Agency posts positive third quarter growth in its 40^th year

NEW BRIGHTON, MINN. (Nov. 12, 2012) – Risdall Marketing Group (Risdall) added nearly a dozen new accounts in the third quarter, further diversifying its client base in its 40^th year in business. Among the 11 new clients are Eemax, the nation’s leading manufacturer and distributor of electric tankless water heaters, Conservation Beyond Borders, a nonprofit organization dedicated to biodiversity and landscape conservation, and Venture Academy, Minnesota’s first digital blended learning school for grades 6-12, opening in 2013.

“At Risdall, we pride ourselves on offering clients integrated solutions. Our public relations team, in particular, saw a busy third quarter, and their success was bolstered by support from our 14 other divisions,” said John Risdall, Risdall vice chairman and CEO. “Our clients gain recognition from their audiences through Risdall’s innovative approach and expertise in the digital field.”

Risdall’s new and expanded accounts include:

• Codex Corporation – Public relations
• Conservation Beyond Borders – Web design and development, and public relations
• Crown College - Social media, SEO and PPC services
• Eemax - Product launch, positioning and public relations
• PRA Location Services – Web development and public relations
• Venture Academy – Public relations

About Risdall Marketing Group

Driven by its profound understanding of the digital space, Risdall Marketing Group creates and establishes brands with an integrated and entrepreneurial approach. Now in its 40^th year of business, Risdall is a full-service agency organized in 15 specialized divisions, including the largest web/online marketing agency in Minnesota, the 7^th largest ad agency and the 6^th largest PR firm. As a whole, Risdall ranks as the 23^rd largest independent agency in the U.S. It won two Health Care Clio Awards in 2010 and regularly ranks as one of the most awarded digital marketing agencies in the world by the Web Marketing Association. The agency was founded in 1972 by John Risdall, now the longest tenured agency head in the Twin Cities. Visit www.risdall.com.

Agency wins more than two dozen awards across multiple industries, the third most awarded by the Web Marketing Association

NEW BRIGHTON, MINN. (Sept. 17, 2012) – Risdall Marketing Group (RMG) was one of the top winners for outstanding web development by the Web Marketing Association for the 7^th consecutive year. Presented with an impressive 28 WebAwards, RMG placed third in the overall competition and continues the momentum of performances in years past with its WebAward count now totaling 136 in seven years.

“Our hard work comes to fruition when we build a website that not only satisfies our client’s expectations, but also meets or exceeds industry standards,” said Joel Koenigs, president of technology for RMG. “At RMG we adhere to an internal standard of excellence that leverages our in-house strategy, creative, online marketing and development capabilities.”

Among the RMG websites honored, the agency received two coveted Best of Industry awards, including the Best Sports Website for Par Aide, as well as seven Outstanding Website awards and 19 Standard of Excellence awards across 13 different industries. (More than 2,000 entries from interactive agencies and web-development teams from 42 countries entered the annual competition.)

“It’s an honor to be continuously distinguished as one of the top web development agencies in the world by the Web Marketing Association,” said RMG vice chairman and CEO John Risdall. “RMG’s ability to combine acute knowledge of the digital space with full-service agency capabilities is what sets us apart from other agencies when it comes to delivering on our client’s bottom line.”

Each WebAward entry is reviewed by a panel of three to five expert judges who base scores on a set of seven criteria, including design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copywriting and ease of use. Judges include members of the media, advertising executives, site designers, creative directors, corporate marketing executives, content providers and webmasters.

The following is a partial list of RMG’s award-winning websites in 2012. To learn more, visit the WebAward website and search “Risdall.”

• Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union: Credit Union Standard of Excellence
• Conwed Plastics: Manufacturing Standard of Excellence
• Cap Carpet: Small Business Standard of Excellence
• Dart Trucking Jobs: Transportation Standard of Excellence
• Documentis: Information Services Standard of Excellence
• FasTest: Manufacturing Standard of Excellence
• Fishing Kids: Outstanding Website
• Hickory Tech Communications Solutions Provider: Telecommunication Standard of Excellence
• Intuitive Technology Group: Consulting Standard of Excellence
• Katun Website Redesign: Best Other Website
• Olson’s Sewer Service: Small Business Standard of Excellence
• Management Compensation Resources Website Redesign: Outstanding Website
• McKinley Consulting: Consulting Standard of Excellence
• Metro Metal Corporation: Environmental Standard of Excellence
• Multicare Associates: Outstanding Website
• Par Aide: Best Sports Website
• PE Universe/Gopher Sport: Education Standard of Excellence
• Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board: Outstanding Website
• Spanlink: Telecommunication Standard of Excellence
• Star Transportation: Outstanding Website
• The One Man Project: General Interest Standard of Excellence
• Twin Cities Charlie Awards: Food Industry Standard of Excellence
• UniPunch: Manufacturing Standard of Excellence
• Locator Technologies: Information Services Standard of Excellence
• Visit Eau Claire: Outstanding Website
• Zinpro: Science Standard of Excellence

• Winthrop and Weinstein, P.A. : Legal Standard of Excellence

About the WebAwards

Now in its 16th year, the WebAwards is the premier annual website competition that honors the best websites across 96 industries while setting the standard of excellence for all web development.

About Risdall Marketing Group

Driven by its profound understanding of the digital space, Risdall Marketing Group creates and establishes brands with an integrated and entrepreneurial approach. Now in its 40^th year of business, Risdall is a full-service agency organized in 15 specialized divisions, including the largest web/online marketing agency in Minnesota, the 7^th largest ad agency and the 6^th largest PR firm. As a whole, Risdall ranks as the 23rd largest independent agency in the U.S.  It won two Health Care Clio Awards in 2010 and regularly ranks as one of the most awarded digital marketing agencies in the world by the Web Marketing Association. The agency was founded in 1972 by John Risdall, now the longest tenured agency head in the Twin Cities. Visit www.risdall.com.

Futurist David Houle delivered a wake-up call to the Twin Cities business community on September 11^th. Houle addressed the Vistage All City 2012 Conference, urging business leaders to recognize the new era, coined the “Shift Age”, and prepare to make adjustments. Houle announced this is the age of mobile; we are living in accelerated connectedness.

What does this mean in our marketing world?

It requires marketing communications professionals to be more nimble. It means we need to be more responsive to the changing business landscape. No longer are there “gate keepers”, or people in the middle sifting through information.

The Shift Age is about disintermediation and the need for us to provide more value to users. Companies can now deal with every customer directly. Houle also pointed out the ways the Internet has streamlined buying decisions.

Mobile usage will continue to increase (5.6 billion cell phones today) and with the introduction of Apple’s latest iPhone, usage will increase exponentially.  As marketing partners, we need to collaborate with our clients to deliver even more compelling and time sensitive messages in order to maintain category share and leadership position.

Tom Wilson, President, Risdall Marketing Group

I came across an advertisement for Google’s “Chrome” Web browser today that I found to be delightfully creative, well made, and worth sharing. From what I was able to gather, the spot was done by BBH in New York and it offers an interesting introduction to the browser for those who are unfamiliar with it.

In the past few weeks Chrome has become significantly more important to follow due to some new statistics released at the beginning of the month. According to Net Applications, Chrome surpassed Apple’s Safari browser in market share, which is surprising considering it’s only been available as a public stable release since December of 2008; Safari 1.0 was released in June of 2003. I’ve found that Chrome offers a quick and lightweight experience that’s great if you’re just browsing.

From a Web development perspective, Firefox still reigns king due to all of the fantastic extensions (add-ons) that are available to assist with the process. Most developers, including myself, loathe Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (version 6 in particular) because it fails to comply with several of the standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and it took Microsoft 5 years to release a new version. The companies behind most of the other popular browsers release nightly builds, which gives me, and many other developers, the impression that Microsoft is apathetic toward new Web technologies, languages, and standards; or at least they were for several years. Microsoft has shown improvement in its browser lately but that 5 year gap from version 6 to 7 is what is really frightening. As long as Microsoft continues to dominate the market, I can’t help but feel that we are being held back – support for HTML 5, CSS3, and WOFF is especially interesting but it will probably be at least 5 years before they are widely used because of old browser versions. What’s worse is that in many corporate environments, Internet Explorer version 6 is the only browser that employees are allowed to use due to outdated custom programs or simply the costs involved with rolling out a company-wide update.

Many people most likely don’t understand that not each browser renders code the same way. The biggest differences are seen between Internet Explorer and the others. Version 6 of Internet Explorer is so bad that extra time always needs to be reserved for special workarounds and hacks to fix issues specific to the browser, which can seem rather gratuitous considering that it’s now almost 9 years old. The Web evolves so quickly from one year to the next and dealing with such an old browser can seem frustrating. As alternative browsers like Chrome and Firefox continue to grow in popularity, Microsoft will need to prove it can adapt or should simply step aside completely.

If you’re interested in trying out alternative browsers, use the following links to lean more and to download them:

Chrome, Firefox, Opera

Thanks to infomercials, dishonest advertisers, and lazy consumers we now have new FTC guidelines to consider when creating ads, websites, blogging, tweeting, and generally speaking our minds. [Disclaimer: the views expressed by this poster do not represent the views of the agency, its ownership, clients, certainly not our PR crew, and not even myself after getting caught up in a Woot-Off during the holiday season.]  A press release announcing the new guidelines and a link to download the guidelines themselves can be downloaded from the FTC website (in the lower right related info box or just follow this link to download the Text of the Revised Endorsement and Testimonial Guides).

Some highlights:

• Section 255.1.d – advertisers and endorsers are subject to liability for, among other things, not disclosing material connections.
• Section 255.5 describes how and when to disclose material connections.  Example 1 outlines a case in which a drug company commissions a lab to perform research on a product and shares the expenses.  Even though the drug company doesn’t have a say in the design and conduct of the research they must still disclose the payment of expenses.  The reason: “the weight consumers place on the reported results of the research could be materially affected by knowing the advertiser has funded the project.”  Of course if they perform the research internally, the results are sure to be biased.  What’s a drug company to do?  Any good “free” drug research labs out there?
• Contrast that with Example 2 where a film star endorses a product.  Even if the star is receiving a $1MM lump sum or royalties for each product sold … they don’t need to disclose that because “such payments likely are ordinarily expected by viewers”.  Huh?  Are we to assume all celebrity’s are on the take or just film stars?  Perhaps the FTC is making a push for celebrity endorsements.  If there is a material connection between the Screen Actors Guild and the FTC would they be obligated to disclose that?
• Example 3 in Section 255.5 describes a scenario in which a well-known pro tennis player who is a paid spokesperson for an eye clinic touts the results of her surgery and mentions the clinic by name.  ”Given the nature of the medium in which her endorsement is disseminated, consumers might not realize that she is a paid endorser.  Because that information might affect the weight consumers give to her endorsement, her relationship with the clinic should be disclosed.”  That answers one question — according to the FTC film stars are a different class of celebrity — and raises another.  What is it about the nature of the medium that clouds the vision of consumers?

Last week’s stack of generally uninteresting vendor mail included an “IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE” from a company in a southern MN, near my home town.  Feeling some sense of intrigue and obligation I decided to read before filing in the plastic bin at my feet.  Turns out some folks won a settlement against Yahoo! relating to Sponsored Search and Content Match ad placement.  They claim the terms of service were violated when Yahoo! allowed these ads to be displayed on spyware, domain parking pages, pop-ups/unders, and typosquatting sites.  Naughty naughty!  After years of litigation, millions of pages and hundreds of GB of documentation provided by Yahoo!, testimony from both sides, and all that shtuff, a settlement was reached.

So, what does this mean for all involved?  Here’s the breakdown.

• General public – Yahoo! agreed to develop an “Ad Placement Option” (name subject to change blah blah blah), whereby customers can specify that ads purchased may only be displayed on Yahoo! owned properties or “Premium” distribution partners.  The timetable for the launch of this new option is “as early as the first quarter of 2010, but in no event later than September 30, 2010″, and they agree to maintain the option for at least two years from the launch … or (almost forgot about this part) until the agreement with Microsoft is finalized.  So, in theory, and legally, it may never materialize.  Yahoo! also agreed to post more information about where ads may appear on the Traffic Quality portion of it’s site.
• Class Members still in business – nothing in particular.  It’s not about the money though, it’s the principle.
• Class Members out of business – a $20 refund – the cost of a stamp.  Yahoo! indeed.
• Class Representatives – these three (also referred to as “several”, not the more precise “few”, in the IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE) will be awarded $10,000 each.
• Class Counsel – $4,170,000 plus expenses totaling about $100,000.  Remember, it’s not just about the money.  It’s about the principal and the resulting interest, dividends, and taxes.
• Yahoo! – total estimated outlay is $4.3 million plus the $20 payments to class members now out of business.

Learn more about the case and the settlement at www.inreyahoosettlement.com.

Sometimes you may want to use a text/html module to display login and register links to unathenticated users. This is actually quite easy using the standard text/html module, with token replacement turned on.

1. Start by adding a new text/html module to your page.
2. In the module settings, change the display to “Unauthenticated Users”.
3. In the module settings, check the box for “Replace Tokens” at the bottom of the form, click update.
4. Select Edit Text (or Edit Content) and switch to the source (HTML) view. Paste in the code below:

   <p>To view this section, you must be a registered member of this site.</p>
   <a href=”[Tab:FullUrl]?returnurl=[Tab:FullUrl]&amp;ctl=login”>Login</a>
   <a href=”[Tab:FullUrl]?returnurl=[Tab:FullUrl]&amp;ctl=register”>Register Now</a>

5. Click update.

The important parts to these links are the current tab url token [Tab:FullUrl] and specifying the ctl parameter. The former builds the link and tells the register/login forms where to redirect after submission. The latter loads the page with only the appropriate control, stripping out all other modules that would normally be on the page. This snippet can be used on any page on your site, since it’s dynamically grabbing the page/tab URL.

These are just some of the users for the token replacement engine in the text/html module, which can turn a normally static module into something a little more dynamic.

Here are some more tokens that can be utilized:

Sometimes in module development you want to swap controls within the same module definition.  In doing this DNN (somewhat annoyingly) swaps the Skin and Container definitions to the default admin selections.  To get around this you need to specify the SkinSrc and ContainerSrc in the URL.  This little chunk of code provides just that checking the full hierarchy for overrides:

VB.NET

Protected Function GetSkinContainerSrc() As String

    Dim strReturn As String = String.Empty
    Dim objTabs As New TabController()
    Dim objTab As DotNetNuke.Entities.Tabs.TabInfo = objTabs.GetTab(Me.TabId)

    'Get the skin source
    'Check the tab settings first.
    Dim strSkin As String = objTab.SkinSrc

    If strSkin = String.Empty Then
        'Not in the tab settings, check the portal
        strSkin = PortalSettings.PortalSkin.SkinSrc
    End If

    'Cleanup the string if it doesn't have the global/local information.
    If strSkin <> String.Empty Then
        If strSkin.IndexOf("/Portals/") >= 0 Then
            If strSkin.IndexOf("/Portals/_default/") >= 0 Then
                strSkin = "[G]" & strSkin.Substring(strSkin.IndexOf("/Skins/") + 1)
            Else
                strSkin = "[L]" & strSkin.Substring(strSkin.IndexOf("/Skins/") + 1)
            End If
        End If

        strReturn += "&SkinSrc=" & Server.UrlEncode(strSkin.Replace(".ascx", String.Empty))
    End If

    'Get the container source
    'Check the module settings for the container first.
    Dim strContainer As String = Me.ModuleConfiguration.ContainerSrc

    If strContainer = String.Empty Then
        'Not in the module, check the tab.
        strContainer = objTab.ContainerSrc

        If strContainer = String.Empty Then
            'Not in the tab, check the portal
            strContainer = PortalSettings.PortalContainer.SkinSrc
        End If
    End If

    'Cleanup the string if it doesn't have the global/local information.
    If strContainer <> String.Empty Then
        If strContainer.IndexOf("/Portals/") >= 0 Then
            If strContainer.IndexOf("/Portals/_default/") >= 0 Then
                strContainer = "[G]" & strContainer.Substring(strContainer.IndexOf("/Containers/") + 1)
            Else
                strContainer = "[L]" & strContainer.Substring(strContainer.IndexOf("/Containers/") + 1)
            End If
        End If

        strReturn += "&ContainerSrc=" & Server.UrlEncode(strContainer.Replace(".ascx", String.Empty))
    End If

    Return strReturn

End Function

Okay maybe that is pushing it but you don’t see too many 10 year partnerships in the online space. The announcement which many of us in the industry have been waiting to hear for a couple years now finally came through today. Yahoo and Microsoft signed a deal that puts them as search results partners.

In the deal Microsoft’s new Bing search engine (yes, it is actually from Microsoft even if they are have done a very good job of trying to cover that up to the general public) will provide the algorithmic results to Yahoo and the technology for how the paid search results are managed, while Yahoo will be selling the premium search ads.

The move is long-awaited even for those that didn’t necessarily see the move as a good one. What it does is put the resources of the #2 (Yahoo) and #3 (Microsoft/Bing) search vendors together to compete with Google which has been maintaining a 2 to 1 share over both of them combined fairly consistently.

If you haven’t used Bing, I do recommend trying it. It was a vast improvement over their previous attempt, results appear to be better and the display/interface is much improved.

Its about time someone finally stepped up to the plate to challenge Google. I fully expect Google to react well and roll with the news just fine. But it will be interesting to see how the industry reacts and how the ad sales pick up for Yahoo/Bing. At the end of the day I’ll always say it is about the results, so if they want to break into Google’s share over the long term it will take more than a marketing blitz, but at least they’ve made a change. It was time to adapt or die.

Financial Times editor Lionel Barber told a UK audience this week that almost every news organization will charge for content in some way in the next year, as reported by PR Week. My question, then, becomes what value will news organizations provide that will engage readers to pay. That model was tried and failed a decade ago by many mainstream media. What will be different this time?

Traditional media have evolved and until recently thrived as the gatherers of information. Along the way, they became the agenda setters for discussion on issues with tremendous clout and must-read/see/hear status. With the explosion of online media and the ease of sharing and monitoring opinions (and the accompanying cultural shift that has people seeking this information online first), we don’t need media to gather as much; and “I can set my own agenda.” Think about it. I can subscribe to Web sites, blogs, Twitter accounts, and Facebook pages that give me only political news with my particular ideology, or only sports news that supports my favorite teams. I can ignore the rest. And frankly, there’s something satisfying in doing so for many who feel that the traditional media have abused that power in setting agendas consistent with their own personal views; not necessarily representing objectivity or the sentiment of the readers.

At the same time, the Wall Street Journal has a very successful pay-for-online content model, specifically because it provides content that often isn’t available anywhere else and goes deeper than traditional media typically report. Take note traditional media: To be worthy of my online dollar, you’ll have to do the same and offer something I can’t find elsewhere online. At a time when traditional media are shrinking their news staffs and relying on more canned wire stories, while expanding beats that allow less depth on original content, it’s difficult to see them re-inventing themselves in that meaningful way.

What do you think?