Brandon - Willow driver

The fifth annual Soapbox Derby was held on June 27, 2009. Brandon was our racer from the Boys & Girls Club of Cincinnati this year. Willow has sponsored the Boys & Girls Club for the last three years and this year donated the car for future racers to use.

This article has some good insight from the AAAA’s conference in April, including trends in client needs and agency services.

Article

Willow began the second quarter of 2009 with seven new creative awards.

At the Summit International Awards (SIA), Willow earned Silver awards for Take the Cake’s Web site and bronze awards for THOR Investment Management’s brochure and Hill-Rom’s nano Ag+ Silver Technology Video.

The SIA, administered by the Summit International Awards Organization, is a rigorous award competition that recognizes creative excellence in companies and individuals from more than 50 countries and five continents.

At the Hermes Creative Awards, Willow won platinum awards for Hill-Rom’s nano Ag+ Silver Technology Video and Take the Cake’s Web site, a gold award for Take the Cake’s business cards and an honorable mention for The Citizens Bank of Ashville’s logo.

Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition for creative professionals. It is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. The Association oversees awards and recognition programs, provides judges and sets standards for excellence.

“While Willow’s focus is on strategic solutions that help drive business results for our clients, it’s exciting to be recognized through creative awards as well,” Debbie Dent, president of Willow Creative Group.

Willow Creative Group invites you to celebrate Arbor Day and promote growth in our Cincinnati community. Stop by Fountain Square on Friday, April 24 between 11:30 and 1:30 to pick up your free Willow or Norway Spruce tree. To learn more about happenings on Fountain Square, visit http://myfountainsquare.com/

Check out the article below to see why Willow Creative Group believes the current economy provides a marketing opportunity that cannot be passed up.

The Opportunity of this Recession - Full Article

For a short summary, click below.

The Opportunity of this Recession - Summary

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This article suggests that there is a new metric for target audiences. The digital age has made our audience global citizens. How do you target them?

Article

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is using a blog to attract new talent and boost internal moral. It has been an effective social media effort so far with a high participation rate from the staff.

To see visit the site, click here.

To read an article that covers an interview with the hospital’s internal communications director, click here.

Get Connected: Navigating Social Media Sites

This is a good intro to engaging social media for public relations from Jackie Reau at Game Day Communications.

As part of Junior Achievement’s national Job Shadow Day on February 6, 2,400 students in Greater Cincinnati went out into the community to experience real businesses first-hand. Students from Taylor High School’s business management class visited Willow Creative Group, a full-service marketing agency in Over-the-Rhine.

At the agency, students heard from employees about their roles, participated in a tour of the office space and took part in a brainstorming session. During the interactive session, students were asked to come up with a name for a tennis shoe for seniors.

“NikecAir” called out one student.

“SilverSneaks or maybe GoldenToes,” his classmate chimed in.

“These could be the marketers of the next generation,” said Debbie Dent, president of Willow Creative Group. “Whatever their future career might be, we loved having the students with us for the day. We’ve hosted students for job shadow day for the past four years, and their energy is always contagious!”

“After four years of participating in the event, this was by far the most engaging and interactive job shadow experience my students have had the benefit of being part of,” said Aaron Bradley, business management instructor at Taylor High School.

JA Worldwide is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs such as Job Shadow Day.