Irish dancing – Mary Cate achieved considerable success as a competitive Irish dancer, something that she is still enthusiastic about today as a member of Springfield’s Claddagh School.

About GCAi:

GCAi is an innovative digital marketing agency and Google Partner. Founded in 1991, the GCAi team uses Digital Public Relations, targeted Online Advertising, and Social Media Marketing to generate measurable results for their clients. The agency, located on the 24th floor of Tower Square in Downtown Springfield, MA, is recognized as the top Digital PR and Marketing firm in the region from an elevation perspective.

 

GCAi Dodges Raindrops To Help Westmass Launch New Digital Presence

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Generally, unless there’s a power outage, the weather does not impact digital production. But this year, all the rules were thrown out the window. While snowflakes were still flying during GCAi’s planning phase for the new Westmass Area Development Corp. website, it was both the heat and wet weather that proved to be challenging while capturing the high-quality visuals that the project required.

The critical component of the project was Westmass’ expansion of its traditional development role. The method to achieve success would be to get that expansion documented through not only text, but video interviews, high-quality images of past and current projects, and even drone video, scheduled carefully to miss the aforementioned raindrops.

“For decades, Westmass has sought to benefit the communities and residents in our region through the development of business and industrial parks,” said Jeff Daley, president and CEO of Westmass. “Today, it is our continued goal to help provide communities and private developers with the tools and resources they need to do smart development. The new website allows us to showcase the exciting projects Westmass is undertaking, as well as promote our efforts to advance real-estate and economic-development opportunities throughout Western Massachusetts for years to come.”

News of the ongoing production leaked before the launch, and what Westmass was up to, as well as some of the businesses and projects impacted by its work, could not be contained. The GCAi Digital PR team helped coordinate coverage, which resulted in the article “Westmass Strives to Become a More Impactful Force in Economic Development” in BusinessWest.

GCAi has now turned the keys to the new website over to the Westmass team, who continue to make updates and add content from their new offices in Monarch Place, adjacent to GCAi’s new perch in Tower Square.

About GCAi:

GCAi is an innovative Digital PR and Marketing agency that is also a Google Partner and Facebook Business Partner. Founded in 1991, the GCAi team uses Digital Public Relations, targeted Online Advertising, and Social Media Marketing to generate measurable results for their clients.

GCAi Facilitates Business Leaders Roundtable for BusinessWest

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One year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, GCAi helped BusinessWest gather leaders from six area businesses and institutions to talk about the many ways COVID has changed their work and lives, how it impacted the workplace for associates and customers, and even how it made them all different and, in their view, better managers.

Read entire article by BusinessWest editor George O’Brien here.

Shoot once, cut multiple times

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There you have it. Video production is nothing like carpentry.

Both benefit from the skill and experience of the person doing the cutting. However, you get just one shot cutting the board right. On the other hand, if you have planned correctly, the return on investment with video begins in the edit suite where the cuts can be endless.

Right about now, you probably have had enough with this strained metaphor, so here’s an example. We shot the VideoBankerITM video for PeoplesBank with the end in mind and that was multiple edit possibilities. When Darcy jumped into the edit suite, that’s in fact what we created. Video for POS, digital marketing, and television. All of these versions were different and considered not only the requirements of the platform that they would run on but also the relevance and engagement needs of the various audiences that would consume them through those different platforms.

Here are a few ingredients of our secret sauce. The most obvious focus of video production is on the visual. Sometimes the sound strategy is underplayed which is unfortunate because, well people can hear too. Critical across the board, and most often missed is the graphic and captioning strategy. In a digital environment, more often than not, video content is consumed with the sound off. For this project, John designed the graphics to be positioned in such a way that they would not interfere with captioning. In case you missed that, use captioning when you disseminate digital video because almost all users have the sound off.

GCAi production management considerations: Actors, vehicles, locations and traffic noise, weather/sunlight, lighting, sound, screen capture (video banker), diversity of actors, and preparation.

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Darcy A Young, James J Garvey

GCAi Donates C-Level Video to Support Food Bank Capital Campaign

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“Nobody should have to go hungry and navigate life.”

– Christina Royal, President of Holyoke Community College.

Unfortunately, need is not the main success factor of a nonprofit capital campaign. In order to navigate and penetrate the crowded field of capital campaigns in-market, the message needs to be important but communication is critical.

GCAi recently provided the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts with a critical advantage – for free. As part of its annual community services effort, the Springfield-based digital public relations company provided the Food Bank with a capital campaign video (below) with an estimated production value of over $10,000. The video highlighted the perspectives of a variety of business and community leaders including State Representative Aaron Vega, Jacqueline Charron of PeoplesBank, Charles D’Amour of Big Y World Class Market, Christina Royal, of Holyoke Community College, and Dr. Frank Robinson of Baystate Health System.

Darcy Young and James Garvey on-location during the production of the pro-bono video.

Award-winning producer Darcy Young finished the 2-minute video with the expectation that it could be later used in smaller edits for digital marketing campaigns. “While I agreed with the Food Bank team that a long-form video would be useful for direct pitches, I felt that the individual thoughts of local business and civic leaders would make quite effective digital campaigns down the road. So, we planned and shot the video with that in mind.”

The video is currently being employed by Food Bank staff to pitch to area philanthropists and corporate charitable donors. The campaign hopes to raise the funding necessary to expand the Food Bank’s facilities including additional farmland to grow fresh vegetables.