New Media President Michael Kitakis runs the "Stop Advertising, Start Marketing" webinar.

By Z

There’s this guy. Let’s call him something generic. Like, I dunno … Sperduti.

Sperduti’s got something to say. It’s important. All about the art of the cold call, the language of lead generation, the secrets of closing the deal. Stuff your sales division in Sheboygan needs to hear. And your marketing team in Islandia. And your customer service department in Pine Bluff, not to mention the board of directors in Albuquerque.

Hmmm. That sucks. Sperduti’s the most effective communicator since Gandhi and he’s got the goods, but you ain’t shutting down operations for two days to bring forty-eight people from four cities to some remote auditorium. And you ain’t flying Sperduti all over the country, not in this economy. This ain’t no George Clooney movie.

Behold, the webinar, the most important business development since the gelatin duplicator. With nothing more technical than a phone and an Internet connection, webinars connect remote locales in a sort of closed-circuit, collaborative web conference, facilitating instruction and discussion without the mess or expense of travel. It’s like having Sheboygan, Albuquerque and Sperduti sitting on your desk!

This would be a good time to note that Sperduti is a real guy – he’s Michael Sperduti, president of Emerge Sales and one of New Media’s very best friends. In addition to being a consultant and coach with a national reputation for sales savvy, Sperduti is the lord of the webinar: He’s conducted hundreds of online conferences, chatting up and training thousands of employees on more topics than he can remember.

“It’s all about two things: knowledge and convenience,” he says. “How can your employees gain critical knowledge without interfering with productivity or creating an unmanageable expense?”

Webinars – which combine conference calls with and online audio/video presentations – meet those criteria, with the added bonus of interactivity. Participants ask questions and get real-time answers, often stimulating discussions that would never happen if employees, say, visited a static website or read a how-to manual.

“It’s a crucial extra dimension,” Sperduti notes. “Whether you’re discussing a new product, strategy or territory, no matter how thorough a presentation you prepare, as a presenter, there are always questions you didn’t anticipate, and as an audience, there are always extra facts you need to know. Being able to ask questions and hear answers when it’s all fresh in your mind is important.

“Even if you’re listening to a recorded webinar, this pays off,” he adds. “Just listening to others ask follow-up questions gets you deeper into the educational process. And a lot of times, they ask exactly what you’re thinking.”

Recognizing the importance of this evolving business tool, New Media was pleased to partner with Emerge on the Business Growth Series, one of the most elaborate business-building webinar series ever. Combining experts in several IT and communications fields – marketing, trade shows, data storage and web promotions – under Emerge’s national umbrella, each monthly installment delivers powerful lessons and a no-limits Q&A on successful business communications.

“The Business Growth Series has really taken off,” notes Michael Kitakis, New Media’s chief executive, who teamed with Sperduti for two sessions (the second by popular demand) of his Business Growth installment, titled “Stop Advertising and Start Marketing.”

“We honed some important messages, delivered them to receptive audiences and topped it off with some informative question-and-answer sessions,” Michael says. “We had participants from so many different industries, from all over the country … you could really see how webinars have become indispensable, and how they could apply to the internal needs of individual companies.”

Several more installments of the Business Growth Series are on the way, including a March 12 presentation on multimedia-driven sales and subsequent chapters covering topics like search-engine optimization. And Emerge, as always, will continue developing its own webinar content, as well as synchronous programs for numerous national clients.

“It’s really the next level,” Sperduti says. “Add a little music and flash to your hardcore, business-driven content, and you have a perfect model for training and instruction, for brainstorming, for interconnectivity. You have the future of professional web-based communications. And the best part is, the hardware is already in your office.”

By Z

Do you e?

You should e. Really. It’s an e-for-all out there. The big guys e. Your competition? Boy howdy, huge e. Your customers? They e. Your whole industry is probably rife with e.

Email marketing has become a critical tool in 21st century markets, helping businesses engage customers in relationships extending beyond the typical sales transaction. That’s how marketing trumps traditional advertising — deeper buyer-seller connections — and in today’s webbed-up world, digital newsletters and other e-marketing tools are key.

This was one of the lessons of “Stop Advertising and Start Marketing,” New Media’s contribution to the Emerge Business Growth Series, one of the most ambitious business-building webinar series ever. Combining experts in several critical fields – marketing, trade shows, data storage and Internet-based promotions – under the umbrella of a national sales and training leader, the monthly webinar series invites online participants behind the curtain for a no-holds-barred Q&A on successful business communications, now and in the future.

Hosted by New Media President Michael Kitakis, January’s “Stop Advertising” session proved popular enough for a curtain call. In both the original webinar and this week’s well-attended encore, Mike stressed the look, hook and feel of modern marketing and branding efforts — and trumpeted email marketing as a critical cornerstone.

According to Mike, it starts with a clean database: A professionally filtered list of contacts eager to hear what your company has to say.

“Before developing your creative email, you have to set up the database,” he says. “There are a lot of professional email houses out there that can help, like Constant Contact and Cheetahmail.”

In addition to demonstrating your company’s unique expertise and beaming your company’s call to action directly to the inboxes of this willing audience, your email campaign can also serve as an invitation to your Social Media network — your Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts, which according to Mike are just as critical in today’s digitized environment.

“Papa John’s Pizza used email to invite customers into its March Madness NCAA Tournament promotion last spring,” Mike notes. “Consumers could fill out little tournament brackets and post them on Papa John’s Facebook page. The company added 45,000 Facebook fans through that single promotion. And that’s a professionally prepared Facebook page — strategically designed, from a business perspective, to sell.

“Can we completely quantify how many pizzas they sold because of that?” Mike adds. “Not yet. But we can say this for certain: It’s way, way, way more pizzas than they would have sold without it.”

The Business Growth Series is moving on to new and exciting topics. This month, Trade Show Solutions Center presented “Ten Strategies For Trade Show Success,” and up next is “What is Multimedia? And How it Drives Sales” (March 12) by Software Reproduction Technologies. In the works are informative and entertaining lessons on search-engine optimization from Naz Creative in April and more rock-solid sales advice from Emerge Sales in May.

But the e-lessons continue, in perpetuity, here on the Power of New Media blog and at the New Media mothership. Drop us a line to tell us your e-story, or for more, see our shiny new home page. E ya!

THAT'S HOLLYWOOD: On the set of Nicolock's new direct-response TV commercial.

By Z

So, OK … it’s not “Godfather II.” It’s not even “Weekend at Bernie’s II.” But that hasn’t lessened the excitement in Bohemia, where production is under way on Nicolock Paving Stones and Retaining Walls’ second-ever direct-response television commercial.

After the success of its first 60-second direct-response ad, which graced local airwaves last summer, Nicolock decided to produce a minute-long sequel for the 2010 backyard-barbecue season – and once again called on New Media to make it happen. New Media, of course, was only too happy to get its Spielberg on and produce the latest chapter in the Nicolock paving-stone saga.

“We’ve spent a lot of time getting good at website design, electronic newsletters and other forms of digital communications,” says Chris Graz, New Media chief operating officer and creative engine. “But really, there’s nothing as fun and exciting as shooting a television commercial.”

Graz has been on-site most of this week, overseeing production inside the Bohemia studies of longtime New Media ally Pro Image Group. Among other production-related duties, Graz has helped Pro Image build separate “before” and “after” sets, showing a home with a dilapidated cement patio – and then the same home with a patio constructed of shiny new pavers made with Nicolock’s exclusive Paver-Shield technology.

Building the sets has given Graz hands-on experience with Paver-Shield and really reaffirmed the Nicolock difference. “You really see what they mean, with the color going through the entire brick, instead of just a layer of color on top of a pale brick,” he says. “You can see why Nicolock’s pavers look new so much longer.”

This newest advertisement includes similar direct-response content as the original – free home-ideas catalogues, free home-design software and access to both easy financing and lists of qualified Nicolock installers, plus information on Nicolock’s lifetime warranty and exclusive installation rebates. But according to Graz, the new commercial is “more educational” than its predecessor, with characters (a contractor and two homeowners) discussing the Nicolock difference and also addressing the audience directly.

“It’s more of a before-and-after approach,” Graz says. “Along with the dialogue between the characters, this is a great way to show what makes Nicolock different.”

Graz, who made a cameo appearance in last year’s Nicolock spot (playing a satisfied homeowner), won’t be in this commercial, but he’ll be just as excited as everyone at Nicolock when it hits the airwaves. While the spot’s official media reach and release date are still being negotiated, expectations are the ad will start playing this spring on screens throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – the heart of Nicolock’s market.

In the meantime, keep an eye on New Media’s homepage for behind-the-scenes videos from the shoot.

“It really is a kick, being on the set and producing quality work for a longtime client and friend,” Graz says. “All the digital and electronic services New Media provides are exciting and important to modern business, but sometimes, there’s no school like the old school.”

By Z

With Chapter One of The Business Growth Series in the books, momentum continues to build around the groundbreaking webinar cycle.

Advance registrations are pouring in for the monthly series, which launched Jan. 22 with “Stop Advertising and Start Marketing,” an interactive tutorial on modern marketing presented by New Media. Business owners, marketing directors and professionals on all levels with something to sell are lining up to glean wisdom from the biggest brains in 21st century communications.

The Business Growth Series, the most ambitious ad hoc business-building webinar series ever conceived, unites experts in several critical fields – marketing, trade shows, data storage and Internet-based promotions – under the umbrella of Emerge Sales, a national sales and training leader. With five additional installments on the horizon, including a second go-around for New Media’s popular “Stop Advertising” session, this seems a good time to share why each Business Growth presenter is the best at what he or she does.

Michael Kitakis
CEO, New Media Marketing and Communications
Michael is a corporate leader who cut his teeth on the design side. A creative architect who crafts whole marketing programs from the ground up, he’s honed his artistic and administrative skills over a quarter-century career – as a video producer, design consultant and retail advertising executive across the Midwest, and later as founder and president of his own professional firms. Along the way, he’s designed and managed national advertising campaigns – from print to TV to web and beyond – for major-league clients including Revlon, Coppertone, Opti-Ray, Mattel, Sony, AOL and Land O’Lakes.

Danny Naz
President, Naz Creative
Danny is the founder and owner of Naz Creative, a New York-based web-development and Internet-marketing firm specializing in website design, e-commerce development, search-engine optimization, integrated marketing, pay-per-click management and e-mail marketing. A consummate entrepreneur, Danny is also the founder and co-owner of Creativo, a surface-design company that sells and licenses prints to Fortune 1,000 companies. After a decade of honing his design and marketing skills, Danny focuses today on providing these services to nonprofit and for-profit startups and midsized organizations – and is a regular fixture at Internet-marketing and web conferences around the nation.

Laura Palker
Managing Director, Trade Show Solution Center
Laura is an accomplished business executive with more than 25 years of experience in trade shows, sales and marketing. As the founder and managing director of Trade Show Solution Center, she has furthered a distinguished career and honed her logistical and analytical skills – to the benefit of Exhibit Corporation of America, Exhibit Graphics and Display Presentations and several other top companies. Specializing in lead-generation tools, marketing collateral, corporate communications, promotional items and total trade-show management, TSSC supports its clients’ entire sales cycle by crafting clear, consistent, compelling messages that build memorable brands.

Michael Sperduti
President, Emerge Sales
Michael has gained national recognition for his expertise in building world-class businesses and revitalizing underperforming firms. A leading authority on business psychology, he’s a master of cold calling and salesmanship and unwavering in his dedication to peak performance. Before founding Emerge Sales, Michael created significant shareholder wealth as the owner and/or operator of 14 different manufacturing and distributing businesses. A powerful motivational speaker, topflight sales trainer and high-level consultant, Michael has counseled the likes of GE, TYCO, Johnson & Johnson, Baxter and the Adelphi MBA program. As Emerge’s webinar guru, he’s shared his business-building, success-now messages with thousands of employees representing hundreds of firms.

Olof Wadehn
Executive VP, Software Reproduction Technologies
Olof has cultivated growth, profitability and management leadership in diverse economic climates, counseling companies of various sizes across numerous industries. As project manager for Philadelphia-based engineering firm Winokur Associates, he ensured client satisfaction on land-development projects; as leader of Asian operations for Geonex International, a U.S.-based geographic information systems company, he directed a team of 600 field agents and ensured profitability for several professional organizations. In 1993, Olof co-founded Software Reproduction Technologies, a New York-based media manufacturing and multimedia firm, where’s he been instrumental in the development of “good practice” standards for multimedia marketing designs and for technological advancements in CD and DVD design.

Upcoming Business Growth sessions include “The Plan: Ten Strategies for Trade Show Success” (Trade Show Solutions Center, Feb. 19) and “What is Multimedia? And How it Drives Sales” (Software Reproduction Technologies, March 12). Also in the works are informative lessons on search-engine optimization from Naz Creative in April and more crucial sales advice from Emerge in May, plus the just-added “Stop Advertising” encore (New Media, Feb. 25).

To register for any or all of the informative Business Growth Series webinars, please visit Emerge Sales’ website here. See you in cyberspace … remember to bring your best questions!

Mike K: Star of stage and computer screen.

By Z

The first installment of Emerge: The Business Growth Series is history, in every sense of the word.

New Media Chief Executive Michael Kitakis joined Emerge President Michael Sperduti Jan. 22 to launch the landmark webinar cycle. Mike and Mike presided over “Stop Advertising and Start Marketing,” the first of five chapters in the most ambitious ad hoc business-building webinar series ever conceived.

And according to the hosts and their appreciative audience – not one participant in the interactive online program dropped out during the presentation – “Stop Advertising” was a resounding hit.

“That was a great start,” noted Mike S., shortly after wrapping the day’s noon session. “Exactly the kind of wisdom we need to share.”

Wisdom, of course, is the thrust of The Business Growth Series. Combining an unprecedented union of sales, marketing, data management and communication experts with Emerge’s unmatched webinar capabilities, the series offers businesses of all shapes and sizes a virtual field guide to the wilds of the 2010 economy – and rock-solid growth solutions for the greener environs ahead.

Following New Media’s interactive tutorial on modern marketing, coming Business Growth attractions include “The Plan: Ten Strategies for Trade Show Success” (Trade Show Solutions Center, Feb. 19) and “What is Multimedia? And How it Drives Sales” Software Reproduction Technologies, March 12). Also in the works are informative lessons on search-engine optimization from Naz Creative in April and more bank-it sales advice from Mike S. and Emerge in May.

And because the series focuses on 21st century communications – which are real-time and dynamic and ultimately adaptable to changing conditions – New Media is planning to take another swing. A second go-around for “Stop Advertising” has been scheduled for Feb. 25, and Mike K. is already deep into preparations for his next at-bat.

“We got a lot of feedback on the first webinar and we’re still digesting it,” New Media’s head honcho said this week. “We’re listening. And we’re really going to focus the next one based on what we’ve learned. We’re going to dig deeper into branding, for instance, and we’re exploring options for additional graphics and animated content.

“But we’re definitely keeping a lot of the stuff listeners responded to,” he added. “The Unique Selling Points, the 2.0-compatability, the creation of marketing messages that go beyond the typical sales pitch. All of that was very well received.”

Mike S., who’s lorded over dozens of Emerge webinars and trained employees from over 500 companies, said the extra date was a chance to build some “Stop Advertising” momentum. “New Media has delivered a clear, concise message to a bunch of companies: ‘This is how you break through the noise of your competition and get heard,’” he said. “Now, word gets out: ‘These people know something.’ And we spread the message to more companies eager to learn about these critical advantages.

“Things are changing,” Mike S. added. “There are new, more effective ways to conduct marketing and communications campaigns. Maybe your competition already knows it.”

To register for the second run of “Stop Advertising and Start Marketing” or any of the informative Business Growth Series webinars, please visit Emerge Sales’ website here. See you there!

By Z

The curtain rises this week on the plumbing and HVAC professional’s new favorite website.

After months of preparations and programming, New Media is ready to flip the switch on the new online home of Wales-Darby Inc., the New York/New Jersey region’s principal distributor of top-shelf plumbing, heating and HVAC products. Featuring dozens of pages and a veritable encyclopedia of information on the industry’s best suppliers and products, the new www.walesdarby.com emerges instantly as a critical digital resource for the plumbing/HVAC set.

“In designing this site, we placed a lot of emphasis on Wales-Darby’s educational efforts,” notes New Media Chief Executive Michael Kitakis. “The end result is a site that is totally stocked with useful information and links, and yet user-friendly and easy to navigate. We’re very proud of this work.”

Along with need-to-know updates on industrial trends, a detailed review of Wales-Darby’s professional history and a regularly updated calendar of important industrial events, the new site provides hundreds of links to the most advanced and in-demand products in the Wales-Darby catalog. From hydronic circulators to air quality systems to radiant heating units and more, these are the must-have products today’s customers desire most.

The site also provides a series of crucial “energy links” designed to keep professionals abreast of important legislative changes and special programs hosted by utilities and private companies. Users will find useful information about energy efficiency tax credits, solar tax credit provisions, National Grid’s “Think Smart, Think Green” program, EnergyStar rebates and much more.

And of course, the site provides direct access to Wales-Darby’s exclusive energyPro Network, the plumbing, heating and HVAC professional’s No. 1 source for education and support – and the homeowner’s best resource for locating local energyPro contractors. Encouraging professional excellence, innovative thinking and progressive technologies, the members-only energyPro Network aims to energize the entire plumbing/HVAC industry by promoting leading-edge products and providing affiliates with strategic marketing advice and other business-development tools.

“Our company has undergone a lot of changes,” notes Wales-Darby President Brian Darby. “For one thing, through bold steps like our state-of-the-art Energy Learning Center, we have refocused our efforts on environmental awareness and ecologically sound products and practices. We needed a new, exciting website that reflected these changes, while reminding visitors that we’re great at what we do and we’ve been here all along.

“The new walesdarby.com exceeds our highest hopes insofar as content, navigability, educational opportunities … even graphically,” Mr. Darby adds. “It’s a beautiful site.”

The older version of the Wales-Darby site will remain open for business until the new site officially goes up. With final approvals in place, expect the new www.walesdarby.com to go live by Friday, Jan. 15!

Things are tough all over. There are some positive signs, but the economic recovery has only just begun. And while there’s good reason for clever entrepreneurs to be optimistic, maybe even a little bold … make no mistake, they need all the help they can get.

Here’s some: Together with its stellar roster of strategic partners, New Media Marketing is assembling a webinar series that will guide any business through the wilds of 2010 and into the greener grass beyond. We’re talking topflight sales, marketing, multimedia and trade-show specialists, united by New Media and the webinar masters at Emerge Sales specifically to boost your bottom line.

That’s the thrust of Emerge: The Business Growth Series. Promising “marketing and sales solutions for a new era,” the series extends Emerge’s webinar success by combining several powers: New Media’s marketing expertise, the digital might of Software Reproduction Technologies, the exhibition acumen of the Trade Show Solutions Center and the web-based wizardry of Naz Creative.

The result is an unprecedented five-part series that covers, in exhaustive detail, every aspect of successful marketing in the new decade — and offers the most affordable training package your sales staff will ever know.

“We’ve never really attempted anything like this — I’m not sure anyone has,” notes New Media President Michael Kitakis. “We knew that forming alliances with our strategic partners would help all of our companies expand our range of services, but to combine all this skill and all these experiences and put it out there as an educational product … it’s ambitious and really exciting.”

The series is slated to kick off Jan. 22, when New Media presents “Stop Advertising and Start Marketing.” In a live, open forum alongside Emerge President Michael Sperduti, Mr. Kitakis will offer a no-holds-barred primer on the subtle but crucial differences between making a sale and building a relationship — while presenting a wealth of graphic content and responding to real-time questions from his online audience.

Among other things, listeners can expect to learn what “branding” really means to a business, how to develop Unique Selling Points, how to turn a website into a 2.0-compatible marketing weapon and how to create messages that don’t just pitch a product, but actually communicate a company’s benefits.

Future installments of The Business Growth Series include “The Plan: Ten Strategies for Trade Show Success” (Trade Show Solutions Center, Feb. 19) and “What is Multimedia? And How it Drives Sales” (Software Reproduction Technologies, March 12). In the works as well are informative lessons on search-engine optimization from Naz Creative in April and more rock-solid sales advice from Mr. Sperduti and Emerge in May.

“What we’re offering, for $99, is a chance to listen to qualified professionals with proven track records talking about their areas of expertise, which happen to be critical to your business’ success,” Mr. Sperduti says. “All you have to do is sit your staff down around a computer. This is the most affordable, most convenient and most informative sales-training package I’ve ever seen.”

To register for one or more of the webinar installments, or for more information on The Business Growth Series, please visit Emerge Sales’ website here. And while you’re thinking about it, start jotting down questions for Jan. 22.

When worlds collide: New Media meets Emerge.

By Z

Pop the corn and dim the lights … New Media is ready for its close-up.

Readers of this blog may recall Bill Klein, chief operating officer of Emerge Sales, a Long Island-based marketing, training and telecommunications company with offices in Albany and Houston. They might also remember that Bill and Emerge President Michael Sperduti have formed a strategic alliance with New Media – exchanging their cutting-edge consulting, lead-generation and telemarketing skills for a bottom-up rebranding of Emerge and its expert services.

Bill, readers may also know, is a television star. He and his wife, Dr. Jennifer Arnold, are reality TV personalities on TLC (if you’ve missed them there, you might have caught them on the talk-show circuit, visiting everyone from Oprah to Dr. Oz).

Lest there be any confusion, these are not those obnoxious, embittered headline hounds with the eight kids and the messy divorce. Quite the opposite: Bill and Jen are “The Little Couple,” happy newlyweds who each happen to be four feet or shorter.

If you’ve seen the show – a spin-off of the TLC special “Little People: Just Married” – you know Jen is one of the nation’s top neonatologists and a serious bigwig at Texas Children’s Hospital. And you know Bill, according to the show’s intro, is “a business owner.”

Yeah, that’s a little vague, and so Bill is undergoing a bit of a rebranding himself. While considerable in their own right, his accomplishments are sometimes overshadowed on “The Little Couple” by Jen’s medical renown, so the show’s producers are working hard during this second season to show Bill in action – and that’s how a TLC crew found its way recently to the New Media mothership.

Action! The TLC crew does its thing.

Back in October, TLC cameras followed Bill and Michael here to New Media, where the Emerge principals spent the day discussing taglines, websites and other marketing initiatives with our creative rock stars. The daylong visit will result in about seven minutes of airtime during the Jan. 12 episode.

“This is an awesome opportunity for us and a tremendous honor,” says New Media President Michael Kitakis, who features prominently in the Jan. 12 episode alongside New Media COO Chris Graz. “It was really exciting to have the TLC production crew here, and we’re psyched to see the final product when it airs next week.

“This is really a once-in-a-lifetime shot for an agency like ours,” Mr. Kitakis adds.

The Emerge rebranding, by the way, is going swimmingly. After crafting a clever new slogan and a brilliant new logo, we designed and launched Emerge’s new website back in November; right now we’re exploring the options for new printed brochures, and – along with the rest of New Media’s strategic partners – plotting out a brilliant webinar series that will give listeners the ultimate edge as the economic recovery takes form.

New episodes of “The Little Couple” air 10 pm Tuesdays on TLC. Check us out next week!

By Z

New media will change the world.

Calm down, Sparky. I’m not talking New Media the company (although, really, we’re just getting started and our ultimate role in planetary affairs remains undefined). I’m talking new media, as in digitalized information and communications – the Internet and other computerized distribution platforms.

New media won’t always be new. Every day, they ensconce themselves deeper in our lives and – whether or not we know it – we rely on them more. Soon they’ll be old hand and we’ll wonder how we ever did without them. Or better yet, we won’t even realize they’re there. They’ll just … be. It’s kinda sinister, really.

But for now, they’re new, and the new media revolution is upon us. And as these technologies evolve … oh, boy, the possibilities are limitless.

Look at how far they’ve come already. Since the birth of the personal computer (30 years already!), digital development has been at the center of everything – our homes and health, our jobs and cars, our security and entertainment, even the “traditional” media some still doggedly support, despite better, faster alternatives (you can’t make a modern newspaper without Photoshop).

So, as new media slowly effect social change (and not so slowly, if you’re the Zapatista Army of National Liberation or the WTO or anyone who’s shopped Amazon.com), where do we fit in? Where do you? Important questions, with no solid answers, not yet.

New Media (the company) is better positioned than most to find those answers. The business-savvy artists who started LKGS Marketing two decades ago have spent years preparing for the revolution; they understand its etymology, where it is and where it’s going. That’s why they went with “New Media” as their new name; they weren’t just changing IDs, they were staking a claim.

When Ad Operations Online reports that spending on traditional advertising in this country will plummet to $245 billion by 2014, while spending on promotions (largely digital) will rocket to $430 billion, we get it. When Time.com reports a 164-percent traffic surge between January and August of this year, we understand. When Mediaweek states that email marketing is “the most powerful and cost-effective tool for emarketers” on the planet (offering a return-on-investment of over $43 for every $1 spent), we know why – and we know how to capitalize, for ourselves and for our clients.

We don’t have all the answers. But we have more than everyone else. And if you’re reading this blog, you’re on your way, too.

New Media (the company) employs an annual slogan to set our internal tone. As 2009 draws to a close, our fearless leader, President Mike, offers this rhyming ringer: “2010 is When.” And indeed it is. The second decade of the 21st century is when the new media revolution will hit its stride, starting with 2010, starting with us, starting with you.

Let’s get digital, dear reader. Happy New Year.

By Z

You know Michael and Chris Graz, Joseph and Harvey… Denise and Lizzie, Rosie and Greg Z. … but do you recall New Media’s center-most reindeer of all?

Anyone who’s beamed aboard the mothership in the last week or so has noticed a dramatic change. Always a bright and lively place overstocked with candy and boisterous belly-laughs, New Media’s hallowed halls are downright merry these days, with lights, bows and multiple Christmas trees setting a holiday tone.

Bulbs, tinsel, stockings, candy canes … it was all just here one Monday morning, no warning and nobody taking credit. But the festive face-lift’s origins were never in doubt; only one person had the means, motive and opportunity to complete this decorative duty in total secrecy.

Meet Kelly Sullivan, New Media creative director, unofficial morale officer and tireless go-to utility player. New brochure? She’ll design it. Print ad? She’ll draw it. Website down? She’ll fix it, or at least keep a programmer in an impenetrable stranglehold until it’s fixed. And she’ll do it all with a smile and a dose of Gallows humor, just enough wiseacre balancing her wisdom.

As Graz’s trusted right hand, Kelly works long hours (you don’t want to know) and appears to have but two purposes: Make it right for the client and make things better for the New Media staff.

When she’s not here at the mothership, Kelly is a professional swimming instructor who can often be found baking things for our Monday morning production meetings. She doesn’t eat most of what she bakes – unless it’s a bag of Cheez-Its or a salad the size of a baby calf, she’s really not interested – but it’s usually delicious and always eases the transition from quiet weekend to frenetic ad agency.

None of this should suggest other New Media crewmembers aren’t tireless or caring. The mothership overflows with dedicated professionals who happily accept the thrilling challenge of hard work; for an agency of this size to survive, everyone must bring that kind of diligence and dedication and good humor.

Kelly (second from right) and Liz hard at work with our friends over at Estelle's Dressy Dresses.

Account Executives Liz Maher and Denise Schaefer embody this commitment and professionalism. Whether researching or logging or editing or arranging, whether sitting down with clients or following up a lead, Liz and D are the best in the business. Their clients are the first to agree.

Controller Rosie DeGiglio is another keen thinker, exactly the kind of person – thorough and witty and very, very good at what she does – you want balancing your books. And the passion and creativity of our three-headed management monster, of course, goes without saying.

But only one cog is vital enough to make sure New Media glows like a Christmas parade whilst simultaneously baking cookies and leaving cheerful yellow-sticky notes everywhere and performing a half-dozen vital client tasks. Thanks to Kelly, December’s darkness is a little brighter, and a touch of holiday spirit awaits our many visitors.